An American Abroad: Epilogue

BY TOM HACH

I didn't want to end my article series on my trip to Japan without providing some observations I made about the country, it's people, my experience there and how it different from the US.  So here are some random observations in bullet point format and in no particular order:

• Japan is a very clean, but paradoxically there are literally almost NO pubic garbage cans – anywhere!  With this, you can image that when I did finally see a public garbage can in a train station, I took a picture:

• Baseball was introduced to Japan in the 1870's, and it is very big there as shown by our visit to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in Part 1.  There are lots of baseball fields and several times during our travels, saw 'little leaguers' and older teenage boys in uniform either practicing or on their way to practice. 

• Public restrooms are plentiful, but almost none have paper towels and very few had hand dryers.  Most toilets were 'western' style, but with accommodations made for the typical Japanese posterior, including most toilets were bidet and had heated seats.  I will say the heated seats were nice on cold days!  We also came across the occasional traditional toilet:

• I think it is safe to say that graffiti is found in every American city.  In Japan, not so much!  We traveled to 10 cities in Japan, and graffiti is so uncommon that I had to take a picture when I saw this in Osaka:  

• Japan is famous for its Kabuki theater.  We did not attend a Kabuki production, but before going to Japan I understood that it was a traditional art form and that men played both male and female roles.  What I didn't know was that there was an all female corollary started in 1913 called Takarazuka Revue founded by a Japanese railroad industrialist who was looking to sell more tickets on his train lines:

• Random pictures:

...and they even decorate the manholes!

• The Japanese are a very good looking people, and the women are very stylishly dressed.   I wore jeans, button down shirt and sweater most days, and was always ‘dressed down’ compared to the Japanese:

• The Japanese follow the law and are very formal: 
  • In over 2 weeks in Japan, I can only remember two instances where I saw people jaywalking, and I was out walking city streets every day!

• Very formal:  All Japan Rail employees wear sharp uniforms, and conductors bow when entering and leaving individual train cars.  

• The Japanese don’t do things half way and the trains run on time!  The bullet trains are very fast and have free WiFi.  

• The Japan Rail pass was well worth it.  I saved money and it was very convenient.  With the pass, you can reserve seats but you have to be on the specific train your reservations, which reduces your flexibility (so I never made a reservation). 

• Dichotomy:  There are young people everywhere on the sidewalks, trains and restaurants, but Japan is the fastest 'graying' country in the world.  If demographic trends continue, Japan will fall from the 11^th most populous country today to the 32^nd largest country by 2100.

• What guys should pack for a December trip to Japan: As mentioned earlier, I brought a 34L backpack and a day pack for local excursions.  I really tried to minimize the amount of clothing especially since I knew many hotels had washing machines.  
  • 3 X long sleeved collared shirts, 3 X wool sweaters, 3 X white t-shirts, 2 X pair of jeans, 6 X pair of underwear, 6 X pairs of socks, a pair of hiking boots, a winter jacket, a windbreaker -- which I never wore and an umbrella, which came in very handy on one day. 
• Japanese hotels:  Bathrooms are different!  Almost always you had to step up or down to get into the bathroom from the rest of the room.  I have no idea why.  Also they have one faucet which controls the water for the sink and the shower.  Not hard to use, just different.

...and in Japan the 13^th floor doesn't bring bad luck!

• Vending machines are randomly EVERYWHERE!  
  

• The people are very friendly, though people never initiated conversation with me likely because of the language barrier. Also almost all the houses have tile roofs, and are, for the most part, pagoda-ish in design.

• Yellow textured tiles are ubiquitous!  You seen them on train stations floors, sidewalks and other areas as well.  While I was there, I had no idea what they were for, but upon return, I found out that they are to aid people with impaired sight get around!

• One sight in Japan I had not seen since I was about 15 was Lawson stores. They were almost as common as 7-Elevens!  Believe it or not,  Lawson was a family dairy in Cuyahoga Falls near Cleveland and in 1939 they opened a store to sell milk (take a close look at the sign below).  The company was bought and sold several times, but in 1974 the first Lawson store was opened in Japan and now Lawson is headquartered in Tokyo, and has over 11,000 stores in Japan, China, Indonesia, and elsewhere.  The Ohio Lawson stores are now Dairy Marts or Circle Ks, and, note, the ones in Japan ironically don't even sell milk!

• More random pictures:

• Trip costs and final thoughts:  The whole trip cost around $6,000, with the two most expensive line items, making up half the cost, being the plane ticket ($2,400) and the Japan Rail Pass ($650).  Once in Japan, costs were close to $175/day, which included hotel, food, subway tickets (for non-Japan Rail subway lines), souvenirs, venue admission tickets, Grove's subway and rail tickets, etc.  Also note we had a very favorable exchange rate of about 150 Yen = $1, so things were comparatively inexpensive in country, and I did save some money since my son was already in Japan and did not need a plane ticket.  

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the commentary on my trip to Japan.  If you've thought about traveling there, I strongly recommend you go, and I hope that my articles will be helpful as you plan your trip!