A few notes about Japan

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:26:38 GMT

There are many Toyotas, but I have seen no Lexus models. I've seen one Nissan, but no Infiniti. Mercedes, BMW, few and far between. Alas, I haven't spotted a single American car.
Finding a pharmacy is difficult - and once found, I saw no Advil.
There are many McDonald's.
On escalators, people instinctively know to stand to the left, letting those who want to walk down escalators walk/run down the right.
They drive on the left side of the road.
Most cars are small. I have yet to see an SUV.
They care about recycling here. Everywhere you go there are recycling bins. Convenience stores have bins at check-out to place your receipt for when it won't be kept.
McDonald's doesn't have mayonaise in packets, but they can put it on your sandwich.
Flash memory is about twice as expensive here than in the States.
Everything is smaller.
I have seen practically no homeless.
There is a slot in the hotel room for the room key. Without the room key inserted, the air conditioning and other appliances have no power. Nice way to save energy!
It seems to rain all the time here.
It is a rarity for stores to open at 9am here. If they aren't 24-hours, they open up between 10am and Noon.
You should speak basic Japanese phrases here - hello / goodbye / thank you / excuse me. If you speak English, you will get smiles, but oftentime little understanding.
If security stops you, just keep speaking English. They go away.

Auri's Space: Travel