My strongest impression of Japan has been "how polite". Everyone is disciplined and polite. The place is very clean, streets, subways and all buildings. It is a 'carry in carry out' society. There are no trash cans anywhere. You take home your trash. There are no paper towels to dry your hands, you carry a handkerchief that you use. They are great drivers and manipulate the streets with traffic deftly and with great courtesy. They stop for pedestrians even in the middle of an intersection. They flash their headlights when making a (in this case right) turn across oncoming traffic. The cab drivers wear uniforms, hats and white gloves. Your shoes come off indoors, and the bus driver has a wet towel on the steps so you feet will not track dirt into his bus. How about that NYC.
They start from grade school cleaning after themselves and have no school janitors. That includes cleaning the floors. The streets are cleaned by the owners of the property, and several times a day. The only detractions are that I think that a lot of the historical venues are not well lit, dusty, and sometimes covered with chicken wire to keep the birds off. It detracts. Also in the cities and towns the wiring on the poles looks like spaghetti.
The weather has been hot!! Up to 90 one day and consistently in the high 80s. Unusual for here. We have had only one day of light rain the day four of us went golfing, and that is a story in itself. We had a great day.
The surprise of the day was a trip to the baseball game last night. The Tokyo Giants had won their division and this was the last game of the season. It was T shirt night and free shirts in orange and black in alternate sections of the seats. We had a couple of empty seats around us and no one took an extra t-shirt that was not theirs. Of course we had to carry out our trash, but they did have girls with plastic bags come through like flight attendants to collect trash a couple of times. The beer was served from backpacks carried by young women vendors with taps like a Camelback. They also dispensed Scotch and other liquors from back pack holders.
One of the unique things about the food is food safety. You can eat in any storefront restaurant and get good safe food. All menus are picture menus except at the very fanciest restaurant. They have plastic model foods in the windows with the prices and the food you get is exactly what it looks like. In Japan you do not bargain. The price is what is listed and you get what you paid for and only what you paid for. If a restaurant or store opens at 9 that is 9 not 8:59 or 9:01.
Technology is everywhere. The subways and trains run like clockwork. The toilets are to die for. Want a wash and dry? How strong, front or back or both. Heated seats. and one with a push button seat riser.
However, things are expensive. Think boutique prices and add 50%. The smallest bill is $10 and they have a $5 coin
We finish today and then off tomorrow.
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| Baseball game with alternating colored shirts |
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| Beer Girl $8.00 |
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| Street at night, equivalent to our 42nd. St. |
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| Deb's effort at food model, lettuce and tempura shrimp |
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| Beautiful grapes $23.00 a bunch. At some meals we had them pealed. |
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