"Tokyo, Japan" Tokyo by stmlnyc

First impressions of Tokyo were, wow what an orderly, courteous civilization...the bus passengers
were asked to refrain from using cellphones as it would disturb their fellow passengers and, of course,
most complied. Plus they are avid recyclers, garbage must be meticulously separated into burnable, plastic, paper products, etc.

Shinjuku signs

Having been in Japan off and on from July to Nov. 2003 (Tokyo is like a second home), here is a list of the top ten aspects of Japanese life that I ll missed.

1. Vending machines for everything; soda, coffee, cigarettes, food vouchers, ice cream, noodle bowls,
stamps, etc.

2. How painfully polite the service staff are.

3. Pedestrians wait at 'dont walk' signal even when there is clearly no approaching vehicle.

4. Always crisp bills from ATM/bank machines (some ATMs give you an option--but who doesn't want crisp bills?)

5. At the post office, you can get insurance, savings account, gift basket delivered, money changed, etc. Oh yeah, you can also get stamps and mail sent.

6. 100 yen stores: so many things you didnt think you needed.

7. The delicate and meticulous packaging (sometimes unnecessarily so) of products.

8. Japan baseball league, every time a home player hits a home run, he gets a stuffed animal (kind of
emasculating).

9. The shower and singing toilet.

10. Tissue paper/moist napkins as promotional giveaways.

And almost forgot the onsens (public bathhouses) where you can relax in a jacuzzi or even a green tea spa all for under 1,000 yen.

Shinjuku Streetscene

I definitely won't miss the ridiculously high price for food, which in Tokyo gets taxed 5% like everything else. Prices are more or less the same as in the U.S.
but you get so much less...instead of a dozen eggs you get 10, 1.5 liters of soda instead of 2.0, etc. And 1,800 yen for the cheapest 5 kg bag of rice!...I don't care if it was a bad harvest, open up the market to imports!

Where is the much needed deflation?

Oh, and don't forget the periodic earth tremors! locals may be unfazed but it provides a good scare to those not use to the earth moving and buildings swaying!

• In a nutshell:Probably the safest big city-Singapore may have the rules but Tokyo has the people