My impressions of Japan
Hey f-list,
while I´m still waiting for the rest of the photos, I thought I could start with an overview and my impressions of Japan.
Although it was a really, really (too) short trip of only 3 weeks, I´ve seen and experienced a lot of things. I made wonderful memories and I totally fell in love with Japan .... but there are also some points that I don´t like about Japan.
I´ll try to elaborate this a bit more in this entry.
First of all my expectations weren´t that high. I knew that everyone of us is like: ZOMG JAPAN THE GREATEST COUNTRY EVER!
I was ready to be disappointed, because I feared it wouldn´t be what I´ve expected. Of course it wouldn´t be like the Japan we all get to know from anime/manga, drama/movies etc.
For those of you who still don´t know. I went there for 3 weeks. 2 of them together with hesaki and one week alone. That last week I stayed at the house of a Japanese female friend of mine. She´s the same age as me and I got to know her here in Germany. She was an au pair in the same town I live in. So I could stay with her family for that last week and it was GREAT!
As you can see I didn´t do the "normal tourist thing" ^^;;;; I really got to know various sides of Japan in this short time.
Hm. I don´t really know where to start. I guess I´ll start with the flight.
It was my first flight EVER!!!! I was not nervous or so, in fact I was very tired, but couldn´t sleep.
Each passenger had an own small tv screen in front of his/her seat, so hesaki and me were busy watching stuff and playing around or chatting with each other XD
Because I was busy with my diploma thesis all of the time I missed all the movies in the cinemas. That´s why I was very happy to see Spiderman 3 in the plane XDDDDDD ... Ahem. It was English dubbed with Dutch subtitles (yeah it was a Dutch airline, that´s why XDD) .... It was pretty interesting because Dutch is not SOOOO different from German.
(I still think it´s funny that the German "Danke" ist "bedankt" in Dutch XDDD *giggle*)
I also watched Blood Diamond, this time with German dub, hohoho~ ... and I started to watch Hula Girls (yah, yah, that Japanese movie with Engl. subs) .... but it wasn´t THAT great, so I stopped after ... 20 minutes or so.
The food was yummie. (yah I like food in general XD) We heard there would be Teriyaki and I was really looking forward to it, but ...... when the stewardess came to us, there was no Teriyaki left ;o; .... all the Japanese wanted that as well obviously XDDDD
Dinner.
Breakfast.
Which brings me to the next topic: There were like 98% Japanese in that plane!!!! IT WAS SOOOO GREAT!!!!! Almost NONE Europeans XDDD The guy sitting next to us was Japanese as well. Unfortunately pretty old and not handsome at all XD .. but who cares? XDDDD
It already felt like Japan in that plane! (*___*) ... There was an UBER-cute steward ... a Japanese uber-cute steward!!!!! Unfortunately not on our side, but HUHUHUHuuuu~ ;o; ..... *drools*
Ahem~ ....
It was very interesting for me to sit in a plane, it was my first time anyway. So at the beginning I sticked to the window and was like: UWOOAAAH!!!!!! all of the time XDDD Yah, yah like a little child XDDDD
View out of the plane. Gorgeous, nee? ^-^;
We already knew that it would be hot in Japan, but we didn´t expect THAT!!!!!!
It was pretty cold in Germany when we left and I brought even winter clothes and a warm coat with me. People told me it would soon get only a little bit warmer than in Germany over there ... and a little bit warmer than Germany this time of the year usually IS COLD (right now we have around 8°C).
At first I was disappointed because it was cloudy at Kansai airport and I thought that it would be not soooo warm, but UWOAH!!!!! I almost died when leaving the plane it was so damn fuc******* hot!!!!!!! (~_~) ....... And then carrying all of our luggage through this unknown heat ... that was really tiresome .. besides the fact that we were already awake for over 24 hours and it was only 10am in Japan, so we had to stay awake for another 11 hours or so (T_____T)
Hello Kansai, here we come!
... but of course we were so thrilled, so it was okay ^^; Although hesaki fell asleep in the express that brought us from Kansai airport to Kyoto station (^^;;;) ... while I was freezing like HELL!!!! Yeah FREEZING!!!
Why? ... Because ... (everyone that ever was in Japan will know): those evil, evil, but lovely (yah I do not make sense) AIR CONS!!!!!! (T_____________T)
German people are not used to stuff like that!!!!!!! (T___T) ... Outside so hot ... you´re sweating and all ... your hair gets wet and with this you go into a department store or a train and DADAAAAN~ air con with 15°C is on its way. I thought I would get sick within one day, but that didn´t happen luckily.
At first I thought those Japanese are totally nuts, everyone would get sick this way. But honestly it´s so hot outside you absolutely need air con EVERYWHERE!!!
So I love and hate them at the same time XDDDDDD
Something we also recognized pretty soon was that Japanese trains are REALLY (we already heard about that) on time! And not only that. Before you can get on the train (at least for larger ones like limited express stuff) there will be cleaning personal going into the train and cleaning everything. We were REALLY astonished (speaking of "Deutsche Bahn" and such XDDDD *coughs*) .. soo cool!!!! And the coolest thing ever: You can change the directions of your seats (so that you face the driving direction) with only one grip ..... but we still don´t know how that works, we´ve only seen other people doing it, but SOOOO COOOOOL!!! XDDDDDD Ahem.
hesaki was really astonished and giggling because the railway official who is going through the train and controls your tickets stood still at the end of each wagon and bowed down XDDDDDDD I already knew stuff like that, but seeing it with my own eyes was ..... great ^-^ Haaah~ ... I already miss that :/
Umm~ what was a bit difficult because our luggage was heavy and we were HELL TIRED was finding our hotel in Kyoto .. or not really finding it, but getting there. XDDDDD
But that was the only time we had problems and it was really only because of the heat, the heavey luggage and us being uber-tired.
Other than that it was not difficult at all to travel around in Kyoto!
The cheapest and most uncomplicated way to travel around in Kyoto is by bus!!!!! It´s really, really easy ^-^;
And I miss those busses. You get on the bus at the "back door" and you get out at the front door, there paying the bus driver. There´s a little machine where you can throw your money in. I reccomend you always have enough coins with you, but it´s also no pro to change you money at that machine (it just takes longer ;)).
Our hotel in Kyoto was really good. No complaints. We had internet access there our room was small, but large for Japanese standards and of course we had an air con in the room XDDD ... This was the only hotel where we didn´t need the air con at night. We could open the window and it was cold enough and not loud outside (^^;) ... Maa~ it was Kyoto, y'know XDDDD
Speaking of hotels. Here´s the obligatory toilet photo(s) XDDDD
Japanese style toilet. I somehow managed to NEVER use this one XDDDDD
Western style toilet with those funny buttons, but I was too afraid to push and use them XDDDDD you never know, right? XD
If you use toilets in Japan it´s almost impossible to wash your hands properly after that. Most of the time there is no soap and no tissues at all!
I knew about the tissues, so I always brought my own, but no soap ... *sigh* (T___T) ....
BUT some toilets had a turbo dryer (we have dryers like this as well, but your hands never get dry). With this one they will get dry in an instant, totally benri!! <333
The weather was hot every day .... and soon we changed into little Japanese ourselves, meaning we bought fans to fan fresh air in our faces and we used umbrellas although it was not raining at all. A lot of Japanese had really gorgeous parasols with them. Others had gloves and hats and various stuff to cover their skin. It really looked strange to us. Especially older women on their bicycles tend to wear strange stuff to cover their skin from the sun XDDDDDD
Speaking of bycicles: OH GOD THAT´S WHAT I DEFINITELY HATE ABOUT JAPAN!!!!
I always thought that .. when it comes to traffic and DANGEROUS traffic we´re talking about Italy .. but HELL NO Japan is more dangerous!!!!!!
Those cyclists are really, really dangerous!!!!!! They have bells, but nobody uses them. I guess Japanese people think you have eyes in the back of your head as well, but NO WE DO NOT HAVE!!!!!
Furthermore especially the teenagers are typing stuff on their cellphones or reading books AND listening to music AND/OR smoking while driving their bike. Erm. HELLO??????!!!! ..... Oh well. So what we heard often were the breaks of bycicles, because Japanese cyclists tend to knock down each other ... at least almost.
The streets in Kyoto were very narrow, so cyclists and pedestrians had to share the streets which was ... UAH .. dangerous XD ... and it was really getting on our nerves XDDDD ....
The cars were not better! I think Japan has no traffic rules at all XDDDD ... or the police doesn´t care much XD ..... ahem.
What was interesting was: There were TONS of different taxis. In Germany there´s only ONE taxi company, but in Japan there must be like 1234234234??!! And I´ve heard even private run taxis are allowed!!!!!
Those taxi drivers also drive like little devils.
I´m really happy that we weren´t involved in a car accident.
Another interesting fact was of course left-hand traffic, cuz in Germany we drive on the right (hehe *coughs*) side ;)
I heard (but totally didn´t recognize) that ONLY in Osaka they drive on the right side. WTF??!! XDDDDDD
Nihon no shingo ha tori ga arimasu yo!!!!! Japanese traffic lights have birds. REALLY!!!!!!
Almost EVERY traffic light in Japan makes some kind of noise when it becomes green ... err .. BLUE!!!! Yeah blue. I already knew that before going to Japan, but finally I had chance to make fun of it XDDDD
Although Japanese traffic lights are green like prolly everywhere else as well, they say it´s BLUE!!! *lol* XDDDD ... Japanese children also ask why it´s blue (aoi) and not green (midori). S.o. explained to me that the former kanji for green was similar to the one of blue??!!! But I can´t remember exactly (^^;;;) ....
Not only the traffic lights, but everything as well makes noises XDDDDD
You will really get paranoid after some time. (and Akiba is the worst of them all XDDD)
All the time you hear voices coming from ... various things around you XDDD It´s hilarious!!!
Especially in Tokyo in the pedestrian zones with tons of department stores. Everything makes noises. There are even people with megaphones promoting their shops XDDDD SOOOOOOO cute!!!
In Germany this would never be possible or allowed!
And let´s not talk about pachinko halls! I didn´t go inside of one, but as soon as you´re passing by and the door opens you´ll get deaf!!! It´s sooooooooooooooooooo loud (T______T)
Okay back to the heat.
There are vending machines EVERYWHERE!!! Every 10 meters there´s one and I do NOT lie, it´s the truth XDDDD ... but concerning the heat, it´s absolutely neccessary! And I´ve come to like those little ones ^-^; They´re really benri (convenient).
But more convenient are of course the conbinis (coming from: convenient store ;)).
You can buy everything (okay ALMOST everything) you need there and it´s cheap as well!!!!
Almost every day I bought a bento there. This was s.th. I was looking forward to a looooooooooooooong time, so I really enjoyed eating a bento almost every day (*_____*) I totally miss those conbinis now.
More about the food and stuff will follow in another entry soon btw.
Japanese stores are open very long and even on Sunday. I don´t know about other countries but in Germany apart from gas stations everything has closed and you can´t buy stuff!
I really liked that fact, although it was REALLY strange to see people working on Sunday like it was a normal weekday (^^;;;;)
On the other hand temples and stuff closed all VERY early. Most of the time around 4pm. WTF???!!!! .... Especially in Kyoto you couldn´t really go out at night, there was NOTHING and even bars closed very early. Not that I cared much, cuz we were very tired at night, so we went to bed pretty early (^^;) .....
Everyone kept telling me that Japan is so expensive, but I don´t think so. Food for example wasn´t that expensive. And also my fandom stuff was MUCH more cheaper than I thought it would be.
On the other hand there´s nothing like a discounter, especially not for clothes!!! Japanese prefer brands it seems. Prada, adidas and the likes EVERYWHERE!!!! So if you want to buy clothes or accessoires or stuff ... it will be expensive!!!!
I had to buy a new suitcase there. When I asked a hotel employee where to find a cheap suitcase (meaning like around 40-50€ which is not sooooooo difficult to find in Germany), he laughed and said that I won´t find s.th. that cheap in Japan. He bought his suitcase in Europe as well for this reason.
Ha .. haha -___- .... so I managed to find a suitcase for a bit more than 9000Yen (~55Euro?!), although it was smaller than the one I wanted to buy, but oh well.
What I want to say is that Japanese really like quality stuff it seems *sigh*
Something else I didn´t know about Japan and I was a bit shocked about that: Tussenhausen hoch 10!!! (sorry I´ll try to explain in English now XDDD)
There were TONS of young girls (and boys!!!) who were very fashion-addicted, but not really in a positive way. The girls were always refreshing their make-up in the toilets or the trains .... I always thought Italian girls were the most fashion-addicted people, but HELL NO!!!! The Japanese are without a doubt!!!!
Almost ALL of the girls wore high heels, very HIGH high heels ..... and that not only in the city, but also when going to temples or climbing hills or whatever, just looking at them hurt my feet (T_____T) THEY ARE TOTALLY NUTS!!!!
They combine some really strange colors .. at least some of them, well other countries, other taste, nee? XDDDD
What I like about Japan is that EVERYONE had about 241234123123 phonestraps on their cellphones. I wonder how they still were able to hold them, they must have been heavy XDDD
But not only young girls, EVERYONE HAS THEM!!! If a male teenager had a pink phonestrap here in Germany, everyone would laugh or say he´s gay, I guess. But in Japan even SALARYMEN had cute phonestraps, REALLY!!!! That would never be possible here, but I loved it ^-^;;;
Hmmm, almost every student had also s.th. on their school bags, mostly cute plushies (again the boys as well).
But I can understand why. They have all the same bags as it seems to be part of the school uniform stuff, so with a plushie it becomes more personal, I guess.
The trains and the people.
Ohhhh yeah. At first hesaki and me didn´t recognize, but Japanese are able to stand in line and form those lines really FAST!!!!
So while we were still chatting at the station, they already lined up. When the train came and we stood up to get into the train, we were really surprised to suddenly see 123123123 people standing in line XDDD but you´ll get used to it and stand in line as well ;P
In the trains it´s really interesting (when it´s NOT rush hour! - but as tourist you can avoid this time). Most people fall asleep INSTANTLY! It´s really mysterious! And they wake up at their station. How do they do it???? <~ *envious*
hesaki adapted it and fell asleep in the train as well sometimes XDDD and I have to admit that in the 3rd week of my stay I got sleepy as well from time to time. It´s really a mysterium, I guess XDDDD
People who are not sleeping, play around with their cellphones or read books (or manga ^^V). Only veeeeeeeeery few people have a conversation with each other. It seems that Japanese people tend to isolate themselves from others, at least in the train.
Driving with trains or finding your way around (in Tokyo) is not difficult. I was afraid that I won´t be able to find my way, but it´s REALLY easy!!! Even at huge stations like Ikebukuro or Shinjuku (but do not use it as meeting point -______-;;; ....) *lol*
Everywhere are kaisatsu (ticket machines) where you can buy your ticket for the train or the subway.
Above are maps, so you can see which line to take and how much it´ll will cost! In Tokyo there were some maps only in Kanji (I was really surprised because in much smaller towns they always had English letters as well), but I could read at least 1 Kanji of the stations, so usually I knew where to go. It was really no problem at all.
If you´re in Tokyo, you´re probably using the famous Yama(no)te (why the hell the no? XD yah yha yamate is not possible XDDD) line. It´s light green and you can go to Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ueno, Tokyo etc.
I often used the Keihin Tohoku line (because we stayed near Shinagawa and after that in Urawa, Saitama).
But it´s the same for all lines! And it´s the same for subway as well. No pro, no pro. And if you look really helpless there will always be a polite Japanese person who´s asking you in bad English "May I help you?" or "Where do you want to go?" XDDDD
Most of the time I answered in Japanese, so that they would answer in Japanese, because HONESTLY most Japanese have a really weird pronunciation XDDDD I couldn´t understand what they were saying, so talking in Japanese was really easier.
Do you need Japanese when going to Japan? Hmmmmm. It´s definitely a plus and makes things easier, but I think you´ll get through with English as well. But not everywhere!
Well and for me, staying at a Japanese family´s house, of course I needed Japanese or otherwise we only would have remained silent XDDDDDD
The people at hotels or stations usually can understand English and speak it more or less. If you want to do s.th. special, you should at least know some words.
We wanted to burn our photos on cd and therefore went to internet cafés. But in both (Kyoto and Tokyo) cafes we went to, they couldn´t understand English XD ... and it was difficult for me to explain what exactly we wanted to do, because using words like usb, cable, burn on cd (yah yah meanwhile I know all of the words XD) was difficult ... but through this we got to know interesting people, but that´s another story.
... which reminds me of s.th. else I didn´t know until now: A Japanese girl was talking with one of the employees of the internet café, both stayed beside us, because they were afraid that s.th. might not work within the burning process or whatever. So those 2 were talking in Japanese with each other. I was listening to them and they did not know that I could understand what they said XDDD Ahem.
Well thing is they said we were both beautiful (ehm?) and had such beautiful long noses (ahmmm????!!!!).
Later I asked Yumi-chan (the Japanese friend of mine) what that´s about and she told me that Japanese people all have pretty small noses (noooooooooo Tomaaaaaaaaaaa noooot! ;__; ... XDDD *coughs*) and they want long noses like foreigners have!!!!
I NEVER KNEW!!! That was really news to me.
Well I guess you always want to have what you can´t have, right?
In Germany we think "Stubsnasen" (small noses) are totally cute XDDDDD ..... And NO hesaki and me do not have long noses, they are normal. But after that I payed attention to the noses of Japanese people and it´s true, most of them have really small noses ^^;; ... I think especially for adult males this might be a problem?! ^^; .. but as a woman isn´t it good to have a cute and small nose? Oh well, guess it´s really that you want what you can´t have ^^; Like wanting to be blond when you´re brown-haired and stuff ^^;;;;
Really interesting though.
Let´s get to a related topic: (which you prolly already knew about): Japanese women with NON-Asian (often ugly) guys EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!
I knew about that, but seeing it live and sometimes even WITH children and sooooooooooooo many couples like that was really ... UWOAH ....
On the contrary NOT EVEN A SINGLE JAPANESE GUY WITH A NON-ASIAN WOMAN!!!! ;o; ........ Nande? Doushite? ;_________; .......
We found 1 or 2 Asian guys with European girlfriends, but those where prolly not Japanese, but Chinese or s.th. *sigh*
Yumi-chan explained it to me (but that´s only HER opinion, so it´s prolly not the whole truth):
Japanese girls like European or rather non-Asian guys, because they are more ... let´s say dominant. Yumi-chan told me that ALMOST all Japanese guys are too gentle and are like "Where do you want to go?" "What do you want to eat?" .... like letting the female decide everything and Japanese girls think that non-Japanese guys are more like "Okay, let´s go there!"
I personally think that´s not true. I know a few German guys who have Japanese wives or girlfriends and those are the typical "nice guys" which are EXACTLY like the described Japanese guys letting the woman decide everything, no???!!!!!
Oh well ....
And why won´t Japanese guys have non-Japanese girlfriends? I do not know, perhaps they are afraid of non-Japanese girls? If it´s true that Japanese guys are like "Where do you want to go?" and then there comes your typical European woman with "Okay little boy, first let´s go there and then there and then there!!!!" ... they might be afraid of women like that???? I really have no clue XDDDD
hesaki and me realized that most of the Japanese guys won´t look at you. It´s not like in Italy or Spain for example where really EVERY guy is flirting with you. I don´t know if they really are not interested or if they´re too shy?!?!
Well of course there were some that looked at us and that made us really happy XDDDDD but most of them ignore you if you´re not Japanese. I´d like to hear other girl´s experiences on this please!!!! (~_~)>
And please don´t get me wrong it´s not like I´m an attention whore or s.th. like that, but it was REALLY noticeable that they were ALL ignoring you XDDDDD *lol*
And regarding the fact that foreigners are really rare, it´s really strange that they don´t look. Children always stare at you like you´re an alien or s.th. like that XD
Everywhere you go it´s like 98% Japanese or at least Asian people!!!!! You seldom see a lot of non-Asian/non-Japanese tourists or foreigners in general!!!! Okay perhaps in Asakusa or in Enoshima (where a lot of foreigners live and work).
So while we were still in Kyoto we really stared at 2 guys our age who got on the bus back then, because they were NOT ASIAN. They noticed and immediately came over to us to talk to us. Totally strange considering the fact that most Japanese guys were ignoring us XDDDDD
Those 2 were American with your typical American slang and ... yah ... don´t wanna talk about it *coughs* (T__T) *headdesk* They were flirting like crazy, but somehow it was good, cuz we really thought we had become ugly aliens or whatever XDDDDD
We still have a very funny way to pronounce "Roppongi Hills" because of those guys XDDDDD English people trying to pronounce Japanese words is always funny XDD *giggles* ... Ermm, sorry, please don´t kill me! XDDDDD Ahem.
Another interesting thing are Japanese supermarkets. Especially fruits .. they are all SO BIG!!!!! The apples ... soooo big ... like WOAH!!!!
I´ve bought one and it was soooo damn yummie! Okay, German apples are very good as well, but not SO BIG!!! Other stuff was big as well while tomatos (XD) and the likes were smaller than here in Europe. Very interesting indeed.
In larger supermarkets there were even ELECTRONIC price signs ... and everywhere small tv screens between the goods showing commercial spots and stuff, sugooooi (*o*)
Japanese sweets and snacks are VERY different from what we have here in Germany. I really wanted to try EVERYTHING, but that was just not possible. So I went for everything with macha (japanese green tea) in it XDDD .. oh and I LOOOOOVE senbei!!!! ;o; ... I already miss it *sigh*
And I came to like Calpis (soda) *drools* (^-^;) .....
And in the restaurants you always get water for free!!!! As much as you want! So usually you don´t have to order extra drinks (unless you want to drink beer or cola so badly XDDD) that´s SOOOO cool!
Although the portions you get for really little money are HUGE and very filling!!!! Usually (depending on the meal) you always get miso soup and rice as an extra. Not so in Germany ... hohoho .. how I miss that service and that delicious food for only some yens ;o; .....
If you´re in a Japanese restaurant you get the bill on your table and when you´re finished you got to the exit where´s a cash desk, there you pay. At first we didn´t know XDDDDD
But I guess that´s it for the food, there will be an extra entry anyway XDDDDD
Just one side note: McDonalds and Starbucks EVERYWHERE!!! XDDD So if you absolutely don´t like Japanese food (which I will never understand because it´s the best food ever) then you won´t have to starve XDDD
Oooooh and not to forget that you could find your beloved stars and anime charas like EVERYWHERE you looked!!!! Truly paradise!!!!! ^-^;;;;
(there will be an extra entry for this as well XDDDDD)
And what´s strange for German people: BASEBALL everywhere (^^;)
And almost everywhere a LOT of people (at least in Tokyo).
This was in Shibuya.
And of course school uniforms everywhere (*__*)V
I guess that´s it for now.
You can say I really loved Japan more that I expected and .... I wanna go back there as soon as possible. Preferably in spring and autumn to see all those gorgeous colors (*____*)V
So in short for those who still want to know:
1st week: Kyoto (with Osaka, Himeji etc.)
2nd week: Tokyo
3rd week: Saitama
After that I had to return by myself, because hesaki had to left after the 2nd week. So it was my first flight and I was all alone XDDDD
First problem: Both my luggage and my hand luggage were to heavy ... I had to get rid of 5kg in total ;___; ... luckily Yumi-chan´s mother was with me so I gave her all that stuff and they send it back to me (^^;;;;;;) *sigh*
Before that I already had to send 2 packages home, cuz I bought too much (^^;;) ... Maaa~ my luggage was too heavey to begin with. I brought TOO MUCH stuff with me that I didn´t need. Next time I´ll know better. Furthermore you can wash your stuff everywhere. We had laundry machines in our hotels, it was no problem at all!!!!!
In the plane 2 old male Japanese were sitting beside me. I was chatting with them a lot, although it´s a bit difficult to understand old people. They don´t speak very clearly ^^;;; .... because I was sitting between tons of Japanese people, we had a Japanese stewardess. The first times she asked me stuff in English, but I answered in Japanese all of the time, so later she gave up using English when talking to me and used Japanese XDDDDD~
People asked me how much money I did spent. I haven´t calculated it yet, but I brought ALL the vouchers with me, so as soon as I´ve time, I´ll let you know (^^;;;) ......
Uff ... a long entry. Don´t ask how long it took me to finish this one (T___T) ... somehow I don´t feel like making the next 234234234 entries (T___T) ... so much work ;___; .... oh well~
Hope you´ll be looking forward to more (hopefully with more photos and less text then XDDD)
while I´m still waiting for the rest of the photos, I thought I could start with an overview and my impressions of Japan.
Although it was a really, really (too) short trip of only 3 weeks, I´ve seen and experienced a lot of things. I made wonderful memories and I totally fell in love with Japan .... but there are also some points that I don´t like about Japan.
I´ll try to elaborate this a bit more in this entry.
First of all my expectations weren´t that high. I knew that everyone of us is like: ZOMG JAPAN THE GREATEST COUNTRY EVER!
I was ready to be disappointed, because I feared it wouldn´t be what I´ve expected. Of course it wouldn´t be like the Japan we all get to know from anime/manga, drama/movies etc.
For those of you who still don´t know. I went there for 3 weeks. 2 of them together with hesaki and one week alone. That last week I stayed at the house of a Japanese female friend of mine. She´s the same age as me and I got to know her here in Germany. She was an au pair in the same town I live in. So I could stay with her family for that last week and it was GREAT!
As you can see I didn´t do the "normal tourist thing" ^^;;;; I really got to know various sides of Japan in this short time.
Hm. I don´t really know where to start. I guess I´ll start with the flight.
It was my first flight EVER!!!! I was not nervous or so, in fact I was very tired, but couldn´t sleep.
Each passenger had an own small tv screen in front of his/her seat, so hesaki and me were busy watching stuff and playing around or chatting with each other XD
Because I was busy with my diploma thesis all of the time I missed all the movies in the cinemas. That´s why I was very happy to see Spiderman 3 in the plane XDDDDDD ... Ahem. It was English dubbed with Dutch subtitles (yeah it was a Dutch airline, that´s why XDD) .... It was pretty interesting because Dutch is not SOOOO different from German.
(I still think it´s funny that the German "Danke" ist "bedankt" in Dutch XDDD *giggle*)
I also watched Blood Diamond, this time with German dub, hohoho~ ... and I started to watch Hula Girls (yah, yah, that Japanese movie with Engl. subs) .... but it wasn´t THAT great, so I stopped after ... 20 minutes or so.
The food was yummie. (yah I like food in general XD) We heard there would be Teriyaki and I was really looking forward to it, but ...... when the stewardess came to us, there was no Teriyaki left ;o; .... all the Japanese wanted that as well obviously XDDDD
Dinner.
Breakfast.
Which brings me to the next topic: There were like 98% Japanese in that plane!!!! IT WAS SOOOO GREAT!!!!! Almost NONE Europeans XDDD The guy sitting next to us was Japanese as well. Unfortunately pretty old and not handsome at all XD .. but who cares? XDDDD
It already felt like Japan in that plane! (*___*) ... There was an UBER-cute steward ... a Japanese uber-cute steward!!!!! Unfortunately not on our side, but HUHUHUHuuuu~ ;o; ..... *drools*
Ahem~ ....
It was very interesting for me to sit in a plane, it was my first time anyway. So at the beginning I sticked to the window and was like: UWOOAAAH!!!!!! all of the time XDDD Yah, yah like a little child XDDDD
View out of the plane. Gorgeous, nee? ^-^;
We already knew that it would be hot in Japan, but we didn´t expect THAT!!!!!!
It was pretty cold in Germany when we left and I brought even winter clothes and a warm coat with me. People told me it would soon get only a little bit warmer than in Germany over there ... and a little bit warmer than Germany this time of the year usually IS COLD (right now we have around 8°C).
At first I was disappointed because it was cloudy at Kansai airport and I thought that it would be not soooo warm, but UWOAH!!!!! I almost died when leaving the plane it was so damn fuc******* hot!!!!!!! (~_~) ....... And then carrying all of our luggage through this unknown heat ... that was really tiresome .. besides the fact that we were already awake for over 24 hours and it was only 10am in Japan, so we had to stay awake for another 11 hours or so (T_____T)
Hello Kansai, here we come!
... but of course we were so thrilled, so it was okay ^^; Although hesaki fell asleep in the express that brought us from Kansai airport to Kyoto station (^^;;;) ... while I was freezing like HELL!!!! Yeah FREEZING!!!
Why? ... Because ... (everyone that ever was in Japan will know): those evil, evil, but lovely (yah I do not make sense) AIR CONS!!!!!! (T_____________T)
German people are not used to stuff like that!!!!!!! (T___T) ... Outside so hot ... you´re sweating and all ... your hair gets wet and with this you go into a department store or a train and DADAAAAN~ air con with 15°C is on its way. I thought I would get sick within one day, but that didn´t happen luckily.
At first I thought those Japanese are totally nuts, everyone would get sick this way. But honestly it´s so hot outside you absolutely need air con EVERYWHERE!!!
So I love and hate them at the same time XDDDDDD
Something we also recognized pretty soon was that Japanese trains are REALLY (we already heard about that) on time! And not only that. Before you can get on the train (at least for larger ones like limited express stuff) there will be cleaning personal going into the train and cleaning everything. We were REALLY astonished (speaking of "Deutsche Bahn" and such XDDDD *coughs*) .. soo cool!!!! And the coolest thing ever: You can change the directions of your seats (so that you face the driving direction) with only one grip ..... but we still don´t know how that works, we´ve only seen other people doing it, but SOOOO COOOOOL!!! XDDDDDD Ahem.
hesaki was really astonished and giggling because the railway official who is going through the train and controls your tickets stood still at the end of each wagon and bowed down XDDDDDDD I already knew stuff like that, but seeing it with my own eyes was ..... great ^-^ Haaah~ ... I already miss that :/
Umm~ what was a bit difficult because our luggage was heavy and we were HELL TIRED was finding our hotel in Kyoto .. or not really finding it, but getting there. XDDDDD
But that was the only time we had problems and it was really only because of the heat, the heavey luggage and us being uber-tired.
Other than that it was not difficult at all to travel around in Kyoto!
The cheapest and most uncomplicated way to travel around in Kyoto is by bus!!!!! It´s really, really easy ^-^;
And I miss those busses. You get on the bus at the "back door" and you get out at the front door, there paying the bus driver. There´s a little machine where you can throw your money in. I reccomend you always have enough coins with you, but it´s also no pro to change you money at that machine (it just takes longer ;)).
Our hotel in Kyoto was really good. No complaints. We had internet access there our room was small, but large for Japanese standards and of course we had an air con in the room XDDD ... This was the only hotel where we didn´t need the air con at night. We could open the window and it was cold enough and not loud outside (^^;) ... Maa~ it was Kyoto, y'know XDDDD
Speaking of hotels. Here´s the obligatory toilet photo(s) XDDDD
Japanese style toilet. I somehow managed to NEVER use this one XDDDDD
Western style toilet with those funny buttons, but I was too afraid to push and use them XDDDDD you never know, right? XD
If you use toilets in Japan it´s almost impossible to wash your hands properly after that. Most of the time there is no soap and no tissues at all!
I knew about the tissues, so I always brought my own, but no soap ... *sigh* (T___T) ....
BUT some toilets had a turbo dryer (we have dryers like this as well, but your hands never get dry). With this one they will get dry in an instant, totally benri!! <333
The weather was hot every day .... and soon we changed into little Japanese ourselves, meaning we bought fans to fan fresh air in our faces and we used umbrellas although it was not raining at all. A lot of Japanese had really gorgeous parasols with them. Others had gloves and hats and various stuff to cover their skin. It really looked strange to us. Especially older women on their bicycles tend to wear strange stuff to cover their skin from the sun XDDDDDD
Speaking of bycicles: OH GOD THAT´S WHAT I DEFINITELY HATE ABOUT JAPAN!!!!
I always thought that .. when it comes to traffic and DANGEROUS traffic we´re talking about Italy .. but HELL NO Japan is more dangerous!!!!!!
Those cyclists are really, really dangerous!!!!!! They have bells, but nobody uses them. I guess Japanese people think you have eyes in the back of your head as well, but NO WE DO NOT HAVE!!!!!
Furthermore especially the teenagers are typing stuff on their cellphones or reading books AND listening to music AND/OR smoking while driving their bike. Erm. HELLO??????!!!! ..... Oh well. So what we heard often were the breaks of bycicles, because Japanese cyclists tend to knock down each other ... at least almost.
The streets in Kyoto were very narrow, so cyclists and pedestrians had to share the streets which was ... UAH .. dangerous XD ... and it was really getting on our nerves XDDDD ....
The cars were not better! I think Japan has no traffic rules at all XDDDD ... or the police doesn´t care much XD ..... ahem.
What was interesting was: There were TONS of different taxis. In Germany there´s only ONE taxi company, but in Japan there must be like 1234234234??!! And I´ve heard even private run taxis are allowed!!!!!
Those taxi drivers also drive like little devils.
I´m really happy that we weren´t involved in a car accident.
Another interesting fact was of course left-hand traffic, cuz in Germany we drive on the right (hehe *coughs*) side ;)
I heard (but totally didn´t recognize) that ONLY in Osaka they drive on the right side. WTF??!! XDDDDDD
Nihon no shingo ha tori ga arimasu yo!!!!! Japanese traffic lights have birds. REALLY!!!!!!
Almost EVERY traffic light in Japan makes some kind of noise when it becomes green ... err .. BLUE!!!! Yeah blue. I already knew that before going to Japan, but finally I had chance to make fun of it XDDDD
Although Japanese traffic lights are green like prolly everywhere else as well, they say it´s BLUE!!! *lol* XDDDD ... Japanese children also ask why it´s blue (aoi) and not green (midori). S.o. explained to me that the former kanji for green was similar to the one of blue??!!! But I can´t remember exactly (^^;;;) ....
Not only the traffic lights, but everything as well makes noises XDDDDD
You will really get paranoid after some time. (and Akiba is the worst of them all XDDD)
All the time you hear voices coming from ... various things around you XDDD It´s hilarious!!!
Especially in Tokyo in the pedestrian zones with tons of department stores. Everything makes noises. There are even people with megaphones promoting their shops XDDDD SOOOOOOO cute!!!
In Germany this would never be possible or allowed!
And let´s not talk about pachinko halls! I didn´t go inside of one, but as soon as you´re passing by and the door opens you´ll get deaf!!! It´s sooooooooooooooooooo loud (T______T)
Okay back to the heat.
There are vending machines EVERYWHERE!!! Every 10 meters there´s one and I do NOT lie, it´s the truth XDDDD ... but concerning the heat, it´s absolutely neccessary! And I´ve come to like those little ones ^-^; They´re really benri (convenient).
But more convenient are of course the conbinis (coming from: convenient store ;)).
You can buy everything (okay ALMOST everything) you need there and it´s cheap as well!!!!
Almost every day I bought a bento there. This was s.th. I was looking forward to a looooooooooooooong time, so I really enjoyed eating a bento almost every day (*_____*) I totally miss those conbinis now.
More about the food and stuff will follow in another entry soon btw.
Japanese stores are open very long and even on Sunday. I don´t know about other countries but in Germany apart from gas stations everything has closed and you can´t buy stuff!
I really liked that fact, although it was REALLY strange to see people working on Sunday like it was a normal weekday (^^;;;;)
On the other hand temples and stuff closed all VERY early. Most of the time around 4pm. WTF???!!!! .... Especially in Kyoto you couldn´t really go out at night, there was NOTHING and even bars closed very early. Not that I cared much, cuz we were very tired at night, so we went to bed pretty early (^^;) .....
Everyone kept telling me that Japan is so expensive, but I don´t think so. Food for example wasn´t that expensive. And also my fandom stuff was MUCH more cheaper than I thought it would be.
On the other hand there´s nothing like a discounter, especially not for clothes!!! Japanese prefer brands it seems. Prada, adidas and the likes EVERYWHERE!!!! So if you want to buy clothes or accessoires or stuff ... it will be expensive!!!!
I had to buy a new suitcase there. When I asked a hotel employee where to find a cheap suitcase (meaning like around 40-50€ which is not sooooooo difficult to find in Germany), he laughed and said that I won´t find s.th. that cheap in Japan. He bought his suitcase in Europe as well for this reason.
Ha .. haha -___- .... so I managed to find a suitcase for a bit more than 9000Yen (~55Euro?!), although it was smaller than the one I wanted to buy, but oh well.
What I want to say is that Japanese really like quality stuff it seems *sigh*
Something else I didn´t know about Japan and I was a bit shocked about that: Tussenhausen hoch 10!!! (sorry I´ll try to explain in English now XDDD)
There were TONS of young girls (and boys!!!) who were very fashion-addicted, but not really in a positive way. The girls were always refreshing their make-up in the toilets or the trains .... I always thought Italian girls were the most fashion-addicted people, but HELL NO!!!! The Japanese are without a doubt!!!!
Almost ALL of the girls wore high heels, very HIGH high heels ..... and that not only in the city, but also when going to temples or climbing hills or whatever, just looking at them hurt my feet (T_____T) THEY ARE TOTALLY NUTS!!!!
They combine some really strange colors .. at least some of them, well other countries, other taste, nee? XDDDD
What I like about Japan is that EVERYONE had about 241234123123 phonestraps on their cellphones. I wonder how they still were able to hold them, they must have been heavy XDDD
But not only young girls, EVERYONE HAS THEM!!! If a male teenager had a pink phonestrap here in Germany, everyone would laugh or say he´s gay, I guess. But in Japan even SALARYMEN had cute phonestraps, REALLY!!!! That would never be possible here, but I loved it ^-^;;;
Hmmm, almost every student had also s.th. on their school bags, mostly cute plushies (again the boys as well).
But I can understand why. They have all the same bags as it seems to be part of the school uniform stuff, so with a plushie it becomes more personal, I guess.
The trains and the people.
Ohhhh yeah. At first hesaki and me didn´t recognize, but Japanese are able to stand in line and form those lines really FAST!!!!
So while we were still chatting at the station, they already lined up. When the train came and we stood up to get into the train, we were really surprised to suddenly see 123123123 people standing in line XDDD but you´ll get used to it and stand in line as well ;P
In the trains it´s really interesting (when it´s NOT rush hour! - but as tourist you can avoid this time). Most people fall asleep INSTANTLY! It´s really mysterious! And they wake up at their station. How do they do it???? <~ *envious*
hesaki adapted it and fell asleep in the train as well sometimes XDDD and I have to admit that in the 3rd week of my stay I got sleepy as well from time to time. It´s really a mysterium, I guess XDDDD
People who are not sleeping, play around with their cellphones or read books (or manga ^^V). Only veeeeeeeeery few people have a conversation with each other. It seems that Japanese people tend to isolate themselves from others, at least in the train.
Driving with trains or finding your way around (in Tokyo) is not difficult. I was afraid that I won´t be able to find my way, but it´s REALLY easy!!! Even at huge stations like Ikebukuro or Shinjuku (but do not use it as meeting point -______-;;; ....) *lol*
Everywhere are kaisatsu (ticket machines) where you can buy your ticket for the train or the subway.
Above are maps, so you can see which line to take and how much it´ll will cost! In Tokyo there were some maps only in Kanji (I was really surprised because in much smaller towns they always had English letters as well), but I could read at least 1 Kanji of the stations, so usually I knew where to go. It was really no problem at all.
If you´re in Tokyo, you´re probably using the famous Yama(no)te (why the hell the no? XD yah yha yamate is not possible XDDD) line. It´s light green and you can go to Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ueno, Tokyo etc.
I often used the Keihin Tohoku line (because we stayed near Shinagawa and after that in Urawa, Saitama).
But it´s the same for all lines! And it´s the same for subway as well. No pro, no pro. And if you look really helpless there will always be a polite Japanese person who´s asking you in bad English "May I help you?" or "Where do you want to go?" XDDDD
Most of the time I answered in Japanese, so that they would answer in Japanese, because HONESTLY most Japanese have a really weird pronunciation XDDDD I couldn´t understand what they were saying, so talking in Japanese was really easier.
Do you need Japanese when going to Japan? Hmmmmm. It´s definitely a plus and makes things easier, but I think you´ll get through with English as well. But not everywhere!
Well and for me, staying at a Japanese family´s house, of course I needed Japanese or otherwise we only would have remained silent XDDDDDD
The people at hotels or stations usually can understand English and speak it more or less. If you want to do s.th. special, you should at least know some words.
We wanted to burn our photos on cd and therefore went to internet cafés. But in both (Kyoto and Tokyo) cafes we went to, they couldn´t understand English XD ... and it was difficult for me to explain what exactly we wanted to do, because using words like usb, cable, burn on cd (yah yah meanwhile I know all of the words XD) was difficult ... but through this we got to know interesting people, but that´s another story.
... which reminds me of s.th. else I didn´t know until now: A Japanese girl was talking with one of the employees of the internet café, both stayed beside us, because they were afraid that s.th. might not work within the burning process or whatever. So those 2 were talking in Japanese with each other. I was listening to them and they did not know that I could understand what they said XDDD Ahem.
Well thing is they said we were both beautiful (ehm?) and had such beautiful long noses (ahmmm????!!!!).
Later I asked Yumi-chan (the Japanese friend of mine) what that´s about and she told me that Japanese people all have pretty small noses (noooooooooo Tomaaaaaaaaaaa noooot! ;__; ... XDDD *coughs*) and they want long noses like foreigners have!!!!
I NEVER KNEW!!! That was really news to me.
Well I guess you always want to have what you can´t have, right?
In Germany we think "Stubsnasen" (small noses) are totally cute XDDDDD ..... And NO hesaki and me do not have long noses, they are normal. But after that I payed attention to the noses of Japanese people and it´s true, most of them have really small noses ^^;; ... I think especially for adult males this might be a problem?! ^^; .. but as a woman isn´t it good to have a cute and small nose? Oh well, guess it´s really that you want what you can´t have ^^; Like wanting to be blond when you´re brown-haired and stuff ^^;;;;
Really interesting though.
Let´s get to a related topic: (which you prolly already knew about): Japanese women with NON-Asian (often ugly) guys EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!
I knew about that, but seeing it live and sometimes even WITH children and sooooooooooooo many couples like that was really ... UWOAH ....
On the contrary NOT EVEN A SINGLE JAPANESE GUY WITH A NON-ASIAN WOMAN!!!! ;o; ........ Nande? Doushite? ;_________; .......
We found 1 or 2 Asian guys with European girlfriends, but those where prolly not Japanese, but Chinese or s.th. *sigh*
Yumi-chan explained it to me (but that´s only HER opinion, so it´s prolly not the whole truth):
Japanese girls like European or rather non-Asian guys, because they are more ... let´s say dominant. Yumi-chan told me that ALMOST all Japanese guys are too gentle and are like "Where do you want to go?" "What do you want to eat?" .... like letting the female decide everything and Japanese girls think that non-Japanese guys are more like "Okay, let´s go there!"
I personally think that´s not true. I know a few German guys who have Japanese wives or girlfriends and those are the typical "nice guys" which are EXACTLY like the described Japanese guys letting the woman decide everything, no???!!!!!
Oh well ....
And why won´t Japanese guys have non-Japanese girlfriends? I do not know, perhaps they are afraid of non-Japanese girls? If it´s true that Japanese guys are like "Where do you want to go?" and then there comes your typical European woman with "Okay little boy, first let´s go there and then there and then there!!!!" ... they might be afraid of women like that???? I really have no clue XDDDD
hesaki and me realized that most of the Japanese guys won´t look at you. It´s not like in Italy or Spain for example where really EVERY guy is flirting with you. I don´t know if they really are not interested or if they´re too shy?!?!
Well of course there were some that looked at us and that made us really happy XDDDDD but most of them ignore you if you´re not Japanese. I´d like to hear other girl´s experiences on this please!!!! (~_~)>
And please don´t get me wrong it´s not like I´m an attention whore or s.th. like that, but it was REALLY noticeable that they were ALL ignoring you XDDDDD *lol*
And regarding the fact that foreigners are really rare, it´s really strange that they don´t look. Children always stare at you like you´re an alien or s.th. like that XD
Everywhere you go it´s like 98% Japanese or at least Asian people!!!!! You seldom see a lot of non-Asian/non-Japanese tourists or foreigners in general!!!! Okay perhaps in Asakusa or in Enoshima (where a lot of foreigners live and work).
So while we were still in Kyoto we really stared at 2 guys our age who got on the bus back then, because they were NOT ASIAN. They noticed and immediately came over to us to talk to us. Totally strange considering the fact that most Japanese guys were ignoring us XDDDDD
Those 2 were American with your typical American slang and ... yah ... don´t wanna talk about it *coughs* (T__T) *headdesk* They were flirting like crazy, but somehow it was good, cuz we really thought we had become ugly aliens or whatever XDDDDD
We still have a very funny way to pronounce "Roppongi Hills" because of those guys XDDDDD English people trying to pronounce Japanese words is always funny XDD *giggles* ... Ermm, sorry, please don´t kill me! XDDDDD Ahem.
Another interesting thing are Japanese supermarkets. Especially fruits .. they are all SO BIG!!!!! The apples ... soooo big ... like WOAH!!!!
I´ve bought one and it was soooo damn yummie! Okay, German apples are very good as well, but not SO BIG!!! Other stuff was big as well while tomatos (XD) and the likes were smaller than here in Europe. Very interesting indeed.
In larger supermarkets there were even ELECTRONIC price signs ... and everywhere small tv screens between the goods showing commercial spots and stuff, sugooooi (*o*)
Japanese sweets and snacks are VERY different from what we have here in Germany. I really wanted to try EVERYTHING, but that was just not possible. So I went for everything with macha (japanese green tea) in it XDDD .. oh and I LOOOOOVE senbei!!!! ;o; ... I already miss it *sigh*
And I came to like Calpis (soda) *drools* (^-^;) .....
And in the restaurants you always get water for free!!!! As much as you want! So usually you don´t have to order extra drinks (unless you want to drink beer or cola so badly XDDD) that´s SOOOO cool!
Although the portions you get for really little money are HUGE and very filling!!!! Usually (depending on the meal) you always get miso soup and rice as an extra. Not so in Germany ... hohoho .. how I miss that service and that delicious food for only some yens ;o; .....
If you´re in a Japanese restaurant you get the bill on your table and when you´re finished you got to the exit where´s a cash desk, there you pay. At first we didn´t know XDDDDD
But I guess that´s it for the food, there will be an extra entry anyway XDDDDD
Just one side note: McDonalds and Starbucks EVERYWHERE!!! XDDD So if you absolutely don´t like Japanese food (which I will never understand because it´s the best food ever) then you won´t have to starve XDDD
Oooooh and not to forget that you could find your beloved stars and anime charas like EVERYWHERE you looked!!!! Truly paradise!!!!! ^-^;;;;
(there will be an extra entry for this as well XDDDDD)
And what´s strange for German people: BASEBALL everywhere (^^;)
And almost everywhere a LOT of people (at least in Tokyo).
This was in Shibuya.
And of course school uniforms everywhere (*__*)V
I guess that´s it for now.
You can say I really loved Japan more that I expected and .... I wanna go back there as soon as possible. Preferably in spring and autumn to see all those gorgeous colors (*____*)V
So in short for those who still want to know:
1st week: Kyoto (with Osaka, Himeji etc.)
2nd week: Tokyo
3rd week: Saitama
After that I had to return by myself, because hesaki had to left after the 2nd week. So it was my first flight and I was all alone XDDDD
First problem: Both my luggage and my hand luggage were to heavy ... I had to get rid of 5kg in total ;___; ... luckily Yumi-chan´s mother was with me so I gave her all that stuff and they send it back to me (^^;;;;;;) *sigh*
Before that I already had to send 2 packages home, cuz I bought too much (^^;;) ... Maaa~ my luggage was too heavey to begin with. I brought TOO MUCH stuff with me that I didn´t need. Next time I´ll know better. Furthermore you can wash your stuff everywhere. We had laundry machines in our hotels, it was no problem at all!!!!!
In the plane 2 old male Japanese were sitting beside me. I was chatting with them a lot, although it´s a bit difficult to understand old people. They don´t speak very clearly ^^;;; .... because I was sitting between tons of Japanese people, we had a Japanese stewardess. The first times she asked me stuff in English, but I answered in Japanese all of the time, so later she gave up using English when talking to me and used Japanese XDDDDD~
People asked me how much money I did spent. I haven´t calculated it yet, but I brought ALL the vouchers with me, so as soon as I´ve time, I´ll let you know (^^;;;) ......
Uff ... a long entry. Don´t ask how long it took me to finish this one (T___T) ... somehow I don´t feel like making the next 234234234 entries (T___T) ... so much work ;___; .... oh well~
Hope you´ll be looking forward to more (hopefully with more photos and less text then XDDD)