Our initial impression of Japan (after 10 days).

We have now been in Japan for 15 days which puts us past the halfway point of our trip and so, we think it is time to share with you our initial impressions of Japan and its people. 

These points are in no particular order of importance and we must stress that thirteen days does not make us experts; but these are our personal impressions:

1. Politeness - we really feel that the Japanese are the most polite and helpful people we have ever encountered. You will never see anyone pushing their way into a line ahead of you; they wait patiently for their turn. On an escalator, you will see everyone standing over to one side, in an absolute straight line, allowing an open passageway for those who wish to climb the escalator. When you ask anyone at an information booth a question, the answer is always accompanied by a smile and a thank you. And if they do not know the answer, they will try to find it for you. If there is a language issue, the information person will oftentimes leave their post to come around and either direct you or actually walk you toward your intended direction, and such service is always accompanied by a deep bow. 

2. Buying products at a store - When it comes to paying at a store, you never hand over your cash or credit card to the cashier. Rather, you place it in the payment tray in front of the cashier. And then the cashier will actually show you the required amount that you have to pay for the items purchased, they will then count out your change and place it, using two hands and a bow, back in the tray in front of you. If you purchased items of clothing, the cashier will carefully fold all the items you purchased and place them in your shopping bag. We have never seen anyone here just throw the purchased items into a shopping bag like they do in many stores in Canada. Btw, this folding of clothes occurs not just in higher end shoppes, but even in discount stores, like H & M and the amazing Japanese chain Uniqlo (soon opening in Toronto).

3. Tipping - We have never seen anyone accept a tip here. We had heard that taxis did not accept tips and we can vouch from experience that this is true, but we assumed that a tour guide would accept a tip. Well, we tried to tip the tour guide  and she was insulted and adamantly refused to accept any tip. Even when we told her that the tip was for her granddaughter, the tip was vehemently refused. We have stayed mostly in Airbnb apartments, but this past week, we stayed two nights in a hotel in Hiroshima and one night in Kyoto. Both were what one would describe as upscale four star hotels. In both cases, we were greeted at the taxi by a bell hop (in one of the cases, a young very slim woman) who lifted our heavy suitcases out of the trunk, stood by us as we checked in, accompanied us to our rooms and when we offered a tip (assuming that in a name brand chain hotel the rules would be different), again the tip was refused.

4. Safety - we feel totally safe in Japan. We are told that while one has to take the same kind of precautions that you would take under normal rules of travel, nevertheless we feel safer. Unlike places like Barcelona and Rio where there were warnings everywhere about pickpockets, and as such you were always checking to make sure you still had everything you started out with in the morning, here there is no such feeling. We were in a pretty section of Kyoto a few days ago and had to climb a rather steep path to get to the Monkey Park of Arashiyama, and there was a woman with a baby who was doing the same. She left her stroller with a large bag (assume diaper bag) at the bottom of the path with no second thoughts. I believe that there is simply a culture of trust here that exists in very few places in the world. 

5. Size of families - We see very small families here. We are told that the average is under two children per family. And as a result you rarely see any couple with more than one child or baby. And unlike Israel, where you can see parents walking with many more than one child (and not just in religious neighbourhoods), and where you can see pregnant women everywhere; here, we rarely see pregnant women.

6. Animals/pets - on the other hand, what we have seen here that we have seen nowhere else in the world is the treatment of pets. When we saw our first woman pushing a baby stroller with a dressed up dog inside, we thought it was weird.

Then we saw more, and then walking through a large upscale department store (think Holt Renfrew) when we saw an entire section selling dog and cat strollers and specialized outfits for pets, we knew that this was part of a culture. And the store was busy with shoppers. The prices for the pets being sold in this department store ranged up to $6000 for a pet dog! 

                        

7. Dress : And while on the subject of dress, the Japanese have to be the neatest dressers in the world. And tzniut (modesty) of the highest degree. When I mentioned this to the Chabad Rabbi in Kobe this past Shabbat, he said, "mamash chareidim"! While you see many young Japanese girls with skirts above the knee, the vast majority of women wear modest clothing. With sleeves and hardly ever with cleavage of any type showing. Men, too, are dressed much more formally than in North America or in Europe. Rarely do you see torn jeans, grungy T-shirts or an unkempt appearance. What you see a lot in men's clothing is suits, white shirts and ties. No dress down Fridays for the Japanese.

And uniforms everywhere! Construction workers wearing the company uniform. Uniformed service providers. Taxi drivers are all dressed in suits, ties and white gloves! And students all have uniforms. Boys in suits and ties and girls in crisp white shirts with jackets, skirts and the cutest little hats anywhere. Hair combed properly...absolutely amazing to see. 

8. Tattoos - continuing with the appearance of the Japanese, the tattoo which has become a common sight in most places that we visited, is almost non existent here in Japan. In fact, it is frowned upon and we are told that many of the bath houses (or onsens) that are all over this country, will actually refuse entry to someone with tattoos as it will offend the other patrons. We even heard of a teacher who was refused a job because one of his tattoos was visible.

9. Taking off shoes - we were told that one has to remove shoes and use provided slippers everywhere in Japan and as a result, Fran did not take her laced running shoes on this trip. Well, not totally true. What you do see is the request when we are staying in Airbnb apartments that we remove shoes once inside the apartment and use the slippers provided. The apartment we are in now goes one extra step. There is a special set of slippers for the bathroom. So you remove shoes and put on slippers to enter the apartment. You then change slippers when going to the bathroom. 

Yesterday we went to Uniqlo and had to try on some items in the dressing room. The attendant asked us to remove our shoes to enter the dressing room. You could tell which change room was empty by the absence of shoes outside its entrance. 

10. Cleanliness - all of this neatness and politeness described above leads to our next statement that Japan is the cleanest place we have ever been to (next to my mother's house, that is😀)! Everything is immaculate. The streets are clean but more important, they are neat; which means that you will not find shoddy infrastructure. The sidewalks are not cracked, they get repaired immediately. You seldom see any garbage or wrappers in the streets. People are constantly cleaning. Even in areas with very old housing, there is never any hint of neglect. Storefronts are always neat and items in store windows are nicely displayed. 

We walked through the shopping streets in both Kyoto and Kobe; very long streets with stores on both sides, usually covered by a canopy, which in other cities would be the Shuk (market) experience. Even here everything is neat and neatly displayed. In many cases, when you pick up an item to purchase, the shop owner will replace your item with a new one from the back, neatly wrapped and then package it for you. 

11. Keeping kosher and the price of fruit and veggies - we are eating well, thank God, but keeping kosher in Japan is definitely a challenge. There is almost nothing on the store shelves that you can identify and even if you recognize the logo, (e.g., Snickers, Haagen Dazs), you cannot read the ingredients or the country of manufacture. Even things that we take for granted in most countries in the world, like buying a box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, is a non starter, because we have not found it or any other cereals on the grocery shelves. It is not part of the average Japanese diet. It is available at Costco Japan, apparently...but that is far away and who needs a huge box when travelling. 

That being said, we are doing well, because we brought with Quaker instant cereals, cans of salmon, tuna and sardines, cold cuts, Meal Mart TV dinners, snacks like granola bars and nuts, instant soups and small jars of condiments like mustard and mayo. So a typical dinner for us is a home made vegetable soup, a TV dinner and a side of fresh vegetables or cooked sweet yams. A typical lunch is egg salad or tuna/salmon salad. And our nosh consists of nuts and fresh fruits. 

And a word about the cost of fruits and vegetables. Expensive! And another word. Beautiful. We can go into a supermarket and buy 2 bananas, three small yams, a few carrots, 6 eggs and an orange or two and the bill is typically $12 to $15. But the quality of the fruits and veggies is amazing. They look like they were handpicked. Blemish free and ripe. We have not yet seen an avocado that is not perfectly ripe. 

The Chabad rabbi and Rebbetzin here in Kobe told us that they were previously posted in Shanghai and there one could buy fruits and veggies for a fraction of Japan's cost and because the labour was so cheap, the Chabad house there could arrange a Shabbat for locals and guests at minimal cost. Here labour and basic food items are much more expensive and the availability of certain items like chicken or meat is severely restricted. As such the menu at Chabad for Shabbat is different and the cost of supplying it is quite high.

12. The Amazing Train and Subway System - all we can say is WOW! We met a couple from NY a few days ago and he has been coming to Japan for years on business. He said that New Yorkers like to think that they have the best subway system in the world. He laughed and said that NY has so much to learn from Japan about how to run a subway and how to integrate the subway, train and bus systems so that they all work in sync. 

Where do we begin in describing the system? Well, first of all, all of our fears about not being able to navigate the system or that the system would be too confusing, were unfounded. All the signs in the stations have both English and Japanese; the electronic ticket machines all have a button for English instructions. And if that does not help make it easier for you, every station we have been in (and they are many) has an attendant who can understand basic English and can explain which train to take and which track it runs on.  

The trains run on time. To the minute. And they are in the station for only a minute or two. The stations are clean and the trains are clean. And because of the sheer volume of people that pass thru the major city stations on a daily basis, there is a major concentration of retail shops in the stations. 

If you are visiting from abroad, you are able to buy a Japan Rail Pass. These passes give you unlimited travel on the JR rail system (there are certain trains that the JR Pass does not include) and if you are going to use the train at least three of four times in the week, the pass is generally a good buy. 

In Tokyo, you can buy a Passmo or Suica Card which you can load up with money and then use it for train travel simply by swiping it across a card reader. You can also use it for 7-11 store purchases. 

There are subway systems in all the major cities and the train system integrates with the subway systems such that if you are in a major city, you are seldom more than a ten minute walk from a station and you therefore can travel all over the country using this highly efficient system. It is clear that if we were living here, there would be little reason to own a car. 

And while many people (perhaps 90% of all people) in the subway are sitting working on their personal devices, you will never find anyone speaking on their phones. We were in a train and suddenly someone's phone rang. He immediately stood up, went to the area between the two cars and only then spoke on his phone. There is a certain level of respect for other people's space that does not exist in our Western society.

13) Jewellery - While women dress nicely in Japan, you rarely see them wearing any jewellery or earrings. And while you do not see too many people with jewellery, you do see many wearing masks on the street or in the subway. These are worn for one of two reasons; allergy issues and not wishing to be exposed to outside germs or because they have a cold or cough and wish to protect others from their germs. Whatever the reason, you cannot miss noticing the number of people wearing masks (more so in Tokyo than in other places we have visited).

14) Wifi - the one area where Japan appears to be lagging the rest of the world is the availability of free wifi connections. In North America, Europe and in Israel, we have had little trouble connecting to free wifi. You can connect almost anywhere. When you walk into a retail store or a restaurant or even in the center of certain cities, you can access free wifi. 

In Japan, other than at Starbucks, you are hard pressed to find free wifi connections. We have not yet figured out why, seeing that Japan is a high tech kind of place. But free wifi is almost impossible to access. As well, they have these passwords that are crazy random combinations of small case and upper case letters and numbers. 

As a result, a number of the places where we rented apartments, provided us with free pocket wifi's. These are little devises which are connected continuously and as a result, you carry them in your pocket and you are always connected. It saves the cost of buying a SIM card. 

So for anyone travelling here who thinks that they can get along with accessing free wifi the way they are used to in North America, forget about it! Either buy a sim card or get one of these pocket wifi devices.

15) Bowing - there is a lot of bowing going on in this country. Where we tend to shake hands when greeting someone, the Japanese bow. It is probably the feature of Japanese etiquette that is noticed immediately by visiting foreigners. Children are taught from a very early age how to bow and companies train their employees how to execute the bow correctly. The longer and deeper the bow, the stronger the emotion and respect expressed. The inferior party bows longer, deeper and more frequently than a superior. 

I observed two business people meeting in a hotel lobby. One bowed and the other responded with a deeper and longer bow. Then the first person returned the bow and it was receiprocated again. This went on for quite some time, until the formalities seemed to suddenly end and the two exchanged business cards, each presenting the other with their card held in two hands (another show of respect) with another bow. It was humorous (to a non Japanese person) to watch (only wish I had my video camera ready); but part of everyday etiquette here. 

16) Bowleggedness - the other thing that we have noticed was a heavy incidence of Bowleggedness here, especially in Japanese women. Just to make sure that we were not being racist, we went to Dr. Google and lo and behold, it is confirmed that there are studies to show that up to 90% of Japanese women are bowlegged. There are many theories; walking in a kimono forces this posture; lack of calcium in the diet; it is considered prettier in this society; we do not know and cannot verify which theory is correct but it is definitely noticeable when you walk down the street among Japanese women. 

17) The Japanese Work Ethic - Perhaps another generality on our part, but in speaking with locals in shul over Shabbat, it was confirmed. The Japanese know how to work. They are given a job and they work diligently at that job. Which means that during work hours there is total dedication to the assigned activity. No distractions, total concentration on performing the task to their best ability. Which creates a level of achievement not seen in other parts of the world.

We were also told and then later noticed that Japanese workers do not check their devices (iPhones, personal computers, Facebook etc) during work hours. You walk into work, you shut off your personal devices, put them away out of sight, and dedicate yourself to the task at hand. 

It is certainly noticeable. There is a level of service here that we have not seen in any other place in the world where we have travelled. 

18) Eagerness to help - Perhaps an extension of the work ethic and service ethic is the eagerness of Japanese people to assist tourists who appear to be lost. Over and over again on this trip, we have encountered individuals who have noticed that we are not sure whether to turn right or left, or we are standing looking perplexed at a very complicated subway map, or where we actually asked someone for directions and they simply drop what they are doing and help us and do not complete their assistance to us until they are sure that we are headed in the right direction. 

On our very first day here, on the way from the airport to our apartment, we had to transfer from a train to a subway and there was a short walk out of the train station to the subway station. We stood looking for a sign and could not see one. A fellow headed in the total opposite direction, walked over to us and asked us if he could help. We told him where we wanted to go. He turned around, headed back in the direction that he had just come from, actually took the luggage from Fran's hand, and walked two blocks and then carried our luggage down a stairway and did not leave until he was totally satisfied that we were safely on our way.

This has happened numerous times. The Japanese are really quite amazing!

19) A few basic facts - 

a) the electric plugs and volts are similar to North America, so you do not need any adapters. 

b) you will not find banks or ATMs on every corner like in North America; but you will find 7-11s everywhere and they all have ATMs that work on the Interac or Visa Plus system, so you can withdraw cash there easily in English.

c) the luggage or package forwarding service here is amazing. It is similar to our UPS, but one of the features that we like is that every 7-11 is an outlet for this company and you can drop your luggage off at 7-11 (which as I said are on every corner), they will give you a tracking number receipt and you are on your way. Quite amazing. 

d) if you decide to go Airbnb like we did, be prepared for very small apartments; much smaller than you are used to, but always immaculately clean. 

e) you might think that eating sushi is a no brainer because there are no kashrut issues with rice and if you stick to raw salmon you are ok. But be careful. a) there may be issues of bishul akum (check with you LOR) and b) we have been told by someone in hashgacha who lived here for many years, that they now add various flavoured additives to rice before cooking. 

We know that this has been a very long post, but we truly hope that it will assist future travellers in understanding and more quickly adapting to the Japanese culture that they will visit.

No, we are not thinking of moving here...but the experience has been great so far....and hopefully will continue for the next 9 days till we head back to Toronto.

All the best

Fran and David

 

Eagerness of people to help and to communicate