Things we noticed about Japan- written by Chelsea, Nathan and Parker

We loved Japan.  Here are some of the things we noticed about this country:

• There are no public garbage cans- you have to bring your garbage home with you
• You can't walk while eating.  You have to sit down.
• Breakfasts are very different- rice, salad, fish and miso soup and more
• More English than we expected
• People are very polite and quiet
• Streets and alleys are very small
• Cars and trucks are much smaller than home and they have flat fronts
• Everything is so squashed
• Dad bonks his head on lots of doors
• Portions are very small, except for ramen soup
• We loved the izakaya (pub) food, ramen and some sushi
• Grocery stores: you pay for your food and then package it at a separate counter
• Gas stations: gas-filling handles hang from the ceiling 
• Lots of corner stores
• Lots of bikes on sidewalks- no helmets!
• Cars drive on the other side of the road
• Toilets are all clean and have fancy buttons- even at the subway and grocery stores
• Japan is very, very clean
• We didn't see anybody wearing sandals
• There is no trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en but lots of decorations
• Everything is white bread- no whole wheat anywhere
• No salsa and tortillas to be found
• All cereal is sugar-coated
• Fruit is expensive
• They have 1 yen, 5 yen, 10 yen, 50 yen 100 yen and 500 yen coins.  100 yen is about $1
• We took trains, buses, trolley cars, subways and rental cars to get around
• There are vending machines everywhere
• We liked buying our train tickets from the machines
• We had to take our shoes off at the inns and even in some restaurants
• There are lots and lots of restaurants.  Some of them could only fit ~10-20 people.
• There are cool water fountains programmed with lights and music
• The lights in the hotel room turn off when the hotel key card is taken out
• There are lots of different flavours of ice cream (bamboo, green tea, cherry blossom, gold leaf and chestnut) 
• Some things about japanese history were very surprising (like harakiri- honourable suicide)
• The castles were very old and very unique
• Bamboo grows crazy fast and crazy tall