Japan is not Korea

First things I noticed about Japan...

1) People are quiet! Very quiet. There are signs in the bathroom asking you to close the door quietly. And they don't talk much. On the train from the airport to Lindsay's house we may have been the only ones talking the entire 2 hour ride.

2) First stare, then ignore. That's how you deal with anything out of the ordinary, like for example, a Western person. No little kids or middle school kids coming up to you to show you their English. No rockstar treatment at all. I miss Korea.

3) Things are really clean. I was at a coffee shop yesterday and as soon as I got up a girl was there to wipe up the mark on the counter from the cup and pick up the straw wrapper than had fallen on the ground. There are also 6 or 7 different containers to get rid of trash from "small metal objects" to "plastic wrappings."

4) No touching policy, except for the trains where all bets are off and you will definitely be shoved up next to someone, or several people. Apparently there's a problem with groping. Because of the no touching policy they have trays where you put your money and then they put the change there, like a bank teller kind of, so that there's no chance of possible touching. Also people make funny shapes with their bodies in order to not bump into each other. Apparently other people exist here. I miss Korea.

5) When I said they are quiet that is until you walk in or out of a store, restaurant, etc, where every single staff member greets you, pretty loudly. I was definitely caught off guard the first couple of times.

6) It's really expensive!!! Meals have been no less than $9, beer is $5, cabs start at $6.60 (haven't taken one yet) and the trains are not cheap. I must have gone through like at least $150 so far. Oh boy. I miss Korea.

Those are the first impressions. I'm in Yokohama which is just outside Tokyo, but still on the train lines. This is where Lindsay lives. She lives in a house with 5 other people. An Australian lady who runs the English school Lindsay works at, the Australian lady's brother who also works at the English school, a really funny girl named Sarah from Idaho who also works at the school and then two Japanese guys. One who never leaves his room, the other who is on a business trip, neither who work at the school. The school staff consists of... the four people who live in the house and two Japanese secretaries. Quite an intense community! But it seems to all work out nicely.

Thursday night I watched Lindsay try to fill out a form to get a membership at her local video store. Wow, she did really well. She studied Japanese for two years at UW. I think even with two years I would have just stared at it and then thrown it away and decided I didn't actually need movies. Then I tried to get a Sudoku book. The plane ride over they had some in the magazine and I finished them all and wanted more. I thought this was going to be easy. Sudoku... Japanese, right? Guess not. No one had a clue what I was saying. We finally were pointed in the direction of the crossword puzzles and found what I was looking for. It said, in Japanese, "Number place." That's not fair.

Friday (yesterday) I went to Harajuku because I felt like Gwen Stefani would have wanted me to. It was pretty fun. I bought a pair of used red low top chuck taylors for $10. Everyone was so bright and colorful and I was wearing my dark blue jeans with a dark blue track jacket and black skate shoes. I was the anti-Harajuku girl. Harajuku is pretty much the place with the cheap thrift shops, the expensive thrift shops and then actual expensive clothing too. And everyone looks cool. You have to be wearing something plaid, something ripped, something with stripes, something camo, something with random English words, something baggy, something tight, at minimum 2 belts, 3 or 4 layers on top, 2 or 3 layers on bottom, a REALLY cute hat and either cowboy boots (stiletto cowboy boots if you're a girl) or chuck taylors in some pattern that only you have. All at the same time. This goes for boys and girls. But if you're a girl you better find yourself an equally attractive boy to go along with your outfit. And you have to be really skinny and Asian.

I went to this place behind the Harajuku station and got yelled at a lot. It was a shrine I think, but I'm not sure if I even actually got to it. First I got yelled at sitting down on some steps. Then for trying to go to the side of room to get a look from a different angle, then for going out the wrong exit then for not leaving when it was closing. Wow. I never knew I was so bad. Japanese people were getting yelled at too for all the same things so I didn't take it personally.

I got dinner (Caesar salad with a poached egg on top!) at an internet cafe where all the buttons were off and I couldn't get to blogger. Ahhh!!! After that I went to the nicest Tower Records I have ever seen. Wow. They actually had a sign that said no pictures, otherwise I would have taken a ton. There were 6 floors and probably 50 listening stations on each floor. I saw Japanese albums for Catch 22, Army of Freshman, The Beautiful Girls and Ashlee Simpson! See here is where I have a dilemma. Should I buy any of it? First, I don't have a CD player. Second, I don't have my computer to put them on my ipod. So for any kind of music listening purposes it's pointless. BUT, it's bands I'm friends and albums I might want anyway, AND it has a little spine covering the real one that has some Japanese on it. And I can send it home and listen to it when I get home. But then couldn't I also buy a Japanese import online if I really want the Japanese version? I can't come up with a good answer. I didn't buy anything and figured if I change my mind I'll probably be back in another Tower Records before I leave Japan.

Today is Saturday and I'm now going to put the computer down and go to Tokyo! Lindsay and Sarah are at work for the day but tonight is going to be our big "Going out in Tokyo!!!!!!" night. Pictures to follow....