CULTURAL NOTES

These are by no means profound, but they are items that stood out to us,
as American travelers. (Some of these may even be properties of big cities
in general, with which we were previously unfamiliar.) In no particular
order (except in which I thought to write them down)...

1) Kimono-wearing

Yes, we did see women walking down the streets (and using the railways) 
wearing traditional kimono. It was mostly older women, but there was the
occasional younger one (though I don't believe I saw any younger than
about 35). The kimono are absolutely gorgeous, in everything from plain
earth tones to brilliant colors with intricate flower designs. They're
extremely expensive to buy (I bought a simple kimono set, complete except
for the elaborate belt that makes a big loop in the back, for around
$200). 

I only saw one man in traditional costume, and that was at our hotel in
Tokyo. He was with a group of women in kimono, so I assume they were all
going to some special event. 

2) High shoes

The current fashion among young women, particularly in Tokyo, appears to
involve high-soled shoes. We're not just talking high heels, though there
are those as well; these girls seem to be walking around with the
equivalent of 3-inch or higher wooden blocks strapped to their feet. We
couldn't believe they were actually balancing on those things, much less
going about their daily commuter business in them. We were constantly (yet
subtly--we hope) pointing out more and more outrageous shoes on those
around us. 

3) Umbrella stands

It rained our first few days in Kyoto, so our first purchases included
decorative umbrellas. We found it quite interesting that, instead of a
coat-check, their hotels and restaurants have umbrella stands for their
patrons. These include rows of little metal gates with flat keys. You
stick the umbrella through the gate so that the handle sticks up, close
the gate, and take the key (which has a number on it). When you leave the
building, you slide the key in, and the gate pops open.

4) Street lights

We found the traffic lights endlessly fascinating. In Kyoto, the
pedestrian walk sign beeps when lit (during times of heavy traffic). 
What's especially cute is that the beeping is different depending on
whether it's the North-South or East-West light. (One makes a sort of
"cuckoo" sound, while the other is like a bird chirping.) Also, some of
their intersections have "countdown" lights. They consist of a pyramid of
little red lights that gradually go dark as you wait for the traffic light
to change. When the last light goes off, the walk sign lights up. 

5) Sugar sticks

At our first breakfast, I was starting to get rather desperate trying to
find the sugar. They had little packets of sugar-substitute, but I
preferred not to use that. We finally realized that the sugar was
contained in little cylindrical packages that resembled short drinking
straws.

6) Bathing

We had the chance to experience Japanese-style bathing at our traditional
inn ("ryokan") in Kyoto. (We wanted to try the public bath, but we were
too jet-lagged the first night and it was raining after that.) In a
Japanese bath, you take off your clothes and leave them in a little basket
in the outer room. Then you go into the inner room, sit on a small stool
over a drain in the floor, and wash yourself with the aid of a faucet with
a maneuverable shower spout. After you're completely clean and all the
soap is washed away, you get into the actual bath, which is rather like a
hot tub, and soak as long as you feel like it. (They actually have a word
for the sick feeling you get if you stay in the bath too long.)

7) Vending machines vs. trash

The Japanese have vending machines everywhere, practically on every
corner, selling everything from soft drinks to fruit juice to iced tea or
coffee to beer to cigarettes. What is so amazing, however, is that the
streets are all completely clean. There is hardly any trash or discarded
cans to be found anywhere. One might suppose this is because there are
handy trash receptacles on every corner as well, but one would have to
look long and hard to *find* any trash cans. We sometimes had to carry any
trash we found ourselves in possession of for blocks before we could
locate anywhere to throw it away.

8) Bedding

At the ryokan, we were provided with traditional Japanese bedding, or
futon. This consisted of a thin (about 1 1/2" thick) cushion, another
thin cushion covered by a sheet, and a fluffy comforter to cover us. The
whole kit and caboodle is folded into thirds during the day, clearing up
the floor space. Despite the fact that the futon looked like a high grade
of sleeping bag, they were extremely comfortable. (In fact, they were more
comfortable than the Western-style beds we had in our modern hotel in
Tokyo.)

9) Cel phones

Everyone, it seemed, had a cel phone. We expected businesspeople to carry
them, but that was by no means all. While we wandered the streets or rode
the trains, cel phones were constantly ringing all around us--even young
schoolgirls had them. It got so that we didn't feel a ride on public
transportation was complete without someone pulling one out.

10) Smoking

The one thing we could have done without was all the smoking. Maybe it was
because cigarettes were so readily available in the vending machines, but
we were constantly assailed by smoke. It was bad enough to get caught
behind a smoker walking down the street--the streets were often so crowded
that it was hard to dodge around to escape--but it was also difficult to
get good non-smoking areas inside buildings.

11) Damp towels

Wherever you went to eat, the restaurants had a custom of providing little
damp towels before your meal for you to wipe your hands. They weren't like
here, the lemon-scented handi-wipe kind of thing; they were simply wet. It
was rather refreshing, particularly after lugging shopping bags around all
day.

12) Toilets

Apparently Jenn didn't make use of the Japanese-style toilets, but I gave
them a try. The toilet consists of an oval basin in the floor with a hood
on the end closest to the wall; it looks like a ceramic baby buggy. You
straddle the middle of the oval and squat down over it. They consider it
more sanitary, because no part of your body actually touches any surface,
but it can be hard on your legs. Also, at our ryokan, they had an
interesting setup where there were little basins with faucets at the top
of the toilet tanks. When you flushed, it sent a fountain of clean water
up for you to wash your hands.