100 Things We'll Remember (Update 9)

Our traveling group begins to weigh in on my favorite exercise: the 100 things we'll remember about the trip.

Keeping in mind these are quite definitely in no particular order....

1. Power lines. Lots, and everywhere. Bad bad bad for photos.
   
2. Shinkansen = FAST.
   
3. Kimono-clad women text-messaging on mobile phones.
4. Elaborate breakfasts and dinners with way too much food. Delicious miso soup.
5. Approximately seven trash receptacles in entire country. But plenty for bottle and can recycling.
6. Friendly, friendly, friendly. Very willing to help.
   
7. No snack food vending machines. Anywhere.
8. Decent umbrellas for 300 yen (about $2.60)? Yes! And thank goodness.
   
9. Except at the train station ticket counter, complete disregard for lines/queues.
   
10. Group individuality. (Hard to describe, but thinking about it....)
    
11. Thoughtful care of stray cats.
12. People on bikes can do anything, go anywhere.
13. Landscaping in the extreme, everywhere.
14. People take care to stay out of your photos, waiting patiently out of camera sight.
    
15. Disposable handtowels distributed everywhere but the lavatory.
16. Deep, relaxing baths.
17. When watching baseball on television, it's really about baseball. No annoying corporate sponsorship crap (a la Taco Bell Play of the Game). Well, except for the team names, which include their corporate owners, as in Yomiuri Giants. But fans and media often refer to them simply (ex: Kyojin (巨人), Japanese for "Giants"), and the viewing experience is relatively clean.
    
18. When watching baseball on television, a newscast may break in at any time. No matter what teams are playing, who's at bat, who's on base, what inning it is, what the count is, or even if the ball is still in play. We're not talking about special reports or breaking news. Just regular news.
19. Very few gas-guzzling monstrosities. It's good to be a country with small places to park.
20. Fish for breakfast, fish for lunch, fish for dinner. Literally more fish than can realistically be eaten, even if you like fish a LOT.
21. Anyone even suspecting they have a cold wears a mask.
22. Ueno Park at festival time is beautiful. Probably beautiful beyond festival time too, but we didn't get to see.
23. Delicious food.
24. Hill- and mountainsides are clad in a striking variety of trees. Texture, color, form.
    
25. Apologies are issued if the train will be even two minutes late.
26. Even without trash receptacles, the streets are generally very well-maintained. (Sadly, not so at the seaside town we visited, where the small beach and sea barriers were thick with trash.)
    
27. Culture of perfectionism: In Tokyo and Kyoto, everyone is immaculately coiffed, dressed and made up.
    
28. Value of outdoor spaces, natural settings.
29. Whatever you are doing in the city, you will probably be doing it with a lot of other people. I could be wrong, but it feels much more crowded than in other countries' big cities. Hoping it's just due to festival time... but suspect not.
    
30. Apparent national requirement to make the V = victory / peace sign when someone is taking your photo. Even in kimono, people have the peace sign ready.
31. Parking lots for bikes.
32. Tile roofs.
33. Really clear water, in rivers and in the bay.
34. Ahhhh.... futons.
35. Every place we stayed, whether full-service hotel or ryokan hotel, provided a full complement of toiletries including toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste, razors and travel-weight hairbrushes. Who knew?
36. Geisha paparazzi, and unexpectedly becoming one.
37. Mt Fuji from the plane is beautiful. And a near orange juice disaster from my parents yelling from TWO ROWS BACK to rouse me from full sleep and make sure we saw it.
    
38. Culture of perfectionism cont'd. All cars are new and clean. A morning walk finds several locals washing their cars.
39. High efficiency, modernity. Everything works - vending machines, ticket machines, turnstiles, everything is efficient and working. All trains are on time to the minute. (Except the one that was two minutes late.)
40. On the flip side of modernity is the honoring of tradition and old ways (like the abacus instead of the cash register, and tatami instead of linoleum).
    
41. Drink machines – every kind of drink from beer to soda to juice to tea to many kinds of coffee, both cold and hot. The latter can be a godsend when cafés are not yet open or nearby and you’re in a rush.
42. Bikers who can smoke and maintain an upright umbrella in the rain while negotiating turns, sidewalk traffic, and traffic signals at the same time.
43. Everyone is dignified. No beggars, no hawkers.
    
44. Although on the flip side, entering many establishments results in a loud and enthusiastic “ohayo gozaimasu!! (good morning)” or “irashaimase!! (welcome)” from every person who works there, in random sequence from when the first person notices you through the rest chiming in. It continues as each new person enters, which is somewhere between amazing and comical. And then there are the goodbyes and thank yous, which follow you out the door.
    
45. Tempura soba soup – yum. A strange concept – crisp deep fried tempura being placed into liquid which will make it soggy. But it’s a large nest of tempura that takes a while to sink and … yum.
46. Realizing that sushi / sashimi actually is kind of tasty.
47. Temples and … temple dogs.
48. Trying to find a specific restaurant when you can’t read kanji (the complex Chinese-based characters the name is written in on their signs).
49. Trying to order a meal when the menu is purely in Japanese. On multiple occasions the ploy of asking for a recommendation only led to a half hour of confused chaos or half of the restaurant’s customers being brought over to try to translate, a festive time for all. But the end result was always delicious!
50. Unexpected bonus: On the flight from Oita to Tokyo, Japan Air Lines shows live video of what the pilots see as they depart the gate and take off. Once in the air, the feed switches to a camera mounted on the plane's underside, so you see what is directly under you, albeit many thousands of miles below. Depending on the pilot's descent and landing technique, this can be a little too interesting.
51. Fourteen hours on a plane is rough. But it's better than a stopover.
    
52. Drinks of any type are served in very, very small glasses. Embarrassing to down five glasses of water before dinner is served.
    
53. Even the manhole covers are decorative.
54. As a party of six, our meals never arrived all at once or even close. Straight from the kitchen must be the rule. Fortunately, a hearty cry of "itadakimasu!" makes it okay to begin ahead of one's fellow diners.
    
55. For a nation of nuance and subtlety, we couldn't quite get over the flourescent lights in nearly every hotel, home or other establishment. Hard on the eyes.
    
56. Old style brooms in common use. Not the modern plastic or even "factory made" straw sorts. These are the small round bundle types and they are everywhere, from Tokyo shops to along the river by the river-keeper's shed.
57. Small bells and charms on cellphone wrist straps. I kept looking for kittens. Nope, just a middle-aged guy on his phone.
    
58. The oft-rumored battle of bowing is real... who is more grateful to whom?
59. Container gardens. Lots of lots of pots of plants.
60. Everything gets sealed with a small piece of clear tape. Packages are wrapped elaborately (origami-like). In the touristy shops, if purchasing what seem to be gifts, separate small bags to fit each purchase are included. Your change and receipt are presented to you with both hands, like an award.
    
61. City sidewalk space is organized and defined: bikers on one side, walkers on another, and a special strip to guide the visually impaired.
62. No graffiti. But public space for art.
    
63. Being secretly thrilled when someone told my mother they could see the resemblance.
    
64. Being told on day 14 of a 15-day trip that it's rude to rub one's chopsticks together to remove potential splinters. Argh.
    
65. Eel... a taste some tried to acquire, with limited success.
    
66. Nice outdoor area at Narita airport to sit, enjoy lunch and watch planes taking off.
67. The guy in a Tokyo office who would change pants at his desk every morning.
    
68. His coworker, who changed shirts.
69. Lots of rivers.
70. Beautiful cherry blossoms.
71. Generally healthy, fit people.
72. The crazy amusement park with the "house swings."
    
73. Cat on a leash. Nice.
74. Temples and shrines everywhere.
75. Clapping of hands to draw the attention of the gods.
76. Few people wear jewelry beyond a simple wedding band.
77. IKEA!
78. Super big ferris wheels.
79. The force of a passing bullet train.
80. Rickshaw runners, gardeners, others wearing the split-toe cloth 'boots.'
    
81. Delicate patterns on cloth, in landscapes, of food.
82. Moats and castles.
83. The fabulous Royal Saloon, a fine sedan if ever there was one.
84. Tremendous hospitality. On our laundry day, housekeepers at the inn brought a clothes rack and other hanging devices. They even hauled heavy wet jeans up to the roof to get the full benefit of the sun.
85. Kabuki on television at 5am. Way cool.
    
86. Pachinko. Tempting, but our under-18s were not allowed to go in. Which begs the question of how I not only got in but played for a few hours when I was twelve. Mother tells all: My good uncle paid the pachinko parlor owner to let me play.
    
87. On the fishing boat, there were bowls of chopped squid for use as bait. In each bowl was a pair of chopsticks for loading the bait onto the fishhook.
    
88. Okay, this one's a weird thing to remember, but I remember it, so... the current fashion is to wear footies or toe covers with dress shoes. These are not the sedate things from Hanes. Instead, these are intended to be seen and noticed. Mostly white lace with white shoes, black with black. But occasionally turquoise blue or bright pink. I can't wait until that catches on here.
89. Self-serve restaurants (fast food, airports, Starbucks) have a separate receptacle to pour the remainder of your drink. Your cup and other paper products go into a bin just next to it. This is probably more for ease of trash disposal than it is for recycling, but we can hope.
90. Not just motion-sensitive taps at the sink and air dryers for your hands... but also for soap. Have seen this occasionally in the States too. It might be BYOT (bring your own towel) in Japan, but this is quite the automated trifecta. I like this direction... if we can run it on solar.
91. 
    

More to come....