South Asia, Japan – unique diversity

_{• Japan • Malaysia • Kuching •  Sarawak • Singapore •}

Japan is known worldwide for its traditional arts, including tea ceremonies, calligraphy, and flower arranging. The country has a legacy of distinctive gardens, sculpture, and poetry. Japan is home to more than a dozen UNESCO World Heritage sites and is the birthplace of sushi, one of its most famous culinary exports.

Tokyo

I can hardly believe that 16 days have passed after traveling with my friend,. After 16 hours on the plane, we got lost in the Japanese cultural world and the people, who were very welcoming and helpful. We got to sample all these incredible restaurants and amazing markets, at incredibly cheap prices. 

It is our first trip to Tokyo for four days, though there will definitely be more visits in the future. We were navigating by using maps at all times but sometimes it was difficult to find many places that didn’t have street names, most use numbers. A good tip is to allow plenty of time if you are going somewhere unfamiliar in Japan.

Observations

• My friend already knew before, but I didn’t know Japanese people sleep in airports, trains, buses, well practically everywhere so easily. It’s like they are dropping dead! No wonder they are very active!
  
• I noticed that most people used hat shields that you can buy from shops, so they are protected from the sun.
  
• I was stunned to see a cleaner use a toothbrush to clean the bins, it looked brand new!
  
• We had dinner in a restaurant where the train was running over us which was surreal!
  
• There is rare vegetation to be seen but you have to research where it is.
  
• When we trekked in Shibuya, Tokyo, it felt like we were in the Matrix film after seeing all the men and women in suits!  Shibuya is one of Tokyo’s most crowded districts, the light turns green and 10,000 people cross the street. It is said to be the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing. This happens every time the light changes. The people just keep coming!
  
• Food and transit are expensive. There are fast, medium or slow speed trains you can choose.
  
• We are big fans of markets! Some posh shops had beautifully designed clothes we got to buy. However, we both agreed that most of the materials we have seen are best suited to thin Japanese people!

Electric high-tech toilets! I poked the button settings, heated seats, and some nozzles which spray water to clean your parts. I tried to find a stop button and ended up with a very wet bum. I knew my friend would say to me “you spent too much time in there!”

TOKYO, JAPAN – 6OCT08 – Various functions are available on the washlets – the Japanese are seen as innovators in toilet technology.

Japan uses electricity for its functions and features, it’ll need to be plugged into an outlet. Power outlet installation might be necessary if there is none near the toilet! Apparently, 80% of households of two or more people own an electronic toilet with a bidet function.

We met a lovely Japanese man, Tadahiro. We had hilarious conversations with him, we named each animal under the sun that he eats and he replied yes, yes, yes. We were like oh anything have we missed out? He replied yup a rat! He teased us and kept saying ‘delicious’ and collapsed with laughs over our frozen expressions. Not a good idea to tell English people if they have a pet!! Still, we loved him and persuaded him to try grass biscuits we discovered from the market and brought these along with green tea! British Sign Language – my friend signed her name as Shark, I signed off as Rabbit and Tadahiro signed as Man.

Japanese cuisine offers a great variety of dishes and regional specialties:

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There are amazing combinations of ice cream cones, and an ice cream burger, it is varied like beer, so many of you will be surprised. I loved the crepes there, you get to choose fruit, roasted dinner, curries, and cake as toppings!

JAPANESE KIT KAT – Japanese Kit Kats are known to have a wide variety of unique flavors. It all started in 2004 when the green tea variant was first introduced. Since then, they have been sold in more than 300 different flavors, making them a part of the Japanese culture. Most of these Japanese Kit Kat flavors are exclusive to certain cities, regions, and seasons.

Restaurants in Japan traditionally display plastic or wax replicas of their dishes in a window. So it was easy for us to make decisions when it comes to choosing what to eat! Perfect for deafies! There were hundreds of different combinations of food, ice tea, different fish, and other seafood from the oceans.

Japan dried fish snack

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  AWESOME markets!

While we trekked, we discovered streets that made Japan feel like a maze. We saw lots of people sitting out with trains overhead. It felt like we were sitting in an underground area.

Japanese women copied styles from cartoon films as their daily street-style tribes, Harajuku fashion in Japan

Varied

I said to my sister, my dream is to meet Jackie Chan!
Sister: “huh but I think he lives in Hong Kong”
Me: “Don’t spoil it, sister!”
*gasp* I did see him! My sister replied by email and said you are such a cow because you gave me a heart attack! I really believed you met him and instead you sent me a picture of his lousy shampoo package!

Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing or Shibuya Scramble Crossing. At peak times, thousands of pedestrians scramble across what’s believed to be the world’s busiest crosswalk.

Along with Shinjuku Station, the district’s Shibuya Station is one of the world’s busiest train stations. I remember watching this documentary about the staff who work there and one of the strange jobs as train pushers, a worker who pushes people onto the mass transportation vehicle at a crowded stop during rush hours. I remember watching this documentary and my jaw dropped at how much work they had to be strict on schedule. Read World’s Busiest Train Station.

History of traditional Japanese clothing.

I love this article about Geishas.

I heard about these capsule hotels. Yes, you sleep in a coffin!

I was too knackered after jetlag here, I didn’t realize a man and his children posed with me! It looks like I’m with my husband and children haha. Look at my son with his fingers up. My friend laughed and took it! Haha, good one!

We hope you enjoyed following our experiences and truly hope that it inspires you to find your own experience.