Going to
Japan was such a great treat ! Saying that the people there are real polite and hygienic is a serious understatement. They are POLITE and CLEAN in capital letters, bold , font size 72, highlighted in yellow. Well, what can I say. When it's only me and my dad in
Tokyo, and him going to work... I was left to tinker on my own. hee hee.(:
I'm not going to talk about the attractions I saw in Japan, cos it's all stored in my memory bank nice and sweet and somehow, spilling it out here is just gonna spoil the magic of the whole 'lone ranger' experience I had in tokyo. but.. i'm going to tell you ALL the quirky behaviour I saw in Tokyo.
first off, to get to any place exciting, you've got to take the metro or subway. and man, if i thought singapore's mrt system was organised, their train system is 5 times more complicated but just as organised. and they have the ''ez link'' tap card system. Did Singapore snitch that idea from the japanese? pardon my ignorance. (:
I'm not here to praise the efficiency of the japanese or singapore government.I'm here to tell you what happened in the tunnel on my way to the subway. see... how many people do you need to change a poster and clean the advertising board? 2? maybe 3 people? oh no-o-o-o, not in japan. I counted 6 blue-suited workers lined up in a row, armed with gloves, cleaning towels, sprays and a toothbrush - like device .. all ready to begin OPERATION SQUEAKY CLEAN. It's actually kind of charming to see them put in so much effort to clean a billboard and put up a poster so lovingly and with so much dedication. (absolutely no satire in this post, i mean every word i say!)
that's quirky - cute incident number 1. Then there was the kindergarten incident. I was walking along the streets of akasaka where the senso-ji temple is and it was SATURATED with tourists. gosh. but I had to go there cos being the typical tourist, i wanted to touch the famed big bell near the temple PLUS look at the never-ending variety of rice crackers and onigiri( rice balls) and MOCHI. yummy! But the icing on top of this short visit to the temple was neither the bell nor the
rice crackers that were crackling and calling out to me... no sireee. It was the
kindergarten kids there! 100% innocent and
200% adorable! They all had matching hats and of course uniforms! and the most touching part of this whole picture is that the mothers are all patiently waiting outside the kindergarten with their bicycles ready to pick them up and cycle back home. aww.do you see a small part of the picture that has a sign saying " no taking pictures" comeon.. this picture is priceless. thae kids are just too itschy kitschy CUTE! by the way, the kindergarten is in a monastery, so the monks (or is it nuns??) are the ones taking care of the kids. (:

Incident
number 3. escalators, staircases and a whole lot of courtesy-ness. everyone keeps to the left. just like singapore.. or not. we only do that when we have to and only occasionally. The Japanese queue up on the left hand side when walking up the stairs, when taking the escalators.. and even queue for the train! Y'know, we usually just rush for the train and it's first come first serve right? But the japanese line up in a line behind one another just to get onto the train! No such thing as cutting queue!
wonderment and amazement. they have alcohol sanitizers in every single public toilet I've been to.And each toilet had a different way of switching on the tap. I spent the better hald of 10 minutes figuring out if it was sensor-activated, or to turn the protruding metal i perceived to be a knob, or to push the metal appendage that was protruding beneath the tap. oh gosh. all the different ways just to get the water OUT.
one thing i realise. most Japanese bring handkerchieves.Although there are tissues provided, they still whip out their small towels to wipe their mouth. how considerate. just one more way to cut down on the
excessive use of
paper. ( secretly I think they have to cut down cos they spend so much paper on wrapping up EVERYTHING. from their food to their souvenirs.. in pretty, coloured, beautifully designed wrapping paper that is in turn wrapped in another 2 layers of soft, white , tissue like paper) - I say this not meaning to be offensive cos I love the japanese way of gift wrapping and am in love with their origami and beautifully designed sheets of paper. (:


These pics were taken when I was in the Origami Museum. Really pretty when it's up-close as you'll be able to spot the intricate folds that give it texture and design. Starting to sound like some pompous artist who thinks she knows alot about origami! hehe. It's just that origami is intriguing to me. making something beautiful out of just paper. sigh.
there are so many more things I'd like to say but I'm pressed for time. I can go on and on about the food there cos food is my number one love. So I better not start cos you know this post will take days to finally appear once I start on food. Just one thing. Japanese are CRAZY over RED BEANS! every dessert and some main dishes I ate had some sort of red bean in it. Be it mashed, whole, soupy, pasty.. you name it they've got it embedded inside the food. but delectable it is!
Go to Japan! I'd love to experience the countryside for a change. But start off with Tokyo. Cos it's a melting pot of quirkiness. (: