Random things about living in Japan



Japanese superstore- the Joyful Honda- way bigger than Walmart!



Japanese-style escalator- no steps

Arcade at the mall- crazy and huge!

So, I've been keeping a mental log of all the random things about living in Japan that I want to share. I have a little time right now, so I'll see how much I can type before the girls wake up! First off, the time difference between Tokyo and Denver is 15 hours. If you are sitting in rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon, we are just waking up and getting ready for our Saturday. When asked to predict the future, I always say that at least you know we lived through the night! Some randoms: Japanese people always back into parking spaces. You can tell where the Americans have parked- surely they tried to back in, couldn't get it quite right, gave up and pulled in headlights first. I am proud to say that I am getting quite adept at backing our large (by Japanese standards) van into parking spaces- on base (American sized spaces)... off base, not so much! And, the Japanese (men and women) love pastel colored cars- pink, lavender, pale blue, yellow. They're really cute. There are 7-11s everywhere here. They sell pretty good Japanese food. Della loves these little rice triangles wrapped in seaweed. There is always something special inside- like tuna or more seaweed or who knows what! We don't speak Japanese, so what is inside is always a surprise, but it usually tastes pretty good! Also, there always seems to be a Kentucky Fried Chicken wherever we go. Huh. The Japanese lay tiny pieces of sod one by one- like small floor tiles. I just saw a Japanese man using small scissors to cut a small piece of sod he was laying in a huge yard on base. Good luck, buddy. It will take him forever to do that job! Also, Japanese people take directing traffic very seriously. A minor repair on our street took several construction workers and at least two men dedicated to directing traffic at all times. Note there is virtually no traffic on our street... All of these workers wear Tiffany blue jumpsuits. It's kind of funny. We have not figured out Japanese bathrooms. We pretty much avoid them unless Della has an emergency. One really cool thing is that most large stores and malls have special nursing/baby care stations- like Disney World. These are great and I have no idea why the idea hasn't caught on in the US! Finally, the Japanese people seem to be enamored with our chubby baby. Morgan gets a lot of attention. Although we have no idea what they are saying, the Japanese greet her with big, warm smiles. It's really sweet (and it never gets creepy like it can when strangers want to see your baby in the US!). So, those are a few of the random things we see and from day to day living in Japan. Talk to you soon!   

Dinner at the mall- the little triangles covered with seaweed are to the left