Conclusion

It is natural that we all fall in the cliché that the most interesting countries are in Europe, I was one of those persons, I had never really a desire of traveling to Asia. Japan never called my attention, first, since I heard is such an expensive country and second because the culture never seemed interesting to me, in fact things that are the most attractive to me from European countries are the calmness of their streets and how crowds are not so overwhelming. Japan on the other hand is overcrowded and everywhere you go there is a circus.

The first day I arrived there I took a bus from Kansai Airport to Kehihana plaza, it was a 45 minutes ride and it was until I got in the car of Yanagida-san that I noticed that they drive on the left.

When you walk on the mall and you have to take the escalator you have to stand on the left and those that want to walk have to do it on the right! However in Osaka things are flipped and you still drive on the left, but on the escalator you stand on the right.

As soon as you enter a restaurant you will hear a wave of Irashaimassen’s to come from all directions, a tiny little girl will come and offer you a sit, and when you finish giving your order she will start yelling something in a tone of voice that could brake glass and that will make the already over crowded place even louder.

You will not be able to find a bar where you just sit and drink like you find in so many other countries unless is specifically designed for Gaijin’s, Japanese drink while they eat, and without noticing it you will be stuffing your face with Edamame, Foraid Potatoes, Raw Fish and other dishes as strange as you can imagine.

You will see teenagers dancing on the street but while they watch the loudness of their speakers, they will wear strange attires and have even stranger hair cuts, but watch out if you stare too much you may be stopped by an undercover police man (Justin and I did, though we got rid of him by showing him our ATR Library card, ha!). On Tokyo streets you will find people on the streets of Shibuya passed out on the floor while police is just around the corner. You can buy a beer and have it on your way home without breaking any laws.

Karaoke’s are one of the weirdest places in the world, quiet people will turn them selves into a version of Mr. Hyde with a couple of beers and sing with all the strength of their lungs. Even stranger one as a foreigner will find yourself immersed in the enormous book that is the guide of the songs and surprise yourself to find something in your own language (Spanish in my case).

Parties are not the exception in terms of crowd, I had to host around 50 people in my tiny little flat, that of course was a lot of fun. Fun activities are quiet different from those in the US, while back here the intention of a party is to get drunk and hook up with somebody, in Japan is to laugh, and meet each other, drunkenness comes afterwards.

The colors of the streets, the merge of traditional and high tech. Teenagers dressed in traditional costumes, the clerk that bows every time you stop by his shop. The police man that watches out that the garbage is thrown away in the right dates. The yelling in an Izacaya. The other clerk that sits right in front of you when you are trying shoes. The ticket dispenser that is more polite than the machines back at home. The microwave sings when it finishes its cycle. Friends go beyond work to personal life.

Conclusion, Japan is upside down … and I can’t wait to go back.