1. People don't eat while walking, standing, riding the trains/buses.
They all eat while sitting down, or occasionally standing at fast-food standing-only restaurants. If you try to eat any other way they stare at you like you're a weirdo.
Restaurants don't make it very easy for you to obey this rule either ~ most non-westernized restaurants (i.e. Starbucks or McDonald's) don't have anywhere for you to eat...they just sell you the food!

2. Most people don't drive.
I asked many of my Japanese schoolmates and they say most people have driver's licenses, but don't own cars or don't find cars convenient in Kyoto. Almost everyone bikes, and on rainy days or when they want to travel longer distances they use the buses and subways.

3. 6 Different ways to say "May I go to the bathroom?"
Starting from the most formal to the most casual:
- Toire ni ikasete itadakitaindesunga
- Toire ni ikasete itadakemasenka
- Toire ni ikasete moraemasenka
- Toire ni ikasete kudasai
- Toire ni ikasete moraeru/kurenai?
- Toire ni ikasete
Of course, you can use these forms for other questions too. It's just that our last lesson was using "bathroom" as an example.
If it wasn't already obvious, Japanese culture is saturated with rules about polite behavior. They say the idea of a mature adult is one who thinks of the other person, and takes it upon themselves to help that person to the best of their ability (within reason). It's very different from the American 'adults = independent and self-sufficient' idea that I was brought up with.

4. Japan doesn't have a lot of room horizontally, so they build vertically.
When shopping, you don't just look at the ground floor or you'll miss about 90% of the sights. You have to look up.
There are shop signs that go to the tops of shopping buildings, each floor with different things to see. Some of the more popular places I've seen are called Daimaru and Takashimaya. They range from grocery stores to Chanel to traditional Japanese earthenware pottery (all in one building).

5. Fresh food. Every day.
I was always used to grocery shopping about once every 1-2 weeks. The meat would go in the freezer and would always need to be defrosted before cooking. Here it's different.
It seems most people go grocery shopping almost every day (or at least once every 2 days). The food is always fresh in the markets - and they always have expiration dates in very noticeable parts of the packaging.
Fresh fruit is probably the most expensive type of food I've seen so far - almost $1 USD for an orange the size of my fist. Being a cheapass, I've been getting my fruits from fruit juice instead.

6. Bakeries!
EVERYONE eats bread! I don't meant boring slices of wheat or white. I'm talking about a much larger variety, and fresh everyday. There's pizza bread, korokke bread (korokke is a kind of friend potato, but not like french fries at all), curry bread, many variations of bread with red bean paste fillings, melon bread (melon pan)...and many others whose names I can't read yet (*** kanji!).
You could eat bread for all three meals of the day if you wanted to. And it would be filling too, not junk food.

7. Ittadakimasu, Gochisousama
No one does this. Not the way they show it in anime or manga anyway :P. They say it quietly or think it silently, but they don't clap their hands as if in prayer and say it out loud.
When eating at a restaurant and leaving, you might say Gochisousama to the host or hostess.

8. Fast food is FAST.
I mentioned earlier that there are places where you're required to stand and eat. This is mostly for soba/ramen/udon shops. The food comes out within 1-2 minutes of ordering (in most places I've seen, they have you order from vending machines).
They have counters a little above waist height, and you're supposed to stand there and eat. There are no chairs.

9. The Japanese like their sweets.
Find a grocery store? Maybe about half of the place is filled with sweets. There are about a gazillion variations of mochi sweets, and then there are many more western-influenced cakes, pastries, and jellies.

10. The police are there to help.
Unlike in the U.S., where police officers are really high school bullies who never made it past graduation, the ones here actually help you. Whenever someone needs directions, or feels even a little bit uneasy about something (whether or not they have solid evidence etc) they can get help from the police without worrying about being bullied just for asking.

Ryuumi @ Thursday, July 23, 2009 -- 8:04 am

Wah! When I went to Japan, I did things like this in a journal; I listed all the things I noticed and how they're different from what I'm familiar with in the u.s. :D Bread is awesome haha; and I ordered udon once from a vending machine thing XD awesome awesome :D

Guest @ Monday, May 25, 2009 -- 1:01 am

I loved your pictures! The insightful comments gave me a better understanding of Japanese culture. I also liked the guy wearing the mask, pretty cool how they are so considerate of other people. Kinda grossed me out too, how many people have you seen in the US wear a mask when they're sick?
Made me wonder about that special sauce going on my cheese burger XD


Yeah. It also makes me curious to find out exactly how effective those masks really are. They use them in China too.

Tammy @ Sunday, May 24, 2009 -- 9:45 pm

1) Hahah so much for the stereotype of the high school kids sneaking food in class and running with toast in their mouths in the morning that you see so often in anime. It's somewhat shocking since I'm so used to seeing anyone eat anywhere even when I went to HK as a kid. Sure it's not as often as you would see in North America but wow.

3) Oh man fruits being the most expensive would probably sadden me the most since I love them to bits. I don't know if I'd be able to sustain it through juices. Are cans expensive? Wait, are there canned fruit/veg there?

Love the photo additions and glad you gave some insights! I wonder if I'm the only one that likes reading these kinds of things.

I hope you're not the only one xp I'm enjoying the new sights too :).
There are canned fruits/veggies too, but they're all about $1 or so more expensive than they would be in the US. There's no canned soup though xp haven't found any of those yet.

ongaku @ Thursday, May 21, 2009 -- 10:04 am

Yeah, it is sad how our policemen aren't very good most of the time. I don't want to say that about all of them but even me, who never really does anything, has had bad run-ins with cops for no good reason. It's really wrong... so much for protecting us when they really just like to bully us.

That is a lot of ways to say you have to go potty. X_X I would die trying to remember all that haha!

Bread

smnth @ Wednesday, May 20, 2009 -- 6:32 am

Thanks for sharing! The pictures are great too (the crepe guy and girl are so cute...! I my country, those people definitely wouldn't be selling food...!), but now I also want wakame soba...!

No.7, perhaps they do it in a personal/family setting? There should be a reason why you see it in about EVERY anime and dorama, right?

No.10, that's really interesting! LoL at your comment above. These kind and friendly policemen you see in sometimes in dorama, manga and anime, I thought they were too good to be true! Apparently not. The policemen in my country, well, they're not exactly bullies in the sense as the ones in US, but they're corrupt. Very, very, corrupt!

No.5, oh, noes! I'd never survive there w/o fruit! No wonder people give melons as gifts (here they're not really the price of something you'd give someone as a gift).

Looks like you're having fun, hope you enjoy your time there! (I'll be enjoying your blogs and photos here...!)