Posted by Jess
6 September 2010
One month ago we moved to Tokyo. One month already. Wow! It went by quickly. And in a good way, it feels like we've been here longer. I wanted to write down a few things that we've noticed about Tokyo during our first month - some things that surprised us and things that maybe we could do without.
Things We've Noticed
1. Japanese women brush their teeth a lot. Like line up at the sinks all afternoon in the bathrooms at work and brush. I wonder if the guys do this too? But I don't go in the mens' bathroom, so I don't know.
2. It is quiet. 37 Million people should be louder than this. People do not talk on their mobile phones while walking down the street or while riding the subway. This is the land of unlimited text messaging plans for sure!
3. It's clean. People don't litter, there's very little graffiti, people are out sweeping the sidewalk and cleaning the street sign posts every day.
4. There are bikes everywhere. Every one rides a bike - but there are no bike lanes really. They ride on the sidewalk. And no one wears helmets.
5. The Japanese LOVE Abigail. Every time we go out there's someone smiling at her, waving, or talking to her. Every.Single.Time.
6. Customer Service is above and beyond for sure. I was reminded of that during my visit to Switzerland last week where the taxi drivers were NOT nice. And its nice that tax is included in the cost already and you don't tip. So you go out to dinner, see the price on the menu and that's it - that's what you pay. I'm sure tax and "tip" are included in the price, but I don't see it and I'm OK with that.
7. More places take credit cards than we thought, but the stores only post to the credit card companies about once a month (or maybe every 2 weeks for big chains).
8. The cable TV system is awesome. For shows that are English shows, just hit a button and the Japanese voice-over goes away and it's all the original voices and language. Commercials are still in Japanese, but they are actually more fun to watch when you can't understand what they are saying.
9. In the womens public restrooms like the baseball stadium, airport, etc, there are limited stalls with western toilets. The other stalls just have ceramic drains in the floor. I guess you just squat over them and go. I am not sure how I would keep from splashing myself and there is not a chance that Ella would use one. Which means that we wait a while for the right stall to open up for us to use. As an indication of the ratio - at the baseball stadium, I would say there were 20 stalls - one had a toilet.
10. Beer and liquor are expensive. This is not good or bad, just noticeable. Even when compared to other import items, these seem to have a higher mark-up. Must be a tax thing, we think, but haven't looked it up. Drinks in the bar don't seem too unreasonable though, but it depends on the location of the bar of course.
Things I Could Do Without
1. Meeting a few hundred thousand of my closest friends on the subway every day
2. The Bugs - mosquitoes, cicadas, giant beetles, spiders, cockroaches - just because I don't see you all the time doesn't mean I forget you are there! there's a building by work that has this high-pitched squeal as you walk in the door to keep the cockroaches away. yuck.
3. I know we've said it all month - it's hot. Too hot. Tropical without the pool and the fruity drinks hot. Which is not fun to work or play in, but it's going to get nice very soon!
4. Local telephone calls cost money. Like 50 cents a minute. Seriously, local calls. And numbers that I dialed incorrectly (because I'm still learning how to dial a phone here) were $1. $1 to get the operator to tell me its a wrong number.
5. This town is not very handicap accessible - which means its not stroller accessible. Not very many stations have escalators, let alone elevators, which makes it tough with a stroller, kids, suitcases. (On the upside of that, my calves get a good workout!). We did, however, buy a new stroller before we came here (a Maclaren umbrella-type stroller) and it seems that was a good choice - it's what everyone has with kids the same age - it folds up pretty easily, the handles are longer so you're not hunched over to push it and carries well (but you still have to take Abby in and out at every station!).
So those are our first impressions - random thoughts from our first month in Tokyo. We're looking forward to leaving the city a bit in the next few weeks and exploring more outside of town and of course to it cooling down so we can go start checking out the parks and shrines a little more too.
Kanpai!
Jess
6 September 2010
One month ago we moved to Tokyo. One month already. Wow! It went by quickly. And in a good way, it feels like we've been here longer. I wanted to write down a few things that we've noticed about Tokyo during our first month - some things that surprised us and things that maybe we could do without.
Things We've Noticed
1. Japanese women brush their teeth a lot. Like line up at the sinks all afternoon in the bathrooms at work and brush. I wonder if the guys do this too? But I don't go in the mens' bathroom, so I don't know.
2. It is quiet. 37 Million people should be louder than this. People do not talk on their mobile phones while walking down the street or while riding the subway. This is the land of unlimited text messaging plans for sure!
3. It's clean. People don't litter, there's very little graffiti, people are out sweeping the sidewalk and cleaning the street sign posts every day.
4. There are bikes everywhere. Every one rides a bike - but there are no bike lanes really. They ride on the sidewalk. And no one wears helmets.
5. The Japanese LOVE Abigail. Every time we go out there's someone smiling at her, waving, or talking to her. Every.Single.Time.
6. Customer Service is above and beyond for sure. I was reminded of that during my visit to Switzerland last week where the taxi drivers were NOT nice. And its nice that tax is included in the cost already and you don't tip. So you go out to dinner, see the price on the menu and that's it - that's what you pay. I'm sure tax and "tip" are included in the price, but I don't see it and I'm OK with that.
7. More places take credit cards than we thought, but the stores only post to the credit card companies about once a month (or maybe every 2 weeks for big chains).
8. The cable TV system is awesome. For shows that are English shows, just hit a button and the Japanese voice-over goes away and it's all the original voices and language. Commercials are still in Japanese, but they are actually more fun to watch when you can't understand what they are saying.
9. In the womens public restrooms like the baseball stadium, airport, etc, there are limited stalls with western toilets. The other stalls just have ceramic drains in the floor. I guess you just squat over them and go. I am not sure how I would keep from splashing myself and there is not a chance that Ella would use one. Which means that we wait a while for the right stall to open up for us to use. As an indication of the ratio - at the baseball stadium, I would say there were 20 stalls - one had a toilet.
10. Beer and liquor are expensive. This is not good or bad, just noticeable. Even when compared to other import items, these seem to have a higher mark-up. Must be a tax thing, we think, but haven't looked it up. Drinks in the bar don't seem too unreasonable though, but it depends on the location of the bar of course.
Things I Could Do Without
1. Meeting a few hundred thousand of my closest friends on the subway every day
2. The Bugs - mosquitoes, cicadas, giant beetles, spiders, cockroaches - just because I don't see you all the time doesn't mean I forget you are there! there's a building by work that has this high-pitched squeal as you walk in the door to keep the cockroaches away. yuck.
3. I know we've said it all month - it's hot. Too hot. Tropical without the pool and the fruity drinks hot. Which is not fun to work or play in, but it's going to get nice very soon!
4. Local telephone calls cost money. Like 50 cents a minute. Seriously, local calls. And numbers that I dialed incorrectly (because I'm still learning how to dial a phone here) were $1. $1 to get the operator to tell me its a wrong number.
5. This town is not very handicap accessible - which means its not stroller accessible. Not very many stations have escalators, let alone elevators, which makes it tough with a stroller, kids, suitcases. (On the upside of that, my calves get a good workout!). We did, however, buy a new stroller before we came here (a Maclaren umbrella-type stroller) and it seems that was a good choice - it's what everyone has with kids the same age - it folds up pretty easily, the handles are longer so you're not hunched over to push it and carries well (but you still have to take Abby in and out at every station!).
So those are our first impressions - random thoughts from our first month in Tokyo. We're looking forward to leaving the city a bit in the next few weeks and exploring more outside of town and of course to it cooling down so we can go start checking out the parks and shrines a little more too.
Kanpai!
Jess
6:37 AM |
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1 comments
Comments (1)
Americans love Abby too!