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I'd like to discuss something new to me, I came to Japan and learned a new concept called 'service'. Have you heard of it?

Japan is all about service. The moment you walk into a store, you are greeted and attention is on you. This includes fast food restaurants, clothing stores, convenience stores, etc. In my experience, if you need help with anything, there is someone available to assist you. And usually they assist you before you ask!

Recently, I went into a department store to buy a suit. The moment my foot hit the floor, someone (a gorgeous someone) was there to ask me what kind of suit I was interested in, what I needed it for, and so on. She immediately ran (quite literally) to find appropriate sizes, colors, anything I asked for. She even went so far as to put on my belt when I was trying the suit on...I'll admit, that was a little awkward. Upon leaving the store, that gorgeous person followed me outside and continued to bow as I walked away. Thats just a taste of the service in Japan.

More service: Most people in Japan don't have cars, so when you buy something at Yodobashi camera for example (like Best Buy but 7x the size, selection, and service) you can opt to have it shipped to your house-Free of charge I'm told. That might not be so much service as convenience, but its pretty awesome.

Even little things surprise me. For instance, when you buy ice cream or cake (which there is a WHOLE LOT OF in Japan) it is typically packed quite carefully with dry ice in a cardboard box. That way the fancy cake design stays intact and the sweets stay cold. Typically free of charge by the way.

I will be heading to Osaka soon to buy a custom suit, so I'm sure I'll have heaps to report on service.

Sweet Ride

Jon Evans here, reporting on the awesome transportation system in Japan. Shall we begin??

Well, for starters, the second best investment I have made in Japan (#1 being my Phone) is my bicycle. You can get anywhere of importance by bicycle. A close train station, grocery store, a million restaurants, karaoke, and convenience store are all within a 15 minute bike ride. My bike came with a lock on it, basket, and its a comfortable ride- and I got it for about 5000yen. (In hindsight I should have bought one with a back seat, the ladies love it)

Anyway, bikes aside, buses are extremely convenient. Buses run many many places and its usually around 220yen per ride, not too shabby. There are buses running to and from neighborhoods, stations, airports, malls, you name it. And the best part is, they are typically not late by more than 10 or 15 seconds. Yeah, seconds. The cherry on top is the bus driver telling us stupid foreigners when we are at our destination when we don't pay attention. Isn't that nice???

Trains. What can I say except they are quick, punctual (more so than the buses), and cheap. The system is pretty easy and you can essentially get to any major (and minor for that matter) city by train. Nobody needs a car here. Why bother with driving when you can sit back and relax while you travel for WAY cheaper than driving? I have not been on the Shinkansen yet, but I will be sure to share that story asap.

My only complaint is that the trains stop running around 12:30am. This makes night life a little troublesome but clubs and bars are typically open until 5am;when the trains start up again- So no worries. Kudos Japan!

Japan Nights - and some days

2 hours of awesome

Well, its been a month since my last haircut, and I gotta tell you, I think I'm going through withdrawal. In all seriousness, getting a haircut in Japan is like a day at the Spa in America. But for only 30 dollars or so. Interested???? Read on! And by all means check out SLL Promise Land under Bro's Blogs for another fantastic haircut experience.

Let me just take you step by step though the typical haircut en devour. First, you walk in to be greeted by friendly, and gorgeous, faces who immediately take your bags and coat. If this is not your first time, they will immediately tell you if your stylist is in that day (not because they ask for your name, but because they remember you from your first visit -Awesome). Typically, they will ask you exactly what you want before you even sit in a chair-and what you want is written down. Next, you go to get your hair washed. But not just washed; washed, conditioned, treated, and then followed up with a head massage....yes, massage.

Then, to the chair, where you are given a shoulder massage until your stylist is ready...yep, another massage. When your stylist arrives, the real fun begins. This is probably 45 minutes after you've walked in the door. Be forewarned, haircuts are a 2+hour adventure.

Anyways, after you've picked your jaw off the floor, your stylist will cut your hair and make excellent conversation. And again, the language barrier has not been a problem. Now that I think about it, the stylists aren't so much stylists as they are hostesses who cut hair. They are probably TOO good at talking/taking care of you.

Haircut finished - its time to style. With the blow drying, hair wax, hair spray, and more talking, stying probably takes as long as the haircut. It is most certainly worth it. And did I mention that this costs only 3500yen? And there is also no tipping in Japan (except on very specific occasions), so 3500yen is it.

The worst part is having to say goodbye to your future wife/stylist. Yeah, I said it.

This type of service is not just found in salons, but in almost all Japanese businesses-department stores, restaurants, you name it. That plane ticket to Japan is sounding pretty reasonable now, isn't it??

外国人: The love-hate relationship

I think Mr. Baseball most appropriately described being a foreigner (Gaijin) in Japan. "It's like being a black guy back at home. Only there are less of us." To a large extent this is true. Foreigners are foreigners, it doesn't really matter too much which country you came from. Being in Japan opened my eyes to many new experiences. Before Japan, I had no idea what it was like to be unfamiliar with a country's customs and I had never experienced racism.

Bad racism does not happen too often, but when it does it is eye opening. You can go a month without seeing/experiencing it, but then one day you are sitting on the train and someone starts bad mouthing foreigners/Americans right in front of you. This happens in every country, Japan is just my first place to experience it. And typically it is the old generation that is 'distributing' the racism. The younger generation in Japan seems to be quite accepting and very much open to talking to foreigners. I have found it extremely easy to make friends in Japan, even outside of the University setting. The younger generation is more open and not as likely to move away from you on the train...

In contrast to the racism, many (and I do mean MANY) Japanese people are more than happy to assist a foreigner who looks lost. In many instances, Japanese people have gone 5+ minutes out of their way to help me. One man in particular, in my first month here, walked with me and my friends to a shrine 10 minutes out of his way. The level of kindness I have experienced here is unbelievable. I've seen more kindness from strangers here in 5 months than my whole life in America. I think its a fair trade for the racism - seeing as the racism is pretty minor. Not being allowed into bars/clubs because you're foreign is a little annoying though.

Oh, as for the picture, some buddies and I went bowling last Friday and managed to make friends with 7 Japanese kids. Language barriers are not even a problem. I love this country.

Chikan ha hanzai desu!

Greetings Again,

To get back on track with this blog, let me briefly discuss pornography and sexual advertisements.

Simply put, in Japan, porn is EVERYWHERE. You can find it in convenience stores (which in Japan are every 30 meters), and every Tsutaya (popular video rental store). Not to mention every city has a porn shop and various sex businesses (i.e. 電車でゴーゴー in Hirakatashi). The quantity can be overwhelming. And the shear variety borders on nauseating...correction, is nauseating. I won’t go into too many details, but there are definitely 6 floor porn shops throughout Tokyo and Osaka.

There are definitely some inconsistencies here though. Everywhere and anywhere, pornographic images are placed in front of you. However, the porn itself is required to be censored in Japan, and hardly anyone is comfortable with openly talking about sex. The enormous amount of sexual content accompanied with the Japanese ‘keep it to yourself’ attitude is a sexual incident waiting to happen. Things like groping on trains are all too common (many of my female friends have been groped on more than one occasion). There are even all women train cars to help prevent this kind of thing. The all too famous Densha de Go Go provides an opportunity to pay to grope women on a fake train (so I hear). Japan must be an extremely sexually frustrated country. I guess in a country full of perfect 10 super-models it’s to be expected.

But seriously, groping women on a crowded train should not be commonplace. What’s the deal?

One Word....for now

Hey everyone,

Time for some more words of wisdom. I know I have been posting quite a bit recently, but I NEED to write this stuff down before I get too used to it. There is so much greatness going on here, I couldn’t possibly describe it all in 100 years. Hopefully I can at least provide a description to every item on the “Running list of things Japan does better.”

Let’s see...I could easily write about the Japanese construction workers and their EXTREME efficiency (Like repaving entire roads in about 12 hours), but that just wouldn’t fit the theme of this blog. Okay, here is the deal, I will post about normal stuff this time, but next time I will cover more pressing matters, like the porn/sex availability/advertising in Japan.

Let’s just discuss convenience shall we. Here is a small list of super convenient things that America needs to adopt:

Buttons at restaurants to call the waiter, hooks next to urinals to hang your bags, receptacles for cigarettes outside almost every building, beer in vending machines, upon buying jeans they will tailor them for you free of charge, you can pay for things and receive important info with your cell phone, you can essentially get anywhere without a car, etc.

These are such simple things (okay, maybe public transportation isn’t simple) that just make enormous sense. If Japan finds something to be convenient, they implement it. Life here just makes sense. I got a little sick in America when I went back there in between semesters. Japan has found a way to make half the population of the U.S. able to live in harmony and convenience in a country the size of California.

If you take one word from this post, it’s ‘Convenience’.

Now that I’ve bored you, be ready for some questionable content next time.