My Japan
Travelling to Japan was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Here are some subjective experiences.
Everything is small
The first thing you notice in Japan is that everything is small. When, as a European, you travel to the US, you realise everything is twice as big. Everything. Lanes, cars, buildings, people, food, everything.
When you travel to Japan, it is exactly the opposite. Everything is half the European size. Once again: lanes, cars, buildings, people, food, everything. As a 196cm person I felt like Gulliver in Lilliput the entire time, but you get used to it.
This, for instance, is a police car:
Hardly bigger than the cyclist, and the cyclist isn’t all that tall. :)
This is me on Tokyo metro:
There are some 130 million Japanese, and there isn’t all that much space. There are lots of mountainous areas, so the population crowds into very dense cities. Buildings are tiny, cars are tiny. It is very expensive to own cars in Japan. There is no parking in the streets, which makes for a very tidy street scene. However, it leads to Japanese owning compact and tall, brick like cars called kei cars.
The usual Asian thing of high voltage electrical wires dangling all over the place above the street makes it feel even more crowded.
Everything is clean
Japan has no rubbish bins in the streets. Non whatsoever.
You have to carry your own waste in a plastic bag, and throw it out at home, or in a convenience store. This makes you painfully aware of how much rubbish you create in a day.
There is no parking in the street. You have to park your car inside your gate, or under your building, which makes streets really neat and organised.
Everyone is middle class
Everyone is well dressed, in a middle class sort of way. Noone flashes their wealth. If you rarely do see someone doing that, they seem like an idiot, oddly out of place.
Japanese people do like fashion a lot, but with good taste. Solidly mittelstand fashionable.
There are no homeless people. According to statistics, this country of 130mn has about 3000 homeless. So chances are, you won’t meet a single one.
There don’t seem to be too many banks, either.
Japan is quite old
