#yubikobe

I did a post a while back about how eco-friendly Japan as a nation was, so I decided I wanted to touch on that topic once again.  The thing that I had to adjust to almost immediately once moving to Japan was the fact that simple things such as throwing out household trash was actually quite rigid and structured in Japan.  Where to begin.  To start off, you cannot use any type of trash bag to throw your garbage away.  Typically in the US, I would always just toss trash away in an old grocery bag or shopping bag.  But in Japan, you actually must purchase designated bags and use those bags to throw out your trash.  On top of that, there are four different varieties of these bags that you must purchase and you must organize and divide your trash according to these varieties.  There is a trash bag for burnable trash, so that would be paper, tissue, food, and so on.  Then there is a trash bag for non-burnable trash, which would include aerosol cans, metals, and other non-recyclable items.  The third type of trash bag you must purchase is for cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles.  The fourth type of trash bag you must purchase is for recyclable items.  Now this is what confused me the absolute most.  In the US, cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles would be considered recyclable items, but Japan takes it one step further than the US.  So take a plastic soda bottle for example.  Usually those types of bottles will have a cap of some sort and a wrapper with the company information or type of drink that you purchased.  Well, these two items would go into the recyclable trash bag and the bottle itself will go into the cans/bottles trash bag.  So you would essentially have to deconstruct the bottle and take it apart.  I honestly, love and appreciate the effort the Japanese society as a whole puts into being eco-aware and think other countries could learn from their example.

Another thing that I found interesting that’s quite unique to Japan is that smoking is allowed in most restaurants.  This is actually completely opposite to the rules in America.  In the US, restaurants do not allow smoking by law, so if you do want to smoke, you will most likely have to go outside.  Only bars or clubs where alcohol is served will smoking be commonplace.  While in Japan, you can actually smoke in almost any restaurant.  It will be commonplace to go to a barbecue place or an izakaya and there will be someone having a cigarette in the table next to you.  Moreover, on the street or at train stations there will always be designated smoking areas where people will be allowed to smoke.  In most cases, people will not smoke while walking, but it won’t be uncommon seeing someone having a cigarette while walking on the street.   

Another thing that I have learned is the there’s a specific place to walk on the side of the street.  In addition, on the escalator there are also specific rules.  I live in Kobe and if you ride an escalator you must stay on the right side, if you want to walk up the escalator you walk using the left side.  This is opposite in areas such as Tokyo, where you walk up the right side and stand on the left side.  There are countless other unspoken rules that are ingrained within the society that would seem rude if not followed.  

  When I first started living in Japan, the space was probably the largest culture shock that I had to deal with.  Initially, I of course had no apartment and I was basically living out of my suitcase.  I would constantly just book the cheapest hotel/motel that I could find while I would go through the process of finding a place to live.  I visited various apartments with a realtor, in total around 10-12 apartments.  The main thing that stuck out to me about mansions in Japan is that they are incredibly tiny, by US standards.  Essentially, most that I saw were around 20 square meters, which is roughly around 200 square feet.  When I think of 200 square feet, I literally think thats like one bedroom in an apartment, not the entire apartment itself.  Space is essentially not wasted and you can’t have too many unnecessary things in your apartment for lack of space.  

I have attended several Hanshin Tiger games and I would vehemently say that the fans are intense and that they are really there to support their team.  Every single player on the team has their own special chant that fans will use to cheer in unity while the batter comes up to bat.  That was a huge culture shock for me and really something worth seeing even if you’re not a baseball fan.  On top of that, fans in the stadium always purchase these specialized Hanshin Tiger balloons that they blow up and release at the same time during the 7th inning stretch.  They’ll sing a song in unison and pump the balloons up and down to the beat until finally they release the balloons altogether.  The fans will also do this at the end of the games if the Hanshin Tigers end up winning.  Moreover, after wins, avid fans will be outside the stadium gathering together and chanting the players support songs in unison and they will go through the entire batting line-up that played to show their appreciation for the players winning.  The support and unity of the fans that they show to the team is really amazing and quite different from the US.

 If you attend an American style wedding, there is definitely a formal portion to the celebration.  The ceremony itself is quite formal.  You`ll have the bride walk down the aisle with her father, then the father ceremonial hands his daughter to the groom, and so on.  But once the actually wedding ceremony is over, the actually party begins.  There`s always a dance floor at almost every single wedding, it`s tradition actually.  The father dances with his daughter, then the bride and groom will share their first dance as a married couple.  Then after that everyone joins in and starts dancing and having fun themselves.  This is the point when people get more loose and wild.  It`s really quite amazing noticing the differences in the cultures and celebrations.    

This greatly differs from the US because of the fact that people are never that conscious of turning on their cars only right before you are meant to leave.  I remember when I was young during the winter times, I would go outside and turn on the engine of my parents car 10 minutes before leaving and turn on the heater so that the car would be nice and warm by the time we were ready to leave.  I was more concerned with my comfort rather than the effect on the environment.  This mindset is the same with almost all Americans.

Since moving to Japan， I have experienced a variety of things, new culture, different way of life, different types of food.  Probably one of the most amazing things is mother nature.  Living in Sunny California, I would never really think about the weather too much.  Almost everyday is guaranteed to be bright and warm (bordering on too hot at times).  But, since moving to Japan, there have been large earthquakes and countless typhoons.  Up until a year and a half ago, my only experience with typhoons has been hearing about them in the news.  I would see families get displaced from homes because of flooding or landslides, but I never really understood the gravity of the situation and how serious typhoons could actually be.  Now that I am living in a country where in a single year there are 20-30 typhoons, I have a much better understanding of the situation.  Experiencing it firsthand is quite amazing and scary at the same time.  The one thing that comes to mind is that you never try to mess with mother nature.  I have seen semi-trucks get tipped over and dragged like rag dolls.  Stop to think for a second and imagine what that could do to an actual person.  People say that ignorance is bliss.  In this case, it really is true, had I never experienced a typhoon I would go on living my life ignorantly and blissfully.