Tokyo Random Observations

This blog is not about GA. It is about observations of the city and people.

The Japanese are concerned about energy conservation so they give us the option of not washing our sheets, towels or kimono every day. The toilets and showers are water savers. The light fixtures are those energy saving kind that take a while to get to full light. I'm not exactly sure what kind of AC they use but it feels different and is probably an energy saving system too.

On the street, it is different matter. The streets are lit up with big, neon type signs and lit up banners. The streets, restaurants and shops are well lit. I don't know if it is all the energy saving type lights or not.

I expected serving sizes of food to be smaller but have not seen it yet. The buffet is all you can eat. I didn't see any rotund people with rounded, mounded plates though. Most people filled their plates but not overfilled them.They just go back for more if they are still hungry. Almost everything on the food bar was healthy and low calorie except the pastries. Japanese people are slimmer than we are overall, at least in this part of town. In Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's, it is just like the US. You order whatever you want and the sizes are the same.

The Japanese do not litter like we are used to. The streets are almost litter free in spite of the large numbers of people walking on them. There are no trash cans on the street.

John saw a homeless man sleeping on the street early yesterday. The man was barefoot. Taking off the shoes is part of the culture. Homeless people in the US sleep with their shoes on so nobody steals them.

People smoke in many restaurants. In our town, all restaurants except bars are smoke free so that is different. It is not too much of an issue for John and I, and many of us, but it is a bother to some in our group. They will have to go to the more expensive restaurants.

We see lots of people ordering food to go but almost nobody eating or drinking things like soda pop on the streets like we do in America. In America, it seems like every third person is carrying a big cup of some kind of sweet soda pop or a bottle of water.

The traffic signals are sideways instead of up and down. At all of the intersections we heard bird sounds to indicate the color of the light and when to walk. The walk/don't walk lights have a countdown to show those on the street how long it will be before they can walk.

In a city this size, one would expect to see many emergency vehicles but we have seen very few.

There are rows of bicycles and scooters parked on the strip next to the sidewalk. It is interesting to note that most of them are not locked to anything.

Business people in Tokyo wear suits and ties. They also ride the bikes and scooters all dressed up. Business attire is very formal, it seems. Many employees who serve people wear white gloves, much more so than in the US where white gloves are unusual. The suits and gloves are much like what I saw as a child growing up in St Louis several years ago. The suits may simply be appropriate business attire worldwide in large cities. In Springfield, if we see someone in a suit outside of a business setting, they are usually a preacher.

The weather has been warm but pleasant.