I had something very interesting happen this morning while waiting for the train, which was my inspiration for writing this post. I bought a drink at one of the vending machines, and finished it while waiting in line for the train to show up. There were about 6 people waiting at the same spot as me, in a neat line, which looked something like this ::: - I was one of the middle dots. I went and threw my empty can away, and when I came back, I went to the back of the line, but noticed the person behind me hadn't moved up. He then turned around and said, that I could have my spot back. This may not be a big deal, but I have never seen anyone do anything like that in Philly, NYC, or Cleveland... Which leads me to my post, about how to not look like a stupid foreigner when traveling around Japan.

If you ever are in Japan, there is one thing you will be doing a lot, which is walking. When walking in Japan, there are some things that you need to be aware of, or else you will be wondering why you are getting dirty/weird looks from the other people on the sidewalk. There are exceptions to all these, but their purpose is to be a basic outline.

First, make sure you are always walking on (your) left side of the sidewalk. You'll notice that while you're walking, everyone that is going the same direction as you will be on the left hand side. You won't get arrested or anything if you walk on the right, but you will bump into someone every 5 seconds, and have a bunch of frustrated Japanese looking at you.

Second, do not jaywalk. If you are waiting at an intersection to cross the street, and the crosswalk signal is not the little green guy, do not cross. For one, this will get you stopped by one of Tokyo's finest, and you'll have to produce either your passport or alien registration card. If, however, you see a bunch of Japanese crossing when they aren't supposed to, feel free to walk with them. There is one particular corner on the way to school where everyone seems to get stuck at, so people ignore this rule all the time and cross. I always wait for a Japanese to go first though -- maybe I'm just paranoid.

Third, don't eat and walk. I have yet to see anyone walking down the street munching on a cheeseburger or taiyaki. I really have no idea why this is, but I just know Japanese don't eat and walk at the same time, so you shouldn't either!


Now on to train etiquette. Inevitably you will also ride a train at least once while in Japan. I love the public transportation here. It is on time... all the time. And you can get anywhere in Tokyo for a fair price, and quickly. However, there are some "rules" to abide by on and around the trains.

First and foremost, you are not supposed to talk on the trains. I'm pretty sure every foreigner, and Japanese has broken this one at least once (I'm up to about 4 times now >.<). From what I've noticed, the younger generation of Japanese talk with their friends much more frequently than the older generations. This talking rule only applies if the person you're talking to is also on the train though; absolutely no talking on the cell phone though. There is a sign every 10 feet probably saying something along the lines of," please put your cell phone on silent mode, and refrain from talking while on the train."

When you are waiting for the train, do not stand directly in front of the door when it arrives. There will be between 1-50 people getting off at your stop, and when they are getting off they do not expect there to be someone standing in front of the door - if there is someone, the people leaving the train will be like, "what the hell?" Just stand off to the side, and once everyone has exited the car, then you can enter. It's kind of silly, but a) it makes things work really smoothly (especially at super busy stations) and b) you will really impress the Japanese!

This should go without saying, but if you see an elderly/handicaped/pregnant woman, let them sit down...

All of this stuff is what I believe the Japanese would bundle in with "meiwaku," which is a term that can broadly be defined as not causing the people around you trouble. I will update this more if/when I think of or see more interesting things.

P.S. I also *finally* posted the pictures from my karaoke/pool adventure. They're listed under ”友達” (tomodachi - or friend(s) in Japanese).