Leaving And Loving Japan

Is it over already?

I feel like I just flew into Japan yesterday and now I’m waiting at the airport in Tokyo for my flight to Australia (where it’s going to be 104 degrees!). Of course, there’s still an hour and a half until I can check in. I thank Dad for teaching me the “get to the airport 4 hours before your flight because you never know what could happen” way of thinking. It’s always better to be 4 hours early than 1 minute late, right?

Now that I have some time to reflect on Japan and all of her wonderful curiosities, I figured that I would share them with you now.


You know when you sit down on a toilet and the seat is already warm and you think “ewww, someone spent a lot of time in here and their bare butt was sitting here where my bare butt is now sitting, likely only moments ago”?

That’s not the case in Japan.

The toilet seats are self-warming, so it’s always a nice treat to sit down on a Japanese toilet, especially on the cold, winter days.

Not only do they warm your butt, but they can also shoot streams of water that clean your um… orifices, play sounds of running water/nature for privacy, talk to you, and open and close on their own.

If you’re reading this and you’re thinking that a Japanese toilet would be a nice birthday gift for me, you’re 100% correct. I need a Japanese toilet in my life as soon as possible.


There’s a stark contrast between waiting in a Chinese line versus waiting in a Japanese line.

In China, trying to get onto a train at rush hour is almost impossible. People are incessantly pushing each-other and cutting in line, that is, if a “line” even exists. They also do not wait for people to get off the train before they try to get on, so it ends up being a cluster of people crammed in the doorway, until someone squeezes and shoves their body through the herd of people until they pop out on the other side.

Conversely, Japanese people patiently wait in line. They stand to the side and wait for people to get off the train before getting on. It’s all very orderly, organized, and polite.

I witnessed two gentlemen going towards the entrance to the escalator at a train station. Instead of pushing ahead of the other to get on, they did the “no, you go” tango for a second, then stood at the entrance and bowed to each other for the next 10 seconds.

Movie Theaters

Gear up, ladies and gentleman. This is going to blow your mind.

When you buy your ticket, you also book your seat assignment. Then you can avoid the awkwardness of saving seats or arriving to the movie theater, only to find that the only seats left are in the front row or on the side. You know exactly where you’re going to sit before you get there and it’s so much less stressful.

Also, Japanese people wait until the entire credit roll has completed before they leave the movie theater. And it’s not just to see if there’s a teaser at the end. The lights stay off, nobody moves, and people just sit there through the entirety of the movie credits. I really liked that. It was paying respect to all the people that worked on the movie, even the Assistant Fruit Manager #3.


Japan is by far the cleanest country that I’ve ever been to. It’s a wonder that they keep everything so clean because I never see any public garbage cans. I usually only see recycling bins for bottles (probably for the billions of vending machines they have).

Their recycling system is extensive and everyone follows the rules. That is, you never see garbage in bottle recycling, and plastics, paper, bottles, etc, are always separated. It’s a wonderful system.

I’m definitely going to miss Japan. I got to stay with my brother, Kevin, on the most comfortable air mattress that I’ve ever slept on, under blankets that we borrowed from his friends (seriously, how does anyone sleep with no heat and one blanket?), in his apartment in Kasumi (with the most dangerous stairs). We went adventuring, ate plenty of sushi, watched movies before bed, and went to the Lawson 100 Yen store for lunch.

Until next time, Japan. YOSH!

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3 Responses to Leaving And Loving Japan

  1. clem chow says:

    Thank you for covering the reasons why Japan is always my preferred travel destination.


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