Japan_too

You forget how to tie your shoes. (In Japan you are always taking off your shoes, so Japanese people always have their shoes tied loosely so you can just step in and out of them, or they have the backs mashed down so they look like clogs. I just bought a pair of clogs before coming. I suggest that to anyone who comes here.)

You find yourself bowing on the phone. (Its the funniest thing I've ever seen.)

You run like hell, running over old ladies and baby carriages down the road, but then stop and wait at a "don't walk" sign, even though there isn't any traffic.

You don't hesitate to put a $10 in a vending machine. (A 1000 yen note is the smallest bill.)

You see a foreignor on the train and you think, "Hey its a foreignor!"

The first option you buy for your car is a TV.

You don't think that's its unusual for a truck to play "Its a Small World" when backing up. (All cars and trucks have to make a sound when backing up. Recently work trucks have been playing songs when backing up.)

You stop enjoying telling newcomers to Japan, 'all about Japan'.

You are not worried about speeding in the rain, because the cops are only out in good weather. (Actually the cops are never out. They have a thing called Safety Week where they out in droves, but only for a week.)

You quit getting annoyed by the political campaign megaphone ontop of cars. (It is so 1950ish, I love it.)

You develop a liking for green tea ice cream. (Man I love this stuff.)

You think, "white pills, blue pills, and some powder" is an adequate answer to the question, "Hey doc, what's this medicine?". (The doctors never explain shit here. I think the Japanese people just respect doctors so much that they do whatever they say. This is all do to the fact that Japanese people respect people in a higher position than them. This is quite possibly the most unAmerican thing I have ever encountered.)

You haven't yet shaken your sexual attraction to the school girl navy outfits. (Oh my god, how could you not love these things? They roll their skirt up nanometers from their box. I always say, "I would love to meet the dirty old man you instituted these things, and shake his hand!")

You bow to other drivers when they give you the right away.

It doesn't surprise you that a case of beer has the same per unit price as a single can. (This is also so surprising to people who think buying in bulk saves you money. Actually sometimes buying in bulk is more expensive! This blew my mind the first time I saw it.)

You think that cod roe spaghetti and cold red wine is an authentic Italian meal. (I love Japanese-Italian food but its not the real thing. My Japanese friend always insists that Japanese version of Italian food is more authentic than Amerian Italian food. She says its because Japanese cooks go to Italy to study. I'm sure that that is far more authentic than going down to Ginos family restaraunt in Anytown USA, and ordering from the Giovanni family.)

You start to recognize BGM as a legitimate music. (It means Background Music. It is muzak. Japanese are always shortening American words; OHP-overhead projector, remocon-remote control, and dozens and dozens of others.)

You walk into a bar filled with non-Japanese and you get nervous because they look dangerous.

You run your ass off, trampling old ladies and children just to make the Midosuji Subway Line, because you know that another train isn't coming for another minute. (This is my all time most hated thing in Japan. People will kill their own mother to get somewhere in a hurry. I disdain running in the station more than anything. It is a metaphor for this whole society, Chris Hashkawa said it best, "Japanese people are in a hurry, to get nowhere." There is not enough space for me to voice all my hatred for running in the station.)