About Japan

When you visit a place you see and smell and touch things that gives you a first hand look into how a place operates.  So it was with Japan.

We spent about 9 days and visited around 15 places or cities.  We traveled almost exclusively by train(s) except when we used our own two feet or took a bus because it was the wise thing to do.

So here are some observations from yours truly -

1. It is by and large a clean place.  I mean really pristine where there is less of humanity and where there is a ton (e.g. Tokyo downtown) it is swept up clean.  People like most civilized societies do not throw trash out at random except receptacles designed for said purpose.  There are not many trash cans come to think of it except at railway stations and outside 7-11 convenience stores which are ubiquitous.
2. Very little homelessness or pan handlers (even less than San Francisco and the latter is a rich city by any measure).
3. Not too many gun toting police were visible unlike in California where any random street patrol has an automatic handgun
4. They are big on pictographs.  If in doubt look at the pictures.  Without using English most common situations are clearly marked for someone with zero language skills.  From toilet operations to how and where to wait for a train is marked with instructional images for dummies.
5. They tend to not speak much - trains are quiet as are the shrines, with most of the noise coming from visiting hordes like us.  
6. If you learned about ISO 9000 or TQM or Process Control in some archaic or vague engineering text book this is the place to come and live it.  Everything in its place and there is a place for everything.  From ordering take out food to using the toilet to traveling on superfast trains the entire country is one big synchronized machine.  Not one person varies from that cadence or tries to the beat the system.
7. Cash is still widely accepted and preferred.  The restaurants in Japan require no tipping.  Your bill is updated on a chit that is left on your table.  Once you are done you take it to the cashier with your form of payment and settle it as you leave the place.
8. People will go out of their way to help with directions if you appear lost and choose to ask to an English literate person.  That is the harder part but they try.  
9. The sign for no or cannot is two hands crossed in front of their face.  No meat is a word for meat and a cross.  Or not allowed on this train is train name and an X in front of their face.
10. Food and beer is not expensive (or at least not more than your average price in the US) but hotels (we used American brands and prefer high end since it helps recharge for a hectic day) can be almost twice as much cost to booking in comparable American cities.
11. While they should be rejoicing in such overt display of orderliness and wealth, the Japanese apparently rank 51st on a recent index of happy places.  Behind Morocco.  The US ranks 15th.  Strange?  Perhaps, but it is due to a general loneliness that they experience in their lives I am told by a Japan expert.  Time for them to shop for friends in other lands.