Ok, I didn't get a chance to go through my photos of the Tokae Matsuri (lantern festival?), so I'll wait to share all the craziness that ensured yesterday in Nara until later!
For now, since I'm super sleepy, I'll leave you with more oberservations on Japanese life and another pic from out my window the other day...




Week 2 observations...

-‘Loaves’ of bread at the supermarket are higher, far shorter (lengthwise), the slices are twice as thick, and the end pieces are missing. (Oh, and the bag ties at the top, not the side.)
-There's no stop signs at intersections, just convex mirrors set up so you can see if someone’s coming. (Does Europe have that too?)
-Lots of older ladies on mopeds.
-Elbow-length gloves are sold for protection against the sun for women. And many wear them. Even in ungodly humidity.
-No means of drying your hands in public restrooms. Even at my school there aren’t any paper towels or hand dryers. Most people carry little hand towels with them to dry hands and wipe the sweat from their brow when walking out in the sun.
-At some public toilets, you have pay for toilet paper outside. (You won’t find *any* inside! Yikes! More on this in my next post!)
-Many toilets are ‘Japanese style’, meaning they are porcelain, but shaped like a trough in the floor and you squat over it. I don’t mind them, but some people seem to have issues with them.
-‘Western style’ toilets- even in the public restrooms- have a control panel where you can choose from a bidet, 2 kinds of spray for your derriere, and a flushing ‘sound’. (Don’t ask me why you’d need *only* the flushing noise…) I’ve never taken advantage of any of these options.
-(If your apt is like mine) Your shower stall not only has your sink, but also a fan that can double as a dehumidifier and a dryer for your clothes.
-You don’t ‘sign’ you name, instead you pick out a stamp of your name (in kanji) called a hanko and certify it at city hall and always use that. (Don’t lose it! O_o)
-If you tell someone your family is from Ireland originally, they say, “Like JFK?”
-If you put too much money on a train fare ticket, you can put it in a ‘fare adjustment’ machine before you leave the station and get your extra money back. (Or if you didn’t pay enough you have to pay here in order to exit.)
-NHK, the public TV station, is optional and if you want it you’re required to pay for it on a monthly basis.
-Everyone has little charms on their cell phones (even men).
-When you pay for anything at the store, you put it in a little dish by the register instead of handing it over and the bag that your purchase is placed in is always taped shut and handed to you by the clerk with both hands and a bow.
-Vending machines for cigarettes in the mall… on the street… etc. (I still haven’t seen beer or manga in vending machines, though.)
-People wear clothes with lots of random English words: little kids with hats that say “Happy Town” or “fleshness” (mishaps with the ‘l’ and ‘r’ abound!), punk clothes that say things like, “Start your rebellion. I turn on my lamps”, or, my personal favorite, a teenage guy with a t-shirt that said, “My husband is 40”. (You can be sure he had no idea what it said!)
-Pastries are usually filled with sweet bean paste instead of jelly.
-A lot of restaurants won’t let you take unfinished food home.
-Baskin Robbins offers flavors like matcha (green tea) and black sesame and has almost as many sorbets as ice creams.
-Pizza Hut offers a sausage-stuffed crust pizza. (And I mean sausage links, not crumbled!)

Oyasumi nasai!

...zzzzzzzz...