Getting closer to hitting the 3 month mark in Japan and figured it was time for another collection of my random expat ramblings. Similar to my 11 Early Observations, ranging from the minor details to larger themes of adjusting to life in the land of the rising sun, except this time it's a list of 10.
Fake food is a real thing. You know how there are collective concepts of what is typical in certain places - cowboys in Texas or bullfights in Spain or rude people in Paris - but you aren't quite sure what is actually prevalent and what's just been blown out of proportion? That's how I felt about fake food. Everyone has heard of the use of plastic food in Japan to advertise a restaurant's offerings, but before getting here, I really wondered whether this was actually a thing, as we're led to believe. It is. Or at least much more so than rude people in Paris.
Japanese way vs. the American non-way. In Japan it seems there is a right way, and therefore a wrong way, to do just about everything, from eating to parking to riding on the train. If you are unsure about proper procedure (you can be sure there is one) the general rule of thumb is to watch what everyone else around you is doing and then do the same exact thing. Just recently we went to the grocery store for a couple of things, literally two, and Graham asked me why I grabbed a basket. And I was like, look around you...everyone has a basket, so we have a basket! As an American, I certainly regard etiquette as a positive thing, but normally reserved for particularly formal scenarios - dinner parties, weddings, funerals, etc. Everyday American life tends to be more relaxed, with less protocol. Here I fluctuate from feeling like a bumbling, unrefined idiot to an American flag-waving rebel cowboy. Yeehaaw, I just jaywalked! Oh no, everyone is staring...
