Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Having just returned from Tokyo, I spotted some odd things. What have you experienced that is weird when you have been on your holidays??

1. It is not socially acceptable to blow your nose in public, but fine for men to pick it whilst on the underground, then flick or wipe it on the seats.

2. Smoking whilst walking along the pavements is forbidden. There are corners where everyone stops to smoke.

3. Still on smoking, many people still do, and so eating out is horrible- pack febreeze to get rid of the smell on your coats, and a spray for your hair if you can't get to a shower.

4. People queue around the block (and crowds are controlled by policemen) to buy hot popcorn.

5. Toilets are a mystery- they are electric, or a hole in the ground. Some are heated which is weird the first time you sit on them, and some make a flushing sound when you sit down, which is also disconcerting. You can wash your front bits, bum and have a blow dry in the more advanced ones. Some will flush automatically, and some have a hidden flush handle down near the floor, which always seems to be in a different place.

6. Still on toilets, take a hanky or small towel with you as about 60% of loos do not have anything to dry your hands on after you wash them.

7. Tokyo has very few litter bins. Take a small plastic bag to put your bits of rubbish in.

8. Shop assistants in female fashion departments look like little dolls.

9. Stores contain lots of little shops inside the building -each shop assistant calls out a welcome in a high nasal voice (like a child) which is charming at first, but when you have 10 stalls in one small area it gets incredibly noisy.

10. If you are on a gluten free diet, do not take the coeliac society card that is in Japanese- it scares the restaurants so much that they all refuse to let you in.
Live on boiled rice, miso soup, and egg. You can also try the restaurants that have a built in barbecue on each table so you can get thin sliced meat and cook it yourself, or have sashimi (raw fish).

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

How interesting! I'd love to go there.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

There are some amazing places- I loved the Imperial Palace Gardens and the Meji Shrine was impressive. Might have been even better if it wasn't so cold and wet. Tip- don't go in December, though the Christmas lights are also interesting.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Sounds great - if cold.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Great feed back Caroline... On my wish list thats for sure.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Japanese toilets are awesome...I want one!

The one we had in Seoul recently was even remote controlled...can't quite work out the point of that!?

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Cool! Thanks for sharing. :thumbup:

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

I once saw a man in a butchers shop cooking blood until it congealed and then adding a bit of meat, fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal into it. He then sold the result to some, apparently very eager, folks, who devoured it with gusto.


It was in Bury, Lancs. I think he called it a black pudding. :)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Yes, my OH and DD love the stuff. Me, well it just makes me feel a bit...:sick:
(I have a genuine excuse for not eating them now, as they contain gluten.)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Tokyo is awesome - my new favourite Asian city after Hong Kong

To add to the list:
The art gallery at the top of the Roppongi Hills building. You can go up to the helicopter pad on the roof for an amazing vista of Tokyo
Spring is the best time to visit
Odiaba Island in Tokyo Bay. A man-made island with so much to see and do - Toyota Megaweb car showroom, museum, theme park, Sega Joyopolis - insane indoor theme park, Panasonic technology centre, 18m tall Gundam robot statue
The Itoya stationery store in Ginza - nothing like it anywhere else on the planet
The Tamiya hobby store in Shimbashi - release your inner child
The electronic/electrical/tech/tool stores around Akihabara station. My son loved the capsule vending machine store there
Vending machines selling everything
The incredibly polite, efficient, professional customer service attitude everywhere you go
Japanese women (especially the young) can be incredibly shy and conservative, yet many dress like total sluts. Great to look at though. Young Japanese women are marketed in an incredibly sexualised way that would be unacceptable in the west
Everyone bows
The mentalness of Shinjuku
The food - especially Okonomiyaki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki
Great beer
Saki
Efficiency of everything

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

I'd second a lot of that- especially the stationery store: I bought lots of things, and they giftwrapped them all- even down to the postcards!!

Shinjuku wasn't mental when we went- probably because it was sleety rain and not a weekend. Far more mental was standing outside the Tokyo Dome in more freezing rain and dark, whilst DD went all fangirl because BigBang were in concert there and she could hear them. (Her favourite K-pop group.) We had to take lots of pics of her cuddling up to the posters. She was very disappointed that we hadn't got her a ticket, and this was as close to her idols as she could get.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

You sit down on the loo? I thought all women hover?
:-)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

No mate, its Hoover. All women Hoover. ;)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

... until the knees give out due to age. Then it is bum up and aim or sit and hope for the best.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

yes of course the old knee trembler!!

another approach is to rest one cheek and limit the exposure to a preferred side...