It's the Little Things

As I traveled through Japan, I would often encounter really interesting or really smart ways of doing things.  This post will show most of those things I was impressed with.  The first is that in Japan, you can rent a pocket WIFI for $40 a week.

The public parking lots have moving gates that flip up when you park.  When you have paid up, the gate comes down and you can drive away.

Brilliant!  Is this done anywhere else in the world?

The Japanese love their beverage vending machines.  You are never more than a few hundred meters from quenching your thirst.

 

At a restaurant, to call the service person you press a button and a sound is chimed.

Toilet seats that are heated and wash your butt.  They are so common (even in public restrooms) that you are slightly taken aback when you have to use a regular toilet seat.

Ok, yes, we went to McDonald's once.  But here was a cool package for dressing where you didn't have to fumble with tearing the packaging and getting the dressing on your fingers.  In Japan you squeeze the two ends together and the dressing comes out the middle.

In Kyoto, we saw a bunch of these baskets with nets attached to poles throughout the city.  Onions and I could not figure out their purpose.

Zippers for the cords of your headphones!  I wanted to buy them but I forgot to.

Outside most restrooms is printed a map showing the locations toilets and sinks. 

Ever accidentally pour too much soy sauce?  This soy sauce bottle requires you to pump the button on top and it delivers a discrete amount of soy sauce.

Semi-trucks with doors that open out sideways!

Enclosed smoking areas outside!

On the crowded Tokyo rail lines and subway, during the morning commute, there is always a car designated for women only.

Coin lockers are EVERYWHERE.

At many restaurants, you pay buy purchasing a ticket from a vending machine outside the restaurant.

Makes the mayonnaise look prettier.

Being a non-Japanese, we were able to ride the trains on a pass. Simply go to the ticket counter, show them the pass and you get a reserved seat ticket.

Safety outlets in which the circular part rotates to align with the holes so you can insert your plug.

The Japanese take recycling to the VARSITY level!

Whimsy and humor is found in the most surprising places.

At the airport, the conveyor belt for your luggage is AT GROUND LEVEL.

Intersections in Tokyo

Need to cross from NE to SW or NW to SE?  No need to walk the two legs of the right triangle.  In Tokyo, go ahead and walk along the hypontenuse!

On our walk down from the Meiji Shrine to Shibuya, Onions and I had the "good fortune" of passing by a public appearance by a Japanese Girl band.

Their third album was released on that day!

Japan surprises me sometimes.  This is a country that still values and purchases CD's.  Can you believe there is a store that has over three floors of CD's?

And from the window of the Starbuck's on the second floor of the store you can watch the ballet of the Shibuya intersection!

Green light means GO!

We're in full swing here....

And it's time to return the intersection to the motor vehicles!

Participating in the Shibuya Intersection crossing!

Meiji Shrine

Japan before the middle of the 1800's was closed to the rest of the world.  But it was the Meiji emperor that had the foresight to open Japan to the west and therefore begin the process of modernization.  The Meiji Shrine and surrounding park are dedicated to the emperor and his wife.

The sake brewers honoring the Meiji emperor.

At every shrine you see a place to wash yourself.

With your right hand, wash your left hand.

With your left hand, wash your right hand.

Pour some water into your left hand and then rinse your mouth.

Again wash your left hand.

Lastly, raise the ladle up so the water drips down the handle and rinses it as well.

The Meiji Shrine.  This is the location of the seating of the emperor.

Views Over Tokyo

Just west of Shinjuku Station are the Tokyo Metropolitan Municipal Buildings.

The top floor of each of the two tours has an observation deck that can be visited for free.  From here, on a clear day, you can look over the expanse of Tokyo Metro.

Looking east towards downtown Tokyo and the harbor.

Just to the right of the tower that looks like the Empire State Building is that National Stadium that was built for the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.  Starting this year, the stadium will be torn down and a new Zaha Hadid designed stadium will be built in its place.  There has been much criticism that the new stadium is simply too large for what is essentially a residential area.

That expanse of trees is the park that surrounds the Meiji Shrine.

The Park Hyatt Hotel where the movie "Lost In Translation" was filmed.

Looking west....Tokyo extends as far as the eye can see.

Not sure the name of this building, but I think it looks cool.