2 Feb 2011

First impressions of Tokyo

- cleaniness: the street are small and cluttered sometimes, but not dirty. You can't find trash in the floor. There are always recycling bins next to trash ones, but these are not easy to find. In the suburbia you can see mattresses hanging from the balconies to get some air and sun. They are very thin, so they are easy to carry outside.
Inside the houses (hostel included) you can't have your shoes on. They provide slippers for you and you must use different ones to go to the toilet. There's always a pair in the entrance of the toilet for that.

- Pets: There's barely any pets around: I think we've seen 2 dogs so far. The only cats were stray and old in a park. But stray dogs don't exist here. I found out that they are a lot of housing rules that don't allow pets, and let's face it, with such small houses is not easy to keep one. Turtles instead are very popular.

- silence: is overhelming. The only noise is from the cars. People don't talk. I havent seen anyone on the phone. Even if they talk among them is very silent. . I found some people saying is imprinted in their education to avoid unnecessary noise. There's 12 million people here, so a curb of noise is enforced. No one laughs exuberantly, affection displays dont exist. They transmit a lot of coldness, but they are very helpful

- etiquette: it's against etiquette to walk and eat at the same time. Smoking is banned everywhere excepted in designated areas, I mean everywhere in and outdoors.

- cellphones: I've seen basically the same type of phone everywhere. The choice is limited. iPhone is rare to see. That really surprised us

- bicycles: are considered more as pedestrians than vehicles. They are ridden more in sidewalks than the road it self. No one rings the bell (again, no noise policy) so we are all the time almost being run over by one.