A year in Japan

In Japan, almost anything can be bought from a vending machine on the street. I have seen vending machines for soda, beer and wine, cigarettes, underwear, coffee, tea, coco, toys, playing cards, candy, and countless others. I think my favorite vending machine is for food. One of my favorite restaurants in Japan is Chicken Tai. At this restaurant (like many others in Japan) you come to a vending machine by the door. You select what you want like, chicken and rice, soda, or other entrees like pork. Then you put your money in and it prints out a card. You then walk into the restaurant and hand the waitress the card. They then make your food and bring it out to you. Many restaurants in Japan work that way. Another variation of these restaurants is that you buy the food straight out of a vending machine. A cook is there and he places the food into the vending machine as he cooks it—and then people can buy it fresh.

One of my favorite sit down restaurants in Japan was the Rose Garden. At this restaurant you sat at a table with a huge exhaust system over it. Then you got 1-2 small barbeques to that sat at your table. At these barbeques you cooked your own meat and vegetables that were brought to you. This restaurant was a meat lover's paradise. I usually went there with couple people or so. We usually got two grills. Each person got a bowl of rice. Then the real food started to come. We got big plates of bacon, pork, chicken, and steak. It was so good! You placed the meat on the grill and then when it was done to your liking you took it off and ate it fresh! So good! I usually went with 3-4 other people and we never finished all the food they gave us.

Karaoke in Japan is amazing! You 'rent' a room that you get with just you and your friends. In each room is a large TV screen and bench seating. You get a couple of microphones and books to search for songs. There are both in Japanese and English. The most famous group seems to be the Beatles. When you rent rooms you also get all you can drink for 2 hours. So for $15 -$20 you get all you can drink and karaoke with your friends for 2 hours. It is so fun and easy to do for hours at a time. It became a common group weekend activity when I lived there.

This is an amazing experience. The Japanese love baseball!!!! The games are very different than games in the U.S. Each team has the same positions and similar looking stadiums. So in the game itself you won't find many differences. The cheering is where you will find the differences. The fans cheer for their team when they are up to bat but don't when they are in the field. Each team has a small band and a leader for the cheers. Besides the band there are also flag wavers as well. Each cheer has specific lyrics that the fans know. The leader announces what cheer is next and what cheer you will sing for the next batter. At the games it is common to buy small plastic bats and plastic clackers to make noise to go along with the cheers. During the 7th inning we usually do extra cheering for our team. In Japan the fans blow up balloons and then shoot them off into the fields. The best place to sit in when you go to a team in Japan is in the cheap seats because that is where you will find the band and leader and where the fans are the most energetic.

I wanted to give those traveling in Japan a few cultural tips.
 
Japan is not a very mixed cultural group so if you are anything but Japanese you will stand out and get stared at, but don't take offense, many don't know better.  I have found that most Japanese people are so friendly and helpful.  I have had countless times when I have been standing on a street looking bewildered at a map and they come up to help in broken English and gestures.  

I think the biggest tip to take is to learn please, thank you, and sorry in Japanese and that will take you so far!  Many Japanese are amazed at any Japanese a foreigner (gaijin) can speak so a little goes a long way.

Instead of hand shaking they do a lot of bowing in Japan and so if you see a lot of excessive bowing it is out of respect.  

Japan has a very proper culture but if you do a little research and try to understand the culture you will have a much better and richer travel experience.