Things to remember

This is just a short post about a few things you have to keep in mind when living in Japan.

But first, look at what I freakin' had for lunch the other day:

Indian food! Do you see how giant that naan is? So dericious- and don't worry, I made people help me eat all this.

Anyway, back to the post.

1:  My water's cold?
            If you want hot water, you gotta turn it on. That being said, there has been sleepy mornings when I've woken up and stood there waiting in the shower for my water to get warm before realizing "shoot, duh...". This is the little device that controls it. Ours is in the kitchen. The buttons on the left control temperature, and the buttons on the right say "furo" (top button) which means tub (if you push that one, it'll fill up the tub!) and the one on the bottom right is the one you gotta push to turn on your hot water.

2. Cough cough hack hack oh sorry, is my cold making you hate me?
            Tokyo is a city with like 13 million people living in it. That being said, sicknesses can spread pretty fast. If you are sick in Japan, out of common courtesy (like covering your mouth when you sneeze in America), you are supposed to wear a face mask. Everyone does it! And I've already gotten so use to this. For example, this man was all hacking up a storm next to me and not wearing one and all I could think of was how rude he was being (crowded trains and no where to go!). But literally, you see these everywhere you go. Even people you wouldn't expect to wear them, do. I think this is going to be one of the rules I'll miss when I go back to America.

The last thing isn't something you necessarily have to keep in mind when living in Japan, but just a note on Japanese culture:

3. What do I want to eat?
                 When you go to a restaurant in Japan, the front part of the place usually displays, in plastic food version, the meals you can eat! I've gotten really used to this I think. Also, if they don't have it in plastic food version, the menu ALWAYS has a picture of whatever it is.  I think back on menus in America, and you have to rely on descriptions of the food for many of the dishes...but here you see exactly what you're getting and can see exactly what looks good!

Photo from: photopassjapan.com