Observations

I'm sorry, I've been meaning to write for a while. This may become a common theme... First I have some random observations about Japan, and then I'll talk more in depth about school.

Little towels - everywhere. Everyone just has these little hand-towel sized towels that they bring around, for sweat or drying their hands (there is usually nothing for drying hands in the bathrooms) or any other purpose (like as a pillow or head cover for sleeping in class). My family, at least, also uses these as bath towels. At first I was surprised because they're smaller than I'm used to, but actually they work just fine. It hasn't really hit cold season, but I think people also will carry little washcloth-sized towels in place of tissues.

Aisatsu- There are lots of little set phrases used in daily life. For example, when coming and going. When you leave somewhere, you announce, いってきます(itte kimasu, I go and return), and everyone else responds, いってらっしゃい (itte rasshai, go and come). Then when you get back, you call out, ただいま(tadaima, I just came back), and whoever is home replies, おかえりなさい or おかえり(okaerinasai or okaeri, welcome home). Before eating, you say, sometimes with hands in a praying position, いただきます (itadakimasu, I will humbly receive), and after eating, ごちそうさまでした(gochisousamadeshita, it was a feast). Then there's all the various greetings for different times of the day, and in school whenever I pass a teacher, I bow and say おはようございます(ohayou gozaimasu, good morning) in the morning, and こんにちは (konnichiwa, good day) in the afternoon.

They don't eat the skins of their grapes. Sometimes, if the skin is loose, they suck the insides out.

Orthodontistry is not big here. It's made me realize how many American smiles are artificial.

In school, there is a big focus on neatness. Everyone always has their rulers out for any lines or charts or boxes they may need to make in their notes. They also have plastic sheets that they put under the page of their notebook that they are writing on, so there won't be writing bumps on the other side. My philosophy is that as long as I can understand my notes, they're just fine...

The TV shows are so bright and colorful, and the hosts often wear interesting costumes. They seem so normal here though, but I realized at home they would be very strange.

Manga and anime are big here, obviously, but I didn't realize how big anime/manga porn is. On the streets of downtown Osaka, there are large posters of scantily-clad/naked anime girls.

They constantly are taking their shoes on and off, or changing pairs for entering and exiting buildings or specific parts of buildings. Having not been doing this my whole life, I am much slower. I don't quite understand the indoor school shoes, because while you carefully change from the walking-to-school shoes to indoor ones without stepping on the "outside" floor, you can then wear the indoor shoes anywhere on school property, which includes outside areas.

I feel like I had a few more observations, but I left my notebook that had them in school. I may update this in a couple days. Also this post is getting too long, which makes my iPad glitch, so I'm actually going to write a separate one about school.