There are a couple of things I want to point out about what to do or not do in Japan. The first main rule, as someone said yesterday, is if you don't see a Japanese person doing it, then neither should you.
One big thing not to do is to eat or drink while walking. We kind of forgot for a moment the other day and was wondering why people were staring more than usual before we remembered and found a place to sit down.
Don't draw attention to yourself by talking extremely loudly, ESPECIALLY on trains and buses. I think only the elderly can get away with that.
I think I read (and have also observed) that you're supposed to carry everything in bags, or something. Or maybe that's just for foods...Still, be careful about that if you don't want to be stared at more.
Also, be prepared to be a celebrity when you're here, and especially to have little kids say hello, stare, and/or say something about being a foreigner. Remember the group of kids before? We had at least one or two more that either said something or stared. Which is fine, because we're the minority here, and we definitely don't live here (yet, for some of us...).
Also, getting by without being able to understand much Japanese isn't too bad. Generally I can figure out what something is, and I feel like I did enough research before coming that I at least know someone the basics.
Moving on to food.
Though the food is so, so good here, but I do already miss some of the foods I'm used to. Rather, I find that I'm craving meat. Don't get me wrong, I love pastas and noodles and salty flavors and soy sauce and stuff, but sometimes a meal with just chicken, potatoes and a vegetable sounds really good. Granted, if I weren't so lazy and bothered to learn how to cook more, I could probably make something like that. They do have chicken and things at grocery stores.
OK, so types of foods. Yes, they really do have rice with practically every meal. Hence the wonderful rice cooker. Just add water and how much rice you want and it cooks it within 40 min or so.
Vending machines are EVERYWHERE! I have yet to see some with more than just drinks, but I'm also not in a huge city. Now, as for drinks, I haven't tried a lot yet, but I'll list the ones I have (and they're amazing!). First I tried milk tea, which is self explanatory. If you don't like the thinness or maybe even bitterness of some teas, then try this, because the milk adds more flavor and thickness to it, so the bitterness isn't as strong. You can also buy huge things of green tea here, to be put in the fridge. I sort of like it, but being American, I kind of want it a bit sweeter. There are other types of tea you can buy, though, that I've heard aren't so bitter. I'd try that when I finally use the green tea up, but I want a huge thing of milk tea instead; I could become addicted to that stuff.
Yesterday while we were out and about again (which I'll talk about maybe tonight), I tried this drink called Calpis (カルブス). Now, I don't really like pop, but this stuff was amazing! It's fizzy like pop, but somehow I actually like this stuff. As with the others, this comes in different flavors.
They also have this amazing thing called canned coffee. You can literally buy different types of coffee in cans, all ready to drink and everything. Doesn't even need to be warmed up. I only bought one yesterday (for about 60 yen, or 60 cents in USD), and I just finished drinking it. I'm going to buy a six pack of this amazing stuff and basically lice off of it for a while. Yes, yes I do love coffee. I'll even drink it black if I have to (which I did for a bit last semester after I ran out of the sweetener stuff).
Also, I guess the Japanese have a thing for French food. Which means they have a whole section on Beisha dedicated to delicious breads and stuff. And yesterday, we also ran across this little bakery in a home center like store, that had free samples, and the bread here is the most amazing thing ever. If you come to Hikone, I recommend going to Piago and finding that bakery. I think a couple of us have plans to go and buy bread there for lunch. Oh, when I say bread, I dont just mean sliced bread, they also have cheese filled bun things and raisin bread things and a bunch of other stuff, and it comes warm. A couple of us sort of shared the cheese one yesterday.
By the way, we may have sandwiches for dinner sometimes, but the Japanese don't consider that a meal, not even BLTs. It seems so far that if it doesn't have at least rice or noodles and some meat or something big to go with it, hen it's not a real meal. I'll be able to talk more about that after I move in with my host family on the 21, I think it is.
All right, I think that's it for now, and also, I have class in an hour and I'm not even ready to go yet, so I must be off.
One big thing not to do is to eat or drink while walking. We kind of forgot for a moment the other day and was wondering why people were staring more than usual before we remembered and found a place to sit down.
Don't draw attention to yourself by talking extremely loudly, ESPECIALLY on trains and buses. I think only the elderly can get away with that.
I think I read (and have also observed) that you're supposed to carry everything in bags, or something. Or maybe that's just for foods...Still, be careful about that if you don't want to be stared at more.
Also, be prepared to be a celebrity when you're here, and especially to have little kids say hello, stare, and/or say something about being a foreigner. Remember the group of kids before? We had at least one or two more that either said something or stared. Which is fine, because we're the minority here, and we definitely don't live here (yet, for some of us...).
Also, getting by without being able to understand much Japanese isn't too bad. Generally I can figure out what something is, and I feel like I did enough research before coming that I at least know someone the basics.
Moving on to food.
Though the food is so, so good here, but I do already miss some of the foods I'm used to. Rather, I find that I'm craving meat. Don't get me wrong, I love pastas and noodles and salty flavors and soy sauce and stuff, but sometimes a meal with just chicken, potatoes and a vegetable sounds really good. Granted, if I weren't so lazy and bothered to learn how to cook more, I could probably make something like that. They do have chicken and things at grocery stores.
OK, so types of foods. Yes, they really do have rice with practically every meal. Hence the wonderful rice cooker. Just add water and how much rice you want and it cooks it within 40 min or so.
Vending machines are EVERYWHERE! I have yet to see some with more than just drinks, but I'm also not in a huge city. Now, as for drinks, I haven't tried a lot yet, but I'll list the ones I have (and they're amazing!). First I tried milk tea, which is self explanatory. If you don't like the thinness or maybe even bitterness of some teas, then try this, because the milk adds more flavor and thickness to it, so the bitterness isn't as strong. You can also buy huge things of green tea here, to be put in the fridge. I sort of like it, but being American, I kind of want it a bit sweeter. There are other types of tea you can buy, though, that I've heard aren't so bitter. I'd try that when I finally use the green tea up, but I want a huge thing of milk tea instead; I could become addicted to that stuff.
Yesterday while we were out and about again (which I'll talk about maybe tonight), I tried this drink called Calpis (カルブス). Now, I don't really like pop, but this stuff was amazing! It's fizzy like pop, but somehow I actually like this stuff. As with the others, this comes in different flavors.
They also have this amazing thing called canned coffee. You can literally buy different types of coffee in cans, all ready to drink and everything. Doesn't even need to be warmed up. I only bought one yesterday (for about 60 yen, or 60 cents in USD), and I just finished drinking it. I'm going to buy a six pack of this amazing stuff and basically lice off of it for a while. Yes, yes I do love coffee. I'll even drink it black if I have to (which I did for a bit last semester after I ran out of the sweetener stuff).
Also, I guess the Japanese have a thing for French food. Which means they have a whole section on Beisha dedicated to delicious breads and stuff. And yesterday, we also ran across this little bakery in a home center like store, that had free samples, and the bread here is the most amazing thing ever. If you come to Hikone, I recommend going to Piago and finding that bakery. I think a couple of us have plans to go and buy bread there for lunch. Oh, when I say bread, I dont just mean sliced bread, they also have cheese filled bun things and raisin bread things and a bunch of other stuff, and it comes warm. A couple of us sort of shared the cheese one yesterday.
By the way, we may have sandwiches for dinner sometimes, but the Japanese don't consider that a meal, not even BLTs. It seems so far that if it doesn't have at least rice or noodles and some meat or something big to go with it, hen it's not a real meal. I'll be able to talk more about that after I move in with my host family on the 21, I think it is.
All right, I think that's it for now, and also, I have class in an hour and I'm not even ready to go yet, so I must be off.