Viva Japan!

My internet access in Shanghai pretty much sucked ass, and blogspot got blocked(apparently China blocks and unblocks blogspot every other month), so this has not been updated recently. So if all both of you that have been following my blog would come back, that would be great!

For the near future, this should be updated again fairly frequently, however when I get to back to China/India, I might have problems again.

Japan is a big change from China. Differences -

1. Cleanliness. Whereas China is a dirty mess, Japan is very clean. In China, a little kid will take a shit on the bus, and no one will raise an eyebrow. In Japan, I dont even think they can conceptualize what would happen if someone did that.

2. Noise. The general Chinese population never seems to have learned an appreciation for silence. There are not that many cars in China, but the ones that do exist make up for it by constantly honking at every oppurtunity. Someone going to slow? HONK!, Changing lanes? HONK!, about to stop? HONK!!. Mix that in with people screaming, people listening to music on their cell phones(through the speaker), and cities in China are extremely loud.

In contrast, when I first arrived in Osaka, I was bit spooked at first. I was in downtown by the subway station, tons of people walking, tons of cars going by, and yet, it was almost completely silent. I joked with someone that was with me, that talking might get you arrested for disturbing the peace.

3. People. Chinese in big cities assume that you are on a mission to give your money away, and basically try to screw you every chance they get. Carrying exact change is very important, since if you give someone a large bill, they will start to play games and insist that there was a misunderstading and that you actually agreed upon a higher price. Or if they do give you change, it will be in counterfeit bills.

Also, in China, the concept of lining up for something seems to be very loose. If you are in line for something, dont be surprised when someone elbows past you. Once, after hailing a taxi, while I was talking to the driver through the window, and lady decided to hop in. In other words, in China, its pretty much a dog eats dog world. No such thing as common courtesy. Way worse than America, which is extremely polite in comparison.

In Japan, on the other hand, no one will ever do anything that could ever be considered rude. Like say no. A few times I have been confused as to whats on the menu, and ordered something that was not on it. Instead of just saying no, a 5 minute discussion insues on whether or not they can get what I ordered, usually while I insist that its not a big deal and I can order something else, and then they will turn, and apoligize, and tell me that its very difficult.

4. Price. China, even in the big cities, is cheap as hell. Even when you get ripped off, you will still end up paying half what you would in America. Japan, on the other hand has prices pretty similar to America. I have actually found them to be a little cheaper even, by maybe about ten percent.