I love Japan, all in all. But every day at least once, something happens and I find myself thinking "I hate Japan sometimes." That being said, I thought I would write a blog entry about my love-hate relationship with Japan. Sometimes I get frustrated at work, but that is not what this entry is about, so I tried to steer clear of work-related hates and loves.. This is only the beginning. I had to cut it off somewhere.
Let's start with love: I love the food. Except for the lack of certain things from home, food here is amazing. Granted, I am in Japan, so why I expect there to be things like cereal or bagels or real pizza, I do not know. But, Japanese food is delicious. (except for squid, in my case)
hate: indirectness. Just say what you want to say, Japanese people. Clearly this is a cultural difference, especially because Americans are considered to be fairly straightforward (rude from a Japanese perspective), but it is really annoying the way people hem and haw here instead of just spitting out what they want to say! Just say it! AH!
Love: I love how scrunchies and leg warmers are in style here. Why scrunchies ever went out of style is beyond me. How can you go wrong with a cute piece of scrunchy material that you wrap around your pony tail and BAM your pony tail went from "I am too lazy to do my hair today" to "cuuuuuuute my scrunchy matches my shirt!"
Hate: certain styles in Japan. Girls here are super skinny, but even so, I still hate super-short skirts where if the girl steps wrong...UNDERWEAR SIGHTING. Even slutty girls, do you really want EVERYONE out there (grandmas and children and pedophiles alike) to see your underwear? really? let me clarify...if girls put leggings on with their short skirt, all is solved because underwear is covered. In fact, many cute outfits can be created with short skirts and leggings. knee-high socks are not the same as leggings (cough cough high school girls cough cough)
Love: there are cute things EVERYWHERE. like hello kitty dressed as a bear or a bunny. Or various Japanese characters that are made to fit a certain city or area...for example, Nagano prefecture is known for apples and soba noodles, so there are characters wearing apple outfits or eating soba.
hate: I hate driving in Japan. while there is a certain responsibility to be aware while driving for what you are doing and what others are doing, there is a ridiculous amount of awareness required here to avoid accidents. Example: you are stopped at a red light and the person across from you has their signal on to turn across traffic. The light changes and they floor it so they can make their turn before you go forward. That is just stupid on their part and annoying on my part because I should not have to worry about that sort of thing!
Love: Japanese music. Clearly Americans produce good music, but I am definitely in love with music here, especially the J-pop groups that are so often made fun of in the rest of the world. Ok, they cannot always sing well, and maybe they do not always make good music, but there is just something about them... cant explain it. Oh yes, and they are almost always attractive.
hate: lack of common sense. People here do things sometimes that are just plain stupid. I will leave it at that
love: limited edition flavors of various things. These are delicious. Like teriyaki doritos or sakura green tea kit kats. or yakiimo (baked sweet potato) kit kats!
hate: the "limited" part of limited edition. Sometimes the limited editions are the most delicious and then they are around for a month and never come back or sometimes they are seasonal limited editions so they come back next year around the same time, but still...a whole year!
love: enkais (aka drinking parties) Not just because I love Japanese sake, but because that is when I get to meet people for real. as I have learned, the teachers I work with have two sides...their teacher self and their other self, and at school, I never get to see the "other" self. At enkais, the people here really let loose and it is really the best time to get to know people and to actually talk to them. of course, I am really bad at enkai manners so I am really working hard on letting loose myself, but just seeing that the teachers are not always completely serious is really nice.
hate: the fact that men feel it is appropriate to pee anywhere. I have been walking or driving and have seen men just peeing on street corners, often not even bothering with pretending to do something else. They just straight out think it is fine to pee anywhere, anytime. it is gross. Get it together, Japanese men.
