Take Me Riding in the Car

In a day or two we'll get Chad's new car and then I'll post some about Japanese cars. For now I'll just say they are on my list of favorite things about Japan. ;)

A little bit about driving here: Driving on left side of the road isn't too bad, mostly you just have to relearn how to stay between the lines. A lot of the residential roads are really, really narrow. Parking is a pain - it's like parking in a funhouse. And a lot of the standard road signs are totally different from those in the States. Oh, and the turn signal and windshield wipers are switched - imagine having to think about using your turn signal.

you can't really pull out far enough to look left & right, so
you use these mirrors at smaller intersections

this is a stop sign...it says "tomare",
which actually translates to "stop sign"

The Cleanest Garbage in the World

Here is a post I've been wanting to do for awhile now, but I just now got all the pictures together....for everyone who wondered what I was going to do with myself while were here.....the answer is "take out the garbage".

Recycling is mandatory here and it is pretty intense. There are about 11 categories into which you have to divide your garbage. Most of it is considered "recyclable", in which case you have to clean it before you throw it out and sometimes you even have to de-label it (like plastic bottles, for example). There are different days during the month in which you put different types of garbage on the curb (and everyone on your street puts it in the same spot). For example, every 1st and 3rd Monday is the day to put most of the recyclables on the curb. Sometimes it is a little hard to figure out where something goes, and we've seen some stuff on the curb that we were pretty sure was in the wrong place. I think it is even a little hard for the Japanese people sometimes....

As you can imagine, all this takes up some time and space. I am really glad we have a big house because we have plenty of cubby holes in which to shove our trash while we wait for the next designated day. Missing a day is really bad because you can end up an unwilling hoarder....I also had to buy about six trash cans (to go with the two that were here when we arrived) to keep it all straight.

my recyling shrine

Categories:

1. organic matter

2. glass

3. plastic wrapping

4. plastic bottles

5. hazardous materials (batteries, broken glass etc.)

6. cartons

7. cardboard

8. styrofoam

9. paper

10. aluminum cans

11. "mixed paper" (carbon paper, photo paper etc.)

at the curb you sort it into nets and bins

Dorking Out in Tokyo

This past weekend we went into Tokyo again. This time we went by ourselves, and although we had to ask for help a few times and we wandered around in circles a little bit, we made it there and back again. About getting there: first we drive about 10 minutes to the nearest station with an express train into the city, then we take the train for about an hour into the outskirts of the city. After that we can get on the subway and go wherever we want.

We went to Akihabara (Akiba) first. Akiba is the electronic district of Tokyo, famous for electronic stores, gaming and maid cafes. Maid cafes are kind of like Hooters for Japanese nerds.  After that we went to Jimbocho, which has been the bookseller's district of Tokyo for decades.  Dozens of bookstores....and if you look hard enough you can find English books. I found a couple of aisles of them at Sanseido Bookstore (the bookstore in the local mall also has a couple of shelves of English books, for the record.)

By the time we got home (we were gone 9am to 5pm) we were exhausted. I learned to not plan too much for a day trip into the city. I think you could live there your whole life and never see the whole city..... Hopefully we can plan to stay a full weekend soon and get in some real sightseeing. Check out Shutterfly for a lot more photos!

akiba skyline

in a trance

the maids stand on all the street corners
and try to lure poor suckers into the cafes

bookstores as far as the eye can see