Interesting Things In Japan!

Today we wanted to give you a glimpse of a few things in Japan that we find most interesting!

Have you ever parked your car this way? Parking is always difficult in Japan because there is just no space. This is called a parking carousel! It's more space conscious to build the parking garage up and stack the cars than to have a wide parking garage that we're used to. It seems efficient enough. However, it can be a pain if you forget something in the car.

Only in Japan have I seen places for you to store your umbrellas individually outside of a public place. You place your umbrella in the locking mechanism and take the small key that is inserted thus locking it securely and then replace the key when you return. Of course, this is free. It's also popular to see special plastic wraps for your umbrella just as you enter a store so as not to drop water all over the floor. We could use those in the states.

Can you imagine what this is? In the rice fields that surround us in Okagaki we see a lot of these human like scare crows. They are a little strange because there is a manikin head placed on top of this pole with some sort of clothes. These heads on stakes scare us...I'm not sure about the birds!

If you love Crispy Cream Donuts, then you love the fact that there is one in Tokyo. It's the only store in Japan, so far. People will line up for hours to get these doughnuts. We've seen people walk away with 5 or 6 boxes! The Japanese always say that they don't like sweet American deserts, but Crispy Cream is as sweet as you can get!

It's all about presentation in Japan! The presentation of gifts and food is especially important. Here is a perfect example of a beautifully display of desert. The only problem is that you're left wanting to order another one because there's not much to it.

Yes, this is a tree with paper bags in it! Much of the fruit in Japan is handpicked. So, they don't mind covering each piece of fruit with a paper bag to protect it from insects, weather, and coloring. If you remember when we helped with grape harvest here, the grape clusters were also covered with bags.

One thing that we've found common amongst all the Asian countries we've visited is bicycles! It's very convenient to have a bicycle in Japan. We just can't get used to seeing them lined up all the time. Some have locks and some don't. Also, most of them look like there straight out of the 1950's with a big wire basket on the front. When we were getting our drivers license in Japan there was a section in the book for riding your bike! There was a funny rule that said you must not hold an umbrella and ride your bike at the same time. Now, they should change it to texting on your cell phone while riding a bike. Sometimes we see people doing both! Nick and I are not that talented.

It's seeing strange signs in English or interesting things like these that often remind us that we definitely live in a foreign country.