Japan was amazing and sometimes I can't help but think of how a wonderful world it would be if more people/ countries were like Japan! 

The country is very calm and people are not really faced with the adversities of every day living, they adjust to situations where there is nothing that they can do. For example, that day when the JR stopped for almost half hour and nobody complained! 1. There was no one to complain to and 2. There was nothing that could be done by complaining! In general, in my country, and many others, people would get frustrated, make annoyed noises, look at their watch, curse, curse, and curse some more! Not here, not in Japan! People just kept calm and went back to their phones or conversations! No one, absolutely no one spoke! 

People are so respectful, there was no one time that I felt uncomfortable or disrespected. When trains were busy some men would even put their arms up not to touch women/ other people. Who does that? Only Japanese! They bow at you every time you greet them or when you are leaving... so nice!

People go out of their way to help even if they don't understand what you want or had no idea where you are headed when you ask for directions. In my 3 weeks in Japan I found so many helpful people who pretty much went the opposite direction and even left their place of work to take where I needed to go. It started with my friend Kay making sure I needed everything that was necessary for my stay, I remember telling him that I have traveled the world on my own and I can find my way but he still felt the need to make sure I was taken care of. After his wedding I decided to skip the clubbing after and his friends wanted to walk me to his house! I said I could handle it myself and even recited the stations and changes I needed to make to assure them I knew my way around!

The queues... oh my! They are beautiful! Haha I actually didn't mind waiting in line in Japan!

Everybody goes automatically in lines at the train stations, airport, ferry terminal, ticket booths, stores... everywhere! No one ever goes in front of somebody else or cuts in line! It is beautiful to see and as a teacher struggling to make children go in a line I loved it!

Japan is so clean!!!

At first I was beyond annoyed by the fact that I could never find a garbage can... like ever! Maybe sometimes next to the soda vending machines but very rarely! The more annoyed I got the more I thought about it and realized that the country is so clean because there are no garbage cans. What does one do when there are no garbage cans? You put them in your bag and throw it away at home! And what happens when a garbage can is already full? people keep putting the garbage on top until there is garbage all around it! I never saw that in Japan because it was never an option! So going garbage can less is making this country so much more clean!

There were also many things that were a little weird...

Girls dressing alike... WTF?

Somehow girls... and by girls I mean ladies in their 20s probably... like to dress exactly the same! Same outfit, same hairdo, sometimes even the same socks and even hair bows! It's crazy!

I remember once going to my friend claudia's house and when she opened up the door we realized we were wearing the same dress! Haha her husband thought it was funny and we shouldn't change, we thought otherwise and immediately changed! 

When you go to public bathrooms there is No paper towels! Japanese people (or at least women) carry hand towels in their purses so they can dry their hands after going to the bathroom!

Vending machines with alcohol!!!

So people Any age can get vodka here? Super strange!

Weird food...

Sandwiches made of sweet cream and fruit... yuk!

Fruit is so expensive!

Like... crazy expensive!

Like... $39 for a melon expensive! ($42 with tax)

I had to ask my friends about this and 2 of them told me that Melon is like super duper special here! That a family gathers around the melon to cut it and eat it! How strange! I could buy probably 6 melons at Woodlands or about 10 at Trader Joe's with that much money!!! 

Also, fruit is individually packed and every single fruit is expensive!

Típs for Japan

Japan rail

Buy a Japan Rail before leaving to Japan (not sold in Japan) and you will literally save HUNDREDS of $$!!! You can use all the shinkansens (fast trains) and all JR trains!

Hyperdia app

Best app ever for Japan rails!

It shows you the time of your train and the platform; if you have to change trains it also tells you the arriving and departing platform! It's simply awesome and saves you time asking people to help you figure out where to go!

City mapper for Tokyo or Google maps

Both of them AWESOME to help you get around and show you exact location for buses and stations with times! 

SIM card at BIC CAMERA 

I always like to be connected because it just makes my life easier! 

There are big advertisements about $6/day portable wifi for tourists but it adds up! 

I paid $30 for 30 days and got 3GB 3G data and data used on Facebook and whatsup is free!

Learn basic Japanese

This goes a long way, just some basic words are appreciated and people see that you are trying!

My favorite: "Oishiiiii" which means delicious! Chefs and restaurant staff love it!

Eat at the train station!

Train stations have great restaurants at reasonable prices! Go try them!

ATM

7Eleven is great but only gives you ¥10,000 bills ($100) so if you want less go to a post office, even after hours the ATMs is open at the post office until midnight.

Both of these locations do not charge a transaction fee!

The first time I went to the post office I was very confused... I couldn't figure out where the ATM was until I figured that the machine that looked like a copy machine was the ATM! Duh!