Interesting Facts About Japan
1. JR (Japan Railways) is one of the most efficient railway systems in the world, "Shinkansen", the bullet train can travel up to 280-320 km / h, always on time and at rush hours you can watch the train every 2- 5 minutes (expensive). The taxi, the tram, and the bus are the most used means of transport. In Hiroshima with tram in 150 jpy you can travel from any station to another (very cheap)
For Buses: When you get on the BUS you will receive a printed ticket with your boarding stop no. (for example, "3") and in front, there is a board that shows the fare for each stop. With each next stop, the fare goes up, so when you want to go down just see the fare displayed at the same (3) boarding stop no.
2. Supermarket chains like Lawson, 7/11 are everywhere. (not common in India)
3. Like India, they drive on the left side of the road. :-) Also, there are no speed switches on the road. On the signal, the opposite sides receive the green signal at the same time, unlike in India where only one side receives the green signal at a time.
4. There is no separate tap for drinking water. You can drink water from any tap.
5. Everyone is called by a name ending in san to make it sound polite (eg Neeraj-san), even to non-living beings :-) It's like "hee" from India
6. In Hiroshima, most stores close at 8pm!
7. Many people use the bicycle, it is common to see people going to the office by bicycle, even the police
8. You have to buy a purse to store coins since here you will get many coins and it is difficult to keep them in your wallet and the best thing is that they rarely ask you to give change.
9. Alcohol is very cheap compared to India, so you can try many brands that you missed in India. Health! also "Sake", which is a Japanese alcohol
10. On Footpath there are special tiles that help blind people to follow the path and in each square, there are bells that light up when the signal is green.
11. People say hello very often, even you get used to it after a while :-)
12. Very few people understand English, but they will still help you with the best of their effort with little English they know! It's good to learn some basic Japanese like counting, asking for directions to make it easier for you to communicate with people.
13. The Japanese understanding of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food is different from that of the Indians. So even with vegetarian food, you can get a sauce made from fish oil or a dish with a non-vegetarian product but a lot of vegetables. You may find it difficult if you are vegetarian, if you don't have "special needs" in the non-vegetarian type of food like Indian then you can enjoy the food here. Heaven if you like seafood
14. Most toll booths have ETC (Electronic Toll Collector), so there is no need to stop at the toll booth, just slow down.
15. I was working at the automotive company in Hiroshima, the guards used to greet us with "otsukare samadeshita" (thank you for your hard work) when we used to leave for the day!
16. This gesture means "girlfriend" in Japan.
17. Every 200-300m in the city you will find "jido han baiki" (vending machine), mostly they have different kinds of cold drinks, water, green tea etc.
18. If the Japanese come to know that you are "Indojin" (Indian), they will congratulate you as "smart people"! We have a very good image of ourselves there, we are proud
19. Racism- Not at all, very nice people!
20. Japanese cannot pronounce "L".
21. It is a common practice in Japan to wear a mask if one has a cold or is travelling in local transport/groups, etc.