Japan Culture

When people say that Japan is on the other side of the world, they are not just referring to its location but its fascinating and beautiful culture. Although Japan is very globalized concerning its economic status and thirst for foreign brands it still maintains a very unique perspective.

One of the first things I noticed when I came to Japan were people's mannerisms. When I first started studying Japanese in the U.S. I thought I would just need to learn vocabulary and grammer...that is completely wrong. Japanese people use hand signals every day to convey various meanings. This can be very confusing for a foreigner. At a restaurant you will see customers crossing their two pointer fingers, signaling for the check. Maybe when you give your seat to an elderly person on the train they will raise one hand perpendicular to their chest saying "thank you,"and the American, "OK" hand signal on its side means, "money." As expected you will see Japanese people constantly bowing to their friends, co-workers, customers, bosses, or any other acquaintances. (After being here for five months I have picked up on these mannerisms and I think I will subconsciously use these when I return home.)

2011年の日本の地震 分布図 Japan earthquakes 2011 Visualization map (2012-01-01)

This will show you how devastating the March disaster was in Japan. The video will take your breath away!

Food and Drinks in Tokyo!

Chirashi Donburi

Raw fish and bits of seaweed over rice. Topped with wasabi

500 yen ($6.50)

Hot Milk Tea

400 yen ($5)

Ten-don

Tempura Shrimp and vegetables over rice

500 yen ($6.50)

Mochi Soup

Very popular during the New Years season

(made by my friend's mom)

Black egg

Boiled from hot water from a hot spring!

500 Yen for 6 ($6.50)

Disneyland Tokyo

I had an amazing time at Tokyo Disneyland. I went on a holiday so the lines for the rides were extremely long! As the day went on and many of the little kids went home the lines started to shorten up.

Most of the rides are identical to Disneyland in Los Angeles (except for the fact thateverything is in Japanese.) I plan to go to Disney Sea very soon which is a different theme park and apparently offers more rides that are Japan-exclusive.


My most memorable part of the day was waiting 5 hours for my Fast Pass wait time to run out and then thirty minutes in line so I could get on Space Mountain. When in line for space mountain, one of the workers pulled me and my friend off to the side and told us to come with her because my legs might be too long to fit on the ride! So they took me to a back room where they had the spare Space Mountain carts and asked me to try and sit it one....surprisingly I could barely fit! The only way I could fit was if I crossed my legs! They then had me practice getting in and out of the cart. It was quite entertaining to say the least, and the staff was very polite and nice about the situation.

Tokyo Tower

This is my second post about Tokyo Tower, but since it is one of Tokyo's most iconic symbols I think it's fair enough to receive a second one. I went to Tokyo Tower right when the sun was starting to set and was able to get some pretty interesting photos!

 Mt. Fuji and Mori Tower

 Mt. Fuji

Tokyo Tower from the base

Sumo Wrestling

Sumo wrestling is an iconic symbol of Japan. A very honorable sport, thats origins come from legends. I got the chance to see a Sumo match and really learned about a different aspect of Japanese culture.

When walking around the Sumo town of Ryogoku you can spot sumo wrestlers everywhere. (My favorite moment was watching four sumo wrestlers pile into a small taxi cab and watch the car slowly sink down.)

Sumo, is a very slow sport. You will have about 5 minutes of ceremonial mannor in-between 5-15 second matches. The sumo wrestlers throw salt to purify the ring, and stomp to make the bad spirits go away. After a few repeats of this, they finally begin wrestling!

The rules in sumo wrestling are very simple: You lose if any part besides the bottom of your foot touches the ground or if you step or fall outside of the circle. (A lot more simple compared to American football which has over 350 rules!)