Woohoo, finally I can write it down. More than one week has
passed from my last trip to Japan. One of my wishlist this year, and also quite
an achievement for me personally. Previously, I wont believe to an idea where I
should go to new and strange place alone, by myself, without any friends. But
then, Japan made me do that, totally beyond my idea, hahahah. But it was a
great trip, totally worth it. I was succesfully visited 5 cities, within 10
days, meet lots of people, make new friend, and know more about Japan during
the trip.
So, here’s my few opinions on Japan that impress me most.
1.
The Toilet. Yeahh, when we talked about Japan, there’s
no way to exclude this points. The Japanese toilet, is just....well, so Japan,
if I can say it like that. Lots of buttons, lots of unthinkable facilities
(including the sounds button), and very very sophisticated technology. It is
recomended to visit the airport’s toilet, when the first time you touched down
at Japan, although you may have no needs to visit it. This is because, you can
get ‘how to use’ the Japanese toilet in airport. This explanation, at least,
will help you in your entire trip in Japan, since some of the toilets may have
different buttons but generally the functions still the same. One advice, make sure you know what button
to push, before you use it. You know what I mean, right?
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| Welcome to Japan! ^^ |
2.
Machine for everything. It is a common known
that Japan is the country with the most vending machine in the world. Everywhere
you go, you’ll find the vending machine. Any kind of vending machine, from
bottle drink, ice cream, vegetables untill cup noodles. You need to exchange
your paper money with coins? There’s an exchange money machine also for that.
Like its not that enough, even the escalator has the sensor machine that will
alarm everytime there’s a people near it. The escalator will continously
beeping ‘please be careful on your step’
like a crazy machine. What scary me most, when I went to the airport toilet in
the middle of the night, there’s no one there in the toilet, and all the shops
near the toilet has shut down their light, so its quite scary. Japan, indeed
has high technology, but they also still has so many ghost stories (remember
those sadako things?). So, when I went to the toilet, I almost scream when the
light is suddenly turn on and there’s a woman voice said something in Japanese
(which I dont understand!), I was like freeze for a moment before I realized
that its an automate light and machine that will turn on when their sensor
catched a person entering the toilet. Duh ah! Their technology is just out of
my mind.....
3.
Daiso. Personally, I’d called this a Japanese
miracle for a backpacker. This is the only store where I can really-really buy
something, if I want to buy it. In other country, I would love to visit the
mall. But when in Japan, forget it, I can’t afford to buy anything in the
malls. Daiso basically like a superstore because you can find anything that you
want, and what interesting is most of the goods sold in Daiso can be purchased
with only 105 yen (including the tax). Besides Daiso, there’s also another
store called 3-coins, where the price tag for all goods is around 315 yen. And trust
me, you’ll be crazy in this store because there’s soooo many cute things and
the most important is, its quite cheap (compare with others of course..), hehehhe.
4.
Calpis and green tea. My Japanese friend said,
Calpis is one of the drink that sooo Japan. I dont know what Calpis made from
of, but I like it's taste. Especially when the weather is so hot, its the
perfect time to drink a bottle of cold calpis. But better avoid calpis with
soda, I bought one calpis with soda in vending machine and I didn’t really like
it. Oh, green tea is also good choice. The taste is little bit unusual for me, but
I kinda like it. Green tea always sold with two choice, no sugar or slightly
sugar. Sometimes, I want to add the third choices, with lots of sugar because
slight sugar almost same like no sugar. I dont know, Japanese doesnt like sweet
taste probably?
5.
Nice people. Yes, this is one of the reasons why
the trip to Japan is so easy although you can’t speak Japanese and going there
by yourself. The people there are really nice. And some of them can speak
english, especially the college students, so no need to worry. When I went from
airport to shinjuku station, I’m little bit confused with the train, which one
should I took, local or express. I asked some girl which turn out she’s a
college students that going back to Tokyo after come home, and she’s said that
she will took the same train with me and show me how to go to shinjuku station.
Very nice!
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| Itadakimasu!! Ini paket makanan seharga 800 yen, di deket hostel di Osaka :) |
6.
Big portion of food. Same as in Korea, Japan
also has big portion of food. I just can’t understand how they can eat all of
those food, especially the women. I tried to order some set menu for my dinner with
the price 800 yen, and I got lots of foods, rice, miso soup, plus noodles. I eat
the rice, but I can’t even touch the noodles. But since the portion is quite
big, my stomach is full and I got a very nice sleep at that day, hehe.
7.
Clear Information and guide map in english.
Japan, surprisingly so informative for traveller. I can found lots of guide
maps, very easy to read. The tourist information centre also available in every
cities, usually at the big station or mall. When I go to some places, I can
found the wall map, with the clear sign ‘you are here’ and where to go next. In
Osaka, when I urgently need wifi to contact my friends in Jakarta, I rushed to
Osaka Tourist information centre in Takashimaya at Namba and they provide free
wifi! Hats off for the facility provided by the Japan Tourism.
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| The BIG Kyoto Station ~ whooaaaaa~ |
8.
Sophisticated station. Train station in Japan is
one of the most visited places there, since most of the Japanese rely on this
mode of transportation. So no wonder if the stations turn out to be very
sophisticated. Its not just the station, its like one stop places for all your
needs. Most of the station linked to the shopping mall, with lots of good
restaurants. If I want to get cheap food, curry rice or udon with the price
around 500 yen, then I will go to the station, hehe. My fave station would be
Kyoto station, its superb! What I like most is the skyway that they just build,
its like a time tunnel, an art gallery with amazing views. Definitely more than
a station.
9.
Precious space. I’ve stayed in my friend’s house
during my stay in Tokyo, she’s living in a small studio apartment but she has
all the facility that she needs. She asked me to go around her neighbourhood
near chitose-karasuyama station, and most of the building there’s are
three-floor apartment building. She said, if I can find big home with lots of
space including car park, means either the home owner has been stayed for
long-long time in that area or they were crazy rich people. Space is very
precious in Japan, especially in the big cities such as Tokyo.
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| 300 yen for 30 minutes...... *glek* |
10.
Crazy parking fee. This may be the reason why
lots of Japanese depends on their train system. So, if you dont have a space to
put a car in your home, or your apartment didnt provide free parking area, you
have to think twice to buy the car because the parking rate is totally
crazy. The standard parking fee in Tokyo maybe around 200 yen for every 20
minutes or 500 yen per hour. In Jakarta, lots of people scream loud when the
parking fee increase to 4000 rupiah per hour, well in Japan maybe you will shocked
to know that their parking fee is 50,000 rupiah per hour!! Park your car for 24
hours? Well, it may cost you around 3000 yen or 300,000 rupiah. Monthly parking
fee? Hmm it may cost you around 30,000 yen or 3 million rupiah. The car price
in Japan is quite affordable actually, its below 100 million rupiah for a city
car, but the parking fee will make you bankrupt. So, no thanks, better catch
the train lah.
So, that's the first 10 things that impress me most about Japan. Actually there's a lot to write bout Japan, but its gonna be too long to write it down. So, I just put the first 10 things for now. Gonna share my other experiences in Japan later on. Please feel free to share if you have other things that impress you most in Japan! ^^
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