things you wanted to know about Japan or maybe not...

click here

o_Y;

 

Thats a nice site. Thanks for the link.

 

That guy's site has been around for a loooooong time.

It's always been a good one though, I'm glad I discovered it before going to Japan.

 

How true that is. I HATE Japanese radio !! I truly do. They NEVER play a song past the second verse without talking over it. Not only do they talk over the song but they talk complete and utter shite that has absolutely nothing to do with the song or is vaguely loosely connected to the song. Yes, it's official that Japanese Radio is SHITE ! Japanese TV is complete bollocks too. Program after program of so called TV talents having a good time and eating food. Why oh why do I want to see some rich sod on a game show winning more money? well, that's what the Japanese think people want to see. Pathetic is what sums up Japanese TV and Radio.

Yakumo

 

I want to see more mom launching their son into the sea after strapped on giant cross bow... :angry

 

Cheers for the link - spent a good 2 1/2 hours reading pretty much everything the site has to offer (which is strange for me as I rarely pay attention to anything). I guess that rules out attempting to live there for me though as it would be difficult for me to do anything without causing offence!

 

This is one of the reasons I like Japan: MUCH more interesting then the U.S., especially the Pachinko parlors and arcades.

Meh, if I do have one life's wish, it's to learn Japanese and live and die in Japan. Sound dramatic? Maybe, but eh.

 

Pachinko is weak if you don't know how it works (the illegal part

 

dunno why but I've collected several pachinko slot controllers for PS/PS2 - probably they came in shiny chrome bits - and I don't even play pachinko... mom does and she sometimes wins rather hansom prize although only when he isn't around as he hates any type of gambling with passion... when I was growing up we didn't even have porker card deck at home...

for me I'm sucker for anything with bit of chrome on it...
I got Sammy's dlx pach-slot controller and don't even have any game to play with it... Y_Y

 

If I ever went to live there I'd probably die pretty quickly from my asthma and all those smokers. That's like the only good thing about living in Ireland - smoking in workplaces was banned last year, and that includes pretty much everything - even pubs. It's great! Well, for me, and other people who like their lungs...

 

Smoking now apparently is "illegal" in many public places of Japan.. I have a smoker friend who's always on the lookout, he's afraid he'll get fined. I don't smoke and am wholly used to clean air (I smell cigarette smoke like once every month... I try to avoid it) and I've never had any airquality situations while in Japan except for being driven around in a car with my friend puffing

 

That website is great! There is so much info there that I'll have to continue reading it tomorrow.

Anyway, quick question for all of you who have been or live in Japan: do the alcohol vending machines have a way to check if you are over 18 to sell you the liquor or do they just sell it to anyone?

 

Sell it to anyone of course, same with cigarettes and I suppose porno etc

Something that's cool that I noticed is that often if you look around, you could get the same volume of drink for the same price, sometimes even out of the same machine (Only saw deals like that for softdrinks though...)

 

wtf, you need to buy a parking place? errr... no wonder almost no1 has a car in japan....

 

I think it probably has to do more with crowding, gas prices, and in most cities, a readily available public transit system than it does people not wanting to pay for parking...

 

What do you mean almost no one has a car in Japan? I think far more people than not own a car, either personally or in their family. When you live in the big city though yeah it's less necessary but theres no shortage of drivers. And afterall MOST of Japan doesn't live in the city. Even with all the car crowding, theres not the road congestion of big American cities, never seen Japanese bumper to bumper. If that happened, I'm sure all hell'd break loose.

 

Very informative site. Japan is one place I am definintely going to visit several times, but not sure if I'd want to live there.

The whole liquor in a vending machine just blows me away. There is no way in hell anything like that would even be attempted here. That machine would be commando raided and emptied within five minutes.

The pics of Japanese homeless are pretty sad too. Still, I noticed that none of them looked really dirty and decrepid like they are in American cities. It's been my experience that most homeless people in the USA are usually insane or otherwise mentally out to lunch, those Japanese homeless look a little more stable (like the author said, they don't get up in your face.)

 

Oh I think you will be quite happy with Japan then, the train stations are literally paved with various "smoking is bad" signs and the like... just don't sit in the smoking section of the Shinkansen, I nearly passed out and I don't even have asthma :smt043

Well, it's like that in several European cities as well...

 

Don't be sad for them. Most Japanese homeless are that way by choice. They aren't drug addicts or have mental/physical disabilities like over here. One thing you'll notice about Japan is that anyone can get a job. Whats sad is seeing old women who have street cleaning jobs. The homeless of JApan I find are pretty appreciative when you do donate as well. My experiences in the states are like: "Got any spare change? What?! a dollar fifty? What can I buy for a dollar bitch?!" whereas in Japan, my mom was blessed by a blindish old lady for a 500

 

You have to love the homeless in America :smt083 . After giving a dollar to a homeless (and obviously drunk) man, I was given a grateful "UHHH!!!!". I did meet a nice homeless man at the local Harris Teeter, though. I think he said his name was "Cherokee"... :smt082