Interesting Facts that I learned and my final thoughts on Japan

-There are no trashcans or benches anywhere to be found.
-They are handicap accessible for the blind. EVERY road has yellow bumpy lines to illustrate the middle of the sidewalk/street as well as circle bumps to illustrate that a blind person is approaching end edge or something or an intersection.
-They are NOT handicap accessible for people in wheel chairs- EVERYWHERE there are tons of stairs.
-All shrines are free to see and enter but almost all the temples have admission fees, and none of them offer student discounts!
-None of the schools and most of the buildings don’t have heat or air conditioning making it very tough because of the extreme weather conditions. My friends, Regina and Ami, have to wear tons of layers in their classrooms.
-The post office is open 24/7. Mailman come to deliver mail in scooters years round, and if you have something to mail you can call the mailman and they will come pick it up for you at your house.
-Most Japanese people don’t have computers or the internet at home.
-All Japanese people have internet on their phones. In Japan they don’t have texting. Instead everyone’s phone comes with an email address and you email each other, and get it on your phone, kind of like texting.
-The phones have barcodes that can be scanned and used for promotional purposes. For example, we went to dinner and if we had a Japanese phone that could be scanned in we could get a discounted rate one the price of dinner. Some of the phone is Tokyo can be waved in front of vending machines to pay for an item and the cost of the item shows up on the phone bill.
-Electricity bills can be paid at any convenience store.
-Children learn the importance of balance, all elementary school students learn how to ride a unicycle to gain good balance at an early age.
-People really do take off their shoes when entering peoples homes and sacred places.
-Many toilet seats are heated- this is the best invention ever!
-There are vending machines everywhere selling practically everything- vacuum bags, ice cream, hot coffee, full meals, and even memory cards for digital cameras.
-Japan is very very very clean and safe.

Chains that we’ve seen here include, Seven Eleven, Denny’s, TGI Fridays, Subway, McDonalds, Minute Made, SoyJoy, Crocs, Baskin Robbins, Haagen-Dazs, Co, YMCA, Gap, Prada, Coach, Burberry, Abercrombie and Fitch, LL Bean, Starbucks, Cosco.