Culture Jostle

I've been thinking for awhile now about some piece that is actually representative of my experience in a foreign culture, or at least minorly reflective. Up until now my anecdotal bits could take place, frankly, anywhere and I've been getting pressure from friends to share some experience: "J" it up a little. The big differences could be read about anywhere: the food quirks, technology curve, fashion trends or cultural norms. But the slight differences, the casual happenings, are more telling.
So here it is.
A top ten that might not give anyone a culture shock but maybe just a culture jostle.

10- Rice
The mashed potatoes of the east. It might not be a surprise but this starchy little food is everywhere: entrees, omelets, to-go ball form at convenience stores, even in desserts and pastries. Everywhere. Everywhere.

9- Magazine Poachers
Crowds of folk gather at magazine racks and read cover to cover whatever happens to catch an eye for half hours at a time. There's no clerk shouting "What we're a library now? Get outta here!" Nothing. I don't even think they're for sale.

8- Convenience Stores
And boy are they. Far from a trash food and soda stand; Lawsons, Family Mart, Sunkus, 7-11 and (my favorite alliterated shop) Marty-Mart all provide the following: domestic postage, utility bill payments, event ticket sales and Kinko's style printer/fax services.

7- Bikes Just Move People
The idea of a bike as a leisurely activity or "green" travel alternative is absent. It's just practical. If you're between 20-80 years old then you own and ride a bike. It is so casual that it is not unlikely for you to see either a twentysomething managing to steer while texting his homeboys or a grandmother pumping down the street with a cigaretter hanging limply out the side of her mouth.

6- Whole Prices
It's such a relief. The tax is worked into everything and there's none of that "$Blank.99" garbage. I know its gonna roll over to a higher digit when I take it up front. You know it. Everybody knows it. Who's still fooled?

5- Rambling Cashiers
In the southern tradition I was taught to nod at cashiers, trade a "How are ya?", and be about my business. Here, it simply does not compute. Cashiers begin an automatic monologue that runs from the time you give them the item until you're out the door. They must say it 300 times a day and another 200 to the customers in their sleep. They're on autopilot and if you break the script with niceties, if you interact, they fumble a little, nod and try and pick it back up further down the line. When it first happened I thought they were trying to tell me something secretly without looking me in the eyes like in spy movies. "Don't look now, but you're target is at the dogfood. I said, 'Don't look!'. You can take him outside but you'll need to use your silencer. Hurry, our windows about to close on this one."

4- Smokings Huge
You can smoke in restaurants. Someplaces let you smoke at work. There's vending machines every 5 blocks. Old people smoke. Young people smoke. Babies... babies chew tobacco until their stubby little fingers can work around a lighter and then they smoke.

3- People Don't Give Change to the Homeless
One student asked me why we did it in North America and I just couldn't translate 'nagging moral imperative'.

2- Auld Lang Syne
At least all across Osaka, Auld Lang Syne is played in every store at closing time. It's like a mini New Year without booze, hope or resolutions.

1- Public Drunkenness
Liquors even made its way into vending machines. That, on top of a great public transportation system, puts students and salary men alike on the alchy shuffle from bar to bar and train to train all over the city. "Yeah, you drink on the streets. Why wouldn't you?" Most times you can smell the vomit before you step in it but the odds are really against you on a Saturday night when its pasted so liberally about the streets.