Quicky: as mentioned before, bicyclists ride among pedestrians on the sidewalk. I was remembered of that this afternoon, when I was almost run over. Yes I should have watched over my shoulder before sidestepping. My bad.
Anyways, many roads have got no sidewalk at all. Just so you know. On the other hand, if there is a sidewalk, it will have a guiding strip for the blind. Almost guaranteed.
Guiding strip for the blind (Backstreets (Hiroshima day time))
Quicky: at the moment I’m in my hotel room in Himeji, the first place I’m at that’s outfitted with a television. xD It was an hour definitely well spent, watching Japanese commercials and such.
Japanese TV while in Himeji
Quicky: I have gotten the distinct feeling that I occasionally see Japanese versions of people I know (either personally or from elsewhere).
Quicky: getting on the rail platform is easy. You show your JR pass to the employee in the booth and you’re granted passage. When getting off the platform, don’t just follow the rest of the travelers because you will get caught in the gates. Instead present your JR pass again to the employee in the booth and you’re good to go.
Fun fact: I’m getting more and more convinced that Japanese really like doing things backwards. Instead of the gates opening when you “check in” with some ticket (except the JR pass), they close when you do not. (i.e. by default they are open, instead of closed, like in the Netherlands)
Quicky: while the bus that took me to Rosekitamachi was not really noteworthy, I’d say, the bus that took me back to Hiroshima eki (station) was something else that made me take notice of some things.
Firstly, in general what’s different to what I’m used to is a) getting on the bus not near the driver’s seat, b) paying with cash for every fare afterwards and c) getting off at the front of the bus. Maybe Japanese like doing things in reverse..
Secondly, while the first bus I took appeared relatively modern, this bus I took this morning was definitely old and almost rickety. I even noticed that it had a manual gearbox, whereas the first bus had a stop-start system, as made famous by Volkswagen’s Blue Motion technology.
Yes, opposites, the Japanese haz dem.
(presently waiting for the Shinkansen headed for Himeji, my next stay)
Quicky: is there a thing as someone being too friendly to you? So much so that’s it’s beginning to get creepy? Yes, definitely. Is that the case with Japanese? (eg: clerks, servants, salespeople) I shouldn’t say so… Honestly, this is something to very easily get used to.
Tuesday 28th October
Yes, I did the walk. And didn’t even get blisters. Huzzah!
OK, what I mean is that today I’ve been mostly walking, all around parts of Hiroshima and Itsukushima (an island off the coast of Hiroshima and better known as Miyajima).
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When it comes to traffic in Japan, some things are the same whereas some things are not. Yes, Captain Obvious is reporting for duty.
As said, pedestrian crossing indicators tweet like birds (more on that at the bottom of this post) and the fact that bicycles generally ride among pedestrians on the sidewalk was also already mentioned. That traffic goes on the wrong side of the road (left not being the right side), was probably also already common knowledge.
However, something that you have to quickly get used to is a completely different thing.
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Quicky: if you think that we in Europe have a problem with over packaging everything in plastic? Think again… In Japan, even if you buy one pre-packaged sandwich, in plastic, you get a small plastic bag to take it in with you.
Quicky: there be pigeons over here (still in Hiroshima). While that is not a surprise to me, it did surprise me that they are way, way less forward than I’m used to.
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