KIDS

Sorry for the lag in posts. Busy, busy, busy! Working morning till night with only 4 days off per month (and no national holidays) is starting to take its toll, so I've given away a class to a friend and may have to start finding replacements for the others, ignoring students' pleas to continue teaching them!

A couple friends have their birthdays this month and they decided to have their birthday get-together at my place this coming Sunday, because they want to eat home-made pizza (did I mention I bought a pizza oven on New Year's Day?) and carrot cake (which doesn't exist in Japan - unforgiveable!). Dinner preparation will have to begin after everyone arrives, so I can spend the morning cleaning.... I only have time to clean on my 4 days off, so if I spend a day hanging out with friends or whatnot this place really turns into a dump. At least I'm HOPING this is a dinner gathering. If it's for lunch we might be in for some trouble. I'll have to send out a list of ingredients for people to pick up on the way here. The power of delegation!

In order to go shopping for birthday gifts I got friends to do my evening lessons for me tonight. Shopping went wonderfully and I was done in a little over an hour! This gave me time to see a movie called KIDS that's piqued my curiosity (hence the photo and title).

I like going into a movie without knowing anything about it. Seeing a trailer is sometimes too much information. I want to be surprised and thrilled while sitting in the theater without having any expectations. I chose this movie because the three main characters are played by three of my favorite actors...

Koike Teppei who I first noticed from his playful character in the series DragonZakura. There's something about the quality of his voice and the way that he talks that I like.
Tamaki Hiroshi who a lot of people say is super hot, but I just don't see it. The way he ends his sentences in a slight sigh kind of gets on my nerves, but he plays interesting characters so that makes him alright.
Kuriyama Chiaki who played the crazy girl with the spiky ball weapon in Kill Bill, among other strange roles. The first time I saw her was in Battle Royale, where she played a Middle School student that chases down her classmate and stabs him to death. I love that scene. Such a strong character. With scary eyes.

The premise is simple, but the complicated characters make for an interesting story, which is why I liked it. (Don't read on if you're like me and don't want to know details about a movie before seeing it). Three kids happen to meet randomly and become close friends. Sounds normal so far, right? From the start you realize that they're all kind of weird, then you gradually find out how each one has some kind of psychological hangup that has prevented them from ever making friends with anyone before.

The most interesting of the three is played by Koike Teppei, who moves to the small town to be close to his mother in prison. He can move things with his mind, and shortly after meeting the other two kids realizes that he also has the ability to transfer other peoples' wounds to his own body. His extreme sense of altruism and simple naivete cause him to start absorbing wounds whenever he finds someone hurt, leaving him with bruises and cuts all over the place. He then realizes that he can also transfer wounds to other people, and is convinced to transfer them to his friend's comatose father to save himself from constant pain (and to help his friend satisfy a need for vengeance from having been abused by his father).

This ability is what makes the story interesting, and is what made me think a lot about what the movie might be trying to get at.

Moral #1: All wounds heal, and we were meant to have them because they make us stronger.
Moral #2: Scars become a part of us and we'll miss them if they disappear.
Moral #3: We shouldn't hurt others, no matter who they are.

Pretty sappy, eh?

Just wait till the ending. It's your typical Japanese ending to a film, the kind that spends the last 20 minutes trying to make the audience cry. Come to think of it, that's a Hollywood staple, too.

Happy New Year!

Last night I went back to the shrine that I'd visited last year. I wanted to return the omikuji or "written oracle" that I had been keeping in my wallet and pull a new one for the coming year. After holding onto it for a year you're supposed to return the omikuji to the shrine so the priests can burn them and release the luck gods . . . or something like that. This year I pulled a "No luck". . . shoot. So I followed the tradition of tying it to a tree to reverse any negative effect it might have on my luck. I don't really believe that these fortunes write my destiny, but there's no harm in doing it anyway :)

And on the way home, it snowed. More like a slight flurry, actually. But it was the first snow I've seen this winter (hello global warming?), and a great way to start the first hours of the new year. Incidentally it's the Year of the Rat, and I have no idea how that affects us. If you have time, check the placemat at a Chinese restaurant (I think that might only be an American thing... I've never come across that in Japan or China).

Then this morning I tried something new I've never done before. I got up earlier than my body wanted to (that's not the new part) . . . then drove into Oita City to be a part of the crowd of people eagerly waiting to rush into Forus (a department store in downtown Oita) the moment it opened.

Big stores prepare a limited number of special "Grab Bags" full of stuff that are sold for a super cheap price only on the first of the year, and you see scenes on the news of huge crowds fervently shoving their way into store buildings as soon as the doors open on January 1st. But there wasn't as big of a crowd as I was hoping to experience, and a quick walk to one of my favorite stores was enough time to get there before all the bags were sold out. And there were some "Agate" bags - a brand that makes a lot of stuff that I like! Last week I saw a sign advertising which brands had prepared Grab Bags and what kinds of things might be in them, and a lot of it was stuff I might not like. But finding Agate bags was a pleasant surprise.

There were red, white, black, and brown bags... supposedly each containing different styles. I took a moment to ponder which one to get, but not too long because wild hands were grabbing for bags and they were disappearing fast. $600 of merchandise stuffed into bags being sold for $100. I heard the clerk saying the brown ones had the most stuff in them so I grabbed one, figuring more stuff means a better likelihood of liking something in there. I'm not much of a risk taker and it seemed best to even out my odds than try for a bag with only a few items and having it be a hit or miss.

It was my first time and I had no idea what to expect. What if they fill the bags with junk that they couldn't sell last year? What if I paid a hundred bucks only to find the bag full of pink furry coats and shirts sparkling with glitter? So I only bought one. A brown one, the one sitting closest to me.When I got home I opened the bag to find that everything was brand new, and still wrapped in the plastic! I sort of assumed that stores sell them cheap because it's old stuff they couldn't get rid of, but looks like I was totally wrong!I love EVERYTHING. What a great bargain. Take a look at my spoils of war... What a cute shirt! The back says "Life works" in fancy calligraphic lettering, in case I ever start having suicidal tendencies. I absolutely love this one. In shiny gold lettering it says, "Mud looks good on me. Supermodels are hot. Yes. They're all beautiful and slim. Save a horse. Ride a cowgirl."Sexy clubbing shirt, if I ever go to Osaka or Fukuoka for the night scene.Nice versatile shirt for work or play! I'm not sure what I think of the wrinkles though. It was twisted into knots and tied up with a rubber band to keep the wrinkles, but I'll probably end up ironing it out.A wrinkly plaid shirt... and the perfect color! I donated all my flannel plaid shirts from my university days to the Salvation Army, and now that plaid is in again I regret having done so. Now I'm one step closer to having my collection reborn.A sparkly, glittery scarf is cool, but too dressy for me. I can't think of an occasion I'd wear it to. Probably the least useful thing in the bunch, but I still love it.A dressy velvet jacket that I could wear with the sparkly scarf, if only there were some occasion I could wear it to. Maybe I should try working part-time at a host bar.And for the final item... the one that makes the $100 price tag totally reasonable and the one I'll probably get the most use out of... the black puffy coat. It's just amazing. Last week I realized how popular puffy coats have become and started wanting one. I looked around in a few shops but didn't come across one I liked, and now I get the perfect one in a grab bag. The fur on the hood is just the right length and the perfect softness, too. Some of the ones I tried made my neck itchy or made me feel like an eskimo.Conclusion: Agate Grab Bags are fantastic! Well worth the money and I'm definitely picking one up again next year.

Actually I also bought a Grab Bag from the store next to the one that sold the Agate bags. They sold accessories. I've been wanting some kind of necklace... I figured leaving it to luck might be a great way to get something without having to shop around and deliberate over hundreds of pendants.

When I got home I opened this bag, too, and compared to my excitement over the Agate stuff this one was a total disappointment. It was full of stuff I'll never use. Sure it's a good deal for the price I paid, but if you can't use it it's crap; it doesn't matter how expensive the original price might be.




When am I gonna wear a pendant of a pot leaf?

Nice earrings. Too bad I don't have holes for them.

An unengraved pendant. I doubt I'll ever get around to having something put onto it.

As keychains go, this one's pretty cool. You can only see the front half of a person bending over, and the other half is hidden behind the cardboard. Too bad I don't use keychains - too many things on the ring take up too much space in my pocket.

A shiny linked chain, but doesn't match anything I'd wear. I guess I could use it with the velvet jacket and shiny scarf?

Back in university I seriously thought about getting a tatoo of the Mars-male symbol on my foot - the side facing you when you stand and look down at your feet, midway between the ankle-foot bend and the toes. Unfortunately (luckily?) the shops I went to didn't want to put a tatoo there because of the time it takes to heal (too much movement of the skin) and if the ink didn't stain well it wouldn't look very good, reflecting poorly on the person who inked it. So I remain tatoo-less. The downside of this pendant - it points downward, resembling the Venus-female symbol, or a flower. Too bad the link to the chain isn't in the middle of the piece.

Conclusion: Grab bags from accessory shops suck. Total waste of money. I only sort of liked one thing, and it would have been cheaper to just buy that one instead of a whole bag full of junk. And if given the option of choosing from among a bunch of other pendants, I'd probably find one that I liked better.

But aside from the accessory Grab Bag, all in all it was a great first day. I also bought a pizza oven (yes, it's just for making pizza and came with a baking stone!) and had a nice time people-watching at Park Place. I found some Mossimo Grab Bags there and even though I like a lot of what Mossimo comes out with, the $200 price tag was too much of a gamble for me.

That is all.

Merry Christmas!

It being Christmas, I decided to start using the bar of "Pine Tree" soap that I picked up from LUSH last week. It lathers into dark green suds and smells just like a wooded forest. It's a great scent, but at $7 a bar it's kind of pricey. Seven bucks for a bar of soap???? I know, I know, it's ridiculous and I was shocked by the price when I bought soap from Lush for the first time a couple years ago. Everything in the shop just smelled so good, so I bought a couple bars and couldn't bring myself to use them because of the price... I just occasionally sniffed them through the wrapper. But then a couple months ago I ran out of my normal bar of soap so I opened one up, and the delicious smell of lemon and honey clinged to my body for hours after taking a shower and I got hooked. It's expensive, but the strong scent is so delicious that it's worth it. So last week I went back to the shop and got a few more soaps, one of which was "Pine Tree".

So now I smell like pines.

Yesterday was nice. I was getting ready to leave to do some errands when I got a mail from a friend asking, "Are you home? Can I come over?" so I decided to wait until she got here. Upon arriving she said that another friend was on her way, and then a couple more were gonna stop by in the evening... so it looked like no errands were going to be done and I started thinking of what to make for dinner - turned out being Spring Rolls (we made them with cheese!) and Tomato Sauce Pasta (I thought everyone put sugar in tomato sauce but apparently not) - a weird combination but I get spontaneity points for throwing together a dinner for five on-the-spot.

Everyone showed up with cakes and presents and it turned into a Christmas party! It was great because I had everyone's presents sitting in the living room and was wondering when we'd be able to meet up. The cat had a great time, too. Everyone spent so much time playing with her that she passed out as soon as everyone left, and didn't wake up even when I pulled on her legs and rolled her around a bit. She always wakes me up in the middle of the night by biting my face so I figured it was time for payback. If I can't sleep, neither can she!

She still doesn't have a name and people seem to think that giving her a name is better than shouting "Hey, no biting!" at her all the time. There were some suggestions but we're still thinking on it.

Oh, and yesterday I heard her hiss for the first time! Chino was lying on the bed and the cat jumped onto her back, hissed ferociously at her hair, then grabbed a clump with her teeth and started pulling and tugging with all her might. I couldn't stop laughing while Chino screamed and the cat did her darndest to try and take a clump out. I eventually pulled the cat off and put her on the ground, but she jumped right back on the bed and made a dash for Chino's hair. No matter how many times I put her down, she immediately went straight for Chino's hair (I think the fur on Chino's jacket was the dangerous threat and the hair just happened to be in the way) so I ended up carrying her the whole time to prevent further attacks, and to prevent Chino from having to go wig shopping. It was so hilarious I couldn't resist a picture. Usually she's so cute and calm... and sometimes I find her in the strangest places. How did she get up there?

Beppu Fantasia

I went to the Christmas fireworks at Spa Beach tonight. I always go with Kiyoko and Kayoko, and this time there was someone new named "Pinky" that Kiyoko works with. Seriously, that's how she introduced herself. She wore all pink... jacket, skirt, stockings, and bag. And not just any pink, but that obnoxious, fluorescent color associated with highlighters and funky hair. In my mind I instantly classified her as a weirdo, which was probably quite rude of me. But hey, I call 'em as I see 'em.

The fireworks were scheduled for 8pm but Kiyoko was worried about parking so we headed to the beach at 4pm (surprisingly lots of people were already there) and wandered around eating stuff from the food booths, then sat down right in front of the barge where the fireworks were set up. It was the best spot and we were determined to keep it for ourselves, sitting in the cold for hours waiting for the fireworks to start. Thankfully the main stage was to our right where some (not-so-good) bands played and kept us somewhat entertained.

If you can stand the cold, winter fireworks are fantastic. The colors are so crisp and clear... the smoke dissipates quickly in the cold air and you don't get that hazy look from all the moisture and pollen in the air during the summer. There were some new kinds that I'd never seen before... I especially liked the ones that start with an initial burst of color, then each little spark bursts again into another shower of color. The ones that suddenly changed course in mid-air like haphazard rockets were cool, too.

In Japan Christmas is more about romance and is spent with your significant other, which I find so exclusive coming from an upbringing where we spend it with friends and family and is for everyone.

I happen to have Christmas Day off and don't think it'd be right sitting at home by myself (or with the cat that has yet to be named) so I'll probably go out shopping for a coat. My North Face stuff keeps me warm enough, but after 8 years it's time for a change of fashion.

Word Game

I stumbled upon this word game and got 26 of 33. The remaining 7 are bothering me and if I can't figure them out by the end of the day, I'll resort to internet searching to find the answers!

So far I can't figure out these...

***updated 11:10 p.m.***

6. 52 C in a P (W J)
Finally got it while sitting at my desk. Probably took so long to figure out cuz I haven't touched one in years!

16. 100 C in a D
Thanks, cyano... so true! I can't believe it stumped me!

19. 13 is U F S
Suddenly came to me while driving to work. I like this one - so creative!

28. 23 P of C in the H B
Given my major in university, I should have figured it out sooner!

29. 64 S on a C B
still no clue... 64 Seamen on a Communist Boat?
***Dec 23... I finally figured it out!***

31. 6 B to an O in C
still no clue... 6 Babies to an Oven in Cubes?
***Used the internet to find the answer... I've never played this game and don't know the rules, so would never have gotten it on my own...***

33. 15 M on a D M C
I got the first M, and google told me the rest. I never would have gotten this one in a million years.

I love it!

A coworker introduced me to this hilarious program that teaches English through aerobics. It aired in the 90s and is another reason why I love this country! If you need more the program is called Zuiikin English and there are a bunch more videos on YouTube!

Careers

A couple days ago I did a lesson about jobs and personalities in an attempt to help my high school students think about what kinds of careers they'd like to pursue. It got me thinking back to when I had to make that decision for myself.

I remember back in high school having to take a lengthy personality test that was then matched with people who answered the same questions on the test, and who are happy with what they do. The results were over 20 pages long and I remember the conclusion suggesting that I might possibly enjoy a career in Nursing or Medical Research. I guess I sort of followed that path by going the pre-med route and looking for Biomedical Research Positions after graduation, but I'm glad none of that turned out. I love what I do now.

Personalities change over time and I was curious to see what kind of career would fit my current personality. I found a short test and gave it a try. The site suggested these

Possible Career Paths:

Clergy / Religious Work
Teachers
Medical Doctors / Dentists
Alternative Health Care Practitioners, i.e. Chiropractor, Reflexologist
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Counselors and Social Workers
Musicians and Artists
Photographers
Child Care / Early Childhood Development

Looks like I'm currently doing work that fits my personality. It makes sense that I love what I do!

New Cat

I used to think about how cool it would be to raise wildcats as normal housepets, if only they weren't so dangerous. Then last week I found out about this new cross-breed called the Ashera. They have leopard-like spots, are as big as a normal-sized dog, live for about 25 years and can weigh 30 pounds. The Ashera apparently is friendly and good with children, just like any other housecat, but a lot bigger. Unfortunately at $22,000 each they're a little out of my price range. I won't be getting one anytime soon, but thinking about the Ashera made me start thinking about how nice it would be to have a cat.

The more I thought about it the more I wanted one. With leopard-like spots. And preferably female so it won't spray all over the place to mark its territory. I used to think the cats running around my neighborhood had deformed tails until someone told me that they're supposed to look like that - Japanese Bobtails. They're kind of cute, so one of those would be nice.

Then yesterday I came home for lunch and was thinking about cats while walking to the door. I stopped to pull out my keys and out of nowhere a kitten came up and starting rubbing against my legs and purring. I bent down and it jumped into my lap. How weird that it showed up just when I was thinking about cats. In my 7 years here this has never happened before... the strays in the area are so skittish and run away as soon as they see me coming.

I couldn't believe how friendly it was and how it showed up out of the blue, just when I was thinking about what kind of cat I wanted. And in an amazing coincidence it was a short-tailed female, with spots. So I got to thinking... is this some kind of sign? Am I meant to keep it? I decided that if it came into the house, I'd keep it. So I put it down and opened the door. It came into the house.

She started crying loudly while rubbing against my legs. I figured she was hungry but there isn't any meat or fish in the house so I made scrambled eggs, which she seemed to like. She sat next to me the whole time I was cooking. Then after she finished eating she jumped onto my bed and fell asleep. I left her there and bought a kitty litter tray and some cat food. Then I went to work.

When I came home last night she was still in bed. I think she has a cold. Her nose is runny and she keeps sneezing, and she hasn't done anything but sleep the whole time (with an occasional trip to get some water).

Today I kept thinking how her showing up was like a prayer being answered. A prayer for a spotted, short-tailed female cat. And she's so friendy. Last night she kept trying to sleep on my face and today she stayed by my side wherever I happened to be.

But is this fate? Am I meant to keep her? Or could it be that she's so friendly and ran up to me because she's used to people coddling her... that she actually isn't a stray, but belongs to someone in the neighborhood and happened to get out of the house yesterday? Come to think of it she's a healthy size, so has probably been fed regularly. I'm not sure of what I should do.

Idea #1: Put her back outside to let her owner find her again, if she has one. But I worry about her getting run over or beat up by other cats or going hungry.

Idea #2: Just keep her. But then eventually I'll have to look for someplace else to live since my place has a strict no-pets policy.

Idea #3: See if someone else wants her. This doesn't seem like a good idea, since she might already have an owner and plus I want to keep her.

In any case I'll keep my eyes open for the next few days. Perhaps someone has put signs up in the neighborhood for a lost cat. Here are some pictures... you can see how her tail is short with a tiny bump at the end.

Summary of a month

I always intend on updating this blog. When I have an interesting thought, or see a movie, or recall a noteworthy conversation I tell myself to take a minute to write it down. But then I log in to blogger and suddenly the idea doesn't seem as spectacular as I initially thought, or the conversation sounds dumb out of context, or for whatever reason the post is deemed unworthy of uploading. Or I log in and feel like I have to update posts chronologically, and since there are older posts that I haven't finished yet I should get to those first, but I really don't feel like working on them at the time so in the end I log out without posting a single word.

If I continue on this way I'll end up storing half-finished posts indefinitely, so let's delete all my unfinished posts and settle for a brief summary of some of the things heading for the garbage bin.

Chindy
Chindy died this month. He was my bright red Siamese fighting fish. Because he kept picking on everyone else in the tank, Yoshiko named him by combining the names of two friends who constantly pick on her (Chino and ... someone else). I used to keep photo records of all my fish, but it appears I don't have any of poor Chindy. I was going to flush him down the toilet, but decided that cremation had more dignity so he got thrown into the burnable garbage.

VISA
I turned in my application for a new VISA almost four weeks ago and it still hasn't been processed. I keep getting messages from the immigration office saying, "There's something we need to ask. Please call." When will the questions end? I'm beginning to wonder if my VISA will ever get renewed.

Ants
There were little black ants roaming the living room so I sprayed ant repellant all around the windows and doors. Strangely the spray didn't help and their numbers seemed to be increasing. Then one day I watered an indoor flower pot, and witnessed hundreds of ants clutching white babies rushing from the surface to escape drowning. The critters were coming from inside my apartment!

They were fascinating to watch. The soldier ants with big pincers climbed up the vines first to make sure it was safe, then caravans of baby-carrying ants followed. They made little clusters in the folds of leaves and stayed there for over an hour, waiting for the danger to pass. I guess they got tired of me watering the plant and disturbing their home, because after a week the entire colony had disappeared from the flower pot and I discovered they had moved to an aquarium full of dirt that I used to raise beetle larvae in. I put the aquarium in a plastic tray filled with water so they don't escape (no more ants crawling on me in the middle of the night), and have been feeding them cookie crumbs. I'm glad they decided to move to the aquarium. Now I can observe their burrowing and cookie-crumb-stashing through the glass.

You-me Town
You-me Town is the new shopping complex slated to be finished by the end of this month. I don't like it already. It's located where the main road heading out of Beppu toward Oita begins, and they've closed a lane of traffic during construction, meaning the drive to work has turned into congestion hell. It's the only road I can take to get to work, so there's no avoiding the traffic caused by this unsightly cube of a building that blocks the ocean view you used to be able to enjoy from downtown Beppu. Once the complex actually opens, I suspect the commute to work will take even longer from people waiting to turn into the covered parking lot. From the confines of my car, I will likely refer to these people as "bastards".

Facebook
I started an account after hearing about it from so many people. I registered my name and logged out without adding any further information. A week later when I logged in again I was surprised to find that old friends had used it to find me! And not just any old friends, they were people that I'd been wanting to find for years but hadn't had any luck through Google or Friendster or MySpace or whatever other method I'd tried, like the South African pen-pal I used to have - we finally met in London 12 years ago and lost contact after that, but she found me through Facebook! Facebook is wonderful. With Facebook, there is hope.

CNN
A coworker watches the program CNN 360 religiously on satellite TV and last month they asked viewers to send in video questions in response to their "Planet in Peril" series. She sent in a video and they incorporated it into the show this week! First they used it as an example of what kind of videos to send, then they used it again later in the week to spur the discussion held by a panel of experts. It's crazy to think that she was on a national American News program. Here's the first clip that was used on the show, and her comments on what she thought of the discussion program that used her video.

That's all for now. Hopefully my next entry won't take another month :)

I've been Japanimized

When I first moved to Japan I noticed how Japanese culture was different from what I was used to. But after living here for so long, now it's Japanese culture that's become normal to me, and when I was back in the States I noticed how American culture was so different.

At times it was weird. Without realizing it aspects of Japanese culture have infused themselves within me, and I found myself having to readjust to life in the States. Sometimes it made me uncomfortable, but this wasn't a bad thing. It was just interesting thinking that what used to be so natural seems so strange now.

1) Food Size
One thing I'd forgotten about after living in Japan for so long is the size of meals in the States. I didn't finish an entire meal the whole time I was in Vegas. After an appetizer the size of a meal and then a family-sized meal meant for one person, there was dessert (which I usually ended up throwing away). Here's a photo of the dessert that came out one night after I thought the meal was done. I forced down a spoon of ice cream and had to leave the rest behind.

2) Strangers talk to you
It was weird having total strangers make conversation with me while standing in line at the grocery store or post office. I'd gotten used to the Japanese style of keeping to yourself. While standing in line waiting to get my driver's license renewed, the woman in front of me dropped some money so I pointed that out to her. In Japan it would have ended with a simple "Thank you," but the woman ended up venting to me about all the trouble she'd gone through that week after losing her wallet. I wasn't prepared to be bombarded with so much information and didn't know how to respond.

3) Waitresses save words
In Japanese restaurants menus are generally placed in your hands and the waitresses say something about the menu before letting you know when they'll be back for your order. There are lots of smiles and greetings, and confirmations of what you want. One morning in Hawaii my dad and stepmom took me to breakfast at Kenny's, their favorite breakfast spot. The waitress showed us to a table in the corner but my dad wanted to sit at a booth, so he just got up and moved us to where he wanted to sit. After we sat down the waitress dropped the menus on the table and walked away. I thought she was offended that we'd changed seats on our own and had gotten angry, which is why she simply dropped the menus on the table and didn't say anything when she walked away. My dad informed me that this is completely normal behavior which was confirmed when the waitress returned and was quite friendly.

4) People are loud
Whenever I heard someone shouting in public I instinctively looked around to see who was angry, but people tend to speak in loud voices and have conversations by shouting instead of moving closer. In Japan if your friend is sitting on another bench, you move to that bench to have a conversation, not speak loudly to each other.

5) Salespeople tell you stories
Checkout ladies make conversation with you and talk about other customers they'd met throughout the day. It was so friendly. I compared this to Japan, where checkout people repeat the price of each item you're purchasing as they pass it across the scanner.

6) Bus drivers get snippy
I found it interesting that bus drivers use their normal, casual voice to tell people to sit down or get behind the line or move on back. Stuff like, "Come on, people, I can't close the doors until you get behind the line." and "There's no more room, so the rest of you have to wait for the next bus." In Japan there would be much more apologizing and polite requests for everyone's cooperation.

7) Limo drivers are friendly
When it was time for me to leave Vegas my dad had the hotel limo take me to the airport. The ride would have been boring with me sitting in the back, so the driver told me to come sit up front with him. I can't imagine a Japanese limo driver asking me to come sit up front. Really talkative, friendly guy who just got out of the Navy last year. It was like a friend was taking me to the airport rather than being escorted in a limo. He talked about stuff like how it had only rained half a centimeter since January and there are limits on how much water they can use (but not for the hotels), about the countries he'd been to while on duty in the navy, and about how hard it is to make friends since he works the graveyard shift. It's a shame you always meet cool people while travelling that you'll probably never see again.
I only go back to the States when some special occasion arises. I started thinking that I should try and go back every year at least for a few days, just to keep in touch with the culture I was brought up in :)