Sumimasen, wakarimasen, arigato, chotomate, gomenasai....

Japan is one of the MUST visit places in Asia. I've never seen any culture so unique before.... 3 words sum them up. Polite, Anal, and Cute.

Polite

1. Saying NO-If you do a regional survey within Asia, say its testing of a new product, the rejection rate from Japan will be the lowest. Thats cos the Japanese never say no.... They'd rather ignore you than say no to you. Mike (my boss) was asking for directions around the subway, some japanese just pretended he wasn't there, presumably cos they can't speak english.
   
2. Bowing is a common courtesy as many would already know. I never know when to stop. Do you just keep going? or do you bow like 9 times to call it quits...
   
3. Saying Arigato (thank you) all the time.
   
4. Obedient and orderly and considerate. Never out of line, never selfish.
   
5. And never will they push you even when its crowded.

Anal

1. I happened to witness a wedding.... The bride was wearing this gorgeous kimono and was waiting to take a picture. The photo-assistant took like FOREVER to adjust the skirts of the kimono, so that it will fall perfectly in the picture.

This is another bride with her entourage... We were at the Meiji Shrine when we witnessed these weddings.

1. Everything was very orderly. Very efficient. They thought about everthing.... Like you know how trays are normally rectangular and u can't put them side by side on a round table... The japs came up with trays tht are chopped off at the two top corners so i'd fit on a round table.
   
2. There must be at least 20 advertisers within a subway cabin... The posters are not put in a glass display, they are literally clipped on. But surprisingly, every poster was in good condition. The paper quality was also very impressive.

CUTE

1. They invented a million things you never thought you needed, and they make it cute!
   

EG: Cute child friendly food. Imagine putting ladies fingers in such cute form, anyone would eat it!

This is a Harajuku girl wannabe. She's trying to be scary but she's more cute than scary...

Anyway, here are some of the great pictures we took.

We went to the Hot Springs resort and everyone had to wear Kimonos.... it was quite fun. There's a specific way to wear it, Right over left, and the bow behind for girls. If worn any either way, someone would have mistaken you for a prostitute, or someone who is mourning.



Obviously neither Mike or Les or I went to the hot springs. Cos u must be naked.... bleh...Maybe when u're not there with the entire company.

After dinner, we went round looking for a nice place to drink.... Found this cafe called ARU. Apparently its names after the owner's dog. And the owner also kept a special gem in his garage.... 1958 vintage porche. He was nice enough to open up the garage to let us take a picture of it... Mike's drooling over it.

Next day, took a quick walk around the resort and found this incredibly beautiful green trail...




Also happened to be VERY windy and VERY rainy... u can practically see the wind. I got sick as a result... really bad flu.

Anyway Mike is doing his Leonardo Impression, You jump i Jump... Lester goes "okay you jump first"...


Ladies and Gentlemen, i present to you Mount Fuji. Super cloudy day, couldn't really see....



Travelled out into the city in late afternoon. And this was the view from a tourist trap observatory.... Very much like any other skyline... But its when u get down to the details that you realise how colourful japan is.







A rainy day in Shinjuku...



A trip to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Sashimi can't get any fresher than those u find here.....



Who love Bonito flakes? CRATEs of it here... Yummmm....



All sorts of crabs. Can u imagine how sweet the flesh would be...



Mike and Les are happie after a nice fresh Sashimi meal.


This is the Ginza area. Full of branded shops.... TALL BIG grand buildings. Check out the wonderful sky after a rainy day.



We were excited to see policemen for the first time (cos we thot Japan got no crime), so we decided to take a picture of them, but didn't want to be to obvious. See the background?


This is us along the one of the streets connecting Ometosando and Aoyama....

Trying to do a desperate impression of the rabbit...

One for the ladies. I'm standing outside the PRADA designer building. A designer architect designed the designer brand...Its like a giant glass igloo....

Anyway, walking around Japan with 2 boys was fun. Needless to say, not so productive in the shopping... I only bought one Yellow nailpolish, one eyelash curler (from Shu Uemura cos its cheap), and 2 japo mascara so i can get the Kawaii eyes. Oh and Les bought me a nice hot pink Coach wallet tht i'm very happy with. thts about it....