Since I’ve gotten here, it’s rained quite a bit. For the first week, I remember it rained everyday except for one day I think. When a day finally came along with sun, I thought I was in a different place when I stepped out of my dorm.
Today was also a rainy day. Japanese people love umbrellas. Every Japanese person you see outside will be holding an umbrella which makes it very easy to spot the foreigners since they tend not to have or use any umbrellas. Even if a Japanese person is riding a bicycle or other form of transportation, he or she will be holding an umbrella up. At the front of every restaurant and store there is an umbrella holding grate where you can put your umbrella. Many stores also offer plastic bags at the front of the building which you can put your umbrella in and carry with you. Raincoats do not really exist for normal use. Luckily at the dorm, we have a whole bunch of umbrellas near the shoe area (the place where we have to take off our shoes and put them away before stepping further into the dorm), so I do not get too wet.
One thing about using umbrellas here in Tokyo is the fact that in Japan, cars are driven on the left side of the road and people walk down the sidewalk on the left side. Most people are right handed which means most people tend to hold their umbrellas with their right hand, meaning that usually the umbrella is off center to the right. This becomes a problem when you’re walking down a crowded Tokyo sidewalk since everyone’s umbrella will be occupying the middle of the sidewalk as you try to walk past each other. As a result your umbrella gets hit all the time by other umbrellas as people walk by, not to mention the people who hold umbrellas while riding bicycles who try to pass you. And to think, this could all be solved by simply walking on the right side of the sidewalk…
Another thing about walking around Tokyo is that people actually obey the crosswalk signs. They will not move until the crosswalk sign turns green, telling them they can cross. This surprised me since in the United States, people will simply cross the street as soon as they see a lull in the stream of cars going by, regardless of whether or not the crosswalk sign is green or red. When I’ve been in less busy parts of Tokyo, I have seen people standing at the edge of side streets waiting for many minutes for the crosswalk sign to turn green despite the fact that there were absolutely no cars in sight and the street they were trying to cross was a small, one way street. My friend, Andre, said that this is because in Japan, policemen will actually issue you a ticket if they catch you j-walking. To be honest though, I have never seen a policeman near any of the streets where people are crossing…
Tomorrow is Monday and will mark my second week of classes. I still have to fill out some forms for class registration, so I am going to complete that and then go to sleep. I will write more about classes later.
So, have you tried to cross the street during a green light yet?