At the moment I'm on a train headed for Matsumoto which has, I'm told, a lovely castle and then I've got to make sure not to miss the last train back to Tokyo at 8:02 pm tonight, because today is the last day of my awesome all-you-can-travel-in-7-days Japan Rail pass.
After being here for almost 2 weeks, I've decided that the person I know who would love Japan the best is Bill. The trains are so efficient, I have never had to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes, even for a long distance train. The tanks of the toilets are also the sink, so when you flush the clean water that would normally fill up the toilet tank runs through at tap on top of the tank and you can wash your hands with it, so the water gets used twice. So many of the things here are so neat - Bill, you'd think you'd died and gone to efficient, German heaven.
On the other hand, the lack of environmental awareness and the waste, the over-packaging of everything would drive you right around the bend. Like the story Dan tells about being at McDonald's and asking for no bag, but the cashier had already picked the bag up, so instead of putting it back on the pile of bags, she tossed it in the garbage. Also at McDonald's, they put your food in a paper bag, then your drink in a paper bag and put the whole thing in a plastic bag.
Or when Peter started trying to carry his own chopsticks, so as not to have to use a new disposable pair for every meal, someone accused him of putting disposable chopstick manufacturers out of work.
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