Welcome to Gaia! ::

heart After carefully reading your posts, that were very useful, I noticed that many of you have already traveled to Japan and thought it is a wonderful experience. It seems that there also are some Japanese people on this forum, isn't it a great exchange place? heart

I am creating this thread to talk basically about 2 things:
*Nagoya city (and not the famous Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto....)/the difference between Tokyo and other Japanese cities
*things you absolutely didn't expect and that you experienced in Japan

But in case you haven't been there;
*things you expect from a future trip to Japan

(please respect the color scheme if you want to say something related to the topics I mentioned above, but feel free to add more information you want to share!)

Ok here I go...
I am engaged to a Japanese man, and we are living together in Nagoya city (but I am coming back to my country at the end of the summer because I want to finish my studies there sweatdrop ).
This is my first time here, before I had travelled several times only to Tokyo and its surroundings. I was greatly surprised by how different the 2 cities are! Nagoya almost looks like a normal european city. I've also seen many more foreigners here. Messages are written in Japanese and English, but also in Portoguese and Spanish! Could it be that the chaotic Tokyo actually scares immigrants? I had noticed the same thing last year, when I stayed for some time in Yokohama city.

Since the beginning, I was scared of Japanese houses; if you have been a guest in a host family, you know what I am talking about.
The first time I came to Japan, I had a host family. They had a dog. I was young at that time, but I remember that there were some things I thought were... odd. For example, the dog could pee anywhere in the house and someone would clean up the mess right after, as if nothing happened. I talked about it with a girl I know who stayed in a host family for 1 whole year, and she said the same happened in that family. Why? When last year I was invited as a guest by a japanese family I know to stay over for a few days, I was completely grossed out by the fact the dog was allowed to pee in the shower. Did I have bad luck, or is this normal in most Japanese families?
Another thing I wouldn't have expected in Japan is curry bread. You have probably already tasted japanese curry, you can buy it in any store and it's easy to cook! Well, if you are or are going to Japan, do me a favor; stop by a bakery, and buy curry bread. You won't regret it!!

There are many other things I would like to talk about, but I think it is better if everyone says something so that we can all enrich our knowledge! Go ahead and share experiences, thoughts, tips...

tokyo doesnt scare foreigner, it expensive and the people are harsh on foreigners (and they are girly)

I love Nagoya, mainly because it is: A) Not Tokyo-Chiba and B) A nice, clean city. I've lived there for a while and it was really interesting moving to Kansai and and comparing the two. The thing that got me was that Kansai people always stand on the right hand side of the elevator and walk on the left, which is opposite from the rest of the country. And of course, there is the famous Kansai-ben.

I really miss the fact that Nagoya realestate is dirt cheap compared to Kansai (probably due to the lack of mountains) and great little shopping places like Ossu-kannon and Sakae.

I've not been to Nagoya...but I had an odd experience with some people who were going there before I landed in Narita a month ago.
You see, where I come from there are a lot of Mormons...and in the airport at LAX, there were a ton of Mormon Missionaries, and first thing off before I'm even on the plane, I'm asked if I've heard of the "true word of God." And I got a free Bible coupon D:
They were talking to me in Japanese ("Oh you look Japanese though!" ...since I am stupids.), and then they freaked out and started talking in English afterwards.
But yeah. they were heading for Nagoya.
Good thing we were staying in Chiba that night.
But I look forward to hearing your experience Ichigo :]]

Tochigi? I've heard of it before, but not Moka. I've never ridden the Shinkansen on the other lines. Once on the Tokaido line from Odawara to Kyoto on the Kodama and that was a**... All the other times I've been through the Hakata line from Osaka to Hiroshima, and the Tokyo line from Osaka to Tokyo. This last trip I took, I honestly took the Shinkansen more than 8 times...it was pretty ridiculous D:
[ &hearts ]

Hmm, well I know it'll take me some time to get used to squatting to take a dump. *softly laughs*

Has anyone ever been to a co-ed onsen? Or an onsen, in general? *yes, I know they're basically hot springs, but I thought people could associate onsen more closely to Japan, than Hot spring*

No, no, I quite agree! It's not too hard to get used to living in a smaller space, but I remember being shocked at how huge the toilet stalls were at the airport when I returned to the States.

I thought coed bathing at onsen is against the law now? I've yet to visit an onsen... The closest I got was a public bath at one point.

Today, I went to the Osaka aquarium. It's hilarious how Osaka's harbor area mimics Tokyo's Odaiba. Same giant ferris wheel, same boat tours, same ridiculous shopping center... Sadly, the arcade there is not nearly as good as the one in Odaiba, which is a wonder to behold.

Ugh, you want to know something I didn't expect at all? There's no clothes drier at my apartment so I have to figure out how to air dry my clothes. Last year, I was lucky enough to have a clothes drier at my dorm, but no such luck this time around... and I hate hate hate air-dried clothing. neutral

Talking about japanese western style toilets (sorry for going a little off topic sweatdrop ), they scare me a little. The water spray especially. I don't see how useful it is, actually, it is kind of... gross? My boyfriend says that it's gross not to use it if there is one though. Weird confused

everytime, why do you hate kantou so much? if you have, hate tokyo leave 千葉市 and 千葉県　out of please. and i must add tokyo-ben is sharp and proper, kansaiben is...coarse beyond word.