{"id":60,"date":"2024-01-09T22:05:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T13:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/?p=60"},"modified":"2024-02-01T23:02:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T14:02:33","slug":"little-differences-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/2024\/01\/09\/little-differences-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Little differences, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">I thought it might be interesting to compile a running list of the little differences I notice as an outsider visiting a brand new cultural landscape. Note that none of these observations are meant as criticisms or critiques, as I don&#8217;t believe that there is necessarily a &#8220;right&#8221; or &#8220;wrong&#8221; way to simply <em>be<\/em>. Rather, my intention is to try and cultivate more mindful awareness of my environment, regardless of where I am, and challenging my own pervasive, preexisting notions of &#8220;how things are <em>supposed to be done<\/em>&#8221; seems to be a good way to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plus, it&#8217;s just fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Napkins don&#8217;t seem to be a common thing at restaurants (or, at least, the few I&#8217;ve visited in my first few days here). I generally tend to be about as neat of an eater as a nine-month-old baby, so I&#8217;m going to need to start carrying some with me.<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Japanese are fastidious about recycling&#8211;it puts Americans to shame. There is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city.minato.tokyo.jp\/kokusaika\/documents\/englishguidebook2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a 32-page booklet<\/a> that I was given when I arrived in my apartment here that explains the proper procedures for sorting out recyclables from other waste&#8230; <em>and people do it<\/em>. It makes me feel ashamed that most of the time I can&#8217;t be bothered to even put bottles in a separate container at home.<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tipping isn&#8217;t a thing here&#8211;like, <em>at all<\/em>&#8211;and frankly it&#8217;s refreshing. (It also saves you from having to do mental math.)<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are vending machines (mostly for beverages) almost literally everywhere, though interestingly (1) they aren&#8217;t all &#8220;open&#8221; 24 hours a day, which I find curious, and (2) I haven&#8217;t frequently noticed people actively using them.<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are interesting differences related to paying for things. At many markets, for example, particularly those that are larger, a cashier will scan your items but direct you to a self-service payment kiosk usually located behind the check stand. Coins for change are almost always automatically dispensed by a machine. In smaller shops, there&#8217;s a small tray on the counter where you are expected to place your money to pay&#8211;don&#8217;t hand it directly to the cashier.<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Virtually no one crosses streets against a signal. Oddly enough, the one time I saw it happen today, I felt myself judging the guy&#8230; <em>&#8220;What kind of hurry is he in that he can&#8217;t obey the rules like everyone else?&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">I thought it might be interesting to compile a running list of the little differences I notice as an outsider visiting a brand new cultural landscape. Note that none of these observations are meant as criticisms or critiques, as I don&#8217;t believe that there is necessarily a &#8220;right&#8221; or &#8220;wrong&#8221; way to simply <em>be<\/em>. Rather, my intention is to try and cultivate more mindful awareness of my environment, regardless of where I am, and challenging my own pervasive, preexisting notions of &#8220;how things are <em>supposed to be done<\/em>&#8221; seems to be a good way to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plus, it&#8217;s just fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/2024\/01\/09\/little-differences-part-1\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Little differences, part 1&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":18087,"featured_media":79,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25,23,22,21,24],"class_list":["post-60","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-behavior","tag-conveniences","tag-food-drink","tag-recycling","tag-social-interactions","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/files\/2024\/01\/IMG_5124-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/files\/2024\/01\/IMG_5124-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Ryan Eanes","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/author\/tul72118\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tujeanes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}