Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Tokyo Station

So I had 2 days off. I was supposed to have pictures of my really awesome out of this world trip to Disney Sea but it decided to ran all day. Arghh! I was sooo mad. I was going to go with this family at church here The Welch's who have 3 kids. They are really neat and have fed me dinner many times. They are a half Japanese and half American family. The Wife is Japanese and really sweet. Anyway, it would have been fun and the only reason that day was important was because it was a holiday for them and on a day I had off. So it was perfect. Maybe there will be another Holiday that land on my 2 days off(Mon. & Tues.) Well, Instead of enjoying the Disney Magic I ran errands, watched alot of Prison Break and went on a little trip to Tokyo Station which is like Grand Central Station. It is where all the subways and railways meet. There isn't much in the area but really big buildings and a nice park. I took a couple of hours to take some pictures and eat some lunch. Here is a little slide show of my time there.



I am going to try this new thing called, "Culture Corner." This is where after every post I write a little things of the culture I have learned.

CULTURE CORNER:
This being my first C.C. post I better make it a good one. Let's see...ahh I got it.
Something that I have noticed is the bowing. It is very different in our American way of communication. To say hello we either wave, shake hands, maybe even tap on the shoulder. Even though the Japanese accept those gestures it is not customary.



Bowing is an essential part of Japanese daily life. People bow when saying hello, thanking someone, apologizing, saying good-bye and introducing themselves. I noticed I wave alot either to say hello or goodbye. It seems to be weird when to those I wave to don't really respond back. I am used to feeling stupid around here. I am sure by the time I get back to the states I will be bowing alot. Please be patient, humor me and just bow back :)

2 comments:

malia said...

Bummer about the rain! That would be disappointing, but I think you handled it like a trooper. Those pictures are beautiful! I love how peaceful the water looks and how green everything is. Very nice. And that is funny about the bowing. I'm sure that it will get easier for you and yes, we will bow back when you return.

Anonymous said...

Well said.