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While living in Japan over the past year, We've learned not to let a few interesting everyday and cultural encounters surprise us.   Here are a few:

• They don't sell envelopes at the post office  (you must buy them at the convenience store)
• At a restaurant, they usually only provide one menu per table
• Even after you've been studying accelerated Japanese for 1 year, the 3 year old boy talking to his mother at the supermarket seems to have better command of the language than you do.
• Everybody is walking around talking on a miniature cell phone.  We even saw a woman flipping through dresses at the department store with both hands permitted to be free because she was wearing a headset type mobile phone.
• Your Japanese friends email you from their mobile telephone.
• There is a particular looking booth in all the convenience stores where you can change the melody of your cell phone's ring for $4.00.
• The Chinese food is nothing like in the USA.  For that matter, it's still nothing like the Chinese food you find in China itself.
• You're not full after just spending more than $20 on dinner
• When you arrive at the train station your first time in Japan, you don't recognize any of the food, except maybe some M&M's if you're lucky.
• There are no paper towels or means to dry your hands in any restroom.
• No one is wearing sunglasses - the sunglass image is associated with the mafia here
• Nobody seems to pull over to the side of the road for an ambulance that has it's sirens on
• You can't find celery at the supermarket
• The bananas (expensive) you bought yesterday have turned to liquid on your kitchen counter today.
• You have a dead whole fish staring at you from the plate at breakfast
• After you've carefully studied your introduction and manner (in Japanese, with a bow and no handshake), the party you are meeting gestures to shake your hand anyway and says "Pleasure to meet you"
• There are many stairs to climb at the train station, and no escalators
• Nobody accepts a tip (not even the movers or the barber)
• The napkins at the restaurant are coated with plastic, so they effectively just serve to smear everything and never absorb.
• At the restaurant, you get your bill before your meal even arrives (they're not trying to get rid of you)
• As a westerner, you may not be permitted to enter some bars.
• The popcorn is coated with fish flakes.
• There is corn and mayonnaise on the pizza
• You can order squid ink on your pizza in lieu of tomato sauce.
• Credit cards and checks are not as generally accepted as in America, most transactions are in cash.
• You may see grown men peeing in the street.
• An innocent looking roll at the bakery usually has a surprise filling, like beans, or some other surprise ingredient.
• When you walk into any shop, the employees yell "EERASHAIMASAEE!" - it means welcome, how can we help you?.
• When you leave any shop or restaurant, you may find several people yelling "DOMOARIGATO GOZAIMASHTA!" - Thank you very much.
• The young woman are wearing shoes that are about 6 inches tall.
• The automatic ticket booths on the highway often have a ticket dispenser on the left hand side - for those who have American, left hand drive cars
• There is no door at the entrance to the public bathroom.
• The men's room on the bullet train has a window - to the inside of the train
• You spend about $50 filling up you small car's 15 gallon tank.
• Your brand new car doesn't come with a full tank of gas.
• You see some people walking down the street wearing a sort of mask over their mouth and nose - they are sick and are trying to both get better and prevent others from catching what they got.
• The gas station attendant offers to take any garbage you have lying around in your car and then when your tank is full, he runs out into the street to stop traffic so  you may safely merge in.
• There are heated toilet seats at your workplace.
• You blow the "optimal" weight to height guideline shown on the bathroom scale at the Rihga Royal hotel - this is intended for a Japanese person.
• At the supermarket checkout, you're given a handful of plastic bags so that you can bag your groceries yourself.
• No "paper or plastic" choice at the supermarket, you have "plastic or plastic"
• Each of the 12 donuts you just bought are individually wrapped in plastic.
• A single movie ticket will run you about $18US
• You and your western friends may be the only people laughing during the movie.
• It's ok to bring McDonald's, a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, or whatever into the movie theater.
• The Japanese stay seated after a movie and watch ALL the credits (except if the movie is over 3 hours)