Impressions of Akita and Japan, part 2

Last post, I gushed a bit over Akita's nature (all completely justified, I assure you). This post, I want to focus on convenience and conservation.

First, convenience. Japan, is, in my experience, a country of convenience and economy. It makes sense when I think about it; after all, Japan is a small island country, made even smaller by the fact that large swaths of the land is mountainous and thus not adequate ground to build houses, towns, and cities. In Japan, many people live in a small space, so it stands to reason that the Japanese would place great emphasis on economy and conservation. It's only been a few minor observations that have made me jump to this conclusion, but it's not like blogs are held up as the gold standard of cultural insight anyways.

First off, I was (perhaps overly) surprised when I found that the classrooms of Akita International University had a handy hook-like device that holds things like bookbags and umbrellas.

They also have hooks like these in bathrooms, right next to urinals (along with all the other wonders of Japanese bathrooms, which I think most people with a passing interest in Japan have heard about). It was a small touch, but something I never would have thought of or wanted living in America--yet it made my life a little easier. Instead of splaying my backpack all over the floor, having to awkwardly maneuver it like back in college in Pennsylvania, I could just hook it up on my desk for easy access. This is even more convenient in bathrooms; on a particularly rainy day, one might be carrying an umbrella around, and the hooks give you a sanitary place to put that umbrella (or your shopping bag, or something) while you go about your business. 

Speaking of bathrooms...

This, unlike my other pictures thus far, is just a generic Internet photo rather than one I took myself, because I wasn't feeling the energy to go into a bathroom and take a picture. But it does the job well enough: every single public bathroom in Japan, even ones whose other facilities are plain, has this kind of hand dryer in place of paper towels. The more I think about it, the more incredible I find it. Unlike about half the hand dryers in the US, it actually dries your hands, and they're literally in every public bathroom I've seen. It's a small touch, but in my Western mind it says a lot. In general, Japan is much more conscious of the environment and their natural resources than the States. Granted, the US is much bigger, has many more natural resources available, and has a history of administrations that place big business above the environment, and Japan's strong Shinto roots and traditions naturally incline it towards respecting nonhuman entities more than most countries, but it's still interesting to see a real example of what, till this point, I'd only read about and heard about from people who'd been there before. 

And now that I think about it, I have let a little 'Japanese tourist blog' attitude slip in here. Oh well! I'm not too ashamed; as a Westerner who has no real experience in world travel, there's so much to ooh and aah over being outside of the States, and being in Japan. Of course, I'm not a tourist, and only having been here for two weeks, it's a little early to make assumptions about Japanese culture and society. Because, in fact, there's a lot about Japan that I don't understand, and a lot that surprised me about being here--largely related to the people. 

Ignorant as it might sound, I've had something of a revelation, being in Japan. The Japanese are, well, Japanese...but they're also people. Humans are humans, no matter where you go, and I'm seeing that college life in Japan, in some ways, isn't really different from what I've experienced in my home university in Pennsylvania. People party, they laugh loudly, they break rules and have fun. But those are thoughts for another time, perhaps. For now, I guess the takeaway is that Japan is convenient, efficient, and careful with its resources. And I get to experience that...which, everything else aside, is really, really cool!