Pocari Sweat, SoftBank, and clear plastic umbrellas

As you've probably already guessed, these are some of the strange, yet very common things we've encountered in our daily lives in Japan to date.
From the instant we stepped out of the plane, vending machines of every sort surrounded us. They are more than a common convenience in Japan and sell everything from drinks named "Pocari Sweat" (sounds tasty...) to calling cards and batteries and yes, even cigarettes and alcohol.
On our first night here, Scott purchased a bottle of beer from a vending machine right around the corner from our house for 300 yen. Imagine a convenience like that in Canada! Unlike Canada, however, the vending machines all have hours of operation. They open in the morning and most, especially the ones that sell alcohol, shut off at 11pm. Most of the machines that sell regular drinks stay open for 24 hours and that's a good thing considering how humid it gets during the day. Although most Japanese are immune to the humidity, they still carry sweat towels around their necks for those really sticky days. I'm not really sure how the men manage to dress in full suits everyday in this weather. Tomorrow is our first day of training, which means we'll have to dress in our work ensemles too for the first time and grin and bear it through the heat.
The weather here has been relatively enjoyable so far. I'm not really a fan of how humid it gets in late September, but fortunately, the Fall has just begun! Yesterday was the Fall Equinox in Japan and it's considered a national holiday here, so everyone got the day off work! Wouldn't that be nice, eh?
It also rained yesterday, which wasn't so pleasant because Scott and I were in the midst of carrying our groceries home. The supermarket is located about 12 minutes away from our house and is very close to the Kishinosato subway station. It was a real adventure walking aimlessly around the store like the "gaijins" that we are. Some stuff was familiar, although most of it was not. In an attempt to pick up a quick bite to eat for lunch, we accidentaly grabbed some marinated pig intestines thinking it was chicken. Ha! We were so very wrong. One bite into the "chicken" confirmed that it was, indeed, something we didn't want to be eating. Lucky for me, Scott did the taste test...so I didn't have to try anything! :) While I'm on the topic of food...the Japanese food isn't all that tasty. Yesterday, we met our friend, Paul (from Queen's), for dinner at Namba and I ordered a rice bowl with chicken and eggs. Sounds good, right? Well, when it got to the table, all I recognized was the rice. The rest of the bowl was full of what looked like Grade E chicken and contact lenses. Ya...don't ask! I took one bite and that was about it. We opted for a sundae at McDonald's ("mcdonarudo" in Japanese) after that. They do sell some familiar things at the grocery store though, like Haagen Dazs ice cream. We bought some yesterday and while it provided a temporary taste of home, the container was so small. Everything is so compact here. I'll get to that later!
Within minutes of feeling raindrops, the Osakans all have their clear plastic umbrellas opened. Some are conveniently placed on umbrella stands, which are attached to bikes. The transparency allows them to see perfectly as they're riding their bikes through the traffic. Since the Japanese are professional multi-taskers they like to be doing as much as possible, all at once. The umbrella stand frees a hand so they can write text messages on their swanky cell phones or read a book. It's quite crazy to watch. We still haven't witnessed a bike accident and it's surprising considering EVERYONE here owns a bike. It's more common than walking and driving. At most subway stations, there is even a Bike and Ride section. Think Park and Ride, only for bikes. Two people usually ride one bike. Whether it's mothers and their children hanging out of the baskets or girls sitting on the back of their boyfriend's bike...it's all a common sight! The sidewalks are even divided in half--one side for bikers, one side for walkers.
The Japanese are very organized and meticulous. Every object seems to have a designated spot, but I guess this stems from the fact that their living conditions are considerably tight. Scott and I went to buy some bedding yesterday at a store called NITORI (turquoise sign in picture) and when we got there, we pretty much concluded that it was a Japanese IKEA. They had floors and floors full of everything you could ever dream of for your home--all at a great price. Let's just say we were happy because we got some funky new sheets for our bed.
The mattresses in Japan are much narrower than North American sizes. Pretty much everything is smaller--the clothes, the food portions, the cars, the phones, the apartments, and even the people. For example, a standard loaf of bread has only 6 slices, package of Oreos has 18 cookies as opposed to like 30 or whatever they have in Canada, and a container of ice cream is about 200 ml. I guess it's true what they say--good things come in small packages--because today, we got some sweet, sweet cellies at a store called SoftBank.
SoftBank is one of the major cell phone companies in Japan, providing well over 70 per cent of the population with phones. It's like a BellWorld to us. Its major competitors are Au and DoCoMo. After conducting some research, we decided to go with SoftBank because of the great phones, cheap plans, and of course, because Cameron Diaz is their newest spokesperson. Every store had her face plastered on the walls and videos of her speaking Japanese (!) on a cell phone.
We took the subway into Abeno today because we needed to go to our ward office to register for our "gaijin" cards. This card is a requirement for all non-Japanese in the country and we must carry it with us at all times. Technically, we need this card in order to get a cell phone, but it takes about a month to be issued. We found out from a friend that we could get a piece of paper saying that we don't have our gaijin cards yet and this still enables us to get a cell phone contract. Anyway, it worked, and we're in love with our new toys! Scott and I had a great experience getting our phones today. After roaming around Namba, trying to find a SoftBank with the phone Scott wanted, we almost mistakenly stumbled upon a hole-in-the-wall SoftBank store with the nicest people. Although the sales people couldn't speak English well, they went to a shop around the corner and got a man to come over who spoke English flawlessly. He explained the contract with us in detail and made us both feel more confident about what we were doing. He even gave us a present at the end--some Japanese aromatherapy! Our basic contract will end up being about 2000 yen (about 20 dollars a month) yay! Scott and I ended up getting the same phone--the 706SC. I got a pink one, and Scott got a silver one. Check out the phone here: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/product/3g/706sc/. Our SoftBank experience was definitely the highlight of our day! If you feel like calling us, let us know and we'll give you our numbers! :)
Well, I guess that pretty much sums up our latest adventures. I'd better get going because we have our first day of training tomorrow. I can hear Scott snoring in the other room--I guess he's out cold.

Miss you all!
xoxo
Jo & Scott