My impression of Japan so far

- people form lines waiting for bus/metro

- Ads are pasted every where people can see it

- Everyone is so polite, even most drivers yield to ped. They do run red lights though, speed is not that fast and other side wait patiently so no accidents.

- No tips is required and you get better service than any where I have been to. A Japanese lady told me that it is common for the store manager to come the customer's home and appology for mistake made by the clerk and refund the difference.

- Train are on time and run very frequently. Especially in Tokyo, you can get a train within 2-3 minutes. It makes DC metro/Amtrak look really bad.

- It takes lots workers to do the same amount of work as in the US. You may call it inefficient, but in some way it is sort of like semi-welfare that keep people employed and reduce the cost of dealing with unemployement.

- Japanese are not as homogenous as I thought, probably more diverse {I don't mean race} of the Far East race groups

- The ladies seem to be prettier than I imagined. Although this could because the makeups. It is very common for the ladies here to use make up.

- Everything is expensive here, well I sorted of knew this before.

- Japan isn't as fun for single traveler as other backpacker friendly countries/area. I guess there are so many places to stay/visit, you don't get bunch backpackers stayed at limited places and seeing/doing limited things to meet one and other. So for me, the night time is kind boring since I don't want to visit the few places I consider fun by myself. Example Karaoke.

- No one would die of thirst if one has money. There are vending machines every where, I mean every where with exception of inside of some temples.

- Bicylists ride on the sidewalk

- red light district seems to be in every major city, I guess prostitution is centralized in Japan and probably controlled by the Jakuza. BTW foreigners are not allowed to hire a prostitute. I guess they worry about aids.