Random Weirdness of Japan

I've been meaning to write this entry, it's basically a list of strange things in Japan that don't really deserve a full blog entry but need mentioning:
1. The dress code that is generally accepted outlaws tank tops. At some stores, there are signs indicating you may not enter if you only have on a tank top, which I guess is understandable; however, it is the norm and almost expected that almost every girl can and will wear skirts and shorts that are so short there butt cheeks can hang out! I'm rather confused. So to throw things off, I will sometimes reveal my scandalous shoulders.....
2. Lots and lots of people ride bikes, which is fantastic! I took a pic outside the mall of all the bikes and it's like that everywhere. Unfortunately they all need some WD-40.
3. Everyone has paper covers on their books so no one can see what they are reading, so I take mine on the train and read it in plain sight. Everyone around me starts to crane their neck to see what it is because they just can't help themselves. Despite this need for privacy, it is a norm for people to look at dirty magazines in public and dirty photos are displayed in store windows commonly which really took me by surprise the first time!
4. They drive on the opposite side of the road and have steering wheels on the right side of the cars, so it's totally backwards for me. However, when walking on the sidewalk there is no general consensus as to what side you should walk on so you're constantly having that awkward confrontation with people where neither of you know which side to pick as you walk toward each other. I hate that.
5. Cabs are very very tidy here and the drivers have a button they can push that will open their back door and close it automatically so no one has to dirty themselves. The drivers wear little white gloves and oftentimes there are little tvs in the cabs showing commercials.
6. There are 2 types of soda you have access to at most restaurants: Coke and ginger-ale. If I'm lucky there is sprite. Diet coke hardly exists anywhere. In the many many vending machines on the streets with drinks in them you may find mountain dew and fanta orange soda and grape soda. At one store we go to I can buy A & W root beer for about $1 a can and that is my treasured treat.
7. At the many vending machines on the streets, there are a few that you can buy beer in!! I have no idea how they enforce the age restriction.
8. Almost everyone smokes here. Gross.
9. I get to see all the ads that celebrities are too proud to do in the U.S. Orlando Bloom does a hair styling product here and Tommy Lee Jones sponsors a coffee brand.
10. The signs that make absolutely no sense. There is one that plagues me that says "Good Coffee Smile" and that is just one of many I see every day and think, "what on earth does that mean?!!"
11. Decaf coffee does not really exist here. No decaf mochas for Katie that's for sure despite the fact that there is a starbucks at every other corner (not every corner like the U.S.) but if people in the U.S. think the idea of decaf coffee is demented, here they think it's worthy of putting you in an asylum.
12. We have to separate our garbage into burnables, non-burnables (basically recyclable bottles), and garbage (compost stuff) which definitely took getting used to for me. We have all these drawers in the kitchen to put the separate stuff into.
13. They don't put in regular commercials during tv shows. Instead mostly they will show the whole thing and then for the last 10 minutes of the hour they will show infomercials that are in Japanese for things like "Slender-Shaper" (or as they say it slenda-shapa) which is that thing you wrap around your stomach and it vibrates away your fat. Totally idiotic.
14. We get fox channels here that show reruns of Deadwood, Numbers, Bones, Law and Order SVU, The Practice, Cops, and some others. Unfortunately, what they tend to do is pick one episode of one of these shows and air it about 4 times a day for 3 days or so until you just can't stand it and then they won't show you any for a week or so, especially with Numbers. Grrrrr. My parents are hooked on Dexter and the network has really been jerking them around with the schedule on that one.
15. There are some things you cannot find here. It is impossible to find plain old grape jelly!! They have every other kind known to man but not grape, I don't know why. They have something called hotel cheese but that's about it for variety there. Shoe sizes go up to maybe an 8 if you're lucky, so I'm out of luck in that department. We've found refried beans at one store where they cost about $5 a can which kills me!!
I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of stuff so I'll end up doing another entry like this again sometime, but these are just a few of the things that plague me on a daily basis. I really wish I could put one of the infomercials on here for everyone to see.