7 Awesome Things That Took Me By Surprise In Japan

1. Slipper-etiquette.

Your choice of socks has never been so important! When coming into someone's house it's custom to remove your shoes and put on a pair of guest slippers, usually stacked in a basket by the front door. Then, when going to the bathroom, you'll take those slippers off and put on the designated bathroom slippers. Of course, when you leave the bathroom you'll trade them back out again for the guest slippers and leave the bathroom ones in the bathroom. I actually really liked this and wish we did it back home. The only part that felt funny to me was going out to a nice restaurant to eat and having to leave your shoes in a little cubby and scoot around in your socks.

2. How orderly and accommodating Disneyland is.

At restaurants they will walk alongside you and carry your tray over to your table for you. The parade viewing couldn't be more organized than if it were clothing color coordinated or arranged by height. Visitors are asked to take off hats so viewers behind them can see and everyone brings their own mats to unroll and sit on. After removing your shoes and leaving them off the mat, of course! Their evacuation plan during the Tsunami/Earthquake disaster a few years ago was so efficient that other countries actually study it and try and plan similarly.

3. The mochi soup death count. Like the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday death count in the USA, Japan also has a strange holiday danger! On New Year's Day, breakfast usually includes the traditional mochi soup. The texture of the mochi is so thick and slippery that when choked on requires an actual vacuum to dislodge it as the Hemlich maneuver doesn't even work on it! So on Jan. 2nd, much like our day after Black Friday, a mochi-soup death count is announced on the news.

4. How quickly heated toilet seats grow on you. And how much you'll miss them when back home. Honestly, I thought these would creep me out. Something about the thought of sitting on a warm toilet seat made me imagine it would feel like someone just used it. I was so wrong.

5. Boy Band Obsession.

Boy bands in Japan are a bigger hit than if N'Sync and Backstreet Boys joined as one and started touring the US current day. They have shows, talk shows with AWESOME games, and HUGE concerts. They're generational and so every age group has "their" band. The Japanese equivalent of our New Year's Eve NYC ball drop is a giant concert including generations of Japanese boy bands singing and dancing together until midnight. It's AMAZING.

6. Money conversion.

1 US dollar is usually somewhere close to 100 yen, making you feel like a baller while buying coffee.

7. Photo Booths The photo booths in arcades will automatically alter your eyes and legs, making your eyes look borderline anime-style HUGE and your legs look skinny and long.