Initial Impressions

Ok, so initial impressions of Japan now that I've been here long enough to adjust a little. My very first impression was HOT! just as I was getting off the plane. The airport was surprisingly well organized and I got through it all pretty quickly so I must have gotten in at the perfect time. Other than that the main first glimpses I got of Japan were from the windows of the shinkansen on the way to Morioka. The main impression that I got it that while the scenery I was looking at was different from what I would have seen from a train window in the US it all felt the same to me. The first few days that I was here were full of confusion and I just sort of blindly followed whoever I was supposed to and followed the plan. Other impressions I remember from the first few days: the cars are cute, the barriers for construction areas are cute, why don't we have those, and there are a lot more bugs that I'm used to. Considering that I'm from an affluent suburb where people like to use lots of chemicals to keep their lawns looking green and fake, that's not surprising. Newer impressions are the ease with which my host family switches between scolding the children and playing together and how interesting peoples reactions are to things I say. "We don't have consomme flavored potato chips in America" or "It took me half an hour to drive to my middle school" are followed by extreme surprise and I enjoy sort of comparing everyone's surprises.

Also, I highly approve of the amount of grapefruit flavored stuff there is here. Grapefruit is one of my staple foods and I always miss it in the summer in the US because it's out of season but it's everywhere here and this makes me happy. This is where my title came from because I'm eating grapefruit as I work on this.