la vie ordinaire

Yeah so I’ve been into wine lately. Or, to be precise, I have been learning more about natural wines. And dare I say that I am not the only one. When I was growing up wine was divided into two categories: the noble liquid that comes at an appropriately noble price and with a noble label, preferably Burgundy, Bordeaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Barolo or Brunello di Montalcino for reds and Chablis, or German Rieslings for whites. All had to be proper, reliable and taste like wine. You know, wine. Those were the wines that older or self-respecting folks drank and kept in their wine fridges. The other category consisted of cheap grape juice (think Barefoot or Yellow Tail), bought to, mostly, consume alcohol for the sake of consuming alcohol. 

But now millennial generation has grown up and started dictating wine trends, with natural wines marching at the forefront. Drinking just any conventional tasting bottle is not cool, drinking cheap, sweet, mass produced and berry-flavored ones is atrocious. Newly formed natural wine drinking generation has several criteria for their grape juice: funky, mostly light (arrivederci heavy and blood-like Primitivos or Amarones), niche (wine from Slovakia? Yes, please), and as low-intervention as possible (hey, there’s even a wine retailer with that same name). Some other traits are desirable: affordable (why buy boring and hella expensive Chateau Mouton Rothschild when one can get perfectly fun light red from Languedoc), aesthetic (no more labels in off-the-shelf fonts, bottles are often decorated with doodles, drawings and might resemble kombucha, lemonade or beer bottles more than what might imagine wine is supposed to look like). And names are important. Go crazy with names. One can attract drinkers by catchy phrases, resembling chugging sound or dance moves, like Glou Glou, Tuti Frutti, Bum Bum Cha. Cultural references (Ploussy riot). Others opt for poetry, labelling their bottles with something profound like ‘I can see you from The Other Side of The Valley’ or ‘I wear blue, when I don’t know what else to do’ (iykyk which producer I am talking about). 

Not only is wine presented differently, but there has also been a shift in its perception: once considered appropriate for elegant soirees, accompanying fine dining and served by a pompous sommelier, wine is now generously poured at trendy, buzzing but low-key wine bars by nonchalant tattooed servers or bar owners that resemble skater boys more than they resemble highbrow wine experts. Wine drinking crowd is undergoing a shift too: once in suits, cashmere sweaters, ironed shirts and cocktail attire, big part of the wine loving public is now dressed in oversized shirts, baggy pants, Birkenstocks and caps. 

Rhetoric around wine has changed too: while the heavyweights and cult wines retain their mythical aura and divine glow, other, more accessible natural wines are a tad more easy going. They can be referred to as grape juice, natty, and what not. Do not be surprised if you see a blackboard with piss written on it (Or turbo piss, sold at 15 gbp per glass at Dan’s). 

Speaking of wine venues, let's take the example of London. With the increasing gentrification and trendiness of East London, there has been an extreme proliferation of tiny, hip, neighborhood wine bars doubling as sellers. Exhibits in question: P.franco, Cadet, Dan’s, Newcomer wines, Planque, Sager+Wilde, Top Cuvee and others. Not to mention, the omnipresent bottles of London’s own Chin Chin by the new ruler of London’s wine kingdom, Noble Rot. Although the latter is a peculiar specimen, catering for the tastes of both classic wine connoisseurs and young trendy wine lovers. This, by any means, is not restricted to London – the same phenomenon is observed at Copenhagen’s Pompette, Gaarden & Gaden and Den Vandrette, Rome’s Enoteca l’Antidoto, and Vilnius’ Yda, Taures and Sadutotuto. I’m pretty sure you can find the equivalents in most bigger cities.

Now we have covered production, packaging, marketing, retail and drinking. It’s time for post-production. Or, in other words, how, how much and where we talk about our wine drinking experiences. It’s probably not that difficult to guess: the medium is now social media. Wine narrative used to be dominated by critics. The big names. The infamous Parker. Or Suckling. They would buy, drink, review and describe the wine for you. Then put a score on it and voila. Now the scene is a bit more democratic and diverse. A lot of wine writers have migrated to social media, but, most importantly, there has been a vast increase of micro wine bloggers and enthusiasts, who share the snaps of the bottles they pop along with a brief description on Instagram. Case in point: Wineguyzzzzz , The_wine_hoarder , romek.ma.wino. Unsurprisingly, all are fans of smaller producer, natural, low-intervention style vinos. And, frankly, I think this is great. Yeah, there is a lot of image, branding and trendiness involved, but it does seem to be promoting the shift towards more biodynamic, local and higher quality production (albeit too hyped-up or over-priced at times). I have used quite a bit of irony throughout the article, but, in the end, if people drink alcohol, they will at least consume that, which is a tad better for the human body, the environment, agriculture and, in my biased opinion, is usually more delicious or, at least, interesting. Cheers to that.

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It has been around a year. A year of unprecedented times. Are they precedented yet then? We were supposed to get used to it but somehow it feels as if all of this is getting harder. As if everything is stuck. Except in this case, it is not in Punxsutawney. We are stuck in time, in screens, in platforms, in the eternal unprecedented. Is that how we should call it – the (eternal) unprecedented day? ‘I got you babe’ by Sonny and Cher might not be playing every time I wake up but MENTALLY IT IS.

The time has ceased. No more is it linear. Although it might have never been. There are certain characteristics of circularity manifesting through the repeating (and increasingly dismal) lockdowns forming an endless loop. Wow that sounds almost poetic. Look at me appearing all deep and profound. But time is not entirely circular either. Circularity implies movement or flow. There barely is any. A few short hours from break till dawn and it all plunges into darkness. Not complete darkness though, that would be calming, in a way. Darkness lit with the blue light of the irreplaceable partners of our lives these days - screens. Life has migrated into them. Now it consists of a plethora of webinars, calls, texts, emails and whatnots. There is so much of this digital noise that all it does is makes one want to escape it. No? Just me?

First lockdown involved everyone playing among us, having zoom parties, baking banana bread, doing youtube workouts, adopting new hobbies and looking forward to spring and summer. Now we are here for the third time. Evening after evening, market by fear, boredom and loneliness – spending the 'best days' of our youth. Most of the last sentence is the description of ‘The Evenings’ by Gerard Reve. I might not particularly like its main character Frits van Egters, but boy am I slowly turning into him. Frits lives in the context of the World War II, us – in the pandemic. The novel might be a bit soporific, but that's just because it aims to portray a life or a situation which is soporific. And, dare I say, so is our current setting - a little pointless, unexciting, dull and a tiny bit dreary. 

Phil Connors (I'm refering to Groundhog Day yet again) eventually escapes his eternal day. Maybe we will too. Unfortunately, till then most of us can’t occupy ourselves by learning to play the piano or carving ice sculptures, quarantine is no longer a holiday. Now what is left is waiting, wintering, trying to pass evening after evening. ‘I got you babe’ by Sonny and Cher is still playing every morning.

 A road to success. Labour, grinding, plowing away and hustling.

Want a hot body, Bugatti, Maserati, Lamborghini, sippin' martinis, look hot in a bikini, live fancy, in a big mansion or party in France? Then you better bring it on, ring the alarm, don’t stop now, just be the champion, no time to quit now, just time to get it now, keep it moving higher, and higher, keep it building higher, and higher. Work, work, work, work - you better work b**ch.

Don’t try to deny it, I know it sounds familiar. You might say those are the words of Ms. Spears and yes, you are not wrong, but it’s also the formula of our capitalist society. No, I can’t believe that I have just quoted a chunk of Britney’s song either. Did she lie though? When you think about it, the lyrics are a somewhat accurate representation of the present.

But enough about pop singers. Let’s talk about more noble things, like virtues, instead. Some of the most important ones in our culture are diligence and industriousness - we are constantly reminded of the importance of working and grinding now to rest later. Diligence is one of the key virtues in our most respected and renowned pieces of literature. Yeah, I even wrote an essay on that at school.

While in older literature labour and industry are equated with virtuousness and honour, in our modern world sense of accomplishment is often tied to happiness. A lot of humans, asked how or what they are doing, talk about their job, productivity and achievements rather than feelings or thoughts. I often hear people (myself included) complain about being unproductive and, thus, unhappy. Let me give you a simple equation of how most of us see it: productiveness = accomplishment = success = happiness. Despite being so common, this formula seems very much wrong to me. We stick to it because of the culture, pressure and mindset imposed on us. Not by some higher powers, but paradoxically - by ourselves, society and its norms.

We are conditioned and/or learn to condition ourselves to feel happiness after accomplishing certain (usually tangible) goals. And not only does this dominating mindset make us constantly strive for achievement and success, but it also determines what can be considered productivity and accomplishment. Reading fiction, going for a walk, meditating, discussions with friends or baking bread do not usually match the criteria. We are reminded to hustle (and start it at a young age) to build a respectable and, naturally, profitable career or at least an excellent reputation and image. Make connections, constantly update your LinkedIn, do networking, find internships which look good on our CV, get a lovely 9-5 corporate job or work with investments, have savings, get a car, mansion, go on vacation to fancy places. Read the last sentence again – yes, it’s Britney’s song with a slightly different choice of vocabulary. 

And so many people end up not knowing how and when to stop, nor the reasons behind it. University, internships, job, networking, promotion, pay rise, promotion, more networking, pay rise, saving <…>, promotion, pay rise, saving, retirement and then…what? Then, my dear, you can finally start enjoying the benefits of capitalism, relaxing, going on holidays, getting new hobbies and doing the things you have always wanted to do. Oh yeah, but not extreme sport, your knee joints might not survive that. And don't forget that bungee jumping can lead to heart failure. Sorry, you won’t be able to master the piano this late in life. Dancing? Unfortunately you’re too old and not flexible enough -  should have started it when you were young. Oh yeah, my bad, I forgot you were working then. It is, of course, possible to move to a charming cottage in the countryside, go for walks, do gardening, grow your own food, bake bread or read books. After working all your life you can finally have some peace and happiness. But my question is, do we really need to grind for decades to be happy and at ease? Perhaps if we stopped and thought about the purpose of all this hustling and the reasons behind it, we could simply…move to the countryside, bake bread and grow our own food without waiting for retirement? Yes, probably without a Maserati, mansion, a lot of numbers in our bank accounts and knowing all the important people or being one of them. But could we start new hobbies, do the things we really want to do, learn to be content and at ease with ourselves without constantly working and striving for accomplishment, reputation and a (fragile) image of success? 

Keep in mind that I'm not suggesting that everyone quit their jobs, stop working and move to the countryside. I know that in our world, everyone inevitably needs some money and social security (unless you decide to go all the way and become a hermit or something). It's not the work itself I'm questioning but rather the culture which dictates the dominating approach to work, stating that you have to build a decent career with an elite job position, become someone important and always have savings. And if you don't - if you work as a housewife (by choice!), farmer, caretaker, pole dancer, truck driver or dishwasher, if you don't have real estate and have to rent your flat, don't own a vehicle, live in a monastry collecting donations from people and so forth - then you are very likely to be considered less successful.

Yes, obviously the underlying idea behind all of these words is that money is not everything. How original and never heard before, huh? Idealistic as well. You see, this sounds cool and all: don’t be materialistic, work, money and accomplishment-oriented culture is bad and so on. But I'm aware that I’m writing this from the position of privilege, not having to earn money for food, rent or electricity. I’m also one of those people who study at a university, which is considered prestigious, and have internship that looks good on my CV. It is easy for me to speak, not so easy to do.

It seems like we (or is it just me?) to some extent admire and want to be, in certain aspects, free like Clamence or Meursalt (Yeah yeah characters created by the one and only Camus). Perhaps society condemns them publicly because people are jealous of their freedom from meeting others’ expectations and achieving the standard of success. On the other hand, some of us, readers praise and respect Camus’ characters for their independency and yet, in real life we can not be like them. It’s too difficult to liberate oneself from the dominating standards, culture and goals. We read and relate to Camus’ ideas when we’re young and rebellious but most of us inevitably end up becoming the subjects of Britney’s song as adults.

drawing by Giulia Rosa

     Ah, my beloved topic, environmental issues. Again. A lot has changed over the past year since I last wrote about it. Now I see much more people talking about it in both social and traditional media, more and more 'sustainable' brands appear, we have catering and retail companies ditching plastic and even school strikes for climate. My approach has changed too.  Currently I see a lot of businesses profit from selling 'zero waste' products, such as flasks, metal straws and so on. They claim to be sustainable but they make money from people's desire to buy. If earlier I used to see ads of normal everyday things (e.g. cosmetics, clothes), now ads of stylish 'zero waste' lunch boxes, cotton buds, menstrual cups, solid shampoos, bamboo straws or tote bags pop up whenever I am online. And you know what? I want these items. My consumerism wants them. And it doesn't matter that I have an unfinished bag of plastic straws, used plastic bags and perfectly fine plastic lunch box at home. Heck, I do not even need cotton buds. I am a consumer and these businesses have just simply found a new niche to earn money by still manipulating our consumerism, others use this new wave of ecology as a marketing tool with greenwashing.
         The thing is that by now we have all heard how bad the straws are and we learnt to refuse them so now we feel proud. We feel like heroes. We bought a new stylish cotton tote bag instead of using those ugly old plastic ones we have at home. We might even sort our waste (without washing it though) and encourage others to do the same in order to recycle. Now we comfort ourselves that every step counts (it does, but...), that little is enough and we feel like we are finally saving the planet. Sorry, but we are not. You see, I thought that refusing that one straw was our goal, that it was enough, that removing a tiny bit of plastic from our life was what we needed to do. Yes, we very much still do, however that is not our goal anymore. Naive optimism doesn't do much. It protects us, protects our feelings and safe spaces in our heads, protects our fragile, little, anxiety-having selves and also creates an  illusion.
    We now have Greta Thunberg (you've heard of her, haven't you?), whose attitude I quite like. It's time to panic and act as if the house is on fire, she says. And... it kind of is. But what do we do? Of course, some of us cry about starving polar bears, agree that there is a huge issue, praise Greta and then next day...we happily go on with our lives. With one plastic straw less if we feel really moved perhaps. Now talking about Greta, I admire her as a person, her courage and determination. Many people say how amazing it is that a sixteen-year-old like her can be so inspiring, can encourage and educate world leaders about the environment crisis. I say that it is terrifying how we need a sixteen-year-old child to educate and attract our and world leaders' attention to a crisis of such extent. Children should be at school, not protesting next to the parliament building, say some sceptics. I  agree with them. It should not be children who protest in the cold. It should be our leaders who take action, react to the crisis first, inform and inspire other people without a child telling, no begging, them to. So why it is how it is?
     Well, humans are beings of lazy nature and taking action requires actually doing and changing something in your life (too complicated for us?). It requires effort and ,as you do not really see results, it is a little like fighting with windmills. We, being selfish, of course expect some kind of a reward for every little unpleasant and challenging action we take (money, preferably). But in this case there is no reward (apart from preserved, clean and safe Earth of course), it is absolutely unprofitable if you think short-term. How to make one do something, give up one's habits and comfort if one doesn't get anything back? With shock? The effects of shock are short-term though. So I don't know, but some say that it kind of requires to change our economic system. Or maybe technology will be our saviour? Maybe after some time we will invent a way to clean everything? Time. Time is key word here. Unfortunately we don't have much of it (if scientists' calculations are correct) . The ones who will sufer from the envirnoment crisis the most are future generations, so nowadays humans (mainly older ones) do not bother to even think about it. They won't have to suffer, they will be, well, dead. We are ignorant because we do not feel or see this crisis and we expect that we won't.  Politicians are ignorant because they depend upon ratings; doing something would be unprofitable (at first) and requiring sacrifice. Voters who think about their own benefit would not like that, so such innovative politician would be kicked out from his position after the next election.  Voters say that they care but as soon as environment - friendly proposal emerges, they protest against it.  Neeed an example? Newly proposed car pollution tax in Lithuania.   As we can see, our society is flawed, thus environment problems overlap with political, social and economical issues so they are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to solve.
      I am sorry for all the negativity but positive approach hasn't taken us anywhere. But wait, I have criticized everything so much and yet I haven't told what we should do. I can't really tell you what to do, but if you want to, you can certainly find many directions of action (we can all begin by consuming less, using public transport, buying local produce, flying less, having a plant-based diet or joining strikes).You see, I used the pronoun 'we' in this article because I am also just a flawed, selfish human, who forgets about this crisis and enjoys the sun during heatwaves.  I watch some documentaries about climate and I get so much inspiration to help the Earth but then a day or two passes and I am back to my careless self. That is why I have to constantly remind myself to be enviroment-conscious, in fact, we all should. If we don't, then after some time there might not be our home. Or at least the home that we are used to. So it is not time to protect our feelings - it is time to panic.

1. Puikus pasirinkimas pradėti sąrašą nuo tualetų. Japonijoje labai daug tualetų. Japonijoje tualetų (ar jau užtektinai pavartojau šį žodį?) yra ant kiekvieno kampo, galite drąsiai gerti ką tik norit ir kiek norit. Ir taip, legendos nemeluoja, jie visi yra išmanūs ir turi daug įvairių mygtukų (tarkime čiurlenančio vandens garsų). Nedidelis minusas - Japonijoje naudotis tualetu ne taip jau ir lengva, nes ant visų mygtukų užrašai dažniausiai būna japoniški. Vis dėlto labai smagu paspėlioti, kuris mygtukas ką reiškia ir išbandyti įvairius tualeto (čia galite suskaičiuoti, kiek kartų parašiau 'tualetas', aš pamečiau skaičių) siurprizus. 
2. Savotiško, labai savotiško maisto. Skonių paletėje vyrauja soja, žalia arbata, žuvis ir jūros gėrybės, dumbliai, ryžiai, keisti grybai ir keistos daržovės (daugiausia šakniavaisiai): moliūgas, saldi bulvė, ridikai, bambuko daigai, lotoso šaknis, jamsas (O taip, tokios egzistuoja). Čia labai sunku maitintis vegetariškai, o veganiškai, apskritai, nežinau, ar įmanoma.  Dėl Japonijos geografinės padėties čia taip plačiai neauginami mums įprasti pomidorai, salotos, cukinijos mums įprasti vaisiai, dėl to jų rasti sunkoka, o  importuoti vaisiai ir daržovės yra brangūs. Taip pat nors japonai valgo daug ir įvairios mėsos, tuo tarpu ir jautienos, pieno produktai nėra labai populiarūs: restoranuose beveik nerasite sviesto, sūrio. Nors vakariečiai japonų virtuvę sieja daugiausia su sushi, čia šis maistas anaiptol nėra toks populiarus, jį lenkia kur kas labiau  paplitęs ramen, miso sriuba, tempura, gyoza ar soba. Tiesa, daug kur galima rasti sushi išsinešimui, bet jie dažniausiai būna dideli ir trikampio formos.
3. Ryžių. Vos ne prie kiekvieno patiekalo atnešamas ir dubenėlis ryžių kartu su miso sriuba. O jei pačių ryžių valgyti nesinori, galima juos vartoti kitokiais pavidalais: gerti sake, valgyti desertus, pagamintus iš ryžių (pavyzdžiui mochi), arba užsidėti kokią nors veido kaukę iš ryžių.
4. Pagarbos ir mandagumo. Visur kur tik eini tik ir skamba ,,labai ačiū", ,,atsiprašau", ,,prašau" ir panašiai, ką nors nusipirkus pardavėjos dėkoja. Apskritai, visi gerbia vieni kitus, stengiasi nesukelti nepatogumų ir taip, kylant eskalatoriumi vienoje pusėje stovima, kad kita galėtų greičiau praeiti skubantys arba norėdami įlipti į traukinio vagoną visi išsirikiuoja tvarkinga eilute.
5. amerikiečių ir kinų turistų. Tiesiog.
6. plastiko. O vargeli, kiek ten daug plastiko, viskas tiesiog skęsta plastike... Parduotuvėje net nespėjus praverti burnos tavo prekės jau dedamos į nemokamą plastikinį maišelį, o kartais net ne vieną. Jei vis dėlto spėji praverti burną ir greitakalbe išpilti ,,no bag, please!", į tave dėbteli keistokai.., Daugelis prekių lentynose neretai yra supakuotos į kelis sluoksnius plastiko, kad, neduok Dieve, niekas jų neatidarytų. Geriamo vandens prisipilti taip pat nėra kur, todėl plastikiniai buteliukai yra sunkiai išvengiami.  Nors japonai turi neblogą atliekų rūšiavimo ir tvarkymo sistemą, nepaisant gebėjimo susidoroti su šiukšlėmis, nieko nedaroma siekiant jų išvengti. Žodžiu, Japonija yra plastiko karalystė.
7. elektros laidų. Einant gatvėmis virš galvos tęsiasi begalės laidų ir stulpų. Čia laidai ne paslepiami po žeme, o paliekami virš galvų ir atrodo išskirtinai.
8. gamtos ir urbanizacijos sintezės. Labai įdomu tai, jog, nors Japonija primena vieną didelį nesibaigiantį miestą, o jos sostinė yra vienas didžiausių pasaulio didmiesčių, vos per kelias minutes nuo betono džiunglių ir dangoraižių galima atsidurti tyliame parke, kuris primena džiungles. O jei pavyksta išvažiuoti į atokesnes vietoves, gamta ten labai vešli, žalia, švari ir pilna paukščių.
9. modernumo ir kultūros sintezės. Japonija turi labai daug senų gilių tradicijų, joje galima rasti nuostabių senovinių ir puikiai išsilaikiusių kultūros paveldų, šventyklų, pastatų ar net miestų ir žmonės gerbia tradicijas, lankosi šventyklose. Bet kartu ji yra viena moderniausių šalių pasaulyje su urbanistiniu kraštovaizdžiu, išmania technika ir švieslenčių gausa.
10. patogumo parduotuvių?? (angl. convenience stores). Ant kiekvieno kampo galima rasti nedidelių, bet visko turinčių Family Mart, 7/11 ar Lawson... Čia galima nusipirkti maisto, užkandžių, gėrimų, lietsargių, vitaminų, kosmetikos ir panašiai. Žodžiu, visko, ko gali staiga prireikti.
11. gėrimų aparatų (vending machines). Jų yra visur, net atokiausiam užkampy.
12. Popieriaus. Japonija atrodo tokia moderni šalis ir todėl jų meilė popieriui ir rašymui atrodo keistoka. Atrodo daugelį dalykų būtų galima padaryti tiesiog kompiuteriu, bet japonai naudoja popierių. Apskritai, niekur niekada nemačiau tiek daug kanceliarijos prekių: tam tikrose parduotuvėse atskirti aukštai yra skirti parkeriams ir rašikliams, popieriui, laiškų popieriui, vokams, atvirutėms, markeriams, kaligrafijai.
13. mažai  žmonių, kalbančių angliškai. Palyginus su kitomis šalimis, japonai ne itin gerai kalba angliškai, bandant susikalbėti šia kalba dažnai lieki nesuprastas arba nesupranti pašnekovo. Bet galima įžvelgti ir pliusų - Japonijoje pasitaiko puiki proga pamiklinti savo gestų kalbos įgūdžius.
14. lietaus. Nors aš nė karto nepakliuvau į stiprią liūtį, daugelį dienų vyravo dulksna ar lengvas lietutis. Dėl to japonai visada su savimi turi skėtį, o jų pasirinkimas čia yra milžiniškas. Bet kurioje parduotuvėje galima nusipirkti skaidrų lietsargį už porą eurų, o jeigu norisi ko nors tvaresnio ir prašmatnesnio, galima rinktis iš tūkstančio spalvotų, margų, ilgų, trumpų skėčių už didesnę kainą su apsauga nuo uv arba be jos. Galima net turėti daugybę skirtingų skėčių, derančių prie skirtingų aprangų. Apskritai klimatas (bent jau vasarą) drėgnas, šiltas ir primena tropikus.
15. vešlios žalumos. Visur, net ir mieste, pilna medžių, krūmų ir kitos ryškiai žalios augalijos, kurios vaizdą lydi klegantys paukščiai. Čia ir vėl prieš akis iškyla tropikai.
16. priplotų mašinų. Japonijoje egzistuoja kažkokia ypatinga savita automobilių rūšis. Jie primena mini autobusiukus, bet yra trumpi ir su priplotu priekiu. Mechaninis mopso atitikmuo.
17. šaltų gėrimų. Vasarą japonai labai mėgsta šaltį. Visi gėrimai čia praturtinti keliomis saujomis ledo arba yra ištraukiami tiesiai iš šaldytuvo. Bet šalti ne tik gėrimai: visur visu pajėgumu veikia oro kondicionieriai, todėl įėjus į pastatų ar traukinių vidų pasijunti tarsi ledynmetyje. Net ir šaligatviu einant pro parduotuvę, prasivėrus jos durims, padvelkia ledinis šaltis.
18. minimalizmo ir daiktų gausos sintezės. Nuo senovės Japonija siejama su minimalizmu, tvarka ir ši pasaulėžiūra vis dar gaji, bet kartu čia yra tiek neapsakomai daug parduotuvių, o kiekvienoje yra tiek neapsakomai daug ir įvairių daiktų, kad ima suktis galva.
19. šviesios odos kulto. Kaip ir daugelyje Azijos šalių, Japonijoje yra išlikusi samprata, jog kuo šviesesnė oda, tuo ji gražesnė. Todėl japonės ne tik nesidegina, bet kiekvieną dieną tepasi kremu nuo saulės su spf 50 (jų yra šimtai tūkstančių rūšių), naudoja odą balinančias priemones, kosmetiką su apsauga nuo saulės. O jei viso to negana tai daugelis čia vaikšto su skėčiais, skrybėlėmis ir net pirštinėmis, turinčiais apsaugą nuo uv.
20. švaros. Visur Japonijoje labai švaru, niekur nerasite besimėtančių šiukšlių, kramtomosios gumos ar net purvo ir dulkių. Nežinau, kas ir kada spėja viską valyti, bet savo darbą jie atlieka gerai.
21. Puiki viešojo transporto sistema. Dėl greitųjų traukinių (shinkansen) penkių šimtų kilometrų atstumą tarp miestų galima įveikti vos per valandą, visur rasite keliasdešimt traukinių, metro, autobusų linijų. Nemažai žmonių važiuoja į darbus į kitą šalies galą ir dėl greitųjų traukinių tai užtrunka itin greitai. Vis dėlto dėl tokio linijų ir transporto kompanijų kiekio nebūnant japonu sunku susigaudyti, kur ir kaip važiuoti.   
22. Prietarų. Kad ir kaip keista, tokie iš pažiūros racionalūs ir santūrūs japonai atrodo labai tiki sėkme, likimu, įvairiais sėkmės amuletais, skirtais skirtingoms progoms.