I always remember the small, somewhat insignificant things when travelling around and visiting places. I wanted to share some of the silly, more trivial things I love and miss about my Japan trip.
Convenience Stores
I don’t know about anyone else but I love convenience stores. I find something very fascinating about visiting convenience stores in other countries. I don’t care about the ones we have in the U.K. but visiting ones overseas is always a fun little adventure for me. I like seeing how things differ from what I have at home and I love to see all the different kinds of goods that Japan sells in comparison to the U.K. During my trip last year we would visit stores like Family Mart or 7/11 each night before heading back to the hotel. We’d buy drinks and snacks and I found the warm glow of the convenience store at night after a long day of exploring so cosy. This is probably a weird one but I still love it nonetheless.
Trains
The trains in Japan are incredible. As I mentioned before I’m from the U.K. where any form of public transport sucks. Buses are never on time, nothing is particularly clean and tidy and it’s just shameful how appalling it all is. Japan is like a breath of fresh air in this respect. The trains as well as any form of public transport is impeccable. They are always exactly on time and it’s something I wish the U.K. could do a lot better. Public transport is also very quiet in terms of people talking and being on their phones and such. This is nice as again it can be very loud where I live and people are much more respectful of the people around them over in Japan. I also love the cute music they play in the train stations. Many of the stations around Tokyo have a sweet little tune that plays and it just made me happy to hear it as it was so cheerful and sounded like something out of an Animal Crossing game or something.
Donuts
My trip to Japan got me hooked on donuts. No joke. I’ve spent my entire life not liking donuts because they always tasted weird and greasy and just generally icky. During the trip we stopped in Mister Donut in Ikebukuro between an intense anime shopping spree in Animate (sorry parents who had to put up with me gawking at everything). I ended up trying a donut called the old fashioned and I couldn’t stop eating them the entire trip. Has anyone trip away ever got them obsessed with a certain food and then you just want to go back for more? Or is that just a weird thing I do?
Manners
Japanese manners is something I think anyone who visits Japan will love and appreciate. Everyone who visits including myself will probably tell you that their manners are amazing and for the most part it’s true. Although no country is perfect the Japanese have great manners and many were very kind and helpful. I remember when we were in Tokyo in one of the stations we were looking for something and an older man came over to us asking if we needed help. After explaining where we wanted to go he proceed to take us there himself. I found that such a lovely gesture as he could have just told us where to go but instead he chose to take the time to take us to where we needed to go. Many people who work in shops and restaurants were also very friendly and would often ask where we were from and it was just lovely.
These are just a few of the more simpler things that I love about Japan! It amazes me about the things I really miss most from trips abroad.
Until next time thanks for reading and I hope you’re having a great day!
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All images are sourced from Google Images
A Nerdy Perspective 
Yup, I love all these things about Japan too! Gonna start a blog series about my 2017 trip to Japan soon, but thanks for sharing your experiences too, this was a fun—slightly nostalgic read! I loved it!
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I’m glad you enjoyed reading and I’m so happy someone else relates to loving these things about Japan 😄 I cannot wait to see your posts about your trip! 😊
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This definitely makes me wonder how a Japanese Mister Donut holds up against our (Canada) Tim Hortons doughnuts…
Also, love these posts. Definitely makes me want to go to Japan at some point.
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I’ve never tried Tim Hortons but I’ve heard great things about it! Thanks I’m glad you like them! I hope you manage to get over there soon! 😄
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Talking about convenience stores… I’m convinced I can identify at least the broad region of the US I’m in just by examining the product mix at the local outpost of a national chain supermarkets. There’s a lot of talk about how the US is becoming homogenized, and to a certain degree that’s true. But there’s also a lot of regional stuff that goes unrecognized.
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I cannot say I know anything about this really as I don’t live there myself but interesting point 🤔
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I agree, the Japanese train system is AMAZING! So clean, so punctual, so quiet. Very different from the UK where I consider myself lucky if the train’s only 10 minutes late and only has one group of screaming teenagers in my carriage.
I’ve got to add to your list though; vending machines! I miss Japanese vending machines so bad, they are so convenient.
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Right! It’s incredible and I wish the U.K. was more like Japan with trains and public transport and wow that is one of the most relatable things I’ve read in a while 😂
I can’t believe I forgot about vending machines! But yes vending machines in Japan are amazing! 😄
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Agree about supermarkets. Japanese products just look interesting and they have funny engrish. That thing about the trains is true. I saw online that a Japanese train was 20 seconds late and there was a huge uproar about it in the media everywhere.
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Right! I find the products fascinating to look at and the Engrish is brilliant I love that! I’ve seen that come up on the news a couple times and I’m blown away that it’s such a big deal over there!
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I am determined to try donuts & other Japanese sweets when I visit. It’s one of my biggest travel goals lol. Japanese sweets!! 😍
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Haha I wanted to do the exact same when I went! They are delicious so you won’t be disappointed!
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The mannerisms in Japan is definitely the one thing that left the greatest impression when I visited. It is easy to carry on a hearty conversation with the locals if one can speak a little japanese, and even if english is the only way to converse they really dedicate the effort to try to understand and chat with you too!
I’ve never tried their donuts there before though 😮 Sounds like it was really finger-licking good! 😀
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Yeah same! We couldn’t speak much Japanese but you’re right as they really do make an effort which I found to be lovely! And yes they really were haha! 😄
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That honestly sounds amazing! I’m hoping to visit Japan myself in a few years once the Ghibli Theme Park opens!
As a fellow Brit I can definitely commiserate over the appalling public transport! My least favourite thing about it is definitely the funky smell! Ha, ha!
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It was! I have heard about that theme park and it sounds like such a cool idea!!
Haha yeah it’s terrible isn’t it! Japan is crazy amazing with transport compared to us! And oh yeah I’ve had my fair share of those experiences on public transport! Not fun!
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How long were you in Japan for and where did you go?
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When I went last year I went for three weeks and I went to Tokyo, Takayama, Nara and Kyoto!
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Amazing!
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Thanks! 😊
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