The hardest part

If you had asked me a few months ago what I would've thought the hardest thing about Japan would be, I would've said the language. I might've said the shoes, or possibly the trains.

I would not have said walking.

In America, I've come to realize, we all sort of bulldoze around each other, and if you get run over then you weren't really paying attention. Walking is sort of a push and shove manner, as in I push, you shove, and we sort of make our merry way around each other. Not the most polite, but it gets the job done.

In Japan, this is not so. Up to this point I've found that walking is the hardest thing in this culture to figure out.

In Japan, the people jump out of your way when you do your bulldozing. They may be doing something else, but the minute they see you--pop! The Japanese person has vanished into thin air. It makes you feel horribly rude and self conscious whenever it happens. And whenever I try to get out of someone's way, they get all surprised and try to wave me forward. At which point I try to wave them forward, but they've waited too long to go so I start going, and then they decide to go as well, and we just sort of awkwardly make threatening forward gestures at each other until someone, usually me, gives up and starts walking.

It's exhausting.