Japan is techie

From the time I landed in Japan, I felt that Japan was somehow more "technological" than the U.S. Maybe it's just more techie than Mexico. or Michigan. Manhattan may be just as techie as Tokyo and the rest of Japan may be just as unplugged as central Mexico. Still, I wanted to show my fabulous readers just what I meant when I said Japan is techie.

Of course, there is the issue that nearly everyone on the trains is being electronically entertained - by their phones, ipods, playstations, and even TV advertisements on the train itself. Even those who are reading often have headphones. I saw a businessman about my dad's age on a playstation. I have yet to see a geisha texting... but i'm sure it could happen. (also, no ereaders!! Maybe Japanese books aren't available for this technology yet? Is it one of the only technologies that was not invented by Japan?) I don't have pictures of electronic metro use bc it somehow seemed rude to photo people up close.

But there are other things I got a picture of.

The cars are small (there are some Japanese minivans, but more like the Nissan Cube than the Nissan Quest) but very wired. In a line of parked cars, I saw a number of them with multiple screens turned on - one for GPS maps in full color (and 7"!) and one for video entertainment to go with their radio. Again, I felt rude taking a picture of a person in the privacy of their car, so I only have a screen that's not in use:


And cars aren't the only place that Japan has televisions! They are all over the street, used as advertisements for nearly anything. Again, this may be similar to times square in New York City, and it may be very unusual throughout the rest of Japan, but it seemed excessive to me. This is only 1 TV on the street, but busy corners are often inundated with these. And not just one major corner but instead multiple corners, at the very least, are full of these.


The restaurants are somewhat techie, too. People dining alone often use their phones or ipods, of course. And electronic bills run through a computer by the waitstaff is nothing unusual for us North Americans. But fast food here is often extra-techie. Ramen shops sell bowls of noodle soup (which are nothing like the cups of ramen we eat in the Americas, by the way!) for a small set price. So, what customers do is to pick out what they want and pay for it through a vending machine. The machine spits out tickets that we can take to the counter.