Japan I ❤ you

2025-07-01

(Still in progress)

• I love you because you in Japan you are entitled to the general feeling that, in general, companies and other people aren’t out to try screwing you every way and whenever they can.
• I love you because for two weeks every year, when cherry trees blossom, you are virtually indistinguishable from heaven.
• I love you because your traditional eating habits are both healthy and yummy.
• I love you because jazz is actually popular as background music in your cafes and shops.
• I love you because everyone is trying their best not to intrude into other people’s lives as much as possible.
• I love you because at every street corner there’s a chance to find a hidden, lovely temple.
• I love you because people are kind.
• I love you because you can leave your wallet unattended, your bike unlocked, your apartment door open, and nobody will steal anything.
• I love you because your cemeteries are beautiful. Because they are filled with ashes instead of corpses, I don’t find them creepy (yes I would like to be incinerated please. Err wait not right now, after I pass away, thanks).
• I love you because everything, everywhere, is as clean as reasonably possible. I regularly see metro employees sweeping the stairs (I lived in Paris for 25 years, never saw that), or dog owners splash a small bucket of water where their dog just peed (never saw that anywhere else).
• I love you because everything, everywhere, is convenient, well thought out.
• I love you because your public transit rocks.
• I love you because all women are lovely and adorable in their own way.
• I love you because your subway plays cute little music instead of a boring beep before the doors close. And it’s always a different one.
• I love you because women (and men) aren’t afraid of falling asleep on the subway.