Did you know...?

On my bulletin board at school I have a section called "Did you know?" where I post facts about American jr. high, American holidays, etc. that I figure most Japanese jr. high kids and teachers don't really know. From time to time, it occurs to me that there are random things about Japan that most Americans don't know. For example, did you know that Japanese toilet paper isn't perforated?

Did you know that most public restrooms don't have hot running water?

Did you know that in most prefectures all elementary and jr. high kids AND teachers eat school lunch every day?

Did you know that before lunch is served, the principal has to go to the kitchen and eat his/her lunch first to taste-test it? [I just found out about this last week!! I always wondered where my principal went every day before lunch. HA!]

Did you know that during the summer when it's really hot, the regular size milk cartons that we usually get with school lunch are sometimes replaced by extra large cartons of milk to help quench thirst? (!!?? Seriously, who wants to drink more milk on a hot day??)

Did you know that Japanese people don't really drink water much? (They drink green tea.)

Did you know that a lot of jr. high teachers wear sneakers for their indoor shoes at school even when they're wearing suits? (??!! On that note-- a side story--> One day at the beginning of last year I saw one of the new teachers wearing Crocs with his suit, and I thought, 'Oh, that looks nice!' And then I thought, 'Something is seriously wrong with the fashion here if wearing Crocs with a suit seems "nice"'!!) :P

Next, did you know that in jr. high, attendance is taken by teachers with clipboards and class lists checking the shoe cubbies at the school entrance to see which kids haven't changed from their outdoor shoes to their indoor shoes (indicating that they haven't arrived at school)? (You can see that #20 in class 3-4-- fourth from the top, second from the right-- wasn't at school the morning I took this picture...because his/her indoor shoes are still in the cubby.)

Did you know that you can't take leftover food home from most restaurants?

Did you know that at restaurants you usually only get one menu to share between everyone at the table?

Did you know that you're expected to be quiet (as in, not talk) on trains?

This list is turning out to be longer than I planned, and I could keep going...but it's dinner time. So I'll save others for another post. Hope you learned something new!