Things

Here are some unique and unusual things found in Japan  Random order.

On the left, is sort of like "V8 Juice."  The middle picture is "Calpis."  It's kind of like milk, but made from soy.  They used to sell it in the US under the brand "Calpis" until the mid-eighties when some marketing genius thought that is sounded too much like "cow piss."  It's now found in the US under the brand "Calpico."  Diet drinks in Japan are hard to find, since almost no one is overweight.  But, the picture on the right is the Japanese equivalent to the new "Pepsi Zero" found here in the US.
In each hotel room at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, there is a little teapot (left), which you can fill up at the free green-tea dispenser located on each floor.  Or use the device shown on the right to have hot water (really hot!) 24/7 in your room and use the provided tea bags.
These are the controls on the night stands.  They don't look like much, but there are switches and knobs to control just about everything in the room.  They even have a tiny light under the night stand that you can turn on if you have to get up in the middle of the night.  This way you don't wake up whomever you are sleeping with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Japanese are big on aesthetics.  Here is a statue or art or something (left).  It's very typical to see these types of arrangements on the sidewalks (right)

Very cool guitar on the left (notice the skeleton-type body?).  The guitar above is really amazing.  If you can't play the guitar, you set the computer up to help you.  So, it fixes your mistakes.  It makes it pretty easy to impress your friends with "your skills!"
Upper Left is a cute toy.  Decor on the left.  Upper right is another type of toy(?).  I figured it was cheaper to take pictures of these things rather than buy them!
Wow, those are some melons!  How many times have you heard that?  Well, these cantaloupe prices are about $90 (left) and about $101 on the right!  This is no joke.  No one would buy these to eat.  They are grown and groomed to be "perfect melons," and are thus prestigious gifts.  All I can say, is "nice melons!"
More decorations and/ or toys.  The Japanese are very big on these things... or at least they are big on making them and selling them to tourists.  I am not sure which is true. (upper left, left, and above).
Wooden shoes.  Can't be very comfortable.  But people buy them.

Food

As you can guess, food is very big with me.  So here are some interesting food items.

As Rachael Ray would say, "Yumm-O!"

Speaking of perfection... look at these strawberries.  They were not expensive; although I can't remember the price exactly.  Just perfectly grown.
Look at how small and perfect these cherry tomatoes are.  My fingernail is shown for reference.

These are baby squid.  You eat them raw and whole.  We just had some for dinner the night before at the sushi restaurant.   They were actually very good.  I wish we could get them here in the US.
This super-tiny lone crab sat in a bucket in an open-air fish market.  You can't tell by this photo, but he could hide himself under a quarter.
This dog was at the open-air market in the basket on the front of a bicycle ridden by a old women.  It was a cute picture so I am including it here.
This is a sign on the pier at Atami.  I think it might have something to do with fishing.  By looking at the left-hand character, I would have to think that it says something like "no peeing in the ocean, since this is where we fish!"  Who knows :)
 

In closing, I have to say that the Japanese have some wonderful and unique foods and other items.  It's a wonderful culture, but it's hard to get much out it it without an open mind, and without being adventurous enough to try new things.