When I lived in the U.S. I heard people arguing on the bus or train almost every day. Strangers would get mad at each other for stupid reasons, and they would yell, and it would escalate. People said really awful things to each other. The other day, I heard my very first argument on a Japanese train. Someone asked what station we were at. Another man answered grumpily that you could see by just looking. They went back and forth like this. I wasn’t exactly comfortable listening to all this, especially when I was sleepy, early in the morning – but it was definitely the most polite argument I’d ever heard.

I like Tokyo’s culture of generally not looking at, smiling at, or greeting strangers on the street. People in my home town do that, and it makes me really jumpy. But at the same time, I will always smile at, and say hello to, dogs. Usually the dogs say hello to me, too.

I’ve never gotten much into Valentine’s Day. I never even had White Day until I moved to Japan. The holiday that I always enjoyed in the U.S., though – and the holiday that now comes TWICE since I live in Japan – is Discount Chocolate Holiday. What, you’ve never heard of it? It’s the day after Valentine’s Day, when everything decked out in hearts is half price. It’s definitely one of my favorite days of the year.