Here`s some info about some of the things you can spot pretty much anywhere in Japan.
-Vending machines! Seriously, there`s one on every corner! and they have all kinds of stuff in them: soda, beer, cigarettes, cameras, condoms, even hot drinks.
This is a typical drink vending machine. This machine has both hot amd cold drinks (the hot drinks are in the bottom row). This machine has Coke, water, canned coffee, and tea.
-Pachinko and game parlors. The game parlors are usually packed with young folks who like to do "purikura" (taking sticker pictures) or want to snag a Winnie the Pooh doll from a UFO catcher machine. Pachinko is for the older folks.
-Cell phones (ケータイ）. EVERYONE HAS ONE! On the train, while riding bikes, driving, walking, in school, and a store, it`s not hard to spot someone talking, emailing or playing games on there phones. But J-phones are so freaking cool! They`re light years ahead of American phones (Japan had camera phones 3 years BEFORE they hit America). Now people are using their phones to access MP3s, TV stations, and radio stations. Some phone even have video recorders on them.
That`s my phone. It was free when I signed up with the company DoCoMo. It doesn`t have anything special, just intenet, a camera, and ringtones.
And it a MUST to have something dangling from your phone. For girls, it`s super cute stuff (hence Chip N Dale for me), and for the guys, straps and othe random stuff.
-Hair salons. Japanese folk beats black folks when it comes to the amount of hair salons. I actually pass 11 (yeah, I counted) hair salons when I`m walking to work. J-salons are pretty expensive too. A hair cut can run you about $40.
-Karaoke (カラオケ）. Yeah it`s still huge. Young folks, old folks, men, women, everyone`s doing it! Most karaoke places are small rooms with the microphone, TV (for lyrics), and several song selection books. The song selection is mostly Japanese, but there is a fair amount of English, Korean, Chinese and even Philiphino music to choose from. A lot of Karaoke places have "nomihodai. This means you can basically drink as much as you want for a set price. Karaoke places also have a nice selection of meals from pasta to parfait. The best time to Karaoke is between 11pm and 5am. It`s a little cheaper then.
-Flyer/Tissue distributors. You`ll find a lot of them if you walk down a busy street. These are folks handing out flyers for eye contacts, hair salons, karaoke boxes, etc. I think the most common would be tissue. NEVER BUY TISSUE IN JAPAN! You can always find someone handing out a little packet!
-Cute things. Seriously Japan is obsessed with things that are kawaii (cute). Hello Kitty is probably the most famous example of cuteness, but there are plenty of other "cute" characters and items roaming around the city.