Japan

Harry travelled Japan in 2023 — a day in Tokyo on a rented date, and a fortnight running Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka with Walid.

Observations

From I Rented a Japanese Girlfriend in Tokyo 🇯🇵

• Society: the rent-a-girlfriend service is a real industry Harry ties to Japan’s loneliness epidemic; for his date it was a side job alongside architecture studies. Booking sites are Japanese-only — expect to navigate blind.
• Etiquette: most people wear masks in public; going without is considered rude and draws judgement.
• Privacy culture: restaurants with curtained private booths are normal; at a protest Harry passed, police visibly outnumbered protesters.
• Presentation: people dress very well — Harry was struck by how put-together everyone is.
• Money and costs: a full day out in Tokyo with meals and activities cost him about $400 (a rented date being most of it); trains are cheap, taxis aren’t.
• Food: wagyu sushi was a highlight — among the best sushi Harry has eaten.

From 14 Days in Japan 🇯🇵 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

• History, briefly: Imperial Japan pursued global expansion, failed in the Second World War, rebuilt, and became the economic power it is now — which Harry credits to the resilience, work ethic and innovation of the people.
• Kaizen is the explanation he keeps returning to — the philosophy of continuous improvement, even by 1% a day, which he credits for Toyota, the bullet train and much else. It is the same idea he later applies to his own YouTube channel.
• The bullet train’s average delay is twelve seconds. The fastest ever recorded ran at 375 mph, and 280 miles takes about two hours.
• A two-week JR Pass covers the bullet train; the Tokyo–Kyoto leg alone would be about $130.
• Over five million vending machines, which he ties to an office culture where a quick trip out is the available break. Some sell insects.
• Over 30,000 shrines.
• Nothing is easy and everything is in Japanese. Buying a train ticket, booking anything, reading a menu — Harry is repeatedly defeated by admin in a country that otherwise works perfectly. His fix, realised too late, is that a phone can translate a whole menu.
• The longevity, and why: a traditional diet of seafood, green tea and fermented food in small portions, good healthcare, active daily life like cycling to school, and a culture that respects the elderly. The oldest Japanese person he cites is 117.
• Sleeping on the floor is considered healthy — muscles relax and the hips and spine hold a neutral alignment.
• Cleanliness at a level he can’t get over. He says repeatedly that he’d eat off the street, and contrasts a Tokyo side alley with the equivalent in London or Los Angeles.
• Public safety as ambient fact: a large snake loose in a Tokyo park is treated by passers-by as mildly interesting.
• His own verdict: he isn’t a big-city person and didn’t expect to like Japan, and was blown away.