Japan is a great country, but it didn’t just happen on it’s own. There are a lot of people out there that make this place good.

The station masters and conductors are the life’s blood of this country. Without them Japan would be at a standstill. These guys and the occasional gal ride the same routes for hours at a time looking at the same old scenery day in and day out. The amuse me with their different intercom voices too. Some try to be super soft so that you can barely hear them. Others put on a voices straight out of an anime. Then you get the American stereo type conductors who talk a mile a minute. It makes for a little variety on the daily commute

Next we owe some props to the convenience store workers here. They are fast and efficient to say the least. They already have my change counted out before I can give them the money. They always help each other out when it’s busy so that there is never a line of more than 2 people at a register. They get paid next to nothing for all the hard work the put in.

Teachers in Japan could use a break. Most of them work 10 or 12 hour days and many of them only take Sunday off. Not only do they have to teach, grade papers, and discipline kids, they have to manage the after school clubs, and they take responsibility for the kids even when they’re not at school. I would say that kids in Japan aren’t raised by their parents. They’re raised by the hard working teachers at the schools. Not me of course, I’m just an Assistant Language Teacher. My job is a cake-walk.

The ladies at the information booths are vital asset to making things go a little more smoothly for visitors to Japan. They sit in their booths in their unique uniforms which include dressy hats, pins, and short skirts. Usually their English is quite good and it makes you wonder why they don’t find a better paying job, but they help you find almost anything in the city. Usually they’ll give you a map too.