Japan obviously has a very different culture from ours, and we think that cultural differences should be celebrated.  Please find below a few distinctly Japanese things that rocked in a big way...

After an uncomfortable twelve hours on the plane during which neither of us have more than an hours sleep we were greeted by one of the most awesome sights we had ever seen.  As the plane banked towards Narita airport, Mount Fuji swept into view silhouetted against a stunning sunset.  Absolutely unforgettable.
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Meiji Shrine

Believe it or not, we did actually take a break from the huge amount of shopping and spending and one afternoon soaked up some relaxing Japanese heritage.  And we are glad that we did.

After a roughly 20 minute walk from the entrance we reached the shrine.  Here you must symbolically wash your hands and rinse your mouth before entering the shrine.  Once in there is a huge courtyard and beyond this the actual shrine were you can make a good wish.  This is down by throwing money into the shrine and bowing twice, clapping you hands together, hold them to make the wish and then bow again.  You can then symbolically purchase gifts at the shop.

Although the presence of a modern shop was a little strange we recommend that anyone visiting Japan visit a Shinto Shrine.  We cannot really explain the experience, you just have to go.
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Packaging

Everything is wrapped in Japan.  Whatever you buy, from clothes to fast food, and they will wrap and sellotape it at the counter.  Even if it's already wrapped.  They did it with Pork Buns.  They did it with Tom's Nausicaä boxset (despite the fact that everything in it was already individually boxed and packed inside a larger box).  If you said an item was a gift they'd give you extra packaging too.  The service you got was exemplary, in the Hello Kitty shop they even offered you a choice of gift tags at no extra cost.  Excellent!
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Crap TV

Apart from most of the anime , Japanese Telly was rubbish.  This came as a shock.  After seeing the likes of Takeshi's Castle on Challenge TV we expected madness, we expected serious injury, but no!  What we got was basically mid-morning UK television all of the time.  Panel chat shows, Japanese equivalents of Richard & Judy, abysmally acted soap operas that makes Eastenders look like Shakespeare, disturbing kids presenters, lifestyle shows...it was terrible.  Plus it seemed to be a law that there would be a chef making Okonomiyaki on television at all times, every time you flicked through the channels there was a guy making it on one channel or other.  Even on CNN.  Probably.
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Japanese Adverts

Extremely disturbing.  If it wasn't grown men in lycra bodysuits gurning at the camera and brandishing jelly sweets, it was that bloody bread advert.  Everything had a jingle too - cars, office furniture, cosmetics, insurance, shops - the list goes on.  Much animation was used, which rocks, but it was still disturbing.  We did see one of the adverts Hayao Miyazaki did on telly there which assumes this Rocking status.  Plus there were the David Beckham ads...
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Katakana English

Katakana is one of three Japanese alphabets, it consists of symbols representing syllabic sounds and is mostly used for spelling words imported from other languages.  However, Katakana English refers to the use of English words (spelled in English) for effect rather than meaning.  This means we end up with the likes of CowPoo clothing and Kent cigarettes as well as signs that proclaim 'Sale' in English whilst all of the other text on the sign is in Japanese.  A strange oddity of Japanese culture, but often useful to the visitor...
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