I guess it didn't make that much of a difference-- except maybe to those two girls on the train. :)
<wry wolfish grin>
I'm not sure if/where I would have fit this into the trip monologue, but the thing about the Japanese (re height) isn't so much that they're short as that they lack diversity. True, the Japanese average is an inch or two shorter than the American average, but that only stands out so much because... in the States when you look out over a crowd it bobs up and down, tall folks, short folks, all jumbled together; but in Japan when you look out over a crowd it's this calm level sea of heads*, and you say to yourself, "gee, they're short".
There is some variation to be fair, every so often you'll see someone who's a few inches above the rest. Though the Japanese average (from what I hear) is getting taller due to dietary and lifestyle changes, especially in the cities. For example, one of my Japanese teachers at PSU is ~6'2"; granted, definitely tall, he'd stand out in a crowd, but not so tall as to be considered abnormally so (just unusual).
By and large ceilings are built to almost the same height as in the States in your bigger cities like Tokyo. Once you start making your way out to smaller cities and the country sides is when it starts to actually show up as an issue. The only times I really noticed were (a) on the busses in Kobe/Akashi/Sannomiya for which the ceilings themselves were tall enough but they had one of those rails to hold onto which ran down the middle of the aisle, (b) it was a rule that *every* hostel I stayed had to have *one* door frame which was too short by *one* inch but which was deceptively taller looking, and (c) the ryokan I stayed at had some low ceilings in many places.
* Which, as Amos pointed out when I mentioned that to him, is in part due to the fact that the women are all wearing four inch heels ;)
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chiming
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Date: 2005-09-20 09:52 am (UTC)From:<wry wolfish grin>
I'm not sure if/where I would have fit this into the trip monologue, but the thing about the Japanese (re height) isn't so much that they're short as that they lack diversity. True, the Japanese average is an inch or two shorter than the American average, but that only stands out so much because... in the States when you look out over a crowd it bobs up and down, tall folks, short folks, all jumbled together; but in Japan when you look out over a crowd it's this calm level sea of heads*, and you say to yourself, "gee, they're short".
There is some variation to be fair, every so often you'll see someone who's a few inches above the rest. Though the Japanese average (from what I hear) is getting taller due to dietary and lifestyle changes, especially in the cities. For example, one of my Japanese teachers at PSU is ~6'2"; granted, definitely tall, he'd stand out in a crowd, but not so tall as to be considered abnormally so (just unusual).
By and large ceilings are built to almost the same height as in the States in your bigger cities like Tokyo. Once you start making your way out to smaller cities and the country sides is when it starts to actually show up as an issue. The only times I really noticed were (a) on the busses in Kobe/Akashi/Sannomiya for which the ceilings themselves were tall enough but they had one of those rails to hold onto which ran down the middle of the aisle, (b) it was a rule that *every* hostel I stayed had to have *one* door frame which was too short by *one* inch but which was deceptively taller looking, and (c) the ryokan I stayed at had some low ceilings in many places.
* Which, as Amos pointed out when I mentioned that to him, is in part due to the fact that the women are all wearing four inch heels ;)