In Tokyo, I noticed shops changed their operating hours, while food and water quickly disappeared from local supermarket shelves in the few days before Typhoon Hagibis' expected landfall. I also received an email notice from Waseda University that all classes would be cancelled during the the typhoon, and students were advised to remain indoors at all times. Luckily, Tokyo only experienced heavy rainfall and broken umbrellas from violent wind gusts, but in Chiba, Tokyo’s neighboring prefecture, there was severe flooding that damaged homes and caused terrible power outages, leaving people without shelter and immediate access to help.
Another thing I noticed while living in Tokyo is the heavy use of plastics and the waste disposal culture. In Tokyo shops, not only does your purchase automatically get put in a plastic bag, but most items are already encased in plastic for protection and groceries are pre-wrapped in plastic for sanitation measures. In America, for example you might buy a large bag of Cheez-it crackers, but after opening the outer bag you wouldn’t expect to find the crackers already rationed into additional packets of two to three crackers. But in Japan, most edible goods are encased in plastic for travel convenience and to preserve the shelf-life of perishables. I also noticed that supermarkets usually group fresh fruits and vegetables into plastic bags. In America, if you buy apples at a supermarket, you can expect to find them in an open bin where you can pick and choose them individually. In Japan, you’ll find four or five apples already wrapped in plastic bags, and you are not allowed to open them in the store. No one here wants to eat fruit that has been touched or contaminated by others.
