When I arrived and slept the first night at my accommodation, the first night was very bad, although I was very tired from the long flight. The next day I looked under the mattress and there was only a tatami with nothing on it. Thats why the bed felt like a hard rock and I could hardly sleep.
The tatami is made of woven straw, these mats are a key element of traditional Japanese architecture. After two days I decided to buy a mattress over the internet. Luckily, I was able to find an inexpensive mattress that would be delivered to your door with no shipping costs. When buying online, you could specify the time you would like it delivered. And the delivery was on time. I met a girl on the flight, and she told me that she had the same problem at her accommodation and that she had already bought a mattress. So, i thing we from the western part are not common to such a tatami. Here everyone uses a tatami. According to reports that I read afterwards, tatami mattresses do not cause back pain, unfortunately for me it was the opposite. Since I've had my mattress, I've finally been able to sleep well again.
In addition, the first few nights were not only hard on my back, but unfortunately the weather didn't quite cooperate. The first few days were very cold and rainy. It had just rained non-stop for three days and it was pretty cold. I didn't even know that from Germany or Liechtenstein that it rains without a break. For those cold winter days or rainy days, each apartment has air conditioning. It is not only used for cooling, but also for heating. When I wrote an essay on Japanese architecture last semester, I had already informed myself about it. So, I had to heat my room with the air conditioner on the first cold days. Despite the use of air conditioning, they use less electricity than we do in the west, because they have a smaller living space than we are used to.
When the university started a few days after my arrival, I noticed that wearing a mask is very accepted even among the students. Even before that, I noticed that everyone outside and inside has a mask on. According to Japanese rules, wearing a mask is only recommended, but not mandatory. After the second day at the university there was a small celebration organized by the students. Even that evening, everyone had only removed their masks for a short time, and even then, only to have something to drink, immediately afterwards the masks were put back on. In contrast to Liechtenstein or Germany, where the wearing of masks was almost completely discontinued and before the masks were discontinued, the mask was only put on where it was mandatory.
While we in Europe have declared the Corona Pandemic to be almost over, here the regulations continue, most of which are only recommendations and people still accept and follow them.
Another difference I noticed during the lunch break at the university. Everyone who had taken food with them had wrapped their food boxes in a cloth. And they would unwrap it like wrapping paper before eating and then rewrap it afterwards. Then I found out why they do it. I found this to be a traditional way of wrapping gifts and food boxes so they can be transported safely. The cloth is called “Furoshiki” and there are special folding techniques for it.
All in all, I experienced a lot of cultural differences that I didn't know before. I'm excited to see what awaits me in the near future. And I'm really looking forward to the days and weeks to come.