The Japanese are also obsessed with umbrellas. They use them during the day, no matter the weather.
The first two days we were in Tokyo it was raining off and on, so we didn’t notice the umbrellas. Well, we did remark to one another that there did seem to be a lot of them, but then, there were a lot of people in general, so it was hard to really draw any conclusions.
What did catch our attention was the fact that whenever the rain stopped, they still used their umbrellas, even a lot of the people on bikes were using them. We thought that was a little strange, not to mention a tad dangerous. But everyone was courteous and we never saw anyone crash or poke someone.
What was really cool was that many businesses have bins by the door filled with clear plastic umbrellas to borrow. If you need an umbrella, you just take one, and when you finish with it, you put it back in another shop’s umbrella bin. Basically, the whole country is constantly recycling umbrellas. In theory, you could pick up an umbrella in Tokyo, get on a train to Osaka, walk into a noodle shop on Dotonbori Street, and deposit it in their little umbrella stand. It would be interesting to see how far the free umbrellas roam in their lifetime.
But the weirdest thing was that quite a few Japanese people use umbrellas when it’s sunny. Direct sunlight is bad for the skin and the Japanese have lovely, smooth skin. So, many — mostly older ladies — limit their exposure to the harmful rays of the sun by using an umbrella. It was definitely odd to see so many umbrellas on a bright, sunny day.
So, just remember that when you are walking down the streets in Japan you need to be on your toes, dodging umbrellas and bikes. The eye you save just may be your own.
