东京独特的东西 Unique Things In Tokyo

2023年6月11日，星期日，东京之行归来后第7天

Sunday, June 11, 2023, the 7th day after returning from the trip to Tokyo

从东京归来已经整整一周了，时间过得好快，一周勤奋的工作，时差已经基本倒了过来。想总结一下在东京看到的独特的东西，独特到我俩在世界各地旅游都没有看到的东西，排名第一当属自动贩卖机！最多就是大街小巷的到处可见的售卖各种饮料的机器，然后就是卖那种盲盒小玩偶的扭蛋机，还有地铁站和商场里的自动储物柜，饭店的自动点菜机，真的是一道很独特的风景线。我俩看到的和拍到的应该只是很少的一部分，肯定错过了很多很多。

It’s been a whole week since we came back from Tokyo, and time flies so fast. After being back for a week at my work, jet lag is basically over. I would like to summarize a few unique things we saw in Tokyo – things so unique that neither of us have seen something similar in our travels around the world.

The number one thing are vending machines! There are machines selling all kinds of things, like beverages, that can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys, and then there are gashapon machines, or claw machines, that sell little surprise box dolls; automatic lockers in subway stations and shopping malls; automatic ordering machines in restaurants. It’s really a very unique landscape of machines! What we both saw and photographed is only a small part, and I’m sure we must have missed a lot.

排名第二是当然是智能马桶！原来只在美国的个别的日本饭店里用过智能马桶，没想到在东京已经是普遍的设备，我们这些普通人还只是活在了马桶1.0的世界里。

Ranked second among machines is of course the smart toilet! Initially, I had only seen smart toilets in a few Japanese restaurants in the United States. Unexpectedly, I found it is a very common device in Tokyo. We ordinary people in the US are only living in the world of the Toilet 1.0.

第三个选的是厚底鞋，有的事真的很厚很厚的那种，男女都有穿的，可惜照片不是很容易拍。

The third choice are the platform shoes, some of which are really tall and thick. They are worn by both men and women, but it is a pity that it is not easy to take photos of people in them!

最后一个是那种有电子广告牌和播放音乐的大货车。每次看到那些车经过，播放着日本的流行音乐，我俩都以为车里有顾客和表演者在开派对。后来问了一个酒吧的调酒师，她说那个就是存粹的广告。日本人还是真有创意和经费，在其他地方只是用来运输的大货车，被他们用来做移动广告。

The last unique thing are the big vans with electronic billboards and music playing. Every time I saw those cars go by, with J-pop playing, we both thought there were customers and performers in the cars having a party. Later, we asked a bartender at a bar, and she said that it was just for pure advertisement. The Japanese are really creative and have a lot of money to spend on these kinds of things. In most other places, large trucks have just plain advertising, but here they are very colorful, loud and grab your attention!

就总结这四个吧。

Well, that is all. I just wanted to summarize these four unique thing. We are looking forward to seeing many more unique things on our next trip to Japan!