Life as a Gaijin

I am a foreigner.

And according to one of my second grade students I am from Foreign. To him, Foreign is a country because all that exists are Japan and Foreign, better known as Everywhere-else.

I think the first question I always get is: Isn't it hard? Living in a foreign country?
And you might think it is. But the truth is, is that it may be only so for the first week or month, until you get settled, and then all the fun begins. It is true that everything is in Japanese, but what you might not know, everything is also in a variation of English. Eating out is never a big deal since here, practically the entire menu is in a showcase outside the restaurant. Transportation is exceptionally easy as everything is announced and written in English.
I think the hardest part about living in Japan is walking on the sidewalk.
Here, they have different directions for sidewalk-walking. You may not know it, but in the United States the rule of thumb is to always walk on the right hand side. You will notice that escalators will also be on the appropriate side you are walking, if you have not noticed before. Here, walking is more or less up to the city. In my city they change sides at the train station vs. the rest of the city. You really have to look for the arrows which tell you where your feet should go.

Sidewalks in Japan have often have this yellow line to divide sidewalk traffic.

This is an example of stairs as a subway station...notice the abundance of arrows on the steps...in case you missed them the first 5 times. 

The second is actually more useful and tells you more or less how to board a subway car. You have to let everyone departing the car off through the middle first while you stand at the sides and then you can proceed once they have left. You have approximately16 seconds. Go.

I have an edit!

Wow! This is the first time I have gotten go to back and edit things especially things I wrote a year ago. 

Anyways, I was recently informed that the yellow line is reserved for officials and military personnel. An acquaintance of mine told me this saying that he got told off by an officer telling him that it was disrespectful and that the yellow lines were expressly for people of a more official nature. 

Another suggestion, which I think makes a lot more sense than Emperor-only walk ways, is that they are helpful to the blind. As the yellow portions are always textured, it greatly helps one with a walking stick to walk in a much straighter line and will also give you inclination as to when you might cross a road. You see, there are different textures for straight walkways and when you come to an area before a crosswalk therefore indicating you to stop and listen for the cross walk signal, which in turn has different sounds for when one is to cross horizontally or vertically. Pretty neat right? 

More edits! I have proof! It is in fact for blind people. And seeing as these yellow strips are on all the sidewalks all over Japan. That is pretty dang considerate. 

Here, I found this sign in a subway station the other week.