Japan and their propensity for having everything clean

a little note about my winter break:
omg so much fun. I think i have the traveling bug. I know no one reads long posts so i'll try to keep the overview short. And i'll post pics later. Japan is a lot of fun, I love the culture and how clean everything is, and its so foreign and yet at the same time familiar. I realized I don't know enough japanese to converse, or even understand much. A lot of the talking is confidence though, its amazing how much more confident I was about going up to strangers and asking for directions after a couple days there. And at one point I even said something complex, along the lines of, among okonomiyaki restaurants, which one is the most delicious. I was so proud of myself, I had rehearsed it in my head multiple times before approaching the lady. I managed to get the entire line out without stumbling, and she seemed to understand what I said. I say seemed, because I had NO idea what she said back to me. All I understood was at the end she said 'sorry' so i assumed she didnt know and said thanks and left. That pretty much sums up my conversational skills. The girls in Japan maybe arent exceptionally beautiful, but they really know how to dress and pay a lot of attention to their appearance. So pretty much every girl between the ages of 8 and 28 was "ridiculously goodlooking". Tried to do some shopping, but a simple skirt there costs on average 6,000 Yen, which is about 600 US. insane. in the membrane. so after we figured that out, our days consisted of eating, walking until we were hungry, and eating again, over and over. with some sightseeing in between all that walking. I swear our only focus was to work up an appetite so we could try something new to eat. Whats ironic is that japan is such a clean city, but there are NO trashcans. not one. go figure. I dont know what these japanese locals do with their trash, my guess is theyre all secretly walking around with bulging pockets full of candy wrappers and cigarette butts. and these designer bags all the girls carry? just a convinient LV take with you trashcan to hold that half drunk soda. And on this note, Hong Kong was DIRTY. old pavement, old buildings, and trash everywhere. Ironically, hongkong contained a lot of conviniently placed trashcans about every 2 blocks. I love being from that culture. :-)
I could on average see above everyones head in japan, a strange feeling for me. Even worse for my dad, who's 6 foot, so white he glows, and bald. Basically his head was a flashing white beacon that stuck out above a sea of black. never had any trouble locating him. ok this is already too long, and i havent even gone over hongkong. maybe next update, whenever that is.
yours, kristy