Since I've only lived in Taiwan a grand total of 3 days, forgive me if my observations seem superficial at this time. I'm sure there will be more to come.
First, the similarities:
1. Trains are packed in both countries. Riding the MRT to Taipei Zoo felt oddly reminiscent of riding the Yamanote, best known as the busiest train line in Tokyo, during peak hours. People are squished together, trying not to look strangers in the eye; the air is stuffy and you really wish someone's elbow wasn't wedged into your back. Probably the least impressive aspect of public transportation, no matter how efficient the trains are.
2. While there are many of them, people do line up properly to board the trains. Always a plus in my book.
3. The death-by-discomfort that is humidity is ever pervasive. Also known as one of the very few things in life I unequivocally hate, and a force to be reckoned with no matter what part of Asia I'm in. At least Japan seems to get it only during summer - unfortunately for me, I hear Taiwan gets it year-round. Can you hear the excitement in my voice?
4. Convenience stores on every corner - notably, the same brands of convenience stores, including the ubiquitous 7-Elevens and Family Marts. The same convenience store smells as well - was never a fan.
5. Train stations seem to have everything - restaurants, shopping malls, donut shops, coin lockers, even breast-feeding rooms. Actually, I'm not sure if I ever saw a sign for a breast-feeding room in Japan, but I'm 90% positive that they have them.
Then, the differences:
1. Everything in Taiwan is cheaper: train fare, meals, rent, drinks from the vending machine, the air. (OK, not the air.) The only thing that seems to be more expensive in Taiwan - and this shocked me - are the prices at Zara. At least at the Zara I dropped in (don't even ask me what this one jacket cost). I wonder why.
2. I love movie theaters in Taiwan so much more than the ones in Japan. More on this later. Heck, I might even love movie theaters in Taiwan more than I love movie theaters in America.
3. People are more easy-going in Taiwan. This is a big thing. Now I'm not saying that people are uptight in Japan, but in terms of customer service, people serving you in Taiwan are much more chill and personal. For example, the driver who took me from the airport to my hostel chatted up a storm despite not being fluent in English and driving in the middle of a literal storm. He asked me the standard questions, but he also asked me more detailed ones as well, ones that I might not have expected from a stranger, much less someone I've paid to do something for me (having lived in Japan, I was truly not used to this). I learned his first name, his background, the specifics of his job. Whenever I received service in Japan, it was nearly always impeccable, but in a very formal, ultra-polite, and ultimately removed way. Let's just put it this way: the entire concept of keigo, or using respectful language to talk to certain types of people, does not seem to exist in Taiwan in any shape or form.
I also am already getting the sense that Taiwanese people are much more comfortable talking to strangers than Japanese people. For example, I had to take a bus from the train station to get to my university two days ago. In my haste, I forgot to write down the bus number before boarding the train (oh the limitations of not having a working smartphone in a foreign country). I attempted to ask an elderly lady waiting at the various bus stops for directions, and not only did she insist that I ride the bus with her (it was going where I needed to go, so no worries about kidnapping possibilities there), but she maintained a full-up conversation with me the entire 10 minute-ride. I tried to tell her repeatedly that my Mandarin was horrible, but god bless her, she kept trying anyway. She reminded me of my grandma.
Now I've had people in Japan attempt to have a conversation with me in Japanese as well (thinking that I was Japanese), but once they realized I was foreign, the conversation usually ground to a halt. Another day, I got lost again (yes, I realize this is a trend) and these two older gentlemen asked me in English where I was from, where I was trying to go, etc. And the truly mind-blowing thing? I didn't approach them; they saw me looking lost and approached me first. In the 19 months I lived in Japan, this never happened.
One thing that's refreshing in Taiwan is that the type of speech doesn't seem to change depending on the status of the people involved in the conversation. In Japan, you have seniors vs. juniors, older versus younger, stranger vs. friends, etc. The hierarchies never seem to end. In contrast, it doesn't seem like anyone cares what position you're in here. Someone does something nice for you - whether they're a friend, stranger, service provider, whomever- you say thank you and move on. It's so much more simpler and (hopefully) makes the language easier to learn. I hated learning feminine/masculine forms in Spanish, and I'm really glad I don't have to learn them for Chinese.
4. It rains a lot more here. And by a lot, I mean a lot. It's rained every day since I've been here. It's raining as I write this. It'll probably rain tomorrow. And I'm not talking light rain, like the drizzles you often get in the Bay. This is some heavy-duty, drown you in water rain. The rain here comes down in torrents. I was seriously afraid of being caught in a flood while navigating the streets of Taipei today. The most valuable purchase I've made here so far was my umbrella, which has weathered a typhoon and a thunderstorm in the 3 days since I've arrived.
5. It may a bit premature of me to say this, but it seems easier to get things done as a foreigner in Taiwan than it does as a foreigner in Japan. I don't know if Taiwan is more used to foreigners, or if Japan is just more strict, but things seem breezier for sure. With this said, getting my Taiwanese visa taken care of was an ordeal, and I'm sad to say that I didn't even get the kind of visa that I originally wanted. (Which means I have to worry about that a few months down the road.) But besides that, everything else seems way easier to do in Taiwan.
Getting an apartment, for instance. Now I've never had to find my own apartment in Japan (the company took care of that), and I'm glad I never did. I've heard some horror stories. Among other things, you have to worry about key money, guarantors, and landlords who don't want to rent to foreigners for fear that they'll be loud, dirty (in both senses of the word), criminal masterminds, or god forbid, all of the above. Not to mention it's terribly expensive to rent in Japan. My apartment hunting in Taiwan is not yet complete, though I think it would be fairly accurate to say that it is going relatively hassle-free (knock on wood). Again, more on this in a later post.
The story I'd like to focus on for this specific topic though has to do with getting a cell phone. In Japan, you typically can't make a cell phone contract without an alien registration card, which, depending on when you go to city hall, takes (at least) a week or even weeks after you arrive in the country. Once I got mine, I immediately went over to a Softbank store to do what I hoped would amount to a relatively easy task to carry out. Unfortunately, as with most things in Japan involving bureaucracy (and nearly everything does), it became much more the ordeal than I had bargained for.
Even after I had handed over my ARC, I had to sign papers. Lots and lots of papers. Because I didn't have a hanko yet (a name stamp used for most official documents), I had to give them information for my credit card account back in the States to prove that I was who I said I was (and to give insurance, I guess). Once that was done, I had to pick a phone, data plan, calling plan, and sign the contract. Then they had to explain the contract to me, and the financial penalties that would ensue in the event that I left Japan before my two years were up (which I ended up doing). I think I was maybe in that Softbank store for close to 3 hours. I don't really remember the exact times, since I try my best to block out the experience (Softbank may be the sole business in Japan in which I had multiple really shitty customer service experiences; I do not recommend them).
Fast forward to Taiwan. Still having nightmares from the cell phone ordeal in Japan, I decide to be smart and bring an unlocked phone with me into the country. One problem solved - don't have to worry about buying a phone in Taiwan, just a sim card with limited data use and minutes. I go with a friend into a cell phone store, she asks them for a sim card and gives them my phone. I show them the page in my passport that says I have valid reason to be in Taiwan (no ARC necessary, no bank info is given), they give me the sim card. I sign my name ONCE (how crazy is this????) and bam, my phone can instantly make calls and go online (free for the first month - what is this madness!). I can add minutes and whatever else online. No penalties if I decide to leave, just have to return the card and that's that. I leave the store in less than 15 minutes. This is Day 3 that I've been in the country.
To be fair, I don't know what would have happened had I walked into a Softbank with a phone already in hand and a simple desire for a sim card. Maybe it would have worked out the same way as it did in Taiwan. Somehow I doubt it. Somehow I still envision a mountain of papers that give me the impression that I'm signing my life away...
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