Culture. What is culture? Is it going to famous tourist sites, or eating authentic local cuisine, or interacting with locals? Or could culture simply be not doing anything special but observing how everything and everyone go about?

I think that culture is all of these.

There is history in visiting famous sites; tradition in local cuisine; heart in human interaction. There is no one way to experience culture, but it is the combination of these aspects that brings us to a whole new world. Like diversity in America, there is no certain aspect within that region that is somehow purer in cltural authenticity. There are cultures within cultures, and we strive to experience all of these within the cultures we visit. It's easier said than done, but isn't this what visiting foreign places is all about?

All of Japan is littered with convenience stores, or "kon-bini". These convenience stores are nothng alike to the more shady, less clean ones that can be found in America, which are also not as conveniently located everywhere.

The products offered in convenience stores are very similar to the ones found in American convenience stores - food, snacks, batteries, drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, etc.. But what surprised me most was when I purchased my bus ticket to Tokyo. When asked for method of payment, there was one marked "pay at kon-bini". Curious, I clicked this one. Apparently, you could take your ticket information, enter it in a machine at the convenience store, and pay at the register at the convenience store. Convinient? Definitely.