Your Japan Survival Kit

For anyone wanting to visit/stay in Japan for any period of time I suggest the following:

1) a phrasebook - ughhhhh the language barrier is the worst

2) AN IPOD! - the other day I was riding the train home from work and this old crazy dude got on and he looked a little spazzy but, whatever, it's Tokyo right? His full crazy would only come out the second the doors would close between each stop. As soon as the warning tune ended and the doors shut he would procede to go into his own little freak-out world and grind his teeth like teeth have never been ground before. I'm not just talking you-can-see-the-jaw-tighten type of grinding, this was FULL ON screeching with sound effects to the max. Needless to say this sent me into my own spazzy world (wouldn't it you?) and the only thing to block out the noise was to play some Yeah Yeah Yeahs; Fleet Foxes was not going to cut it with this guy - too many quiet bits.