One of the cool things about Japan is that it actually is safe enough here to have people deliver things at night. The postal service often delivers packages at night to residences, and that NHK guy comes by at night too. Sarah got a package from UPS at 9pm. I don't think you'd find this too often in the US. Plus the large post offices are open 24 hours! This is wonderfully convenient, I think. However, some things close really early, such as bank branches. The banks all close at 3:00 and are not open on weekends. Hopefully I will not have to go to the bank personally ever, because I do not know if I can make it there before 3. The atms outside will do many things for you, but they are only open until 7 or so, depending on the branch.

The one really cool thing in the banks is that they do not give you statements in the mail like at home. Instead there is a bank book with an integrated chip inside of it. It looks much like the place in your checkbook where you write down all your checks as you make them. You put the book in the machine and it updates it with all the transactions that have taken place since your last update. This is quite cool I think. Obviously online access is really convenient too, but I like the bank book instead of statements idea.