Work, counting, and measuring

Headed to work like usual and then back home. I was looking around at places in Tokyo and now I understand why they say it's expensive place to live. To buy an one bedroom, one bathroom apartment a little bigger than 100 square feet ranges from $400,000-$500,000. Granted it is in Tokyo, but it makes those $100,000 homes in the U.S. seem like such a better idea economically.
Another thing that is interesting about places in Japan is that usually the size is measured not only in square meters but it also in the number of Tatami mats it would take to cover the floor. I guess a good sign that I've been in Japan a while is that when someone tells me their room is 8 tatami mats and I understand how big that is. They also have a different measurement for offices called a "Heibei" which I couldn't find a Wiki article on in English, but it equals about 1 square meter. While square meters are always listed, the old measurement system is still quite common. Almost all the units of measurement here are different than what is used in the US, so it can take a while to get adjusted. Of course Celsius and kilometers are more common in Japan and the rest of the world. Japan also tends to use a 24-hour clock and if you're not used to reading "military time" then it can take a little getting used to.
Typically the sizes of food at U.S. based restaurants or shops is different as well. A large coffee at Starbucks in Japan is the same as a medium coffee in the U.S. and the large size in the U.S. doesn't exist here. Shirts seem similar where a large here is like a medium in the U.S. I guess when you have less fat people the smaller sizes are enough. I know everyone is so interested in units of measure so I'm gonna mention one more. Instead of using feet and inches everything is just converted to centimeters so instead of saying I'm 6 foot 3 I'd say that I'm 187cm. The centimeters has also carried down to shoe sizes so instead of asking for a 14 when I go to the store I have to ask for a shoe that is 30 centimeters which can be frustrating cause that size is typically only carried at specialty stores since Japanese tend to have smaller feet.
Ok, one last thing. This is the one that takes the most time to get adjusted to. The counting system here. While in western countries we have counters that go up to 1,000 in Japan they have an extra counter which is 10,000. This can lead to a lot of confusion initially but gets easier the more you use it. If you read all of this, you have too much time on your hands or are really interested in counting and measuring things in Japan.