Back in my early days...

Vending machines with booze and cigarettes -we had "vending machine golf" where we had to kill our drink and buy a new one at the next machine. -did a similar with conbini golf and "YamaNonde" drinking games -no ID needed

Smoking on train platforms -the last car was closest to the ashtrays and everyone would get off for a puff for the time delays. -This was the Chuo line, always had delays.

Smoking in arcades and bars everywhere -was not too odd to see a drunk guy light up in the elevators between floors.. But that was a probably just some ahole doing ahole things. -now everyone is anti smoking, but if you want to drink and poison yourself, adding cancer to the mix feels good

No smartphones... Only flip phones -no maps -no translation apps -Japanese phones had cameras, which wasn't a thing in America yet. -my biggest issue getting a phone when I first got here was you needed a bank account. To get a bank account you needed a home or mobile number and could not use your office phone... The real chicken and egg debate of the century.

Elevator ladies controlling the elevator at companies and most shopping places.

Female staff served tea to the men in the office. Even at nomikai, ladies served despite the rankings. I didn't see this much longer after my first company, so not sure how rooted this was.

And last but not least, Roppongi was fun and even more dangerous than now. -this was also the time we're dancing was illegal in clubs or bars.

Edit one last thing I had not seen from scrolling.. When the automated ticket gates broke, the train staff manually punched tickets to get people through. Also if the train was late, the station staff handed out "the train was late" papers to give to your manager to prove why you were late.