Random questions

I noticed some quite annoying things the last two days. In the bus from Hakone hotsprings a bunch of schoolkids (probably around 14-15 age) got on the bus. In the seat in front of us a lone girl took a windowseat, first put her bag on the vacant seat beside but at the next stop some women got on, the girl removed the bag but no one cared about sitting on the empty seat. Not until another windowseat got free did the women go to get seated. Felt kinda bad for the lone girl. Maybe this is normal behaviour, claiming a windowseat, not sitting by someone unknown to you, etc.

Today we also witnessed a white minivan with loudspeakers standing by Hachiko square and shouting things, probably political. The tone of the speaker's voice made me think of Hitler, quite frightening. I have heard there are black vans going around being very anti foreigner people, but white cars I hope are not.

(1) windowseat
Not normal, but I think it is just the question of the preference of the persons that happened to be there.

(2) minivan with loudspeakers
What you witnessed is a right-wing political party shouting their propaganda.
I really hate them, but they're always like that. Near Hachiko seems to be one of their favourite places to demonstrate their silly ideas. It's not something new.

About white minivan with loudspeakers,
recently I heard they preach down the Democratic Party on the wane at Shibuya,
at any rate, they got that approval to make a speech, based on freedom of speech,
and there is in front of a police station.
I like them than the group who disturb their enemy's works by force.

But their loudspeakers often play music at full volume on the street, I really hate that!

In the bus from Hakone hotsprings a bunch of schoolkids (probably around 14-15 age) got on the bus. In the seat in front of us a lone girl took a windowseat, first put her bag on the vacant seat beside but at the next stop some women got on, the girl removed the bag but no one cared about sitting on the empty seat. Not until another windowseat got free did the women go to get seated. Felt kinda bad for the lone girl. Maybe this is normal behaviour, claiming a windowseat, not sitting by someone unknown to you, etc.

Perfectly normal and not at all uncommon, especially during less crowded times and on less busy lines.

Today we also witnessed a white minivan with loudspeakers standing by Hachiko square and shouting things, probably political. The tone of the speaker's voice made me think of Hitler, quite frightening. I have heard there are black vans going around being very anti foreigner people, but white cars I hope are not.

Guess the black van was in the shop...

Good boys are girls are never supposed to occupy seats with your bags, here in Japan.

It's totally up to the indivisual to sit or not, and the places they sit are completely optional.

If you sit on an isle seat, you need to stand again when the person on the window side is getting off. This is consuming for both the isle side person and the window side person.

The Japanese tend to think that leaving space for others is one of the best things you can do for them. This is quite different from say Chinese people who tend to stick tightly to strangers when in crowded places or standing in a long queue.

The Japanese also tend to think it's better for your health to stand.

So, yes, removing your bag and not sitting there are both normal and they are two different things.

As for the loudspeaker, locals can tell right-wingers in an instant, because they are much much MUCH flashier than the ordinary politicians or even the left-wingers.

Example of right-wingers;
http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&rlz=1T4TSHJ_ja___JP509&q=%E5%8F%B...

Example of ordinary campaign cars;
http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&rlz=1T4TSHJ_ja___JP509&q=%E5%8F%B...

I'm truly sorry if an ordinary campaigner sounded like Hitler to you, because as far as I know, they aren't that bad. But they tend to shout, because strangely, the more you shout the more votes you tend to get. And then, they don't have to sound attractive to foreign tourists who don't have the right to vote ;)

"In the seat in front of us a lone girl took a windowseat, first put her bag on the vacant seat beside but at the next stop some women got on, the girl removed the bag but no one cared about sitting on the empty seat. Not until another windowseat got free did the women go to get seated"

You are NOT a frequent user of buses in your home country ,are you?
In both my birth country and Canada, where I live, the situation you describe happen times and times again.
Quite often I will stand for 10 minutes even if there is a vacant aisle seat near me. I am sure that the person in the window seat is not upset that I don't sit next to him/her, as I don't mind if no one sit next to me...