about Japanese society

[nihonguchi]

Hi everyone, I'm nihonguchi from Yokohama, Japan.
When I was in the States, I learned so many things which were very different from Japanese society. Then, I am curious if non-japanese people usually feel something strange or interesting about japan.
"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu" = I look forward to your ideas.
Thank you.

[RealJames]

Originally Posted by nihonguchi

Hi everyone, I'm nihonguchi from Yokohama, Japan.
When I was in the States, I learned so many things which were very different from Japanese society. Then, I am curious if non-japanese people usually feel something strange or interesting about japan.
"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu" = I look forward to your ideas.
Thank you.

I felt very many strange things entering Japan

What was strange for you in the States?

[nihonguchi]

Originally Posted by RealJames

I felt very many strange things entering Japan

What was strange for you in the States?

Thanks for your reply
What were strange things which you had experienced in Japan?

When I first use the bathroom, the door was very different, because there was no bottom half. Also, the States' McDonald's drinks are free to refill and Seven-Eleven as well. That's actually great, but it was unusual for me. I loved it.

[RealJames]

I took these from a post I made long ago, here are some of the things that surprised me!

• Look right first before crossing the street, not left, or the back of your head will get smacked by a bus
• When walking down the street and someones walking the opposite direction to you, go to the left of them, not the right, generally.
• J-walking is surprisingly uncommon, people will wait for the walk signal even if the road is absolutely empty. (Due to insurance reasons it would seem)
• Eating in public is rude
• While on the train or subway, be quiet, I put my cellphone on vibrate, people generally either don't talk to each other or whisper inaudibly
• While on the subway, it's normal for it to be so packed that people will be shoulder-to-shoulder with you.
• There are specific cars on the train and subway that are women-only for certain times of the day, it's marked in english on the ground and walls near them.
• When you pay for things at the store, you don't hand the cashier the money directly, there's this tray somewhere on the counter or near the till that you put your money in, they then take it from there, they hand you back the coin first, then the bills with the receipt
• Every time you enter and leave a store all the employees will utter some incomprehensible phrase that basically means welcome to the store, but they say it thousands of times a week so it bears no similarity to it's proper pronunciation. and you don't have to acknowledge it, no one does.
• Tips and tax are included in absolutely everything everywhere, even at the grocery store when things cost some uneven amount of yen, like 387y, it's included. the exception seems to be taxi drivers, tipping them isn't strange, but it's also not rude if you don't.
• Speaking of taxi's, don't touch the doors, they open and close for you, automatically
• Taxi's have a gps nav thing on the middle of the dash, and it shows the path the cabbi takes to your destination, so you can see he isn't taking some retarded obscure loopy path to screw you over, which is nice. Cabbi's are very well dressed, and wear gloves, and will help you load and unload luggage into/from the trunk.
• People smoke everywhere here, in restaurants too, you're in a different culture, don't judge people for it, our culture has much worse habits.
• Don't be shocked if a man takes the last seat and lets his girlfriend/wife stand beside him
• Make sure you don't try to stay at the wrong kind of hotel.
• For men, not shaving is rude, having stubble is like, being dirty, but if you're a foreigner, and not wearing a suit, it's fine, you're obviously a tourist
• Inside a restaurant, they will either give you a plastic wrapped moist towel, or a waiter will come by and hold one out for you to take from them, in which case it'll be hot/warm, use this to clean your hands, keep it near for while you're eating and after, unless it's a nicer restaurant, it's the only one you'll get.
• Don't stick your chopsticks in your rice, it bares too much resemblance to a custom meant for honouring the dead
• Don't point with chopsticks
• It is virtually impossible to be vegetarian here, and if you don't know what you're ordering, it could be something you'd never consider eating. Keep an open mind.
• There are virtually no garbages anywhere, it's incredible how clean the places is considering there's almost no place for you to dispose of anything, the only places I've seen them are at the train station or outside the convenient stores, but considering you never ever eat in public, it's not so often you have something you want to throw out.
• Japan has somehow not entered the world of 24hrs, few stores are open 24hrs, and the last train/subway is between midnight and 1am, first one around 5 am (in Osaka, I don't remember Tokyo).
• If you're in a very urban area at a later time in the evening, especially on the weekends, it's not uncommon to come across a very very drunk (normally respectable) business man, and this man will more than likely be doing something incredibly obscene... this is a very high stress society, and alcohol has been associated with relaxation, a lot
• Small-talk is not very common, there is no such thing as an "awkward silence" with a stranger.
• People in Japan do not hug each other, they'll seriously be like what the hell just happened, if you hug them.
• Japanese people are generally timid and modest.
• Japanese people are generally incredibly kind to foreigners, they will usually not help unless it's asked for though, as much as they may want to do so.
• It can also be easy to take advantage of this boundless kindness, they will help you as much as you ask them too and will not say no, try to not overstep the boundary of common courtesy.
• It's common that streets will have rather large storm drains along the side which may be uncovers, watch your step!

[dogsbody70]

thats interesting James. Re HUGS-- Yes indeed, certainly my friend disliked displays of affection by HUGS.

although there have been many times when she did actually want a hug from me but always said that "we Japanese do not hug"-- but commented how much the spanish students in her school were very demonstrative and were always hugging one another. When I showed her this video she showed surprise but commented that it was not japanese people who joined in with the hugs.

YouTube - ‪FREE HUGS in JAPAN(Tokyo) part1　フリーハグ‬‏

[MMM]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

thats interesting James. Re HUGS-- Yes indeed, certainly my friend disliked displays of affection by HUGS.

although there have been many times when she did actually want a hug from me but always said that "we Japanese do not hug"-- but commented how much the spanish students in her school were very demonstrative and were always hugging one another. When I showed her this video she showed surprise but commented that it was not japanese people who joined in with the hugs.

YouTube - ‪FREE HUGS in JAPAN(Tokyo) part1　フリーハグ‬‏

How do you know she wanted a hug from you?

[dogsbody70]

she came to me putting her head onto My shoulder.

I might add that she was often extremely childlike.

[RealJames]

Originally Posted by nihonguchi

Thanks for your reply
What were strange things which you had experienced in Japan?

When I first use the bathroom, the door was very different, because there was no bottom half. Also, the States' McDonald's drinks are free to refill and Seven-Eleven as well. That's actually great, but it was unusual for me. I loved it.

I'd like to hear more about what was strange for you in the States, if that's okay

[nihonguchi]

Originally Posted by RealJames

I'd like to hear more about what was strange for you in the States, if that's okay

I'm very impressed for your reply. I learned there are so many differences between Japan and the States

These are some strange things for me:
・American guys are very gentle to others, when someone is behind a guy, he waits for its person with a door open.
・Many people have their own cars.(maybe, it's because of very huge country and little public transportations)
・Roads are usually very wide and many traffic lanes for same direction.
・When they walk pass their acquaintance,they immediately start short conversations with "How are you?" or "What's up?" even if they are busy or not so close acquaintance.
・Some rules are very different from other states.
・There are many Starbucks in cities.
・Taxis are always yellow.
・Many people are very frank to others.
・Girls don't shave off their arm hair.

You know, there are a lot of interesting things for me

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by nihonguchi

・Girls don't shave off their arm hair.

they are probably too absorbed shaving the other hair.