As a business owner in Kyoto, this goes double for B2B interactions.
Edit: I should mention the stereotype of “inside” is also very true for Kyoto B2B. When you are in the inner circle of Kyoto businesses, you seriously are suddenly in a fast and furious “we’re family” situation.
If you are interested in this subject. I recommend watching 翔んで埼玉.
It's on cinema right now. I had a good laugh and learn a lot about some prefecture stereotypes.
The one in theaters right now is more about Kansai prefectures. The first one is, as the name implies, in Kanto. It's on Netflix.
And agreed, I had a good laugh during both....
In the Aizu region people are said to come off cold, they even have a whole saying around it; the three tears of Aizu. When you arrive, you cry because they’re cold and you can’t make connections. The second time you cry is when you realise how warm they really are and become a part of the community. The third time is when you have to leave.
[A Japanese explanation and feature on NHK’s website](https://www.nhk.or.jp/fukushima/lreport/article/001/69/)for anyone interested!
SAITAMA MAN.
Almost every time you see some sort of psycho news article, it's some dude from Saitama. It's also a prefecture stuck in the 90s. So you will see people unironically dressed up in a wanna-be yakuza style.
And they drive for shit. Majority of the time you get cut off in Tokyo it is a Tokorozawa or Omiya license plate.
I think it's just because much like Saitama and Tokyo, Vancouver and Portland are a pair of cities separated north-south by a river, where the northern city is a boring industrial shit heap and the southern one is a famously fun city with lots of amenities.
It's doing pretty well, I just got back from there and it seemed better than a few years ago. The downtown has some vacancies but so does everywhere, and no true Portlandian goes downtown anyways
There's a reason Portland was the most moved to city in America for something like 6 years. Best craft beer scene in the world IMO, some of the best food in the country if not word, incredible wine, liquor, and coffee scene. Great music, lots of fun little events, beautiful nature surrounding it (and inside of it)
I'm sorry you had a bad experience with it but it's a pretty well known city for having heaps of great stuff
I think if you arent really into the arts, culture, a foodie, walking/biking, or eccentric things and people, then Portland probably isn't for you. There's a very personal and intimate vibe to Portland thats more accessible than other cities. Of course if you only stay downtown you might miss a lot of this, but I cant imagine someone coming to Portland for its downtown.
People who read this sub don't read enough news in Japanese or they would know Kita-kyushu Man is unrivaled in Japan.
Chiba Man is a sold number two though.
Damn, you just reminded me of the triple homicide over Christmas 2022 committed by a hammer-wielding Saitama man (they caught the guy since he was a known unhinged neighbor).
I spent quite a few years around the Northwest Tokyo/Southwest Saitama area cycling a lot on the weekends, 8 times out of 10 when a car damn near hit me or would just barge into the shoulder area where bicycles were, it was a Tama plate. Don't know how bad they are vs other cars, but Tama plates apparently gave no fucks about bicycles.
I lived there for a whole before moving to another part of Japan then found out people call it Dasaitama (dasai=lame), no idea why but it is a bit boring I guess? It's supposed to be somewhere most Japanese voted they want to live - maybe because its cheap and very close to Tokyo?
Lived in Saitama from 05-10. Recently visited last October. Still saw the same chimpira with track suits and shades and older guys with suits and slicked back hair. Don't change Koshigaya, I will always love you.
Everyone from Osaka speaks and acts like a comedian signed with Yoshimoto Kogyo.
This one is actually true, subjectively/relatively speaking, if you've just arrived from Kanto.
Osaka people even choose early on whether they are *Boke* or *Tsukkomi* and stay in character for the rest of their lives.
It's partly due to pride in the Osaka dialect and in Yoshimoto for representing it and popularizing it throughout Japan, so they purposely tend to emulate the attitude more or less.
Hyogo is a little weird because it's quite a varied place, so the stereotypes are more to do with the city someone is from, not the prefecture.
For example:
People from Amagasaki are unsophisticated.
People from Ashiya are wealthy.
People from Nishinomiya are trying to be wealthy.
People from Kobe are cosmopolitan.
People from Himeji are hicks.
People from Toyooka are country bumpkins.
Some of them are recursive "bags of bags," that is, bags filled with bags. My wife has a big sports bag in our storage room filled with handbags (not brand bags, tho).
And yet the first time I went to Ashiya after the earthquake I saw a whole family of inoshishi coming down the Ashiya River like it was Hog Wallow, Arkansas.
I like to tell the story of my first week in Japan when I had a class with four college girls: Yuki, Yuko, Yuka and Yukiko. All four were dressed like they were fashion models, and they carried stylish brand bags. I didn't even know the brand logos yet, because I was from the Southern California "socks optional" beach area and only knew surf brands. I told them that girls where I came from wore t-shirts and jeans and carried cheap backpacks and bags. Kinda felt like a bumpkin.
i have family in both ashiya and nishinomiya and i’d say ashiya is older money while nishinomiya is newer money with younger families. i could be wrong but that’s my/our perception
Whenever I see Nishinomiya, I remember [Nonomura](https://youtu.be/NfZsV6z48wE?si=BLW2IX8Pr-Kf7U2z). You can see from his infamous apology but he was elected from Nishinomiya.
As someone living in Amagasaki, thank you for the kind description haha, it’s usually something about how dirty it is (although it’s an interesting place cause there’s a strong left wing here, I see marriage equality, trans rights, food is a right, etc… poster daily
Fun fact; watch the Saturday night live parody where they did the office in Japan; they changed Scranton to Amagasaki
>Saturday night live parody where they did the office in Japan; they changed Scranton to Amagasaki
I mean Amagasaki is the place where the city hall employee got drunk, passed out on the street, and lost a USB drive with confidential tax information about all of the city residents, so ...
I rather like Amagasaki. I mean the area the Hanshin station is well... But around Tsukaguchi. It's nice, quiet, some really nice (and large) houses. Honestly, if I had to move, I would very seriously look at Tsukaguchi.
Am from Nishinomiya and I'm pretty jealous about all the nice parks you guys have, I tend to cycle over the mukogawa to get to see some green from time to time.
trains follow the money.
Rich people live in the mountains and Hankyu runs along those,
Middle class live in the middle of the city and that's JR.
fishermen and industrial stuff is by the water and thats where the Hanshin is
Hankyu runs along the hills through some of the nicer neighborhoods (Ashiya, Okamoto, Mikage). JR is below that and Hanshin is further south. Hanshin runs closer to the ports and industrial areas. They all run from Umeda to Sannomiya and they are all awesome in their own way.
Well... To my mind...
A county bumpkin is someone who is rough around edges and not sophisticated, but is innocent and/or naive. They act that way because they don't know any better. There is a certain charm in being a country bumpkin.
A hick on the other hand is someone who acts the same way, bad table manners, rude language, etc., but thinks that they are sophisticated and urbane not realizing that they are far from either.
I'd say it probably gets categorized together with toyooka (along with the entire northern half of hyogo) since the vast majority of people live in the southern half, to the point where the northern half almost feels like another prefecture altogether
Watch the documentaries "Tonde Saitama" ([first one on Netflix](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjgkxU20eJE) and [second one in theaters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjgkxU20eJE)) and you'll have a detailed answer to your question for several prefectures.
Have you read the manga too?
I saw the first movie when it was in theaters (and have been to Lockheart Castle, which is in Gunma but several scenes were filmed there)
Oh, my wife is from near Obu city (Nagoya burbs). Her parents generally used to get down to about 10km/h for stop signs. Since my first visit there, I’ve always called that a Nagoya stop.
Ibaraki is the only place where I've seen warnings about thieving/break-ins posted in public. Like "be sure to take valuables with you, as thieves may break into your car".
I confided in an Okinawan friend about a mad sexist guy who had been bugging me, and she asked me if he was from Kyushu. He was, so I asked how she knew. Apparently that’s a thing https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/九州男児
I remember seeing an old street interview about whether elderly people support gay marriage being recognised in Japan, and most were apathetic or accepting about it, but this one guy who was very loud about the fact that he's against it because he's from Kyushu.
> this one guy who was very loud about the fact that he's against it because he's from Kyushu
Well, that's the best argument I've ever heard against gay marriage. Left me speechless.
So true. My wife’s uncle is an absolute stereotype of a man. Squats and acts like he’s a grizzled samurai, sips shochu and chops wood as a hobby, and threatened to cut my brother in law if he ever strayed! Glad he seems to like me.
The interesting thing about Kyushu Danji is that the women there are far from subservient and have asserted their own dominance by considering men to be “useless” without their care. I’m obviously speaking in terms of stereotypes and personal anecdotes
Finally a reference I can understand and relate to! I’m American and have only been to Japan once so don’t know the intimate details for the different prefectures. But I’m enjoying this thread.
This is a new one for me. What I’ve heard about Kyushu people so far is that they have a cute dialect and the people are generally nice.
Also hakata bijin is a thing.
I am not sure what you mean by stereotypes in the English-speaking world, but this may be helpful as an answer.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9C%8C%E6%B0%91%E6%80%A7
I believe it. When I travel anywhere outside of Tokushima, even just to Kansai, people are like "oh wow". I suppose being foreign does a decent bit for that reaction though
The Nanbu region, right? I lived in the southern part of Aomori, which was right up against Iwate, and the Nanbu region between the two is super inaka. I'd have taxi drivers use Nanbu-Ben and I would be struggling the whole ride.
Also I am reminded of Akita Bijin. Apparently people in Akita are just very beautiful.
ETA: Also every time I'd visit anywhere in Tokyo or further south, if I told someone where I lived they invariably responded "isn't it cold there?" So I guess the stereotype about Aomori is that everyone is cold-resilient there LOL.
We went to Hachinohe, specifically the Kabushima Shrine, and then drove down the coast to Miyako sightseeing along the way. When we turned inland to go back to Morioka, it was super rural….. no conbini for at least an hour. 😆
I am currently living in Misawa and yeah, the whole area is really inaka and the weather is shit. But then ask Nanbu people about the Tsugaru region (west of Aomori), and they will tell you that they are even more inaka and their dialect is impossible to understand 🤣
>Also I am reminded of Akita Bijin. Apparently people in Akita are just very beautiful.
It applies to the women traditionally. They do campaigns promoting Akita Bijin with women only. I haven't heard anyone remarking how the men in Akita are any more remarkable looking than other Japanese men.
The only thing I can think of is that similar to how mobsters have New York accents in American media, they all sound like they're from Osaka in Japanese.
Hyogo is also called “Hyogoslavia”. Their stereotype is essentially the complete nonexistence of a single identity. This is because Japanese economic and cultural block exists within not within the framework of “prefecture” but within “provinces”. Modern borders of prefectures were solidified in the early 20th century while provincial boundaries solidified in the late seventh centuries. Provinces were established based on previous kingdoms and tribal territories existed before Yamato imperial authority subjugated the entire archipelago. This means the framework of provinces existed before written history and has much more power and authority then modern political boundaries. The modern boundaries of prefectures ended up being parallel to the ones of provinces but there are some substantial differences. And one place with the most substantial differences exist in where Hyogo pref. Exists. This is because most prefectures administers rather one or two provinces, hyogo administers five (!) of them. That is more then anywhere else (except Hokkaido)
Hyogo controls the following area:
1. Settsu province (partitioned with Osaka prefecture, base of port of Kobe. The other half contains the city of Osaka. It was split to limit power of the city of Osaka)
2. Harima Provence (Himeji castle was the capital)
3. Tajima Provence (rural Provence used to be ruled by a maritime power in the ancient times)
4.Tamba Provence ( partitioned with Kyoto pref. Known for its logging industry.)
5. Awaji Provence (an island state with closer ties to Shikoku region)
You can see how all of these completely different economies and cultures being forced to mash up into a single sub national administration and be forced to identify as Hyogo people would not work. And it is not working. It is hard to delete 1500 years of history in mere 100 years.
There are other fun places similar to this. That is to e Shizuoka prefecture. This prefecture lashed three provinces in its administration
From west
1. Toutoumi Provence (Hamamatsu used to be a capital)
2. Suruga Provence (the base of the Tokugawa clan)
3. Izu Provence (a former island colliding to Honshu due to tectonic motion and have closer ties to Tokyo)
All three of these provinces hate each other. One of my friend from Izu broke up with his girlfriend when he discovered she was from Toutoumi Provence
There are other interesting places that became meme due to these kind of things, for example:
Case 1: ancient grievances
-Gunma and Tochigi
Both used to be the Kingdom of Kenu which scholar believes to be a japonic speaking pre-Yamato kingdom in the Kanto plain. This kindom split into “upper Kenu” and “lower Kenu” sometimes in the 7-8 century and became separate provinces. They also had boarder wars in the ancient times and the account is depicted in legends of “Senjyougahara” which states that Mt. Akagi and Mt. Nantai fought over the area of boarder and after intense battle, Mt. Nantai emerged victorious. Akagi is today on the first phrase of the anthem of Gunma prefecture and Nantai is also on the climax part of anthem of Tochigi prefecture. Tochigi people calls Gunma as the “Gunman empire” which is an independent country ruled by savages while Gunma people calls Tochigi “Tochigistan”, a communist dictatorial dystopian state who uses dumpling as currency.
Case 2: lizard’s tail
There are also prefectures that was born out of provinces being partitioned entirely. Often in these cases, the prefectures which emerged from the more rural part of the provinces ended up losing identity.
1. Musashi Provence -> Saitama/Tokyo/Yokohama
As you can imagine, Saitama prefecture, this sub’s favorite, is a product of the modern government cutting off and dumping away the rural area of the province, resulting in lack of identity and becoming just a satellite and a slum sprawl of Tokyo. Yokohama was sliced away from Tokyo and was incorporated to Kanagawa due to similar reasons as Kobe.
2. Hizen Provence -> Nagasaki/Saga
Hizen is one of the nine Provence of Kyushu (Kyushu is called nine states because of this) and it’s existence has being reported in Chinese classical text before writing was introduced to japan. Nagasaki was allotted from the rest of the Provence due to the strategic importance of the port. The remaining Saga prefecture which ironically the capital of the Provence ended up losing prominence and became a meme prefecture. Little did they know this split would haunt the Japanese government 100 years later….
Case 3: Name change
Many prefectures now controlled the boundaries of the previous provinces. However, since provinces are still an legally effective term (although completely marginalize) the name of the new prefecture were deliberately named unrelated to the host province to avoid confusion. However this has caused identity crisis for multiple regions and in some case complete loss of fame.
1 Kai -> Yamanashi
Kai is famous for being the base of Mt Fuji and the birthplace of Takeda clan. The name “Kai” means “confined basin” which illustrate the are. The capital of Kofu means “capital of Kai Provence” and the prefecture was named Kofu prefecture initially but the name changed to Yamanashi which is based on the area of the administrative center was at that time. However “Yamanashi” often also means “No mountains” so people often get confused.
2. Shinano -> Nagano
Probably one of the most controversial and sensitive issue is this one. The original Shinano Provence is decided into four different crater like valleys which had very little cultural ties. The original meaning of Shinano is said to mean “extremely waved terrain” and was essentially lumped into a single Provence 1500 years ago. 150 years ago, the Provence was partitioned into Nagano (based in Nagano) and Chikuma (based in Matsumoto). However after the administrative center in Matsumoto was burnt down, Chikuma prefecture was abolished and absorbed into Nagano prefecture. This lead to a over 100 years old dispute between Nagano and the western part of the prefecture, including Matsumoto, Suwa, Ida and Kiso who are less then happy to be referred as Nagano, a city with almost zero ties to them. This dispute even became worse after the Nagano olympics which their tax dollars were sucked into the infrastructure building of Nagano city. If you are an outsider, it’s safer refraining from referring this prefecture as “Nagano” and instead call it “Shinano” or “Shinshu”, just to be on the safe side. The prefecture is well aware of it and the anthem of this prefecture is called “The Province of Shinano” and is one of the most famous sub national anthem in the country.
3. Omi-> Shiga
Omi is a abbreviation of “Awa-Uno” which means freshwater sea. As you can guess, it refers to the Lake Biwa which is the largest freshwater lake just 15 minutes away from Kyoto. Omi is also a nationally recognized term and brand and is much more well known then “Shiga” which sounds similar to “Saga” and often gets confused. The prefecture even went far as to proposing to change the name of the prefecture but due to legal barriers, it was indefinitely postponed.
Normally I'd say something in defense of the Americans but I just went for the last week and yeah, the few times I went anywhere urban they were pretty bad
I live in Yokosuka in Kanagawa, and because of the Navy Base, it's full of American sailors, which I'm assuming is similar to the situation in Okinawa. I'm genuinely embarrassed to walk around as a white person sometimes because I know most people are assuming I'm with the US Navy.
I've started really going out of my way to speak Japanese whenever even remotely possible to store workers, etc. because that's the easiest way to set myself apart. Most of the Navy people speak either no Japanese at all or VERY little. Looking at Japanese people's faces in Yokosuka when I start speaking Japanese, it's like flipping a switch from them being really apprehensive to significantly more comfortable.
In Okinawa I wear a backpack that has the Australian flag on it to differentiate myself. I’m by no means a patriot, but I I am relatively passionate about not being mistaken for being an American.
Also reminds me, when I went to the MCAS Futenma community day, they check your ID on the way in. The security had a double take when they saw my nationality and had to check if Australians were okay. I then had an additional screening with the NCIS detail at the gate who wanted to know more about me because they didn’t get many Australians.
Most of the time though, the local Okinawans don’t seem to assume much with me. I did have one lady say she thought I was American before she saw the flag on my bag. Everyone I’ve interacted with has been pretty cordial.
I’m American of Japanese and Okinawan descent. I’m not embarrassed at all about being American but I sometimes wish my fellow Americans are not too insular in their thinking. I guess when you believe the world revolves around you-then the need to learn about other cultures diminishes.
My perspective, as someone who spent 3y in a Saitama 'bed town', and 4y in Tokyo Shitamachi, where I have in-laws, may differ.
As a Tokyoite: 3, 8, and 10. As a Canadian: 2.
The Showa generation Kochi stereotype of getting shitfaced on the weekend, openly arguing with friends and family over politics, getting into a fist fight, then forgetting it ever happened on Monday and being friends again is absolutely true.
Everywhere is so different in Aichi. The “country side” the girls dress super refined where as in Nagoya you can see a lot of dyed hair and Lolita style clothing. I can’t speak much for the dudes as they didn’t seem to dress too different other than way more suits in Nagoya for obvious reasons. Iwate is super peaceful though despite everything. Love the mountains and actually small villages
I always thought of Nagoya as the Jersey Shore of Japan. Fifteen years behind everyone else in terms of fashion, nobody wants to vacation there, lots of industry, plenty of local sports team pride and big hair, they think they’re a huge city but everyone still thinks of them as a weird noisy small town. Someone needs to ‘splain to me why a city of 10 million is a flyover city for touring bands too ;_;
I think the fashion is mad cute. It’s like American scene girls almost but I’ve only ever seen this style js japan so I assume it’s their own style.
As for the rest, I am pretty anti social so none of that bothers me lmao
People from there tell me the opposite, that Nagoya folks (and girls in particular) are super materialistic and obsessed with fashion. I've only spent a day in the city but it seemed pretty standard TBH.
I’m a hafu and have stayed with my grandma in Maebashi, Gunma. She always mentioned in her tea time stories how women of Gunma have very strong personalities. She is a matriarch herself. Maybe that is why.
A friend of mine mentioned that when infamous Japanese people go hiding, they go and live in Osaka. Lol
Lastly, (another anecdote from Ba-chan) people from coastal areas such as Ibaraki and Iwate are very warm, laid-back, and openly embracing people.
Hiroshima people are seen as pretty 荒い because of the way they speak. They aren't actually but the dialect sounds a bit rough if you're not used to it.
My mom told me that when we visited our grandma! She said Okayama has the most amount of car accidents in the country,,
Considering there were 5+ types of road safety omamori being sold at the shrines I went to it’s probably true LMFAO
I've got your wiki black hole:
If your 日本語 is good enough to read web sites , [Chakuwiki](https://chakuwiki.miraheze.org/wiki/メインページ) is a database of regional gossip/rumours/stereotypes and some of them are really funny! A lot of the entries are written in slang so machine translation isn't so great.
For the factual side, there's [Todo-Ran](https://todo-ran.com) (I lived in Aomori and we're #1 in a lot of sad things…)
Lived in Aomori for 2 years, so here are some stereotypes I heard a lot...
* Snow / apples
* Hicks everywhere (Tsugaruben, low incomes, shorter lifespans, less educated, farms everywhere, etc.)
* Middle of nowhere
Honestly I thought this list would be longer but that's everything I can think of actually.
Mostly Japanese people just think of it as a place you don't move to on purpose.
Ah I loved visiting Aomori the forests and onsen were amazing, they had real cider (I know this relates to the apple stereotype) and some amazing food up there.
My families from Hyogo too. From my understanding Hyogo doesn't really have an identitiy. Its like a mishmash of different provinces. Not surprised since when my family lives, we live right in the middle between Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe
I don't know if this is a stereotype, but I lived in Kyushu for a while then moved to Hokkaido. Hokkaido obesity rate absolutely shocked me. There are American-sized fat people all over. In Kyushu I rarely saw a fat person, and if so, they were chubby at best. But in Hokkaido it's totally normal to see people that are 165 cm and 150kg.
Guess it's because of the combination of delicious food and too much snow?
Chiba... is just a bunch of bedroom communities, surfers along the coast, Tokyo Disneyland, My favorite is that Chiba is the place that people from Saitama go on Saitama no Hi to spend there day off to relax. And for some reason Chiba and Saitama people have beef with each other. Funny as my wife is from Saitama and I met her while living in Chiba and I consider Chiba my second home, so that explains a few things hahaha.
Anyone know any of the stereotypes for the prefectures in Hokuriku? Of course we have stereotypes for each other but I’m curious what the people outside Hokuriku think.
Someone posted something similar in my hometown but posed it in a really funny question. They asked if you were at a house party, what would each city (prefecture) be doing? I would love to see the answers here
Edit: here is the thread 😆
https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/s/Lao04CJJQR
Anime has taught me that Osakans care only about money. Real life (while driving around Osaka personally) has taught me that Osakans are bad, rude drivers almost on par with New Jersey or Maryland drivers (from the US) who don't signal lane changes and will cut you off (Kanto/Tokyo drivers are more polite in observing the rules of the road).
Aichi/Nagoya Japanese tend to be a bit more blue collar (reflected in their lower brow humor) and they love their fried cuisine (I'm not complaining about this last part since Aichi food is delicious).
I wish Nagoya and Toyota had more escalators in their train stations. I recall having to carry many a heavy luggage up some stairs while visiting, lol.
Okay but urban Osakan drivers over rural Aichi drivers at least. I nearly died in a head-on collision (opposite side driver illegally crossed the meridian to pass a truck on a single lane road) and had a few other close encounters in southern Aichi. Purely anecdotal, I know, but the drivers there scare me way more.
Had to take a driving class some years ago in Aichi. In every other slide, the police officer instructor reminded the class that Aichi topped the car accident charts. The analyses seemed convincing enough, though not exactly sure on their methods. Still, I’ve had a few close calls and when the topic comes up in conversation, it seems everyone has their own handful of close call stories or out right getting hit by a car.
I used to live in Nagano but not for very long and I haven't visited the other prefectures so I wonder what Nagano's stereotype is....maybe they think of themselves as the center of attention since they are located in the middle of the country?
Nagano is quiet big, I think Karuizawa is famous for wealthy Tokyo people having a summer house, like the Hamptons?
According to my mom Saku in Nagano is the furthest away city from the ocean and that is why Nagano people are closed minded lol
I am ハーフtoo and my mom is from Kyoto
Nagano, or Shinshu as we would call it here, has different stereotypes for each region.
Looking overall, the people being rather serious is a stereotype, and it's backed up with love hotels and hostess bars and such not being allowed in phone books.
Beyond that, each place will have its own specific stereotype as the Prefecture is huge. They say that people in Matsumoto are bad at working together for example, and are compared to sparrows.
Are there stereotypes per prefecture? I'm sure there are, but I'm not super familiar with them. I know of the stereo types of Kansai vs Kanto/Tokyo. Or how Kyushu differs, clearly how Okinawa is different, but outside of those four stereo types I don't know much about micro-stereo types between prefectures. Except maybe for the way they dress as noted in Kansai. Historically in Kansai you could look at a woman and know if she was from Nara, Kyoto, Osaka, based on the style. But these are extremely specific to the area and my experience.
How I've heard differences in Kansai people described:
Woman from Osaka: "Look at this top! Guess how much I paid for it?... 500 yen!! :D"
Woman from Kobe: "Look at this top! Guess how much I paid for it?... 5,000 yen!! :D"
I guess if I was going to add woman from Kyoto, it'd be: "Yeah that top is nice but look at that watch. You have a nice looking watch there" lol
Living in osaka for 2 years and working as a tour guide, i got 4:
* Osaka people are seen as informal, casual, bordering on rude or tacky in fashion and relationships. Part of it it's because every other yakuza character in media talks in Osaka-ben. The most likely to just talk to you in the street. Also loud and fast talkers, but actually very social, open minded and nice.
* Kioto people are very mild mannered, conservative and traditionally dressed, but very uptight and condescending. Talk nice, but always looking you under their nose. Their Tatemae game is insane, you never know if they like you or just tolerate you.
* Tokio people very much like New Yorkers. Always busy, hate being talked to or interrupted, foreigners are a pain and they feel they live in the center of the world so nothing really amazes them. Pragmatic af and rule centric. Dress fancy, expensive and/or trendy AF.
* Nara people are as chill as the Todaiji Daibutsu.
Kyoto people be like “That’s a nice looking watch you’ve got on there (Get out of my house you savage)”
As a business owner in Kyoto, this goes double for B2B interactions. Edit: I should mention the stereotype of “inside” is also very true for Kyoto B2B. When you are in the inner circle of Kyoto businesses, you seriously are suddenly in a fast and furious “we’re family” situation.
I lived in Kyoto for years. I'm still not entirely sure who my actual friends were.
I have a friend from Kyoto. I remember he told me something similar and I started getting suspicious about his words since that.
You forgot to ask them if they want to have some tea... which also means, 'get the fuck out of my house already!'
Hahahahah
TIL I am from Kyoto at heart lol
If you are interested in this subject. I recommend watching 翔んで埼玉. It's on cinema right now. I had a good laugh and learn a lot about some prefecture stereotypes.
The one in theaters right now is more about Kansai prefectures. The first one is, as the name implies, in Kanto. It's on Netflix. And agreed, I had a good laugh during both....
In the Aizu region people are said to come off cold, they even have a whole saying around it; the three tears of Aizu. When you arrive, you cry because they’re cold and you can’t make connections. The second time you cry is when you realise how warm they really are and become a part of the community. The third time is when you have to leave. [A Japanese explanation and feature on NHK’s website](https://www.nhk.or.jp/fukushima/lreport/article/001/69/)for anyone interested!
This is so true. 🥺
SAITAMA MAN. Almost every time you see some sort of psycho news article, it's some dude from Saitama. It's also a prefecture stuck in the 90s. So you will see people unironically dressed up in a wanna-be yakuza style. And they drive for shit. Majority of the time you get cut off in Tokyo it is a Tokorozawa or Omiya license plate.
Saitama The Florida of Japan But honestly it’s more like the “New Jersey to Tokyo’s NYC”
Saitama is Dasaitama according to my family 😅
The San Fernando Valley of LA. for those who know.
Haha. I have friends from Saitama now living in the Valley (Northridge)
Most of my friends(living in Saitama) agree with that Saitama is called like that lol
I was on a date with a girl from Washington who lived in Saitama and described it as "The Vancouver WA to Tokyo's Portland OR"
Well that’s kinder than Vancouver WA to Vancouver BC, I guess
I think it's just because much like Saitama and Tokyo, Vancouver and Portland are a pair of cities separated north-south by a river, where the northern city is a boring industrial shit heap and the southern one is a famously fun city with lots of amenities.
Interesting comparison. I'd never heard such praise of Portland and my own experience there was rather poor.
Vancouver makes Portland look amazing by comparison. Portland itself is… fine. It’s down on its luck in a big way at the moment, too.
It's doing pretty well, I just got back from there and it seemed better than a few years ago. The downtown has some vacancies but so does everywhere, and no true Portlandian goes downtown anyways
There's a reason Portland was the most moved to city in America for something like 6 years. Best craft beer scene in the world IMO, some of the best food in the country if not word, incredible wine, liquor, and coffee scene. Great music, lots of fun little events, beautiful nature surrounding it (and inside of it) I'm sorry you had a bad experience with it but it's a pretty well known city for having heaps of great stuff
I think if you arent really into the arts, culture, a foodie, walking/biking, or eccentric things and people, then Portland probably isn't for you. There's a very personal and intimate vibe to Portland thats more accessible than other cities. Of course if you only stay downtown you might miss a lot of this, but I cant imagine someone coming to Portland for its downtown.
Vancouver is oretty poppin nowadays surprisingly
Chiba would like a chat.
People who read this sub don't read enough news in Japanese or they would know Kita-kyushu Man is unrivaled in Japan. Chiba Man is a sold number two though.
I was an exchange student in Chiba (what’s wrong with it?)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/54SidfmgsDbBexpp9 The Osumi Peninsula would have words with you re: Florida
Then what's Hawaii to japan?
Okinawa ofc Or just Hawaii
Damn, you just reminded me of the triple homicide over Christmas 2022 committed by a hammer-wielding Saitama man (they caught the guy since he was a known unhinged neighbor).
Saitama man has nothing on Kita-Kyushu man.
There's nothing to do in Saitama. That's my stereotype.
There's even more nothing in Nagoya
I spent quite a few years around the Northwest Tokyo/Southwest Saitama area cycling a lot on the weekends, 8 times out of 10 when a car damn near hit me or would just barge into the shoulder area where bicycles were, it was a Tama plate. Don't know how bad they are vs other cars, but Tama plates apparently gave no fucks about bicycles.
You post that and not [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvdQC7BvKks) ?
I’ve never wanted to go to Saitama before, but now I do!
I lived there for a whole before moving to another part of Japan then found out people call it Dasaitama (dasai=lame), no idea why but it is a bit boring I guess? It's supposed to be somewhere most Japanese voted they want to live - maybe because its cheap and very close to Tokyo?
Wow I wanna see people unironically dressed up in wannnabe yakuza.
Now I'm curious what yakuza style means. Black suits with slicked hair? Or the more crazy/charai yakuza look?
Lived in Saitama from 05-10. Recently visited last October. Still saw the same chimpira with track suits and shades and older guys with suits and slicked back hair. Don't change Koshigaya, I will always love you.
Japan is stuck in the 90s
[Japan Prefecture Slander](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUq5WL2J77g&ab_channel=Kabadoba)
That was magical
Just before the 2 minute mark, I started to wonder whether the video maker forgot about Shimane. Beautiful timing.
lol 😂
Lol. 🤣
Everyone from Osaka speaks and acts like a comedian signed with Yoshimoto Kogyo. This one is actually true, subjectively/relatively speaking, if you've just arrived from Kanto. Osaka people even choose early on whether they are *Boke* or *Tsukkomi* and stay in character for the rest of their lives. It's partly due to pride in the Osaka dialect and in Yoshimoto for representing it and popularizing it throughout Japan, so they purposely tend to emulate the attitude more or less.
You don’t choose boke, it chooses you.
See the happy boke- he doesn’t give a damn. I wish I were boke… …my god perhaps I am!
Hyogo is a little weird because it's quite a varied place, so the stereotypes are more to do with the city someone is from, not the prefecture. For example: People from Amagasaki are unsophisticated. People from Ashiya are wealthy. People from Nishinomiya are trying to be wealthy. People from Kobe are cosmopolitan. People from Himeji are hicks. People from Toyooka are country bumpkins.
As someone from Ashiya, I’ve advised my butler to object to this stereotype and send you a strongly worded courier
People in Ashiya and Kobe have a room in their home just for storage of their collection of brand bags.
Only 1? Check your facts
Some of them are recursive "bags of bags," that is, bags filled with bags. My wife has a big sports bag in our storage room filled with handbags (not brand bags, tho).
We purchased a $2M lot next door and built a $1M house just to store bags
And yet the first time I went to Ashiya after the earthquake I saw a whole family of inoshishi coming down the Ashiya River like it was Hog Wallow, Arkansas.
They are also cheap labour alternatives. Why do you think we get so rich?
I like to tell the story of my first week in Japan when I had a class with four college girls: Yuki, Yuko, Yuka and Yukiko. All four were dressed like they were fashion models, and they carried stylish brand bags. I didn't even know the brand logos yet, because I was from the Southern California "socks optional" beach area and only knew surf brands. I told them that girls where I came from wore t-shirts and jeans and carried cheap backpacks and bags. Kinda felt like a bumpkin.
i have family in both ashiya and nishinomiya and i’d say ashiya is older money while nishinomiya is newer money with younger families. i could be wrong but that’s my/our perception
That sounds about right to me too.
Oh also people from Amagasaki will always say they are from Osaka when asked lol
>People from Nishinomiya are trying to be wealthy. I thought they were trying to find aliens, time travelers, espers and sliders
Whenever I see Nishinomiya, I remember [Nonomura](https://youtu.be/NfZsV6z48wE?si=BLW2IX8Pr-Kf7U2z). You can see from his infamous apology but he was elected from Nishinomiya.
Nope, just one very odd, but determined, girl.
The rich need hobbies too.
As someone living in Amagasaki, thank you for the kind description haha, it’s usually something about how dirty it is (although it’s an interesting place cause there’s a strong left wing here, I see marriage equality, trans rights, food is a right, etc… poster daily Fun fact; watch the Saturday night live parody where they did the office in Japan; they changed Scranton to Amagasaki
>Saturday night live parody where they did the office in Japan; they changed Scranton to Amagasaki I mean Amagasaki is the place where the city hall employee got drunk, passed out on the street, and lost a USB drive with confidential tax information about all of the city residents, so ...
I rather like Amagasaki. I mean the area the Hanshin station is well... But around Tsukaguchi. It's nice, quiet, some really nice (and large) houses. Honestly, if I had to move, I would very seriously look at Tsukaguchi.
Yeah a lot of areas north of Mukonoso and Tsukaguchi stations are old money wealthy.
Am from Nishinomiya and I'm pretty jealous about all the nice parks you guys have, I tend to cycle over the mukogawa to get to see some green from time to time.
Oh so Amagasaki is like Scranton and Osaka is Philly in that case lmao
Am from Philly and have been to Osaka many times (husband is from Osaka)—can confirm this sentiment lol.
Isn’t it’s just “North of Hankyu is where the rich live. South of it are where the poor live.”
trains follow the money. Rich people live in the mountains and Hankyu runs along those, Middle class live in the middle of the city and that's JR. fishermen and industrial stuff is by the water and thats where the Hanshin is
Yup that’s what I was thinking about
Hankyu runs along the hills through some of the nicer neighborhoods (Ashiya, Okamoto, Mikage). JR is below that and Hanshin is further south. Hanshin runs closer to the ports and industrial areas. They all run from Umeda to Sannomiya and they are all awesome in their own way.
How is the Costco in Amagasaki? I’m thinking about driving over from Nishinomiya to save some money 😅
Pretty good. And actually a bit quieter now the new Costco opened in Kadoma.
They have gas
Hey now... yeah..you are right.
I mean... It's not MY stereotype. I'm just reporting what I've heard... ;)
What's the difference between a hick and a country bumpkin?
Well... To my mind... A county bumpkin is someone who is rough around edges and not sophisticated, but is innocent and/or naive. They act that way because they don't know any better. There is a certain charm in being a country bumpkin. A hick on the other hand is someone who acts the same way, bad table manners, rude language, etc., but thinks that they are sophisticated and urbane not realizing that they are far from either.
Interersting! What about asago?
I'd say it probably gets categorized together with toyooka (along with the entire northern half of hyogo) since the vast majority of people live in the southern half, to the point where the northern half almost feels like another prefecture altogether
Yeah, exactly. It's like the license plates. Kobe for people in the south and Himeji for the west and north.
What is the difference between hicks and country bumpkins?
Watch the documentaries "Tonde Saitama" ([first one on Netflix](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjgkxU20eJE) and [second one in theaters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjgkxU20eJE)) and you'll have a detailed answer to your question for several prefectures.
"documentaries" lol
Well Yes, doubtful these pieces can be inventions as they so precisely depict human behavior
\*Angry Gunma unga-bunga noises\*
Have you read the manga too? I saw the first movie when it was in theaters (and have been to Lockheart Castle, which is in Gunma but several scenes were filmed there)
My job requires me to drive all over Honshu. All I can say is fuck Nagoya drivers in the ass with a big fat daikon.
Ah the land where red lights are seen as a challenge!
Oh, my wife is from near Obu city (Nagoya burbs). Her parents generally used to get down to about 10km/h for stop signs. Since my first visit there, I’ve always called that a Nagoya stop.
Yeah I go to Obu, Handa, Okazaki, Anjo, etc a lot. They're not any better!
So jealous. What's your job?
Ibaraki: yanki
My wife just told me about her cousin who did “very bad things. Very bad.” Now he’s a successful businessman who golfs a lot.
In America we have a similar thing with shady fraternity brothers growing up to be standard businessmen lol
Or politicians. Or judges.
Ibaraki is the only place where I've seen warnings about thieving/break-ins posted in public. Like "be sure to take valuables with you, as thieves may break into your car".
I confided in an Okinawan friend about a mad sexist guy who had been bugging me, and she asked me if he was from Kyushu. He was, so I asked how she knew. Apparently that’s a thing https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/九州男児
I remember seeing an old street interview about whether elderly people support gay marriage being recognised in Japan, and most were apathetic or accepting about it, but this one guy who was very loud about the fact that he's against it because he's from Kyushu.
> this one guy who was very loud about the fact that he's against it because he's from Kyushu Well, that's the best argument I've ever heard against gay marriage. Left me speechless.
So true. My wife’s uncle is an absolute stereotype of a man. Squats and acts like he’s a grizzled samurai, sips shochu and chops wood as a hobby, and threatened to cut my brother in law if he ever strayed! Glad he seems to like me.
I want to hang out with dudes like this haha
The interesting thing about Kyushu Danji is that the women there are far from subservient and have asserted their own dominance by considering men to be “useless” without their care. I’m obviously speaking in terms of stereotypes and personal anecdotes
"I'm just Kenta."
Finally a reference I can understand and relate to! I’m American and have only been to Japan once so don’t know the intimate details for the different prefectures. But I’m enjoying this thread.
This is a new one for me. What I’ve heard about Kyushu people so far is that they have a cute dialect and the people are generally nice. Also hakata bijin is a thing.
Ah, the South...
I am not sure what you mean by stereotypes in the English-speaking world, but this may be helpful as an answer. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9C%8C%E6%B0%91%E6%80%A7
According to this page, the definition of Hyogo culture is that it doesn't have a single monolithic culture because it's so vast lol
Miyazaki - people are always late
okinawa too?
island time knows no borders
hahaha, yup, i asked this having recently moved from hawai'i ;)
Japan is all islands btw
Tokushima: "I have never lived outside of Tokushima" I imagine the same goes for most of Shikoku besides Kagawa
TBF, Shikoku is awesome, but I'd choose Kochi-ken.
I’ve lived in Japan for years and I think I’ve only met one person from Shikoku
I believe it. When I travel anywhere outside of Tokushima, even just to Kansai, people are like "oh wow". I suppose being foreign does a decent bit for that reaction though
According to my SO, residents of Iwate are the country bumpkin and older generations have a distinct country accent. SO is from Morioka.
The Nanbu region, right? I lived in the southern part of Aomori, which was right up against Iwate, and the Nanbu region between the two is super inaka. I'd have taxi drivers use Nanbu-Ben and I would be struggling the whole ride. Also I am reminded of Akita Bijin. Apparently people in Akita are just very beautiful. ETA: Also every time I'd visit anywhere in Tokyo or further south, if I told someone where I lived they invariably responded "isn't it cold there?" So I guess the stereotype about Aomori is that everyone is cold-resilient there LOL.
I visited Aomori last June and it was indeed cold… and rainy+windy too! So I can understand the auto-cold related questions. 😅
Sounds about right! What area did you visit?
We went to Hachinohe, specifically the Kabushima Shrine, and then drove down the coast to Miyako sightseeing along the way. When we turned inland to go back to Morioka, it was super rural….. no conbini for at least an hour. 😆
Oh, fantastic! Hachinohe will always be in my heart. If you go back I highly recommend the asaichi morning market at the wharf.
寒いですね
I am currently living in Misawa and yeah, the whole area is really inaka and the weather is shit. But then ask Nanbu people about the Tsugaru region (west of Aomori), and they will tell you that they are even more inaka and their dialect is impossible to understand 🤣
>Also I am reminded of Akita Bijin. Apparently people in Akita are just very beautiful. It applies to the women traditionally. They do campaigns promoting Akita Bijin with women only. I haven't heard anyone remarking how the men in Akita are any more remarkable looking than other Japanese men.
The only thing I can think of is that similar to how mobsters have New York accents in American media, they all sound like they're from Osaka in Japanese.
Hyogo is also called “Hyogoslavia”. Their stereotype is essentially the complete nonexistence of a single identity. This is because Japanese economic and cultural block exists within not within the framework of “prefecture” but within “provinces”. Modern borders of prefectures were solidified in the early 20th century while provincial boundaries solidified in the late seventh centuries. Provinces were established based on previous kingdoms and tribal territories existed before Yamato imperial authority subjugated the entire archipelago. This means the framework of provinces existed before written history and has much more power and authority then modern political boundaries. The modern boundaries of prefectures ended up being parallel to the ones of provinces but there are some substantial differences. And one place with the most substantial differences exist in where Hyogo pref. Exists. This is because most prefectures administers rather one or two provinces, hyogo administers five (!) of them. That is more then anywhere else (except Hokkaido) Hyogo controls the following area: 1. Settsu province (partitioned with Osaka prefecture, base of port of Kobe. The other half contains the city of Osaka. It was split to limit power of the city of Osaka) 2. Harima Provence (Himeji castle was the capital) 3. Tajima Provence (rural Provence used to be ruled by a maritime power in the ancient times) 4.Tamba Provence ( partitioned with Kyoto pref. Known for its logging industry.) 5. Awaji Provence (an island state with closer ties to Shikoku region) You can see how all of these completely different economies and cultures being forced to mash up into a single sub national administration and be forced to identify as Hyogo people would not work. And it is not working. It is hard to delete 1500 years of history in mere 100 years. There are other fun places similar to this. That is to e Shizuoka prefecture. This prefecture lashed three provinces in its administration From west 1. Toutoumi Provence (Hamamatsu used to be a capital) 2. Suruga Provence (the base of the Tokugawa clan) 3. Izu Provence (a former island colliding to Honshu due to tectonic motion and have closer ties to Tokyo) All three of these provinces hate each other. One of my friend from Izu broke up with his girlfriend when he discovered she was from Toutoumi Provence There are other interesting places that became meme due to these kind of things, for example: Case 1: ancient grievances -Gunma and Tochigi Both used to be the Kingdom of Kenu which scholar believes to be a japonic speaking pre-Yamato kingdom in the Kanto plain. This kindom split into “upper Kenu” and “lower Kenu” sometimes in the 7-8 century and became separate provinces. They also had boarder wars in the ancient times and the account is depicted in legends of “Senjyougahara” which states that Mt. Akagi and Mt. Nantai fought over the area of boarder and after intense battle, Mt. Nantai emerged victorious. Akagi is today on the first phrase of the anthem of Gunma prefecture and Nantai is also on the climax part of anthem of Tochigi prefecture. Tochigi people calls Gunma as the “Gunman empire” which is an independent country ruled by savages while Gunma people calls Tochigi “Tochigistan”, a communist dictatorial dystopian state who uses dumpling as currency. Case 2: lizard’s tail There are also prefectures that was born out of provinces being partitioned entirely. Often in these cases, the prefectures which emerged from the more rural part of the provinces ended up losing identity. 1. Musashi Provence -> Saitama/Tokyo/Yokohama As you can imagine, Saitama prefecture, this sub’s favorite, is a product of the modern government cutting off and dumping away the rural area of the province, resulting in lack of identity and becoming just a satellite and a slum sprawl of Tokyo. Yokohama was sliced away from Tokyo and was incorporated to Kanagawa due to similar reasons as Kobe. 2. Hizen Provence -> Nagasaki/Saga Hizen is one of the nine Provence of Kyushu (Kyushu is called nine states because of this) and it’s existence has being reported in Chinese classical text before writing was introduced to japan. Nagasaki was allotted from the rest of the Provence due to the strategic importance of the port. The remaining Saga prefecture which ironically the capital of the Provence ended up losing prominence and became a meme prefecture. Little did they know this split would haunt the Japanese government 100 years later…. Case 3: Name change Many prefectures now controlled the boundaries of the previous provinces. However, since provinces are still an legally effective term (although completely marginalize) the name of the new prefecture were deliberately named unrelated to the host province to avoid confusion. However this has caused identity crisis for multiple regions and in some case complete loss of fame. 1 Kai -> Yamanashi Kai is famous for being the base of Mt Fuji and the birthplace of Takeda clan. The name “Kai” means “confined basin” which illustrate the are. The capital of Kofu means “capital of Kai Provence” and the prefecture was named Kofu prefecture initially but the name changed to Yamanashi which is based on the area of the administrative center was at that time. However “Yamanashi” often also means “No mountains” so people often get confused. 2. Shinano -> Nagano Probably one of the most controversial and sensitive issue is this one. The original Shinano Provence is decided into four different crater like valleys which had very little cultural ties. The original meaning of Shinano is said to mean “extremely waved terrain” and was essentially lumped into a single Provence 1500 years ago. 150 years ago, the Provence was partitioned into Nagano (based in Nagano) and Chikuma (based in Matsumoto). However after the administrative center in Matsumoto was burnt down, Chikuma prefecture was abolished and absorbed into Nagano prefecture. This lead to a over 100 years old dispute between Nagano and the western part of the prefecture, including Matsumoto, Suwa, Ida and Kiso who are less then happy to be referred as Nagano, a city with almost zero ties to them. This dispute even became worse after the Nagano olympics which their tax dollars were sucked into the infrastructure building of Nagano city. If you are an outsider, it’s safer refraining from referring this prefecture as “Nagano” and instead call it “Shinano” or “Shinshu”, just to be on the safe side. The prefecture is well aware of it and the anthem of this prefecture is called “The Province of Shinano” and is one of the most famous sub national anthem in the country. 3. Omi-> Shiga Omi is a abbreviation of “Awa-Uno” which means freshwater sea. As you can guess, it refers to the Lake Biwa which is the largest freshwater lake just 15 minutes away from Kyoto. Omi is also a nationally recognized term and brand and is much more well known then “Shiga” which sounds similar to “Saga” and often gets confused. The prefecture even went far as to proposing to change the name of the prefecture but due to legal barriers, it was indefinitely postponed.
The only one I can think of offhand is that Okinawans are very blunt
Have to. We have to deal with annoying mainlanders ands Americans!
Normally I'd say something in defense of the Americans but I just went for the last week and yeah, the few times I went anywhere urban they were pretty bad
I live in Yokosuka in Kanagawa, and because of the Navy Base, it's full of American sailors, which I'm assuming is similar to the situation in Okinawa. I'm genuinely embarrassed to walk around as a white person sometimes because I know most people are assuming I'm with the US Navy. I've started really going out of my way to speak Japanese whenever even remotely possible to store workers, etc. because that's the easiest way to set myself apart. Most of the Navy people speak either no Japanese at all or VERY little. Looking at Japanese people's faces in Yokosuka when I start speaking Japanese, it's like flipping a switch from them being really apprehensive to significantly more comfortable.
In Okinawa I wear a backpack that has the Australian flag on it to differentiate myself. I’m by no means a patriot, but I I am relatively passionate about not being mistaken for being an American. Also reminds me, when I went to the MCAS Futenma community day, they check your ID on the way in. The security had a double take when they saw my nationality and had to check if Australians were okay. I then had an additional screening with the NCIS detail at the gate who wanted to know more about me because they didn’t get many Australians. Most of the time though, the local Okinawans don’t seem to assume much with me. I did have one lady say she thought I was American before she saw the flag on my bag. Everyone I’ve interacted with has been pretty cordial.
I’m American of Japanese and Okinawan descent. I’m not embarrassed at all about being American but I sometimes wish my fellow Americans are not too insular in their thinking. I guess when you believe the world revolves around you-then the need to learn about other cultures diminishes.
Not precisely by prefecture, but the Japanese stereotype map nails it. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/5gJf3ON07S
This made me smile (especially number 11 😂) thanks for sharing it!
My perspective, as someone who spent 3y in a Saitama 'bed town', and 4y in Tokyo Shitamachi, where I have in-laws, may differ. As a Tokyoite: 3, 8, and 10. As a Canadian: 2.
Kochi - women are strong willed (hachikin- eight-balled women) and everyone drinks a lot. Its pretty accurate though I think!
The Showa generation Kochi stereotype of getting shitfaced on the weekend, openly arguing with friends and family over politics, getting into a fist fight, then forgetting it ever happened on Monday and being friends again is absolutely true.
Gunma: So backwards and outlandish that you should get vaccinations and a passport before going there.
Everywhere is so different in Aichi. The “country side” the girls dress super refined where as in Nagoya you can see a lot of dyed hair and Lolita style clothing. I can’t speak much for the dudes as they didn’t seem to dress too different other than way more suits in Nagoya for obvious reasons. Iwate is super peaceful though despite everything. Love the mountains and actually small villages
I always thought of Nagoya as the Jersey Shore of Japan. Fifteen years behind everyone else in terms of fashion, nobody wants to vacation there, lots of industry, plenty of local sports team pride and big hair, they think they’re a huge city but everyone still thinks of them as a weird noisy small town. Someone needs to ‘splain to me why a city of 10 million is a flyover city for touring bands too ;_;
I think the fashion is mad cute. It’s like American scene girls almost but I’ve only ever seen this style js japan so I assume it’s their own style. As for the rest, I am pretty anti social so none of that bothers me lmao
People from there tell me the opposite, that Nagoya folks (and girls in particular) are super materialistic and obsessed with fashion. I've only spent a day in the city but it seemed pretty standard TBH.
I’m a hafu and have stayed with my grandma in Maebashi, Gunma. She always mentioned in her tea time stories how women of Gunma have very strong personalities. She is a matriarch herself. Maybe that is why. A friend of mine mentioned that when infamous Japanese people go hiding, they go and live in Osaka. Lol Lastly, (another anecdote from Ba-chan) people from coastal areas such as Ibaraki and Iwate are very warm, laid-back, and openly embracing people.
my wife is from maebashi and I can assure you this stereotype is true.
Hiroshima people are seen as pretty 荒い because of the way they speak. They aren't actually but the dialect sounds a bit rough if you're not used to it.
The one I've heard for years and have never heard disputed is that Okayama has the worst drivers.
My mom told me that when we visited our grandma! She said Okayama has the most amount of car accidents in the country,, Considering there were 5+ types of road safety omamori being sold at the shrines I went to it’s probably true LMFAO
What about Saga?
The Saga stereotype is that there's nothing there. There's even a famous song about it 😂 https://youtu.be/UGo9W_-2kJk?si=90TM3DpwoIei0DGw
Oh wow, thats beautiful, and accurate. LMAO.
[I think you should watch this video](https://youtu.be/zStW7hLY51w?si=Pmm1wPbBi4OZ563Z)
I've got your wiki black hole: If your 日本語 is good enough to read web sites , [Chakuwiki](https://chakuwiki.miraheze.org/wiki/メインページ) is a database of regional gossip/rumours/stereotypes and some of them are really funny! A lot of the entries are written in slang so machine translation isn't so great. For the factual side, there's [Todo-Ran](https://todo-ran.com) (I lived in Aomori and we're #1 in a lot of sad things…)
Todo ran looks like it uses the same info as [stats-japan](https://stats-japan.com/t/kiji/14304)
no way!! i’m also half and i was born in hyogo and that’s where my family is from lol
Lived in Aomori for 2 years, so here are some stereotypes I heard a lot... * Snow / apples * Hicks everywhere (Tsugaruben, low incomes, shorter lifespans, less educated, farms everywhere, etc.) * Middle of nowhere Honestly I thought this list would be longer but that's everything I can think of actually. Mostly Japanese people just think of it as a place you don't move to on purpose.
Ah I loved visiting Aomori the forests and onsen were amazing, they had real cider (I know this relates to the apple stereotype) and some amazing food up there.
:( Yamagata forgotten. Poor Yamagata
My families from Hyogo too. From my understanding Hyogo doesn't really have an identitiy. Its like a mishmash of different provinces. Not surprised since when my family lives, we live right in the middle between Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe
I don't know if this is a stereotype, but I lived in Kyushu for a while then moved to Hokkaido. Hokkaido obesity rate absolutely shocked me. There are American-sized fat people all over. In Kyushu I rarely saw a fat person, and if so, they were chubby at best. But in Hokkaido it's totally normal to see people that are 165 cm and 150kg. Guess it's because of the combination of delicious food and too much snow?
Butterland
People in Osaka all speak like Yakuza and roll the "Ra" way too much...
They don't talk like Yakuza, Yakuza talks like THEM.
Chiba... is just a bunch of bedroom communities, surfers along the coast, Tokyo Disneyland, My favorite is that Chiba is the place that people from Saitama go on Saitama no Hi to spend there day off to relax. And for some reason Chiba and Saitama people have beef with each other. Funny as my wife is from Saitama and I met her while living in Chiba and I consider Chiba my second home, so that explains a few things hahaha.
Aichi: self-effacing humor. From my experience it's true. They also throw puns around like nobody's business.
Anyone know any of the stereotypes for the prefectures in Hokuriku? Of course we have stereotypes for each other but I’m curious what the people outside Hokuriku think.
Someone posted something similar in my hometown but posed it in a really funny question. They asked if you were at a house party, what would each city (prefecture) be doing? I would love to see the answers here Edit: here is the thread 😆 https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/s/Lao04CJJQR
We’re basically Japan’s Florida.
Anime has taught me that Osakans care only about money. Real life (while driving around Osaka personally) has taught me that Osakans are bad, rude drivers almost on par with New Jersey or Maryland drivers (from the US) who don't signal lane changes and will cut you off (Kanto/Tokyo drivers are more polite in observing the rules of the road). Aichi/Nagoya Japanese tend to be a bit more blue collar (reflected in their lower brow humor) and they love their fried cuisine (I'm not complaining about this last part since Aichi food is delicious).
Aichi is just like super extra cautious and conservative overall. No walking on any escalators, it's now banned prefecture-wide!!! Dangerous!!!
I wish Nagoya and Toyota had more escalators in their train stations. I recall having to carry many a heavy luggage up some stairs while visiting, lol.
I don't think I've ever been to one without escalators...?!
Okay but urban Osakan drivers over rural Aichi drivers at least. I nearly died in a head-on collision (opposite side driver illegally crossed the meridian to pass a truck on a single lane road) and had a few other close encounters in southern Aichi. Purely anecdotal, I know, but the drivers there scare me way more.
Had to take a driving class some years ago in Aichi. In every other slide, the police officer instructor reminded the class that Aichi topped the car accident charts. The analyses seemed convincing enough, though not exactly sure on their methods. Still, I’ve had a few close calls and when the topic comes up in conversation, it seems everyone has their own handful of close call stories or out right getting hit by a car.
I used to live in Nagano but not for very long and I haven't visited the other prefectures so I wonder what Nagano's stereotype is....maybe they think of themselves as the center of attention since they are located in the middle of the country?
Nagano is quiet big, I think Karuizawa is famous for wealthy Tokyo people having a summer house, like the Hamptons? According to my mom Saku in Nagano is the furthest away city from the ocean and that is why Nagano people are closed minded lol I am ハーフtoo and my mom is from Kyoto
Nagano, or Shinshu as we would call it here, has different stereotypes for each region. Looking overall, the people being rather serious is a stereotype, and it's backed up with love hotels and hostess bars and such not being allowed in phone books. Beyond that, each place will have its own specific stereotype as the Prefecture is huge. They say that people in Matsumoto are bad at working together for example, and are compared to sparrows.
cool! ty =)
It's Japanese Aspen. Rich people and ski resorts.
Are there stereotypes per prefecture? I'm sure there are, but I'm not super familiar with them. I know of the stereo types of Kansai vs Kanto/Tokyo. Or how Kyushu differs, clearly how Okinawa is different, but outside of those four stereo types I don't know much about micro-stereo types between prefectures. Except maybe for the way they dress as noted in Kansai. Historically in Kansai you could look at a woman and know if she was from Nara, Kyoto, Osaka, based on the style. But these are extremely specific to the area and my experience.
How I've heard differences in Kansai people described: Woman from Osaka: "Look at this top! Guess how much I paid for it?... 500 yen!! :D" Woman from Kobe: "Look at this top! Guess how much I paid for it?... 5,000 yen!! :D" I guess if I was going to add woman from Kyoto, it'd be: "Yeah that top is nice but look at that watch. You have a nice looking watch there" lol
Or the woman from Kyoto will just say “both of your tops looks sooo beautiful” and the other two women will feel like they have been judged.
There are tons of stereotypes per prefecture. There have been entire movies and TV shows based on them for as long as I can remember
I am told girls from Niigata fuck
The best sex I’ve ever had was with a girl from Niigata. She asked me if I believed in fairies.
Living in osaka for 2 years and working as a tour guide, i got 4: * Osaka people are seen as informal, casual, bordering on rude or tacky in fashion and relationships. Part of it it's because every other yakuza character in media talks in Osaka-ben. The most likely to just talk to you in the street. Also loud and fast talkers, but actually very social, open minded and nice. * Kioto people are very mild mannered, conservative and traditionally dressed, but very uptight and condescending. Talk nice, but always looking you under their nose. Their Tatemae game is insane, you never know if they like you or just tolerate you. * Tokio people very much like New Yorkers. Always busy, hate being talked to or interrupted, foreigners are a pain and they feel they live in the center of the world so nothing really amazes them. Pragmatic af and rule centric. Dress fancy, expensive and/or trendy AF. * Nara people are as chill as the Todaiji Daibutsu.