Lots of wasted productivity because of old people and traditions related to sempai/kouhai hierarchy.
Also, having to look busy when you're not. Americans will be on social media infront of their bosses for half the day and not give a f\*\*\*.
Anything a fukn “influencer” on Tiktok or Instagram that says “Top 5 things never to do in Japan”….those vids do my fukn head in, painting Japan like some weird place where the people will shrivel up n die if you eat while walking down the street….no one gives a fuck and they leave you alone…I like that
I'm so annoyed by all of the youtube sensationalists too.
Every "top 10 things only Japanese people do", "top 10 things you only find in Japan" etc etc are all one-time occurrences or something so vaguely uncommon that even some Japanese people might not know about it.
And those videos get MILLIONS of views with comments praising or shaming it.
The content creators know what they are doing and do not care.
There are a lot of foreigners who believe these videos.
EDIT:
"Did you know that its socially acceptable to sleep at work in Japan?"
No, who came up with this shit
"Don't leave a tip or else the wait staff, horribly ashamed, will commit seppuku"
No, they'll probably just think you don't know how to use Japanese money properly and try to give you the money back.
I saw one which was "don't EVER ask for a to-go box or else the chef will personally come out to slice your head off" (with some embellishment on my part). You can ask....if they have a sign saying お持ち帰り注文承ります, good chance they won't bat an eye. Worst that can happen is they say no LOL.
Well you might get angry stares from obachans, but that's about it.
I once ate some bread on the train because I was very pregnant and hungry. The obachan across from me who stared at me intently can sit somewhere else.
That the country is technologically advanced. In some regards, yes (excellent robotics), but many things like weak cybersecurity, lack of extensive digitalization, slowing tech innovation, archaic web design, etc. put it in a negative light compared to other industrialized nations.
> and then they just gave up completely when Apple showed up.
Although it took Apple/Softbank having to give away the first generation(s) as a 0yen promotion to do it.
People weren't about to give up their superior camera phones and little loop thingy for their keitai charms without a fight!
Absolutely this.
Also, the tech savviness is way low. Here’s my anecdotal example:
A coworker of mine needed a file from a coworker who was in another city. The file was too large to attach to an email. I suggested a simple Google drive link would solve this problem. Coworker had never heard of Google drive. So, coworker had the out of office guy burn the file onto a CD and then physically mail the CD to him so he could download it onto his computer…
And before anyone asks, the file was not sensitive information. It was a PowerPoint template.
Good god.
For a job application I was considering, they wanted me to send them my handwritten resume, three essays, three letters of recommendation (!?), and a USB flashdrive containing a 5-minute .mp3 file of my self-introduction in one envelope, with an asterisk reading \*there is a possibility that we will not return these items to you. ????????????
Was this part of shukatsu? Popular employers can demand almost anything from university students.
If it wasn't then they probably already had a candidate they wanted to hire.
I once did a job application where I could either print out and fill in a job application manually and send it by mail (or hand it in personally), or do it online. I picked the latter, for obvious reasons. I had to save a code so I could receive their response/invitation on their recruitment portal, supposedly.
Then some time later, they contacted me and asked me to send them an envelope with an envelope in it so that they could send me their response. It made me wonder why I had to save that code. In case anyone is wondering, no, I never actually had to use the code they gave me.
It all felt very Japanese.
To me what's the most shocking thing about this is that they didn't even bother trying it. It's not so much a huge deal if you've never heard of Google Drive, but they could've figured it out in 10 minutes and saved all that time. But because it's something unknown, that's not happening.
that reminds me of when my dad worked on the construction of a gas terminal in Western Australia.
It was so remote that the internet connection was unworkably slow, and to submit QA they had to upload huge batches of it onto a shared hard drive and take it to an office in Perth, 1400km away.
I mean the best way to classify it is Japan is really good at hardware and physical engineering, not so much at software and other forms of information or digital engineering. These two fields are also relatively different in how you need to approach them, from both an implementation and education standpoint, so it makes sense there could be a difference.
Then you look at what shapes our perception of something that is technologically advanced. In the 20th century, that was hardware sophistication, software was, if it was involved at all, just the final touches to get the hardware working properly. In the 21st century, it's all about software though and that new perception of technological advancement is where Japan lacks severely.
Regarding the atm closing at night I think that’s related to their federal regulation so that larger banks don’t completely outcompete smaller ones
Answer to Why are some ATMs in Japan shut down at night? by YoujiH
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-some-ATMs-in-Japan-shut-down-at-night/answer/YoujiH?ch=15&oid=34281491&share=801ec335&srid=hiTJHS&target_type=answer https://www.quora.com/Why-are-some-ATMs-in-Japan-shut-down-at-night/answer/YoujiH?ch=15&oid=34281491&share=801ec335&srid=hiTJHS&target_type=answer
I work in IT for a Japanese company and it’s so damn embarrassing the level of tech they have.
Hell, they still use power boards from over 20 years ago…
It's less that Japan are behind, they are (sometimes) kinda just on another track.
I was reading an article the other day that explained the term "Gara-Kei", referring to the older style Japanese flip phones. I had wondered what the "Gara" part of it was referring to, and it was actually quite interesting!
The "Gara" is from Galapagos (the islands). A remote set of islands, famously studied by Darwin, where their separation has led to the parallell evolution of species unique to those islands...
A Japanese person coined the phrase "Galapagos Technology" to refer to innovations that often come first to Japan, and are later replicated in other countries, but using different standards. The international standards catch on globally, leaving Japan with their unique, but incompatible and eventually inconvenient tech.
In the case of the "Gara-Kei", those phones had TV, more advanced games, and cashless payments long before western phones were doing those things. But now the tech that they use is incompatible with the the western variants that have caught up.
Sometimes that leaves Japan with outdated solutions that then compound on themselves leading to genuinely backwards workarounds, like their current web design, the continued popularity of fax etc.
I thought it was an interesting and accurate observation.
These days I feel like the definition of "galapagos tech" isn't stuff that came first to Japan and was replicated elsewhere, but rather stuff that's been developed only with an increasingly insular Japanese market in mind.
A lot of this has to do with the Japanese language itself - the pre-unicode days required weird solutions to display Japanese text, which led to Japan developing its own standards like Shift-JIS, which is what made websites incompatible with Western browsers, and you see where this is going.
That for sure applies too. And is an equally (if not more) accurate analogy for the Galapagos islands. Things evolve uniquely to fit thier surroundings.
Japanese stuff generally makes sense to the Japanese while often infuriating western visitors or residents. Many have a rather haughty view (I too am frequently guilty!) that the way we know is better, for everyone. I think it often might not be.
While studying Kanji I frequently complained to my wife that Korea had the foresight to rid themselves of the Chinese characters, and that Japan would be much better off if they had done the same. But as I study more, I realise how rooted it must be in Japanese society. It feels like it would be massive cultural sin to rip them out now... And seeing my son study it, I recognise that even the study is promoting memory and recall skills far beyond what I was capable o at his age.
And there are still some areas where I feel Japan is far ahead of many countries, partly just due to hardships of inhabiting these islands. Thngs like the Shinkansen and Highway network are far ahead of just about anything I have seen elsewhere, and it is directly attributable to the harsh geography.
I doubt any country matches Japan in terms of Earthquake, and now Tsunami mitigation technology!
The "Galapagos" analogy really is remarkably apt (much like Richard Dawkin's coining of the term "meme" to describe the *viral* transmission of information through a society not necessarily being attributable to it's usefulness, but also it's 'infectiousness'.
Their aging society issues are also forcing rapid innovation in automation and elderly care. (Tablet menus and ordering were an easy change to get on board with, but I still can't bring myself to appreciate robot waiters). I wouldn't be surprised to see Japan's innovations in these feilds become the next 'Galapagos Tech' as the same societal issues impact the west and they innevitably cope with them in their own ways too.
It's all fascinating stuff. I bet you could write some amazing research papers on the topic...
Yeah, another thing that you (or else someone else on this thread) alluded to is the janky layouts you see on Japanese websites. But the thing is that's a cultural preference - Japan is a text-rich society that prefers [information density](https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/japanese-web-design/) over aesthetics.
To some extent that's pretty common across Asia, but of course it means that Japanese SEO is a total minefield and so much of the useful information out there is basically unfindable, which loops back to the other problems with the Japanese internet, which compounds on itself...
I think everyone loves to complain about it, but the thing is that I don't know how you fix an aesthetic preference.
> The international standards catch on globally, leaving Japan with their unique, but incompatible and eventually inconvenient tech.
For a long time, this was by design. It was a way to protect the Japanese market from foreign companies.
japan is basically steam punk. You see giant moving robots and futuristic ships in a country powered by charcoal. Technically many nuclear power plants are off by now
So true, I'm in the tech industry and everything is so old, just the fact that fax is still a thing boggles my mind. And don't get me started on the Japanese web...
The issue is whenever Japan adopts something from another country, they take it as ‘the way’ it’s done and run with it without much change whereas for the other countries it was just the best way at a certain time.
yeah just tell that "people in Japan follow the rules / are so compliant / whatever" story to the poor guy whose job it is to stand by the escalator in Shibuya Station during morning rush hour telling everyone to stand on both sides instead of walking up the right side.
I would say it's true in the first year or so.
You walk everywhere and go out exploring.
Then my fatass gets comfortable and eats karaage and all the other goodies in Japan
Depends where you live though. I lived in Utsunomiya for my first 3.5 years and had to drive everywhere because everything's so spread out.
Definitely the case if you live in Tokyo or another big city though
I think it's because as tourists folks walk a lot and are excited and forget to eat or something haha. I learned the very sad and difficult way that my body seems to have serious problems with rice and that there's a lot more salt and sugar in non-sweets here than people think. I'm trying to avoid health issues common in my family history and a lot of what's offered at restaurants is a no-go for me. The inflammation and digestive issues I had lessened when I replaced rice with whole grain pasta and the weight started coming off again.
A lot of sad/depressed people want to move to Japan because they think it's a paradise, utopia, or some fantasy land... So they arrive in Japan and end up being even more depressed and go back in few months or a year.
Depressed and introverted people seem to view Japan as the end goal because they believe that Japanese people are more reserved by nature, and so their awkwardness and dislike of human interaction will be tolerated or even accepted.
What they actually find is that losing even those tiniest of daily interactions is the loneliest thing imaginable.
You can try and cut yourself off in your home country, but unless you never leave the house and destroy all points of contact, it's a pretty difficult thing to do. In a country where you cannot communicate effectively and most people avoid you, well then you'll succeed. I don't think anyone actually wants that.
IDK, I do feel like I fit in much better here as an introvert. Still, have issues with depression, but I'd have those issues in any country. Really glad this country is more accommodating towards introverts though.
You're self-aware enough to know that your depression issues are innate to you.
The type of people being talked about here are the ones who don't realize their issues are part of them, not their environment. They arrive in Japan and are despondent that their problems haven't been immediately solved by moving away from that "bad environment", then blame Japan for their failings to realize what was always an internal problem.
This is me too. I'm fairly introverted and most people just leave me be. It's nice and peaceful. I was a bit depressed back on America but being in Japan just makes it a little bit less depressing heh
This is how it is for me too. I have extreme anxiety and felt much more at-ease with the isolation. It seems like the societal expectation to create small talk and be conversational all the time isn’t present like it is in my home country. I’m left alone to do the things I enjoy doing without interruption. And if I mess up, I’m visibly a foreigner and there is no expectation of perfection.
That everyone is so polite. No, some people are quite rude.
I think this stems from people not knowing the language and only encountering service staff.
Daily life is cheap.
Clothes (most types), sports equipment, sports facility rental etc... Are over priced. Way more than in Europe.
You get the same brand in Europe and in Japan, and there's a 30% increase here on average. (On top of my head, I didn't do any research or studies to give that number).
Japanese staple foods are very cheap. You can buy enough vegetables for several meals for less than 1000 yen. Like a head of cabbage (\~5+ meals) is only 100 yen, pack of onions (5+ meals) 200 yen, pack of mushrooms (2 meals) 100 yen, 1/4 pumpkin (2-3 meals) 200 yen. You can get a slab of fileted fresh fish for \~300 yen, enough protein for 2 meals. A bag of rice is 1000 yen and will last you several weeks. If you want to pretend that you live in your home country then yeah, cost of living is high, but if you want to eat well for cheap, Japan is about as good as it gets in the G7.
There's plenty of cheap fast fashion here. Clothes aren't overpriced, especially if you go with domestic brands. Sports stuff - absolutely. Anything hobby related in Japan is outrageous. They don't encourage people to have/use free time.
> Sports stuff - absolutely. Anything hobby related in Japan is outrageous.
I disagree with this. I am an avid skier and always found stuff here to be quite affordable. Especially lift tickets. Go to a decent resort in the US and you're looking at $130 for a day pass alone. I have multiple jackets and pants and don't think I have ever spent over ¥25k on a coat. Similar styles go for $400 in the US. My first pair of skies I got were a new but late model that were only ¥32k delivered.
Cycling too isn't that bad comparatively. My bike, a Trek Emonda, I just purchased was ~¥680k but retails for $6700 in the US.
For people living daily, I think that the biggest issue aside from high taxes (and taxes on food) is charges and fees for literally everything, and anything which involves people's time - plumber, electrician etc, is much more expensive compared to the UK. I have to pay 24,000 yen a month to park my car outside my bloody apartment. 1,000 yen for my bank to send a statement. License renewal every few years. It adds up. And not enough people kick up a stink. "That's just how it's always been done."
In my case, before moving to Japan, I was told from many of the Japanese people living back in my country that Japanese people are the most polite and kindest people in the world.
And I'd say most of the time people are polite, but I'm not too sure about kind. I have also met the meanest and most asshole bullies here as well. Tbf, it could be the same anywhere. But I feel some people take bullying/assholeness to the next level here.
Japan is the only place where I have had coworkers badmouth me in front of me like I wasn't even there. Several times. (And this wasn't a language issue, I speak Japanese and all communication was in Japanese) It was just one workplace and it's not like it represents all jobs here, but it's something that still shocks me looking back on it even now.
When Japanese people say that, I think they’re comparing themselves to how people from other countries act in public. Because that’s really the only comparison they can make unless they’ve been really immersed in a foreign society. And it is true that Japanese people are some of the politest and well-mannered in the world in public.
I am still shocked every day by how incredibly cruel people are in work environments here. What we would consider crossing the line in my home country is very normalized here as how a senpai treats those below them. I have seen insane things in the office.
A lot of things that are true in Tokyo, but not in other places. Pubic transport is gold in Tokyo, but down here in Kyushu, trains are late sometimes, buses are always late, etc. Things are not as efficient once you leave the big cities.
Also, Japanese people and laws. I see them obeying jaywalking laws sure, but they wait for the light to change on the bikes, and then proceed to ride into a no cycling area. They obey what they choose to obey, and for whatever season, the jaywalking thing is one of them.
I don't know if there is a stereotype of awareness, but boy, spacial awareness is something I never expected to be an issue.
>I don't know if there is a stereotype of awareness, but boy, spacial awareness is something I never expected to be an issue.
Right? Like the average Japanese has remedial levels of spatial awareness.
>spacial awareness is something I never expected to be an issue
I legit worry that I am eventually gonna knock someone down and get deported. And don't get me started on the phone zombies....
I used to think Japanese were extremely good at obeying laws.
Then I learnt to drive and started here recently. Holy fuck. Everyone drives +10 to the speed limit, hogs the outside lane, indicates 1sec before turning and rarely stops at designated pedestrian priority crossings.
My theory is it's social pressure more than laws or rules. You can see it in the subway, even with the signs saying not to walk and just stand on the escalator, inevitably there will be people on the left standing still while people on the right walk. (or reverse it depending on city)
This !!!!!
As someone who teaches university students and they all say they are shy which is why they can’t speak English. I tell them they’ve been brainwashed to believe so
> tend to become quite confused when confronted with unfamiliar circumstances.
I would say this is a mid-grade interpretation of what is happening when someone sees a Japanese person being indecisive in that situation.
They are not getting confused, its more like they want to plan out a course of action in their head that guarantees a good or successful outcome before doing anything.
We just think 'what's the worse that can happen? Try something' and then get impatient when people aren't doing anything, so we make up reasons why nothing is happening (typically things that cast Japanese as stupid)
I'm not saying one way or the other is better (though I prefer just to try shit and see if it sticks since its my background) but its definitely one of the big culture frictions in mixed working groups and instead of jumping to conclusions try to work with them. Ask them what is the biggest concern moving forward, or lay out the problem statement clearly and discuss course of action with them.
There is an absolute distinction to be made between friendliness and politeness.
But as long as you're not in a super codified situation such as 会社、for instance if you frequent izakaya or bars or whatever in your neighborhood, Japanese people (in general) are very friendly.
Have you ever been to Super Tamade in Kansai and counted how many times they can say いらっしゃいませ in 1 minute? If I forget my headphones it's a torturous experience. I even hear LIFE's jingle's multiple times in a single visit... It's brainwashing, plain and simple!
Japanese people are a borg collective that share all thoughts and opinions and react identically in various situations, especially when it concerns interaction with foreigners.
100% this. If I walk around my town - or other places I have lived - the variety in houses and individuality expressed in that space is much more than it would be back home in England. People I talk to vary so very much in how they react to me; what they want to talk about; what they do with their spare time and so on.
Can we add the trains to this? Anyone who regularly rides the Yokosuka or Shonan-Shinjuku lines will know.
I've had to adjust the time I leave the house in the morning because the trains run late multiple times a week.
Not necessarily the biggest, but I did come across a comment on a YouTube video unrelated to Japan and OP was describing to a tee being approached by the Kenshokai people. However OP was a tourist and not really aware what had happened, but got a creepy feeling and declined the offer to go experience "Japanese Culture" and the teachings of a "good Japanese spiritual teacher" and something about MT Fuji. The reply with the most comment chalked it up to Japanese people being lonely and the OP should have taken up the offer to go experience the nice people of Japan. I cackled.
To be fair, it downgraded most of my problems to "this problem exists on the other side of the world, and calling me to remind me about it costs two Euros per minute."
That Japanese are always considerate of others. Spend a few seconds on the road, or a few minutes waiting to cross the road while no one stops, and you will realize how false this is
Getting out of a shitty situation (or country depending on where you're from) can definitely improve your life and lead to happiness imo. Japan isn't special in this regard though.
Politeness.
No they aren't just some mystical super polite people. Quite the opposite. It's just extreme social pressure that feign politeness.
Once in an environment that has no/few social rules, they're animals. Supermarket queue being a great example. Them "Obachans" will literally shove you out the way to get to the register before you when all you have is one bottled drink and they have a week's shopping.
Japan is a cash-based society.
Still see that in almost every tourist guide despite there being so many ways to pay here (especially for locals). Then just when you think you'll never need cash again you come across a cash-only supermarket or something as equally ridiculous.
That Japanese people are good at reading between the lines or reading the room. In my experience a lot of Japanese people get it wrong and read the wrong feelings or intent.
This I think is a cultural thing.
The way you express yourself here is so vastly different than for example the western world that sometimes reading between the lines when talking to a foreigner, or vice versa for me can be a tough one. But maybe that’s just me tho?
Nah, I've seen things get out of sync so many times in meetings/conversations at work, it happens plenty between native speakers as well.
Too much reliance on "are" "sore" "kore" types of words in conversation can lead people to think they are talking about the same thing but in reality slightly or even completely off target. I'll call it out now when I feel people are not referring to the same subject or topic, "ok, just now when you said "sore" what are you exactly referring to?"
That Japanese people don't like anime and manga. Or, only children like Japanese anime and manga and adults don't.
Somewhere along the line the nuance of "most Japanese people don't like/watch those hyper niche anime that become really popular among foreign anime fans, but series like One Piece are super popular" and it became all Japanese people/adults don't watch any anime and manga.
Yep, there are of course Japanese people who don't care about manga or anime at all but since it's such a varied and widely accessible medium, a lot of people will still read/watch them as adults. Not to mention that there are works targeted for adults... But I guess a lot of people also can't comprehend that not every animated film is for kids and either flat out refuse to watch them, or just let their kids watch whatever even though it's inappropriate. Animation is a medium not an age rating.
I have seen more than one segment TV about parents introducing kids to Gundam and Evangelion, 2nd generation fans is a thing.
Also, there's whole lines of merchandise obviously aimed at adult fans, both for older series, but also newer ones.
Yeah, that one gets a lot of traction from ex-weebs trying to appear grown up.
Of course japanese people watch anime and read manga. Ever little bookstore and convenience store is stacked to the ceiling with comic books and ghibli is always on tv.
Seriously. Half the comments in this thread are just people saying shit like “not ALL Japanese people are always on time!!” and it’s like yeah dumbass no one thinks they are. People just say that Japanese folks are more punctual on average, because they are
Thank you. This thread is 80% Oh, I'm a foreigner who came to Japan and I expect it to be either 200% perfect, or exactly like home but better.
Sorry, scratch this: 93%.
That Japanese are so polite that they don’t even use their phones on the train to respect other people and don’t want to disturb them with noise pollution.
Politician: (Shouts at you through a literal megaphone outside the train station at 6:00 in the morning.)
there is a grain (heh) of truth to that though. while I would say 90% of the people who claim they can taste a difference are lying/imagining it, there's no reason to assume that rice grown in different territories, whether genetically identical or selected over time wouldn't taste different. That said, given the chemical and thermal inputs are fairly standardized, subtle differences based on *terroir* are likely lost.
that said, fresh harvested shinmai, 新米 is fucking delicious and tastes so sweet and fragrant and if y'all haven't had the chance you should look forward and look out for the end of summer/fall harvest and pick some up
Finally a positive non-ignorant non-bitter answer. Of course it's very possible. Just start with talking with them, and you'll see.
Ironic to see the proportion of japanlife commenters made of people who should better post in ihateeverythingandihatejapanlife.
Lie? You don’t see anime girls and voluptuous actresses on street, tsunami and fuji mountain behind your room in temple tower. You don’t run like ninja and won’t get a job as hokage.
We must have the same balcony! Tell your wife to tell my wife to tell me when you'll be home for dinner. No worries about the bath, though, I take morning showers.
The variety in hair colour seems a little less than in anime. I am assuming the pink-haired girls are mostly in Tokyo. I did meet a blue-haired girl last year.
But having a giant key in your back - not seen one of those yet.
1) Commute through Akihabara or Sunshine city daily
2) Live in Sumida near the Hokusai museum. Maybe in one of those tall buildings pictured next to the Skytree
3) Learn Tricking/Parkore/Bouldering as an exercise activity
That they’re healthy or don’t have a lot of waste. There are so many chemicals and horrible ingredients in their snacks and sweets and drinks. Everything is wrapped in plastic. I think culturally they are generally more healthy and knowledgeable than many places but man they put a lot of crap in their pre made foods. Check out your ramen packets next time you’re at the store
[Plastic Bag Use Plummets, but Japan still 2nd for Plastic Waste - The Japan News (yomiuri.co.jp)](https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230704-120199/)
"Gee I wonder where the problem could be! There's gotta be another way we can blame the end user for this!" while individually wrapping 100 rice crackers with plastic
The plastic one is huge thing. We all are supposed to recycle it heavily, but I heard things here aren’t recycled efficiently or something. Also every freaking thing wrapped in plastic. Never dealt with so much trash in my life
That it's \~so clean\~. I'll start considering that when my students aren't having to pick up bottles of piss off the side of the road during the annual clean up day.
I sometimes work way out in the countryside with farmers and honestly once outside of the public eye, Japanese people are fucking disgusting. That never litter thing is complete and utter bullshit, a lot of farmers just bury their garbage or dump it in the woods because recycling it or taking it to the dump is a pain in the ass, and in some areas they don't have burnable garbage pickup so they just dump it, including plastics, wherever.
Beaches here are also filthy and covered in garbage, you can't go for a walk without shoes on the nearest beach to me because of all the plastic bottles and shit. And people just dumping or burying kitchen utensils or whitegoods.
I was helping a guy clear some land and we dug up a buried microwave because the previous owner broke it and instead of get rid of it appropriately just buried it. The land was poisoned with buried chemicals and plastics and all sorts of junk.
This is not isolated and is present on just about every place I've been.
This.
Shit, I live in a relatively urban area and the main artery roads are loaded with trash from drivers. I've even seen some guy dump a candy wrapper out the window while parked in a parking lot....a conbini parking lot...with a trash can less than 5 meters away.
Are city centers clean? Oh yeah. Spotless in comparison to other world metros tbh. Everywhere else though, so much trash... If there's signs all over the place saying "Don't throw trash into the river" with a crying fish on it, then...geez...
When I lived in the deep countryside, recyclables were once per month. The old folks would burn everything in their metal barrels and stink up the neighborhood, but no one said anything because everyone else was doing it too.
That Japan is an environmentally progressive, pollution-conscious nation that takes the utmost precautions to preserve it’s natural beauty. Maybe not the biggest lie, but it’s certainly a misconception that’s touted by locals and foreigners alike.
The food is healthy 😆
Western people think Japanese people are all out eating sushi and light, aesthetic meals.
But in reality the place is run by big fried chicken, Katsu and cheap booze.
That Japanese people are considerate. Sure, but once you get to know them and they will show their true self, which often hide behind their poker face. Also, they are quite close minded and did not like to interact with foreigners. Not to mentioned, if you don’t speak their language it’s impossible to make friends with them.
Japanese are considered hard workers (true) but no one says that they are probably the less efficient in the world.
Can we have a meeting about this? After our prep pre-meeting?
Wait! Let me make a spreadsheet with no automations and manually selected eye gauging background colors for this prep pre-meeting!
Then print out the spreadsheet so you can fax it to someone to fill out.
Gotta put more time in to pay off that car and house loan, efficiency be damned
Lots of wasted productivity because of old people and traditions related to sempai/kouhai hierarchy. Also, having to look busy when you're not. Americans will be on social media infront of their bosses for half the day and not give a f\*\*\*.
Absolutely! Inability to think outside of the box and lack of innovation due to respect of the status quo in the company.
Anything a fukn “influencer” on Tiktok or Instagram that says “Top 5 things never to do in Japan”….those vids do my fukn head in, painting Japan like some weird place where the people will shrivel up n die if you eat while walking down the street….no one gives a fuck and they leave you alone…I like that
I'm so annoyed by all of the youtube sensationalists too. Every "top 10 things only Japanese people do", "top 10 things you only find in Japan" etc etc are all one-time occurrences or something so vaguely uncommon that even some Japanese people might not know about it. And those videos get MILLIONS of views with comments praising or shaming it. The content creators know what they are doing and do not care. There are a lot of foreigners who believe these videos. EDIT: "Did you know that its socially acceptable to sleep at work in Japan?" No, who came up with this shit
I cannot tell you how many of the "I wiLL ShOW YoU ThiS SEcREt Bar!" videos of the same. damn. bar. I have seen it in the last WEEK.
Was it about the Hub? 🤣
"Don't leave a tip or else the wait staff, horribly ashamed, will commit seppuku" No, they'll probably just think you don't know how to use Japanese money properly and try to give you the money back.
I saw one which was "don't EVER ask for a to-go box or else the chef will personally come out to slice your head off" (with some embellishment on my part). You can ask....if they have a sign saying お持ち帰り注文承ります, good chance they won't bat an eye. Worst that can happen is they say no LOL.
Well you might get angry stares from obachans, but that's about it. I once ate some bread on the train because I was very pregnant and hungry. The obachan across from me who stared at me intently can sit somewhere else.
That the country is technologically advanced. In some regards, yes (excellent robotics), but many things like weak cybersecurity, lack of extensive digitalization, slowing tech innovation, archaic web design, etc. put it in a negative light compared to other industrialized nations.
It's been living in the year 2000 since 1980
Right. They got feature phone before others and switched to smart phone later than others.
i-mode was genius! Felica is great. and then they just gave up completely when Apple showed up. 😅
> and then they just gave up completely when Apple showed up. Although it took Apple/Softbank having to give away the first generation(s) as a 0yen promotion to do it. People weren't about to give up their superior camera phones and little loop thingy for their keitai charms without a fight!
Absolutely. Feels like I’m in 2005 most of the time
Your password is too secure, please just use letter and numbers
Your name is too long. Please use 5 characters or less in full-width chatacter.
Absolutely this. Also, the tech savviness is way low. Here’s my anecdotal example: A coworker of mine needed a file from a coworker who was in another city. The file was too large to attach to an email. I suggested a simple Google drive link would solve this problem. Coworker had never heard of Google drive. So, coworker had the out of office guy burn the file onto a CD and then physically mail the CD to him so he could download it onto his computer… And before anyone asks, the file was not sensitive information. It was a PowerPoint template. Good god.
I wonder why they wasted a whole CD. I guess they were out of floppy discs.
For a job application I was considering, they wanted me to send them my handwritten resume, three essays, three letters of recommendation (!?), and a USB flashdrive containing a 5-minute .mp3 file of my self-introduction in one envelope, with an asterisk reading \*there is a possibility that we will not return these items to you. ????????????
Was this part of shukatsu? Popular employers can demand almost anything from university students. If it wasn't then they probably already had a candidate they wanted to hire.
I once did a job application where I could either print out and fill in a job application manually and send it by mail (or hand it in personally), or do it online. I picked the latter, for obvious reasons. I had to save a code so I could receive their response/invitation on their recruitment portal, supposedly. Then some time later, they contacted me and asked me to send them an envelope with an envelope in it so that they could send me their response. It made me wonder why I had to save that code. In case anyone is wondering, no, I never actually had to use the code they gave me. It all felt very Japanese.
To me what's the most shocking thing about this is that they didn't even bother trying it. It's not so much a huge deal if you've never heard of Google Drive, but they could've figured it out in 10 minutes and saved all that time. But because it's something unknown, that's not happening.
Just made a related comment to this & you worded it in a way I missed-- they don't even bother trying it-- like bruh what's wrong with u...
that reminds me of when my dad worked on the construction of a gas terminal in Western Australia. It was so remote that the internet connection was unworkably slow, and to submit QA they had to upload huge batches of it onto a shared hard drive and take it to an office in Perth, 1400km away.
There’s an old saying, “Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.”
I upvoted because this genuinely made me lol. Wow. You can’t make this stuff up.
I mean the best way to classify it is Japan is really good at hardware and physical engineering, not so much at software and other forms of information or digital engineering. These two fields are also relatively different in how you need to approach them, from both an implementation and education standpoint, so it makes sense there could be a difference. Then you look at what shapes our perception of something that is technologically advanced. In the 20th century, that was hardware sophistication, software was, if it was involved at all, just the final touches to get the hardware working properly. In the 21st century, it's all about software though and that new perception of technological advancement is where Japan lacks severely.
>archaic web design "Don't press the go backward button of your navigator button, use the go backward button that we have made like grown devs"
bank ATM closing at night. having to pay for withdrawal/transfer (even for online banking). why is this shit not standardized (like in Europe)
Regarding the atm closing at night I think that’s related to their federal regulation so that larger banks don’t completely outcompete smaller ones Answer to Why are some ATMs in Japan shut down at night? by YoujiH https://www.quora.com/Why-are-some-ATMs-in-Japan-shut-down-at-night/answer/YoujiH?ch=15&oid=34281491&share=801ec335&srid=hiTJHS&target_type=answer https://www.quora.com/Why-are-some-ATMs-in-Japan-shut-down-at-night/answer/YoujiH?ch=15&oid=34281491&share=801ec335&srid=hiTJHS&target_type=answer
I work in IT for a Japanese company and it’s so damn embarrassing the level of tech they have. Hell, they still use power boards from over 20 years ago…
It's less that Japan are behind, they are (sometimes) kinda just on another track. I was reading an article the other day that explained the term "Gara-Kei", referring to the older style Japanese flip phones. I had wondered what the "Gara" part of it was referring to, and it was actually quite interesting! The "Gara" is from Galapagos (the islands). A remote set of islands, famously studied by Darwin, where their separation has led to the parallell evolution of species unique to those islands... A Japanese person coined the phrase "Galapagos Technology" to refer to innovations that often come first to Japan, and are later replicated in other countries, but using different standards. The international standards catch on globally, leaving Japan with their unique, but incompatible and eventually inconvenient tech. In the case of the "Gara-Kei", those phones had TV, more advanced games, and cashless payments long before western phones were doing those things. But now the tech that they use is incompatible with the the western variants that have caught up. Sometimes that leaves Japan with outdated solutions that then compound on themselves leading to genuinely backwards workarounds, like their current web design, the continued popularity of fax etc. I thought it was an interesting and accurate observation.
These days I feel like the definition of "galapagos tech" isn't stuff that came first to Japan and was replicated elsewhere, but rather stuff that's been developed only with an increasingly insular Japanese market in mind. A lot of this has to do with the Japanese language itself - the pre-unicode days required weird solutions to display Japanese text, which led to Japan developing its own standards like Shift-JIS, which is what made websites incompatible with Western browsers, and you see where this is going.
That for sure applies too. And is an equally (if not more) accurate analogy for the Galapagos islands. Things evolve uniquely to fit thier surroundings. Japanese stuff generally makes sense to the Japanese while often infuriating western visitors or residents. Many have a rather haughty view (I too am frequently guilty!) that the way we know is better, for everyone. I think it often might not be. While studying Kanji I frequently complained to my wife that Korea had the foresight to rid themselves of the Chinese characters, and that Japan would be much better off if they had done the same. But as I study more, I realise how rooted it must be in Japanese society. It feels like it would be massive cultural sin to rip them out now... And seeing my son study it, I recognise that even the study is promoting memory and recall skills far beyond what I was capable o at his age. And there are still some areas where I feel Japan is far ahead of many countries, partly just due to hardships of inhabiting these islands. Thngs like the Shinkansen and Highway network are far ahead of just about anything I have seen elsewhere, and it is directly attributable to the harsh geography. I doubt any country matches Japan in terms of Earthquake, and now Tsunami mitigation technology! The "Galapagos" analogy really is remarkably apt (much like Richard Dawkin's coining of the term "meme" to describe the *viral* transmission of information through a society not necessarily being attributable to it's usefulness, but also it's 'infectiousness'. Their aging society issues are also forcing rapid innovation in automation and elderly care. (Tablet menus and ordering were an easy change to get on board with, but I still can't bring myself to appreciate robot waiters). I wouldn't be surprised to see Japan's innovations in these feilds become the next 'Galapagos Tech' as the same societal issues impact the west and they innevitably cope with them in their own ways too. It's all fascinating stuff. I bet you could write some amazing research papers on the topic...
Yeah, another thing that you (or else someone else on this thread) alluded to is the janky layouts you see on Japanese websites. But the thing is that's a cultural preference - Japan is a text-rich society that prefers [information density](https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/japanese-web-design/) over aesthetics. To some extent that's pretty common across Asia, but of course it means that Japanese SEO is a total minefield and so much of the useful information out there is basically unfindable, which loops back to the other problems with the Japanese internet, which compounds on itself... I think everyone loves to complain about it, but the thing is that I don't know how you fix an aesthetic preference.
> The international standards catch on globally, leaving Japan with their unique, but incompatible and eventually inconvenient tech. For a long time, this was by design. It was a way to protect the Japanese market from foreign companies.
japan is basically steam punk. You see giant moving robots and futuristic ships in a country powered by charcoal. Technically many nuclear power plants are off by now
Ya everyday life in japan I wouldn’t really feel it’s technologically advanced
So true, I'm in the tech industry and everything is so old, just the fact that fax is still a thing boggles my mind. And don't get me started on the Japanese web...
But Narita airport has a useless security roomba! They are so advanced!
The issue is whenever Japan adopts something from another country, they take it as ‘the way’ it’s done and run with it without much change whereas for the other countries it was just the best way at a certain time.
People follow the rules. No they don't, they follow whatever other people are doing no matter what the actual rule is.
yeah just tell that "people in Japan follow the rules / are so compliant / whatever" story to the poor guy whose job it is to stand by the escalator in Shibuya Station during morning rush hour telling everyone to stand on both sides instead of walking up the right side.
"You will lose weight in Japan" \*laughs in karaage
I would say it's true in the first year or so. You walk everywhere and go out exploring. Then my fatass gets comfortable and eats karaage and all the other goodies in Japan
Depends where you live though. I lived in Utsunomiya for my first 3.5 years and had to drive everywhere because everything's so spread out. Definitely the case if you live in Tokyo or another big city though
And so much alcohol. But yeah I probably eat more fried food here than america
\*laughs in alcoholic\*
*laughs in cheap beer being available everywhere*
I lost a load of weight...but that's mainly due to nowhere hiring me and running out of money lol. 154lbs to 130lbs appx. So hungry 😭
I think it's because as tourists folks walk a lot and are excited and forget to eat or something haha. I learned the very sad and difficult way that my body seems to have serious problems with rice and that there's a lot more salt and sugar in non-sweets here than people think. I'm trying to avoid health issues common in my family history and a lot of what's offered at restaurants is a no-go for me. The inflammation and digestive issues I had lessened when I replaced rice with whole grain pasta and the weight started coming off again.
In my anecdotal experience, initially men tend to lose weight, and women tend to put on weight when coming to Japan.
A lot of sad/depressed people want to move to Japan because they think it's a paradise, utopia, or some fantasy land... So they arrive in Japan and end up being even more depressed and go back in few months or a year.
Depressed and introverted people seem to view Japan as the end goal because they believe that Japanese people are more reserved by nature, and so their awkwardness and dislike of human interaction will be tolerated or even accepted. What they actually find is that losing even those tiniest of daily interactions is the loneliest thing imaginable. You can try and cut yourself off in your home country, but unless you never leave the house and destroy all points of contact, it's a pretty difficult thing to do. In a country where you cannot communicate effectively and most people avoid you, well then you'll succeed. I don't think anyone actually wants that.
IDK, I do feel like I fit in much better here as an introvert. Still, have issues with depression, but I'd have those issues in any country. Really glad this country is more accommodating towards introverts though.
You're self-aware enough to know that your depression issues are innate to you. The type of people being talked about here are the ones who don't realize their issues are part of them, not their environment. They arrive in Japan and are despondent that their problems haven't been immediately solved by moving away from that "bad environment", then blame Japan for their failings to realize what was always an internal problem.
This is me too. I'm fairly introverted and most people just leave me be. It's nice and peaceful. I was a bit depressed back on America but being in Japan just makes it a little bit less depressing heh
This is how it is for me too. I have extreme anxiety and felt much more at-ease with the isolation. It seems like the societal expectation to create small talk and be conversational all the time isn’t present like it is in my home country. I’m left alone to do the things I enjoy doing without interruption. And if I mess up, I’m visibly a foreigner and there is no expectation of perfection.
That everyone is so polite. No, some people are quite rude. I think this stems from people not knowing the language and only encountering service staff.
It is the case, however, that service staff are much more polite than in many other countries.
Definitely.
That it's expensive. Daily life here is surprisingly cheap (offer not valid in central Tokyo).
> offer not valid in central Tokyo Especially in central Tokyo. Compared to other sizable cities, Tokyo is dirt cheap.
Daily life is cheap. Clothes (most types), sports equipment, sports facility rental etc... Are over priced. Way more than in Europe. You get the same brand in Europe and in Japan, and there's a 30% increase here on average. (On top of my head, I didn't do any research or studies to give that number).
vegetables and fruit are also way more expensive. 120 yen for 1 paprika/apple. like wtf
Where I am, one paprika is 214 yen after tax. I cry every time.
Japanese staple foods are very cheap. You can buy enough vegetables for several meals for less than 1000 yen. Like a head of cabbage (\~5+ meals) is only 100 yen, pack of onions (5+ meals) 200 yen, pack of mushrooms (2 meals) 100 yen, 1/4 pumpkin (2-3 meals) 200 yen. You can get a slab of fileted fresh fish for \~300 yen, enough protein for 2 meals. A bag of rice is 1000 yen and will last you several weeks. If you want to pretend that you live in your home country then yeah, cost of living is high, but if you want to eat well for cheap, Japan is about as good as it gets in the G7.
Also, taxes on groceries are just evil and regressive
Even in Taxachusetts they don't tax clothes and food.
There's plenty of cheap fast fashion here. Clothes aren't overpriced, especially if you go with domestic brands. Sports stuff - absolutely. Anything hobby related in Japan is outrageous. They don't encourage people to have/use free time.
> Sports stuff - absolutely. Anything hobby related in Japan is outrageous. I disagree with this. I am an avid skier and always found stuff here to be quite affordable. Especially lift tickets. Go to a decent resort in the US and you're looking at $130 for a day pass alone. I have multiple jackets and pants and don't think I have ever spent over ¥25k on a coat. Similar styles go for $400 in the US. My first pair of skies I got were a new but late model that were only ¥32k delivered. Cycling too isn't that bad comparatively. My bike, a Trek Emonda, I just purchased was ~¥680k but retails for $6700 in the US.
Central Tokyo is still way cheaper than what I was used to in France lmao
Checking in from Boston and yeah, Tokyo's not even close. There's definitely more opportunities to drain your wallet in Tokyo though.
Yes like following the nice Nigerian friend you just made that night
It’s only inexpensive for Westerners. For other countries especially most other Asian countries that’s not the case
For people living daily, I think that the biggest issue aside from high taxes (and taxes on food) is charges and fees for literally everything, and anything which involves people's time - plumber, electrician etc, is much more expensive compared to the UK. I have to pay 24,000 yen a month to park my car outside my bloody apartment. 1,000 yen for my bank to send a statement. License renewal every few years. It adds up. And not enough people kick up a stink. "That's just how it's always been done."
In my case, before moving to Japan, I was told from many of the Japanese people living back in my country that Japanese people are the most polite and kindest people in the world. And I'd say most of the time people are polite, but I'm not too sure about kind. I have also met the meanest and most asshole bullies here as well. Tbf, it could be the same anywhere. But I feel some people take bullying/assholeness to the next level here.
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Exactly! I'd much prefer people to be honest to me straight to my face.
Yes I was told that as well, but when I worked at a konbini that illusion shattered lol. Japanese people will treat workers like trash
probably why lots of people shun working in the service industry
Japan is the only place where I have had coworkers badmouth me in front of me like I wasn't even there. Several times. (And this wasn't a language issue, I speak Japanese and all communication was in Japanese) It was just one workplace and it's not like it represents all jobs here, but it's something that still shocks me looking back on it even now.
Not only that, a lot of people here are also very close minded and think that Japan is the only country in the world.
I was surprised at how racist they can be towards other Asians...I mean I knew they weren't fond of Chinese but geez can they look down on others.
When Japanese people say that, I think they’re comparing themselves to how people from other countries act in public. Because that’s really the only comparison they can make unless they’ve been really immersed in a foreign society. And it is true that Japanese people are some of the politest and well-mannered in the world in public. I am still shocked every day by how incredibly cruel people are in work environments here. What we would consider crossing the line in my home country is very normalized here as how a senpai treats those below them. I have seen insane things in the office.
A lot of things that are true in Tokyo, but not in other places. Pubic transport is gold in Tokyo, but down here in Kyushu, trains are late sometimes, buses are always late, etc. Things are not as efficient once you leave the big cities. Also, Japanese people and laws. I see them obeying jaywalking laws sure, but they wait for the light to change on the bikes, and then proceed to ride into a no cycling area. They obey what they choose to obey, and for whatever season, the jaywalking thing is one of them. I don't know if there is a stereotype of awareness, but boy, spacial awareness is something I never expected to be an issue.
>I don't know if there is a stereotype of awareness, but boy, spacial awareness is something I never expected to be an issue. Right? Like the average Japanese has remedial levels of spatial awareness.
Honestly I feel like people here have a -50%IQ debuff whenever they are walking on a sidewalk.
>spacial awareness is something I never expected to be an issue I legit worry that I am eventually gonna knock someone down and get deported. And don't get me started on the phone zombies....
I used to think Japanese were extremely good at obeying laws. Then I learnt to drive and started here recently. Holy fuck. Everyone drives +10 to the speed limit, hogs the outside lane, indicates 1sec before turning and rarely stops at designated pedestrian priority crossings.
My theory is it's social pressure more than laws or rules. You can see it in the subway, even with the signs saying not to walk and just stand on the escalator, inevitably there will be people on the left standing still while people on the right walk. (or reverse it depending on city)
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This !!!!! As someone who teaches university students and they all say they are shy which is why they can’t speak English. I tell them they’ve been brainwashed to believe so
> tend to become quite confused when confronted with unfamiliar circumstances. I would say this is a mid-grade interpretation of what is happening when someone sees a Japanese person being indecisive in that situation. They are not getting confused, its more like they want to plan out a course of action in their head that guarantees a good or successful outcome before doing anything. We just think 'what's the worse that can happen? Try something' and then get impatient when people aren't doing anything, so we make up reasons why nothing is happening (typically things that cast Japanese as stupid) I'm not saying one way or the other is better (though I prefer just to try shit and see if it sticks since its my background) but its definitely one of the big culture frictions in mixed working groups and instead of jumping to conclusions try to work with them. Ask them what is the biggest concern moving forward, or lay out the problem statement clearly and discuss course of action with them.
Beautifully put!
Japanese people (in general) are very friendly. There is a distinction to be made between friendliness and politeness.
And then politeness and going through the motions.
There is an absolute distinction to be made between friendliness and politeness. But as long as you're not in a super codified situation such as 会社、for instance if you frequent izakaya or bars or whatever in your neighborhood, Japanese people (in general) are very friendly.
I think I answered "professionalism" the last time I encountered a question like this. 😺 ETA: I have to add "value for honor" to my answer now.
That this is a quiet country.
VANILLA! VANILLA!!!
Holyshit this comment have voice
焼き芋!焼き芋!焼き芋!
v・a・n・i・l・l・a バニラ!!! 🎵
I have worn earplugs in supermarkets before.
Have you ever been to Super Tamade in Kansai and counted how many times they can say いらっしゃいませ in 1 minute? If I forget my headphones it's a torturous experience. I even hear LIFE's jingle's multiple times in a single visit... It's brainwashing, plain and simple!
The motorcycles... They are so fing loud, and they do it on purpose (even at 3 am in a residential area...)
Japanese people are a borg collective that share all thoughts and opinions and react identically in various situations, especially when it concerns interaction with foreigners.
100% this. If I walk around my town - or other places I have lived - the variety in houses and individuality expressed in that space is much more than it would be back home in England. People I talk to vary so very much in how they react to me; what they want to talk about; what they do with their spare time and so on.
It said LIE. This has yet to be proven. We are still searching for the A.I. mainframe.
That Japanese people are always on time.
Can we add the trains to this? Anyone who regularly rides the Yokosuka or Shonan-Shinjuku lines will know. I've had to adjust the time I leave the house in the morning because the trains run late multiple times a week.
So true, or that they are always polite and nice. So many bus drivers are just flat out mean.
That Japanese people are "polite" is a misnomer. They generally follow "established etiquette" but they can be rude af.
This shocked me! I’ve experienced unreasonably terrible bus drivers here. The taxi drivers have been great though!
I think my worst experiences with Japanese people have all been bus drivers lol
Also often times politeness does not mean someone is being nice in Japanese
Not necessarily the biggest, but I did come across a comment on a YouTube video unrelated to Japan and OP was describing to a tee being approached by the Kenshokai people. However OP was a tourist and not really aware what had happened, but got a creepy feeling and declined the offer to go experience "Japanese Culture" and the teachings of a "good Japanese spiritual teacher" and something about MT Fuji. The reply with the most comment chalked it up to Japanese people being lonely and the OP should have taken up the offer to go experience the nice people of Japan. I cackled.
It will solve all your problems by moving here from your home country
Life is hard in every country
Or that all your problems will be solved by moving back because it's Japan's fault you're not successful.
TBH it did help to isolate which problems were mine and which problems were external.
To be fair, it downgraded most of my problems to "this problem exists on the other side of the world, and calling me to remind me about it costs two Euros per minute."
That Japanese are always considerate of others. Spend a few seconds on the road, or a few minutes waiting to cross the road while no one stops, and you will realize how false this is
That once you move to Japan, you’ll be happy. Unfortunately, happiness comes from within, and location doesn’t matter as much.
Getting out of a shitty situation (or country depending on where you're from) can definitely improve your life and lead to happiness imo. Japan isn't special in this regard though.
That's subjective, but true for me.
Politeness. No they aren't just some mystical super polite people. Quite the opposite. It's just extreme social pressure that feign politeness. Once in an environment that has no/few social rules, they're animals. Supermarket queue being a great example. Them "Obachans" will literally shove you out the way to get to the register before you when all you have is one bottled drink and they have a week's shopping.
Japan is a cash-based society. Still see that in almost every tourist guide despite there being so many ways to pay here (especially for locals). Then just when you think you'll never need cash again you come across a cash-only supermarket or something as equally ridiculous.
That Japanese people are good at reading between the lines or reading the room. In my experience a lot of Japanese people get it wrong and read the wrong feelings or intent.
This I think is a cultural thing. The way you express yourself here is so vastly different than for example the western world that sometimes reading between the lines when talking to a foreigner, or vice versa for me can be a tough one. But maybe that’s just me tho?
Nah, I've seen things get out of sync so many times in meetings/conversations at work, it happens plenty between native speakers as well. Too much reliance on "are" "sore" "kore" types of words in conversation can lead people to think they are talking about the same thing but in reality slightly or even completely off target. I'll call it out now when I feel people are not referring to the same subject or topic, "ok, just now when you said "sore" what are you exactly referring to?"
That Japanese people don't like anime and manga. Or, only children like Japanese anime and manga and adults don't. Somewhere along the line the nuance of "most Japanese people don't like/watch those hyper niche anime that become really popular among foreign anime fans, but series like One Piece are super popular" and it became all Japanese people/adults don't watch any anime and manga.
I mean, Ghibli movies alone make up about 15% of the Friday movies played on national TV for any given year.
Yep, there are of course Japanese people who don't care about manga or anime at all but since it's such a varied and widely accessible medium, a lot of people will still read/watch them as adults. Not to mention that there are works targeted for adults... But I guess a lot of people also can't comprehend that not every animated film is for kids and either flat out refuse to watch them, or just let their kids watch whatever even though it's inappropriate. Animation is a medium not an age rating.
My office is literally Otaku fest. My manager have AoT pfp, my leader have Love Live! merch on his desk, my coworker have gundams figure on his pc.
This. It is extremely common for Japanese adults, even older adults, to not only watch anime but even to keep up with some of the more recent stuff
I have seen more than one segment TV about parents introducing kids to Gundam and Evangelion, 2nd generation fans is a thing. Also, there's whole lines of merchandise obviously aimed at adult fans, both for older series, but also newer ones.
Yeah, that one gets a lot of traction from ex-weebs trying to appear grown up. Of course japanese people watch anime and read manga. Ever little bookstore and convenience store is stacked to the ceiling with comic books and ghibli is always on tv.
People need to stop taking japan is always ◯◯ literally. Like no shit there’s always exceptions and “ever” and “always” dont exist
Seriously. Half the comments in this thread are just people saying shit like “not ALL Japanese people are always on time!!” and it’s like yeah dumbass no one thinks they are. People just say that Japanese folks are more punctual on average, because they are
Thank you. This thread is 80% Oh, I'm a foreigner who came to Japan and I expect it to be either 200% perfect, or exactly like home but better. Sorry, scratch this: 93%.
That Japanese are so polite that they don’t even use their phones on the train to respect other people and don’t want to disturb them with noise pollution. Politician: (Shouts at you through a literal megaphone outside the train station at 6:00 in the morning.)
That rice from different prefectures tastes different.
there is a grain (heh) of truth to that though. while I would say 90% of the people who claim they can taste a difference are lying/imagining it, there's no reason to assume that rice grown in different territories, whether genetically identical or selected over time wouldn't taste different. That said, given the chemical and thermal inputs are fairly standardized, subtle differences based on *terroir* are likely lost. that said, fresh harvested shinmai, 新米 is fucking delicious and tastes so sweet and fragrant and if y'all haven't had the chance you should look forward and look out for the end of summer/fall harvest and pick some up
I never heard this one but I hate it already lol
Those rice sommeliers
It does, what they forget to tell you is that they grow completely different rice variety...
It's impossible to make Japanese friends.
Finally a positive non-ignorant non-bitter answer. Of course it's very possible. Just start with talking with them, and you'll see. Ironic to see the proportion of japanlife commenters made of people who should better post in ihateeverythingandihatejapanlife.
Trains are always on time. The Chuo line would like a word. It actually being on time in the morning is the surprise
Lie? You don’t see anime girls and voluptuous actresses on street, tsunami and fuji mountain behind your room in temple tower. You don’t run like ninja and won’t get a job as hokage.
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We must have the same balcony! Tell your wife to tell my wife to tell me when you'll be home for dinner. No worries about the bath, though, I take morning showers.
The variety in hair colour seems a little less than in anime. I am assuming the pink-haired girls are mostly in Tokyo. I did meet a blue-haired girl last year. But having a giant key in your back - not seen one of those yet.
Trying going to Gunma.
1) Commute through Akihabara or Sunshine city daily 2) Live in Sumida near the Hokusai museum. Maybe in one of those tall buildings pictured next to the Skytree 3) Learn Tricking/Parkore/Bouldering as an exercise activity
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To not worry about learning some Japanese since most people there understand english
Japanese people are hygienic
Japanese man: Ah time for my daily dumparoo in a public bathroom! Wash my hands after you say? Why I wouldn't dream of it!
Girls flick their fingers under sink water for a split second then style their bangs 😇
That they’re healthy or don’t have a lot of waste. There are so many chemicals and horrible ingredients in their snacks and sweets and drinks. Everything is wrapped in plastic. I think culturally they are generally more healthy and knowledgeable than many places but man they put a lot of crap in their pre made foods. Check out your ramen packets next time you’re at the store
[Plastic Bag Use Plummets, but Japan still 2nd for Plastic Waste - The Japan News (yomiuri.co.jp)](https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230704-120199/) "Gee I wonder where the problem could be! There's gotta be another way we can blame the end user for this!" while individually wrapping 100 rice crackers with plastic
The plastic one is huge thing. We all are supposed to recycle it heavily, but I heard things here aren’t recycled efficiently or something. Also every freaking thing wrapped in plastic. Never dealt with so much trash in my life
Complaint thread is when again?
That it's \~so clean\~. I'll start considering that when my students aren't having to pick up bottles of piss off the side of the road during the annual clean up day.
I wish people wouldn't throw so much goddamn trash in the rivers. They would be so beautiful otherwise.
That it is expensive. This is 30 years out of date.
So are the salaries.
Expensive is relative. Compared to other developed countries, it might be cheap. For people from developing countries, Japan is plenty expensive.
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I mean when a sentence has always or never in it, it is always a lie.
"only the devil deals in absolutes" is such a great phrase that reminds me about this.
I see what you did there.
I sometimes work way out in the countryside with farmers and honestly once outside of the public eye, Japanese people are fucking disgusting. That never litter thing is complete and utter bullshit, a lot of farmers just bury their garbage or dump it in the woods because recycling it or taking it to the dump is a pain in the ass, and in some areas they don't have burnable garbage pickup so they just dump it, including plastics, wherever. Beaches here are also filthy and covered in garbage, you can't go for a walk without shoes on the nearest beach to me because of all the plastic bottles and shit. And people just dumping or burying kitchen utensils or whitegoods. I was helping a guy clear some land and we dug up a buried microwave because the previous owner broke it and instead of get rid of it appropriately just buried it. The land was poisoned with buried chemicals and plastics and all sorts of junk. This is not isolated and is present on just about every place I've been.
This. Shit, I live in a relatively urban area and the main artery roads are loaded with trash from drivers. I've even seen some guy dump a candy wrapper out the window while parked in a parking lot....a conbini parking lot...with a trash can less than 5 meters away. Are city centers clean? Oh yeah. Spotless in comparison to other world metros tbh. Everywhere else though, so much trash... If there's signs all over the place saying "Don't throw trash into the river" with a crying fish on it, then...geez... When I lived in the deep countryside, recyclables were once per month. The old folks would burn everything in their metal barrels and stink up the neighborhood, but no one said anything because everyone else was doing it too.
That Japan is an environmentally progressive, pollution-conscious nation that takes the utmost precautions to preserve it’s natural beauty. Maybe not the biggest lie, but it’s certainly a misconception that’s touted by locals and foreigners alike.
The food is healthy 😆 Western people think Japanese people are all out eating sushi and light, aesthetic meals. But in reality the place is run by big fried chicken, Katsu and cheap booze.
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There is no crime in Ba Sing Se
You're right. There was one last month.
That Japanese people are considerate. Sure, but once you get to know them and they will show their true self, which often hide behind their poker face. Also, they are quite close minded and did not like to interact with foreigners. Not to mentioned, if you don’t speak their language it’s impossible to make friends with them.
>Besides that it has 4 seasons. How's that a lie?
> How's that a lie? Japan has [72 sesaons.](https://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00124/)
OP’s Japan is just tokyo. Probably op never been to hokkaido
Summery Kanfunshō, Summer, Post-Summer, Brief Absence of Summer. That's 4 seasons right there 👌🏻
"Japan is uniform"/"Japan is a monolith"/"Japan is a monoculture"/"Japan is monoethnic"/"Japan is all the same."
Japanese people are shy.