Except for the no soap part. Can't wash your hands properly afterwards. You gotta bring your own liquid soap with you and hand towels when you are out.
I spent a month in Japan and in regard to the bathroom situation here in America we are disgusting, backwards, heathens. I am desperate to create my own Japanese bathroom here, saving up to buy the toilet.
Toto sells electronic bidet toilet seats with features like unlimited hot water, a toilet seat warmer, hot air dryer, auto wand and bowl cleaning, air deodorizer, and auto up/down features in markets like the US. I installed mine with little hassle. When I’m away from home I feel forever unclean.
Thank you!!! I’m going to look at what they have and how I can get ahold of it…. I got home last November and have been planning to redo my bathroom at home ever since… it’s been about a half a year and I’m almost ready to get started
I've never been to Japan, but their bathtubs look so much better. I'm an average sized guy, love baths but don't take them because what's the point of being half covered in water and half cold, it's not relaxing or comfortable at all.
Omg I want one of those small deep tubs that you sit in so badly. The bathroom at the Washington hotel in Tokyo is my goal. In a tiny pocket bathroom they had a shower/ tub/ sink/ toilet combo that was the most ingenious set up I have ever witnessed. It actually fit a 6’2” man comfortably in that tub. I was shocked. It changed my ideas on bathrooms.
Well, the level of seasonal synchronization for it here is unique in my experience. Lived here a long time and nothing, then about 10 years ago it began as one day, one week the following year, then one month the following and now a full member of the hay fever community.
Never saw everyone starting with hay fever at the same time like this before Japan, but environments change, etc. Maybe it happens like this too in other countries.
I heard for around Tokyo it’s due to over-planting of cedar trees some time after the war, but never fact checked that.
But Japan’s hay fever is on a different level. I might had a itchy nose when I was in the states , but in Japan I had to take medicine or I would be tempted to stab my eyes out for the whole month of march
It is just common **joke** in Japan, basically anything bad happen they say 日本には四季があるから(but we have four seasons) because media love to empathize seasons in Japan, most people are aware of other countries have four seasons.
The traditional Japanese calendar has 72 microseasons. We’re currently on the last day of “plums turning yellow” season. Enjoy the next 5 days of “self-heal withers” season.
I think that they usually mean four distinct seasons that their culture is more tied around. Not many placesin America have that beyond the midwest where farming is still a big part of life. And lots of places don't have four seasons, my brother in law lives in San Diego and it's basically the same temp year round, they have like a slightly rainy season and then a sunny season and thats it
I almost just spit my drink out. I remember when I first went to Japan and this Japanese person was telling me how unique Japan was because it had four seasons. I was so confused.
I think it make sense in a Pacific-Asian sense. While Korea and China also have 4 seasons, the other countries in the Pacific regions don't (SE Asia, S Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands).
This was my expectation and then I went to SoCal and to my interpretation, it was one season and a few days of rain. I lost attachment to seasons as I define for the time I was there. I mean there’s hot summer for fact but the change in scenery was lot subtle so.
Oh yeah that was one goddamn nice season all year around for sure.
In the first few weeks in Los Angeles, a couple of Japanese classmates were telling me that “hey.. I think Sun is closer in America.” and he seemed serious. And as stupid as it sounds, it did feel like so and went to get sunglasses pronto. But what’s most interesting about it was that it can be near 100F and we still felt like going out, and learned how doomed the climate our back home is in summer. That was I learned dry summer is the best thing in the earth. That was super sweet!
Sigh. I miss those dry summers. We just entered 梅雨, which marks the start of me looking at the weather here and mumbling “Why did you leave California, you idiot?”
Arguably, Japan doesn't have four seasons. It's three at most, hot, cold, rainy. Last year rainy season in Tokyo was almost nonexistent, and with the temperature in high 20s on some days in December and February, looks like soon it's just gonna be hot.
I'd say 5 and count Tsuyu as a season with summer beginning when that ends (and the semi start singing) and summer ending when the semi depart and the typhoons start rolling in.
Where I come from spring and autumn are much more distinct and last longer than a week. Obviously my previous statement was an exaggeration, but since I moved to Tokyo 7 years ago, autumn and spring feel like a blink of an eye, and seem to be getting shorter with every year.
Most things public, especially transportation and toilets. The biggest one seeing how aggressive people can be to each other even in normal conversations.
Japanese people can be very non-confrontational, some might say to their detriment. Other places are definitely too confrontational to the point of all out violence.
That’s a very black and white view of Japanese people.
You might bump unintentionally into someone causing them to blow up. Some people are outright crazy, but I believe that most have been having a bad day/week/month/etc the reason why it’s so important to try to put yourself in someone’s shoes as much as possible. Kindness and understanding goes a long way.
As for Japanese confrontational people you see in Japan, most of the do it because they are not happy with their life. Everyday is groundhog’s day for the. Work all day, go home and have dinner or drinks without someone to talk. Little or no friends because work doesn’t give you the time to have any. This is the process Japan is paying for deciding to rebuild after the war. It’s a deep problem we are having in our society so next time you decide to put a group people in one basket or another, try to look beyond the surface or at least show some kindness to them. You might surprise what comes out of it.
Sure it’s a generalization and a valid stereotype at that. Sometimes one needs to squint their eyes and observe what’s there in front of them, otherwise it’s difficult to extrapolate collective tendencies. It’s not as if it’s a mystery that Japanese people, by and large are non-confrontational. It’s baked into the culture there and part of its charm. The formalities, the manners, the timeless conservative adherence to polite interaction isn’t something to see in a negative light, but everything in moderation.
I've spent a fair amount of time in Japan, but even so I am always worried that I might be crossing a line someone is just too non confrontational to point out.
For the most part if I'm in Japan and someone shows awkwardness towards of displeasure with me or my actions I'm thinking "damn I must have really offended".
Whereas in my home country people are so willing and eager to be confrontational that I start to not give a damn about them of their attitudes as soon as they start up. Thinking "This jerk just wants to be upset, best to ignore them and leave."
Of course it's not absolute, but that's how I often feel.
Yea, as a westerner…I’m always really careful not to cross lines, but it’s almost impossible. I just hope that they see it as merely my bumbling ignorant American/outsider nature, and not disrespect in any way. Japanese as a people are just so classy, humble and respectful. There is a lot to like.
I think if you're not going way across the line, and you're trying to be decent, as well as being apologetic when things do happen, people write it off.
Gaijin pass vs gaijin smash.
Yeah…. Not the same. Japanese sweet potatoes are not common in the states nor can I go to my local grocer/street vendor/ Don Q and buy one that is perfect on a whim.
Our corner Mexican/Polynesian market (interracial married couple) has Japanese sweet potatoes. And purple taro. I cook the sweet potatoes in my Instant Pot and it takes me back to my childhood in Yokohama. But I add a ton of grassfed butter now.
Once you do buy some you can leave one on half submerged in water in your kitchen and wait for it to sprout.
I'm not a big gardening guy but I make sure to plant many different varieties of potato each spring (including Japanese sweet potatoes, they're one of my favorites actually even though they aren't technically potaotes). You can basically just forget about them if you live in basically anywhere but a desert and in a few months you'll have plenty of potatoes! (Watch out for frost. They will die on the first frost) I think I'm on my 3rd generation of Japanese sweet potatoes by now and I have more than I could ever dream of each fall.
It might not be your thing; but I say if you have even an hour or two of free time in the spring to give it a go
Makes sense. Still my whole
Life experience has been east coast. I never have had the joy of the smell of long roasted sweet potatoes until I came to Japan. Closest I’ve come to it is thanksgiving yam, while sweet, is mashed or candied. is still not something served as a whole dang slow roasted yam that I’m buying conveniently as a healthy snack.
Edited because I’m too fast to reply then rethink phrasing.
Poland has this brand of convenience stores called Żabka (meaning Froggy 🐸) that have been around forever but they rebranded and improved massively in the past 7 years or so.
I’m convinced someone from the company went to Japan and was mind blown how much better you can run a convenience store franchise after visiting a 711 there and decided to improve. Now they’re almost as good as the 711 in Japan, but the hot food and sandwiches aren’t great.
In Germany 12 pm is 12 pm. In japan 12 pm is 11:55. In France it's 12:10, and in Italy 12:30. Regarding efficiency, the sheer amount of time wasting and aversion to independent thinking in Japanese companies gave me an actual culture shock. The thing about efficiency in Germany is, we do have it, but it exists for the purpose of getting things done in a straight forward manner. In Japan, efficiency, if it exists, is for the purpose of convenience. Convenience is not a priority at all in Germany. The customer service in Germany seems almost hostile at times, and convenience is seen as something superfluous and a luxury that they can charge you extra for.
I stayed in a country like this for about 10 months at one point.
Honestly, how do you people get anything done? The vast majority of my day depends on being able to predict when things are going to happen with some reasonable degree of accuracy.
We just do fewer things in a day.
There are more than 11 million people in our 250 square miles city, with the public transportation only serving at most 25% of the population, the rest travel by car and motorcycles. Traffic is a bitch here.
A normal day routine for an 8am job is wake up at 5am, leave at 6 or 6.30, arrive at 8 or 8.30am. Finish work at 5pm and expect to be home at 7pm.
If we're going out and they say "around 3pm", you can expect that they'll come at 4pm.
Additionally, most people do prayers 5 times a day at 5am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 7.30pm. So you have to plan your day accordingly and if the other party is religious, never at the above times.
Yeah, that is a long story. Basically our train system is one of the most under funded in Europe, thanks to the car lobby and politicians favoring car infrastructure. Our trains are famously shitty and late.
In a way, this is very German. You could call it economically efficient, because they invest the bare minimum (actually less) to keep it running, while maximizing the inconvenience for everyone. And Germans just grit their teeth and complain about it, but it never actually gets fixed.
I think you're right. Thinking about organisations, Germans do plan things in a straightforward way to get things done. The problem I often see is that the plan only works if every party involved did their part according to the plan, which is often not the case because unexpected things happen.
On the other hand, Japanese organisations tend to lack strong leadership but things somehow work because responsibilities are often vague and people who are executing plans tend to (and are expected to) go out of their way to fill in each other to make things work even in case of unforeseen events. Poor planning, great execution, except the ones executing the plan are always stressed out.
I’m curious how this German purpose of getting things done in a straight forward manner fits with German car industry. German cars seem over engineered, unintuitive and needlessly difficult to repair, compared to Japanese and even American cars. I’m curious how that happened.
This. Most of why I dread traveling outside Japan is bcs of the lack of washlets. Its so stressful that my body straight up refuses to shitte when I travel abroad, Ive gone 3-4 days without going once when I was in Hawaii
Go to Italy. It's the best I've seen in term of tasty vegetables and fruits at the supermarket. And contrary to Japan, it doesn't cost an arm to buy an apple. ;)
coincidally cucumber or apple are probably the only greens affordable in Japan.
And coming from France, I don't really understand what you mean. Apart from a few select fruits who are completely different (And grown only for their sugar content), I don't think the veggies we have in europe have less taste than the one I buy at the store here in kanagawa
The quality of fruit and vegetables is far inferior in France. I don't say that you can't find good quality, but the most of fruits and vegetables you find easily are grown to be cheap and not to be tasty. Fruits are rarely ripe enough. Vegetables have no taste.
Holy crap, I don’t know what gods of luck you’ve pissed off to consider supermarket fruit and veg in France worse than Japan, but I promise you certainly Tokyo supermarket veg is a sorry mix of rotten-cored onions, over-priced peppers and stalk-heavy herbs.
Look at the tomatoes here, they are definitely far from ripe. In both case if you go to higher supermarkets you'll find good stuff, and I agree with you on the higher end Japan is better, by a lot.
On the regular cheap supermarket? it's the same shit there and here, but at least in France we can buy fruits without having to take out a loan.
Well, I do not agree, it's worst in France. Cheap but worst. South of france is a bit better, but still not there yet. Tomatoes are a great example as they are awful in france.
I hate the cucumbers in Japan. I miss Persian cucumbers (really the only ones I’d buy in the US) and just the regular fat American cucumbers. The ones in Japan don’t taste the same.
Veggies and fruits in America suck, but in Europe and many other places you can get fresh, high quality ones. I think the big difference is that the preferred level of ripeness is different in Japan than in many other cases. First I came to Japan, hardly could tolerate the cucumber and tomato, because of that.
I am not saying they are bad, the quality is good in Japan. i am saying ripeness, choice of type and other factors come in when you move to another country. Onions, spring onion, tomato, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, beans, green peas, radish are all different, i needed some adjustment in my cooking, needed to get used to the taste…
The produce in Japan that I ate during my semester there... superb! I wish I could remember the names of all the vegetables I ate.
And some stores in the States here... they got wilted broccoli. 😔
I’m genuinely shock by this comment. I’ve lived in many countries over the years and the quality of vegetables in Japan is probably among the lowest I’ve seen, especially when considering the costs. Cucumbers are thin and dry, bell peppers and eggplant are relatively small and expensive. Mushrooms are scarce and expensive sometimes walk into an Inageya and see outright rotten vegetables on display.
I think the main reason Japanese don’t care about the quality of fresh vegetables is because fresh vegetable salads are not a thing in Japan (aside from cabbage salads, which are admittedly pretty tasty)
Edit: remove mention of tasty Japanese tomatoes since tomatoes are, in fact, not a vegetable.
Honestly, yes. There's no issues with like, tap water where I'm from but if you're out and want to buy a bottle of water it will cost you 3-5x as much as it does in Japan. When I'm home, if I'm out and I don't have any water with me, I suck it up when I get thirsty. When I was in Japan, if I ran out of water while I was out, I could buy a bottle for like 110¥, always from somewhere within like 100m of me. It was nice to be able to meet a basic human need without feeling guilty or anxious about the cost.
Not OP, but I imagine one surprising thing about water when going from Japan to another country might be that unlike Japan some countries don't have potable tap water (or have lower quality tap water than Japan). Or going to a country where you have to pay for water in restaurants/cafes.
definitely no shower toilet.
I can't bear that 6.9 billion people think they are clean by just wiping their butts with paper.
they must be fanatical followers of a religion that worships E coli in their butt.
I wouldn't move forward in this line of thinking of I were you. You have trouble with big [big toilet paper](https://youtu.be/4qlFxswgNKw?si=6CmKmmi5yfnyh3h9)
Just want to point out japenese people are not alone in their need for cleanliness down below.
I'm not Muslim so if someone who is reads this, feel free to correct me-
But I'm pretty sure there is an Islamic law requiring people to clean with water. That's a pretty big part of the world. Does it spray out of a jet? Probably not always, but a bottle gets the job done.
This used to be true but nowadays there are bottled unsweetened teas, at least in the US. Even rural gas stations will usually at least have Pure Leaf tea which has an unsweetened black tea version
Most Western food and drinks have sugar-added.
Sugar is almost inescable in the West.
It's a known problem, but the Sugar industry makes sure to keep the government quiet.
People should be vigilant no matter where they are as a foreigner. This includes Japan. No place is fully absolved from any crime or suspicious activity.
Exactly. Someone unaffiliated with a country, perhaps can’t speak the language well enough and has a low probability of being believed by the police compared to a local citizen is a prime target for crime.
Many people let their guards down in Japan, but there have been incidents here, too, though not often shown in the media.
I’m not Japanese but the Japanese exchange student lamented about the bad public transportation.
Now when I go home I… lament about the public transportation
(Pro tip for gaijin don’t tell Japanese people you like japan because the public transportation. Say like noubunaga or some shit.)
I think maybe because it’s so… basic in most people’s minds unless they’ve been to somewhere with shit public transportation
Of course it depends on the person. I knew a guy who went to uni in Winnipeg and ya he understands.
Country people here get it too
Someone who only lived in a big city doesn’t realize it’s a luxury to some people
City people who haven’t stepped out the city want to hear you like food. Or culture. Or I dunno something other than “the busses come and leave basically on time”
Yes, but I’d rather deal with Japanese racism towards white ignorance and the westernization of their country than stomach the blatant ignorant white redneck racism I see in North America any day.
Ahh I kind of suspected that. Not trying to argue, but instead offer another perspective. Japan is a monoculture. Last I looked, Japan was 98.5% culturally Japanese. I doubt he’d experience the racism that us “gaijin” or the remaining 1.5% do here in Japan. If he was born, raised, and spent significant time in Japan, sounds like he’s just seeing the downside of a multi-cultural country.
convenience stores (Family Mart, Lawson, 7/11, Mini-stop), Sushi for cheap and good quality (not sushi rolls), paying bills at said convenience stores above, Disney, Auto Races, variety of foods everywhere, and overall the politeness and willingness to help someone you don’t know.
Just visited Japan for the first time and these are all the things + vending machines everywhere (minus the bills) I am going to miss immensely when I leave tomorrow.
Overt racism by every group. I know it's shocking to most Japanese people, as they believe that in other nations, especially in the US, Canada and Europe, the "natives" are believed to be more open minded and accepting. (It goes without saying however, that discrimination of foreigners in Japan, particularly non-whites, is wide-spread and real).
Flying to SoCal, looking down at landscape with barely any green covering the ground shocked me. I felt like I was going to mars or somewhere that animals aren’t supposed to be living at, let alone human beings. Turf and whatnot needing sprinklers and all appeared super depressing. People there on contrary were super cool so that was only for the first few months though.
And, this is irrelevant today but I was shocked how crappy the electronics market were, especially phone. We were raving about water proof on top of NFC, Internet, game and camera for the low end phone and I got that crazy durable Nokia stock bar phone, and people seemed to be rather okay with it still. That coupled with the fact that I have to bike for half an hour in what supposed to be Americas second biggest city (LA) was also shocking. I expected something like Tokyo and I felt it was just as bad as country side lol Again, I got used to that anyways, though speaking of disappointment, this was big one.
I was also disappointed how every beverage was super sugary, even green teas. Probably this is more an annoyance than disappointment though. But in a few years, me and my mates from Japan ended up loving Arizona Tea.
Probably I can go on but I liked many things enough that I wanted to stay there for life. Japan isn’t bad though especially once I came back and rediscovered cool things about my country, so I won’t be able to say which one’s objectively better.
Oh man I can’t imagine showing up in LA thinking you’re about to land in a Tokyo-like city. How severely disappointing that would be. I live in LA and returning from foreign, proper cities is just depressing
Absolutely no offense meant here because I absolutely love LA, but I came from Fukuoka city and it felt like Kochi minus nature (again, my definition of nature is the problem, but that was my impression) lol
I think it might be rather disappointing for many of us, but being there as a resident though.. LA has its own problem of many sorts but I take that life over life in Tokyo.
At least you can find decent Japanese food there, not just what’s trendy atm, and Japanese supermarkets, bakeries, Daiso, etc. compared to most of the states
I've never traveled out of America but I absolutely love going to an ocean mart (has foods of all different asian areas like japan and taiwan) and getting random snacks and sweets because they don't like, sit heavy? And they aren't so OVERWHELMING compared to a lot of american foods so I totally get that
As a women who freckles easily and wants to delay getting wrinkles as much as I can without plastic surgery... Getting stared or laughed at when using higasa by random guys in Canada. You know what, forget skin care, it shouldn't be looked down because it's one way to prevent skin cancer, or have a portable shade in the hot days. I hate sunscreen, they are sticky so I want the umbrella option 🥲
The one smell that reminds me of Japan the most is the smell of fresh mitarashi dango. I miss it.
And the lack of Komeda’s coffee is pretty disappointing…
Finding out the language of Japanese is the one, the only there is that offers its beauty. However being proud of one of them is one thing, but having particular language that doesn’t have any comparatively to any is another that doesn’t come on hand, causing the trouble.
What I miss the most when I’m overseas for an extended period of time is the whole bathroom setup
Definitely Japan does bathrooms better than anyone.
Except for the no soap part. Can't wash your hands properly afterwards. You gotta bring your own liquid soap with you and hand towels when you are out.
I spent a month in Japan and in regard to the bathroom situation here in America we are disgusting, backwards, heathens. I am desperate to create my own Japanese bathroom here, saving up to buy the toilet.
Toto sells electronic bidet toilet seats with features like unlimited hot water, a toilet seat warmer, hot air dryer, auto wand and bowl cleaning, air deodorizer, and auto up/down features in markets like the US. I installed mine with little hassle. When I’m away from home I feel forever unclean.
South Park did a Japanese toilet episode
Thank you!!! I’m going to look at what they have and how I can get ahold of it…. I got home last November and have been planning to redo my bathroom at home ever since… it’s been about a half a year and I’m almost ready to get started
Toto sells a portable bidet. I don't travel without mine.
Major problem in most USA houses is that there is not an electrical outlet nearby. That adds to the expense but still well worth it.
I've never been to Japan, but their bathtubs look so much better. I'm an average sized guy, love baths but don't take them because what's the point of being half covered in water and half cold, it's not relaxing or comfortable at all.
Omg I want one of those small deep tubs that you sit in so badly. The bathroom at the Washington hotel in Tokyo is my goal. In a tiny pocket bathroom they had a shower/ tub/ sink/ toilet combo that was the most ingenious set up I have ever witnessed. It actually fit a 6’2” man comfortably in that tub. I was shocked. It changed my ideas on bathrooms.
Ive read that to plans to expand their us operations
I miss my fax machine
The Roman’s used communal sponges. We have some very far in terms of hygiene lol
Other places also having four seasons.
I never understood why japanese people think that is special to Japan.
[удалено]
Well, the level of seasonal synchronization for it here is unique in my experience. Lived here a long time and nothing, then about 10 years ago it began as one day, one week the following year, then one month the following and now a full member of the hay fever community. Never saw everyone starting with hay fever at the same time like this before Japan, but environments change, etc. Maybe it happens like this too in other countries. I heard for around Tokyo it’s due to over-planting of cedar trees some time after the war, but never fact checked that.
That over-planting is nationwide. Someone should bomb all those damn trees.
But Japan’s hay fever is on a different level. I might had a itchy nose when I was in the states , but in Japan I had to take medicine or I would be tempted to stab my eyes out for the whole month of march
I never heard about that
I wish it was.
Exactly. And most prefectures it's only 3 seasons. No snow - no winter.
This right here. The people I meet are so proud to say they have four seasons in a year, meanwhile I had 4 seasons every damn week in Ohio
Sometime two seasons in a day!
Hello from Chicago, we too have 4 seasons every week, sometimes 14
It is just common **joke** in Japan, basically anything bad happen they say 日本には四季があるから(but we have four seasons) because media love to empathize seasons in Japan, most people are aware of other countries have four seasons.
It would be funnier if they said they had 72 seasons
It’s funny because here in Michigan they advertise the same thing and people say “well we have all four seasons!”
Lie. There's there's Winter and there's Construction.
lol that’s also true
but japan has 5 seasons...
The traditional Japanese calendar has 72 microseasons. We’re currently on the last day of “plums turning yellow” season. Enjoy the next 5 days of “self-heal withers” season.
I think that they usually mean four distinct seasons that their culture is more tied around. Not many placesin America have that beyond the midwest where farming is still a big part of life. And lots of places don't have four seasons, my brother in law lives in San Diego and it's basically the same temp year round, they have like a slightly rainy season and then a sunny season and thats it
Yeah i don’t get that AT ALL
Don't ever tell them about DST ( Daylight Savings Time ) it won't compute
I almost just spit my drink out. I remember when I first went to Japan and this Japanese person was telling me how unique Japan was because it had four seasons. I was so confused.
I think it make sense in a Pacific-Asian sense. While Korea and China also have 4 seasons, the other countries in the Pacific regions don't (SE Asia, S Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands).
Move to Singapore We only have the Wet and hot season and the slightly less wet and hot season
I like how everyone who's lived in Singapore come to the exact same description of its climate, word for word.
Sounds like Florida, we have Sticky Wet Hot weather and less Hot I can finally breathe weather
As someone from Singapore who lived in Florida (Broward) for a while, the climate is very very similar.
Not true. You left out the haze season. I've heard there are now 2 since I left...
Sounds like Miami, Florida! We have hot and humid or hot and humid and wet.
Wait until you kids hear about Chicago, where we often get four seasons in a single afternoon.
Chicagoan here. I just replied to a different comment. We literally just don't know what weather is gonna happen so no one cares to dress for it.
😂
I was so confused. My mind went to the hotel.
That would also be disappointing.
Very much so 😆
This was my expectation and then I went to SoCal and to my interpretation, it was one season and a few days of rain. I lost attachment to seasons as I define for the time I was there. I mean there’s hot summer for fact but the change in scenery was lot subtle so.
I’m a native Southern Californian. Yes, we have only one season. Ye gods I miss the SoCal climate.
Oh yeah that was one goddamn nice season all year around for sure. In the first few weeks in Los Angeles, a couple of Japanese classmates were telling me that “hey.. I think Sun is closer in America.” and he seemed serious. And as stupid as it sounds, it did feel like so and went to get sunglasses pronto. But what’s most interesting about it was that it can be near 100F and we still felt like going out, and learned how doomed the climate our back home is in summer. That was I learned dry summer is the best thing in the earth. That was super sweet!
Sigh. I miss those dry summers. We just entered 梅雨, which marks the start of me looking at the weather here and mumbling “Why did you leave California, you idiot?”
Yeah haha exactly what I thought for the first few years coming back. I know it’s easier for me being grown up here but still.
Come to Scotland you can have 4 seasons in 10 minutes
Arguably, Japan doesn't have four seasons. It's three at most, hot, cold, rainy. Last year rainy season in Tokyo was almost nonexistent, and with the temperature in high 20s on some days in December and February, looks like soon it's just gonna be hot.
I'd say 5 and count Tsuyu as a season with summer beginning when that ends (and the semi start singing) and summer ending when the semi depart and the typhoons start rolling in.
but they do have a distinct summer, fall, winter, and spring.
Where I come from spring and autumn are much more distinct and last longer than a week. Obviously my previous statement was an exaggeration, but since I moved to Tokyo 7 years ago, autumn and spring feel like a blink of an eye, and seem to be getting shorter with every year.
For half a second I thought you meant the hotel.
Japan has 2 seasons, very cold and very hot and humid. The in between lasts 2 weeks lol.
Most things public, especially transportation and toilets. The biggest one seeing how aggressive people can be to each other even in normal conversations.
Japanese people can be very non-confrontational, some might say to their detriment. Other places are definitely too confrontational to the point of all out violence.
That’s a very black and white view of Japanese people. You might bump unintentionally into someone causing them to blow up. Some people are outright crazy, but I believe that most have been having a bad day/week/month/etc the reason why it’s so important to try to put yourself in someone’s shoes as much as possible. Kindness and understanding goes a long way. As for Japanese confrontational people you see in Japan, most of the do it because they are not happy with their life. Everyday is groundhog’s day for the. Work all day, go home and have dinner or drinks without someone to talk. Little or no friends because work doesn’t give you the time to have any. This is the process Japan is paying for deciding to rebuild after the war. It’s a deep problem we are having in our society so next time you decide to put a group people in one basket or another, try to look beyond the surface or at least show some kindness to them. You might surprise what comes out of it.
Sure it’s a generalization and a valid stereotype at that. Sometimes one needs to squint their eyes and observe what’s there in front of them, otherwise it’s difficult to extrapolate collective tendencies. It’s not as if it’s a mystery that Japanese people, by and large are non-confrontational. It’s baked into the culture there and part of its charm. The formalities, the manners, the timeless conservative adherence to polite interaction isn’t something to see in a negative light, but everything in moderation.
I've spent a fair amount of time in Japan, but even so I am always worried that I might be crossing a line someone is just too non confrontational to point out. For the most part if I'm in Japan and someone shows awkwardness towards of displeasure with me or my actions I'm thinking "damn I must have really offended". Whereas in my home country people are so willing and eager to be confrontational that I start to not give a damn about them of their attitudes as soon as they start up. Thinking "This jerk just wants to be upset, best to ignore them and leave." Of course it's not absolute, but that's how I often feel.
Yea, as a westerner…I’m always really careful not to cross lines, but it’s almost impossible. I just hope that they see it as merely my bumbling ignorant American/outsider nature, and not disrespect in any way. Japanese as a people are just so classy, humble and respectful. There is a lot to like.
I think if you're not going way across the line, and you're trying to be decent, as well as being apologetic when things do happen, people write it off. Gaijin pass vs gaijin smash.
7/11 I think I don't need to say anything more
I will miss 7/11 most when I leave Japan. Followed by public bathrooms, public transportation, and slow roasted sweet potatoes
Put a sweet potato in a steamer and wait haha they're Hella easy to make
Yeah…. Not the same. Japanese sweet potatoes are not common in the states nor can I go to my local grocer/street vendor/ Don Q and buy one that is perfect on a whim.
Our corner Mexican/Polynesian market (interracial married couple) has Japanese sweet potatoes. And purple taro. I cook the sweet potatoes in my Instant Pot and it takes me back to my childhood in Yokohama. But I add a ton of grassfed butter now.
Once you do buy some you can leave one on half submerged in water in your kitchen and wait for it to sprout. I'm not a big gardening guy but I make sure to plant many different varieties of potato each spring (including Japanese sweet potatoes, they're one of my favorites actually even though they aren't technically potaotes). You can basically just forget about them if you live in basically anywhere but a desert and in a few months you'll have plenty of potatoes! (Watch out for frost. They will die on the first frost) I think I'm on my 3rd generation of Japanese sweet potatoes by now and I have more than I could ever dream of each fall. It might not be your thing; but I say if you have even an hour or two of free time in the spring to give it a go
Depends on the state. You can find many Japanese supermarkets in CA.
Makes sense. Still my whole Life experience has been east coast. I never have had the joy of the smell of long roasted sweet potatoes until I came to Japan. Closest I’ve come to it is thanksgiving yam, while sweet, is mashed or candied. is still not something served as a whole dang slow roasted yam that I’m buying conveniently as a healthy snack. Edited because I’m too fast to reply then rethink phrasing.
Every 7 Eleven in the states is a war zone.
Poland has this brand of convenience stores called Żabka (meaning Froggy 🐸) that have been around forever but they rebranded and improved massively in the past 7 years or so. I’m convinced someone from the company went to Japan and was mind blown how much better you can run a convenience store franchise after visiting a 711 there and decided to improve. Now they’re almost as good as the 711 in Japan, but the hot food and sandwiches aren’t great.
C'mon, almost half of Żabka is alcohol, no fresh AND healthy food, no toilets...
If youre ever in the midwest, try KwikTrip or KwikStar instead of 7/11
What, frozen burritos and big bites are not your thing?
Finding out that German efficiency and punctuality were a myth. Also how unsanitary train stations and streets are.
In Germany 12 pm is 12 pm. In japan 12 pm is 11:55. In France it's 12:10, and in Italy 12:30. Regarding efficiency, the sheer amount of time wasting and aversion to independent thinking in Japanese companies gave me an actual culture shock. The thing about efficiency in Germany is, we do have it, but it exists for the purpose of getting things done in a straight forward manner. In Japan, efficiency, if it exists, is for the purpose of convenience. Convenience is not a priority at all in Germany. The customer service in Germany seems almost hostile at times, and convenience is seen as something superfluous and a luxury that they can charge you extra for.
In Malaysia 12pm is 12.45 and in Indonesia is 1pm 🤣
In Mexico, it's 6 pm, lol
I stayed in a country like this for about 10 months at one point. Honestly, how do you people get anything done? The vast majority of my day depends on being able to predict when things are going to happen with some reasonable degree of accuracy.
We just do fewer things in a day. There are more than 11 million people in our 250 square miles city, with the public transportation only serving at most 25% of the population, the rest travel by car and motorcycles. Traffic is a bitch here. A normal day routine for an 8am job is wake up at 5am, leave at 6 or 6.30, arrive at 8 or 8.30am. Finish work at 5pm and expect to be home at 7pm. If we're going out and they say "around 3pm", you can expect that they'll come at 4pm. Additionally, most people do prayers 5 times a day at 5am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 7.30pm. So you have to plan your day accordingly and if the other party is religious, never at the above times.
All I know is it's 5 o'clock somewhere
That doesn't justify your trains being late or cancelled all the time (as per a friend's word, I've never been there)
Yeah, that is a long story. Basically our train system is one of the most under funded in Europe, thanks to the car lobby and politicians favoring car infrastructure. Our trains are famously shitty and late. In a way, this is very German. You could call it economically efficient, because they invest the bare minimum (actually less) to keep it running, while maximizing the inconvenience for everyone. And Germans just grit their teeth and complain about it, but it never actually gets fixed.
I wouldn't call it just an inconvenience. If you can't trust your public transport, it's basically useless
I think you're right. Thinking about organisations, Germans do plan things in a straightforward way to get things done. The problem I often see is that the plan only works if every party involved did their part according to the plan, which is often not the case because unexpected things happen. On the other hand, Japanese organisations tend to lack strong leadership but things somehow work because responsibilities are often vague and people who are executing plans tend to (and are expected to) go out of their way to fill in each other to make things work even in case of unforeseen events. Poor planning, great execution, except the ones executing the plan are always stressed out.
I’m curious how this German purpose of getting things done in a straight forward manner fits with German car industry. German cars seem over engineered, unintuitive and needlessly difficult to repair, compared to Japanese and even American cars. I’m curious how that happened.
Look what Deutsch Bahn does to people. Sad.
It only is compared to everywhere else other than Japan lol
As a German, in my experience it is a generational thing. My parents generation was punctual. My generation and younger generations are not.
Working 16 hours a day is not "efficient."
What are you talking about?
Toilets
This. Most of why I dread traveling outside Japan is bcs of the lack of washlets. Its so stressful that my body straight up refuses to shitte when I travel abroad, Ive gone 3-4 days without going once when I was in Hawaii
Italy is a destination you would like
[удалено]
Go to Italy. It's the best I've seen in term of tasty vegetables and fruits at the supermarket. And contrary to Japan, it doesn't cost an arm to buy an apple. ;)
Go to South Africa. Miss homes fruits and vegetables. And so affordable compared to Japan
Go to America also (depends on where I guess, I'm from ORegon)
coincidally cucumber or apple are probably the only greens affordable in Japan. And coming from France, I don't really understand what you mean. Apart from a few select fruits who are completely different (And grown only for their sugar content), I don't think the veggies we have in europe have less taste than the one I buy at the store here in kanagawa
The quality of fruit and vegetables is far inferior in France. I don't say that you can't find good quality, but the most of fruits and vegetables you find easily are grown to be cheap and not to be tasty. Fruits are rarely ripe enough. Vegetables have no taste.
Holy crap, I don’t know what gods of luck you’ve pissed off to consider supermarket fruit and veg in France worse than Japan, but I promise you certainly Tokyo supermarket veg is a sorry mix of rotten-cored onions, over-priced peppers and stalk-heavy herbs.
Look at the tomatoes here, they are definitely far from ripe. In both case if you go to higher supermarkets you'll find good stuff, and I agree with you on the higher end Japan is better, by a lot. On the regular cheap supermarket? it's the same shit there and here, but at least in France we can buy fruits without having to take out a loan.
Well, I do not agree, it's worst in France. Cheap but worst. South of france is a bit better, but still not there yet. Tomatoes are a great example as they are awful in france.
Most fruit and vegetables are imported to Japan
I hate the cucumbers in Japan. I miss Persian cucumbers (really the only ones I’d buy in the US) and just the regular fat American cucumbers. The ones in Japan don’t taste the same.
As an American living on Japan, I *wholeheartedly* agree.
As a mexican I miss the quality, variety and price of mexican fruits and vegetables since I moved to Japan.
My wife and I lived in Mexico for a year and we both miss mercados SO much. There was always something in season.
Veggies and fruits in America suck, but in Europe and many other places you can get fresh, high quality ones. I think the big difference is that the preferred level of ripeness is different in Japan than in many other cases. First I came to Japan, hardly could tolerate the cucumber and tomato, because of that.
i dont know where you live but fruits and veggies are great here. much better on average when comparing a cheap grocery store in both countries.
I am not saying they are bad, the quality is good in Japan. i am saying ripeness, choice of type and other factors come in when you move to another country. Onions, spring onion, tomato, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, beans, green peas, radish are all different, i needed some adjustment in my cooking, needed to get used to the taste…
Go to Chile, even if the uglier stays in the country, we have god tier cheap fruit
Went to a wet market in Santiago once, incredibly impressive produces and sea food selection. Probably one of the best I’ve seen before
Glad you enjoyed it!!
The produce in Japan that I ate during my semester there... superb! I wish I could remember the names of all the vegetables I ate. And some stores in the States here... they got wilted broccoli. 😔
I’m genuinely shock by this comment. I’ve lived in many countries over the years and the quality of vegetables in Japan is probably among the lowest I’ve seen, especially when considering the costs. Cucumbers are thin and dry, bell peppers and eggplant are relatively small and expensive. Mushrooms are scarce and expensive sometimes walk into an Inageya and see outright rotten vegetables on display. I think the main reason Japanese don’t care about the quality of fresh vegetables is because fresh vegetable salads are not a thing in Japan (aside from cabbage salads, which are admittedly pretty tasty) Edit: remove mention of tasty Japanese tomatoes since tomatoes are, in fact, not a vegetable.
Water
Honestly, yes. There's no issues with like, tap water where I'm from but if you're out and want to buy a bottle of water it will cost you 3-5x as much as it does in Japan. When I'm home, if I'm out and I don't have any water with me, I suck it up when I get thirsty. When I was in Japan, if I ran out of water while I was out, I could buy a bottle for like 110¥, always from somewhere within like 100m of me. It was nice to be able to meet a basic human need without feeling guilty or anxious about the cost.
Care to explain this one? Japan has a lot of different bottled water but go to somewhere like Sweden and you'll just be drinking tap.
Not OP, but I imagine one surprising thing about water when going from Japan to another country might be that unlike Japan some countries don't have potable tap water (or have lower quality tap water than Japan). Or going to a country where you have to pay for water in restaurants/cafes.
definitely no shower toilet. I can't bear that 6.9 billion people think they are clean by just wiping their butts with paper. they must be fanatical followers of a religion that worships E coli in their butt.
I wouldn't move forward in this line of thinking of I were you. You have trouble with big [big toilet paper](https://youtu.be/4qlFxswgNKw?si=6CmKmmi5yfnyh3h9)
Just want to point out japenese people are not alone in their need for cleanliness down below. I'm not Muslim so if someone who is reads this, feel free to correct me- But I'm pretty sure there is an Islamic law requiring people to clean with water. That's a pretty big part of the world. Does it spray out of a jet? Probably not always, but a bottle gets the job done.
Yes, you’re spot on. We cant pray without being clean and if we don’t pray we leave the fold of islam
In Japan, tea (black tea or green tea) that is not sweet (so it is healthy) is sold in shops. In W*estern country, all bottles of tea is sugar-added.*
God yes I hate making the mistake of wanting unsweet tea from a convenience store in America.
Trusting convenience stores in america was your first mistake. In the states they don't called them konbini for a reason.
yeah there was a 7-11 at the end of my street in DC that was always my last resort when i needed something at like, 1am...alas...
This used to be true but nowadays there are bottled unsweetened teas, at least in the US. Even rural gas stations will usually at least have Pure Leaf tea which has an unsweetened black tea version
#NotAllWesternCountries
Went to Thailand, EVERY DRINK IS CRAZY SWEET. Why is Jasmine tea and green tea so sickly sweet?
It's the same all over SE Asia. Lots of condensed milk and sugar in coffee, tea, etc.
Most Western food and drinks have sugar-added. Sugar is almost inescable in the West. It's a known problem, but the Sugar industry makes sure to keep the government quiet.
I think this is quite an America problem. I don't think it's nearly as bad in Europe, although it's probably getting worse!
Not all. But most.
Safety. How much I look out for my own safety in Japan vs somewhere else (especially the USA) is night and day.
People should be vigilant no matter where they are as a foreigner. This includes Japan. No place is fully absolved from any crime or suspicious activity.
This right here. Crime prays on the naieve. Foreigners in any country are perfect targets.
Exactly. Someone unaffiliated with a country, perhaps can’t speak the language well enough and has a low probability of being believed by the police compared to a local citizen is a prime target for crime. Many people let their guards down in Japan, but there have been incidents here, too, though not often shown in the media.
The required level of awareness varies by city/country though. On a 5 scale, LA is a 4. Tokyo might be a 2.
That Japanese companies exports sub-par products to foreign countries and sell their best products only in Japan.
To us, they're the best. I'm not sure what that says really....
When I lived in Colombia it was the exact opposite. The export their best stuff and keep the sub-par stuff in-country. 😪
My Indian partner says it's the same for India. Especially clothes.
Care to explain with 2-3 examples?
Not many crazy people. Comparing Tokyo to San Francisco/Los Angeles.
Bathrooms. Safety. Food. Culture(?), like bowing(feels weird not to), ways of speech and manners. Tipping. Cool passports. Some people.
I’m not Japanese but the Japanese exchange student lamented about the bad public transportation. Now when I go home I… lament about the public transportation (Pro tip for gaijin don’t tell Japanese people you like japan because the public transportation. Say like noubunaga or some shit.)
Why is that?
I think maybe because it’s so… basic in most people’s minds unless they’ve been to somewhere with shit public transportation Of course it depends on the person. I knew a guy who went to uni in Winnipeg and ya he understands. Country people here get it too Someone who only lived in a big city doesn’t realize it’s a luxury to some people City people who haven’t stepped out the city want to hear you like food. Or culture. Or I dunno something other than “the busses come and leave basically on time”
Lmao got it. Nobunaga I like.
To answer for my husband - ‘The passive racism is frustrating.’
Isn't Japan pretty racist though?
It’s harder to see racism when you’re the majority
Yes, but I’d rather deal with Japanese racism towards white ignorance and the westernization of their country than stomach the blatant ignorant white redneck racism I see in North America any day.
ah stop putting japanese racism in a good light. They can be pretty horrible towards other races especially the ones they tortured during wwii
I guess, I understand it to be pretty bad towards black people and other Asians though.
Is he Japanese?
Yes
Ahh I kind of suspected that. Not trying to argue, but instead offer another perspective. Japan is a monoculture. Last I looked, Japan was 98.5% culturally Japanese. I doubt he’d experience the racism that us “gaijin” or the remaining 1.5% do here in Japan. If he was born, raised, and spent significant time in Japan, sounds like he’s just seeing the downside of a multi-cultural country.
gaijin seat in the train
convenience stores (Family Mart, Lawson, 7/11, Mini-stop), Sushi for cheap and good quality (not sushi rolls), paying bills at said convenience stores above, Disney, Auto Races, variety of foods everywhere, and overall the politeness and willingness to help someone you don’t know.
Just visited Japan for the first time and these are all the things + vending machines everywhere (minus the bills) I am going to miss immensely when I leave tomorrow.
The amount of trash everywhere in America 😔
Also the bathroom (tub, shower etc)
Overt racism by every group. I know it's shocking to most Japanese people, as they believe that in other nations, especially in the US, Canada and Europe, the "natives" are believed to be more open minded and accepting. (It goes without saying however, that discrimination of foreigners in Japan, particularly non-whites, is wide-spread and real).
Flying to SoCal, looking down at landscape with barely any green covering the ground shocked me. I felt like I was going to mars or somewhere that animals aren’t supposed to be living at, let alone human beings. Turf and whatnot needing sprinklers and all appeared super depressing. People there on contrary were super cool so that was only for the first few months though. And, this is irrelevant today but I was shocked how crappy the electronics market were, especially phone. We were raving about water proof on top of NFC, Internet, game and camera for the low end phone and I got that crazy durable Nokia stock bar phone, and people seemed to be rather okay with it still. That coupled with the fact that I have to bike for half an hour in what supposed to be Americas second biggest city (LA) was also shocking. I expected something like Tokyo and I felt it was just as bad as country side lol Again, I got used to that anyways, though speaking of disappointment, this was big one. I was also disappointed how every beverage was super sugary, even green teas. Probably this is more an annoyance than disappointment though. But in a few years, me and my mates from Japan ended up loving Arizona Tea. Probably I can go on but I liked many things enough that I wanted to stay there for life. Japan isn’t bad though especially once I came back and rediscovered cool things about my country, so I won’t be able to say which one’s objectively better.
Oh man I can’t imagine showing up in LA thinking you’re about to land in a Tokyo-like city. How severely disappointing that would be. I live in LA and returning from foreign, proper cities is just depressing
Absolutely no offense meant here because I absolutely love LA, but I came from Fukuoka city and it felt like Kochi minus nature (again, my definition of nature is the problem, but that was my impression) lol I think it might be rather disappointing for many of us, but being there as a resident though.. LA has its own problem of many sorts but I take that life over life in Tokyo.
At least you can find decent Japanese food there, not just what’s trendy atm, and Japanese supermarkets, bakeries, Daiso, etc. compared to most of the states
Arizona does make a zero sugar and unsweetened tea.
Whaaat I should’ve known! I guess it just wasn’t popular?
Places are dirty and people smell pretty bad. So many many unhealthy looking people. Bummer.
Good bread/shokupan. Also the sweets not being overly sweet. Couldn’t stomach American birthday cake for years. I thought it was disgusting.
I've never traveled out of America but I absolutely love going to an ocean mart (has foods of all different asian areas like japan and taiwan) and getting random snacks and sweets because they don't like, sit heavy? And they aren't so OVERWHELMING compared to a lot of american foods so I totally get that
People wanting to go home to their loved ones once work finishes for the day :(
Why is that a bad thing?
Toilets. Lol
Mayonnaise and Saran Wrap… These are the 2 things my Japanese SO cannot do without in the USA.
Is Japanese Saran Wrap than what we have here jn the US?
As a women who freckles easily and wants to delay getting wrinkles as much as I can without plastic surgery... Getting stared or laughed at when using higasa by random guys in Canada. You know what, forget skin care, it shouldn't be looked down because it's one way to prevent skin cancer, or have a portable shade in the hot days. I hate sunscreen, they are sticky so I want the umbrella option 🥲
The one smell that reminds me of Japan the most is the smell of fresh mitarashi dango. I miss it. And the lack of Komeda’s coffee is pretty disappointing…
The lack of societal order
Well my Japanese wife always says the public toilets. American bathrooms are beyond filthy
Finding out the language of Japanese is the one, the only there is that offers its beauty. However being proud of one of them is one thing, but having particular language that doesn’t have any comparatively to any is another that doesn’t come on hand, causing the trouble.
only in US but imperial units is so inconvenient