> The difference here is in America you can wear tattoos, a headscarf, or even not take your shoes off when you enter a home, or take them off, we are cool with

> The difference here is in America you can wear tattoos, a headscarf, or even not take your shoes off when you enter a home, or take them off, we are cool with both - which was my point. This depends heavily on the house you're entering. Some people, even born and bred Americans, prefer you take your shoes off. And it's important to note the reason you take your shoes off in Japan: Because they've been outside and are dirty and they don't want dirt on the floors. You'd take your shoes off before entering someone's house if they were covered in mud right? Same thing, different threshold. > It's the exact same nonsense. Being gay is an inherent part of who somebody is and being gay doesn't passively affect the people around you. Tattoos are the result of choices someone has made in the past and in Japan, as mentioned above, that generally means Yakuza. Would you think it unreasonable if a family restaurant asked the Hells Angels to leave? > Japan (and anybody else for that matter) needs to respect people and other cultures like we do in the West. Would you accept it if someone from a Middle Eastern country came to the US with their multiple wives and you could hear the beatings at night? Of course not. Western countries have a threshold for what they'll tolerate from other cultures and so does Japan. We in the West also expect other people to at least try to fit in to our culture and I don't think it's unreasonable that Japan does the same.