6 ms·

Notes on Japan

66 points by surrTurr 2y ago

Escapado 2y ago
I moved from Hamburg, Germany to Tokyo in October of last year. I would agree with their observation and have a few points to add that I found remarkable (some of them are probably a little specific to Tokyo): - In larger cities there are Konbinis _everywhere_. As in: You can barely walk a block without encountering one in the more busy areas. Sometimes there are three within a 30m Radius. - Most fruits (except bananas or Kaki when in season) are pretty expensive. - Package sizes in supermarkets are often smaller that in europe, so if you are used to buying 1 or 2kg bags of frozen veggies you'll have to go to Costco. - People make due with much less space here than in europe. Tiny apartments everywhere. - Most single detached family homes in residential areas of Tokyo usually have no garden. - Even though a lot of places look like they have not changed since the 80s, they are suprisingly well maintained and clean. - There are basically no public trashbins except at some train stations or in konbinis (which often makes me feel like I need to buy something else to justify throwing stuff away). - Lots of people wear masks casually (not judging whether thats good or bad) - Food is not only cheap but usually tastes amazing. I have not even once gone anywhere (from cheap chain to upscale sushi place) an was disappointed. - You do get 日本語上手 (Nihongo Jouzu = your japanese is good) a lot even if you just say Hello in japanese. - Trains here are usually really punctual, go frequently and during rush hour are unbearably crowded. It's kind of a miracle that people don't start fighting constantly and everyone is just somehow accepting the fact that they are forcefully pushed around on the train. - The japanese people I met are are almost all incredibly nice, once you break the ice. They are so mindful of others feelings and needs and really good at reading people.
- tecleandor 2y ago
  Just in case any of you don't know, trash bins were removed mostly after the sarin terrorist attack in 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack
  - johannes1234321 2y ago
    While that may be the trigger, the reason is that people don't expect trash cans everywhere thus are prepared to take their trash back home and in the orderly clean culture that works.
    - xoac 2y ago
      The end result is really phenomenal and the behavior change sometimes funny. I went to a EU city immediately after visiting Tokyo for the first time and after I bought some canned drink i realized that I walked with the can in my pocket for like 2km totally ignoring all of the trashcans on the way.
  - CM30 2y ago
    So it's the same situation as in London, where the bins were removed after IRA bombings? Makes sense, unfortunately. Does make me wonder if people's behaviour towards litter (aka taking it home more often) would have been different had these events never happened.
    - makeitdouble 2y ago
      > Makes sense It's more of a cost reduction move. As an example Paris kept trash bins after the terrorist attacks, albeit they adapted them to the situation (either they're bomb resistant or made light and transparent) Tokyo or London could do the same, if they cared enough.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- swah 2y ago
  And the smoking is similar?
- mft_ 2y ago
  > - Lots of people wear masks casually (not judging whether that's good or bad) It's worth mentioning that masks were in relatively common usage in Japan long before the COVID pandemic. (I have no anecdata whether usage was increased since.) Years ago I flew on (I think) JAL and was amused to receive a face-mask in the small free package of in-flight goodies provided to each person.
  - glandium 2y ago
    > I have no anecdata whether usage was increased since. I do. There are a LOT more masks now than before the pandemic (caveat: I'm not in Tokyo, maybe it's different there, but probably not)
- pavlov 2y ago
  > "- Even though a lot of places look like they have not changed since the 80s, they are suprisingly well maintained and clean." This is also the case in America, except the "well maintained and clean" part.
- ericmay 2y ago
  On a recent trip to Japan one thing that stood out to me was that my wife and I were usually the only people wearing sunglasses everywhere we went.
- rayiner 2y ago
  > Food is not only cheap but usually tastes amazing. I have not even once gone anywhere (from cheap chain to upscale sushi place) a was disappointed. On our trip earlier this year, my wife and sister in law really got hooked on the random convenience store food.
ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
This is pretty accurate (I used to travel to Tokyo regularly -for about 20 years). My favorite "Notes on Japan" was Dave Barry Does Japan[0]. [0] https://www.davebarry.com/book-page.php?isbn13=9780449908105 https://www.davebarry.com/book-page.php?isbn13=9780449908105
drooopy 2y ago
"visiting Japan feels like visiting the 2000s CD shops everywhere malls are thriving people use fat laptops" Sounds like a good time. I still buy tons of physical media and I love me a thick laptop with tons of ports and expandability.
moomoo11 2y ago
Any Americans moved to Japan? Like permanently? I am a naturalized US citizen and I don’t have Japanese family or something like that. So from that pov, what was it like? How did you do it? I went to Japan and it was honestly the best place I’ve been. As a brown guy I felt so welcomed and people were so kind to me. Not to mention it’s so clean and orderly. Fwiw I’m a software engineer with a decade of experience. I have a business degree.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  As long as you first find a stable and good enough job it's probably fine and not _that_ hard. There will be a ton of papers to deal with, including some banks that apparently aren't open to US citizens (probably because of taxation ?), but I don't think it's much more than for most countries on the globe. Speaking/Writing will also be a big part of it, but it's not insurmountable. You'll survive without it for a while (you've found a company willing to hire you anyway), and probably spend a few years learning before being fully proficient (reading contracts etc.) PS: I'm not american, so there's a bunch of details I might be missing but I haven't heard of specific troubles on that front.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - p_l 2y ago
    FATCA legislation pushed by US Congress (and then reneged on bidirectionality) made many banks just refuse to deal with people who fall under it.
    - tasoeur 2y ago
      Exactly. This is not just for Japan. Here in Europe I’ve been denied to open an account in local banks due to my dual citizenship (American).
      - p_l 2y ago
        It impacts everyone who has 1 degree connection to a person deemed required to pay US taxes.
donatj 2y ago
> most “non-Japanese” looking people are tourists > therefore, you will probably be treated as one, even if aren’t Myself and a couple friends visited Japan for a couple weeks in 2008. On a trip to Osaka, one of my friends was approached by a gaggle of school girls. It was “speak to a foreigner day” at their school, and apparently of our group, the lone female seemed the most approachable. They asked her a series of questions about where she was from and her life in very basic English and took furious notes. I can’t imagine telling a class in even the safest parts of the United States “Go wander the streets and interview a stranger you suspect to be foreign”, for a number of reasons. The other thing I want to note is just that you get a lot of leeway as a foreigner in Japan. We’d gotten on a train unknowingly that our JR pass didn’t cover, but figured it out on the train. Well right as we get off, the ticket inspector is there inspecting tickets. We feign ignorance and show him our JR passes, he patiently writes something like ¥500 on a piece of paper and shows us, we pay it. No anger is expressed, just more of a “silly foreigners” vibe.
- Trow839rn 2y ago
  > 2008 A lot has changed. Foreigners no longer have this "superiority". > telling a class in even the safest parts of the United States It is just histeria, look at recent trend of "men vs bear in forest" . Many parts of US are totally safe, the worst part are dogs, car accidents and voluntary drug ingestion!
  - darkwater 2y ago
    > A lot has changed. Foreigners no longer have this "superiority". It's still a long ago (2015 in my case) but it happened the exact same thing in Nara to my wife and me.
  - HDThoreaun 2y ago
    Its not just about danger. Americans would be insulted if a kid asked them if they were a foreigner, theres not an easy way to tell.
  - yongjik 2y ago
    Homicide rate of Japan is about 0.2 per 100,000 people. According to Washington Post [1], the US police killed 1,162 people in 2023, which is about 0.3 per every 100,000 Americans. I.e., an American is more likely to be killed by a cop than a Japanese person is likely to be killed by a murderer. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic...
Semaphor 2y ago
> i felt that it was ‘weird’ talking to someone you don’t know without a reason As a Northern German: this is not normal?
- kimixa 2y ago
  I think this is pretty true for every really big city I've been to in Europe - such that I wonder if it's a city size thing rather than a location. Trying to talk to random people in London you get weird looks. A small town further out in the country, hope you're not in a rush as they'll talk your ear off.
  - Semaphor 2y ago
    I don’t think it needs "really" before "big", it’s certainly not normal in the big city I live in now (pop 200k) nor the medium big city I lived in before (pop 90k). I can believe it’s like that for small villages, idk, maybe pop 1k.
    - kimixa 2y ago
      I generally said hi to people in a ~50k pop city, and would regularly recognize people by face even if I'd never spoken to them before. Certainly in the ~1.5k village I grew up in you'd know most people, again if not their names, and would always say hi. But in that city there were still multiple "centers" - the local pub, couple of shops and whatever - Being the European style town that was actually like 15 different villages that slowly merged. Perhaps because of this it really acted as multiple smaller towns in many ways. There's probably quite a big variation based on local culture, density and other things, but I'm pretty sure it's a trend by size.
PaulHoule 2y ago
when entering a “clean space”, like a home or even a fitting room, take off your shoes I remember playing a Yakuza game where you could walk the protagonist through a house with a tatami floor without taking off your shows and I figured it was alright because he was a badass.
- jajko 2y ago
  This is norm in much of Europe (as in east, west, north and FWIW some south too), middle east and north Africa. Shoes are always dirty, even on non-rainy day. Sure, you can have rather mess at your home (absolutely unavoidable with smaller kids) but you can do some basic effort to tackle it. Also, massively unhygienic for various fungus that loves damp warm places on your toe nails or between toes.
  - PaulHoule 2y ago
    Actually I do this myself with the extra factor that I live on a farm so that it would be easy to track in horse crap.
mito88 2y ago
"for example, when riding the train, everyone either looks at their phone, manga or sleeps...." except for manga, it's the same in public transportation in many countries.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Aeolun 2y ago
If you don’t want to be treated as a tourist, wear a suit and a badge xD
ktallett 2y ago
The key addendum I would add to this post is the Japan you see when you are in public is not the Japan behind closed doors. Japan has many things going for it, yet it can be a very lonely place to exist. It is just a place where it is easier to be lonely due to a high number of distractions. Social care and a lack of significant mental health support creates a large number of society excluded citizens.
m0llusk 2y ago
How much attention one gets depends on various factors. I am a very tall white guy with curly hair that forms an afro. In Tokyo I get stares from nearly everyone along the whole block where I happen to be. Glad this doesn't happen to everyone, but please don't pretend this doesn't happen.
- glandium 2y ago
  A very tall Japanese guy with curly hair that forms an afro would also get stares. As someone who visited Japan for the first time 23 years ago, and has been living there (here?) for more than 10 years, there is much less staring now than there used to be, probably because of numbers. There are a lot more foreigners around now.
_imba_ 2y ago
I was in Tokyo on a short business trip once. I had a interpreter and back to back meetings with Japanese businesses for a few days. At one stage I realised that people are reacting slightly to what I am saying before the content was translated. I asked the interpreter about it and she said that they all had English as a school subject and that most Japanese people under 50 can understand English, and are too self-aware about their accent to even try to converse. I've never been able to verify this and would love a more informed opinion.
- krackers 2y ago
  (Don't have any firsthand experience but) I've always assumed their relationship with English is similar to most Americans' relationship with Spanish. They are both taught in "textbook" form as part of the curriculum, and as a result most probably could get by on "input" (reading or slow verbal comprehension) but there is no need to be good at "output".
smukherjee19 2y ago
As someone who moved to Japan over 8 years ago, the observations make sense! Also, if you're considering "living" in Japan (which is a totally different beast from visiting as a tourist), here's a hypothetical scenario. See how you feel the first time you read it. You, alongwith a group of friends/group tour members are walking down the street towards the station to go to your next (sightseeing) destination in Tokyo. Assume none of your friends/group tour members are ill-meaning (as in, they don't behave like bad tourists, littering the streets, being loud because they want to etc.). Now, assume that the group you are with is being louder than other locals around you, possibly because they are in good spirits after a good meal or sightseeing experience. What is your way of thinking: a) Do you realize that your group is being louder than other locals around you? b) If you realize so, do you still not feel anything and keep walking with the group? c) Or do you feel uncomfortable that your group is being louder than others around you, and want to distance yourself away from your group? If you're more inclined towards c), then your way of thinking is closer to the Japanese people. Source: had the same experience when I visited Japan over 10 years ago for the first time, and I was so uncomfortable it felt like torture just walking with the same group. Japan, for better or worse, is "unique" in many ways even today, including how people think and behave. It's not for everyone, but if you think the article's observations and the scenario above are something you like and want to be a part of, you'll likely not have too much of a hard time adapting to life here. Also, if time and energy permits, please, learn the language. It'll expand your world so much here.
- workingdog 2y ago
  >>Also, if time and energy permits, please, learn the language. My opinion: Even taking ten hours to learn a few polite phrases makes a Japanese trip infinitely better. It signifies to Japanese people that you're trying to understand them and they very much love it.

66 points by surrTurr 2y ago

I moved from Hamburg, Germany to Tokyo in October of last year. I would agree with their observation and have a few points to add that I found remarkable (some of them are probably a little specific to Tokyo): - In larger cities there are Konbinis _everywhere_. As in: You can barely walk a block without encountering one in the more busy areas. Sometimes there are three within a 30m Radius. - Most fruits (except bananas or Kaki when in season) are pretty expensive. - Package sizes in supermarkets are often smaller that in europe, so if you are used to buying 1 or 2kg bags of frozen veggies you'll have to go to Costco. - People make due with much less space here than in europe. Tiny apartments everywhere. - Most single detached family homes in residential areas of Tokyo usually have no garden. - Even though a lot of places look like they have not changed since the 80s, they are suprisingly well maintained and clean. - There are basically no public trashbins except at some train stations or in konbinis (which often makes me feel like I need to buy something else to justify throwing stuff away). - Lots of people wear masks casually (not judging whether thats good or bad) - Food is not only cheap but usually tastes amazing. I have not even once gone anywhere (from cheap chain to upscale sushi place) an was disappointed. - You do get 日本語上手 (Nihongo Jouzu = your japanese is good) a lot even if you just say Hello in japanese. - Trains here are usually really punctual, go frequently and during rush hour are unbearably crowded. It's kind of a miracle that people don't start fighting constantly and everyone is just somehow accepting the fact that they are forcefully pushed around on the train. - The japanese people I met are are almost all incredibly nice, once you break the ice. They are so mindful of others feelings and needs and really good at reading people.

tecleandor 2y ago
Just in case any of you don't know, trash bins were removed mostly after the sarin terrorist attack in 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack
- johannes1234321 2y ago
  While that may be the trigger, the reason is that people don't expect trash cans everywhere thus are prepared to take their trash back home and in the orderly clean culture that works.
  - xoac 2y ago
    The end result is really phenomenal and the behavior change sometimes funny. I went to a EU city immediately after visiting Tokyo for the first time and after I bought some canned drink i realized that I walked with the can in my pocket for like 2km totally ignoring all of the trashcans on the way.
- CM30 2y ago
  So it's the same situation as in London, where the bins were removed after IRA bombings? Makes sense, unfortunately. Does make me wonder if people's behaviour towards litter (aka taking it home more often) would have been different had these events never happened.
  - makeitdouble 2y ago
    > Makes sense It's more of a cost reduction move. As an example Paris kept trash bins after the terrorist attacks, albeit they adapted them to the situation (either they're bomb resistant or made light and transparent) Tokyo or London could do the same, if they cared enough.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
swah 2y ago
And the smoking is similar?
mft_ 2y ago
> - Lots of people wear masks casually (not judging whether that's good or bad) It's worth mentioning that masks were in relatively common usage in Japan long before the COVID pandemic. (I have no anecdata whether usage was increased since.) Years ago I flew on (I think) JAL and was amused to receive a face-mask in the small free package of in-flight goodies provided to each person.
- glandium 2y ago
  > I have no anecdata whether usage was increased since. I do. There are a LOT more masks now than before the pandemic (caveat: I'm not in Tokyo, maybe it's different there, but probably not)
pavlov 2y ago
> "- Even though a lot of places look like they have not changed since the 80s, they are suprisingly well maintained and clean." This is also the case in America, except the "well maintained and clean" part.
ericmay 2y ago
On a recent trip to Japan one thing that stood out to me was that my wife and I were usually the only people wearing sunglasses everywhere we went.
rayiner 2y ago
> Food is not only cheap but usually tastes amazing. I have not even once gone anywhere (from cheap chain to upscale sushi place) a was disappointed. On our trip earlier this year, my wife and sister in law really got hooked on the random convenience store food.

ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago

This is pretty accurate (I used to travel to Tokyo regularly -for about 20 years). My favorite "Notes on Japan" was Dave Barry Does Japan[0]. [0] https://www.davebarry.com/book-page.php?isbn13=9780449908105 https://www.davebarry.com/book-page.php?isbn13=9780449908105

drooopy 2y ago

"visiting Japan feels like visiting the 2000s CD shops everywhere malls are thriving people use fat laptops" Sounds like a good time. I still buy tons of physical media and I love me a thick laptop with tons of ports and expandability.

moomoo11 2y ago

Any Americans moved to Japan? Like permanently? I am a naturalized US citizen and I don’t have Japanese family or something like that. So from that pov, what was it like? How did you do it? I went to Japan and it was honestly the best place I’ve been. As a brown guy I felt so welcomed and people were so kind to me. Not to mention it’s so clean and orderly. Fwiw I’m a software engineer with a decade of experience. I have a business degree.

makeitdouble 2y ago
As long as you first find a stable and good enough job it's probably fine and not _that_ hard. There will be a ton of papers to deal with, including some banks that apparently aren't open to US citizens (probably because of taxation ?), but I don't think it's much more than for most countries on the globe. Speaking/Writing will also be a big part of it, but it's not insurmountable. You'll survive without it for a while (you've found a company willing to hire you anyway), and probably spend a few years learning before being fully proficient (reading contracts etc.) PS: I'm not american, so there's a bunch of details I might be missing but I haven't heard of specific troubles on that front.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- p_l 2y ago
  FATCA legislation pushed by US Congress (and then reneged on bidirectionality) made many banks just refuse to deal with people who fall under it.
  - tasoeur 2y ago
    Exactly. This is not just for Japan. Here in Europe I’ve been denied to open an account in local banks due to my dual citizenship (American).
    - p_l 2y ago
      It impacts everyone who has 1 degree connection to a person deemed required to pay US taxes.

donatj 2y ago

> most “non-Japanese” looking people are tourists > therefore, you will probably be treated as one, even if aren’t Myself and a couple friends visited Japan for a couple weeks in 2008. On a trip to Osaka, one of my friends was approached by a gaggle of school girls. It was “speak to a foreigner day” at their school, and apparently of our group, the lone female seemed the most approachable. They asked her a series of questions about where she was from and her life in very basic English and took furious notes. I can’t imagine telling a class in even the safest parts of the United States “Go wander the streets and interview a stranger you suspect to be foreign”, for a number of reasons. The other thing I want to note is just that you get a lot of leeway as a foreigner in Japan. We’d gotten on a train unknowingly that our JR pass didn’t cover, but figured it out on the train. Well right as we get off, the ticket inspector is there inspecting tickets. We feign ignorance and show him our JR passes, he patiently writes something like ¥500 on a piece of paper and shows us, we pay it. No anger is expressed, just more of a “silly foreigners” vibe.

Trow839rn 2y ago
> 2008 A lot has changed. Foreigners no longer have this "superiority". > telling a class in even the safest parts of the United States It is just histeria, look at recent trend of "men vs bear in forest" . Many parts of US are totally safe, the worst part are dogs, car accidents and voluntary drug ingestion!
- darkwater 2y ago
  > A lot has changed. Foreigners no longer have this "superiority". It's still a long ago (2015 in my case) but it happened the exact same thing in Nara to my wife and me.
- HDThoreaun 2y ago
  Its not just about danger. Americans would be insulted if a kid asked them if they were a foreigner, theres not an easy way to tell.
- yongjik 2y ago
  Homicide rate of Japan is about 0.2 per 100,000 people. According to Washington Post [1], the US police killed 1,162 people in 2023, which is about 0.3 per every 100,000 Americans. I.e., an American is more likely to be killed by a cop than a Japanese person is likely to be killed by a murderer. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic...

Semaphor 2y ago

> i felt that it was ‘weird’ talking to someone you don’t know without a reason As a Northern German: this is not normal?

kimixa 2y ago
I think this is pretty true for every really big city I've been to in Europe - such that I wonder if it's a city size thing rather than a location. Trying to talk to random people in London you get weird looks. A small town further out in the country, hope you're not in a rush as they'll talk your ear off.
- Semaphor 2y ago
  I don’t think it needs "really" before "big", it’s certainly not normal in the big city I live in now (pop 200k) nor the medium big city I lived in before (pop 90k). I can believe it’s like that for small villages, idk, maybe pop 1k.
  - kimixa 2y ago
    I generally said hi to people in a ~50k pop city, and would regularly recognize people by face even if I'd never spoken to them before. Certainly in the ~1.5k village I grew up in you'd know most people, again if not their names, and would always say hi. But in that city there were still multiple "centers" - the local pub, couple of shops and whatever - Being the European style town that was actually like 15 different villages that slowly merged. Perhaps because of this it really acted as multiple smaller towns in many ways. There's probably quite a big variation based on local culture, density and other things, but I'm pretty sure it's a trend by size.

PaulHoule 2y ago

when entering a “clean space”, like a home or even a fitting room, take off your shoes I remember playing a Yakuza game where you could walk the protagonist through a house with a tatami floor without taking off your shows and I figured it was alright because he was a badass.

jajko 2y ago
This is norm in much of Europe (as in east, west, north and FWIW some south too), middle east and north Africa. Shoes are always dirty, even on non-rainy day. Sure, you can have rather mess at your home (absolutely unavoidable with smaller kids) but you can do some basic effort to tackle it. Also, massively unhygienic for various fungus that loves damp warm places on your toe nails or between toes.
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  Actually I do this myself with the extra factor that I live on a farm so that it would be easy to track in horse crap.

mito88 2y ago

"for example, when riding the train, everyone either looks at their phone, manga or sleeps...." except for manga, it's the same in public transportation in many countries.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Aeolun 2y ago

If you don’t want to be treated as a tourist, wear a suit and a badge xD

ktallett 2y ago

The key addendum I would add to this post is the Japan you see when you are in public is not the Japan behind closed doors. Japan has many things going for it, yet it can be a very lonely place to exist. It is just a place where it is easier to be lonely due to a high number of distractions. Social care and a lack of significant mental health support creates a large number of society excluded citizens.

m0llusk 2y ago

How much attention one gets depends on various factors. I am a very tall white guy with curly hair that forms an afro. In Tokyo I get stares from nearly everyone along the whole block where I happen to be. Glad this doesn't happen to everyone, but please don't pretend this doesn't happen.

glandium 2y ago
A very tall Japanese guy with curly hair that forms an afro would also get stares. As someone who visited Japan for the first time 23 years ago, and has been living there (here?) for more than 10 years, there is much less staring now than there used to be, probably because of numbers. There are a lot more foreigners around now.

_imba_ 2y ago

I was in Tokyo on a short business trip once. I had a interpreter and back to back meetings with Japanese businesses for a few days. At one stage I realised that people are reacting slightly to what I am saying before the content was translated. I asked the interpreter about it and she said that they all had English as a school subject and that most Japanese people under 50 can understand English, and are too self-aware about their accent to even try to converse. I've never been able to verify this and would love a more informed opinion.

krackers 2y ago
(Don't have any firsthand experience but) I've always assumed their relationship with English is similar to most Americans' relationship with Spanish. They are both taught in "textbook" form as part of the curriculum, and as a result most probably could get by on "input" (reading or slow verbal comprehension) but there is no need to be good at "output".

smukherjee19 2y ago

As someone who moved to Japan over 8 years ago, the observations make sense! Also, if you're considering "living" in Japan (which is a totally different beast from visiting as a tourist), here's a hypothetical scenario. See how you feel the first time you read it. You, alongwith a group of friends/group tour members are walking down the street towards the station to go to your next (sightseeing) destination in Tokyo. Assume none of your friends/group tour members are ill-meaning (as in, they don't behave like bad tourists, littering the streets, being loud because they want to etc.). Now, assume that the group you are with is being louder than other locals around you, possibly because they are in good spirits after a good meal or sightseeing experience. What is your way of thinking: a) Do you realize that your group is being louder than other locals around you? b) If you realize so, do you still not feel anything and keep walking with the group? c) Or do you feel uncomfortable that your group is being louder than others around you, and want to distance yourself away from your group? If you're more inclined towards c), then your way of thinking is closer to the Japanese people. Source: had the same experience when I visited Japan over 10 years ago for the first time, and I was so uncomfortable it felt like torture just walking with the same group. Japan, for better or worse, is "unique" in many ways even today, including how people think and behave. It's not for everyone, but if you think the article's observations and the scenario above are something you like and want to be a part of, you'll likely not have too much of a hard time adapting to life here. Also, if time and energy permits, please, learn the language. It'll expand your world so much here.

workingdog 2y ago
>>Also, if time and energy permits, please, learn the language. My opinion: Even taking ten hours to learn a few polite phrases makes a Japanese trip infinitely better. It signifies to Japanese people that you're trying to understand them and they very much love it.