Japan has a way of surprising you, sometimes in the best ways, sometimes in the most confusing ones.
Maybe a stranger handed you an umbrella, maybe you got lost in the recycling system, or maybe it was something totally random.
What’s the one moment that made you think: “yep, I’m definitely not in my home country anymore?”
by babelboon
33 comments
Magnetic shower walls
This is gonna be stupid but
Spaghetti in salad.
This was my breaking point. Picking up every salad-looking box in 7-11 and realizing that for some ungodly reason, there were noodles under the lettuce.
Just… Why.
When the other department said, “please fax it to us” and I did and heard the fax machine sound. It likes I travelled back to my childhood era when my Dad sent fax to his business partners.
All-you-can-eat pick-your-own strawberries. In February.
And to top it off, the dude was giving and refilling (!!) sweetened condensed milk. For free. After Ryanair, I was reaching for a card instinctively.
People of all ages waiting for the traffic light to turn green before crossing the street, even if there is not a car in sight (for hundreds of meters, in all directions).
Expensive hotels with no bath or shower in the room.
You’re supposed to use the public bath and shower.
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Mixed onsen in Kyushu…. Women (wrapped in towels) had a swim out entrance from their inside portion. Men (not with large towels) had to walk out and enter through steps a few meters out. (This was also winter, no excuses I promise!)
I knew ahead of time there would be a fence separating the sides.
Recently in the last couple of weeks, I found out that in Japanese hospitals you have to pay a rental fee for your hospital gown.
You also have to pay for towels, even if you use the hospital showers they won’t give you a towel, bring your own or rent them.
So many, highlights include:
8-10 year old girls doing a dance routine at the local summer festival to NWA’s Fuck da Police while all the old ladies clapped along.
A truck full of 80s mannequin heads
A document being passed around and hankoed by 5 different people to notify of a 1 hour business trip
¥800 a peach in the supermarket.
Hearing the explicit versions from of rap songs (I’m talking songs that would never be played on radio without hard censoring)
As if they were as normal as anything 😂
Former girlfriend telling me that her father and grandfather beat her up for dating a foreigner.
Both of them kicking her on the floor apparently.
The foreigner was me.
Bubble era. We did not last.
Hmm, the requests to take a bath with my nephews whenever I visit my in-laws was an uncomfortable request for me. Wife assured me it’s culturally okay, but it’s just not how I was raised. While I get it, because the kid’s Dad is no longer in the picture and I am effectively now defacto Dad, I just feel that one of them is about to enter JHS and he is old enough not to not want to do this.
Guy next to me sleeping on the train randomly bit my jacket collar, then got up and left.
The cost of fruit
Rice in fridge = bad
Rice in rice cooker and curry reheated twice without putting it in the fridge = No problemo
(it was in summer, but up in the mountains, so not that hot)
When the car im leasing got dropped off, i wasnt at home. They parked it in my spot with the cars in the car and left.
I could not imagine leaving a car like that in the US.
Finding my underwear and bras missing from the clothes dryer, not once but twice…
Taking our daughter to routine (and emergency) medical appointments, and after presenting the 医療証 (iryōshō), having everything including the prescription medicine be completely free of charge! I definitely double checked for the first few visits because it was almost too good to be true.
Realistic-looking guns not with bright orange tips as part of costumes on halloween or on the way to airsoft or something. No one seemed to care at all.
Going into shops and hearing a variety of language in English that would be bleeped in the US (and probably not have the songs play at all). Also, Dragonforce and even gothy stuff playing on the store’s music.
I tried to vacuum up some dust and paper scraps after assisting some teachers with a project. The assistant principal stopped me and said, “No, no don’t worry about that. Yamada-sensei will get it.” I looked over and saw that Yamada-sensei was working on her class report. “I’m free and can do it, it’s not a problem,” I said. The AP shook his head and said, “No, no — it’s a woman’s work. Let Yamada-sensei see to it, later.”
My gf (now wife) telling me that when she was a school kid, guys ejaculated on her during Rush Hour in the train. And it apparently happened to every friend of her too…
5000 yen for 5kg of rice
People not stealing in general.
Shoplifting, pickpocketing, car hijacking…
I once saw a blue collar worker stop his car next to a park and leave it with the engine running to go to the toilet.
Daughter was meant to follow me up a staircase with a luggage bag. I had the remainder of them. 1/3 of the way up, surrounded by other commutes, I turned back only to realize she didn’t follow. I was about to head downstream through the crowd to be with her
Nope. Not gonna happen
The crowd sensed she was to go up the stairs. Grabbed her bag and guided her towards me
That’s not all
The people beside me knew what to do. They grabbed my extra bags and helped me to the top. To keep the flow moving in one direction. My daughter was guided up to me. It’s easier to keep everyone moving together than to let one person (me) disrupt the flow of many
By total strangers
A one of a kind interaction that left a lasting impression on me of the Japanese mindset
Most recent
As someone with a pregnant wife.
The book you get with coupons that you bring to the hospital.
The first really WTF moment I had was at language school. As many know they’re pretty strict with absence and if you go to the doctor you need to get a note to show why. If you had for example the flu you could be absent without it affecting your actual attendance (for example when you renew the visa)
My friend broke his arm. Had to go to the hospital and get a cast. He got the note from the doctor explaining the situation. They said ”ah okay but you will still count as absent. Not sick”
Apparently you could only get a ”absence is ok” check if you had the flu. That was insane.
Housing discrimination, key money, Japanese middle school kid crip walking in the middle of class, teacher bopping a kid on the head with a book, pdfs getting the lightest sentences ever, no foreigners allowed sign, hearing blowjob bars exist, akihabara during the golden age of anime, no college scholarships, elementary school kids riding the train alone, ultranationalist noise trucks, politicians noise trucks, snack bar noise trucks, waving happily at anti foreigner parade in Shibuya until my Japanese friend told me what it was… probably a lot more. Japan is still more chill than America though lol
everyone watches the credits to completion at the cinema. every time.
Was eating at a chain restaurant, someone ordered a dish+coke , paid via their card/phone . But for some reason, only the ticket for the food came out not the coke. When that person’s order came out, he showed the ticket to the staff and explained to them that the coke ticket didnt come out but he had proof he paid for both on his phone (receipt). However, the staff said he wouldn’t give the Coke unless he had a physical ticket for the coke. The person took his dish but couldn’t take the coke and was visibly annoyed.
After a few moments, he went back to the staff again, explaining the situation (also no one else was taking the coke), separate staff asked around if anyone had the numbered ticket for the coke but no one claimed it. Eventually, the guy called the cops, cops came and heard the situation and asked the staff . The staff in charge gave the answer “even though he has proof he paid for the coke, without the ticket i cannot give it to him.” The police also seemed dumbfounded with how to deal with the situation. Eventually, the guy gave up and left.
The staff seemed proud but all the other customers seemed to be displeased about it . Really shows how some people here are very hardlined about “rules” and “policy” here…
I went to a local matsuri where there was a van selling strawberry ice cream and shakes etc called “Fucking Strawberry!”
Anything requiring filling out a form.
Need a SIM card? Fill out the form. We’ll mail the card to you.
Need a My Number Card? Go online fill out the form. We’ll mail you a paper that you then take to the ward office. Fill out some more forms. You can come back and get the card in a few days.
Need to transfer money? Oh you better believe you have to fill out a form!
Gotta trash a suitcase? Buy a ticket, fill out a form for pickup. We shall be by in a few days.
Land of the rising red tape.
But I do like the clothes in the combini. Family Mart socks are amazing.
walked into a restaurant without seeing the “準備中” sign between lunch and dinner service and saw all the staff napping in the booths.
also, when i first moved here and lived in a sharehouse i put raw white mushrooms in a salad and all of my japanese housemates circled around me appalled that i was eating raw mushrooms and checked in on me thru the night to see if i got a stomach ache or not lol
ATMs with business hours and holidays. It’s been years and it still baffles me.
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