I come from a cold place where half the year is winter and only about 3 months per year are warm weather. One of the biggest culture shocks I experienced when I first came to Japan was waking up to a hot, sunny summer day (like 35 degrees) and wanting to go hit the beach or go to a park or some other summer activity, and realizing that none of my Japanese friends were interested.
All the Japanese people I knew wanted to sit inside with the AC blasting.
Okay, I chalked that up to growing up in a different climate. Where I was from, you got ~10-20 hot days per year. They were rare and valuable. Here, in the Kansai area, we get many, many more, they aren't as precious.
Then, it snowed the other day and, for the first time since coming here, I saw the snow actually stay on the ground long enough that I could roll it into a little ball. I tried to get my extended family to join me outside in an attempt to build a very small and short lived snowman. They weren't terribly interested. I noticed no one else in the neighborhood was doing so, either.
So it seems no one is interested in winter, either. Alright.
I've noticed for a long time how many houses have windows that remind me of jail architecture. They're so tiny and ridiculous looking to me, and so few. Houses here have almost no glass.
I constantly find myself drawing the curtains open at work and at home because I want to see outside. Everyone I know here seems to exist with the curtains closed at all times.
My apartment has a gorgeous view of shrines against a mountain backdrop. My work place has a view of a river and a forest. I enjoy these things. No one else seems to.
Where I'm from, generally speaking, people look out windows. Yes, you draw the curtains closed at night but, generally, people want to see outside. It seems like no one cares about that here. Has anyone else noticed this?
by kinokogadaisuki
17 comments
Maji ka yo. Another individual trapped inside his small tiny community he only knows.
Everyone is working today what are you on?
What are you talking about?
Young Japanese people love going to outdoor music festivals in the summer and Christmas lights (illumination) in the winter, maybe your friends are nerds
They really don’t. I remember last year on one of our very few snow days here in Fukuoka, we woke up to a good 10cm of fresh snow. My son wanted to make a snow man so we we had a quick breakfast, bundled up and headed to the big nearby park. It had a nice pristine layer of snow that he had all to himself to make a snow man, make snowballs and run around playing. We stayed about an hour and a half and not a single child showed up to play…
Also, at least for the windows- due to earthquakes, I feel like making them smaller, and covered helps to mitigate additional damage.
Otherwise, no, people in Japan, at least in my experience in Kyushu, love the outside.
Japanese people, especially from big cities, dont go much outside for various reason: too humide and hot in summer, to keep white skin, to avoid insects, sometimes to avoid people as well.
There are a few exceptions such as sakura season.
I know plenty of people here in Tokyo who are different from the folks you’re discussing. Maybe try meeting some different folks? Or join some groups/clubs centered around your interests? I hang with outdoorsy Japanese folks and gaijin alike that enjoy hiking, cycling, snow sports, etc.
As far as architecture and your other observations, I haven’t spent a ton of time in the Kansai region but I will say that generally speaking homes here are built differently – at least from what I’m used to in the states, where homes are generally “built to last.” It took me a while to put my finger on it but eventually I realized everything just had a relatively cheap, plasticky feeling to it. What I’ve found is that – although attitudes towards renovation are gradually changing now with folks being more environmentally conscious:
1) there is a fetish of the new kinda thing here – nobody wants to live in your house that you breathed, shat, had sex, did god knows what in… they will tear it down and rebuild
2) even people with their own homes, there is essentially an assumption that you will tear down and rebuild your home at least once in your lifetime
3) these things lead to building inexpensively, which means cheaper materials, not a ton of expensive things like nice windows, etc.
4) privacy is a thing people care about
rural japanese love nature and traditionally built houses with basically open floorplans with a stove/heater as the central fixture. in modern suburban(smaller city) and rural japan this is basically the same(with the homes having larger, more centered windows and open floorplans, only now with more “westernized” fixtures). their behavior in offices also involves slightly more window-gazing, they typically have more outdoorsy hobbies and enjoy shit like “fucking around in the snow”
urban japanese dislike nature because the model of urbanism japan employs is total conquest of nature rather than integration with it. it’s hyper-dense urbanism, and it’s cumbersome to physically get out of the city and go somewhere – you basically need a day off which a lot of workers can’t afford.
likewise, this form of dense urbanism lends itself well to privacy-violators so urban homes are built to preserve privacy above all, and this hyper-awareness of potential privacy violations extends to their behavior in offices.
saying this as someone who moved from suburban sapporo to tokyo and absolutely hates urban japan, so biases are majorly at-play in my assessment of this.
統計的には一般化するときは母集団からランダムに選んだほうがいいわね
Amaが熟女スカトロ同人誌をススメしだしてけしからんと嘆いていたどこぞの親父と同じ墓穴を掘ってるわ
my answer would be:
everyone’s busy with life! mundane things doesn’t interest us anymore, we aren’t tourists here in Japan, hence we don’t fret on small things anymore.
Well the Japanese friends I have like camping, hiking, hanami, BBQs, picnics, fishing etc so yeah I can’t relate
Well it’s balls shrinking freezing outside but I still go fishing!
When it’s balls sagging sweeting hot outside, I still go fishing!
When I work, I want to work comfortable, so music, earphones in and lose myself!
Everyone is different find the group that’s matches your style, it’s not Japanese people thing 🤷🏽♂️
How often do you go to a park, beach or other outdoor recreational area on a weekend or holiday and not see anyone else there?
My old apartment was next to the ocean in a lovely bay. It ran parallel to the coast but didn’t have a single window looking out onto the sea! Absolutely crazy!
I think people here tend to think it’s too hot or too cold to do anything other than for a few months in spring and autumn. For most people sunbathing at the beach is a non-starter. My wife doesn’t even like to sit outside and laughs at me on my sun lounger in August.
The parks around Tokyo are always crowded, not sure what you are talking about
I find it surprising people don’t walk much, even in the countryside. Going for a 30 min. walk for shopping or an hour to visit somewhere is seen as a great trek.
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