Over the past year, I have visited Japan three times. In this post, I share some observations I took during my trips.
Notes on Introversion
I often heard ‘Japan is a great country for introverts’
I agree, it is eye contact is rare going to a restaurant or the movies alone is normal people mind their own business
however, that does not mean most Japanese people are introverts instead, I found they want to be polite and not disturb others furthermore, most of they time they are just ‘busy’ or immersed in some form of entertainment (manga, anime, games…) for example, when riding the train, everyone either looks at their phone, manga or sleeps
Notes on Talking to Japanese People
few Japanese people speak English
if you want to talk to Japanese people, you should be at least conversational in Japanese
striking up casual conversations in Cafes or other public places is not very typical during the day most people are ‘busy’ doing something (-> Notes on Introversion ) i felt that it was ‘weird’ talking to someone you don’t know without a reason caveat: my Japanese talking ability is probably also a factor
Notes on being a Foreigner (“外国人”)
Japan is the country with the lowest ethnical diversity (2.1%)
most “non-Japanese” looking people are tourists therefore, you will probably be treated as one, even if aren’t
before visiting Japan, people told me that I will be stared at a lot, because I’m caucasian and from Europe I found that not to be the case maybe it is because of the points listed in Notes on Introversion or because the Japanese have gotten used to tourists from abroad however, this probably depends on where you plan to visit in bigger cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto…) none bats an eye in rural areas, you will get more looks
Notes on Food
restaurants & cafés are very cheap
you can generally get a full meal for under €6 as a result, I barely cooked in my AirBNB
after reading the Notes on Introversion , you might have gotten the impression, that the Japanese are pretty quiet this is not the case when they go out to eat or drink when the Japanese like food, you hear it “美味しい!” -> “That’s tastes good!” *loudly slurps soup* “マジでうますぎ！” -> “It’s really good!” “Ahhhhhh” when the Japanese enjoy an activity, you hear it “えええ、ここが綺麗だね!” -> “Wow, this is beautiful!” “すげ！” -> “Awesome!” “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”
, you might have gotten the impression, that the Japanese are pretty quiet Convenience Stores (コンビニ) are everywhere
Vending machines (自動販売機) are everywhere
Notes on Culture
visiting Japan feels like visiting the 2000s CD shops everywhere malls are thriving people use fat laptops there’s magazines and books for everything
“nerd stuff” is normal stuff it’s normal to see businessmen reading manga on the train bookstores usually have big manga sections including all the “weird” manga however, that does not mean people run around wearing “nerd clothes”, instead they usually just consume the content
Japanese people like rules and structure people usually wait when the traffic light is red, even when there’s no traffic if there’s a sign that says something, follow the sign as a result, it’s very safe e.g. you can leave your bag at your seat, it won’t get stolen (one must not steal after all, right?)
Japanese people really like service service, meaning e.g.: advice while shopping hello & bye when entering shops always having a human available for help visiting (clothing) stores is unexpectedly ‘noisy’ you will hear the employees yelling all sorts of phrases, most of which you can safely ignore you can see large areas of mobile carriers in malls, where you can talk 1:1 to an employee and e.g. buy a new phone + data contract on less busy occasions, you can often see shops with multiple employees just staying around
Notes on manners (basics)