Japanese Culture can seem pretty weird to a first time visitor. In this video I discuss the top 25 things that shock foreigners in Japan including crowded subways, timeliness, tiny hotel rooms, face masks, and more! After you watch this video you’ll be prepared to embrace Japan’s culture, and not be as shocked by it!
1 – Face Masks
In Japan they rarely take sick days, so when they are sick they are expected to wear a mask. Many people also wear masks to not get sick from others. You’ll see people on the train, subway, sidewalk, pretty much everywhere wearing face masks.
2 – Sooo many people
Tokyo is crowded, particularly the train stations.
3 – Crazy work hours
You’ll see people in business suits around at all hours.. 7am to midnight. Because the Japanese seem to almost always be working, or at a work social. Death from too much work is so commonplace in Japan that there is a word for it — karoshi. There is a national karoshi hotline, a karoshi self-help book and a law that funnels money to the widow and children of a salaryman (it’s almost always a man) who works himself into an early karoshi for the good of his company. Among 2,207 work-related suicides in 2007, the most common reason (672 suicides) was overwork, according to government figures released in June.
4 – They sleep anywhere and everywhere
5 – Everybody is always dressed up
Men in business suits, women in high heels, all the time.
6 – Time is really important
There is no such thing as “fashionably late” in Japan. If trains are more than 30 seconds to a minute late they start apologizing for being late. If you are more than 5 minutes late for a dinner reservation you might as well forget you even had it. Want to check in to a hotel early? Hah! If the check-in time is 3pm, then 3pm exactly is when they will let you check-in.
7 – Public Transportation is Really on time
Even busses! And it’s not like 8:30 — it’s 8:34 and the busses will show up at that exact minute. The bus won’t leave until it’s the exact time to go. Even a shuttle bus to a hotel, if the departure time is 2pm, and all passengers are onboard at 1:45pm, the bus driver will sit there and watch the clock until it strikes exactly 2pm.
8 – And their stores close really early
Typical store closing time is 7 or 8pm… even when 100,000 people are walking by. And they close promptly. When Japan’s nightlife starts, their daytime stuff closes. No 24 hour supermarkets, they close at 8pm when the department stores close.
9 – And their ATMS close too
Seriously… why does the ATM close at 7pm? And when its closed, its really closed, like a with a door that rolls down.
10 – Crazy small hotel rooms
Japanese hotels are masters of efficient space use. It IS the home of the capsule hotel
11 – Pillows are hard
They aren’t full of feathers, they are full of Buckwheat Hulls. Kind of like the shells of sunflower seeds. They are the opposite of soft. But they are supposed to allow for more air circulation.
12 – You have to take off your shoes everywhere
Of course when you go to someones house, but there’s more!
Even at the dressing room of a store — and make sure they point the right way!
Some traditional hotels you take your shoes off right at the door
I was there for “work” once, and I had to take off my shoes to enter the office
So don’t wear your socks with holes
Oh and there are toilet slippers
13 – Swim caps for swimming pools
14 – Insane Prices
15 – Little Kids Walking to School by Themselves
16- Excessive Packaging
17 – Being naked in front of others
18 – Wet Hands
19 – There aren’t any trash cans
20 – Amount of bicycles
21 – Japanglish
22 – Karaoke
23 – Purses left to save seats. Story about train laptop.
24 – Lots of really human intensive jobs
25 – French maids on the street
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25 Comments
What part about Japanese Culture do YOU find shocking?
Communal baths 🛀
Grandpa Richard missed the live show due to it airing after his bedtime but he enjoyed the replay.
My cat Turdles wants to know what Topher does for a living.
i hate those masks. there are times i hardly see peoples full faced anymore
you forgot how theres vending machines, drugstores, convenience stores everywhere
apa hotel is pretty good. oh ya theres even a special song they play when stores are about to close
missed another live steam errrrrr school
Japanese toilet
i enjoy your videos….we just went to japan a month ago and found your video/live stream to be quite funny. We watched your switzerland videos because we will be traveling there soon. Any suggestions for Lugano??? You should travel to Vietnam…great country to visit. Thanks
Cool videos subscribe to me back
There's quite a few 24 hour supermarkets. Many AEONs, Seiyu's, and Don Quijote's have 24 hour supermarket floors. Plus lots of convenience stores carry most things you might need at 3am.
As for wet hands, every Japanese child is brought up to always have a handkerchief on them at all times. I’m sure some adults leave off doing so, but most still carry one.
On trash cans, I’m always curious what kind of trash people are generating by just walking around. Walking and eating or drinking is rude in Japan and should not be done, and everywhere that sells you things that might generate trash also will take that trash back. So ideally you should be consuming the thing you bought on the spot and then disposing of your trash at the place in which you bought it. So convenience stores have trash cans for things you might have bought there, if you get some food from a street stall they’ll take your trash once you’ve finished, and vending machines have recycling cans for what they’ve dispensed.
Anyway, been following your channel for your Japan videos for a long time and it’s great to see you getting more popular. Keep up the good work. 🙂
You don't have to go all the way to Japan for an all you can eat KFC buffet… you only need to go to the far off and exotic land of… South Salt Lake, Utah (specifically the intersection of State Street and 3900 South, not only does it have an all you can eat buffet, it is the site of the first KFC to be franchised).
for ATMs just go to a convenience store or if you're lucky, the train station.
I really like how clean and efficient it sounds. A small hotel room is a great idea, bc most of the time you’re just sleeping there anyway!
Thank you for a great video 👍👍
DONT FORGET ABOUT KANCHO!!!! カンチョー
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanch%C5%8D
It helps for using the squat toilets though. 😉
23) Korea's also super-safe!
I was on a bus going to work at a Hagwon, and totally blanked and left my backpack on it when I got to school! I didn't even realize it until they called me down to the office in the afternoon to tell me to go pickup my pack at the local polite station!
I felt foolish for making that mistake, but also very thankful for the Korean culture! 😇
On the ATMs in Japan, they are also closed on Holidays. But… 7 Eleven ATMs are always open and they can be located, not just in the combini stores but at other locations as well like airports, parks and train stations. For me, one of the shocks I got in Japan was during my visit to the last year of Tokyo Anime Fair in 2013 at Tokyo Big Sight. I needed to use the restroom and as I was going in I saw a lady in there cleaning up and I immediately turned around thinking that I entered the ladies room, but, no. I saw the sign and I had entered the men's room. So I looked inside again and sure enough, it was a cleaning lady. Then I saw a man go in while she was cleaning and do his business. So, when in Rome. So I went and she kept on cleaning. This is another thing I've noticed about Japan. In all the 6 times I've been there, not once have I've seen a restroom close for cleaning. They are always open while someone is there cleaning them up. On the Maid Cafes. A lot of people need to understand that the girls dressed as maids are not sex workers. It really gets to me how many posts I see of people calling those places brothels and both my niece and I have experienced people (foreigners) going in there expecting more than food or drinks from the girls. These are innocent entertainment places that if you allow yourself to get into it are a lot of fun. By the way, Chris, I have the business contact for the @Home Cafe offices in Akihabara and I've recorded with their permission at their Akihabara location for a documentary I'm working on. I would be more than happy to send you their contact information if you are interested in taking video next time you go to Tokyo. 🙂
Are you aware of any suicide club in Japan, Chris?
Another great video.
I guess Face masks aren’t weird anymore
Who would have thought, just 2 years after this was uploaded we'd be wearing masks too! Guess it's not too shocking now lol
Kimono present. Tell him to bring you a new car.
Milk is 'gyuu nyuu'. 牛乳. Have you used 'mi-ru-ku', and they understood you? I've seen 'mi-ru-kii' candy, but never heard it in reference to the drink… but maybe…