After living in Japan for almost a year, I've come to the
realization that there is no end to the surprising customs and behaviors of Japanese
people. I have listed a few that really stood out for me below:
- In most department stores, it is forbidden to drink or eat.
- Special slippers just for the toilet room.
- Traditional Japanese bath (You are expected to wash your body before you get in the bath, and everyone shares the same water.)
- Shop staff that follow you out of the store and bow to you as you walk away.
- The streets aren't named, just occasionally the intersections! (Even taxi drivers have problems finding their way around!)
- No paper towels anywhere and most restrooms don't even have soap! Japanese people usually carry around their own personal handkerchief.
- Women-only cars on the train and subway.
- Store staff shouts "irasshaimase!" even when nobody is around. (いらっしゃいませ！ is the equivalent of the English word "welcome!", and traditionally in Japan store staff say it to customers entering a store. However, they also shout it at random intervals too, for some reason.)
- Where are the trashcans??? (For a very clean country, there are extremely few trashcans around. Part of this is that people don't eat on the streets, of course...)
- “Condoms" for wet umbrellas... (In larger stores, a dispenser by the door gives out umbrella-shaped bags to make sure your umbrella doesn't drip everywhere.)
- All the plastic food displayed in the windows of restaurants. I literally thought it was real food for almost 3 months. That’s how real it looks!
- Women doing their make-up talking on their cell phone and smoking a cigarette while riding a bike. (Maybe not all at once, but still.)
- Girls stopping dead in their tracks to yell かわいい！ (“kawaii”, or “cute”)
- Overly complicated toilets (Many Western-style toilets in Japan include heated seats with temperature control, adjustable bidet functions, sound effects, and more.)
- Bus drivers turn off the bus during red lights. (This is most likely to help reduce pollution. There is a fairly large campaign called “Stop the idling”.)
- Bike riders wear gloves to protect themselves from the sun, but no helmets!
- At almost every corner people hand out packets of tissues but it is rude to blow your nose in public?
- No laughing in the movie theater. (This might be because subtitles aren't as funny as the original movie, but in general Japanese people are pretty quiet at movies – even scary ones. Except when they all applaud at the end of a movie. )
- Swatting flies by clapping your hands. I saw this numerous times and had no idea what they were doing until I asked one of my friends.
- There are billions of vending machines! Need a pack of cigarettes? How about a new tie. Or a pair of ladies underwear? Yep, all these and more right from a vending machine…
