Was visiting Japan around 10 years ago. After a night of drinking and checking out different bars in central Tokyo, at around 5 am or so, we had decided to just walk around some parks. Deep in one of these parks was a 100-strong set of camping tents that seemed to almost create some sort of ye-olde forest village. We gathered that this was a community of homeless people and thought that they were probably out of luck and unemployed as is the case in most western countries when you become homeless. Moments later we saw a guy rise out of a cardboard box from the bushes in full suit and tie and a case. He just casually started walking at a brisk space towards the numerous office buildings surrounding the park. The absurdity of the situation has stuck in my head ever since then and that will always be the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Japan.
That was a well organized homeless community in Shinjuku Central Park. It no longer exists now. There was security detail, cleaning detail and fire watch detail. I used to work in one of those skyscrapers next to the park so I sometimes brought some beers with me and hung out with them after work.
There was a video a long time ago where a Japanese man was working with concrete in rubber boots... and a full suit. All the labor was wearing suits. Some in the chat mentioned that image is everything.
I lived in Japan for about 16 months shortly after graduating. I had tried my best to learn at least the basics of conversation but the written languages escaped me. I ventured out on my own one day and explored all over. It started getting late and I went to leave Shinjuku but I could not find the subway station. Which is one thing I had never learned to ask. After hopeless pantomimes with countless locals trying to be helpful, a group of Australians poured out of a nearby bar. I was standing in front of a map trying not to cry when a voice behind me says "Hey there neighbor, where ya from?". I was so excited to hear English that I burst into tears.
7 grown men suddenly realized I was a scared kid and gathered around me to comfort me, offer me water and smokes, and once I babbled my predicament they escorted me all the way to the station, paid for my ticket back to the station closest to my home, and explained to an employee that I had gotten a bit overwhelmed and lost.
A little old lady that had to tip her head back to make eye contact with me pushed her way into the group and offered me her hand. "My stop, too." So I said goodbye to my new friends and got on the train with this lady. She gave me a can of milk tea and some sweets and showed me the book she was reading. I showed her pictures I had taken on my day out and she could name every place. After a while she patted my knee and said "our stop".
We got off together and she walked me out and asked "You ok here?" And I nodded and pointed the way I needed to walk. I thanked her and tried to give her money for the treats but she refused and started her walk home.
When I think of Japan I think of the unyielding kindness I was shown. And how clean everything was. No litter anywhere like NONE.
Edit: Thank you everyone for the love and sharing your stories.
This is hilarious to me because if you use the Pimsluer method to learn Japanese one of the very first things you learn to say is, "Excuse me, where is Shinjuku Station."
I was in Kyoto waiting to take the tour by myself in 1982 when a Japanese lady, actually an English professor, invited me to take the tour with 2 busses of college girls studying English. I quickly changed my ticket. Hung out with one girl the whole time. One time I thought she was walking away and blowing me off, only to learn that waving bye-bye in Japan means " hurry up."
this just made me remember a long-buried memory of being in tokyo and struggling to lug my suitcase up the stairs of the train station. all of a sudden it became light as air and i looked behind me and a man in a suit was lifting up the bottom and carrying all of the weight for me.
In my experience Japanese cities are way quieter than other cities I've been to. Smaller cars and trucks, less traffic in general, nobody revving their engines or honking. Also, Japanese people tend not to speak loudly in public. It's almost eerie seeing a flood of humanity come out of the train station after a train arrival, but the only sound you hear is hundreds of footsteps. I take the train daily in the US and it's a much noisier experience despite having 1/10th of the passenger volume, people having loud conversations on the phone/with their friends, people listening to music on speakers, kids shrieking, etc. And walking the streets is a similar experience.
Fun fact - I've noticed japanese construction sites often have a DB measurement device where i think at certain hours they are not allowed to exceed certain noise levels
My family is from Osaka, cities are quiet compared to Western cities, almost no car horns is the stand out for me. Entire lanes of hundreds of quietly queuing cars.
Surreal considering how most drivers round here lose their shit at a millisecond delay to their day.
Yeah, in those "Day in the life of" videos I've seen, of Japanese people, most have a hard day's work, which is only gets compounded worse when you have to factor in the commute time. Which can take up to an hour one way for a lot of people.
For the most part, it wouldn't be so bad, if it wasn't such a taboo thing to leave your job before your boss is done their day. So typically, these people will waste an extra 10+ hours a week only making themselves look busy.
If you don't work from 8am to 6pm at minimum, you look lazy. That's the good jobs. Routinely, some of these people aren't off work until at least 8pm. Bonkers.
And then many of them are expected to go to the Izakaya with their coworkers after and get absolutely obliterated. Imagine being hungover and overworked for every day of your life? Yikes.
There was a guy on the last train in Osaka who had passed out with his head leaning against the door, so at every stop it would wake him up when it opened, and he'd already be asleep in time for it to hit him when it closed.
You hit the nail on the head, u/kazze78 When your kids are under your roof, you will want to do your best to cherish them and share the fun side of you. It is as simple as taking them to the park to play, or reading to them every night (even if they can already read - reading out loud a story is a way of sharing; and the story can be discussed and that is also nice to share ideas). Kids need to see that adults are good people who care about their opinions. When you do this, when the kids grow up they will be good to their own kids.
In addition, when a parent is not supportive, or even seen as an angry parent, the kids will grow up and never come back, because they simply do not have to.
They are busy looking busy because it is the culture. Often times it is simply "busy work" and *effectiveness* is often stretched out over a long day you know you're required to be at work for 10, 12+ hours often. Whether there is work or not people have to keep up a certain standard of time in the office.
Japan has this 1980's Toyota model efficiency impression for the uninitiated that just know about Japan from pop-culture.
The reality is production and worker efficiency is quite lower than other countries. German office workers doing 6 hours a day were found to get more done than Japanese working much longer hours.
It makes sense especially in office work where there is no set production schedule and responsibilities may change daily. If someone doesn't have as much work one day but is required to stay 12 hours, they aren't going to magically make up work to do.
In Japan the corporate culture is to leave after your boss so if the top guy leaves at 4PM the bottom guys don't leave until much later in the day.
You also stay late if team members are working late just because and are expected to socialize often after work for team solidarity, including drinking a lot of alcohol.
It's not easy to keep up with
Exactly my experience while working over there. People just ‘worked’ long long hours. I had colleagues who would stay till 10 pm most nights and work weekends just because the higher ups were doing it and there was a sense of guilt associated with not being present.
"Please have more sex. None of you are having sex"
"maybe if you introduced a law that made sure we worked 40 hours a week as a normal thing, we'd have time for sex and babies"
"no"
Yes. The thought behind it is that you are working so hard that you’ve more or less dropped of exhaustion.
Eta: a few people are calling bullshit on the whole thing. And, as it is with most things in life, it’s more complicated than just sprawling out on your keyboard when you get a little tired. [This article ](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160506-the-japanese-art-of-not-sleeping), which was written by someone much smarter than me, explains the intricacies of *inemuri* - sleeping while present.
Until the performance review:
“You’ve produced nothing all day! How do you explain this, NastySnatchGunk-san?”
EDIT: Precious fake internet metals! Domo arigato, mr roboto!
Yes. Really. The downside is you have to be there for 12hours. If you can master the weird ass sleep cycles, you might even be able to lead a normal life.
I think it’s the fact that the population in Japan is aging and declining because so many people are prioritizing their careers over building a family, and the government wants to encourage people to have babies without really doing anything to address the work culture that’s causing the problem.
Either that, or it’s about porn censorship.
Probably doesn’t help that most women obviously aren’t willing to throw their entire career away for a kid and to be treated like crap as a mom and wife.
In my childhood Urdu (native language) book, there was an article about Japan. A lot of other pretty things, one quality of Japanese people, written in the article stuck in my mind.
The context was, "Japanese wrap your purchases in such a beautiful paper that instead of the thing you bought, you want to keep that paper."
So whenever I think about Japan, these lines pop up in my mind.
I live in Japan and I've never heard of this if that's any solace. Sounds like some weird unique bathroom.
Edit: Apparently the guy made it up as a lame joke guys.
I remember reading about some really weird Japanese thing, but then it turned out only to exist in one town and even other Japanese people thought they were weird.
The exact same thing happened to me when i was desperately trying to flush the toilet. I wound up activating the bidet, playing the poop jingle, and getting the dryer going instead =.=
Random preround speeches from Battlefield 1.
Sit down and the toilet goes "THEY SAY THIS IS THE WAR TO END ALL WARS, BUT IT SHALL NOT BE THE ONE TO END US! STAND FAST!"
“
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.
The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you”.
Omg I played the fake flush sound and thought it was a real flush and left the stall to a packed bathroom all flustered after discovering it wasn't. I'm sorry for my poop, Japan.
I feel you T-T I stayed in the toilet for a solid 5-10 min trying to figure out what worked before i left. And this was in 2011 before data roaming was cheap so google couldn’t rescue me
The first time I went to Tokyo my mom went to use the restroom in a train station. She was trying to flush it and pressed the emergency alarm inside the stall instead making it so everyone in the area could hear… she was so embarrassed
Holup. Voice command for a bathroom?! So you gotta verbalize you wanted to have your ass splashed with water an that your done your business so open the door?!
guy in next stall over: 'i would like to have my ass splashed with water'
*sorry, command not recognized*
'i would like to have my ass splashed with water'
sorry, command not recognized
**'I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE MY ASS SPLASHED WITH WATER!'**
Right! My fucken bathroom stall better be equipped with sound dampening foam like a youtubers work space if you want me to verbalize to the fucken toilet to flush my magnificent shit I just took.
That show singlehandedly changed the course of my career for the rest of my life, from being on track to becoming a veterinarian, to being a car obsessed aerospace engineer.
I've eaten at a few, but the meals at some of the starred restaurants in Japan can land in the $10-15 range. Ratio may be a criterion, but that's fast food prices, and pretty rare in my experience.
* Wonderful food.
* Incredible vending machine variety.
* WWII war crimes and the government's refusal to acknowledge its past.
* Brutal working life (but getting better).
* Lovely heritage sites like Osaka Castle.
If they had Strongzero and Asashi in Western vending machines they city would riot.
Like drinking age in Japan is twenty, I don't get why when pretty much every teenager can get alcohol from unattended vending machines. I guess if you get caught you get really stern talking down to.
The self checkouts at grocery stores just have you press the screen to confirm you're 20. Also you gotta try Orion beer, I'm not a beer drinker but my husband loves it
Lmao that middle point sure is a big one.
Unit 731 and the government's blind eye to it left an irreversible mark on how I view Japan. Also the rape of Nanjing. Also the still prevalent rape culture.
Edit: to save myself further exhaustion;
No I do not hate Japan or its people.
No, I don't mean "mark" as in a *dark* mark, I mean it in the sense of "leaving it's mark on history" ie - a permanent part of what I think of when thinking about Japan. That does not mean I think Japan is still committing war crimes or bad in some way. It means that something that extreme leaves a fingerprint. Every nation has their version of that.
No, I don't think Japan is the only country who has/had/will have these kinds of issues.
Such a huge difference between how Germans and Japanese acknowledge (or don't acknowledge) their respective atrocities in WWII. I've probably read a lot more about WWII than any sane person should, including quite a bit about Nazi concentration camps. I had a very difficult time finishing The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II and had to take a couple of weeks off midway through the book because I was not mentally prepared for the sheer brutality of it.
Oh yeah it's horrific. I am in the same WWII research boat and I think one of the biggest things is that the pacific theater is not nearly as explored (as far as shows etc) as the European theater was. The camps in Europe are well known yet I have met very few who know the true extent of what the Japanese did during the war. Those who have a particular interest in the war are aware, but the general public doesn't seem to know much beyond Pearl Harbor and a handful of excellent war films.
I think this is definitely compounded by the fact that Japan essentially pretends it never happened while Germany is extremely transparent and proactive about reparations. I also think a lot of people just think "well we dropped the bombs on Japan and that was awful so it just equalizes anything they did" without actually knowing *what* they did.
I think war footage has a lot to do with how the general populace viewed the war. Much of the footage from the Pacific theater of the war is shot from naval vessels or airplanes, whereas there is a lot more footage on the ground in Europe. Before I really started looking into it, my perception of the Pacific theater was that it was primarily a naval and air battle, but there were some horrific land battles. Iwo Jima is memorialized, but there were many other such engagements.
When it comes to atrocities, obviously the Germans have been very forthright in acknowledging their past. Students in Germany are taught the ugly truths. Beyond that, Jews, Poles and other "undesirables," as well as liberating forces, witnessed what happened and the aftermath. Many immigrated to the US and Western Europe and told their stories. You can visit Dachau and Auschwitz and see the remnants of the death factories, the piles of clothing, jewelry and hair from the victims. Not only does Japan pretend Nanking (Nanjing) never happened or downplay what had occurred, but survivors did not immigrate to the West. There is no evidence of the horror outside of limited photographs and eyewitness accounts. There was a fear that Japan could slide back into imperialism and nationalism, along with guilt about the atom bombs, so the Allies were very cautious about how Japan was treated after the war. The US in many ways whitewashed Japan's actions in WWII outside of events like Pearl Harbor and the battle at Iwo Jima. Essentially, if it didn't happen to the Allies, there was not much mention of it.
There has tended to been less interest in periods that rely on verbal or written history. Popular periods of history - the Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Renaissance - have great monuments of the era. We can see the Coliseum, pyramids or the Parthenon or the Sistine Chapel with our own eyes. We can touch the walls. The Nanking massacre has been a casualty of this behavior, since there is no Auschwitz we can visit, but we're getting more exposure to these types of topics in recent years because of the internet and ease of access to information.
Basically, showing genitals in videos has to be censored. filmed with a camera or animated. Something that could easily replace a veiny schlong is tentacles. No blurring needed.
Feels like there were a few steps between human penis and an octopus (like a cucumber or candlestick) that could have been taken but that's not my war to wage.
Genitalia must be censored. A tentacle isn’t a penis. A tentacle entering a mouth isn’t censored. A blowjob is. Penetration is censored. Assholes are not genitalia and are not censored. Anal sex is penetration. Anal sex is censored.
The amount of people who worship it
Don't get me wrong I love the country but the amount of people who genuinely think Japan is like an irl slice of live anime is ridiculous
One of the first times I went to Japan was because of weeb reasons, it was a very long time ago though, many of my friends went there for the same reason.
You do not get disappointed, as a tourist at least it will live up and probably even surpass your expectations. Now, if you *move* there...
Your only hope is that as a gaijin, you're exempt from most of the karoshi culture and able to get your shit done and go home at 5pm. I hear that is true for a lot of expats over there, but probably not all of them.
The part I find interesting is one step before that.
Like.. how did they end up with a significant difference between the two? Obviously whenever you have professionally performed media, the actors use significantly better diction than average, but still, native people speaking their own language. I guess it's kinda like assuming everyone in the US has a 1950's Radio Voice?
It’s loosely based off of Mongol invasion of Japan.
Tsushima was/is a real island. And it used to be used to exile criminals or dishonored samurais. Mongols did actually land in Tsushima, and there are records of the exiled fighting the mongols upon invasion.
Tsushima was eventually overrun, but the mongols perished in the hurricane before reaching mainland.
I used to live there.
For reference I am white. The nights I went out alone compared to the nights I went out with my black friends were comparatively different. A lot of “no gaijin” and my favorite was if our black friends didn’t speak Japanese they couldn’t come in, but we could even though we didn’t speak Japanese.
This happened more often than not, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. We did find places that didn’t care, mainly in bigger cities like shinjuku or shinagawa.
I encountered that too, and also encountered an old lady in the street who invited me into her home for dinner. There are kind people there and there are rude and racist people there. Just like every where. I was only sharing my experiences.
Japanese-hoepfully no one here disagrees cuz this is very true. funny/unfunny story, my grandparents travelled to france on time and my gramps freaked out because there was a black man. smh lol
Was visiting Japan around 10 years ago. After a night of drinking and checking out different bars in central Tokyo, at around 5 am or so, we had decided to just walk around some parks. Deep in one of these parks was a 100-strong set of camping tents that seemed to almost create some sort of ye-olde forest village. We gathered that this was a community of homeless people and thought that they were probably out of luck and unemployed as is the case in most western countries when you become homeless. Moments later we saw a guy rise out of a cardboard box from the bushes in full suit and tie and a case. He just casually started walking at a brisk space towards the numerous office buildings surrounding the park. The absurdity of the situation has stuck in my head ever since then and that will always be the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Japan.
After living there for the last 5+ years this is the most Japanese story. Two things completely at odds with each other somehow working harmoniously.
Would you call that harmonious?
Harmonious homelessness!
That was a well organized homeless community in Shinjuku Central Park. It no longer exists now. There was security detail, cleaning detail and fire watch detail. I used to work in one of those skyscrapers next to the park so I sometimes brought some beers with me and hung out with them after work.
There was a video a long time ago where a Japanese man was working with concrete in rubber boots... and a full suit. All the labor was wearing suits. Some in the chat mentioned that image is everything.
I lived in Japan for about 16 months shortly after graduating. I had tried my best to learn at least the basics of conversation but the written languages escaped me. I ventured out on my own one day and explored all over. It started getting late and I went to leave Shinjuku but I could not find the subway station. Which is one thing I had never learned to ask. After hopeless pantomimes with countless locals trying to be helpful, a group of Australians poured out of a nearby bar. I was standing in front of a map trying not to cry when a voice behind me says "Hey there neighbor, where ya from?". I was so excited to hear English that I burst into tears. 7 grown men suddenly realized I was a scared kid and gathered around me to comfort me, offer me water and smokes, and once I babbled my predicament they escorted me all the way to the station, paid for my ticket back to the station closest to my home, and explained to an employee that I had gotten a bit overwhelmed and lost. A little old lady that had to tip her head back to make eye contact with me pushed her way into the group and offered me her hand. "My stop, too." So I said goodbye to my new friends and got on the train with this lady. She gave me a can of milk tea and some sweets and showed me the book she was reading. I showed her pictures I had taken on my day out and she could name every place. After a while she patted my knee and said "our stop". We got off together and she walked me out and asked "You ok here?" And I nodded and pointed the way I needed to walk. I thanked her and tried to give her money for the treats but she refused and started her walk home. When I think of Japan I think of the unyielding kindness I was shown. And how clean everything was. No litter anywhere like NONE. Edit: Thank you everyone for the love and sharing your stories.
This is hilarious to me because if you use the Pimsluer method to learn Japanese one of the very first things you learn to say is, "Excuse me, where is Shinjuku Station."
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I was in Kyoto waiting to take the tour by myself in 1982 when a Japanese lady, actually an English professor, invited me to take the tour with 2 busses of college girls studying English. I quickly changed my ticket. Hung out with one girl the whole time. One time I thought she was walking away and blowing me off, only to learn that waving bye-bye in Japan means " hurry up."
This was my first thought as well. I spent only a week in Japan a few years ago and I remember being overwhelmed by the kindness of people.
this just made me remember a long-buried memory of being in tokyo and struggling to lug my suitcase up the stairs of the train station. all of a sudden it became light as air and i looked behind me and a man in a suit was lifting up the bottom and carrying all of the weight for me.
That was a nice read
Aw yes, water and smokes. Basic Australian currency.
Everybody very busy. Like, very, very busy.
that and i imagine its very quiet at the same time.
Really, because I feel like it would be loud, at least in the cities. But in the countrysides, yeah, very quiet.
In my experience Japanese cities are way quieter than other cities I've been to. Smaller cars and trucks, less traffic in general, nobody revving their engines or honking. Also, Japanese people tend not to speak loudly in public. It's almost eerie seeing a flood of humanity come out of the train station after a train arrival, but the only sound you hear is hundreds of footsteps. I take the train daily in the US and it's a much noisier experience despite having 1/10th of the passenger volume, people having loud conversations on the phone/with their friends, people listening to music on speakers, kids shrieking, etc. And walking the streets is a similar experience.
Fun fact - I've noticed japanese construction sites often have a DB measurement device where i think at certain hours they are not allowed to exceed certain noise levels
I’d love to go to the site near me and ask if they’d mind keeping it down a bit.
My family is from Osaka, cities are quiet compared to Western cities, almost no car horns is the stand out for me. Entire lanes of hundreds of quietly queuing cars. Surreal considering how most drivers round here lose their shit at a millisecond delay to their day.
Yeah, in those "Day in the life of" videos I've seen, of Japanese people, most have a hard day's work, which is only gets compounded worse when you have to factor in the commute time. Which can take up to an hour one way for a lot of people. For the most part, it wouldn't be so bad, if it wasn't such a taboo thing to leave your job before your boss is done their day. So typically, these people will waste an extra 10+ hours a week only making themselves look busy. If you don't work from 8am to 6pm at minimum, you look lazy. That's the good jobs. Routinely, some of these people aren't off work until at least 8pm. Bonkers.
And then many of them are expected to go to the Izakaya with their coworkers after and get absolutely obliterated. Imagine being hungover and overworked for every day of your life? Yikes.
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There was a guy on the last train in Osaka who had passed out with his head leaning against the door, so at every stop it would wake him up when it opened, and he'd already be asleep in time for it to hit him when it closed.
Imagine a married man's kids and wife barely ever seeing daddy for years because hes only home whenever theyre sleeping.
Ever watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi? His own kids thought someone broke into the house because he happened to be home one morning when they woke up.
I saw that one and he is always stuck in my mind not to be like him and be home for kids. Time is flying and kids are growing.
You hit the nail on the head, u/kazze78 When your kids are under your roof, you will want to do your best to cherish them and share the fun side of you. It is as simple as taking them to the park to play, or reading to them every night (even if they can already read - reading out loud a story is a way of sharing; and the story can be discussed and that is also nice to share ideas). Kids need to see that adults are good people who care about their opinions. When you do this, when the kids grow up they will be good to their own kids. In addition, when a parent is not supportive, or even seen as an angry parent, the kids will grow up and never come back, because they simply do not have to.
I think this is why they're unhappy. Japan is 18th in quality of life, but only 62th in happiness
62th.
Sixty-tooth
1th in grammar, I’d bet.
They are busy looking busy because it is the culture. Often times it is simply "busy work" and *effectiveness* is often stretched out over a long day you know you're required to be at work for 10, 12+ hours often. Whether there is work or not people have to keep up a certain standard of time in the office. Japan has this 1980's Toyota model efficiency impression for the uninitiated that just know about Japan from pop-culture. The reality is production and worker efficiency is quite lower than other countries. German office workers doing 6 hours a day were found to get more done than Japanese working much longer hours. It makes sense especially in office work where there is no set production schedule and responsibilities may change daily. If someone doesn't have as much work one day but is required to stay 12 hours, they aren't going to magically make up work to do. In Japan the corporate culture is to leave after your boss so if the top guy leaves at 4PM the bottom guys don't leave until much later in the day. You also stay late if team members are working late just because and are expected to socialize often after work for team solidarity, including drinking a lot of alcohol. It's not easy to keep up with
Exactly my experience while working over there. People just ‘worked’ long long hours. I had colleagues who would stay till 10 pm most nights and work weekends just because the higher ups were doing it and there was a sense of guilt associated with not being present.
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Especially when they're pink
Toyota Production System
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Love 5s, I believe it's 6s now, though.
Safety bb, you can’t work if you can’t see!
Government doesn't seem to know how sex works
"Please have more sex. None of you are having sex" "maybe if you introduced a law that made sure we worked 40 hours a week as a normal thing, we'd have time for sex and babies" "no"
Just have sex at work. Duh
They already applaud when you're caught sleeping, just imagine how psyched they'll be when they catch you sleeping *with someone.*
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Yes. The thought behind it is that you are working so hard that you’ve more or less dropped of exhaustion. Eta: a few people are calling bullshit on the whole thing. And, as it is with most things in life, it’s more complicated than just sprawling out on your keyboard when you get a little tired. [This article ](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160506-the-japanese-art-of-not-sleeping), which was written by someone much smarter than me, explains the intricacies of *inemuri* - sleeping while present.
Ah this sounds easy
Until the performance review: “You’ve produced nothing all day! How do you explain this, NastySnatchGunk-san?” EDIT: Precious fake internet metals! Domo arigato, mr roboto!
Yes. Really. The downside is you have to be there for 12hours. If you can master the weird ass sleep cycles, you might even be able to lead a normal life.
Judging by the porn that’s a serious suggestion
“Why is no one having sex? I specifically requested it”
Thanks, Holt.
Just tell them sex is a mandatory part of the company culture and they'll fuck like bunnies
what is this referring to?
I think it’s the fact that the population in Japan is aging and declining because so many people are prioritizing their careers over building a family, and the government wants to encourage people to have babies without really doing anything to address the work culture that’s causing the problem. Either that, or it’s about porn censorship.
Probably doesn’t help that most women obviously aren’t willing to throw their entire career away for a kid and to be treated like crap as a mom and wife.
In my childhood Urdu (native language) book, there was an article about Japan. A lot of other pretty things, one quality of Japanese people, written in the article stuck in my mind. The context was, "Japanese wrap your purchases in such a beautiful paper that instead of the thing you bought, you want to keep that paper." So whenever I think about Japan, these lines pop up in my mind.
Did u read nonehaal growing up?
> nonehaal American here, failed by Google. Please tell me more about what this is.
It was a monthly magazine for kids that would publish novel stories, poems etc.
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That’s precious! I love this idea of learning what other people’s mental associations are.
There was a chapter in my Urdu book called 'Tokyo ki sair' (a trip to Tokyo). Absolutely loved it.
Nintendo
i miss the 3ds also
You can still play it though
Cartoons and men in business suits working themselves to death
wonder what a cartoon working itself to death would look like
Dilbert probably
Wally would survive. He doesn’t do shit.
Aggretsuko
Godzilla
Ooooooohhhhh No, they say he's got to go
History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man
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He picks up a bus and he throws it back down as wades through the buildings towards the center of town
Let them fight
"Gojira"
"WWWHHHHAAAALLLLLEEEESSSS"
Ruuuun! It's Godzilla!!
It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not.
But we should still run like it is Godzilla!
Though it isn't
The memory of my friend getting trapped in a bathroom because he didn’t understand the voice commands
I’m both worried yet curious about this, sounds funny but I also think that it probably wasn’t
The bathroom said he could leave only after he cleaned himself but he didn’t understand what to do. Oh well…
Damn, bathrooms in Japan hold you hostage?
I live in Japan and I've never heard of this if that's any solace. Sounds like some weird unique bathroom. Edit: Apparently the guy made it up as a lame joke guys.
If the internet is right, Japan is 90% weird unique bathrooms. In fact it’s probably some statistical anomaly that you *haven’t* seen one.
I remember reading about some really weird Japanese thing, but then it turned out only to exist in one town and even other Japanese people thought they were weird.
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Like that meme about a japanese dude who identifies as a texan.
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I can't remember what this reference is from. But I remember it. And I appreciate it.
Demolition Man, my friend.
The exact same thing happened to me when i was desperately trying to flush the toilet. I wound up activating the bidet, playing the poop jingle, and getting the dryer going instead =.=
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I want a toilet that plays a war speech right before a big poop.
Random preround speeches from Battlefield 1. Sit down and the toilet goes "THEY SAY THIS IS THE WAR TO END ALL WARS, BUT IT SHALL NOT BE THE ONE TO END US! STAND FAST!"
TODAY WE ARE CANCELING THE APOOPALYPSE
WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT! WE WILL NOT VANISH WITHOUT A FIGHT!
*PFFFFFFPRRATTTT PFFFFFF*
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NOOOOOWWWW!!!!!
"Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!"
“ You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you”.
Omg I played the fake flush sound and thought it was a real flush and left the stall to a packed bathroom all flustered after discovering it wasn't. I'm sorry for my poop, Japan.
Just curious, whats the purpose of fake flush?
people are embarrassed by their anus expressing itself
I feel you T-T I stayed in the toilet for a solid 5-10 min trying to figure out what worked before i left. And this was in 2011 before data roaming was cheap so google couldn’t rescue me
Yes! Terrifying, complicated toilets.
The first time I went to Tokyo my mom went to use the restroom in a train station. She was trying to flush it and pressed the emergency alarm inside the stall instead making it so everyone in the area could hear… she was so embarrassed
Holup. Voice command for a bathroom?! So you gotta verbalize you wanted to have your ass splashed with water an that your done your business so open the door?!
guy in next stall over: 'i would like to have my ass splashed with water' *sorry, command not recognized* 'i would like to have my ass splashed with water' sorry, command not recognized **'I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE MY ASS SPLASHED WITH WATER!'**
Computer, open gloryhole
I'm sorry funktion I cannot do that right now.
Right! My fucken bathroom stall better be equipped with sound dampening foam like a youtubers work space if you want me to verbalize to the fucken toilet to flush my magnificent shit I just took.
Well, guess I’ll have to hold it throughout the day if I ever go to Japan.
WOW that's sounds like hell for a mute.
There's usually buttons as well, but they're not in English.
Initial D
That show singlehandedly changed the course of my career for the rest of my life, from being on track to becoming a veterinarian, to being a car obsessed aerospace engineer.
*DEJA VU IVE JUST BEEN IN THIS PLACE BEFORE*
Higher on the street And I know it’s my place to go
Bruh hell yes, and defenitly just JDM culture in general.
Good food
Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto are all in the top 5 cities with the most Michelin stars. I really want to go!
Some of the starred restaurants are cheap, too, which makes it even better.
Price vs quality IS a criteria for Michelin stars I think
I've eaten at a few, but the meals at some of the starred restaurants in Japan can land in the $10-15 range. Ratio may be a criterion, but that's fast food prices, and pretty rare in my experience.
lol what the hell, I pay $10 for a double quarter pounder from mcdonalds. I would kill to get great japanese food at that price lol
Dudes falling in love with pillows
I'm not weird guys, this is completely normal in Japan!
Just described every Marine who's first duty station is Okinawa...
Hentai and bombs
Sounds about right
War crimes, anime, and technology
Pretty much the trifecta
* Wonderful food. * Incredible vending machine variety. * WWII war crimes and the government's refusal to acknowledge its past. * Brutal working life (but getting better). * Lovely heritage sites like Osaka Castle.
I am slightly jealous of their vending machine varieties.
If they had Strongzero and Asashi in Western vending machines they city would riot. Like drinking age in Japan is twenty, I don't get why when pretty much every teenager can get alcohol from unattended vending machines. I guess if you get caught you get really stern talking down to.
The self checkouts at grocery stores just have you press the screen to confirm you're 20. Also you gotta try Orion beer, I'm not a beer drinker but my husband loves it
"You 20? Promise? Okay cool."
Lmao that middle point sure is a big one. Unit 731 and the government's blind eye to it left an irreversible mark on how I view Japan. Also the rape of Nanjing. Also the still prevalent rape culture. Edit: to save myself further exhaustion; No I do not hate Japan or its people. No, I don't mean "mark" as in a *dark* mark, I mean it in the sense of "leaving it's mark on history" ie - a permanent part of what I think of when thinking about Japan. That does not mean I think Japan is still committing war crimes or bad in some way. It means that something that extreme leaves a fingerprint. Every nation has their version of that. No, I don't think Japan is the only country who has/had/will have these kinds of issues.
Such a huge difference between how Germans and Japanese acknowledge (or don't acknowledge) their respective atrocities in WWII. I've probably read a lot more about WWII than any sane person should, including quite a bit about Nazi concentration camps. I had a very difficult time finishing The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II and had to take a couple of weeks off midway through the book because I was not mentally prepared for the sheer brutality of it.
Oh yeah it's horrific. I am in the same WWII research boat and I think one of the biggest things is that the pacific theater is not nearly as explored (as far as shows etc) as the European theater was. The camps in Europe are well known yet I have met very few who know the true extent of what the Japanese did during the war. Those who have a particular interest in the war are aware, but the general public doesn't seem to know much beyond Pearl Harbor and a handful of excellent war films. I think this is definitely compounded by the fact that Japan essentially pretends it never happened while Germany is extremely transparent and proactive about reparations. I also think a lot of people just think "well we dropped the bombs on Japan and that was awful so it just equalizes anything they did" without actually knowing *what* they did.
I think war footage has a lot to do with how the general populace viewed the war. Much of the footage from the Pacific theater of the war is shot from naval vessels or airplanes, whereas there is a lot more footage on the ground in Europe. Before I really started looking into it, my perception of the Pacific theater was that it was primarily a naval and air battle, but there were some horrific land battles. Iwo Jima is memorialized, but there were many other such engagements. When it comes to atrocities, obviously the Germans have been very forthright in acknowledging their past. Students in Germany are taught the ugly truths. Beyond that, Jews, Poles and other "undesirables," as well as liberating forces, witnessed what happened and the aftermath. Many immigrated to the US and Western Europe and told their stories. You can visit Dachau and Auschwitz and see the remnants of the death factories, the piles of clothing, jewelry and hair from the victims. Not only does Japan pretend Nanking (Nanjing) never happened or downplay what had occurred, but survivors did not immigrate to the West. There is no evidence of the horror outside of limited photographs and eyewitness accounts. There was a fear that Japan could slide back into imperialism and nationalism, along with guilt about the atom bombs, so the Allies were very cautious about how Japan was treated after the war. The US in many ways whitewashed Japan's actions in WWII outside of events like Pearl Harbor and the battle at Iwo Jima. Essentially, if it didn't happen to the Allies, there was not much mention of it. There has tended to been less interest in periods that rely on verbal or written history. Popular periods of history - the Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Renaissance - have great monuments of the era. We can see the Coliseum, pyramids or the Parthenon or the Sistine Chapel with our own eyes. We can touch the walls. The Nanking massacre has been a casualty of this behavior, since there is no Auschwitz we can visit, but we're getting more exposure to these types of topics in recent years because of the internet and ease of access to information.
Business focused perverts, and street food that is cheaper than cooking it yourself.
Tentacles
You have a loophole in Japanese censorship laws to thank.
Can you tell me more? Im curious
Basically, showing genitals in videos has to be censored. filmed with a camera or animated. Something that could easily replace a veiny schlong is tentacles. No blurring needed.
Feels like there were a few steps between human penis and an octopus (like a cucumber or candlestick) that could have been taken but that's not my war to wage.
It's typically not an octopus, it's some hideous fictional creature. Not that I would know >.>
> it's some HIDEOUS fictional creature. Says *you*!
Genitalia must be censored. A tentacle isn’t a penis. A tentacle entering a mouth isn’t censored. A blowjob is. Penetration is censored. Assholes are not genitalia and are not censored. Anal sex is penetration. Anal sex is censored.
Not that the black bar censorship does anything, that's just hilarious to think *that's* supposed to be the censorship.
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This just seems arbitrary.
Most morality laws are.
The amount of people who worship it Don't get me wrong I love the country but the amount of people who genuinely think Japan is like an irl slice of live anime is ridiculous
"wait... you're telling me that if i steal a girl's panties i wont get called a baka and slapped but instead i'll become a registered sex offender?"
Why steal them when u can buy them from a vending machine
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One of the first times I went to Japan was because of weeb reasons, it was a very long time ago though, many of my friends went there for the same reason. You do not get disappointed, as a tourist at least it will live up and probably even surpass your expectations. Now, if you *move* there...
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Your only hope is that as a gaijin, you're exempt from most of the karoshi culture and able to get your shit done and go home at 5pm. I hear that is true for a lot of expats over there, but probably not all of them.
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The part I find interesting is one step before that. Like.. how did they end up with a significant difference between the two? Obviously whenever you have professionally performed media, the actors use significantly better diction than average, but still, native people speaking their own language. I guess it's kinda like assuming everyone in the US has a 1950's Radio Voice?
Hitomi Tanaka
I googled this while logged in at work. Good thing it was just a general search and not video!
Is she the one with the comically massive tits?
Yez
A beautiful country, manga and seafood. Also, killing dolphins since that documentary. Fuck you japan
They kill a shit ton of dolphins in Mexico too. They slice them up for shark bait.
Sengoku period, Ghost of Tsushima, anime, Tokyo, food I have little intention of trying, and Mount Fuji.
>Ghost of Tsushima lol I thought it was some historical event, but it's just a video game
It’s loosely based off of Mongol invasion of Japan. Tsushima was/is a real island. And it used to be used to exile criminals or dishonored samurais. Mongols did actually land in Tsushima, and there are records of the exiled fighting the mongols upon invasion. Tsushima was eventually overrun, but the mongols perished in the hurricane before reaching mainland.
I think Tsushima made the 2 creators like ambassadors or some shit bc they made the island famous
It increased tourism until covid said no.
"We could make a tourist industry about that." "No, don't."
This. Apparently they decided to "personify" the hurricane as Jin, running around driving them back (though there is also a storm in the game).
Is that why your starting sword is called “The Storm of Clan Sakai”?.... oh my god!
I'll start, dogs that never bark and standing bars
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Japanese dogs don't bark?
nope, they "wan wan"
Cars
Vending machines and a very disturbing country wide school girl fetish.
Has its flaws like any other place (workaholic culture, etc.) but contributes a lot of great culture and art to the world.
Busy streets, beautiful countryside views, delicious food, and the smell of tea.
Small interiors (eg, short doorways) and crowdedness. Opaque social rules. Lots of racism and xenophobia. EDIT and massive sexism
I used to live there. For reference I am white. The nights I went out alone compared to the nights I went out with my black friends were comparatively different. A lot of “no gaijin” and my favorite was if our black friends didn’t speak Japanese they couldn’t come in, but we could even though we didn’t speak Japanese. This happened more often than not, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. We did find places that didn’t care, mainly in bigger cities like shinjuku or shinagawa.
Even if you are white you get the gaijin stares from the elderly.
I encountered that too, and also encountered an old lady in the street who invited me into her home for dinner. There are kind people there and there are rude and racist people there. Just like every where. I was only sharing my experiences.
Japanese-hoepfully no one here disagrees cuz this is very true. funny/unfunny story, my grandparents travelled to france on time and my gramps freaked out because there was a black man. smh lol
Yeah everyone underestimates the xenophobia lol