Japan Culture Shocks!
Hello again from Japan,
I've recently felt like putting a whole lot more effort into this blog, so I'm trying to post more and try to write things that are not just updates on my life, but about Japan and life here in general. The good, the bad and the ugly. So I thought I'd write a bit about culture shocks that myself and many others have experienced when arriving in Japan for the first time. After being here for nine months, I've gotten used to these things, but I can definitely still remember first arriving here and experiencing these shocks for the first time.
The first culture shock is something that you may have heard about before coming to Japan, and that's high tech toilets! The thing you probably notice when you go to use the bathroom at a lot of public places in Japan is how many buttons there are on the toilet, and it may take you a while to decipher what each button does. However, after a while you can pretty safely guess which is which. On the other hand, some pubic places only have the old-fashioned, or squat, toilets and these can be equally as daunting for those who have not come across them before. This is only one example of the total contradiction here between the brand new high tech things and the old-fashioned way.
Another culture shock for me was how quiet the trains are! Despite being packed to capacity, it never fails to amaze me just how quiet people are on the trains. This would be even more of a shock for those who come from other big cities like London, New York, LA etc where I'm sure the trains are a whole lot noisier and people don't have quite as much consideration for those around them.
Next on the list is drinking in public! In New Zealand drinking on the street or on the trains is a pretty big no-no, but here it's completely normal. It's not uncommon to see someone sipping on a beer on the train or in a park during cherry blossom season. This is something that I can definitely appreciate about Japan. The other thing is that alcohol is so cheap at convenience stores and supermarkets here, it's unreal! Way to encourage public drinking Japan...
Next up, we have the customer service. Being greeted the second you walk into any shop, restaurant, supermarket or cafe was something I wasn't really prepared for. You'll hear "irashaimase", which means "welcome to our store" in English a lot, and at first it kind of drove me crazy, but now I'm used to it. Aside from the greeting, the customer service is exceptional the majority of the time and I love Japan for it. They'll go out of their way to help.
Speaking of stores, you'll see advertising everywhere and it is in no way subtle. It is that bright, neon, anime-style, in-your-face advertising that often comes to mind when people think of Japan. I just wasn't expecting to literally see it around every corner.
Ordering meals via a ticket machine was also a new experience for me. Most ramen shops have a machine where you insert your money, choose what you want and the machine will give you a ticket. You then pass this on to a waiter/waitress who'll give it to the kitchen staff. It's a very quick and easy way to order, and something New Zealand could learn from and utilise.
Something that I was shocked by and that still drives me absolutely insane is the amount of plastic and packaging used here. At convenience stores they will give you a bag even if you don't ask for one, or if you only have one thing, and at the supermarket, they will put your fruit/vegetables in a separate plastic bag automatically. Coming from New Zealand where we are trying to reduce the number of plastic bags we use, this is a major source of frustration for me. I try my best to take my own bag to the supermarket, and reuse fruit and vegetable bags so they don't keep giving me new ones. But there's one slight problem which I'll talk about in the next point...
The rubbish disposal system is a lil bit crazy! In New Zealand, each household generally gets given a big wheelie bin to put out once a week for general rubbish, and recycling bins for glass, tins and cardboard. You could tip you waste directly from your rubbish bin into the wheelie bin and then wash it if you want, or use newspaper to line your bin. Here in Japan though, rubbish is sorted into burnable, unburnable and recycling, and people put plastic bags containing their rubbish out on the street at a designated spot. There are no wheelie bins, meaning you need plastic bags for any general rubbish. So no matter how hard you try to not use plastic bags, you always end up needing more for rubbish. Not so eco-friendly...
Something else that shocked me was the medical system, and how medical centres are more specialised, but I've written in detail about that before so if you're new to the blog and wanna read more about that, check out my previous posts!
The sheer number of convenience stores was something I didn't expect either. You are never far away from a conbini! Again, I've mentioned my love for convenience stores a few times, so I won't say too much more about that other than they are dangerous for you wallet and waistline. Snacks and alcohol any time? Yes please.
Anyhow, I think I'll leave this here as I think this is a fairly comprehensive list of culture shocks you may experience. If I've missed any, please feel free to leave a comment and I can edit this post to add to the list! Hope all my NZ friends and fam are enjoying the warmer temperatures, summer's on its' way for you guys! Meanwhile I'm preparing for winter, any excuse to go shopping for new clothes am I right?
Will be back soon with another insight into life in Japan!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah. xx
I've recently felt like putting a whole lot more effort into this blog, so I'm trying to post more and try to write things that are not just updates on my life, but about Japan and life here in general. The good, the bad and the ugly. So I thought I'd write a bit about culture shocks that myself and many others have experienced when arriving in Japan for the first time. After being here for nine months, I've gotten used to these things, but I can definitely still remember first arriving here and experiencing these shocks for the first time.
The first culture shock is something that you may have heard about before coming to Japan, and that's high tech toilets! The thing you probably notice when you go to use the bathroom at a lot of public places in Japan is how many buttons there are on the toilet, and it may take you a while to decipher what each button does. However, after a while you can pretty safely guess which is which. On the other hand, some pubic places only have the old-fashioned, or squat, toilets and these can be equally as daunting for those who have not come across them before. This is only one example of the total contradiction here between the brand new high tech things and the old-fashioned way.
Another culture shock for me was how quiet the trains are! Despite being packed to capacity, it never fails to amaze me just how quiet people are on the trains. This would be even more of a shock for those who come from other big cities like London, New York, LA etc where I'm sure the trains are a whole lot noisier and people don't have quite as much consideration for those around them.
Next on the list is drinking in public! In New Zealand drinking on the street or on the trains is a pretty big no-no, but here it's completely normal. It's not uncommon to see someone sipping on a beer on the train or in a park during cherry blossom season. This is something that I can definitely appreciate about Japan. The other thing is that alcohol is so cheap at convenience stores and supermarkets here, it's unreal! Way to encourage public drinking Japan...
Next up, we have the customer service. Being greeted the second you walk into any shop, restaurant, supermarket or cafe was something I wasn't really prepared for. You'll hear "irashaimase", which means "welcome to our store" in English a lot, and at first it kind of drove me crazy, but now I'm used to it. Aside from the greeting, the customer service is exceptional the majority of the time and I love Japan for it. They'll go out of their way to help.
Speaking of stores, you'll see advertising everywhere and it is in no way subtle. It is that bright, neon, anime-style, in-your-face advertising that often comes to mind when people think of Japan. I just wasn't expecting to literally see it around every corner.
Ordering meals via a ticket machine was also a new experience for me. Most ramen shops have a machine where you insert your money, choose what you want and the machine will give you a ticket. You then pass this on to a waiter/waitress who'll give it to the kitchen staff. It's a very quick and easy way to order, and something New Zealand could learn from and utilise.
Something that I was shocked by and that still drives me absolutely insane is the amount of plastic and packaging used here. At convenience stores they will give you a bag even if you don't ask for one, or if you only have one thing, and at the supermarket, they will put your fruit/vegetables in a separate plastic bag automatically. Coming from New Zealand where we are trying to reduce the number of plastic bags we use, this is a major source of frustration for me. I try my best to take my own bag to the supermarket, and reuse fruit and vegetable bags so they don't keep giving me new ones. But there's one slight problem which I'll talk about in the next point...
The rubbish disposal system is a lil bit crazy! In New Zealand, each household generally gets given a big wheelie bin to put out once a week for general rubbish, and recycling bins for glass, tins and cardboard. You could tip you waste directly from your rubbish bin into the wheelie bin and then wash it if you want, or use newspaper to line your bin. Here in Japan though, rubbish is sorted into burnable, unburnable and recycling, and people put plastic bags containing their rubbish out on the street at a designated spot. There are no wheelie bins, meaning you need plastic bags for any general rubbish. So no matter how hard you try to not use plastic bags, you always end up needing more for rubbish. Not so eco-friendly...
Something else that shocked me was the medical system, and how medical centres are more specialised, but I've written in detail about that before so if you're new to the blog and wanna read more about that, check out my previous posts!
The sheer number of convenience stores was something I didn't expect either. You are never far away from a conbini! Again, I've mentioned my love for convenience stores a few times, so I won't say too much more about that other than they are dangerous for you wallet and waistline. Snacks and alcohol any time? Yes please.
Anyhow, I think I'll leave this here as I think this is a fairly comprehensive list of culture shocks you may experience. If I've missed any, please feel free to leave a comment and I can edit this post to add to the list! Hope all my NZ friends and fam are enjoying the warmer temperatures, summer's on its' way for you guys! Meanwhile I'm preparing for winter, any excuse to go shopping for new clothes am I right?
Will be back soon with another insight into life in Japan!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah. xx
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