“Things In Japan That Would Send Americans Into A Coma”: 22 Unexpected Japanese Customs That Surprised This TikToker

Became less common recently though

In Switzerland too

Depends on where you are. Not every place is open field for miles. Urban areas and some suburban areas are within walking distance to schools

It's true that most schools are not in walking distance for students. Maybe in cities, schools might be closer. There's usually more smaller elementary schools and then one or two larger high schools that everyone eventually goes to, so it might be further for a lot of students. I have heard in some places in the US, even if you live around the corner from the school you can't walk there; you need to bus or drive which is insane. I don't think my city has this rule. Growing up, none of my schools were within walking distance except for my high school, which was 3 blocks away and I walked.

They are. And there's almost no public transportation. So people are freaking out about kids not walking anywhere in the US for the wrong reason.

She sounds adorable!

Same in the UK. We have 4 bins. Red is general waste that can't be recycled. That is collected every other week. The recycling is collected every other week too, but a different type in rotation. Our recycling bins are twice as bin as general waste to make sure you recycle.

yes. very similar here in Germany - it's just yellow for plastic and brown for organic waste. Paper and plastic get collected every 4 weeks, grey and brown taking turns every other week.

Italy here, my neighbourhood still has the old ways of 5 different large containers on the street and you go throw your waste there. But the method you describe is common almost everywhere in my country too 😊

I loved the waste sorting when I lived in Germany! It sounds like a pain but it's not.

Same in Belgium.

Yes, but NL is one of the very few countries that does it. We're doomed

Almost same in Finland. I live in a single-family detached house. Paper, cardboard, plastic, biowaste, glass, metal and energy waste (for inceneration) are all separated.

Portugal & Germany have a good handle on trash disposal

We have one bin, but several different colours of the trash bags. And the garbage then gets sorted at the depot. Quite handy withoute alot of extra bins.

Denmark is light years ahead when it comes to the environment. I was there last year, and I loved but couldn't believe the amount of people on bikes - less air pollution, and better fir health

I visited in 2005, and loads of people had masks then. They didn't "keep on" doing it, they always did it. You wear it for the benefit of others when you're ill.

Yup, they are courteous when they get sick or when they suspect they are sick for the sake of other people. Sounds so nice in that regard.

The downvote fairies have been around. Upvoted for safety. Be careful everyone.

I had a very severe flu about ten years ago (had lasting detrimental effects in my health) and ever since then, have watched footage of Japanese people using public transit with an envious eye- wearing a mask to prevent any kind of communicable disease from spreading to others just seems polite. I never did it before this because I didn't want people staring at me thinking I was sick, but now it's more commonplace.

Wondering if this is more a cultural thing than pandemic related.. even in the US I noticed as far back as the early 2000s that the workers in Asian supermarkets all wore masks and gloves. They were the most prepared when it hit!

yeah it's been normal for them since Asia seems to be the place where most of these things start... bird flu, swine flu, sars they were all epidemics over there

Not like this it hasn't. I moved to Japan in 2017 and still live there today. Before Covid, yes, it's common to see people wearing masks. But not everyone was wearing them. More people would not be wearing masks than wearing them. But during and after Covid, everybody wears them all the time: outside, in their cars, everywhere. It's not the same, and it has no gone unnoticed by govt officials and various academics.

I believe the masks were due to pollution previously but don't quote me on that.

You didn't read the bit where the OP indicates that the noise annoys people? Perhaps it would be better for men just to change their behaviour.

It's a double-edged sword. It helps cut down on insidious behaviour like upskirting, but the shutter sound itself is irritating as hell. I can't stand hearing shutter sounds all the time.

Or needing to take a photo or video of a police officer doing something wrong or someone else doing something wrong that it isn't safe to intervene on. This issue cuts a million ways.

And yet when we were there, there were English signs at every station we went to...

I found mildly irritating that the ticket machine was only in kanji. I googled the route before leaving hotel and knew the exact ticket cost. So I just kept pressing buttons until the correct price popped up, bought it and hoped for the best. I got through all the turnickets all right so guess I got it right.

Kanji is perfectly readable when you know it; it is a Chinese character script after all. The station names are also in Hiragana, English, Simplified Chinese, and Korean on the signs... 1280px-JRE...be2a95.jpg

But as long as you know when your train arrives, your don't even need to know, how the station is called because the trains are so incredibly on time (a lot of pressure on the drivers, which is sometimes dangerous)

They are also in English. I have never been on a train in Japan that didn't have it in English also. I can only guess maybe some of the remote remote local only trains where a tourist wouldn't likely go might not have it in English.

But if I hear the music, I'll know

they have romaji as well - Japan has upgraded it's transportation system immensely

Perhaps English isn't the only known language. Perhaps the people who use the trains every day want to read things in their own languages. Perhaps tourists aren't the center of the world in Japan. Take your pick.

virtually impossible for you to read.