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“Things In Japan That Would Send Americans Into A Coma”: 22 Unexpected Japanese Customs That Surprised This TikToker
While going about our daily lives, we easily get used to the world as it is. We scroll carelessly through the societal norms and customs, not once stopping to think that things somewhere are way different. Not just contrasting, but almost upside down.
But TikTok creator Ryan is giving us all a very vivid glimpse of what it is like to live in Tokyo, surrounded by cultural shocks. His TikTok series titled “Things In Japan That Would Send An American Into A Coma” sheds a light on many Japanese lifestyle quirks that have amassed him 17.3M likes in total.
Scroll down to find out what Ryan found unusual in the Japanese way of living and let us know what you think of it in the comment section!
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Children start walking to and from school and also taking the train from the age of five and six. So if you're just out walking around, and you see a kid just like, walking alone by themselves, they're fine. They're normally just walking to or from school.
First things first, trash separation. When you move, your ward gives you an entire calendar of how you're going to separate your trash. Because I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, I have six different trash cans to separate my trash and they all go out on different days. It's actually nice because they care about what happens to their trash. It is a little stressful sometimes, but I've gotten used to it. Japan has these trash cans where you separate your trash even at restaurants. All restaurants have this and they even have a drain for your drink. So drinks, don't get into the trash bag. It's genius. I don't know why America doesn't have this. And now when I go back to America, and I just throw everything in one trash can, I feel like the most wasteful human being in the world.
Roughly the same in some European countries. In my region in NL I have 5 waste bins and four of them get collected on different days. Orange (plastic, tetra, metal), blue (paper), green (kitchen and garden), grey (everything else) and glass (to be delivered at a collection point and to be sorted by color: white, green, brown). Grey every 4 weeks on Thursdays, blue every 4 weeks on Wednesdays, orange every 2 weeks on Mondays and green every 2 weeks on Fridays.
Everyone still wears masks in Japan everywhere. Yes, even when walking outside, even when just walking in your neighborhood, 99% of the time, they will be wearing a mask. It hasn't even been required for over like a year now, but it's so ingrained in the culture at this point that people refuse to take them off in fear of judgment. But obviously, it's also just a concern for other people and Japan is known to be a culture where people are very considerate of thy neighbor.
I visited Japan in 2019, a few months before Covid and so many people were wearing masks. They were for sale everywhere, so it appears to be the norm there even before Covid. Hands down my favourite country to have visited so far. I really want to go back :)
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.
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Imagine that, people caring about infecting others...what a nice way to live.
I'm going to Japan later this year and this is worrying me as I'm deaf and lip read. So if my friend wears a mask, we can't communicate. If she doesn't so I we can, it will look like we're ignoring their custom (plus it's still a requirement inside some places) I'm getting a badge made up in Japanese (like my English one) that says "I'm deaf and lip read" to hopefully show them that this is why. I also can only wear cloth ones as I'm allergic to the surgical style ones.
I think I saw a commercial for a company that specially made masks with a window for lip reading. Can't remember the name but maybe you could find those? At least for your friend?
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I wish everyone would mask. It's the same principle as covering your mouth when you cough.
not just the pollution. Anyone with a cough or a cold wears one. Consideration for others. During cold and flu season even the non-sick folks wear them.
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Nearly in front 9f my home stands the Peruvian-Japanese Cultural Centre, so it's very fair to see japanese people around my block, and saw many of them using masks pre-pandemic, and thought it was disrespectful, like 'what, do we smell, our air isn't good enough?' After the whole covid thing realized they might have a cold and were in fact respectful.
first visit to Japan over 20 years ago masks found people masks were common and several times in later visits I had free packets of masks handed out much like tissue packets with packaging printed with marketing restaurants etc. To some degree even relatively common in Hong Kong and other places in East Asia, it's just a cultural thing
I still wear masks... forget covid, the way people behave and the pollution is horrific. people sneeze and cough without closing their mouth..
I will never understand why so many people here in the U.S. view mask-wearing as either stupid or unnecessary. Since 2019, I've been a consistent mask wearer, and, along with staying up on my Covid and Flu vaccinations, firmly believe that I've kept myself and others safer as a result.
it is also a custom of some religions - ..to not breathe in the re-born souls of the departed! no lie...look it up!
Jainism i think is about not harming the tiny creatures and something similar... the monks will be seen with masks
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They've been wearing masks in Japan since long before the covid pandemic. They wear masks during allergy season for two reasons, 1) to keep the pollen away and 2) to keep from sneezing on other people. They also mask routinely during flu season to keep others from catching their cold/flu. They are very polite in that respect.
It is actually a good habit to wear masks on a daily basis. I remember during the pandemic I never had any of the usual viruses. The downside is that you create less antibodies
I was stationed at a small communications site with the US Air Force outside of Fukoka on the island of Kyushu in 1979. I noticed that during cold and flu season a number of people, especially the elderly, wearing cloth surgical-style masks. When I asked about this I was informed that primarily it was to help prevent the spread of the disease, and in the case of the elderly, to reduce the chance of them getting it. I thought it was a pretty neat idea.
This is very normal in many Asian countries especially those tightly packed cities. It's a good policy
In Japan (and Korea, Taiwan/China) it is impolite to wipe your nose in public. With a small cold, a mouth mask prevents the visibility of a dripping nose.
I was in Japan for a few months in 2009. Masks were worn all over Tokyo.
Author doesn't seem to know much about Japan ... the Ministry of Health, Labour & Welfare guidance still requires masks to be worn be people over the age of 5 who indoors, and also when outdoors unless socially distanced and not speaking. And that relaxation dates from May 22, less than a year ago - until then the official guidelines recommended masks to be worn outdoors too.
I am trying to adopt the same philosophy if I have any illness I wear a mask in public
As other have pointed out this custom has ZERO to do with Covid. Mask wearing in Japan and many asian countries has been going on for decades.SARS, sometimes pollution warnings and just the common decency to wear a mask if you are sick and will be in public spaces are the reasons. That's right, people will wear a mask because they didn't want to give you their cold...meanwhile here in America we had high numbers of morons fighting for their "right" to make other people sick. Makes one proud to be an American.
It's not because of Covid. This has been going on for some time, at least since the 1990's. It's due to pollution.
They've been wearing masks forever. It's a courtesy to others when one is sick.
The air in Japan is often so polluted they need to wear masks to breathe.
It's just been a common thing there andother asian countries. If you aren't feeling well and need to go out then you wear one as a courtesy to others. In some places people wear them if there is high pollution/smog. It's a fantastic practice andi wish more places did it. I'm from the US and now I wear a mask, as a courtesy to others, if I'm not feeling well and 95% of the time It's just allergies but still; I'm coughing from post nasal drip but people don't know that so I wear a mask when I go out for others peace of mind
They wore a lot of masks in the 90s too, surfers paradise Qld in the 80s-90s
They wore masks before Covid. I was SO hoping that the pandemic would lead us to adopt the custom to wear a mask when you are ssick so you won't infect everybody. But,, no, people still sneeze full force into the subway cab. I will probably keep my FFP2 mask forever, when I''m in public transport.
Visited Japan in 2018 and I caught a effing flu flying in. So for me the first time wearing masks on public transport was when I was a little sick, but definitely didn't want to skip on seeing Fushimi Inari-Taisha. That's how things should be done all over, if you're sick but need to take the metro, be courteous and protect your co travelers by wearing a mask
The use of masks in Asian countries have been quite normal for many years. Partly because of air pollution.
I'll probably get down voted for this but it just blows my mind that Japanese society is so considerate nowadays that its hard to believe how horrible the soldiers were during war time.
In fact, Japanese wore masks well before the COVID. They are very conscious of their surrounding and at the smallest sign of having a cold they wear masks to protect others.
Sad that people are so indoctrinated. Fresh air is God's gift to us.
People see what they want to see. Look at this video of Shibuya crossing from 6 years ago and count the masks https://youtu.be/Od6EeCWytZo Or this one of a commuter train loading https://youtu.be/7Di_ohFsiBY There are any number of videos like this. It's just very easily demonstrable that very few people wore masks before COVID, but as I understand it there was a culture of wearing one out of consideration when actively sick. But it's absolutely not the case that most people wore them most of the time. In any case, per ourworldindata Japan's case rate is about 12% lower than the US and catching up, despite 100% mask compliance.
Every single phone in Japan has the shutter sound when you take a picture, even if you take the picture on Snapchat or any app, and you cannot disable it. This is required by the government because they wanted to stop men from taking photos of girls without them knowing. So if you buy a phone in Japan, it has the shutter sound and you can't turn it off. So if you go to a place like a museum or something, you'll just constantly hear the shutter sound. What a lot of people do to get around this is when they travel to another country, they'll use that time to buy an iPhone or just any phone and bring it back to Japan. Like when I had to get a new iPhone, I bought it in America and had it shipped to Japan because I was not going to deal with that shutter sound.
Most train stations have a theme song. Like, I'm in Takadanobaba area a lot and they play the Astroboy theme song because Takadanobaba is Astroboy’s birthplace.
A warning about Japanese train stations. On the maps the names of train stations are written in Hiragana. On the stations themselves the names are written in Kanji. A completely different iconography that is virtually impossible to read.
You see these all the time in Japan. When I first saw this, I was like, what is going on? But schools will take kids in these carts or just on a stroll around the neighborhood.
I have seen some childcare centres in Australia use these, but usually only for emergency evacuation drills. If the kids are walking age they are all given high-vis tops and walk, either holding hands or holding a rope, on short trips, like to the park or nursing home outings.
If the train is ever delayed in Japan, you get what's called a densha chien shoumeisho which is a certificate of lateness that the staff comes out with with a basket of them. The transportation is so good though that this like rarely ever happens. But if you're late to work or school, you have to have the certificate to prove it. I lived in New York for three years and we did not have that. If you were late it was - good luck.
I wish they did this in the UK. Things are so bad sometimes that even if you bought a UK based model train set it would be replaced by a bus!
If you go to the movies in Japan, and the movie ends, Japanese people just sit through the entire credits in silence. I feel like some people do this in America. But I think for the most part, people just get up and leave. But you just have to sit and wait through the credits because you'll just have to move through everyone that's sitting in waiting.
If you're a foreigner and like, conventionally attractive, it's very common to get scouted to be a hair model, especially if you're in places like Shibuya, Harajuku or Omotesando, but hairstylists will just run up to you and ask if they can cut your hair for free because they want like, models for their portfolio. And it's actually really, really common.
My daughter was a model there at 2-3 years old. Did shoots for Baby Dior and YSL. She had gorgeous blonde curls. They loved it.
People in Japan will literally sleep anywhere. This is because the work culture in Japan is so bad. Some people work from 9 am all the way to 10 pm. So it's extremely common to see people sleeping on the train. Sometimes they'll even fall asleep on your shoulder, and they somehow just magically wake up at their stop.
Every single restaurant you go to, they will always give you what's called oshibori, which is just like a wet towel. Even like Starbucks gives you one. And they're so nice because sometimes a dry napkin isn't going to do it. It does waste more plastic, but honestly, I really love these towels.
Mind that they are for wiping your hands _before_ eating and not a substitute for dry paper napkins.
In Tokyo, we have something called a Shibuya meltdown, which is when men, mostly salarymen, spend all day working so they go to Shibuya after work just to drink and they'll fall asleep anywhere in Shibuya. It's because the last train in Japan is at 12 o'clock so if you stay past that time, you have to stay until 5 am when the trains run again, so people will just fall asleep. They're literally anywhere. If you're up early enough and you go to Shibuya, you'll likely see someone just sleeping in the most random places until they wake up and go home or sometimes just go straight to work.
Is this guy just randomly taking pictures of people without permission?
80% of the apartments that you look at when looking for an apartment to rent will not let you live there because you're a foreigner. A lot of the time, even if you speak Japanese, they still won't let you live there. So out of 10 of the apartments that you like, only two of them will be available for you. I would send my realtor a list of 20 apartments. And she'd be like, “Yeah, this one and this one said that you can live here.”
They're extremely racist and nationalist. I taught English and I heard about a black woman who tried to teach English but the people walked out on her. Even If a kid is half Japanese and half white he'll het bullied or even another type of Asian. My kids went to an International School and lots of parents there had that problem. Of course this was 35 years ago. Maybe it's different now but I doubt it. I know young men love Asian girls and go there trying to find a girlfriend. It's pretty rare that would happen.
When you get an apartment in Japan, you have to pay something called “reikin”, which means key money. It's also called gift money. Because it's literally just a gift for your landlord for allowing to let you live there, which is equivalent to normally one month's rent, and you do not get that back. You're literally just saying thank you for letting me live here. Here is one month's rent and you can have it.
This is what our gas stations look like. I want to say it's for safety because it doesn't have the pumps on the ground here. But I'm not too sure and some of them are so high up, they attach strings to be able to pull them down. But when I saw that for the first time, I was like, huh.
A lot of stuff in Japan is still paper-based so basically all of my bills, I still have to pay at the convenience store, like I get it in the mail and I have to take it to the convenience store to pay it and it has to be in cash. I think some places allow you to switch your bills to online now, but it's all in Japanese and kind of difficult to navigate.
Everyone in Japan has reusable towels at all times. It can be used for multiple reasons, but a lot of the time it's just used to dry your hands off after washing them. And yeah, we have the hand dryer things in bathrooms, but I swear every single one in Japan has been out of service since the beginning of the pandemic. They're not reopening those.
That's just handkerchiefs. The latest trend is to add the towel-like texture to the handkerchiefs. Hand dryers aren't as widely available as they are in US so it's just good hygiene to bring your own handkerchief. We used to have random handkerchief and tissue inspection at my elementary school every week.
It's tradition in Japan to get KFC on Christmas. I'm not joking, and they literally line up. December 25 is a whole different process for KFC in Japan. The reason they do this is because Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving but you can't get turkey in Japan. So they associate Americans with chicken, so it's been a tradition since I think the ‘80s to get chicken from specifically KFC on Christmas.
We do not have dryers in Japan, unless you're rich. Even when you're rich, it's like a combination washer and dryer, and it's really not that good. And also a lot of people's washers are on the balcony outside, like mine's out here and I have to hang all my clothes up and put them on this thing as well. And when it's cold outside, it sucks because drying your clothes takes so much longer than in the summer. And also, the pipe to your washer can freeze.
Just like getting an apartment, adopting a pet in Japan is also literally impossible. Even shelters where there are animals won't let you adopt. I got lucky because I found someone personally who was willing to rehome my cat that day. But yeah, if you're going to a shelter or something, good luck, because they're not going to let you adopt
Tally marks are different here. Like in America, we write them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. They don't do that here. And I don't know why I never knew that. No, because literally what is this? They write it like ichi ni san shi go and just keep adding it. I don't know why I simply did not know that other parts of the world did tallies differently.
In China too. The character正 is written in 5 strokes, so it’s perfect for counting
People in Japan do not wash their hands in the bathroom and hear me out before you attack me. Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone. But 95% of the time, what I see happen, they'll just go up to the sink, run it under the water for like one-second max, and then they'll just shake their hands off. Or they'll use reusable towels.
That's what you get when things are taken from tiktok
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So... wow, Japan isn't the same as the US. Why exctly would this, per the headline when I saw it, 'send Americans into a coma'? We don't have dryers *here* if we're nto rich. (Also don't own washers, either, and use a clothes rack, duh, this isn't alien to Americans, just *that* one).
I've noticed a trend of using overly dramatic words or phrases like the one included here. Maybe it's because the people writing them are trying to cover up how boring they are or just another form of click bait.
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Cant they just tell a story/make a video without showing their own mug?? We can hear you just as well with just a voice over. I wanna see the stuff you're talking about, not your face. YES IM OLD RANT OVER aaaaaa
Branding. The point of being a Tiktok content producer is branding yourself. It's like asking why a bottle of Heinz ketchup has the Heinz logo on it.
Load More Replies... Stop using absolutes, such as everyone, all the time. Most of your statements are blatantly not true. I lived in Japan for six years, so I have experience there.
Kid saw some YouTube videos on Japan that he's retelling like he's an expert. 🤣🤣🤣
Pretty sure they are talking about their experience of living there.
Load More Replies... And what about Belgians? Swedes? Australians? South Africans? Brasilians?
Everyone and everything in Japan blah blah blah. Nah, that's not how things are in Japan. Also, try at least to come up with original things to say about the country. I swear 99% of videos on Japan are this very list made by white people.
If you don't like the (completely free to you) content available, feel free to create your own. Anyone can post an article on Boredpanda.
Load More Replies... I'm confused, so much of the chatter from users on BP is all about how shítty American's and their country are and how the whole world doesn't revolve around America. True. But yet SO many of the articles are all about America this, America that. If the world doesn't revolve around the US, then stop focusing so many articles and comments that direction! Other countries you can focus hating on for awhile: England and it's knack for colonizing/stealing land from impoverished non-white countries, Germany and Austria for bringing us two giant wars and Nazism, Israel for what they're currently doing to the Palestinian people, North Korea for just about any reason, Russia for its current land-grab on Ukraine, India for their femicide.... There ya go BP users, now you can stop focusing so hard on a country you don't like and I gave you some starting points on new, justifiable reasons and countries you can be angry with for a while.
Yes, let us spread the hate. That's what you're saying, isn't it? Stop being butthurt or relax a bit, it'll make it that much easier. 😉
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This is a clear cut example of somebody attempting (and failing) to take a boring topic and desperately trying to make it interesting by adding a lot of cliches.
When people, like, write how they, like, talk, I so, like, can't stand it. I had to stop after a few posts. Like, for real.
You actually type, "like"? How like often do you like say it, like in a sentence, like out loud?
Shouldn't the title be things in japan that would send ANY foreigner into a coma? Why single out Americans?
Because a lot of these are common in Taiwan, if not other countries. I quit reading after about 20, though. At least in Taiwan we don't have middle aged men constantly trying to take photos up girls' skirts.
Load More Replies... Why does he keep taking pictures or people without permission? That's just so weird and creepy
i think most of them are stock photos greenscreened onto the back so his face can be in the video, so he's not actually there
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This dude is *definitely* a weeaboo. A total weeb, for sure. Why should Americans be learning about Japanese culture through the problematic lens of a white male's opinion, is the key question. We don't really learn much from this article other than that Eurocentric nations are "shocked" that other people exist, and see/experience the world differently.
Sorry child, but you are not interesting at all, the article isn't the least bit interesting, and there is nothing here that in any way would put any of us Americans "into a coma." You need to grow up a LOT, become more savvy on how to post things---better yet, don't post anything at all, and please keep your face and self out of the pictures. You blocked a lot of the content, and again, you are not interesting. You aren't Japanese, either, so stop saying "we" have this, that, and the other. JAPAN has the things, not you in the sense of the royal 'we'!
Goodness gracious, did you just take a dip in the Dead Sea? You sound salty AF, calm down it's not that serious. He can post as much as he likes, if you don't like it then keep scrolling. Your attitude is worst than his article, disgusting. Frankie says relax.
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That's what you get when things are taken from tiktok
Load More Replies... So... wow, Japan isn't the same as the US. Why exctly would this, per the headline when I saw it, 'send Americans into a coma'? We don't have dryers *here* if we're nto rich. (Also don't own washers, either, and use a clothes rack, duh, this isn't alien to Americans, just *that* one).
I've noticed a trend of using overly dramatic words or phrases like the one included here. Maybe it's because the people writing them are trying to cover up how boring they are or just another form of click bait.
Load More Replies... Cant they just tell a story/make a video without showing their own mug?? We can hear you just as well with just a voice over. I wanna see the stuff you're talking about, not your face. YES IM OLD RANT OVER aaaaaa
Branding. The point of being a Tiktok content producer is branding yourself. It's like asking why a bottle of Heinz ketchup has the Heinz logo on it.
Load More Replies... Stop using absolutes, such as everyone, all the time. Most of your statements are blatantly not true. I lived in Japan for six years, so I have experience there.
Kid saw some YouTube videos on Japan that he's retelling like he's an expert. 🤣🤣🤣
Pretty sure they are talking about their experience of living there.
Load More Replies... And what about Belgians? Swedes? Australians? South Africans? Brasilians?
Everyone and everything in Japan blah blah blah. Nah, that's not how things are in Japan. Also, try at least to come up with original things to say about the country. I swear 99% of videos on Japan are this very list made by white people.
If you don't like the (completely free to you) content available, feel free to create your own. Anyone can post an article on Boredpanda.
Load More Replies... I'm confused, so much of the chatter from users on BP is all about how shítty American's and their country are and how the whole world doesn't revolve around America. True. But yet SO many of the articles are all about America this, America that. If the world doesn't revolve around the US, then stop focusing so many articles and comments that direction! Other countries you can focus hating on for awhile: England and it's knack for colonizing/stealing land from impoverished non-white countries, Germany and Austria for bringing us two giant wars and Nazism, Israel for what they're currently doing to the Palestinian people, North Korea for just about any reason, Russia for its current land-grab on Ukraine, India for their femicide.... There ya go BP users, now you can stop focusing so hard on a country you don't like and I gave you some starting points on new, justifiable reasons and countries you can be angry with for a while.
Yes, let us spread the hate. That's what you're saying, isn't it? Stop being butthurt or relax a bit, it'll make it that much easier. 😉
Load More Replies... This is a clear cut example of somebody attempting (and failing) to take a boring topic and desperately trying to make it interesting by adding a lot of cliches.
When people, like, write how they, like, talk, I so, like, can't stand it. I had to stop after a few posts. Like, for real.
You actually type, "like"? How like often do you like say it, like in a sentence, like out loud?
Shouldn't the title be things in japan that would send ANY foreigner into a coma? Why single out Americans?
Because a lot of these are common in Taiwan, if not other countries. I quit reading after about 20, though. At least in Taiwan we don't have middle aged men constantly trying to take photos up girls' skirts.
Load More Replies... Why does he keep taking pictures or people without permission? That's just so weird and creepy
i think most of them are stock photos greenscreened onto the back so his face can be in the video, so he's not actually there
Load More Replies... This dude is *definitely* a weeaboo. A total weeb, for sure. Why should Americans be learning about Japanese culture through the problematic lens of a white male's opinion, is the key question. We don't really learn much from this article other than that Eurocentric nations are "shocked" that other people exist, and see/experience the world differently.
Sorry child, but you are not interesting at all, the article isn't the least bit interesting, and there is nothing here that in any way would put any of us Americans "into a coma." You need to grow up a LOT, become more savvy on how to post things---better yet, don't post anything at all, and please keep your face and self out of the pictures. You blocked a lot of the content, and again, you are not interesting. You aren't Japanese, either, so stop saying "we" have this, that, and the other. JAPAN has the things, not you in the sense of the royal 'we'!
Goodness gracious, did you just take a dip in the Dead Sea? You sound salty AF, calm down it's not that serious. He can post as much as he likes, if you don't like it then keep scrolling. Your attitude is worst than his article, disgusting. Frankie says relax.
Load More Replies... 