Transcript of AE 1372 - 18 Weird Things That Shock Tourists in Japan | Japanese Culture Shock

Pete here, guys. What's going on? It's been a while. Uh, I had a request from a few of you actually asking me to react to things that aren't just Australian culture, but instead looking at other cultures around the world and giving my 2 cents as an Aussie.

I thought this was a really cool idea. So today I thought we could have a bit of fun. I found this video from Wolter's World on YouTube, Visit Japan - 18 Culture Shocks Tourists Have In Japan. So without any further ado, let's get into it and see an Aussie's view of these Japanese culture shock things.

Hey there, fellow travellers! Mark here with Wolter's World. Today we're in Kyoto, Japan, outside the Golden Palace, and today, what we have for you are the ten things that shock tourists when they come here to Japan. And there's a lot of fun things, and there's some actually quite helpful tourist information as well. And the first thing that's going to shock a tourist when they come here to Japan is the fact that you need an instruction manual to go to the bathroom here. Everywhere else you go in the world, you know, you just sit down and go and flush and walk away. Oh no, no, no. In Japan, it comes with a remote control on the side.

Oh my God.

Two words that'll change your life. Heated seat. The heated seats on the toilet here are fantastic, and you'll sit down like, oh, this is so comfy, and you're going to need that because you're going to have to figure out is which button do I push to make it flush?

Oh my god.

So there's like a remote control next to the dunny, next to the toilet. And there's a whole bunch of buttons here that I can see, that all do a bunch of different things. And there looks like there's buttons for like a volume control or something. I've heard about this and how Japanese toilets are very advanced. I would love to know why, where that came from. Who decided? You know what we need? We need a remote control for the dunny with all these different options. But part of me also thinks it's probably pretty cool. Pretty? It probably makes it a little bit more enjoyable. I saw a news story recently too, that I think it's a Japanese company has just worked on a toilet that can monitor your health via obviously your faeces and urine when you go to the toilet. So if you have things like, I don't know, diabetes or some bowel issues, it could potentially keep track of it by taking certain measurements of these things when you go to the toilet. So yeah, Japan dunnies, they're ahead of this time.

The buttons that are on there. One is a bidet button, so this little thing comes out and shoots water in your bum or on your bum to clean you off. Um, another little shock would be if you start with high pressure, you'll get a big shock at first..

Whoa!

This low pressure. And move your way up, okay. There's another button for, for women, like the frontal cleaning. There's another button that'll be for a blow dryer to blow dry your butts.

Oh my god!

So it's a hands free..

I've always wondered that. I don't know why I'm so dumb. I always thought.

Like, with these bidets, I was like, I use toilet paper because I don't want a wet butt. Like, I feel like after I've done number twos, I don't want a wet butt, you know, and just to walk away and deal with wet underwear. But no shit, Sherlock. Of course, they've got some sort of a blow dryer that dries your butt as well. I bet it's one of those things. Once you, once you go advanced Japanese toilet, you never go back.

Also, you don't want to have people hear you're going into the bathroom. Don't worry. There could be a privacy setting on there that plays music or make sounds to kind of hide those things. But the thing is, there's also a stop button, because if you want the music to stop, or the water pressure to stop, you know, cleaning you off. You need to push that button.

Japanese people. Does this set you up, though? Do you get used to using toilets like this? And then whenever you go anywhere else in the world and they don't have this exact setup or experience for you, do you find it hard to poop? I feel like you're acclimatising yourself to something very specific and then if you were to go somewhere else, you would find it really difficult to go to the toilet, right? Like, I need my music. I need my heated seat, I need my bidet. I need my blow drying butt thing, like, yeah, tell me what it's like. If you're Japanese and you use this system and then you suddenly go to, I don't know, the Middle East or some other country where they don't have this. Do you find it difficult? I'm in Australia. You come here and we just got normal dummies. Normal loos. Do you find it difficult to go to the loo?

It is kind of complicated when you go places and it doesn't have the translations. So just know the stop button is still that square. But the bidet one? It looks like a butt, okay. It looks like a water fountain with butt- like, with, going out like this, it is kind of one of those things when you look at the toilets here going, what do I do? Especially when you see one of the toilets that actually has a sink on top of it. So you wash your hands and that water goes down and fills up the tank.

Dude, that's so clever! So you can wash your hands above the toilet. It saves the water and it can flush it. Gahd, this- Japan! You've been holding out on us.

Now, the second thing that shocks tourists when they come here is this is a very much a cash-based society. And you'll be shocked how hard it is for a foreigner to actually get cash when you are here, because not all the banks will take foreign debit cards to get cash out. So you might ask yourself, well, Martin, how am I going to pay for stuff? Well, you can pay credit card lots of places. They accept most credit cards. It's no big deal. But getting cash? Your options are one. When you get into the airport, when you fly in, get cash then because those ATMs will take foreign cards. If you go to the post office, those ATMs there will help you out. But the most convenient way to get money is actually the convenience stores. Yes, a Lawson's..

7-Eleven.

7-Eleven. Those ATMs, they will take foreign cards and it is a life saver because you need to have cash when you're here. Okay, so just know that. Now the next thing, it's going to shock you when you come here. Dealing with those convenience stores, since we're already talking about, is how convenient the convenience stores really are.

I've heard about this. Convenience stores in Japan are actually convenient. Here, if you went to a 7-Eleven on the corner of a street, it's pretty much just going to be junk food. And I don't know, cigarettes, you know, that sort of thing. But in Japan, I've heard they're actually like really good quality food. It's affordable. It's great. You can actually go there and expect to get decent food.

It's a convenience store. It's 7-Eleven, it's soda and beer, and some candy, beer-

Beer?! You can get beer there at 7-Eleven? Oh, man. Sign me up.

What else could there be? Well, here in Japan, the convenience stores work like many supermarkets. So if you need stuff for shaving, if you need stuff for your, for your phone, if you want to get like, like the sushi we had for breakfast the other day that we got from Lawson's, one of the convenience stores was better than any sushi I've had in the US in a few years. Okay, so it's pretty good stuff, you know, bakery stuff, hot drinks, cold drinks, hot buns, all kinds of stuff. It really is a great experience. And for a tourist, that's probably going to be your go-to place to get breakfast, okay.

It's funny when I think of Japan and I see these videos of them, obviously in a convenience store, everything is so clean, all the food looks amazing. It looks like it's been prepared with care and attention. And then when someone's purchasing it, they're packing it properly and everything. It's like the amount of effort, time and pride they take in their work. It's just so different from here. If it's so, if you walked into a convenience store here, it would probably be the complete opposite type of thing. The food would be very low level junk. It's probably been sitting in a case, heated up for maybe days. You know, if it's a sausage roll, self-serve, you deal with it, mate. It's just going to be a completely different experience. So part of that is very appealing to me as an Aussie. Japan, it seems like everything is so clean, so proper. Everyone cares so much about the way in which things are done that they take pride in their work.

Now the next thing it's going to shock you, if you can't make it the 2 or 3 blocks to get to your convenience stores, is the vending machines here in Japan. Look, vending machines are everywhere and yes, they sell hot and cold drinks. No big deal. In the same thing. But also they might sell you school supplies or toys or..

The Pocari Sweat thing. This is so funny. It's like a oh, what is it, an electrolyte drink. And I remember seeing this in Indonesia. It was everywhere, to sort of like stay hydrated in, in summer and everything. And the sweat thing always just put me off, though, because it's relatively salty. And so it was always like I could never get out of my mind the fact that it felt like you were drinking your sweat or someone else's sweat. But yeah, you do get used to it pretty quickly.

The vending machine thing in Japan is a classic that we all know about. We all know that you can get beer in Japan. That blows my mind. Because again, if we had that in Australia, underage people would be buying beers like crazy. You can't drink in public in Australia, it has to be a licensed premises, or area that is licensed to serve or have alcohol consumed on it. So to have that just being sold openly in the street for me is a big shock. It's a bit of a strange one.

And the other thing, the other thing that we hear about that is this stereotype about Japan, is like the weird things that you can get out of vending machines, things like women's underwear. Again, I don't know how true or not that is, but that is definitely something that goes around that we all hear like, yeah, Japan, man. It's they're definitely into their strange things when it comes to vending machines.

Vending machines are all over, so definitely use that to your advantage.

It's funny watching this and seeing all this food and everything being consumed. There's no bread. Like, where's the bread? I was like, that's one thing. I think, culture shock wise, I would experience in Japan. It's like, where's the bread, man? Where are the buns? Where are the rolls? Where's the sliced bread? I assume you have it, but so much of it looks like it's rice based, you know, obviously. No shit, Sherlock, it's it's an Asian country, but I think, yeah, that would be one of the things that I'd be like, where's the- where's the bread, man? How am I going to have toast with Vegemite in the morning?

Well, the thing is, you don't want to just eat from a vending machine or a convenience store. You want to go to a restaurant and eat. And that's why the next thing that's going to shock you when you come here is outside the restaurants. The plasticised food. Look, my kids, when they were little, they loved the kitchen we had for them. They'd play with the different foods there and stuff like that. Japan has gone to a whole 'nother level.

So what I'm looking at for anyone that isn't watching this as a video, if you're listening as a podcast, there is like a bowl out the front of a restaurant here with some, what, look like chopsticks. Big fake plastic chopsticks with all of this pasta, like fake pasta, dangling over the top of it, moving around. And when he says plasticised food, I guess, is it food that has been turned into plastic or coated in plastic so that it can be used as a prop? That is definitely strange. Yeah, you wouldn't see that here in Australia.

Because you'll be outside of a restaurant and almost every dish will be out there, in plastic form. Actually pretty realistic plastic form to look at. You're like, what is going on here? And you can actually.

That's so weird. So they've got all these plastic dishes, with plastic around them, and it looks like you can buy them. But I would be like, why don't you just use photos of the actual dishes? I would, I feel like I would find that so much more appetising to, to actually look at photos of the actual dishes that the, the restaurant serves.

You have this plasticised food in front of so many restaurants, which is actually helpful for tourists because the menus, a lot of times don't have English, or don't have much explanation or don't have pictures. So you might actually go outside and go, I want this, okay?

And that leads us into our next shock. And that is, you may not have any clue what the hell you're eating or any idea how to eat it. And that's okay, because the food here is fantastic. But you'll be shocked going, what do I do here? Why is there a raw egg here? What do I, how do I cook this? If you don't know how to eat it, it's okay. Ask the waiter. A waitress like, excuse me, could you, you know, and do your signals, like, how do I eat this?

Oh, dude, I would totally have that problem in Japan. I would need instructions. I would need a manual. I would need to probably watch YouTube videos. I would need to hire someone to stand next to me at the restaurant and be like, don't be a dumb Westerner. This is how it's actually consumed.

And the thing is, is you might be worried, well, if it's a raw egg or if it's something else or how am I? I'm not sure how I'm going to eat. What if I'm going to get sick?

The Japanese people have been eating this for a long time. You should be okay. You should be okay.

The next thing that could have shocked you about coming to Japan is how clean it is here. The streets, the public transportation, the homes, the restaurants, the shops, everywhere you go. You'll be surprised how clean it is here and that cleanliness goes into the restaurants as well. So you're probably not going to be getting any food poisoning when you are here, so you don't need to worry about that. But the cleanliness really, you're like, wait, 35 million people in Tokyo and and I can't even get me to keep my room as clean as the streets of Tokyo, okay.

It's interesting. This is one of those pros and cons things I think I've heard about Japan, where it's a very honour-based society where it's very important to do the right thing, and face is very important, whereas Australia, it's not. Well, the Western world is not as kind of like face-based or honour-based and not as high-trust societies. And so we don't have these things. But there's a darker side to it too, I think with the, the stress of, yeah, the hierarchical system and honour being so important all the time.

Again, these are my sort of dumb Westerner views, but I think that's probably why they have such a clean society, right. It's sort of like the amount of shame that there would be if it was dirty, or if you litter and that sort of thing. I imagine most Japanese people would shame the hell out of other people who were doing that publicly. Whereas in Australia, we do have that to some degree. Like if you were to just throw stuff on the side of the road like rubbish or whatever in front of me. I would probably have a go at you, but not to the same extent. So yeah, it's definitely one of those things I find envious about Japan, just how clean it is.

The Japanese are so proud of their country and they do a great job of keeping it clean, that it's not just the streets, it's also the food and the quality of the food and stuff like that. You'll be shocked how clean it is, where you're like, wow, I don't have to worry about anything here. No, not really. It is really cool. Now go with that clean side of it. There's also the quiet side of it. Look, you'll be shocked how quiet it is here in Japan.

The thing that's kind of surprised me by watching this guy. So far, I haven't seen a single person in the background yet. Like he's in a country with what, you guys got like 120 million people in Japan. He's in a public space here. I think it looks like at a touristic location. Where is everyone? How is it so quiet? I can hear a plane, I can hear birds in the background, and it's just dead still. That's crazy. As it goes to show.

I'm in Kyoto. It's a million and a half people. One of the biggest tourist spots in the entire country. And it's quiet. You can go through Tokyo with 35 million people and find areas where it's quiet. You're like, why is it so quiet? What's going on here? The people here are rather quiet in general, but the thing is, it's not just the people, it's also the cars and other things. It's a very quiet environment here, and you're just kind of shocked just how quiet it is. Sometimes it's almost disturbingly quiet how quiet it is.

But the thing is, you don't have to worry about that silence because the next thing that shocks tourists when they come here, is how safe Japan is. It is one of the safest countries in the world to visit. And for me, the best part about this trip is I got to relax. I didn't have to stress out about any kind of safety issues when I came here. That's what's so nice. You could lose your wallet. They're going to turn your wallet into your hotel with all the cash in and say, sorry, it took us so long to get there.

I've heard that, that stereotype, that idea of like, if you lose something in Japan, it'll find its way back to you almost with certainty. Australia. We would have the same kind of thing. You would lose a wallet, and it's probably gonna turn up at a police station, but it may not have the money in it anymore. You know, that's kind of like I think someone would see that as the, this is the payment for getting the wallet back to you. I mean, not all the time, you know, I've I've found people's wallets before, and I didn't even open it. You would just take it to the cops or whatever and be like, this is not my problem. You figure it out, but I'm sure loads of other people would rummage through it and be like, there's 100 bucks in here, man. Of course I'm taking it.

That is how safe it is here. And that's one of the things that really shocks tourists is when you travel around, you're always worried, where do I put my wallet? Where do I have my things? You don't have to worry about that really, here in Japan. Now, obviously when you're a busy spots, you might want to take care, of course. But in general, it's insanely safe when you come here, which makes it awesome for a tourist.

But the thing is, it might make a great place for you to come. But there's one thing you might be shocked that you might not like when you come here, and that's how tight and how small everything is. Look, if you're a huskier fellow like myself, you might have some..

So he's a relatively large dude, so I think he looks like he's pretty tall, but he's also pretty overweight. And so that's what he's talking about when he says 'husky', there goes.

But in general, it's a very tight quarters kind of place. Hotels, they're going to be small. Bathrooms are going to be small, showers are going to be small. Apartments are going to be small.

He's showing the kids and his wife, I think, sleeping on the floor. I think that would be another culture shock thing for me. Going to houses or places to stay, and having mattresses directly on the ground. And also the etiquette around taking shoes off and wearing socks inside. From what I understand, Japanese people are very clean in that sense of you do not wear shoes inside, you leave them outside.

There is a big boundary between those two things. But I think part of that again, you guys, correct me if I'm wrong, is that they spend a lot of time closer to the floor in terms of sitting and sleeping and, and eating meals. The tables are lower. They're not sitting on chairs. It's an interesting cultural difference. Here, you may be shocked to see that some people will just walk straight inside with their shoes, but then you end up mopping the floor, vacuuming a lot more, all of that sort of thing.

And you're going to be kind of feeling a little claustrophobic. And that does shock some tourists from, like, I'm on the metro during rush hour in Tokyo and it's all like this. Yes. And when you're waiting in line with 600 people in front of you to take the next metro or take a bus or something like that, that's just the way it is. And it can be a little over, I guess, overwhelming for some tourists. So just be ready for the small space and kind of the claustrophobic nature with all these people here. And that does shock people.

There's a sign here with these two Japanese men squatting over the top of another man on his knees. And I think it's a, I can't read it. It's in Japanese, but I think it's a public service announcement saying, you know, give people space.

And what's cool with all these people and all these things, it may seem like, oh, that's going to be a long line, but they're super efficient when you're here. So the lines do go actually pretty quickly. And there are people that do help you stay on the right side of the road and stay on the right side of the walkways and stuff like that, and help you get in and out of the metros and the trains and the buses. So that really helps.

And the thing is, those tight spaces and very small living quarters might kind of explain the love hotels you'll see around town. Yes. If you're travelling and you're looking for an interesting night alone with your special someone, well, there's love hotels here you can go to. Not a normal hotel. It's kind of like those hourly rate places, but you can get it with a theme. Okay, so just FYI for that one.

Now there are some other smaller shocks you will see. Here is one. You'll see all these signs saying 'no smoking' on the streets. Yes, you can get fined for smoking on the streets here.

Wow!

Also, you might be shocked to know that it's not cool to eat while you're walking, so make sure you stop, sit down and eat that way.

Really? Can't eat while you walk. That's one of those things where I've never even thought about that. Like in Australia, you can eat while you walk. There's no. No one's gonna be like, yeah, what a weirdo. Aw. That's disgusting. I think it would be more if you were eating too close to me, like on public transport or something. If you were eating and I could smell your food, or I could hear you going, like, uh, that would be a very kind of, like, social faux pas. Do not do that. It's pretty irritating. But walking while you're eating, like, if you're on the other side of the road or what do I care? You do what you want.

Totally not cool. Another shock that you might not like, or you might seem strange, is how uncool and un-polite or impolite it is to sneeze or blow your nose in public.

Wow.

We were at the zoo in Tokyo and this girl was next to us, and her face goes and you could tell she was about to sneeze, and she covered her nose and ran out of the zoo so she didn't sneeze in front of her friends. Okay,

Wow!

Just have an FYI for that one.

I've heard of Japanese women too. I don't know if this is a broader Asian thing, but like when they laugh, they'll cover their mouths. I've seen that quite a bit in different TV shows and videos and stuff online. Is that because I think they're worried about showing their open mouth and their teeth too much, and they see that as like a social faux pas? Again, you guys let me know. But I've seen that Japanese woman putting a hand in front of her mouth while laughing. Seems to be a common trope, a common thing that you see all over the place.

And again, I think for Westerners, we would almost see it as an attractive thing, as someone who is, you know, giving a big laugh. You know, if you had a woman, you're saying a joke or something. And she laughed a lot and she opened her mouth, you can see her teeth. She's obviously laughing, you know, enjoying it. I think we would kind of see it as attractive. You wouldn't want someone to sort of like, ah, you better hide your teeth. That's that's embarrassing. Don't laugh too hard.

Another thing that might shock you when you come here is, is your waiter will bring you your bill, but he won't take your money.

Ehh?!

Look, in Japan, you don't pay your waiter. You don't tip your waiter either. What you do is when you're done eating, you take your bill up to the cashier. That's at the door when you're walking out, and you pay there. So don't be shocked if they don't take your money, they just point up to the front. You go up there and pay there. Okay?

Now, one thing that might shock you is when you look on your tourist map and you're looking for temples like this to go see. And you know, there's different signs. You know, the cross for the church and the municipal building. And then you'll see a swastika. And my son, my my 11 year old son. He saw this. He goes, uh, dad, why is there a Nazi symbol here? Look, it's not a Nazi-

It's a Buddhist symbol.

It's a good luck charm.

Whoa!

It's a, it's a sign of hope and good luck.

Okay!

Good fortune. Wow. And people kind of shocked when they see that. And, look, it's not Nazi stuff. That's just a..

Is it the reverse symbol, though? Because I've heard that the Buddhist swastika symbol comes from. Well, it comes from Buddhism, I think from thousands of years ago, right, millennia ago. But it's I think it's a reversed version of the swastika. I think the Germans took it and reversed it the other way. So, yeah, I think that would definitely be a shock for me if I were to just see that symbol publicly, because I, I believe in the West, it's pretty much banned everywhere. You're not going to ever see that displayed unless it's some kind of like Nazi group rally and they've got a flag or something, you know. You just don't see that symbol around. Or it's a documentary or something, you know, talking about World War Two.

They're kind of going along with those shocks, you see, because you look on your map, you see so many of them is the how many temples there are here, and you might actually get 'temple burn out' in some way. It's because all throughout the country you have beautiful temples like this. This temple is just a everyday temple. This isn't one of the fancy 17 Unesco World Heritage Sites here, here in Kyoto. I'm filming here because there's no tourist around, because it's just another random temple. And you have these fantastic temples all throughout the country. Palaces and fortresses and stuff like that that are just amazing to see. So make sure you take the time to go and explore them. And believe me, there might be a small one near a hotel or big ones outside of towns or in the mountains. Take the time to go explore.

Japanese people watching. What is the feeling of him just filming in public like this? Is this something that is a faux pas? Is it okay because there's no one around but a crowd of Japanese people, or people in general suddenly appeared? Would this be something where you guys would be like, what the hell is he doing? This is not acceptable. You know, I was just thinking that I'm like, I wonder how they would accept someone just filming, a Westerner, loudly speaking in front of a camera in public like this.

And talking about those mountains. The next thing that shocks people when they come here, is the majestic beauty of the landscape in Japan. When you take that train from Tokyo to Kyoto, you'll turn and see Mount Fuji and you're like, oh my God, it's Mount Fuji! It's just like the pictures. Yes, it is so cool to see that.

But it's not just Mount Fuji, it's walking through the bamboo forest. Seeing the leaves change. We're here in the fall, watching the leaves change. It's gorgeous. Or coming in the springtime when the cherry blossoms are blooming. Oh my God, it is just gorgeous.

Because Japan has the history and the culture and the world culture and amazing artwork. But also it has the natural beauty and natural artwork that you're going to see. And these two things combined makes it a fantastic place for tourists to go.

Another thing that might shock you when you come here is when you go to the onsen, or the spas, when you come here. Now, first thing it might shock you is yes, you have to go au naturelle, naked when you go into those. Now there's split sexes. Male, female. Okay. But what might shock you is they give you two towels, a big towel and a little town and you think, oh, I'll take the big towel in, when I go in to, you know, keep myself my privacy and stuff like that. Oh, no no, no, no, that one's for later. You take the little towel with you and you think, oh, well, I guess I'll just hold it here and, you know, cover my bits. Oh, no. No, that's unnatural as well. That's how it's actually for your head. Okay..

Your head?!

So don't be shocked about being naked with your Japanese friends. This is just another way you can have a good time with them when you are here.

That would be one I think I would be uncomfortable with. About the only place that I'm ever naked in front of people, besides, my family, would probably be back in the day when I was swimming a lot. And you would have obviously the change rooms there. That would be where you might get naked in front of strangers, people that you didn't know or classmates if you were there with your school and everything like that. But even then, I think in my generation it was like you didn't really just get it out and flash it around. You would usually try and be discreet and just get changed quickly. You wouldn't just hang out with your buddies all naked. So it's funny. That would be a culture shock for me. I think if someone said, Pete, come to the spa and get your kit out, I'd be like, can I just, can I wear bathers? Why do I have to be completely naked? Are you sure?

And that leads us into the last thing you're going to love. And as Japanese people, they're friendly, they're helpful, they're kind. They'll do what they can to help you and show you the right way. Even if they don't speak English.

And that's one of the things, you'll be shocked how little English is actually spoken here in Japan, how few English menus are out there even in tourist spots.

Wow.

But the people will work with you to help. And that's what's cool about those plasticised foods, because now you can point and say, no, English doesn't matter. I can point out what I want, and that's really a fun thing. But honestly, the Japanese people have been so wonderful to us, showing us around, telling us where to go or at least point us in the right direction. All kinds of stuff that really makes you really fall in love with Japan when you do come here. I do hope you will come.

Yeah, I think he's finishing up anyway, I'm. I'm gagging to go to Japan one day, man. I'll tell you what, I would love to go there and experience the culture and the people and the language, but. Yeah. Is there anything that he missed, guys?

Are there any other culture shocks that you Japanese people can tell us about, that you think an Aussie like myself, if I went there, I would be like, What!? Or vice versa. If you're a Japanese and you came to Australia, were there things where you were just like, Mmm?!

If you have any other suggestions for videos, guys, definitely let me know. Put a comment below, tell me what you would like to meet or react to next. Besides that, YouTube reckons you're going to enjoy this video next and I'll see you there. Tooroo!