Random Facts you should know about Japan

In a series of indeterminate length I am here to share with you several key facts, tidbits, or anecdotes you should be made aware of concerning Japan. Often you may come across details that seem stereotypical in nature, and other times you may be surprised at the sheer depth of knowledge I possess. Either way you should be prepared to be amazed by the random facts you should know about Japan.

Riced Out

Virtually all Japanese eat boiled rice with their meals, use soy sauce as a condiment for much of their food, and eat virtually everything, even soup, with chopsticks. Now you may wonder how in the world the Japanese can eat soup with chopsticks, well they use their chopsticks to shovel noodles delicately onto a larger soup spoon filled with a decent amount of soup and then directly into their mouths. Make sense? Glad it did.

Now, grasping smaller foods such as separated corn or soft foods such as Tofu does get a little tricky, but everyone in the country can manage it. It takes a lot more agility to be able to get at them than by simply acting like a savage barbarian and stabbing at it with your fork. Speaking of Westerners, although a Japanese family may never admit it, there is a secret shame to being clumsy with chopsticks, I’m looking at you whitey.

On a side note, if you’re of Asian decent such as myself and are visiting Japan as an American, you may also find it slightly curious that the Japanese will find it amazing you are able to handle a pair of chopsticks. They assume that all Americans, regardless of race, have some kind of innate ability to fail at chopstick use. Which brings us to our next point.

Americans

Japan is a land with little diversity, if you live there and aren’t Japanese there is a good chance you’re still some kind of light-skinned Asian race such as Chinese or Korean. This type of environment leads some Japanese, particularly the younger or less informed individuals to believe that America isn’t the melting pot its cracked up to be. It is simply too strange for them to accept that, I of Chinese decent and born in America, is truly American. America is filled with white people, what is this chinky bastard talking about? They would rather assume I was fluent in English and came from China (or Korea for some reason) than to believe that I actually flew in from America just to school them.

As an American going into the country, you will find that you are going to be welcomed by the younger generation as a curiosity but not very welcomed into the normal working world by the older generation. They will respect your ability to communicate in English, but care for little else you do. You are, for the most part, an unwelcome addition to their country if you are trying to take their jobs that don’t involve teaching English to kids.

You might also find it interesting that, unlike in America where its common place to distinguish groups of races by their respective country of origin. Japanese care little to make the effort to call someone Spanish, French, or American. The Japanese will typically just refer to any outside race as a foreigner, or Gaijin.

Speaking of which, they will also find it of particular interest that you will view their land as a high-tech wonderland. They are used to the levels of technology developed within their country, so it shouldn’t be surprised they don’t think of all their toys are something completely new. They might even be baffled about why you may end up preferring Japanese brand electronics compared to American made goods. The grass is always greener on the other side isn’t it?

Bathrooms

We may find this odd, a Japanese Bathroom will always contain a bathtub, but not necessarily a toilet. If you want to find a toilet, there will most likely be a separate toilet room. It only make sense, few people really want to bathe near some asshole taking a fat dump just a few feet over. Keep them separated. We may like to believe that as long as water is flowing around, why not allow it to flow around through the entire room. That’s wrong, showers and baths are sexy, and taking a dump or a whiz is just gross. Do that in your own private time, speaking of which that moves us on to our next subject.

Also most of their toilets spray water up your butthole.

Privatization

As a native to Japan you naturally expect that railroads and other forms of transportation are privately run. You see absolutely no problem with it, rather you welcome it as a chance for the sector to provide better services after the filthy government takes their hands off of it.

What else is there? As a result, the train system of Japan is excellent. The bullet trains are a matter of national pride, and the commuter metro lines work with precision and are by far the most efficient way to get around the city. If you are waiting for a train in downtown Tokyo, expect to wait no more than 2 minutes for each train, in fact if you look up at the Train scoreboard they’ll give you an exact rundown of when the next train is expected complete with real time updates if there is going to be a delay.

I hope this sheds a little light on some of the things you may not even have thought of when you think of Japan. I may not have spent as long as some of my compatriots in Japan, but I certainly did find a lot of the culture simply astounding and took it all in with an open mind.