Japanese guy reacts to “12 Things NOT to do in Japan”

hello guys i'm george so today i'm gonna react a video called 12 things not to do in japan yeah this is interesting because you know japan has so many roles that are different from other countries so as a native japanese i'll tell you guys my perspective and i hope you guys enjoyed this video and let's go okay so three two one go that's all [Music] so walking down the street whilst eating and drinking isn't illegal you're not going to get shouted at and you're not going to get arrested by ace detective sherlock but what you will get is the stare of disapproval a lot of people don't know this one until you get it and never see anyone doing it what you'll find is if someone wants to eat or drink something quickly outside they'll buy at the convenience store and then eat it or drink it out the front same with vending machines if they buy something from the vending machine they'll drink it there and then next to the vending machine the main reason is people are very conscious about keeping the streets clean here and you don't want to ruin someone else's day by having them walk through your spilled coffee that said all you need to do to avoid the stare of disapproval is uh just stop and eat and drink whatever it is there and then maybe it's on a bench maybe you're just standing at the side the road whatever just don't walk whilst eating and drinking and you'll be okay okay um yeah kind of not that strict if you google tabayaruki which means eating drink while walking you can find many good places for tabayaruki for instance in osaka i see a lot of people eating takoyaki while walking so it doesn't make sense right so please don't take it seriously there are a lot of people including me to drink starbucks coffee while walking even in tokyo or everywhere so it's okay [Music] three things to point out here number one never put your chopsticks upright into the rice as this is part of a ritual conducted at funerals when offering rice to the schizophrenia of the deceased similarly number two never pass things uh from chopstick to chopstick because again this is done during funerals past the bones of cremated relatives so that kind of imagery doesn't go down well over dinner as you'd expect probably best not to conjure up imagery surrounding death before before you've even had your lunch and thirdly don't do the rubbing of the chopsticks you know when you open wooden chopsticks do you like to do that to get rid of the split everyone yeah yeah but don't do it in japan because it's seen as rude to the owner because you're basically saying oh your chopsticks are probably cheap which let's face it they probably are but in fact they usually definitely are yeah we don't think that way but you know we never do that i don't know why so many people from overseas do these kind of things so this is [Music] interesting probably the greatest thing about japan ever and the reason that i eat out several times a week just because i saved 20 automatically in japan it's believed that customer service should always be exceptional with staff giving a hundred and twenty percent every time a hundred twenty percent 110 percent 120 percent depends on the budget it's not necessarily rude it just creates this awkward situation where the worker the staff would feel like you're assessing their performance and they could potentially lose face so you might think you're being nice by giving someone a tip but you're not you're just creating an uncomfortable situation for the worker and they'll probably just reject your tip out right so don't be tempted to do it yeah i think this is really interesting like if i were a walker i'd be happy to have you know tipping system but if i were customer i would hate tipping systems so it's a bit difficult to you know define whether it's good or not [Music] there's a real emphasis on being mindful when you're using public transport in japan that's often completely absent in many countries numerous of the times that i've been riding a train in the uk and someone nearby has been screaming at their partner down the phone and i felt like i was part of the argument like some kind of unpleasant 4d experience given japan's density it's especially important to be mindful when you're stuffed in a train alongside fellow commuters many of whom are sleeping as well with that in mind don't ever ever talk on your phone on the train that's a massive like no thing to do here and even talking loudly is looked down upon if you're on a local train or a subway train and you get a phone call just ignore it until you get off and if you're on a bullet train you can go to the little compartment in between the carriages and take your call there yeah keeping silent is the best way when you use transportation in japan trust me i remember for the first few years that i lived here whenever someone handed me a business card i was utterly terrified because until then business cards to me had always just been a bit of paper a bit of card with some writing on but in japan they are so much more once you've exchanged business cards the trick is to imagine you've just been handed the lost treasure of el salvador or something first study it meticulously the name the job position the details and then either put it in your business card holder or just put it on the desk if you're at a business meeting just put it on the table never play around with business cards or put them in your back pocket because they're seen as a physical extension of the person themselves and you don't want to stuff somebody's physical extension down your back pocket if you're doing business in japan always always carry business cards you don't want to be that awkward foreigner who stood there writing out their name and number 50 times in one hour on the back of a tissue and for the record i am usually that awkward foreigner uh scribbling down my details because i do forget to bring them and subsequently i hate myself when it happens [Music] no i mean it's okay to me like business card is a bit old-fashioned like even i get a business card from someone i totally never see that business card again so instead what i do is just giving my own website and instagram and facebook so that they don't need to have these paper things and moreover it's much easier to understand what i exactly do but this is just my opinion never mind if you've got a runny nose standard procedure here is just to keep sniffing or just to find a toilet or a broom cupboard to hide in blowing noses in public is pretty rude interestingly though handkerchiefs are pretty popular here not in the way you would think though people use them to wipe sweat off in the hot summer weather or even more commonly to dry their hands in public toilets because surprisingly many public toilets in japan don't have any hand drying facilities despite having space-age toilets that reside in the same room it's quite a weird contrast that i don't quite understand okay okay i mean it depends on the person but now under influence of you know we're getting very sensitive so i think we should avoid this anyway [Music] physical contact in japan isn't really a thing you'll bow a lot you're not enthusiastically daily uh but occasionally you might shake hands with someone if you're a good friend or a business client that you get on well with but generally i avoid it unless someone makes the first move and hugging in particular doesn't go down well it's just yeah expressions of awkwardness and despair and also amongst couples public displays of affection are phenomenally rare here yeah yeah don't be surprised if you get the stare of disapproval if you're kissing your partner frantically in the street yeah shaking hand is fine but we don't do hug again yeah it's fine but it should definitely be this if you're the sort of person who feels i need to have a debate or an argument about things or throw your opinions out there constantly people will find you obnoxious and despisable and uh probably just avoid you embedded heavily within the culture is this idea of keeping harmony and avoiding conflict at all costs and it's a lot easier to do that on people on at each other's throats throwing around opinions sometimes it can be frustrating when people are just unwilling to speak their minds or give you a clear yes or no answer i mean one time one of my colleagues when i was teaching i asked him do you have any pets and he said to me maybe my cat is dead maybe your cat is dead what does that mean she is dead or is it not dead it's not schrodinger's cat is it it turned out the cat was definitely dead but he was just the sort of person that always liked to use the word maybe yeah just not expressed maybe but if there's one reason i've never seen a fight anywhere in japan in the last five years it's probably this reason that people are a lot more careful about expressing their opinions and holding back what they really think yeah at this point she's right yeah but of course not everyone just depends on the person but most japanese people tend to be like this yeah he's right to film that one uh everyone seems to know this one already anyway when visiting someone's house or entering a public building like a school or going to a hot spring you take off your shoes and switch to slippers before you go in the easiest way of knowing if you have to change your shoes is there'll be a change in elevation in the floor so when you go in there'll be a little stare and that's when you know this is the one thing on the list where failing to stick to the rules will have noticeable results a few years ago a friend and i visited a public bath house in kyoto and we went in and you're supposed to take your shoes off for some reason he didn't i don't know why i don't think he noticed or saw there was a little woman sitting behind the entrance counter where you kind of pay and when we walked in she saw that he still had his shoes on and she shot up with terrifying energy grabbed him returned to the front and was like get your shoes off and that image has stayed burnt into my mind this quiet little woman suddenly becoming so alive and animated and ever since then i've never forgotten to take my shoes off while entering the building okay yeah so that was good answer for him for whatever reason rubbish bins and trash cans are disturbingly rare in japan outside of convenience stores it can be a nightmare to find one and the reason i put this on the list is because so many people uh so many of you guys messaged me on twitter saying i'm in tokyo and i can't find a bin what should i do i've wandered through tokyo for up to 20 minutes sometimes just in search of a bin and can't find it despite that after shockingly clean here because people they can't find a bin they just take the rubbish home with them it can feel like some kind of mini game sometimes going in search for a bin because when you do find a bin you feel a real sense of achievement but despite that don't be tempted to litter just keep trying and you'll find a bin one day [Music] seems like a fairly obvious addition to the list and yet in the uk we just cross the street whenever the hell we want whenever there's an opening in traffic uh as opposed to waiting for the green line same as many countries in japan however people do not cross the road on a red line it's incredibly rare and it's one of the greatest ways of seeing this sense of order and obedience to the law that exists in japan if you stand at a roadside in japan and there's no cars coming you can't see any cars whatsoever people still will not cross the road until it goes over the years of the many friends i've had come to visit me here this is the thing that shocks them the most the idea of not crossing the street when there's no visible cars there the idea of abiding by a rule that doesn't seem necessary and yet for me personally the main reason i abide by it is after a few years of being here you don't want to stand out you don't want to be this stereotypical and as well as that you don't want to run the risk of getting caught out by the police so those are two things worth taking into consideration before you dash across the seemingly empty road and the last one don't worry about not knowing anything about japanese etiquette when you come to japan as i said earlier in this video there aren't going to be any real consequences to not following any of these things apart from maybe the footwear one that's that's quite scary you don't want to get dragged off by an old woman the reason i say don't worry too much is because i find a lot of people come here and they're very nervous and very anxious about following the etiquette etiquette they don't really comprehend and that includes even me when i came here i didn't know anything and i was constantly anxious and nervous that i was making mistakes but really as a foreigner in japan you get kind of a free pass to make mistakes people are understanding and they're kind and they will let you off so don't become too nervous about following all the rules do your best but don't become a nervous wreck so those are my 12 things not to do in japan but what have i missed out let us know in the comments section below i've probably missed out don't ever be late don't enter a bath or a hot spring without having a shower first those are probably the other two key ones i've missed out and now they're on the list so this is actually 14 things not to do in japan so uh bonus bonus stuff there it's christmas so you get extra extra content thank you happy christmas so is this christmas there happy new dawn you and neil needed one one of the area who is he yeah it was really good contents for sure but sometimes not that strict as much as he thinks so please please don't take everything seriously and as she's saying the last when you come to japan please please don't be nervous we are all kind and also when i go to your country please be kind to me alright guys thank you so much for watching this video if you have any recommendations or requests please comment down below and if you like this video please hit the like button and please subscribe to my channel thank you so much have a good day bye

Channel: George Japan

Views: 3,885,529

Rating: 4.9449139 out of 5

Keywords: japanese, reaction, 12thingsnottodo, abroadinjapan

Id: eu53N55LEOE

Length: 14min 31sec (871 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 25 2020

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