Common sense or absurd? Things you see only in Japan

photo by DavideGorla

You probably have experienced something surprising while you stay in other countries for business, holiday or study, which is so called culture shock. If you have been in Japan before, you most likely have at least one or two episodes of culture shock experience in Japan. Things Japanese people take for common sceneries can be quite surprising for people from other cultural zones. This column will introduce some examples that astonishes foreign people.

Primary school children going to school by themselves

Seeing primary school children walking to school alone or in a small group of children is just ordinary everyday view in Japan. But this would make parents and teachers frown in many other countries. Most recently, a movie of 7 years old girl who lives in Tokyo commuting to school by several trains shocked a huge number of viewers all over the world once it was posted on the internet. This is no wonder, we hardly see children going to school alone except in Japan. In many other countries, especially western countries, leaving under-aged children without reasonable supervision and care is prohibited by law. On the other hand, Japanese law does not clearly guideline the legal age of children to be independent from parental supervision and care. Well, we may say Japanese society is that safe…. by the way, see the backpacks on children’s shoulders in the above photo. Those are called “randoseru”, specially designed backpacks for primary school children, and unique to Japan as well.

Club activities

This must be quite shocking for foreign students who studying at Japanese schools. In Japan, most of junior high schools, high schools and unis encourage students to join club activities after schools hours. Each school offers various sports clubs including baseball, soccer, Judo and swimming, or cultural activity clubs such as wind ensemble, tea ceremony, calligraphy, art and more. Some clubs have strict rules for members to follow through. From foreign students’ point of view, it can be beyond their understanding. In fact, many of them wonder why Japanese students spare so much time, and sometimes follow unreasonable rules, for such recreational activities that are not going to be their future professions. However, club activities originally aim more to develop students’ co-operation skills, independence, endurance capacities by engaging in each activity, rather than to make them learn sports or cultural activity itself. So, there are some educational intention behind these school club activities.

Food samples

How good these are! You must have seen these food samples at restaurants in a shopping complex or diners in a town. With these food samples, you no longer need to worry about language barrier or getting something different from your expectation when you eat out! The history of food samples, which precisely shape dishes served in the restaurants, can be trace back to the Taisho period (1912-1926). Samples used to be created by casting wax in a mold made of agar. Now they are made of plastic or resin. It is quite surprising that food samples have such a long history, not just quickly invented during the Japanese economic high-growth period. Despite that food samples are such a great invention, we hardly see them outside of Japan, even in Asian countries, except for South Korea. So, these are attracting great attentions from tourists as novelty items or popular souvenirs of Japan.

Paper adverts hanging from ceiling of local trains

Once you hop on a Japanese local train, first thing you may notice is paper adverts hanging from the ceilings. These are not affixed on the walls, but hanging from the ceilings right in the middle of the train car. Most of the time these are advertising newly printed magazines or books, foods and drinks, travel packages or many other things. They look as if a number of little paper curtains lining up in a tidy row. It must be quite annoying for passengers who are tall, but sometimes you find funny adverts and it helps you to kill the time on the train going to work or school.

Valentine’s Day chocolates & White day

For people from Christian countries, St. Valentine’s Day in Japan must be a lot more enigmatic than Christmas in Japan. Internationally, St. Valentine’s Day is to celebrate mutual love between partners. But in Japan, it is the day women give chocolates to their partners or someone in their mind. Chocolates are flooding everywhere in cake and candy section of each shop from late January until St. Valentine’s Day ends every year. You may even encounter those ladies giving out “friendship chocolates” to male bosses and colleagues in your office. It simply doesn’t make sense, but it ended up like this as the Japanese assimilated St. Valentine’s Day into their culture and interpreted and developed it in their own way over the years. Let’s not mention the details as it is a long story. You might think it is very unfair deals for Japanese women that they always have to give chocolates to men on this day. So, the Japanese also invented White Day, the day men give some gifts back to women who gave them chocolates on St. Valentine’s Day. I know this entire routine is quite absurd. But just take it this way, the Japanese can’t help being polite.

Toilet slippers

The Japanese use separate slippers in toilet of their home. They are distinguishable from other room slippers as there are large print of “TOILET” on them. These toilet slippers often puzzle guests from foreign countries. Why the Japanese change slippers when they enter toilet? Why they tell you off when you enter other rooms in the house with toilet slippers on? According to the Japanese, toilet is the most unclean place in the house due to the purpose it exists there. They think the toilet floor might be unclean as well thus they need separate slippers to be worn only in toilet. Of course their idea can be argued whether it is really hygienic to share the same slippers between family members, or whether Japanese toilet can be that unclean in the first place while they care so much about cleanliness that they even take shoes off in the house. In fact, many Japanese households no longer use toilet slippers in recent years because they can’t be bothered to change room slippers just to use toilet.

Why Japanese people, why?

Probably, you can think of many more things or habit other than above which is funny and unique to Japan. Yes, of course there are heaps more. These things and habits are accepted by the Japanese for certain reasons, but some of them puzzles even the Japanese. So, the culture shocks you have experienced while staying Japan, even Japanese people may not be able to explain why such things or habit exist.