/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Why do Japanese bow?

Is it because shaking hands spreads disease?

Do Japanese still bow, or is it old fashioned?

Your old friend from elementary school just got out of jail for raping some old woman, he calls you up. He asks if he can stay with you because he has nowhere else to go, but you are out of the country, and your younger sister is currently crashing at your apartment.

Western reaction: No fucking way dude.

Japanese reaction: Feels obligated to allow him to stay, tells him where he hides the spare key (in the pot plant in the garden)

ITT things that are AWESOME about living in Japan

- You get to use awesome squat toilets
- You get to sleep on the floor
- You get to eat fermented food every day
- You get to experience racism for the first time in your white-male life
- You get to play terrorist-suspect at the airport and get your fingerprints taken and your photo taken and given a background check
- You get to rent an apartment smaller than your bedroom back home for 70% of your salary
- You get to teach english and that's it

Q: How many elevens does it take to invent the lightbulb?

A: n/a. elevens can't think innovatively

How bad is the pedophile problem in Japan?

I keep reading on the news that Japan is being pushed through legislation to make collecting CP a crime (apparently, it's perfectly fine to do that shit there)

Seriously, what the fuck is it with Japan and this shit? Are they all just fucked up?

Why are Japanese people dead inside?

is it because of the war, or were they soul-less godless zombies before then?

You spot a stranger, around the same age and size as you, struggling with something heavy and awkward. You go over and offer to help out: "Hey man, you need a little help there?"

American Reaction: "Thanks bro, ok you grab that end. Ready? OK watch your step." ... "Boy that was a great help. You're a lifesaver."

European Reaction: "Haha! Yes, I suppose I do need some help! ok you grab that end. Ready? OK watch your step." ... "Boy that was a great help. You're a lifesaver. I gotta repay you somehow, hey my wife's cooking tonight, it's kinda a dinner party for the neighbours but you should come along too! She makes the best spaghetti you'll ever taste! I insist you come!"

Japanese Reaction: *why is that stranger talking to me? why is he insulting me by speaking to me in such a casual manner, like I am his friend? My honour requires me to carry this alone* *awkward silence* "I am ok, I shall try my very best. I am sorry to have troubled you" *please go away!*

Where did this myth of Japanese people being "polite" come from?

I've lived in Japan for over a year, and I notice to the contrary:

- People NEVER offer to help old people with heavy bags
- People NEVER help people with push-chairs in stations
- People do not care about anybody lying there in the street, possibly dead.

I'm pretty sure if a woman was being raped in the middle of the street, people would just walk by in a hurry pretending not to look

As a foreigner, when i offer help to people who the Japanese ignore, I am almost always greeted with thanks. Today I helped a single-mother to carry her pram out of the station (Asakusa station on the Ginza line) and she went out of her way to thank me in English, and she said it surprised her that someone offered to help. She said that Japanese people would be too embarrassed to help her, and she was too embarrassed to ask.

Yet these same people who refuse to offer assistance would probably rudely snap at me for forgetting to take off my shoes in the hallway to some onsen, muttering under their breath how impolite gaijin are.

I think we should change our perception of Japan from one that is polite, to one that is easily offended.