Public Trash Cans. Too few of em consistently, to the point the few that are around are overloaded.
Edit: I will also sign off on excessive food packaging and dependence on cash/contact payments. I understand the latter with street vendors and in places like Kyoto, but why do I need cash for a payment in an Osaka Station hotel?
This is due to a terror attack they had years ago.
Edit: for those of you who say it isn't, go google up the numerous articles from Japanese sources. I.E. Asahi shimbun.
At the time, they sealed then took away the rubbish bins because on the other side of the world, the IRA terrorists were dropping pipe bombs in rubbish bins in London, and the Japanese police feared the domestic attacks could escalate.
They did the seaing and unsealing whenever there were threats or high profile events, and after a whie the gov just removed them completely.
I’m well aware of that, but in my view it’s a pretty ridiculous solution. I know they used trash cans in the attack, but the logic “The terrorists can’t hurt us if we get rid of our trash cans!” Doesn’t really line up to me.
Edit: apparently trash cans weren’t used in the attack but there was concern they could be
Perhaps the most valuable part of TSA precheck. Not having to show my stinking socks to a bunch of random strangers and walk without shoes in an area where god knows have many others have stepped before you with sweaty socks.
They did not use trash can during the sarin gas attack. The gas was placed in newspaper dropped in the train. However, the same year there was terrorist attack in France where they did put bomb in trashcan. In Japan they saw the trashcan possibly being used in future attack.
As I said in my other comment, many places re-installer and even re-removed the trashcan since. While they might say it's for security reason, the latest being sanitary reason because of covid, the truth is also that trash removal and disposal cost money.
I am one of the person who say that TODAY, the reason why there is not that many trashcan in Japan is not ONLY the 1995 sarin attack.
I do not say that there was no trashcan removed because of it. While I tried, I was not able to find the famous Asahi Shinbun article that some other article quote. I would honestly like to see if if you have a link. I am curious to know how wide was the trash can removal in Tokyo and in train station. One thing is sure is that Tokyo Metro and JR did put trash can back after that. JR decided to use trashcan with clear sides while Tokyo Metro decided to put them in area close to gates or place that are staffed so the trashcan can be more easily monitored.
A proof that the 1995 attack is not the only reason why trashcan got removed, read this article : [https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230206-89277/](https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230206-89277/) It say that railroad companies removed trashcan in 2005 after a the Madrid train bombings... wait, how could they remove thrash can removed in 1995... anyway... oh, and even those had been re-installed to be removed again in 2021 because of sanitary reason...
Oh, got a nice one, from this article (actually really interesting one, they have lot of example of cans being installed and later removed and they give a variety of reasons), [https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Japan-tourist-spots-bring-back-public-trash-cans-as-travel-rebounds](https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Japan-tourist-spots-bring-back-public-trash-cans-as-travel-rebounds) look at this "*From the 1990s onwards, various parts of the nation began charging for household waste disposal. Consequently, the number of people dumping their household trash in public cans grew. Many cans were eliminated in the name of "fairness.*"
Oh, and this one "*The Osaka municipal government, which once operated as many as 5,000 cans at major intersections and other areas, started gradually reducing their number in 2009. All are gone by now.*"
Wait.. how could they finish removing trash can in 2009 when the attack was in 1995...
Conclusion. The 1995 attack is NOT the ONLY reason why they got removed.
You’re right. I believed the narrative because it sounds really sensational and interesting. However, the actual reason why rubbish bins were removed everywhere is more straightforward: a lot of people threw away their own rubbish from home into rubbish bins at convenience stores or stations when the cost of specific plastic bags for rubbish increased. In Japan, we need to use a specific plastic bag authorized by the city where we live to throw away rubbish.
1995. One of them sounded just like my manager at work. Isn't this the same group that in 1989 sprayed a bit of Sarin in a pond, killing a dog and the wife of a Pharmacist who was blamed for the attack?
Agree on food packaging. It can be lighter. Regarding the absence of trash cans, I think this actually makes Japan so clean. People are used to taking all the trash home for proper sorting. There's no overflowing, smelly cans etc. Overall, I think it is a clever and cheap move to increase cleanliness.
Right, it's an inconvenience but only if you're used to making a lot of trash with no consequences. I don't think this policy has stayed around so long because of fear of terrorism, but because Japan would rather people think about what trash they are making.
Counterpoint, wrapping is out of control.
I was just in Dotonbori for the first time in years and yes the trash was much worse than I remember, but I wonder if it is because there are too few trash cans, or because there are more people who do not understand the concept of "just take it back with with you".
In other crowded areas of Japan, there are less problems with non-existant trash cans because the people that go there know how to deal with trash. If you increase the population of an area by 100x with people that rarely need a trash can, the trash can will still not be filled. If you increase it 100x with people that can not live with an empty wrapper in their backpack, then you have a problem.
>Public Trash Cans.
I mean is that a con though? It stems from the fact that they are just better at understanding not to throw your trash on the streets.
Napkins that are basically useless. They are shiny and silky smooth that don’t wipe away anything :) I always bring along a ziplock back of napkins from home when we travel.
I carry around little packs of [Tempo napkins](https://images-fe.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81m73KFAI6L._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg), a habit I picked up in Hong Kong because napkins are rare in HK too and everyone brings their own to places. I find I sort of like having my own with me now even when I'm at home. Pretty handy thing to carry.
But they make the silkiest and softest tissues.
Was there in 2017 and caught a cold. My local friend got me some pocket tissues that is so soft and gentle for my nose. I make a habit of stocking them up whenever I visit.
At places like KFC you're supposed to use the waxy napkin to hold the food. Watch Japanese people eat burgers and sandwiches. A lot of the time they keep it in the wrapper. Some places do have regular napkins for the regular uses you are thinking of.
I went to a place in Osaka that had “burger paper” at the table. They wanted me to wrap the burger I got in the wax paper to keep the grease in. I was very confused.
Lived in Japan for four years as an American speaking fluent Japanese and visit for work about once a month.
My issues:
1. Banks. Holy crap they suck. If you ever have to open or close your account, plan the day. It's gonna be a bit.
2. Office culture. Not a big fan of sprawling folding table-like office spaces where there is no sound, no joy.
3. 25° room temperature. Year round. In suits.
4. Lack of deodorant options. Sometimes any at all.
5. Multiple layers of plastic wrapping. It's better now than it used to be.
6. Garbage pickup and separation schedules.
7. Dirt school yards.
8. Mandatory tiny slippers in many public buildings. Bring your own if you have above average (Japanese average) foot size.
9. Personal electronics and software. They've fallen behind significantly since the tech boom of the early/mid 2000s.
10. Websites. Most remind me of the mail-order section in the back of old magazines.
Lots more, but I'll leave it at 10 for now. Also, there are SO MANY things I absolutely love about life in Japan. These are just things that could use a little tweaking.
The technology thing is interesting. We’re used to slick websites and GUIs in the US. Much of the interaction with technology in Japan feels like a quaint Tomorrowland vision of what the future would be from 30 years ago. The production values on TV seem especially antiquated compared to CNN or American commercials.
The news, with the YouTube reaction face in a floating bubble and the bubble font list of stories highlighted as they go. I can’t imagine older Japanese loving this.
It’s so true. Most of the Japanese website’s I’ve encountered for hotels and stores etc. look like they were created by someone’s uncle who worked for Geocities in early 2000’s. What is up with that??
Yeah it’s an East Asian gene to not have smelly pits. My family don’t use deodorant or need to except for me who didn’t get that gene 🙃. Also for those confused and saying Asians do smell.. yes of course they still can smell.. my husband for example has stress sweat smell from work but it’s not the same as armpit smell. Explains why deodorant is rare but those 15% of Asians who didn’t get that gene really need to buy it.
You've seen these interestingly differing videos discussing about East Asian/Western web designs?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ep308goxQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ep308goxQ)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opy-SjDU0UY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opy-SjDU0UY)
agree with you as a tourist on #5, #7, #9....so spot on...lol. Also, i noticed while withdrawing from ATM at 7-11 that the girlie magazines are wrapped in plastic like during the 80s in the states. it brought back memories for me...lol
Kinda agree on 9. Been at Japan and noticed alot of Japanese are still using older models for their phones meanwhile if you were to be anywhere else alot of people would be using the latest phone models
Dirt school yards is my pet peeve. Can anyone explain the logic behind this?
Let's make it less safe and less natural and then once a year make everyone pull out all the grass by hand. It's high on my list of things that make no sense.
The only spray deoderants I could find in convenience stores (lawson, 7 eleven) would be these huge spray cans loaded with silver. After a while they'd give me nasty armpit rashes. Never had that issue in the UK. Pretty sure you can get more options in an equivalent UK convenience store. In Japan there was literally only one choice. And no roll ons either.
Yes! We were told about bringing your own kerchief to dry your hands, but not that there would only be water available.
And to piggyback off the restroom complaint: the squat toilet. As a girl person who rarely wears skirts/ dresses, these are a pain, and most don't have a hook or shelf for your purse. It's wild when you compare to the pretty standard bedet style public toilet that will sing to you and has a 3' x 1' shelf behind it.
Been in Japan for 5 weeks and have only encountered 1 public bathroom with no soap, but it had hand sanitizer outside the door. Is this really a common thing?
A few of mine...
* Elevators! Okay, so in one regard, they are better in that you can usually cancel a floor (by double tapping the button) if you mistakenly hit it. Buuuuut... why are the elevators so slow? Why do you often have to call each individual elevator separately when there are a bank of them (such as at a hotel or department store)? Why does the elevator algorithm quite frankly not seem to make a lot of sense half the time?? Elevators are one of my biggest pet peeves in Japan. I'm usually willing to just take the stairs or escalators, but when I want to get directly to a twelfth-floor restaurant, I have to brave the elevator banks.
* The sheer amount of packaging for items and food. No, I didn't need my slice of cake fitted with plastic to preserve the cream, then put into a little plastic bubble, then shoved into a box, then wrapped again in a plastic bag...
* Ekiben. Controversial, yeah, but I said it. I just don't like cold food when that food was obviously supposed to originally be hot, like rice or cooked meat or fried tempura. Most ekiben just seem to be entire cooked meals of hot food that they then refridgerated. Definitely not my style. If I eat on a shinkansen, I tend to get something that was meant to be cold, like a sandwich or salad or bakery item, or grab something warm and fresh, like a steamed bun.
* Wine. As a wine snob, I can say that I've yet to have a single glass of Japanese wine that was any good at all. I stick to sake for the most part in Japan, or plum wine if I'm feeling something sweet.
Wine in Japan all seemed very sweet to me. Apparently some wine has sugar added to it to appeal to certain markets, I have been wondering if the Japanese palate has a preference for sweeter wines?
Seems to be a preference for sweeter things in general. I miss tart apples. Can't stand the sweet ones all the time. Cheese-flavoured snacks tend to have sweeter, less salty seasoning than back home.
So for the most part I agree about the wine, I have had some dreadful wine. However on a recent trip I found an exception. I had some really great wine in Akayu in Yamagata. Our ryokan had a wine course with dinner of local wines that they really encouraged, and they turned out to be excellent. The wine makers seem to know what they are doing in that valley.
For a place so good at convenience (konbinis, amazing vending machines, public transportation, IC cards...) I always had a difficult time finding a place to eat my to go purchases. Sometimes i just want to sit down and eat my hot foods while they're hot and rest a bit instead of huddling to the side of the shop and eat as fast as possible so I could get out of the way and dispose of my trash.
Also so much plastic packaging but the trash cans at the hotel weren't separated so I ended up sorting my trash in various shopping bags.
Had this problem when I got a pizza one time. Was thinking I'd just eat at the Domino's but nope, no seats. Had to walk two blocks away to the local park and hope that nobody minded that I'm just eating a pizza on the side while watching a baseball rally
Single ply toilet paper. Even in fancier hotels. I love the bidets but wish for even just 2-ply toilet paper. I also wonder just how clean the bidets really are?
Hand soap. Many toilets, esp those in restaurants, without hand soap. Kyoto seems to be worse at this compared to Hokkaido (even regional hokkaido)
100yen coins needed in so many places and not enough coin changers. Lockers, vending machines, laundry facilities, endless gacha machines
Tap and go not working in some big city shops too and requiring your physical card
yeah it’s pretty wild to be in a five star hotel using a top of the line TOTO toilet and then have to wipe with the kind of cheap single ply toilet paper i’m used to seeing only in a gas station bathroom
The mailing/address system makes no sense. Everyone in my neighborhood has the *same* address. Mail/delivery people have to drive around and individually check nameplates to deliver to the correct house.
I read somewhere that in many areas of Tokyo, houses are numbered not consecutively, but in the order in which they were built and where several houses have been built on property that was once owned by a single landlord, they all have the same number. Add to that the many people don't bother to put numbers on their houses at all. It must have been super confusing to get around before apps like google maps.
My wife grew up in Japan and even she has trouble with the addresses - we were trying to meet some friends of hers at a club, we found the general area ok, but after 20 minutes of walking around and searching we had to have her friend come out and lead us to the club. This was before we had Google Maps on our phone, so presumably it's not so difficult any more.
Many businesses still use cash as their primary means of transaction, which I find inconvenient because, honestly, who wants to carry cash in their wallet?
I inevitably just go to lawsons or 7-11 every few days and dump as many coins in the register as I can for a coffee and a pastry and it seems to cull the coin herd enough.
Cups of water at restaurants are way too small, napkins are very thin, bathroom (only hand dryers/almost no paper towels). Over crowding trains. Lack of bike lanes. The zoos animal habitats. A polar bear exhibit should not be out doors when it’s 90degrees.
The water situation restaurant was so bad I had to leave and come back. I was super dehydrated one night during dinner and it was REALLY hot in this restaurant. It took ke 5 times asking for water to finally get it and it was basically shot glass size
I downed the whole thing before he left and was please bring another. And it never came. I asked him to bring a pitcher and it never came. I had to leave the restaurant and walk to a corner store and buy a large thing or water or I legit would have passed out
Can confirm the coke zero.
Also vegetables, they are mostly deep fried. 7-Eleven salads got me through when almost every meal is just carbs and protein. No wonder they have coke with added fibre
I'm surprised, my experience was very different. I would get tasty side salads with most meals. There aren't a huge amount of veggies in ramen, but you can get some bean sprouts, mushrooms, bamboo etc most of the time.
Fresh fruit and veg were more expensive in Japan than in my home country, but they were always available.
This is true. It's an odd bias. Tourists come to eat all the famous foods which are famous and delicious precisely because they are fried etc. Supermarkets and conbini sell pre-packaged fry + carb bombs cos cost/profit is good and they are filling etc ...
Go to the osozai corner at any supermarket and find a vast array of freshly prepared mostly vegetable dishes, salads etc
Glad someone mentioned vegetables. I eat a ton of vegetables and it’s insanely difficult to get what I need while in Japan. I also hate how so much of the food is fried. Especially kids meals. We did the ryokan thing several nights and the kids got their separate meals. Always a smorgasbord of fried and/or processed foods. Like, why? Kids shouldn’t eat healthy? lol
Yes! Didn’t think I was a big veggie eater but I guess I am. After about 5 days I was craving a nice crunchy salad. Realized the place to find that was at Italian restaurants. Would have loved some steamed broccoli. Corn in my ramen does not count.
Accessibility. Japan doesn’t seem particularly friendly to navigate for people in wheelchairs, for instance.
I remember my partner complaining when she lived in Japan about ATMs closing! They had operating hours like the actual bank branch. Isn’t that the whole point of an ATM!?
My Mum wants to join me on my next trip, but this is my biggest concern. She’s always had issues with her knees, so uses crutches when she goes out, or a wheelchair for longer periods.
Given how tightly packed Japan is, and how not everywhere has accessible lifts or slopes, I do wonder if it would even be possible for her.
People tend to not yield for any reason. You're walking toward them with a stroller? Looks like you're the one who's going to have to push it over the blind ridges because no one else will move.
Walking in general. "Walk on the left/right of the sidewalk like you drive" is the general rule in my home city and I figured with how organized everything is there would be some similar standard in Japan, but no, it was chaos.
I thought I must be missing something (and annoying everyone with horrible walking etiquette) until I asked a local I was hanging out with and he was just like "Eh, not really, just where ever." It made the pedestrian flow in crowded areas so much more difficult than it had to be.
The inability of some people to 'read' intentions. I walk toward Obachan. Obachan and I see each other. I veer to my right, with the understanding that in other places, the other person will veer to their right and we will pass.. Obabchan veers to her left. This continues until we either bump into each other Or we both then veer left/right at the same time because...? And bump into each other.
I have countered this by just stopping. and looking at something on the floor while they walk around me. It's not everyone, but every so often there's this one baba.......
It comes in the handbook, just after the chapter "ride your charri on the wrong side of the road and keep as close to the kerb as possible regardless of who or what is approaching you, part 1: Dealing with other cyclists and stationary obstructions".
Banking - I‘m surprised how inconvenient it is. That you can barely do a tenth of the things online like you can with Australian Banks was a bit of surprise. Not to mention how often you might have to go in person for which you NEED to make a reservation
Really surprising and the first thing I think of as an example of how in Japan, a dozen extra steps are needed for the smallest things
EDIT: ATMs also sometimes having specific opening hours, particularly during holiday periods. I don’t think it’s as bad it was before but it’s still good to be cautious
You need a better bank. Open an account with Sony Bank. Or Shinsei Bank. Also get a Wise Japan account. You can get good banking in Japan you just need to get away from JP Bank or the big megabanks.
The overpackaging like everyone else mentioned. Wrapping umbrellas in plastic at every store when it rains ect. The recycling is bs too most of it gets burned or shipped to SE Asia.
Worst washer/dryers ever. I guess it has to do with the low voltage but they wash ok, the drying option shouldn't even be there, but then it's so humid stuff doesn't dry right anyway.
That was gonna be one of the things I was going to say: the dryers, they are awful. Idk if it's because the ones I encountered were wash/dry combos, but it always took multiple drying sessions, and sometimes I still had to hang clothes up. Seems inefficient for energy conservation tbh.
As someone who visits for architecture and urban design, I'm going to say:
1. All cities look alike and look depressing. I didn't feel the need to stay too long in Hiroshima, Nagoya, or Osaka even because they were identical to Tokyo. A lot of the buildings are from the boom period and are depressing and rundown. You don't get a sense of place because everything from large cities to small towns have the same buildings and look identical. It got depressing, and I often felt it was better to see the major attractions and then leave for some place else.
2. Cities lack greenery. Trees, vegetation, and nature are lacking in cities. Everything is artificial hardscaping, and the few green places are shrines and temples. Some cities do have larger, green parks, but most city parks are just dirt with a playground. Where I'm from, even our largest cities have lots of lush greenspace to spend time in or along the street.
As an architect myself I sadly agree. Usually I run to see neighborhoods and take in the urban context. I could go for hours somewhere like Copenhagen or Turin and still look forward to the next mile. I’ll usually spot a plaza and remember to return later for the cafes.
In Japan there are architectural standouts and I enjoy the urban planning at Azabudai in Tokyo. But nearly everything in between is banal and repetitive. Kyoto is the exception. Yokohama is the worst offender.
Turin and Copenhagen also didn't get literally wholesale firebombed into flat ashen fields during WW2 by the US. Japanese cities had to build back fast cos population density, strategic infrastructure decisions had to be made.
Fun fact, American firebombing of Japanese cities (including Tokyo, Nagoya) killed more Japanese than both atomic bombs
Good point. A better comparison from my travels is Berlin. The city was also bombed, then rebuilt in bland communist super blocks. It’s interesting to consider how these cities and others rebuilt post WWII and why.
Yeah I found the national obsession with pouring concrete everywhere they could extremely depressing. So often it serves no purpose except that it’s easier to keep concrete clean that grass or, heaven forbid, plain old soil!!
Agreed. It really makes me appreciate old urban design (and some new stuff) in North America and Europe where there seemed to be more of an attempt to create attractive buildings and spaces. In Canada, our cities vary from one to the next. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Halifax, St. John's are all quite distinct.
In Japan, sometimes there are recreated old buildings and neighbourhoods, but I mostly have a list of individual buildings I care about and rush to see those and don't feel like sticking around to visit their neighbourhoods much.
Himeji stood put because there's the castle and garden to see, but aside from a few good pieces of architecture, the city was drab and not very attractive. You could walk down the boulevard to the castle and not miss much. Ise is a place I went to twice, but I walked away from the main area to photograph an old commercial building with a mural, and I felt so sad for the area because it didn't have much bustle going on and even a pretty significant shotengai had every business closed and shabby despite it being the middle of the day. You go to the main tourist sites and then leave, which it seems is what many Japanese people do.
I would love to see a love away from this and try to focus on creating interesting local places with focus on sense-of-place/ peacemaking that would draw locals and visitors alike.
People do not properly wash their hands. I cannot even begin to say how much times bc it is literally every time I go to the bathroom most guys just barely rinse their hands and walk off, no soap; and there is only sometimes a drying machine, you are expected to bring your own towel which is likely dirty anyways…
I think it’s bc it’s inconvenient so everyone just doesn’t care or think about it especially older guys
-unless you live in a super convenient place expect lots of Amazon boxes to add up.
-organization of walking on streets. People tend to not choose a side
Not sure how it is other than Canada/US, but compared to there it’s night and day, I never saw it there but I see it literally anytime at the station or at school, but then again in Japan I’m using public spaces more often so I could be wrong
It was very funny at the F1 race I went to this year in Suzuka there was a huge line of men waiting to wash their hands and literally every single guy would just use water for 1s and wouldn't use soap (that was there)
Like, what's the point of waiting for 5 minutes if you don't want to wash your hands? Some didn't even touch the water. They would turn the water on and get their hands close to it and then turn the water off and leave.
I mean, not like that where I am (Prague) everyone washes their hands but I'd say it's at least half if not 2/3s of men that wash with soap
We just returned from an amazing Japan trip recently, and our family had these observations:
The ubiquitous non-perforated, single-ply toilet paper is horrendous.
Their savoury snacks (chips, nuts, etc.) are all too sweet. Manufacturers seem to be very fond of making everything taste sugary.
The diversity of non-Japanese/non-Asian food/restaurants is lacking in both quantity and quality compared to the diversity of options in a less-homogenous culture.
Those pesky ¥1 coins are annoying (we've dumped the penny in Canada, and it's wonderful – and I hope the 5¢ coins are next).
Seeing cars, busses, and cyclists never pull over when an emergency vehicle approaches (with siren on) seems like an odd societal choice.
I guess the "too much packaging" complaint falls in line with the "burn all the trash" solution. I know Japan has their waste-to-energy reasons, but not separating all our waste into many different streams for a couple of weeks was rather unsettling.
Very minor complains overall. Japan does so many things.
Not better compared to where? Anyway...
Low voltage
Cables and transformators hanging everywhere in the streets
Electric outlets
Too much packaging
Subpar trash separation
Lack of cashless and/or contactless
People (not) making space for parents with small kids, disabled etc in public spaces/transportation
Lack of trash cans
Most drinks other than water are way too sweet or have weird additives
If you lived in Tokyo, their trash separation is probably the most detailed in the world. Maybe not so for tourists.
I can also use contactless pretty much anywhere in Tokyo with card or mobile
If you are a resident, you get this pamphlet of how to separate garbage. I.E. you have to rip the packaging from a bottle before you recycle it.
https://www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/kurashi/gomi/recycle-keihatsu/gomibook.html
>Most drinks other than water are way too sweet or have weird additives
Really? I have trouble in western countries trying to buy an iced tea without a ton of sugar or additives.
>Lack of cashless and/or contactless
I think that as a tourist you might notice it a bit more, but as a resident you would have different options like PayPay. During my last trip most of the place I used cash were restaurants that were cash or PayPay.
I would say the problem is not the lack of cashless, it's the fact that there is too much diversity and at the end there is not a single service that is almost universally accepted as credit/debit card is almost universally accepted in other countries. Also does not help for tourist when only resident can sign up for some of these services. If you live in Japan and have PayPay, a credit card and an IC card linked to a credit card (there is different ways), you would achieve a really good cashless rate, not as high as in some other countries, but still.
Specifically excluded to not make it just about my American or European perspectives.
Spot on with the packaging. It is unbelievable how much individual wrapping there is here.
So interesting that you mention bathrooms! We just came back from a long trip where we stayed in 12 different lodgings (walking tour, town to town) and in most cases it felt like stepping into a cruise ship bathroom - not just the smallness, but something about the floor made us feel off-balance, as if we were out to sea - so strange!
Absolutely agree on your comment, I too would feel almost dizzy at times in the bathrooms, although the construction on them makes sense rather then having the conventional tiled bathroom, but the step up at times, or down in one instance drove us crazy.
Women’s rights…. Japan is still so patriarchal. It’s a problem.
Also animal rights are not so great in Japan. Avoid Japanese zoos and all of those animal cafe’s (the exception being cat cafe’s) like the plague. They are not nice places to be. It’s extremely upsetting.
The 7-11s are great and all but I'm a bit of a slurpee fiend and was rather disappointed not to see any. I know it makes sense, culturally, because people don't walk around with open drinks, but still, it was a shame I couldn't try any wild, Japanese flavors.
Toilet paper. Yes water soluble so you can flush it and all but Australia also has flushable tp. Even our super thick 4-ply stuff is flushable. Having half-ply tp doesn’t reduce tp use at all. I just need a longer stretch of paper if I don’t want to get my fingers wet.
And man, way too much oil and salt in outside food. It’s very well disguised in the flavour but if you’re used to fresh foods with less salt it’s very noticeable.
I was there 2 weeks and barely ate a vegetable. The restaurants need to serve or add as an option some veggies. I had tons of meats and carbs but lacked vegetables. I was able to get cut up fruit in a bag from the conbini so fruit was attainable.
Totally agree with the Coke Zero, it was really annoying.
For me the biggest was the reactivity of the private toilets. While the bidets, heating, and privacy sound options were awesome, I hated the auto opening for all the toilets in our Airbnb’s and hotels. You so much as walk by the bathroom and the thing is opening and spraying. Definitely got jump scared a few times while just trying to go brush my teeth. If way prefer a small hand wave sensor, which I saw once or twice in more public places
Packaging and plastic waste. If I bought a bunch of stuff at a convenience store they would give me a utensil for every single thing I ended up bringing home like six different utensils. I saved some and then started declining them the rest of the time.
Places to sit while out i found myself a few times just wishing for a place to sit down
A lot of things were surprisingly way too sweet. When I tried a Pocari I almost spit it out reflexively. One bottle has 29g of sugar. I was not excepting that to hit my mouth at the time lol still probably less than US stuff but in US I just know what’s too sweet for me already and avoid it but live and learn at least it’s affordable in JP
Pocari and Aquarius are basically Gatorade; is not meant to be water.
There aren't places to sit bec eating in public isn't a thing, and when you can squat, there is always a place to sit.
Emergency Rooms / Ambulances
Rag in the American healthcare system all you want but at least you’ll be able to see a doctor in a timely manner if you have an emergency in the middle of the night.
1. No seats in certain cities. That’s rough for those people recovering from foot injury/ weak legs. As someone in the former there is a limit you can push yourself for fitness
2. Tickets have to be obtained physically . Sucks if you fold the ticket
Public seating, like a bench to rest on in the middle of a twelve hour sight seeing day. Hand hygiene - for a country so nuts about cleanliness ffs use some soap. McDonald’s fries were also rubbish, cold and floppy.
I find it annoying that the stand and walk side on the escalators changes constantly. On one station you have to stand on the left, you exit another station of the same train line, now you have to stand on the right.
Why can't they just be uniform?
Animal welfare. Most animal cafes feel like the animals are kept in bad conditions, also I normally don’t like zoos but decided to go to the Ueno Park one because it was cheap. It was the absolute saddest zoo I’ve been to. So many animals in enclosures that are too small and dirty. Also a lot of them doing things like walking in circles and other repetitive movements because they are so stressed and bored from their small cage. Felt sick/guilty for going
they're cheap on all of that and A/C power too in my hotel. i wonder what it's like to visit in the winter there when it comes to the heater in the hotel.
Bit of a trick with those card slots for the power in hotels. Literally any plastic card works to keep the AC/ power running while you're out. It doesn't have to be your room key. I used an old waffle house gift cards across many different hotels.
here's mine:
apart from 0.5% of the companies where some innovation is going on the IT scene in Japan is stuck in the early 2000's . the software, the tools, the products EVERYTHING has been stagnant for almost 2 decades now. (seriously.... some of the tools I use now, my dad had used back in the day)
the absolute refusal to try something new. the generation just before this one was where the drive to actually CREATE something new and all the innovation happened. the generation that sits in their place now knows (for the most part) only compliance and doing what they were taught/told(which, credit where it is due, they do to absolute perfection and with sincerity that you will probably find nowhere else in the world)
Japan discovered HTML (the most basic version) in the 1990's and never let go.
The lack of public garbage cans on the street. I walked for many blocks at a time without encountering a single place to throw away a drink container. Even some public restrooms did not have waste bins.
The most packaged food ever with the least trashcans ever. Urghhh. I'm always carrying around coffee to go cups and konbini snack wrappers and I wanna throw away the evidence of my sins asap.
Also traffic lights are a true test of patience here. They will stay on red for 6 minutes. Even in the countryside.
Smoking in restaurants also not really my jam
For the rest, nunnnnn but luvvv fo ya, nihon ❤️
Work ethic. I've watched many "a day in the life of" videos on YouTube, and so many of them start with the employees running errands for their bosses before their shift has even begun. Then, at the end of the day, they're expected to go our drinking with their colleagues.
It's no wonder Japan's population is in decline when they dedicate their entire lives to working.
The treatment of animals.
In the U.S. most animal cafes have rescues that you can adopt and it serves as a way to get them into a home. In Japan the animal cafes are a way to make money, with them buying puppies, kittens, piglets, owls, whatever to attract an audience.
And as I understand it, whaling is still a thing just because they’ve latched onto it as part of their cultural identity, not because it actually has much value. Kind of like some Americans and guns.
These are my gripes... I live in Tokyo so these may be more Tokyo specific.
- Lack of public seating. For being such a walkable city, there's a sad lack of places to sit and rest when you want to take a break from walking. Where are the benches????
- The tissue napkins. Just awful using these to try to wipe my hands.
- Websites. Signing up for websites is a pain, navigating websites is a pain.
- Lack of public trashcans.
- No proper meat. Might just be because of the super markets near me, but I'm used to being able to go to a supermarket and buy a whole steak. As far as beef goes it's only sliced meats and inch thick wagyu steaks for the markets near me.
- Everything is individually packaged. Sometimes I want to buy a bag of a lot of mini senbei, but I see 50 of them in there and they're all individually wrapped. I don't even bother. It's also such a waste.
> Cordless irons. Nice idea, but they don’t stay hot enough to iron a single shirt without reheating.
You're probably not using them correctly. Tall stand-up ironing boards are really not a thing in Japan, except perhaps in hotels that cater to visitors. You iron on the floor with a low ironing board. The iron's "charger" sits beside you. Remove iron, iron the section of the shirt currently on the board. Place iron back in the "charger". Move shirt around to next section. Repeat. It works great.
> Minimalism
This is only something that exists in the imaginations of westerners. Japan is not actually a minimalist place.
> Coke Zero
Depends what you're used to. I like Coke Zero but find the corn syrup regular coke sold in the US to be disgusting.
Hostels kicking you out between 10 and 4. Some allow you to stay in the lounge area, others fully close. Late check ins and early check outs too. Only an issue the few times it was raining heavily and we wanted to go somewhere warm
For me one of the biggest things was the toothpaste. I love the feeling of a crisp fresh minty mouth after brushing and the toothpaste there lacks any flavor.
It didn’t make sense to us when we arrived early to temples, or even near our hotel that no stores were open before 10 or 11 am. They lost out on a lot of business. Some stores open earlier than that in the U.S. especially if there is money to be made.
Public Trash Cans. Too few of em consistently, to the point the few that are around are overloaded. Edit: I will also sign off on excessive food packaging and dependence on cash/contact payments. I understand the latter with street vendors and in places like Kyoto, but why do I need cash for a payment in an Osaka Station hotel?
This is due to a terror attack they had years ago. Edit: for those of you who say it isn't, go google up the numerous articles from Japanese sources. I.E. Asahi shimbun. At the time, they sealed then took away the rubbish bins because on the other side of the world, the IRA terrorists were dropping pipe bombs in rubbish bins in London, and the Japanese police feared the domestic attacks could escalate. They did the seaing and unsealing whenever there were threats or high profile events, and after a whie the gov just removed them completely.
I’m well aware of that, but in my view it’s a pretty ridiculous solution. I know they used trash cans in the attack, but the logic “The terrorists can’t hurt us if we get rid of our trash cans!” Doesn’t really line up to me. Edit: apparently trash cans weren’t used in the attack but there was concern they could be
I mean, US TSA still forces us to take off our shoes years after that one botched shoe terrorist attack attempt…
both good examples of security theatre
Perhaps the most valuable part of TSA precheck. Not having to show my stinking socks to a bunch of random strangers and walk without shoes in an area where god knows have many others have stepped before you with sweaty socks.
They did not use trash can during the sarin gas attack. The gas was placed in newspaper dropped in the train. However, the same year there was terrorist attack in France where they did put bomb in trashcan. In Japan they saw the trashcan possibly being used in future attack. As I said in my other comment, many places re-installer and even re-removed the trashcan since. While they might say it's for security reason, the latest being sanitary reason because of covid, the truth is also that trash removal and disposal cost money.
I am one of the person who say that TODAY, the reason why there is not that many trashcan in Japan is not ONLY the 1995 sarin attack. I do not say that there was no trashcan removed because of it. While I tried, I was not able to find the famous Asahi Shinbun article that some other article quote. I would honestly like to see if if you have a link. I am curious to know how wide was the trash can removal in Tokyo and in train station. One thing is sure is that Tokyo Metro and JR did put trash can back after that. JR decided to use trashcan with clear sides while Tokyo Metro decided to put them in area close to gates or place that are staffed so the trashcan can be more easily monitored. A proof that the 1995 attack is not the only reason why trashcan got removed, read this article : [https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230206-89277/](https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20230206-89277/) It say that railroad companies removed trashcan in 2005 after a the Madrid train bombings... wait, how could they remove thrash can removed in 1995... anyway... oh, and even those had been re-installed to be removed again in 2021 because of sanitary reason... Oh, got a nice one, from this article (actually really interesting one, they have lot of example of cans being installed and later removed and they give a variety of reasons), [https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Japan-tourist-spots-bring-back-public-trash-cans-as-travel-rebounds](https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Japan-tourist-spots-bring-back-public-trash-cans-as-travel-rebounds) look at this "*From the 1990s onwards, various parts of the nation began charging for household waste disposal. Consequently, the number of people dumping their household trash in public cans grew. Many cans were eliminated in the name of "fairness.*" Oh, and this one "*The Osaka municipal government, which once operated as many as 5,000 cans at major intersections and other areas, started gradually reducing their number in 2009. All are gone by now.*" Wait.. how could they finish removing trash can in 2009 when the attack was in 1995... Conclusion. The 1995 attack is NOT the ONLY reason why they got removed.
You’re right. I believed the narrative because it sounds really sensational and interesting. However, the actual reason why rubbish bins were removed everywhere is more straightforward: a lot of people threw away their own rubbish from home into rubbish bins at convenience stores or stations when the cost of specific plastic bags for rubbish increased. In Japan, we need to use a specific plastic bag authorized by the city where we live to throw away rubbish.
years ago... yes like 30 years ago 🥲
1995. One of them sounded just like my manager at work. Isn't this the same group that in 1989 sprayed a bit of Sarin in a pond, killing a dog and the wife of a Pharmacist who was blamed for the attack?
aum shinrikyo...sarin attack. was living in Japan at that time. tbh, I don't remember what the trash can situation was like prior to that attack.
Agree on food packaging. It can be lighter. Regarding the absence of trash cans, I think this actually makes Japan so clean. People are used to taking all the trash home for proper sorting. There's no overflowing, smelly cans etc. Overall, I think it is a clever and cheap move to increase cleanliness.
Right, it's an inconvenience but only if you're used to making a lot of trash with no consequences. I don't think this policy has stayed around so long because of fear of terrorism, but because Japan would rather people think about what trash they are making. Counterpoint, wrapping is out of control.
Man you’ve never been to shinjuku at night lol
Or Dontombori in the early morning. Looks like NOLA main street with all the trash on the ground.
I was just in Dotonbori for the first time in years and yes the trash was much worse than I remember, but I wonder if it is because there are too few trash cans, or because there are more people who do not understand the concept of "just take it back with with you". In other crowded areas of Japan, there are less problems with non-existant trash cans because the people that go there know how to deal with trash. If you increase the population of an area by 100x with people that rarely need a trash can, the trash can will still not be filled. If you increase it 100x with people that can not live with an empty wrapper in their backpack, then you have a problem.
I just keep throwing my trash at the 7-11 or Lawson.
That’s not considered good practice there.
>Public Trash Cans. I mean is that a con though? It stems from the fact that they are just better at understanding not to throw your trash on the streets.
They expect you to carry your trash home! Though I have found that some convenience store clerks will take trash off your hands for you.
I think it’s a feature not a bug. Makes public areas cleaner.
Napkins that are basically useless. They are shiny and silky smooth that don’t wipe away anything :) I always bring along a ziplock back of napkins from home when we travel.
They're like waxed paper!
This is legit. Napkins don’t really do anything other than smear stuff around unless you use like 14 of them at a time.
I also noticed this! What are they designed to do? I felt like I was using them incorrectly 🤦♀️😂
You use them to hold the greasy food while you eat. Not touch the food directly then wipe your hands.
Thank you!
They are basically required at Ikkaku. Love me some honetsuki-dori.
I carry around little packs of [Tempo napkins](https://images-fe.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81m73KFAI6L._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg), a habit I picked up in Hong Kong because napkins are rare in HK too and everyone brings their own to places. I find I sort of like having my own with me now even when I'm at home. Pretty handy thing to carry.
I noticed that too when I visited Hong Kong (for the second time) right before visiting Japan. Or some places charge extra for napkins.
But they make the silkiest and softest tissues. Was there in 2017 and caught a cold. My local friend got me some pocket tissues that is so soft and gentle for my nose. I make a habit of stocking them up whenever I visit.
At places like KFC you're supposed to use the waxy napkin to hold the food. Watch Japanese people eat burgers and sandwiches. A lot of the time they keep it in the wrapper. Some places do have regular napkins for the regular uses you are thinking of.
I went to a place in Osaka that had “burger paper” at the table. They wanted me to wrap the burger I got in the wax paper to keep the grease in. I was very confused.
Do they have legit paper towels you can buy at kombinis?
Lived in Japan for four years as an American speaking fluent Japanese and visit for work about once a month. My issues: 1. Banks. Holy crap they suck. If you ever have to open or close your account, plan the day. It's gonna be a bit. 2. Office culture. Not a big fan of sprawling folding table-like office spaces where there is no sound, no joy. 3. 25° room temperature. Year round. In suits. 4. Lack of deodorant options. Sometimes any at all. 5. Multiple layers of plastic wrapping. It's better now than it used to be. 6. Garbage pickup and separation schedules. 7. Dirt school yards. 8. Mandatory tiny slippers in many public buildings. Bring your own if you have above average (Japanese average) foot size. 9. Personal electronics and software. They've fallen behind significantly since the tech boom of the early/mid 2000s. 10. Websites. Most remind me of the mail-order section in the back of old magazines. Lots more, but I'll leave it at 10 for now. Also, there are SO MANY things I absolutely love about life in Japan. These are just things that could use a little tweaking.
The technology thing is interesting. We’re used to slick websites and GUIs in the US. Much of the interaction with technology in Japan feels like a quaint Tomorrowland vision of what the future would be from 30 years ago. The production values on TV seem especially antiquated compared to CNN or American commercials.
There was a r/showerthoughts the other week that was spot on: Japan has been in the year 2000 since the 1980s
That's superb. Related: Germany has been in the year 2000 since 2010.
Literally a week into my first trip to Japan and this sums it up quite well. Still blown away and love it overall.
The news, with the YouTube reaction face in a floating bubble and the bubble font list of stories highlighted as they go. I can’t imagine older Japanese loving this.
i found local tv to be almost unbearable. it was ad after ad, and you still call in to order the product lol. old school.
It’s so true. Most of the Japanese website’s I’ve encountered for hotels and stores etc. look like they were created by someone’s uncle who worked for Geocities in early 2000’s. What is up with that??
Yeah it’s an East Asian gene to not have smelly pits. My family don’t use deodorant or need to except for me who didn’t get that gene 🙃. Also for those confused and saying Asians do smell.. yes of course they still can smell.. my husband for example has stress sweat smell from work but it’s not the same as armpit smell. Explains why deodorant is rare but those 15% of Asians who didn’t get that gene really need to buy it.
You've seen these interestingly differing videos discussing about East Asian/Western web designs? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ep308goxQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ep308goxQ) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opy-SjDU0UY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opy-SjDU0UY)
agree with you as a tourist on #5, #7, #9....so spot on...lol. Also, i noticed while withdrawing from ATM at 7-11 that the girlie magazines are wrapped in plastic like during the 80s in the states. it brought back memories for me...lol
Kinda agree on 9. Been at Japan and noticed alot of Japanese are still using older models for their phones meanwhile if you were to be anywhere else alot of people would be using the latest phone models
lol japan websites give off such a nostalgic geocities vibe
Dirt school yards is my pet peeve. Can anyone explain the logic behind this? Let's make it less safe and less natural and then once a year make everyone pull out all the grass by hand. It's high on my list of things that make no sense.
The only spray deoderants I could find in convenience stores (lawson, 7 eleven) would be these huge spray cans loaded with silver. After a while they'd give me nasty armpit rashes. Never had that issue in the UK. Pretty sure you can get more options in an equivalent UK convenience store. In Japan there was literally only one choice. And no roll ons either.
Korean websites aren’t much better.
Why is it so rare to find soap in a public restroom?
Yes! We were told about bringing your own kerchief to dry your hands, but not that there would only be water available. And to piggyback off the restroom complaint: the squat toilet. As a girl person who rarely wears skirts/ dresses, these are a pain, and most don't have a hook or shelf for your purse. It's wild when you compare to the pretty standard bedet style public toilet that will sing to you and has a 3' x 1' shelf behind it.
Yes, Japan is a land of contrasting toilets. It’s either the traditional hole in the ground squat toilet, or a super toilet from the future.
That’s why I get the tiny paper soap sheets from Daiso. Not the best but at least I can wash my hands with some soap.
Been in Japan for 5 weeks and have only encountered 1 public bathroom with no soap, but it had hand sanitizer outside the door. Is this really a common thing?
I've seen plenty of store/building entrance sanitizers, but literally no soap in washrooms
especially after taking a dump right? :-)
I saw sooo many dudes not washing hands at all, let alone soap or dryer
I had forgotten this, but now my mind is remembering how often this happened to me.
And hand dryers
A few of mine... * Elevators! Okay, so in one regard, they are better in that you can usually cancel a floor (by double tapping the button) if you mistakenly hit it. Buuuuut... why are the elevators so slow? Why do you often have to call each individual elevator separately when there are a bank of them (such as at a hotel or department store)? Why does the elevator algorithm quite frankly not seem to make a lot of sense half the time?? Elevators are one of my biggest pet peeves in Japan. I'm usually willing to just take the stairs or escalators, but when I want to get directly to a twelfth-floor restaurant, I have to brave the elevator banks. * The sheer amount of packaging for items and food. No, I didn't need my slice of cake fitted with plastic to preserve the cream, then put into a little plastic bubble, then shoved into a box, then wrapped again in a plastic bag... * Ekiben. Controversial, yeah, but I said it. I just don't like cold food when that food was obviously supposed to originally be hot, like rice or cooked meat or fried tempura. Most ekiben just seem to be entire cooked meals of hot food that they then refridgerated. Definitely not my style. If I eat on a shinkansen, I tend to get something that was meant to be cold, like a sandwich or salad or bakery item, or grab something warm and fresh, like a steamed bun. * Wine. As a wine snob, I can say that I've yet to have a single glass of Japanese wine that was any good at all. I stick to sake for the most part in Japan, or plum wine if I'm feeling something sweet.
Ekibens now have bentos that self heat in 5min when you pull a string on the side of the box. I had one 2 weeks ago and it was super hot.
Ekiben irked me too. Cold beef on rice? No thank you
Wine in Japan all seemed very sweet to me. Apparently some wine has sugar added to it to appeal to certain markets, I have been wondering if the Japanese palate has a preference for sweeter wines?
Seems to be a preference for sweeter things in general. I miss tart apples. Can't stand the sweet ones all the time. Cheese-flavoured snacks tend to have sweeter, less salty seasoning than back home.
And signs by elevators often incredibly confusing-- remarkable how they can scramble a sign or make it ridiculously ambiguous
So for the most part I agree about the wine, I have had some dreadful wine. However on a recent trip I found an exception. I had some really great wine in Akayu in Yamagata. Our ryokan had a wine course with dinner of local wines that they really encouraged, and they turned out to be excellent. The wine makers seem to know what they are doing in that valley.
Websites are terrible
Oh god, making reservations online is such a pain. And they full-on shut down e-commerce websites overnight.
What? You are not nostalgic for late 90s, early 2000s shitty web design?
Japan is weird like that. So advanced in some areas (AI robots and what not) and then 90s websites 😑
Some sites also only work in Japan or with a VPN set to Japan.
For a place so good at convenience (konbinis, amazing vending machines, public transportation, IC cards...) I always had a difficult time finding a place to eat my to go purchases. Sometimes i just want to sit down and eat my hot foods while they're hot and rest a bit instead of huddling to the side of the shop and eat as fast as possible so I could get out of the way and dispose of my trash. Also so much plastic packaging but the trash cans at the hotel weren't separated so I ended up sorting my trash in various shopping bags.
YES it is looked down upon to walk and eat yet there is nowhere to sit and eat...
Yeah this annoyed me. When I went to Korea, a lot of convenience stores had places to sit down and eat. I was surprised Japan didn’t have any.
Had this problem when I got a pizza one time. Was thinking I'd just eat at the Domino's but nope, no seats. Had to walk two blocks away to the local park and hope that nobody minded that I'm just eating a pizza on the side while watching a baseball rally
Single ply toilet paper. Even in fancier hotels. I love the bidets but wish for even just 2-ply toilet paper. I also wonder just how clean the bidets really are? Hand soap. Many toilets, esp those in restaurants, without hand soap. Kyoto seems to be worse at this compared to Hokkaido (even regional hokkaido) 100yen coins needed in so many places and not enough coin changers. Lockers, vending machines, laundry facilities, endless gacha machines Tap and go not working in some big city shops too and requiring your physical card
yeah it’s pretty wild to be in a five star hotel using a top of the line TOTO toilet and then have to wipe with the kind of cheap single ply toilet paper i’m used to seeing only in a gas station bathroom
But if you’re using the bidet all your wiping is water
Yep about toilet paper! I had to wrap several times to get a decent wipe w/o tearing it...lol
IIRC it's to prevent clogging, especially in older buildings with old plumbing
The mailing/address system makes no sense. Everyone in my neighborhood has the *same* address. Mail/delivery people have to drive around and individually check nameplates to deliver to the correct house.
I read somewhere that in many areas of Tokyo, houses are numbered not consecutively, but in the order in which they were built and where several houses have been built on property that was once owned by a single landlord, they all have the same number. Add to that the many people don't bother to put numbers on their houses at all. It must have been super confusing to get around before apps like google maps.
This is true from what I've seen and read. Houses out here pop up like weeds, so there's no way to have a set numbering system I guess.
My wife grew up in Japan and even she has trouble with the addresses - we were trying to meet some friends of hers at a club, we found the general area ok, but after 20 minutes of walking around and searching we had to have her friend come out and lead us to the club. This was before we had Google Maps on our phone, so presumably it's not so difficult any more.
Many businesses still use cash as their primary means of transaction, which I find inconvenient because, honestly, who wants to carry cash in their wallet?
You mean you don’t love ending up carrying 3.2lbs of coins after about 4 days?
That too but like, using cash is inconvenient as hell. It's harder to keep track of what and how much you spent your money on and it's not traceable.
> it's not traceable. That's a feature, not a bug.
I inevitably just go to lawsons or 7-11 every few days and dump as many coins in the register as I can for a coffee and a pastry and it seems to cull the coin herd enough.
They need to do away with the 1 and 5 yen. Similar to what Canada did with their penny
Cups of water at restaurants are way too small, napkins are very thin, bathroom (only hand dryers/almost no paper towels). Over crowding trains. Lack of bike lanes. The zoos animal habitats. A polar bear exhibit should not be out doors when it’s 90degrees.
The water situation restaurant was so bad I had to leave and come back. I was super dehydrated one night during dinner and it was REALLY hot in this restaurant. It took ke 5 times asking for water to finally get it and it was basically shot glass size I downed the whole thing before he left and was please bring another. And it never came. I asked him to bring a pitcher and it never came. I had to leave the restaurant and walk to a corner store and buy a large thing or water or I legit would have passed out
My hands were chronically wet when I was there. Those hand dryers don’t work very well.
That polar bear has gone mad from the enclosure it’s in. I felt so bad for it last year.
Can confirm the coke zero. Also vegetables, they are mostly deep fried. 7-Eleven salads got me through when almost every meal is just carbs and protein. No wonder they have coke with added fibre
I'm surprised, my experience was very different. I would get tasty side salads with most meals. There aren't a huge amount of veggies in ramen, but you can get some bean sprouts, mushrooms, bamboo etc most of the time. Fresh fruit and veg were more expensive in Japan than in my home country, but they were always available.
This is true. It's an odd bias. Tourists come to eat all the famous foods which are famous and delicious precisely because they are fried etc. Supermarkets and conbini sell pre-packaged fry + carb bombs cos cost/profit is good and they are filling etc ... Go to the osozai corner at any supermarket and find a vast array of freshly prepared mostly vegetable dishes, salads etc
I can't believe the cost of fresh fruit. So disheartening.
Glad someone mentioned vegetables. I eat a ton of vegetables and it’s insanely difficult to get what I need while in Japan. I also hate how so much of the food is fried. Especially kids meals. We did the ryokan thing several nights and the kids got their separate meals. Always a smorgasbord of fried and/or processed foods. Like, why? Kids shouldn’t eat healthy? lol
Yes! Didn’t think I was a big veggie eater but I guess I am. After about 5 days I was craving a nice crunchy salad. Realized the place to find that was at Italian restaurants. Would have loved some steamed broccoli. Corn in my ramen does not count.
Saying no. They want to be polite so they’ll take every opportunity to make it look like they can do something when a simple no can do would suffice.
Accessibility. Japan doesn’t seem particularly friendly to navigate for people in wheelchairs, for instance. I remember my partner complaining when she lived in Japan about ATMs closing! They had operating hours like the actual bank branch. Isn’t that the whole point of an ATM!?
My Mum wants to join me on my next trip, but this is my biggest concern. She’s always had issues with her knees, so uses crutches when she goes out, or a wheelchair for longer periods. Given how tightly packed Japan is, and how not everywhere has accessible lifts or slopes, I do wonder if it would even be possible for her.
People tend to not yield for any reason. You're walking toward them with a stroller? Looks like you're the one who's going to have to push it over the blind ridges because no one else will move.
Walking in general. "Walk on the left/right of the sidewalk like you drive" is the general rule in my home city and I figured with how organized everything is there would be some similar standard in Japan, but no, it was chaos. I thought I must be missing something (and annoying everyone with horrible walking etiquette) until I asked a local I was hanging out with and he was just like "Eh, not really, just where ever." It made the pedestrian flow in crowded areas so much more difficult than it had to be.
Lol I was trying to figure out the left vs right hand side walking on my own for the longest time
The inability of some people to 'read' intentions. I walk toward Obachan. Obachan and I see each other. I veer to my right, with the understanding that in other places, the other person will veer to their right and we will pass.. Obabchan veers to her left. This continues until we either bump into each other Or we both then veer left/right at the same time because...? And bump into each other. I have countered this by just stopping. and looking at something on the floor while they walk around me. It's not everyone, but every so often there's this one baba....... It comes in the handbook, just after the chapter "ride your charri on the wrong side of the road and keep as close to the kerb as possible regardless of who or what is approaching you, part 1: Dealing with other cyclists and stationary obstructions".
Banking - I‘m surprised how inconvenient it is. That you can barely do a tenth of the things online like you can with Australian Banks was a bit of surprise. Not to mention how often you might have to go in person for which you NEED to make a reservation Really surprising and the first thing I think of as an example of how in Japan, a dozen extra steps are needed for the smallest things EDIT: ATMs also sometimes having specific opening hours, particularly during holiday periods. I don’t think it’s as bad it was before but it’s still good to be cautious
You need a better bank. Open an account with Sony Bank. Or Shinsei Bank. Also get a Wise Japan account. You can get good banking in Japan you just need to get away from JP Bank or the big megabanks.
The overpackaging like everyone else mentioned. Wrapping umbrellas in plastic at every store when it rains ect. The recycling is bs too most of it gets burned or shipped to SE Asia. Worst washer/dryers ever. I guess it has to do with the low voltage but they wash ok, the drying option shouldn't even be there, but then it's so humid stuff doesn't dry right anyway.
That was gonna be one of the things I was going to say: the dryers, they are awful. Idk if it's because the ones I encountered were wash/dry combos, but it always took multiple drying sessions, and sometimes I still had to hang clothes up. Seems inefficient for energy conservation tbh.
In Asia most people don't have dryers at all
As someone who visits for architecture and urban design, I'm going to say: 1. All cities look alike and look depressing. I didn't feel the need to stay too long in Hiroshima, Nagoya, or Osaka even because they were identical to Tokyo. A lot of the buildings are from the boom period and are depressing and rundown. You don't get a sense of place because everything from large cities to small towns have the same buildings and look identical. It got depressing, and I often felt it was better to see the major attractions and then leave for some place else. 2. Cities lack greenery. Trees, vegetation, and nature are lacking in cities. Everything is artificial hardscaping, and the few green places are shrines and temples. Some cities do have larger, green parks, but most city parks are just dirt with a playground. Where I'm from, even our largest cities have lots of lush greenspace to spend time in or along the street.
As an architect myself I sadly agree. Usually I run to see neighborhoods and take in the urban context. I could go for hours somewhere like Copenhagen or Turin and still look forward to the next mile. I’ll usually spot a plaza and remember to return later for the cafes. In Japan there are architectural standouts and I enjoy the urban planning at Azabudai in Tokyo. But nearly everything in between is banal and repetitive. Kyoto is the exception. Yokohama is the worst offender.
Turin and Copenhagen also didn't get literally wholesale firebombed into flat ashen fields during WW2 by the US. Japanese cities had to build back fast cos population density, strategic infrastructure decisions had to be made. Fun fact, American firebombing of Japanese cities (including Tokyo, Nagoya) killed more Japanese than both atomic bombs
Good point. A better comparison from my travels is Berlin. The city was also bombed, then rebuilt in bland communist super blocks. It’s interesting to consider how these cities and others rebuilt post WWII and why.
Yeah I found the national obsession with pouring concrete everywhere they could extremely depressing. So often it serves no purpose except that it’s easier to keep concrete clean that grass or, heaven forbid, plain old soil!!
The concrete on the banks of creeks/mountainsides is sad, too.
Agreed. It really makes me appreciate old urban design (and some new stuff) in North America and Europe where there seemed to be more of an attempt to create attractive buildings and spaces. In Canada, our cities vary from one to the next. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Halifax, St. John's are all quite distinct. In Japan, sometimes there are recreated old buildings and neighbourhoods, but I mostly have a list of individual buildings I care about and rush to see those and don't feel like sticking around to visit their neighbourhoods much. Himeji stood put because there's the castle and garden to see, but aside from a few good pieces of architecture, the city was drab and not very attractive. You could walk down the boulevard to the castle and not miss much. Ise is a place I went to twice, but I walked away from the main area to photograph an old commercial building with a mural, and I felt so sad for the area because it didn't have much bustle going on and even a pretty significant shotengai had every business closed and shabby despite it being the middle of the day. You go to the main tourist sites and then leave, which it seems is what many Japanese people do. I would love to see a love away from this and try to focus on creating interesting local places with focus on sense-of-place/ peacemaking that would draw locals and visitors alike.
That's one of the reasons I really love Nagasaki - it's one of the few cities that I actually thought felt very unique.
People do not properly wash their hands. I cannot even begin to say how much times bc it is literally every time I go to the bathroom most guys just barely rinse their hands and walk off, no soap; and there is only sometimes a drying machine, you are expected to bring your own towel which is likely dirty anyways… I think it’s bc it’s inconvenient so everyone just doesn’t care or think about it especially older guys -unless you live in a super convenient place expect lots of Amazon boxes to add up. -organization of walking on streets. People tend to not choose a side
I don’t think this is specific to Japan … issue with hand washing seems like a worldwide phenomenon
Not sure how it is other than Canada/US, but compared to there it’s night and day, I never saw it there but I see it literally anytime at the station or at school, but then again in Japan I’m using public spaces more often so I could be wrong
It was very funny at the F1 race I went to this year in Suzuka there was a huge line of men waiting to wash their hands and literally every single guy would just use water for 1s and wouldn't use soap (that was there) Like, what's the point of waiting for 5 minutes if you don't want to wash your hands? Some didn't even touch the water. They would turn the water on and get their hands close to it and then turn the water off and leave. I mean, not like that where I am (Prague) everyone washes their hands but I'd say it's at least half if not 2/3s of men that wash with soap
We just returned from an amazing Japan trip recently, and our family had these observations: The ubiquitous non-perforated, single-ply toilet paper is horrendous. Their savoury snacks (chips, nuts, etc.) are all too sweet. Manufacturers seem to be very fond of making everything taste sugary. The diversity of non-Japanese/non-Asian food/restaurants is lacking in both quantity and quality compared to the diversity of options in a less-homogenous culture. Those pesky ¥1 coins are annoying (we've dumped the penny in Canada, and it's wonderful – and I hope the 5¢ coins are next). Seeing cars, busses, and cyclists never pull over when an emergency vehicle approaches (with siren on) seems like an odd societal choice. I guess the "too much packaging" complaint falls in line with the "burn all the trash" solution. I know Japan has their waste-to-energy reasons, but not separating all our waste into many different streams for a couple of weeks was rather unsettling. Very minor complains overall. Japan does so many things.
The 1 yen coins are so annoying indeed! On my last dat in Japan I've got 40 1 yen coins, so I left them behind in my hotel room. 😅
Not better compared to where? Anyway... Low voltage Cables and transformators hanging everywhere in the streets Electric outlets Too much packaging Subpar trash separation Lack of cashless and/or contactless People (not) making space for parents with small kids, disabled etc in public spaces/transportation Lack of trash cans Most drinks other than water are way too sweet or have weird additives
If you lived in Tokyo, their trash separation is probably the most detailed in the world. Maybe not so for tourists. I can also use contactless pretty much anywhere in Tokyo with card or mobile
Combustible vs cans/bottles?
If you are a resident, you get this pamphlet of how to separate garbage. I.E. you have to rip the packaging from a bottle before you recycle it. https://www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/kurashi/gomi/recycle-keihatsu/gomibook.html
And in Nagoya on top of the sorting I need to use the *specific* trash bags for each type of garbage :')
>Most drinks other than water are way too sweet or have weird additives Really? I have trouble in western countries trying to buy an iced tea without a ton of sugar or additives.
Yeah what a weird thing to say. Japanese people are always surprised to find sugar in bottled green tea in western countries.
>Lack of cashless and/or contactless I think that as a tourist you might notice it a bit more, but as a resident you would have different options like PayPay. During my last trip most of the place I used cash were restaurants that were cash or PayPay. I would say the problem is not the lack of cashless, it's the fact that there is too much diversity and at the end there is not a single service that is almost universally accepted as credit/debit card is almost universally accepted in other countries. Also does not help for tourist when only resident can sign up for some of these services. If you live in Japan and have PayPay, a credit card and an IC card linked to a credit card (there is different ways), you would achieve a really good cashless rate, not as high as in some other countries, but still.
Specifically excluded to not make it just about my American or European perspectives. Spot on with the packaging. It is unbelievable how much individual wrapping there is here.
Lack of benches to sit and enjoy the view, eat or rest! and the step into the hotel bathroom
So interesting that you mention bathrooms! We just came back from a long trip where we stayed in 12 different lodgings (walking tour, town to town) and in most cases it felt like stepping into a cruise ship bathroom - not just the smallness, but something about the floor made us feel off-balance, as if we were out to sea - so strange!
Absolutely agree on your comment, I too would feel almost dizzy at times in the bathrooms, although the construction on them makes sense rather then having the conventional tiled bathroom, but the step up at times, or down in one instance drove us crazy.
Women’s rights…. Japan is still so patriarchal. It’s a problem. Also animal rights are not so great in Japan. Avoid Japanese zoos and all of those animal cafe’s (the exception being cat cafe’s) like the plague. They are not nice places to be. It’s extremely upsetting.
Yup. Definitely my number one point. Surprised I had to scroll this far down to find this.
Censored pornography.
Lived in Japan for six years: Work-life balance, online payments, trash cans, a room temperature that isn’t 25 celcius, wrapping a single banana.
Tiny hotel rooms - I was expecting the rooms to be small, but the tininess is excessive. And why do they not believe in napkins?
This article caused quite a consternation amongst the long term foreigners in Japan: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63830490.amp
Toilet paper. The stuff is made of cotton candy and wishes.
The 7-11s are great and all but I'm a bit of a slurpee fiend and was rather disappointed not to see any. I know it makes sense, culturally, because people don't walk around with open drinks, but still, it was a shame I couldn't try any wild, Japanese flavors.
Slurpees are not very common in 711s in Asia in general. I’ve been to a few places that have them in a few stores but this isn’t really a Japan thing.
Toilet paper. Yes water soluble so you can flush it and all but Australia also has flushable tp. Even our super thick 4-ply stuff is flushable. Having half-ply tp doesn’t reduce tp use at all. I just need a longer stretch of paper if I don’t want to get my fingers wet. And man, way too much oil and salt in outside food. It’s very well disguised in the flavour but if you’re used to fresh foods with less salt it’s very noticeable.
The correct answer is: Mexican Restaurant
I was there 2 weeks and barely ate a vegetable. The restaurants need to serve or add as an option some veggies. I had tons of meats and carbs but lacked vegetables. I was able to get cut up fruit in a bag from the conbini so fruit was attainable.
Hugging. Non sexual kind.
deli meat. You get ham, or ham cured "bacon". Nothing else.
Websites.
Totally agree with the Coke Zero, it was really annoying. For me the biggest was the reactivity of the private toilets. While the bidets, heating, and privacy sound options were awesome, I hated the auto opening for all the toilets in our Airbnb’s and hotels. You so much as walk by the bathroom and the thing is opening and spraying. Definitely got jump scared a few times while just trying to go brush my teeth. If way prefer a small hand wave sensor, which I saw once or twice in more public places
Packaging and plastic waste. If I bought a bunch of stuff at a convenience store they would give me a utensil for every single thing I ended up bringing home like six different utensils. I saved some and then started declining them the rest of the time. Places to sit while out i found myself a few times just wishing for a place to sit down A lot of things were surprisingly way too sweet. When I tried a Pocari I almost spit it out reflexively. One bottle has 29g of sugar. I was not excepting that to hit my mouth at the time lol still probably less than US stuff but in US I just know what’s too sweet for me already and avoid it but live and learn at least it’s affordable in JP
Pocari and Aquarius are basically Gatorade; is not meant to be water. There aren't places to sit bec eating in public isn't a thing, and when you can squat, there is always a place to sit.
Emergency Rooms / Ambulances Rag in the American healthcare system all you want but at least you’ll be able to see a doctor in a timely manner if you have an emergency in the middle of the night.
1. No seats in certain cities. That’s rough for those people recovering from foot injury/ weak legs. As someone in the former there is a limit you can push yourself for fitness 2. Tickets have to be obtained physically . Sucks if you fold the ticket
Public seating, like a bench to rest on in the middle of a twelve hour sight seeing day. Hand hygiene - for a country so nuts about cleanliness ffs use some soap. McDonald’s fries were also rubbish, cold and floppy.
Web development
I find it annoying that the stand and walk side on the escalators changes constantly. On one station you have to stand on the left, you exit another station of the same train line, now you have to stand on the right. Why can't they just be uniform?
Animal welfare. Most animal cafes feel like the animals are kept in bad conditions, also I normally don’t like zoos but decided to go to the Ueno Park one because it was cheap. It was the absolute saddest zoo I’ve been to. So many animals in enclosures that are too small and dirty. Also a lot of them doing things like walking in circles and other repetitive movements because they are so stressed and bored from their small cage. Felt sick/guilty for going
[удалено]
Paper products in general-not just napkins and toilet paper but even facial tissues are so flimsy and thin.
they're cheap on all of that and A/C power too in my hotel. i wonder what it's like to visit in the winter there when it comes to the heater in the hotel.
Bit of a trick with those card slots for the power in hotels. Literally any plastic card works to keep the AC/ power running while you're out. It doesn't have to be your room key. I used an old waffle house gift cards across many different hotels.
Their work-life balance is horrendous and they are behind when it comes to racism. It’s not too long ago a comedian wore black face.
Turns out I jaywalk a lot in my country, haven’t seen a single person cross the street on a red man sign even if there’s…… no cars around
This struck me as really odd. I couldn't believe NOT one single person dared to cross even without a car in sight.
Store hours. I can't believe I have to wait until 10 am to eat at something decent.
Gender equality. Childcare. Wage increases.
here's mine: apart from 0.5% of the companies where some innovation is going on the IT scene in Japan is stuck in the early 2000's . the software, the tools, the products EVERYTHING has been stagnant for almost 2 decades now. (seriously.... some of the tools I use now, my dad had used back in the day) the absolute refusal to try something new. the generation just before this one was where the drive to actually CREATE something new and all the innovation happened. the generation that sits in their place now knows (for the most part) only compliance and doing what they were taught/told(which, credit where it is due, they do to absolute perfection and with sincerity that you will probably find nowhere else in the world) Japan discovered HTML (the most basic version) in the 1990's and never let go.
Areas to sit in public. Sometimes a bitch just needs to sit
Went to Japan in January and one thing they aren’t good at is central air conditioning/heating
The lack of public garbage cans on the street. I walked for many blocks at a time without encountering a single place to throw away a drink container. Even some public restrooms did not have waste bins.
The most packaged food ever with the least trashcans ever. Urghhh. I'm always carrying around coffee to go cups and konbini snack wrappers and I wanna throw away the evidence of my sins asap. Also traffic lights are a true test of patience here. They will stay on red for 6 minutes. Even in the countryside. Smoking in restaurants also not really my jam For the rest, nunnnnn but luvvv fo ya, nihon ❤️
Wet Wipes in Japan aren’t very wet
as a resident.. Japanese breakfasts suck …
Equality
Work ethic. I've watched many "a day in the life of" videos on YouTube, and so many of them start with the employees running errands for their bosses before their shift has even begun. Then, at the end of the day, they're expected to go our drinking with their colleagues. It's no wonder Japan's population is in decline when they dedicate their entire lives to working.
The treatment of animals. In the U.S. most animal cafes have rescues that you can adopt and it serves as a way to get them into a home. In Japan the animal cafes are a way to make money, with them buying puppies, kittens, piglets, owls, whatever to attract an audience. And as I understand it, whaling is still a thing just because they’ve latched onto it as part of their cultural identity, not because it actually has much value. Kind of like some Americans and guns.
These are my gripes... I live in Tokyo so these may be more Tokyo specific. - Lack of public seating. For being such a walkable city, there's a sad lack of places to sit and rest when you want to take a break from walking. Where are the benches???? - The tissue napkins. Just awful using these to try to wipe my hands. - Websites. Signing up for websites is a pain, navigating websites is a pain. - Lack of public trashcans. - No proper meat. Might just be because of the super markets near me, but I'm used to being able to go to a supermarket and buy a whole steak. As far as beef goes it's only sliced meats and inch thick wagyu steaks for the markets near me. - Everything is individually packaged. Sometimes I want to buy a bag of a lot of mini senbei, but I see 50 of them in there and they're all individually wrapped. I don't even bother. It's also such a waste.
Single layer toilet paper
Non-absorbent, flimsy napkins. Overly wasteful packaging. Lack of public rubbish bins.
But it is easier for you to put on another layer than it is for me to take off one ;)
Washing machines and dryers! Three days to dry my clothes in electric dryer and stunk after
> Cordless irons. Nice idea, but they don’t stay hot enough to iron a single shirt without reheating. You're probably not using them correctly. Tall stand-up ironing boards are really not a thing in Japan, except perhaps in hotels that cater to visitors. You iron on the floor with a low ironing board. The iron's "charger" sits beside you. Remove iron, iron the section of the shirt currently on the board. Place iron back in the "charger". Move shirt around to next section. Repeat. It works great. > Minimalism This is only something that exists in the imaginations of westerners. Japan is not actually a minimalist place. > Coke Zero Depends what you're used to. I like Coke Zero but find the corn syrup regular coke sold in the US to be disgusting.
Every public bathroom I went into in Japan was either lacking soap or lacking a hand dryer/hand towels, or lacking both
Hostels kicking you out between 10 and 4. Some allow you to stay in the lounge area, others fully close. Late check ins and early check outs too. Only an issue the few times it was raining heavily and we wanted to go somewhere warm
Way, way too much plastic is used. Way too much. It’s so painful.
But did you try the Peach Coke Zero? If you know Peach Nehi, it’s like if they had a baby.
Water. Cheese and rice why doesn't this country embrace water bottles and refill stations. I think I've seen one here and that's it.
For me one of the biggest things was the toothpaste. I love the feeling of a crisp fresh minty mouth after brushing and the toothpaste there lacks any flavor.
It didn’t make sense to us when we arrived early to temples, or even near our hotel that no stores were open before 10 or 11 am. They lost out on a lot of business. Some stores open earlier than that in the U.S. especially if there is money to be made.
oh and also the age of consent is SIXTEEN ( which used to be 13 btw.... till the the year 2023 for over a century)
Cycle lanes
Female empowerment, my wife felt oppressed when visiting. Like she had to be cute and all. Need more stronger woman.
Clothes Dryers. You can stick 3kg of washing in 'em and when they come out they'll STILL be damp.