The Japanese are a strange people. Six Creepiest and Weirdest Features of Japanese Culture

All the strangeness of Japan, from which the hair stands on end -

I don't understand why no one in Russia studies the Japanese experience.

In no other country have traditions, technologies and living conditions intertwined so bizarrely

Translation for – Sveta Gogol

For the European consciousness in the culture of Japan there is a lot of strange, and even completely incomprehensible. In no other country have traditions, technologies and living conditions intertwined so bizarrely. Samurai ideals coexist perfectly with the latest generation of computers, and centenarians born back in the 19th century with teenagers in Pokémon costumes. Despite the amazing development of everything related to technology, Japanese culture is one of the most conservative, closed and incomprehensible to foreigners.

Below you will find six of the strangest aspects of the culture of the "Land of the Rising Sun".

hikikomori

Hikikomori are young people who do not want to communicate with the outside world. Of course, every culture has a large number of people who are called "hermits", but usually they are older or even elderly people, many of whom suffer from such mental disorders like depression or agoraphobia.

A feature of the Japanese "recluses" is age. These are either teenagers or young people in their early twenties, who are almost completely cut off from the outside world. There are several objective reasons for the emergence of a huge number of hikikomori: the first, of course, is the Internet, the second is a monstrous load in educational institutions, which few people can withstand, and, finally, loving parents who are ready to support their offspring until old age, so long as they do not fly out of the "nest".

Usually, the term hikikomori refers to young people who have sat in their room without work and communication for more than six months. Psychologists are already talking about “lost millions”.

Crime

Despite the legends about the yakuza, the crime rate in Japan is one of the lowest (lower only in Monaco). All weapons, from pistols to ceremonial swords, must be registered with the police.

However, if you have already ended up in the dock - write wasted. 99 percent of trials end in a guilty verdict. In addition, in Japan people are still sentenced to death, usually by hanging. 2-3 people are executed a year, and the condemned are notified of the upcoming execution in just a few hours. The family is informed of the execution that has already taken place.

Attitude to work

Everyone knows that the Japanese are one of the most disciplined and hardworking workers in the world. However, the image of an alcoholic businessman, a frequenter of karaoke bars, is also not far from the truth. The Japanese do drink a lot; at corporate parties, sake flows like water and junior employees try in vain to keep up with their bosses, hardened by long years of training.

But what is really amazing is that no matter how much the Japanese drink in the evening, in the morning he will be like a cucumber and will start work right on time. In addition, in Japanese culture, it is completely normal to take a short nap in the workplace, it is even encouraged. It is believed that a person who has laid his head on his desk works to the point of exhaustion and is especially dedicated to his work.

Kodokushi

The phenomenon of Kodokushi (lonely death) is the silhouette of the body of a deceased person. It is formed when the body for a long time remains undiscovered.

Workers who transport furniture say they often come across such "kodokushi". One private company estimates that about 300 out of 1,500 times they stumble upon these sad symbols of human loneliness.

traditional look Japanese family, when several generations got along under the same roof, is already outdated, and now the elderly are increasingly living alone.

This also happens to temporary workers or contract workers - many men and women in this category work force never get married and never get married. They die alone, and no one knows about their death.

Porn

Japanese customs have always been strict, including in relation to "adult films". And although there is no ban on filming hardcore porn in Japan, the genitals on the video must be blurred in order to comply with national ideas of morality.

This toned-down version of Japanese porn is complemented by so-called "bukkake" - the demonstration of the resulting fluid as evidence that an "act of love" really took place between the actors.

It is curious that a huge number of young Japanese do not show any interest in sex at all, especially guys. They are called "shoku danshi" or "vegetarians".

Yaeba

While the whole world spends a lot of money to get perfectly straight teeth, Japanese teenagers are passionate about the exact opposite. One of the rapidly spreading trends among Japanese youth is called "yaeba" (literally "double tooth"). This is a nozzle that gives the impression of a fang sticking out of the mouth. By the way, quite expensive pleasure.

Japan is a very amazing country, unlike any other. Do you want to know some facts about her that will shock you? Read!

1. Valentine's Day in this country is a great way for a girl to tell a guy she likes about her long-standing feelings. In Japan, it is the girls who give valentine cards and make surprises for the guys. Very convenient: no need to wait for a man to dare and come up first.
2. In Japan, very high prices on fruits. For example, buying an apple will cost $2, and a few bananas will cost $5. Fish and meat products, on the contrary, are cheap.
3. Pornography in Japan can be purchased anywhere, even in a regular grocery store. There is always a shelf with the press, where a separate place is allocated to hentai. In a bookstore, hentai is about a third of all products. If it's a big bookstore, then hentai takes up several floors.
4. Hentai - anime with elements of eroticism and pornography - is sold to persons under the age of majority, absolutely legally.
5. The highest sales of hentai about violence and sex with persons under the age of majority.
6. The Japanese do not hesitate to read hentai even in public transport, just by putting the cover on the book.
7. Subways in Japan have separate women's carriages. They are launched during the busiest hours to keep the men from touching the women in the crowd. And they love to do it.
8. Despite the above shocking facts, Japan occupies one of the most last places in the world in terms of the number of rapes. This figure, for example, in Russia is 5 times higher.
9. The main body of Japanese characters contains two to four syllables. However, it can be much more complicated: the hieroglyph 砉 contains 13 syllables and is pronounced like “hanetokawatogahanareruoto”.
10. The Japanese even modern world very scrupulous in matters of honor. This applies to all areas of life and even politics. Several prime ministers have resigned after failing to deliver on their campaign promises to voters.
11. Japan has a lot of the very best. For example, the most expensive amusement park is located here. It's called Disney Sea. 4 of the highest roller coasters you will also find here. The capital of Japan, Tokyo, has the most developed subway, the largest railway interchange and the largest mixed intersection for pedestrians.
12. The Japanese snowman is made exclusively from two snowballs, and not from three, as in the rest of the world.
13. At Christmas, the Japanese like to go to a KFC restaurant for a portion of fried chicken. The founder of the institution - Colonel Sanders - is considered one of the symbols of this holiday.
14. One-third of all Japanese weddings to this day take place after matchmaking and bridegrooms, which are arranged at the initiative of the parents of the young.
15. In Japan, there are northern cities with a lot of snow. Residents of these cities are incredibly lucky - the streets and pedestrian areas are automatically heated. The snow melts by itself. No need to clean it up and sprinkle the paths.
16. But even in the northern cities there is no central heating. The Japanese are warming themselves in their homes as best they can.
17. In Japan, at the official level, such a cause of death as overwork (Karoshi) is recognized. Every year, about 10 thousand people die for this reason.
18. In Japan, there is practically no ban on smoking in in public places. The only exceptions are airports and railway stations.
19. Japan still retains the title of Empire. Of course, formally. Today, there is only one such country in the world.
20. Japan for all centuries of history The country is ruled by one dynasty. The current emperor Akihito is a direct descendant of the first emperor, who was the founder of the state.
21. Japan is 2671 today.
22. The Japanese favorite topic of conversation is food. Even when they eat, all the talk is about taste preferences. It is considered bad manners not to say “delicious” once during dinner.
23. The Japanese love to repeat themselves. For young people, this is considered kawaii - that is, cute, charming.
24. Not only are characters difficult to understand, but Japanese writing is divided into three types: Hiragana (a syllabary system for writing Japanese words), Katakana (a syllable system for writing borrowed words) and Kanji (writing with characters).
25. There are no immigrant workers in the country. The problem of cheap labor is solved very simply: the minimum wage that can be paid to a foreigner is higher than the salary of a Japanese. This means that only qualified specialists can come to work. Our country would also benefit from such a decision.
26. Most of Railways in Japan is privately owned.
27. Emperor Hirohito was never removed from power, after the war he led the reformation and ruled until 1989. His birthday is considered a national holiday and is celebrated on April 29th.
28. The most famous mountain Japan, Fuji, is the private property of Hongyu Sengen Temple. The mountain was given to the temple in 1609. Court of Japan in the 80s. XX century confirmed the legitimacy of the donation of the mountain. Nobody can encroach on private property in Japan. This is severely punished.
29. The Japanese language is divided into several types depending on the degree of politeness: colloquial, respectful, polite, and very polite. Women use a respectful look, men use a colloquial one.
30. In Japan, there is such a word as "Hikkikomori". They call them people who voluntarily isolated themselves from society, asocialized. They often do not work, live off relatives, and may not leave the house or even their room for years. 7% of the male population of Japan is Hikkikomori.
31. Months in Japan do not have names like we do. Therefore, January is their first, February is their second, etc.
32. Until Western influences penetrated Japan, the Japanese knew only one expression that meant sympathy, feelings: "koi", translated: "an irresistible attraction to something unattainable."
33. The population of Japan is predominantly ethnic Japanese - more than 98 percent. This is a rarity in modern countries.
34. Prisoners are not allowed to vote in elections in the country.
35. The Japanese eat dolphins. They cook soup from them, make barbecue, eat them raw. According to them, the dolphin does not taste like fish, it has tender meat.
36. Japanese has one unique feature: there are almost no personal pronouns in it, and those few pronouns also have other meanings. So, the pronoun "I" means directly "I" and plus "private", "personal".
37. Tokyo is such a safe city that small children of five or six years old without adults can ride the subway and buses. Perhaps this is the safest city in the world.
38. The Japanese have a fear of travel as they are afraid of everything outside of their country. The most dangerous country, according to the Japanese, is the United States of America.
39. The Japanese constitution does not allow its state to have an army and participate in wars.
40. study in Japanese schools starts on April 1 and has 3 trimesters. Pupils go to school from April to July, then rest until September, then study until December and from January to March.
41. All the garbage collected in the country is sent for recycling. In this regard, waste tanks simply do not exist. Garbage is divided into glass, the one that can be burned can be recycled and cannot be burned. Each species is exported on a specific day of the week. If a Japanese violates these rules, he faces a fine of $1,000.
42. You will not find urns in the city either, only bins where you can throw bottles. And it's clean on the streets. That's how it would be for us.
43. It is believed that every Japanese must earn a comfortable old age in his life, so pensions in the country are very small - no more than three hundred dollars. This is given the relatively high prices for food and transport. Pension insurance is also not provided for by the legislation of the country.
44. Godzilla was called Godzilla for a reason. In Japanese, it sounds like Gojira - a mixture of the words Gorilla and Kujira (whale). It was not easy to come up with this, I guess.
45. Public transport in the country is not cheap - you can ride the metro for at least 50 rubles in terms of our money.
46. Men in Japan always come first. In any institution, shop, restaurant, they will say hello and take an order first from males.
47. The Japanese love jeeps, despite the high traffic density. Even in densely populated cities where there are traffic jams, there are very few sedans on the road.
48. All toilets in Japan have a variety of functions, from heating a toilet seat to simulating the sounds of running water (in case you need to mask unpleasant sounds). Japanese toilet - whole spaceship with lots of buttons.
49. Every Japanese knows that the cute cartoon kitty Hello Kitty is from England.
50. In no case should you leave a tip in Japanese establishments. They are tantamount to giving. As long as you pay the price set initially, you remain on an equal footing with the seller.
51. What is racism in Japan do not know. You will never see its manifestation on the street. And isn't that great.
52. One of the popular channels in Japan shows a series about 2 birds with one stone, Putin and Kiriyenko. In the story, they are trying to survive in a police state.
53. The age of consent in Japan, that is, the age at which a person can give permission to enter into an intimate relationship with himself, is thirteen years.
54. Japan is three times the size of England in area. The area of ​​Japan is 374,744 km², and that of England is 130,410 km².
55. Japan is often referred to as an overpopulated state. This is an incorrect statement, since its density per 1 sq. km - 360 people. In England, for example, per 1 sq. km accounts for 383 people.
56. The terms "wrong" and "different" in Japanese are denoted by the same word 違う (chigau).
57. For several years now, there have been things in the country that we used to see only in science fiction films. These are vending machines with all kinds of products, futuristic trains, strange fashion. All this gives Japan a unique flavor.
58. There are a lot of voluminous deep words in Japanese. For example, the word 御来光 (goraiko) means sunrise as seen from Mount Fuji.
59. The Japanese have often been considered the superior race in history. So, Hitler himself, admiring, called them "honorary Aryans." In South Africa during apartheid, only the Japanese were not infringed on their rights, as they were called "honorary whites."
60. If an emergency occurs in the country, every Japanese's phone starts beeping loudly, even if it was on silent mode. Plus, a message comes with information about what happened, as well as about future plans evacuation.
61. The Japanese don't know what looting is. Empty houses will remain untouched. No one will ever plunder them. This causes genuine surprise among all foreigners.
62. It is not easy to find a Japanese speaking English. At the same time, they often use anglicisms in their speech. But even these words will be difficult to make out, since the Japanese have their own original pronunciation.
63. In Russian, there are words borrowed from Japanese, for example: “cotton wool”, “pollock”, “ivashi”, as well as the well-known “tsunami” and “typhoon”.
64. The Japanese, in turn, also borrowed some words from the Russians: “ikura; caviar” and “noruma; norm”, as well as the phrase: “woo people; to the people”, which came into use after Alexander II.
65. In Japan, there is still such a punishment for a crime as the death penalty. So, recently for a year this type of punishment was applied to 8 criminals.
66. Apparently, the previous fact allows Japan to remain the country with the lowest percentage of murders and violent crimes. In addition, the Japanese are a long-lived nation. They are absolute champions in average life expectancy.
67. In the heart of Japan, Tokyo, is the huge gay district of Shinjuku-Ni-Chome. It has the largest concentration of gay bars in the world.
68. Hieroglyphs in China and Japan are almost the same. There are some differences, however, knowing Japanese, you can read simple Chinese texts, such as signs on the streets.
69. The Japanese do not sign documents. Each of them has a special seal, which they affix instead of a signature daily. You can buy a print in a regular store.
70. If the train is delayed even for a minute, this is already considered late. Have you seen this in any other country?
71. If you were presented with a gift in Japan, do not rush to open it. This is considered bad manners. You just need to say “thank you”, and you can open it only at home alone.
72. In Japan, it is customary to smile, even if you are in a lot of pain. A smile should hide all inner feelings.
73. If the Japanese have caught fire with some idea, then be sure that they will bring the work they have begun to the end and will do it flawlessly and with taste. For example, in French restaurants in Japan, you can be served menus for French, in Italian - in Italian. Signage and decoration will also be appropriate for the country. That's just English text in that case, don't look there.
74. The Japanese take the institution of property very seriously. It is in this country that you can find establishments that are several hundred years old. At the same time, the owners from generation to generation are the same family. So, the Hoshi Ryokan Inn has been operating since 718 and has the same dynasty of owners.
75. Tanuki are headstrong Japanese werewolves that bring happiness and good fortune. Their eggs are a traditional symbol of prosperity. The mythical happiest tanuki has an egg area of ​​8 tatami, which is 12 m. If misfortune comes, they pay with them.
76. The territory of Japan is more than half covered with forests. The cutting of trees for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited. The country uses wood, which is mined in tropical forests.
77. From 1992 to 2002, the country helped other states the most in the world. It's about on international humanitarian assistance.
78. The ticket clerk on the train, before looking at tickets and travel cards, bows and takes off his hat in front of the passengers. You can learn politeness from the Japanese.
79. The secret that makes Japan unique, unlike other countries, is simple: centuries-old traditions and modern Western trends are harmoniously combined here. The Japanese honor their culture and cherish the past, but at the same time keep up with the present.
80. Well, the last, almost indisputable fact remains: Japan is the best country in the world!

Many facts may seem shocking to us. Be that as it may, Japan is a rapidly developing country, with a minimum level of crime and enough high level and life expectancy. Most countries, including ours, have a lot to learn from the Land of the Rising Sun.

In the Russian press, notes often appear with stories about the perversions of the Japanese. Some of them are true, some are highly embellished, and some are not true at all. How really?

Most likely, there is, and the truth, everything and for every taste. But of course it's illegal. And this is not considered the norm, it's just that the Japanese are more relaxed about this. Just like homosexuality. It does not legalize same-sex marriage, although some areas have passed laws, such as allowing you to rent an apartment together or visit a partner in the hospital. And there is absolutely no persecution of gays. There are a lot of them on TV, they have their own programs, which they host, their problems are discussed. The percentage of the homophobic population in Japan is very low.

The same tolerant attitude towards transsexuals and those who have changed gender. The reason for this attitude is perhaps in Buddhism. Because it does not prohibit sexuality in general, homosexuality in particular. Unlike Christianity and Islam. It was considered normal for the samurai to have a wife, a mistress, and a young lover friend.

I think that in other countries there are no less perverts than in Japan, they are simply hidden more, for the same reasons - taboo. I can think of a comparison with Holland, where soft drugs are legalized, but this does not mean that other countries do not have drug addicts, in many - much more than in Holland.

Japanese less crime on sexual grounds. There are many divorces, but they probably have more marriages of convenience. Often men marry for status and to advance in career ladder, because in some companies it is believed that if a person does not have a family, he cannot hold a high leadership position.

The most shocking thing for me so far: this is what is considered normal when a wife and children live in one city, and her husband works in another, and they practically do not see each other. This often happens when, after getting married or buying a house, a man is transferred to another department - to another city, he has nowhere to go, most often it is impossible to refuse. And a woman does not want to leave either because of the school of her children, or because of the established social circle, or because the house has already been taken on a mortgage, and more often for all reasons together. So they live separately for years.

As for the love of anime and young girls- They just popularize it. Such people (more often, of course, men, but there are girls among them) are called otaku. This word has a somewhat disparaging connotation ... There are otaku different types: some love anime and girl groups(the most popular AKV 48 - there are 129 girls in it, who, not all at once, of course, but in a huge crowd perform on stage and star in videos) - they are somehow socialized ... go to concerts, communicate with each other, even get to know each other interest girls.

And others are completely anti-social: they are addicted to manga or anime, talk to themselves and real girls they are not interested at all, they are not good enough for them, they prefer virtual ones. There are such otaku (the first type) in other countries! Somehow they showed a story about two young Germans who specially came to Japan for a concert of those same AKV 48. They differed from their Japanese counterparts only in appearance. In other countries there are simply no such groups, there is no such popularization of this whole "Lolita phenomenon". This is from a number of taboos. And here they treat it condescendingly calmly.

Again, a maid cafe with girls in anime clothes... The Japanese have two definitions of attractiveness: kawaii and bijin. Kawaii is cute, pretty. A girl with protruding ears, crooked teeth and crooked legs can be kawaii and insanely popular. And bijin is such an impregnable, cold beauty ... models, for example. Kawaii also has a touch of accessibility, childish immediacy. The average Japanese is shy and indecisive... In general, I heard the opinion that a Japanese is confident and decisive only if he is very rich - then he will easily approach any beauty. And the rest prefer more affordable and easy kawaii...

In Japan, love hotels, hostesses and host bars are everywhere... Host bars are establishments where women pay host boys for communication. I don't know if there are similar bars in other countries.

Specially for Green Elephant– Irina Sato, Tokyo, Japan.

1. Japanese phones have a built-in nationwide emergency alert system. When some kind of cataclysm occurs, a loud beep sounds on all phones (even if the sound was turned off) and a message appears explaining what happened and how to behave.

1. In Japan, on Valentine's Day, they show sympathy and give gifts to girls. I won’t tell you what this tradition is connected with, but today it performs an important social function: it allows girls to say “yes” without waiting until a Japanese man has the courage to approach her.

2. In Japan, fish and meat are cheap, but fruits are very expensive. One apple costs two dollars, a bunch of bananas five. The most expensive fruit is melon, a variety like our "torpedo" will cost two hundred dollars in Tokyo.

3. In Japan, pornography is sold absolutely everywhere. In every combi (grocery store), on the counter with the press, there is always a separate shelf with hentai. In small bookstores, hentai makes up a third of the entire range, in large bookstores, 2-3 floors are allocated for printography.

4. Hentai is allowed to be sold freely to minors.

5. The two most popular sub-genres of hentai are violence and sex with minors.

6. Wrapped in a cover, hentai is calmly read on the subway.

7. The Japan Subway and JR have women-only carriages. They are attached in the morning so that no one harasses the girls during rush hour. The Japanese are voyeurs, and groping girls in crowded trains is something of a national sport.

8. At the same time, Japan has one of the lowest percentages of rapes in the world. Five times less than in Russia. It seemed to me important to note this, after all that I have said above.

9. Most Japanese characters are 2-4 syllables long, but there are surprising exceptions. For example, the character 砉 reads like “hanetokawatogahanareruoto”, these are thirteen syllables! Describes the sound made when flesh is separated from bone.

10. The issue of honor still plays a central role in Japan, even in politics. The last prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, resigned after failing to deliver on a campaign promise (sic!). Two of his predecessors too.

11. Japan is a small country, but there are a lot of big things here. Here is the most expensive amusement park in the world, Disney Sea, four of the ten highest roller coasters. Tokyo has the most developed subway system in the world, the largest railway hub and the largest mixed pedestrian crossing.

12. In Japan, it is customary to sculpt snowmen strictly from two balls, and not three, as in the rest of the world. And then the Japanese excelled.

13. Colonel Sanders is one of the main symbols of Christmas in Japan, like Coca-Cola in the USA. On Christmas Eve, the Japanese like to go to KFC with the whole family and eat a large portion of chicken wings.

14. In Japan, 30% of weddings still occur as a result of matchmaking and お見合い (omiai) arranged by parents.

15. In all the northern cities of Japan, where snow falls in winter, sidewalks and streets are heated. There is no ice, and the snow does not need to be removed. Very comfortably!

16. However, there is no central heating in Japan. Everyone heats the apartment as best they can.

17. The Japanese word 過労死 (Karoshi) means "death by overwork." On average, 10,000 people die each year with this diagnosis. Studio Ghibli director Yoshifumi Kondo, author of my favorite whisper of the heart, died with this diagnosis.

18. Japan has one of the most liberal tobacco laws. You can smoke everywhere except railway platforms and airports.

19. Japan is the last country in the world to formally retain the title of Empire.

20. The Japanese imperial dynasty has never been interrupted. The reigning Emperor Akihito is a direct descendant of the first Emperor Jimmu, who founded Japan in 711 BC.

21. Japan turns 2671 this year.

22. The Japanese are constantly talking about food, and when they eat, they discuss how they like the treat. Having dinner without saying “oishii” (delicious) a few times is very impolite.

23. In general, the Japanese love repetition. When girls do it, it's considered kawaii.

24. The Japanese language uses three types of writing at the same time: Hiragana (a syllabary system for writing Japanese words), Katakana (a syllabary system for writing borrowed words) and Kanji (hieroglyphic writing). Crazy, yes.

25. There are no guest workers in Japan. This is achieved by a simple law: the minimum wage for which a foreign worker is allowed to be employed in Japan is higher than the average wage for a Japanese worker. Thus, the way to the country remains open for highly paid specialists, and unskilled visiting labor does not dump the wages of local residents. Solomon's decision.

26. More than half of the railways in Japan are private. Non-state carriers are responsible for 68% of the country's total rail traffic.

27. Hirohito was never removed from power, after the war he led the reformation and ruled until 1989. Hirohito's birthday is a national holiday and is celebrated every April 29th.

28. Mount Fuji is privately owned. In the Shintaist temple of Hongyu Sengen, a donation from 1609 was preserved, with which the Shogun transferred the mountain into the possession of the temple. In 1974, the authenticity of the donation was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Japan, after which he had no other choice but to transfer the mountain to the property of the temple. Because property rights in Japan are inviolable.

29. The Japanese language consists of several levels of politeness: colloquial, respectful, polite, and very polite. Women almost always speak in a respectful form of the language, men in colloquial.

30. Seven percent of the male population of Japan is Hikkikomori. Seven!!!

31. In Japanese, months do not have names, instead they are indicated by serial numbers. For example, September is 九月 (kugatsu), which means "ninth month".

32. Before Japan opened up to the west, the only word to describe romantic sympathy was 恋 (koi), literally meaning "irresistible attraction to something unattainable."

33. Japan is a mono-ethnic country, 98.4% of the total population are ethnic Japanese.

35. Dolphins are eaten in Japan. They make soup, cook kushiyaki (Japanese kebab), and even eat it raw. The dolphin has rather tasty meat, with a pronounced taste and completely unlike fish.

36. There are practically no personal pronouns in the Japanese language, and those words that are sometimes used as pronouns have at least one more meaning. In Russian, for example, the pronoun "I" does not mean anything but "I", and in Japanese 私 (vatashi, I) also means "private, personal"; 貴方 (anata, you) - "my master". It is polite to use “anata” only at the first meeting, then it is customary to address the interlocutor by name or position.

37. Tokyo is the safest metropolis in the world. Tokyo is so safe that six-year-olds take public transportation on their own. This is fantasy actually.

38. The Japanese consider the outside world very dangerous and are afraid to travel. So a Japanese woman friend once asked me if it would be too dangerous for her to stay alone in the Kensington Gardens area of ​​London. They consider the United States the most dangerous country.

39. The ninth article of the Japanese constitution forbids the country to have its own army and participate in wars.

40. In Japan, the school year begins on the first of April and is divided into trimesters. Schoolchildren study from April to July, then September to December and from January to March.

41. There are no garbage cans in Japan, as all garbage is recycled. Waste is divided into four types: glass, incinerable, recyclable and non-incinerable garbage. Each type of waste is taken out on a specific day and it can be thrown away only on strictly allotted dates. There is a large fine for violating the procedure, in my house it is one hundred thousand yen (about a thousand dollars).

42. There are also no trash cans on the streets at all, only special bins for collecting bottles. An illustrative example of what is clean where they do not crap.

43. Japan has very low pensions. The maximum social allowance for distressed old people is 30,000 yen, which is about three hundred dollars. There is also no compulsory pension insurance, it is assumed that every Japanese must take care of his old age himself.

44. Godzilla (Japanese for Gojira) is not an accidental name. This is a portmanteau of the words "Gorilla" and "Kujira" (whale). One can only guess how they interbred so that a reptile turned out.

45. Transport in Japan is very expensive, the cheapest subway ticket will cost 140 yen (50 rubles).

46. ​​In Japan, men are always served first. In a restaurant, a man is the first to place an order, and the drink is brought to him first. In stores, they always greet the man first.

47. The Japanese drive big cars. City cars are impossible to meet even in close Tokyo, but there are a lot of jeeps.

48. For all the time in Japan, I have not seen a single toilet without heating the toilet seat and with less than 10 buttons. I recently discovered that the toilet in my house can make the sound of running water to hide, uh, its own sounds.

49. Everyone in Japan knows that Hello Kitty comes from England.

50. Tipping is strictly not accepted in Japan. It is believed that as long as the client pays the appointed price for the service, he remains on an equal footing with the seller. If the buyer tries to leave extra money, he thereby devalues ​​the service / product provided to him, reducing the equal exchange to handouts.

51. During the year of my life in Japan, I have never encountered manifestations of racism against myself. I think it's very cool.

52. Japan is the best country in the world.

53. Japanese MTV is running the popular series Usavich, a cartoon about two birds with one stone, Putin and Kiriyenko, trying to survive in a police state.

54. The age of consent in Japan is 13.

55. Japan is three times the size of England. The area of ​​Japan is 374,744 km², England 130,410 km².

56. Japan is often cited as an example of an overpopulated country. In fact, Japan's population density is only 360 people per square kilometer. This is less than in England, where there are 383 people per square kilometer.

57. In Japanese, the words "wrong" and "different" are denoted by the same word 違う (chigau).

58. Things have taken root in Japan that seemed to be the future twenty years ago, and today leave a strange retro-futuristic impression. Automatic taxi doors, vending machines selling everything from fruit to soups to used underpants. Fantastically shaped trains and funny fashion. All this is very cool.

59. The Japanese word 御来光 (goraiko) describes the sunrise seen from Mount Fuji. There are many capacious words in Japanese.

60. Hitler admired the integrity of the Japanese nation and called them "honorary Aryans". In apartheid South Africa, the Japanese were the only ones who weren't disenfranchised because they were considered "honorary whites".

61. In Japan, on Valentine's Day, girls show sympathy and give gifts. I won’t tell you what this tradition is connected with, but today it performs an important social function: it allows girls to say “yes” without waiting until a Japanese man has the courage to approach her.

62. There is no looting in Japan. If you type “looting in japan” into Google, you will only find tens of thousands of surprised foreigners who cannot understand why empty houses are not robbed in Japan.

63. The Japanese hardly speak English, but they use a fantastic amount of anglicisms. Alex Case tried to make a list, counted over 5000 words and got tired of continuing (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) At the same time, their Japanese pronunciation distorts them so much that you can not hope to understand them, or that they will understand you if you pronounce the word with the original accent.

64. Few people know that the words “wata”, “pollock” and “washi” are borrowed from Japanese. About the "tsunami" and "typhoon", I think everyone knows.

65. Japanese also has borrowings from Russian. The words イクラ "ikura; caviar” and ノルマ “noruma; norm". There is also a funny expression “ヴ・ナロード” “woo people; to the people”, it was inherited from Alexander II.

66. Japan has the death penalty. Eight criminals were executed in Japan last year. The last two executions were attended by the Minister of Justice of Japan.

67. Japan has the lowest homicide rate and the lowest violent crime rate per 100,000 population of all countries analyzed. It has the highest average life expectancy in the world.

68. Tokyo has one of the largest gay areas in the world, Shinjuku-Ni-Chome. It has the largest concentration of gay bars in the world.

69. Japanese and Chinese characters are the same. There are regional differences: there are more characters in Chinese and in a simplified form they are written differently. But knowing Japanese, you can understand the general meaning of Chinese signs.

70. Instead of a signature in Japan, they put a special nominal seal of hanko. Every Japanese has such a seal and it is used many, many times a day. You can also buy it at any store.

71. Japan is the only country in the world where the criterion for a train being late is a minute mark.

72. In Japan, it is considered impolite to open a gift in front of the giver. They thank him for it, after which they set aside to open it in private.

73. The Japanese believe that a person should be able to hide suffering behind a smile. There is even a saying 顔で笑って心で泣く (kao de waratte kokoro de naku; smile while you suffer inside).

74. The Japanese are a nation of very passionate people. If they do something, they strive for complete authenticity. So, in all French bakeries, Japanese inscriptions are duplicated in French. In the Italian gelateria, the ice cream will be signed in Italian, and in the Spanish restaurant, the menu will be in Spanish. In English, however, there will be nothing. Sometimes it seems that for them it is just “another European language”.

75. In Japan, property rights are strictly observed, so there are dozens of companies with more than a thousand years of history. For example, the Hoshi Ryokan Inn has been in continuous operation since 718. It has been run by the same family for 46 generations (sic!).

76. Tanuki - wayward Japanese werewolf animals that bring happiness and prosperity. Their eggs are a traditional symbol of good luck. The canonical happiest tanuki has an egg area of ​​8 tatami, which is 12 meters. In case of trouble, they bear retribution with them. Studio Ghibli has a wonderful Pom Poko cartoon about them, check it out.

77. Two-thirds of Japan is covered with forests. Japan bans commercial logging of its own forests, but it consumes 40% of all timber that comes from the rainforest.

78. For 10 years, from 1992 to 2002, Japan was the largest donor of international aid in the world. This is by the way to everyone who is now gloating over the Japanese misfortune.

79. When the conductor enters the next car of a high-speed train, he always takes off his hat and bows, and only then begins to check the tickets.

80. In Japan, the third way was successful, which we have been looking for for a long time and will never find. Here is a unique organization of society: on the one hand, a completely Western legal state, on the other, a distinctive culture that lives not only by traditions, but is constantly evolving. I don't understand why no one in Russia studies the Japanese experience.