One hundred facts about Japan. I saw this at teh_nomad and tried translating the whole thing for a Japanese guy who studies with me. To my surprise, he confirmed all of it, including the high-school girls’ underwear part. At points 65, 66, and 67 he actually started laughing. So yes, nosebleeds are funny. And then he even asked me: “Wait, wouldn’t you get a nosebleed if you ate too much chocolate?” At fact 85 it became obvious that my Japanese guy is not just Japanese — he’s a Japanese guy from Yale. He started insisting that it was awful and that he personally would never say anything like that. But then he admitted that, well, yes, people do say it. When, while discussing fact 90, I said that in Russia people don’t walk around the house in outdoor shoes either, he was just amazed and, I think, became a Russophile. Update. The author of the original post is kdemon Japanese people are insanely hardworking. They can easily work 18 hours a day without a lunch break, then go out drinking at a bar, sleep for 2 hours, and go right back to work. They can work 24 hours straight, then drive 300 km (about 186 miles), and work another 10 hours there. Japanese people don’t know how to relax: taking 4 days off in a row counts as a vacation. Taking the full 3 weeks a year you’re entitled to is considered bad form. Leaving work on time is also considered bad form. Japanese people rarely look muscular, but they’re often physically strong anyway; their muscle-mass-to-strength ratio seems off. Most Japanese people turn red from alcohol and can’t drink much, though there are some amazing exceptions. For some reason, most Japanese people draw well and sing well. If a Japanese person eats lunch at their desk in the office, not continuing to work while eating is considered bad form. It’s considered perfectly normal for a man in his forties to happily tell his coworkers that he managed to catch a glimpse of a high-school girl’s underwear on the subway today. Japanese people sincerely believe their language is almost impossible to learn, so they have great respect for anyone who can even just say hello in Japanese. If you go drinking with Japanese people in an informal setting, and the only thing you can say in their language is “hello,” after a while they’ll start teaching you words like “willy” and “poop.” Japanese has no swear words stronger than “fool” or “idiot.” The force of emotion is conveyed through intonation and volume. Japanese people are very honest — if you forget an umbrella on the subway, there’s a 99 percent chance it’ll be returned if you check the lost and found. They used to return wallets with money in them too, and hardly stole at all. Not anymore. Japanese people always follow instructions to the letter and get very lost if there’s an error in them. In Japan, oral and anal sex are not legally considered sex. Paid sex is banned, so all prostitutes invite you for a massage, a wash, and oral sex instead. Deep kissing is part of the paid service. Every major city publishes a monthly guide magazine to brothels. By the way, there’s almost no sole proprietorship in this line of business. White people usually aren’t allowed into brothels where Japanese women work. Places with Chinese or Filipino women will usually let them in just fine. Porn is shown in all hotels without exception. Japanese people go to love hotels with hourly rates to have sex. Love hotels vary in quality; some are just fantastic, and they’re always located either on the outskirts or near nightlife/drinking districts. Japanese people are very clean — every last one of them washes daily. Personal hygiene is basically elevated to top priority. At the same time, many people’s homes are a total mess, but outsiders normally never get in there, so you don’t see it. For a Japanese person, washing means taking a bath; a shower is only a half-measure. Here’s the paradox: no matter how many people there are in the family, everyone takes a bath without changing the water (though they do shower first). Often that water is then used for laundry. Children usually bathe together with their parents until around age 8, though there are exceptions both ways. Japanese people adore hot springs and public baths. In Japanese families, it’s basically normal for an adult brother and sister not to speak at all and not even know each other’s phone numbers — without actually being on bad terms. In Japan, you can go to prison for any amount of any drug. If a Japanese person goes to Amsterdam, smokes there, and another Japanese person sees it and reports them, the first one can go to prison. Marijuana grows wild in many mountain areas, and in autumn the police often pay attention to cars with out-of-town plates in such places. Pipes and hookahs for smoking marijuana and hashish can be bought everywhere. To Japanese people, any white person in Japan is an American first, then maybe English or French. Japanese has three writing systems. Until recently, mushrooms were not considered drugs and were sold freely. The speed limit on highways is 80 km/h (about 50 mph), but everyone drives 120 km/h (about 75 mph), because they usually don’t stop you below 120. The minimum fine for speeding is $150; the maximum is prison. You can’t bribe Japanese police officers “on the spot,” but out in the middle of nowhere you can sometimes talk your way out of it by playing dumb. If you’re caught for something serious, they have the right to hold you in pretrial detention for 30 days without letting you see a lawyer. All Japanese cars on the domestic market, regardless of power, have speed limiters set to 180 or 140 km/h (about 112 or 87 mph), and matching speedometers. This isn’t required by law, and there’s no real reason for it. Speedometers that go up to 320 and devices to remove the limiter are sold freely. Japanese people are obsessed with food and know it well. The main goal of the overwhelming majority when traveling abroad isn’t to see anything — it’s to eat something and then brag about it. Seventy percent of TV programs show food. Japanese people make incredible documentaries; their camera work is amazing. Japanese people give money as gifts for any occasion — weddings, funerals, getting into college, long trips, and so on. Giving less than $50 is the height of bad manners; usually they give $100. If someone gave you money before a trip and you didn’t bring back any gift, you’re basically a piece of crap. You can bring back absolutely anything as a gift, though usually people bring food. You don’t have to bring back a gift worth the amount you were given. I usually buy something in the $20 range and everyone’s happy. On New Year’s, Japanese people gather with family at their parents’ home and spend three days eating and watching TV. One Japanese person can eat an absolutely INSANE amount of food regardless of body size. There’s nothing worse than having to work on January 1: nobody does anything that day and everything is closed, though lately big stores and so on have been tending to ignore this. In Japan, you can always find a 24-hour store anywhere, and it has EVERYTHING. Japan is still the safest country in the world. Japanese people are wildly naive and believe almost anything. In Japanese cities, all the bars are usually concentrated in one district. If you go out drinking, spending the whole night in one place is practically sacrilege — you absolutely have to go to at least three. After a late-night drinking session in the city, you’re supposed to go eat something, usually ramen. Almost no Japanese person can say “I love you” directly to the object of their affection. Those who can earn wild respect from everyone else. Japanese people are terribly shy and easily embarrassed. This applies more to older generations today, but when a Japanese person proposes, it’s normal to say something like “Would you cook soup for me?” or “Can you wash my laundry?” because otherwise they’re too embarrassed. Most middle-aged and older married couples sleep in separate beds and sometimes even separate rooms. If a hotel room has one bed for two people instead of two beds, Japanese people often complain to the management or the travel agency. Japan used to be insanely expensive. That’s no longer true. Eighty percent of Japanese women start laughing when they’re nervous. If you decide you want to be someone’s boyfriend or girlfriend, you have to officially say so — something like “Please, let’s go out!” If they reject you, you’re not supposed to try again. If there was no official declaration, then you’re just sex friends with no mutual obligations. Breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend also has to be done officially, by stating it outright. Until recently, a husband’s regular visits to prostitutes were considered a normal and inevitable evil; this applies much less to young modern Japanese people. In a family, the wife manages the money (if she doesn’t work), and the husband gets a monthly allowance from his salary for personal expenses — in an average family, usually around $300. In Japan, people believe that if you get sexually overexcited, your nose will start bleeding. In Japan, people believe that if you eat too much chocolate, your nose will start bleeding. Nosebleeds are funny. In Japan, just an INSANELY HUGE amount of money gets wasted. All Japanese people are insured against everything possible. If you end up in an accident or in the hospital without insurance, you’re screwed. In Japan, you can defer payment of some taxes and mandatory health insurance for “family and economic reasons.” Health insurance is calculated based on your income from the previous year and can reach $500 a month, while covering only 70% of medical expenses. Service in Japan is fantastically polite; after experiencing it, service staff anywhere else in the world seem rude. Japanese people almost never say thank you to female cashiers in supermarkets. Female cashiers in supermarkets always bow and work only while standing. A store employee will never tell you “no” right away; they’ll either lead you around the store looking for something they know perfectly well isn’t there, or report to a superior, who after the tour of the store will say, “Sorry, we have never carried that item at all.” Japan has the slowest McDonald’s in the world. There are lots of informers/snitches in Japan. Most Japanese people criticize Japan. Many young Japanese people say they want to live abroad and don’t want to be Japanese. Abroad, Japanese people always stick together in groups. Japan has a huge number of women who are fans of soccer and, for some reason, hockey. Japanese people often feel self-conscious about their physique. In private conversations, Japanese people often say that China is a powerhouse and Japan is screwed. Japanese people look down on Chinese and Vietnamese people. Just as in Russia people say, “Why are you acting like a Chukchi?” (an ethnic stereotype used as an insult), in Japan they say, “What are you, Chinese?” Having a non-Japanese friend is prestigious in a way, and young people brag about it. If you speak Japanese well, people will definitely praise you for it and tell everyone that you’re actually Japanese wearing colored contact lenses and dyed hair — it’s a common joke. Some young Japanese people wear colored contact lenses, usually gray, blue, or purple. It looks terrifying. In Japan, fashions for absolutely anything appear and disappear faster than anywhere else in the world. For example, there’ll be a craze for chameleons or koalas, and then everything with their image sells instantly. Or for negative ions, or desalinated deep-sea water. The boom usually lasts no more than a year, makes no sense, and three years later people barely remember it — but enormous amounts of money get made. In all homes, many hospitals, half of restaurants, and some offices, you have to take off your shoes. So your socks should always be hole-free. If you take off your shoes, you have to turn them so the toes point toward the exit; otherwise it’s impolite. If you don’t do it, the host or staff will do it for you. Right after the front door there’s a place for taking off shoes; stepping there in your socks while trying to pull on your sneakers is terribly impolite, because it’s dirty. Japanese people take off and put on shoes with incredible speed. Japanese people think other countries are very scary and dangerous. Lately, this scam has been popular in Japan: an elderly woman’s phone rings at home, and when she answers, someone says, “It’s me! I’m in deep trouble with money! I’m screwed!” She says, “Who?” and they reply, “It’s me, it’s me! Don’t you recognize me? I’m in trouble — hurry and transfer me about five thousand dollars!” And grandma transfers the money to the specified account. It kills me that they actually manage to believe this; that’s only possible in Japan. Last year, Japan Post lost about $4 million; the money simply “disappeared,” according to their press release. Sad as it is, foreigners are spoiling Japan. Japanese people almost never invite guests to their homes. An invitation like “drop by sometime” should in most cases be understood as nothing more than a polite turn of phrase. In Japan, most houses and apartments are cold and cramped.