Reverse culture shock

[SugoiBoy]

Visiting the states at the moment. It’s only my second time back since moving to Japan several years ago. Just like during my previous trip, I’ve been dealing with a fair bit of reverse culture shock.

Here’s an example. The other day I saw a plus sized mannequin. I had never noticed before that body positivity now extends beyond humans. Only in America?

 

[Thurman]

Haha, accuracy in advertising. I don't think it's all that new though.

 

[MrDuBois]

It's been almost a month since I came back to Germany and the reverse culture shock is real. Some of the stuff in Japan I just took for granted;

• No smoking unless in areas that allow it. Sure, in Japan people would sometimes smoke everywhere but 99% of the time if it's banned on sidewalks, you do not see anyone smoking. I almost forgot what cigarette smoke smells like and now I remembered it's disgusting.
• Not having an IC card that I can use for almost everything, without having to worry about anything other than it being charged.
• No public toilets around seemingly every corner
• No easy way to get something to drink on the fly. In Japan there's a vending machine everywhere, even in the middle of the fucking mountains in Gifu where I didn't see humans for like a solid hour and a half, I found vending machines.
• Worst of all: the toilets. My god is taking a shit annoying now. Feels barbaric to wipe with toilet paper to get clean instead of having a nice stream hit my ass.

And people just generally being less "friendly". Now I know that the Japanese friendliness may just be fake at times but overall people there are just nicer.

 

[SugoiBoy]

Haha, accuracy in advertising. I don't think it's all that new though.

Maybe so. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually lived in the states.

 

[SugoiBoy]

A sign of the times in America these days. Of course, I’ve never seen a sign like this back in Japan.

 

[SugoiBoy]

I’m still visiting the USA, but I’ll be heading back to Japan in a few days. Here are some things that have struck me about the states these days:

TSA is still making people take their shoes and belts off. WTF! The would be shoe bomber wasn’t even successful. And, like, that was how many years ago now…

The American “war on cash” continues. I’m being forced to use credit cards here much more than I care to.
While I can understand why businesses don’t want to handle cash for various reasons, it is inconvenient for customers like me who prefer to use cash.

Related to the previous point, I don’t like people asking for my email address, phone number, or zip code during what should be simple retail transactions.

The whole tipping culture has gotten out of hand especially considering how bad customer service sometimes is in the USA. That said, one does occasionally get good customer service in the states. It’s weird being asked to tip when, say, all someone might have done is to sell you a slice of pizza from a counter.

Beyond tipping, being asked if you want to make a donation to this or that charity at the cash register annoys me. I prefer to separate philanthropy from shopping.

Public transportation is really limited. So, I‘ve rented a car. Still sometimes need to remember which side of the road to drive on!

I’d be curious about other people’s experiences with going back to their homelands after living in Japan.

 

[Negi77]

When I came back home to the states I had to adapt to not letting everyone know I 'm going home. My first job back I just kinda stood there and a coworker was wondering if I was okay. I told her back in Japan I would have to apologize for leaving before anyone and she laughed and said just go home.

I would say customer service is better at least where I live. Tipping is getting out of hand though. Oh and the all the shootings. So many shootings. I don't want to get into a firearm ownership debate here but it's fucking crazy how many people are killed by guns here.

 

[MikeH]

If you think paying with your credit card with no cash option is bad then how about being forced to use a smart phone application as the only payment option?

And of course the said application says "not available in your country" when you try to install it.

 

[SquidCity]

The American “war on cash” continues. I’m being forced to use credit cards here much more than I care to.

On the opposite side of that fence, I was pleasantly surprised when my boonies post office finally adapted cashless payments

 

[newbie]

I’d be curious about other people’s experiences with going back to their homelands after living in Japan.

I got sick on the flight back to the US last time. I ordered some food via DoorDash, I left clear instructions to leave it by my door because I was sick. When the food arrived I got a call "I'm here", I politely asked him to bring it upstairs, he sighed and hung up. Soon after I hear a thud at my door, he had thrown the food at my door spilling it all over the hallway. Not only did I not get my food but I had to clean it up, lol. I was like "yep, back in America".

 

[SugoiBoy]

Here are some more observations.

A casualty from America’s “War on Cash” is being able to use $100 bills. Some places won’t take them at all. Others will only accept them if you’ve spent well over $50 at the establishment in question. Back in Japan, the corner store in my neighborhood will readily accept a 10,000 yen note even for a small purchase. (Technically, 10,000 yen might only be worth around $70 at the moment, but I still think of it as being the rough psychological equivalent of $100.)

Although I don’t miss food models, I do miss the “sumimasen” bells/buttons found at many restaurants in Japan. I haven’t seen anything like that in the states. Too bad the concept hasn’t caught on stateside.

The lack of washlet toilets is bad enough, but American public restrooms can be downright disgusting at times.

Something that can be either good or bad depending upon one’s perspective, is the presence of legal marijuana dispensaries in certain parts of the country.

On a positive note, June is Pride Month. I’m glad that sexual minorities are being accepted at least to some extent. Of course, there’s still prejudice. But, I don’t want to wade into America’s “culture wars” here on TAG.

 

[SugoiBoy]

One more thing I noticed is the scarcity of vending machines in the states when compared to Japan. Perhaps because of concerns about potential vandalism, they just aren’t so common here.

 

[SquidCity]

If vending machines were more popular in the US, I’m sure one of the items would just be bare sugar

 

[tkthedk]

To add onto the vending machines. The amount of trash cans we have in the US is insane, yet no one knows how to use them still.

 

[SugoiBoy]

Yes, I have at times. I suspect those policies are mostly aimed at keeping homeless people out.

 

[SugoiBoy]

Another difference is recycling. Occasionally, Japan seems to go a bit overboard with recycling. Yet, in some parts of America there’s hardly any recycling at all.

 

[Alice]

No public toilets around seemingly every corner

I hate the public toilet situation (or better said lack thereof) in Europe, and it’s even worse for women.
Then again I do hate the lack of trash cans in Japan, but I’d choose no trash cans over no toilets any day.

 

[Alice]

America’s “War on Cash”

Europe is even worse sadly. The EU seems to have a plan to really ban all cash and other currencies that they can’t completely control in the future and only use government controlled digital money. Disgusting.

 

[MikeH]

Europe is even worse sadly. The EU seems to have a plan to really ban all cash and other currencies that they can’t completely control in the future and only use government controlled digital money. Disgusting.

Yeah, it's way more convenient and faster to use digital payments instead of cash. I mean for the governments of course, they can start taxing all monetary events in real time.

 

[SquidCity]

I mean for the governments of course, they can start taxing all monetary events in real time.

Wait, don’t they already do that?