KOKOGA HEN DAYO NIHONJIN

KOKOGA HEN DAYO NIHONJIN
(“Japanese, ye guys r weird”)

There was a TV show with the above title aired for quite a while until 3-4 years ago. A number of non-Japanese people (except for those born and raised in Japan) living in Japan were invited to the studio as panelists and discussed about dozens and hundreds of topics on culture and custom of Japan that appeared weird to them. It was a very funny show. It wasn’t like a formal stiff show at all but had a lot of honest opinions and comments portrayed in a comical manner.

Well it’s been quite a while since the show had disappeared and I’m just curious to know what kinds of habits and manners of Japan and Japanese people amaze/ surprise/ stun/ shock/ etc. you? OR is asking this question already really Japanesey?

Japanese people like to compare other people with yourself a lot, down to the littlest facts. There are rankings for a bunch of things, and numbers for a lot of things. Some don’t care so much about the numbers they have, but some are over-conscious about ranks and lists and numbers that they suffer to hell. If we could all live in a more easygoing lifestyle, the top-of-the-industrialized-countries (by a loooong shot) suicide rate could drop a bit.

Let me say this, though. There must be a load of things that are understood wrongly from the original or the true meanings and reality. I’m not trying to correct all the misunderstandings or discuss about them, but I just wanted to let you know and also wanted to know how people outside of Japan view us. I mean, I’m sure there are many things that I just don’t see or never gave a thought to because I’m a Japanese from the core. Let me here some opinions :-)