I was quite surprised to see a very long list of interesting things about Japan. I’ve read most of them in other resources, but some sound like generalizations n my opinion. I also did my research about the “blue” traffic light and it is indeed true. It is because of adjective form aoi (??)) -a Japanese color word which includes blue and green.
I decided to compile a list of those that caught my attention.
- Sometimes the trains are so crowded railway staff are employed to cram passengers inside.
- Tokyo has had 24 recorded instances of people either killed or receiving serious skull fractures while bowing to each other with the traditional Japanese greeting.
- The term karaoke means “empty orchestra” in Japanese.
- It was customary in ancient Japan for women to blacken their teeth with dye as white teeth were considered ugly. This practice persisted until the late 1800′s.
- A can of Coca-Cola costs more than one dollar US from a vending machine.
- Japanese people, in general, can’t drive very well.
- At many businesses in Japan, they offer alcohol to the employees after six pm.
- On Respect for the Aged Day, tobacco companies will hand out free cigarettes to the elderly outside of train stations and department stores.
- The Japanese love corn, sesame seeds, and mayonnaise on their pizza.
- There are no 24 hour ATMs in Japan (closed on holidays and many only open during normal bank hours).
- The green traffic light is called “blue”.
- Slurp your soup.
- Newspaper editors make their headlines so as to not attract attention.
- KFC is the place to be on Christmas Day.
- In the Japanese language, it is considered rude to say the word “no” directly.
- You can buy batteries, beer, wine, condoms, cigarettes, comic books, hot dogs, light bulbs, and used women’s underwear from vending machines.
- Gas station attendants will bow as the car pulls out of the station.
- McDonalds employees will run outside to give you your drive-thru order.
Image from tinisanto
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Posted February 27th, 2012 by Anna | Comment (0)
