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Notes on Japan

Over the past year, I have visited Japan three times. In this post, I share some observations I took during my trips. Notes on Introversion I often heard ‘Japan is a great country for introverts’ I agree, it is eye contact is rare going to a restaurant or the movies alone is normal people mind their own business however, that does not mean most Japanese people are introverts instead, I found they want to be polite and not disturb others furthermore, most of they time they are just ‘busy’ or immersed in some form of entertainment (manga, anime, games…) for example, when riding the train, everyone either looks at their phone, manga or sleeps Notes on Talking to Japanese People few Japanese people speak English if you want to talk to Japanese people, you should be at least conversational in Japanese striking up casual conversations in Cafes or other public places is not very typical during the day most people are ‘busy’ doing something (-> Notes on Introversion) i felt that it was ‘weird’ talking to someone you don’t know without a reason caveat: my Japanese talking ability is probably also a factor Notes on being a Foreigner (“外国人”) Japan is the country with the lowest ethnical diversity (2.

I often heard ‘Japan is a great country for introverts’ I agree, it is eye contact is rare going to a restaurant or the movies alone is normal people mind their own business before visiting Japan, people told me that I will be stared at a lot, because I’m caucasian and from Europe I found that not to be the case maybe it is because of the points listed in Notes on Introversion or because the Japanese have gotten used to tourists from abroad however, this probably depends on where you plan to visit in bigger cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto…) none bats an eye in rural areas, you will get more looks visiting (clothing) stores is unexpectedly ‘noisy’ you will hear the employees yelling all sorts of phrases, most of which you can safely ignore

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