When a foreigner goes to Japan, especially for an extended period of time rather than a brief visit as a tourist, they usually start to ask why? about everything they see. Why do the Japanese love aloe flavored yogurt so much? Why do Hello Kitty melons sometimes cost thousands of dollars? Why is it bad luck to sleep with one’s head pointed north, and how is it that the Japanese are the cleanest people on the planet yet when you go into a public restroom there’s usually an old, gross cup by the sink, inviting you to take a drink of water? When confronted with these questions, Japanese often don’t have a good answer, perhaps because these things have always been around them all their lives and are thus taken for granted, or perhaps (as I’ve been told by a Japanese friend), they don’t think all that deeply about their own society. The confused feeling when a foreigner asks “why?” about some aspect of Japan is one the Japanese staff of J-List knows all too well, I’m afraid, since I often bounce the strangest questions off them when I’m researching these little updates I write.
Foreigners often ask “why?” about what they see in Japan.
