There are some fundamental differences between Japan and the U.S. which I like to explore from time to time. The Japanese love to eat white rice with every meal, plus ‘sealed’ sandwiches with the crusts cut off and apples with the skin removed, which makes them roughage-challenged and (for females) usually chronically constipated. They are also generally thin: I weigh 100 kg / 220 lbs, and it’s a rare thing for me to see a Japanese who’s bigger than me, unless it’s down in Ochanomizu in Tokyo where sumo wrestlers can be seen riding trains. My high school in San Diego went from grade 8 through 12, and I remember taking Spanish 101 with students several years older than me, though this would be unthinkable in Japanese schools, where barriers are always maintained between senpai and kouhai. Finally, the Japanese don’t have any meaningful profanity in their language. The “S” word (kuso) is used on children’s TV all the time and no one thinks anything about it, and looking back, raising kids without having to fret about what words they might be picking up was rather pleasant. The only “bad” word in Japan is the “C” word, manko, also known as “the bane of foreigners ordering mango juice from a pretty waitress” because they’re doomed to make a Freudian slip sooner or later. Can you think of any other core differences between America and Japan?
Considering some differences between Japan and America.
