I’ve learned some things about the Japanese people during my time here, which I thought I’d share with you. First, they really, really love to eat goma (sesame seeds), and healthy goma flavored foods are everywhere here, from salad dressing to the sesame seed flavored snacks J-List sells. Japanese people tend to be very humble, and will often vehemently deny any compliment you give them, no matter how true it is. The Japanese learned the gesture of “flipping the bird” relatively recently, and it’s common for people here to point out locations to you on a map using their middle finger, a gesture which would be interpreted as rude by Americans if we thought they were doing it on purpose (they’re not). Japanese assume every Westerner they meet speaks English, and is very outgoing and genki, saying “Oh my God!” or “Unbelievable!” several times per day. They also assume every English speaker knows every word ever coined, and when I go to the doctor he’s visibly disappointed when I’m unfamiliar with the difficult medical terms he’s trying to use.
Japanese expect gaijin to know every English word.
