Join Our Newsletter
  • Visit Our Store
  • Come Write for J-List!
J-List Blog
Visit J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
No Result
View All Result

Things Japanese people don’t like: living next to North Korea

Peter Payne by Peter Payne
10 years ago
in Your Friend in Japan

Though I enjoy living in Japan, there are some downsides, too. Being cold in the winter because houses here lack central heating. Learning to keep calm during earthquakes. Paying $35 for a large pizza because it’s considered an “exotic” food here, like sushi in the U.S. is. Then there’s that “living next to the most psychotic country in the world” thing…

North Korea is definitely one of the least fun nations to live next to. They shoot missiles, I mean “peaceful satellites,” over the Japanese mainland, and from 1977 to 1983 kidnapped a dozen Japanese citizens to serve as language teachers to spies, including a 13-year-old girl named Megumi Yokota. North Korea’s state-run industries include manufacturing amphetamines for smuggling into Japan and counterfeiting Japanese yen and U.S. dollars on a massive scale. Recently North Korea has been exporting something new: “ghost ships” full of dead fisherman, which drift into Japanese waters weeks or months after their occupants die of exposure. While you might think of North Koreans as not being a part of daily life in Japan, I used to see them every day back when I was a teacher, thanks to the high number of North Koreans in J-List’s home prefecture of Gunma — I even had a few as students. These are people born in and often largely acculturated to Japan, but who maintain North Korean citizenship for historical or cultural reasons that are probably beyond our ability to comprehend.

Coming to live in Japan means remapping some of the English words in your brain to fit the way the Japanese use them. Sometimes it’s little things, like the way “juice” is used to refer to any canned or bottled drink including tea or cola, or a winter scarf being called a “muffler,” or the way a “bike” always refers to a motorcycle and never to a bicycle, as it might in my own dialect of English (California). If you’re hungry, have a “sand” (what sandwich is often shortened to) or perhaps some “ice” (ice cream), and if you work very hard you might be able to buy a “mansion” (a high-end condominium that’s owned rather than rented). In some cases words may seem odd to Americans because they were brought over from England, such as a sedan being referred to as a “saloon” or way a bathroom/restroom is referred to rather directly as “the toilet.” The Japanese famously use the word pantsu to mean underwear rather than its North American meaning of external trousers, also.

J-List is having an awesome EMS sale this month, with $25 taken off your order when you buy $100 or more and choose speedy, fully trackable EMS as your shipping method. You can choose from awesome Japanese snacks, amazing cosplay and apparel items, or go for some of J-List’s world-famous “naughty” products, which are all part of the sale.

Tags: cosplayfoodJapanLife in JapanpantsuUSA

More Posts Like This

Camera Angles In Anime
Your Friend in Japan

Yandere Meets Instant Noodles! Anime Marketing with Seiyuu Saori Hayami

by Peter Payne
7 months ago

Last week X lit up with the hashtag #早見沙織, or #HayamiSaori. Being a huge fan of anime voice actress Hayami...

How Do Japanese View U.s. Elections
Your Friend in Japan

Elections in Japan vs The US! How Does Japan View American Politics?

by Peter Payne
8 months ago

Have you been following the big election? Not the US election that happens tomorrow. I'm talking about the Japanese General...

What Products Should You Get On The J List Sale Page

Senpai, Want to Save Some Money? Browse the J-list Sale Page!

9 months ago
Say Goodbye To Summer With J List $20 Coupon

Goodbye, Anime Summer! Enjoy A New $20 Coupon!

10 months ago
Is A Nankai Megathrust Coming? Japan On Edge After Last Week's Earthquake

Is a Nankai Megathrust Coming? Japan on Edge after Last Week’s Earthquake

10 months ago
Why Do You Watch Anime Plot

Why Do You Watch Anime? Let’s Ask J-List Customers!

11 months ago
Next Post

"Baka" Japanese who can't write kanji...

Trending Today

Stellar Blade Cosplay
Featured

The Hottest Stellar Blade Cosplay—Just Before the PC Release

6 days ago
Yandere Dark Elf Episode 1 Featured Image
Featured

Yandere Dark Elf, Episode 1 — Love Heavier than Chocolate Melons!

2 months ago
The Top 11 Anime Sex Scenes Blog
Your Friend in Japan

Happy Sex Day! Let’s Rank the 11 Most Surprising Ecchi Scenes in Anime

1 week ago
The Top 10 Jav Actresses Article
Your Friend in Japan

The Top 10 JAV Actresses to Browse During J-List’s Sale!

4 days ago
Spring 2025 Ecchi Anime Web Cover
News

Spring 2025 Ecchi Anime and Where to Watch Them

3 months ago
Get the Newest Figures from J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
Megami Magazine And The History Of Anime Poster Magazines
Your Friend in Japan

Anime Posters and Pantsu: How Megami Magazine Shaped 25 Years of Otaku Culture

by Peter Payne
June 16, 2025

Anime Posters and Pantsu: How Megami Magazine Shaped 25 Years of Otaku Culture

The Kanako Tateshiba 1/5.5 Figure Is a Pettanko Lover’s Dream

Legends Return in Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers

Let’s Check Out The New Rikka Ono Photobook FIVE LIVE

Haite Kudasai, Takamine-san, Episode 7 — Peeking Through the Thin Veil

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Discord
  • YouTube

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.