There is a saying: When in Rome, do what the Romans do. Same concept applies here in Japan. Certain behaviour and mannerism that my husband deem as a norm leaves me scratching my head in puzzlement at times. I am trying to be mindful and alert not to offend others but as you know... old habits die hard so if you ever bump into me in person please do not take offence to it. Anyway i always have a "referee" beside me, ready to blew his whistle and flash his yellow card at me any time.
1）
Speed limit VS local speed limit
All of you know what is a speed limit right?! If the sign stated 40km, that means you cannot drive beyond the stated limit isn't it? Not my area....... To locals, it means you have to drive 10km above whatever is stated. So in this instance, they will expect you to drive at 50km. This is a grey zone that traffic police will not penalise you if you drive within the range. Of course in busy streets or main district, it is better to obey the limit but once you are out of safe zone, everyone speed and they expects you to do the same otherwise either you can overtaken constantly or being tail gate.
Newbie driver is no exception! How nerve wreaking!
2) Agreement is not acceptance
Japanese are terrible in rejections. They will never say no out-rightly to the invitations. They always appear to be agreeing to your plans but as the date approaches... suddenly they go missing before or on that actual day and your messages and calls are not reply, you sure know that you are being rejected and they are not interested in joining your activities. Do not make them feel burden by your numerous confirmation otherwise they might drop you as a friend since you obviously could not read their signs well.
If they are keen, they will contact you again or take initiative to make plans with you instead of merely nodding their head.
3) Home clothes is a major NONO outside
Being a Singaporean, it means you can get away wearing casual clothes in most of occasions. You can wear your tank top with shorts in your slippers or crocs to shopping centre, cafes or even parties. Here if you ever try to do it, they won't frown directly at you but secretly steal glances at you and make remarks in their mind lol!
Recently i tried wearing my home clothes consisted of sweater pants with jacket and crocs since we were be driving 3 mins to the local store. It was just a grab and go back home kind of trip. Shota was frowning at me and asked me to change but i refused. Why make it so troublesome when we are not staying that for long and i was not wearing anything revealing. He was pretty unhappy about it and said it was shameful to wear home outfit outside. DUH!! Chill man!
4) Personal space distance
Be it in a queue or along the aisle in the supermarket, i need to maintain 1 person away space from the person in front of me. The distance should be even greater when the person is paying at the counter and i was waiting behind him. Same applies to their privacy.... Never ask them personal questions like their age, salary etc unless they tell you about it themselves. I have yet to encounter this so far, the Japanese i talked to tend to be more forgiving when speaking to a foreigner i guess. Salary is a nono unless they volunteer the information themselves.
All above is my perception of their behaviour so far, you can take it with a pinch of salt or nod along in agreement. Of course not all Japanese behave that way but majority do in my opinion.
