Yahello! and welcome back to kinda neet a few weeks ago i made a video
about why i thought real life japan was exactly like anime
and then maybe also a video about why i thought it was nothing like anime but
the pendulum has swung back around because i'm here today to share five
more ways that i think real life japan is exactly
how it's portrayed in anime
before i begin i should probably give a little disclaimer if you haven't read
the name of my channel it's kinda neet as in kind not educated employed or
trained so i'm certainly no expert and everything i
say in this video is just based on my own personal experiences in japan
and the research i've done to back it up and if you disagree with me let me know
in the comments so i can reply with a nice loving baka
number five you oughta where yukata to the summer festival
when anime characters aren't at the beach but they need somewhere cinematic
to hang out chances are there happens to be a summer
fall winter or even spring festival happening that
very night where they can dress up in their sunday best
eat a ringo ame watch the fireworks and confess their love
sounds a little too good to be true right well maybe the last part is so far
nobody's confessed their love to me but i swear the rest is real
japanese festivals come in all shapes and sizes like the Gion Matsuri in
kyoto which lasts the entire month of july
and on top of your usual festive festival festivities features a parade
of spectacular floats representing the history of the area or the sapporo snow
festival with unbelievable ice sculptures that draw in millions of
visitors each year and what snow festival is complete
without a dedicated smoking area made entirely out of ice
apparently some of the sculptures are made by the jsdf which
i think says a lot about a country if their army has nothing better to do
than play in the snow other festivals take place on holidays such as new
year's or thanksgiving but no matter how big or small most
festivals are centered around a single japanese shrine
and are packed full of delicious smelling food stands fun games
live music and if you're really lucky fireworks
in bigger cities you can pretty much find a festival happening most
nights and you might even accidentally stumble into one like i did while in
tokyo i was walking down a street in Minato
one night when i heard some strange music
playing off in the distance so i literally just followed the sound until
i was knee-deep in love confessions okay yeah that part was a lie i just ate
an embarrassing amount of takoyaki and then walked back to the hotel alone
number four skip the store they aren't even contending with the machines of the
vending i know i know i never shut up about food
but hear me out one more time if western culture could learn one thing
from the land of the rising sun i'd pick just how convenient affordable
and life-changing japanese vending machine
culture is no matter where you are from downtown
to parks shrines and even rural towns you can't walk more than three minutes
without bumping into a vending machine that will dispense a little something
for everyone for the low low price of 100 yen thirsty
grab some water juice milk or soda tired grab a can of coffee cold or hot
just had a long day at work vending machines have your booze and
ciggy needs covered drink too much vending machine booze and need to sober
up grab a piping hot can of soup or my
personal favorite CORN i gotta eat it while it's hot and
although i haven't seen it myself there are whispers of a legendary pizza
vending machine popping up around the country
basically what i'm trying to say is the anime trope of friends all gathering
around a vending machine on a hot day is absolutely true even if you need to
prove to the girl you like just how manly you are
vending machines have you covered
during my trip i probably stopped at a
minimum of five vending machines a day and even that didn't feel like enough
and this part might just be me but there's sort of like a collect-a-thon
element to them every once in a while you'll find an
ultra-rare vending machine that has options you've never seen anywhere else
and unless you remember exactly where that was you might
never try that drink again like a really delicious banana milk i had in Nara
you'll notice a lot of the time in anime when characters buy their drinks they'll
either go find a bench to sit on or they'll simply stand next to the
machine as they quench their thirst
this is because in japan it's seen as rude to eat or drink as you walk around
walking and drinking like a degenerate oh crap I forgot
there's varying opinions on this rule some seed is kind of old-fashioned and
i'm not saying you'll get tossed in jail or anything but you might get a few
dirty looks from older folks so out of respect for the culture
just do your best i actually really like this rule and find the ritual of
chatting as you enjoy your drink next to the machine a nice break from the go go
go attitudes you might have on your first trip
number three homeless people and before you go commenting that you've been
watching anime for 12 years straight and have never once seen a homeless person
that's sort of my point the only anime i've ever seen that really
dove deep into the homeless problem in japan is hinamatsuri
and although it's a goofy comedy it did a really good job
at making you sympathize and see them for who they are as people
but it wasn't until i visited japan for myself that i understood just how
accurate hinamatsuri was being from vancouver a city with a very
severe and neglected homeless problem i've grown accustomed to seeing and
interacting with them in a certain way so when i landed in japan late at night
and made the journey across the city to my hotel
i was surprised to find that there really weren't any homeless people
around in tokyo and i'm not saying they aren't there
they just have a very different way of living compared to the west japan's drug
problem is almost non-existent and although they do have alcohol and
gambling abuse the majority of homeless people are just
regular people who've come on hard times this coupled with japan's respect driven
culture and a system of rehabilitation leads to a homeless population that do
their best to stay safe clean and inconspicuous just like in
Hinamatsuri rather than panhandle they choose to
collect recycling and they use wood and tarps to build simple homes for
themselves while in osaka i stayed at a hotel right
in the center of the homeless district nishinari-ku
and walked around freely late at night without ever once feeling unsafe
if you'd like to learn more about the subject there's a really great
documentary on youtube from a channel called life where i'm from
number two the quest for the otaku you've probably noticed while watching
anime that characters tend to be pretty embarrassed or secretive about
their manga purchases and anime watching habits
this is because just like in the west watching cartoons all day is seen as
kind of childish and your dad will probably never let you
hear the end of it often times when anime characters do shut themselves
indoors to play video games or watch movies
they're referred to as a neet and rightfully so what kind of loser would
do that what i'm only kinda a neet i occasionally
leave the house for supplies and when anime characters
do occasionally let themselves go entirely
they end up moving to akihabara wearing a lab coat
hanging out in a maid cafe and talking only in haikus
which doesn't sound too bad actually i wonder where i can get a lab coat
watch out akiba there is a new neet in town but only
kinda number one don't just whine pray at a
shrine you'd be hard pressed to find an anime
that doesn't feature a gate or a shrine in some capacity
in fact it might just be the single most iconic piece of japanese imagery i can
think of so there's no doubt that you've seen
characters hanging ema cleansing at a chōzubachi
or tossing coins into a saisen-bako all of these rituals are completely real and
take place every day at any of the 80,000 shrines
across japan as far as i'm aware foreigners are more
than welcome to visit and take place in the rituals
just make sure you do your research beforehand on the proper etiquette so
you don't do anything disrespectful just like in anime just about every town
no matter how small will have some form of beautifully decorated shrine
either seemingly randomly dropped in cities or with an entire park built
around them thank you so much for watching i really
hope you enjoyed this video and if you did i've got another one just
like it you can watch or one that's the exact opposite you can watch
whatever floats your boat just like a vending machine there's a little
something for everyone here all made by your favorite lab coat
wearing haiku writing kind of neet