Do not come up to you to ask you for money...
...look out for sushi and then depending on how special that day is the rank can change
...many things here in Japan are handled very very old school
...they don't really check your ID as much
if that was true I would be skinny as a log right now
number one she's so confusing
Hey guys and girls on Ask Japanese it's Cathycat coming from Tokyo straight out to you
this time we're gonna talk about top surprises that we get when we come to Japan
so let's go find out what they are maybe learn one or two things let's go
We're gonna count down from seven so let's start with number seven
America has super size Japan is mini size
simple products that you might know for a certain size are actually a lot smaller in
Japan so for example Haagen-dazs is actually you know small and petite
kind of cute and that's not the the big packs with the singles themselves
no this is actually single sale so get a tiny little portion here it's like 110 milliliters
for one of them and they're expensive I tell you but that's not the only thing
For example foreign products like Budweiser you might be able to find here in Japan they might be
a little bit more expensive but what you generally don't find are the big sizes the family packs
the big portions and similar so they might sell them at Costco but then you need a members card
so for example looking at this Budweiser here we found actually something different
Like I told you for everything in Japan there seems to be a super size like a super mini size
and similar things like that, when we interviewed people here on the streets of Tokyo many Japanese
people said they cannot finish western portions so when they travel to Hawaii America and similar
they generally can only eat half the plate or maybe 1/4 or they share it with friends because
Japanese people are not used the same super sizes big portions as such... of course there are a couple
of places that sell them but generally they are not as easily available so yeah small size over supersize
There's a broad variety of miniature items here in Japan and miniature foods and there's even
miniature little food stores and candy stores you can eat or play with, there's
a great variety and you can find those just by going into a normal supermarket
but if you think about it even though the size is different in the uk they call it fun size
kind of smaller, the flavor doesn't change so you know still just as tasty
There's said to be another reason why these ones are so small so for example if a salaryman on
his way home wants to have like the odd little beer and maybe buys it at the convenience store
just before he leaves work...he has the chance to just put this into his pocket and it won't show
that he already has prepared for his afternoon or similar things in Japan many people here in Tokyo
have to actually carry the items many people don't own a car so you think of how much do I have to
carry and small sizes come in much more handy... a lot of people live as singles here in Tokyo as
well so buying in bulk isn't really an option for them so they give themselves smaller portions and
you know enjoy the tiny good things in life....
Number six: people on the streets don't ask you for money
having been to Berlin and maybe it's the same in some of your countries I've seen it all people
come on the train to play music and then they want cash, people just walk up to you on the train
and want cash, the people who play music on the streets and then go around open up their hats you
don't even get that, some people put their hats down here in Japan but generally people do not
come up to you to ask you for money no there's not even the odd punk who comes and says hey
"Haste mal ne Mark" which means "eh you got a coin"... I guess so those kind of things Japanese people do
not approach strangers and ask them for cash and that's kind of good sometimes
when I saw people playing music on the streets I thought there would be a hat to put coins into to
you know praise them for their good work some people don't even ask for that some just
play music for recognition and some just play music to sell their albums and yeah surprising
i'll still try and treat some of the musicians when I see them to a little bit of extra change
but generally it's really nice and relieving that people do not force you to give them money
straight away, if someone comes up on the street and asks you for cash be really aware of that
you don't really do that in Japan, it's not a common thing and they might just take advantage
of the fact that you are a foreigner so yeah generally it doesn't happen though
Number five: sushi has two faces now abroad in Germany I used to think that Sushi is
very commonly eaten in Japan and that is true and also not true at the same time
Now you can get Sushi almost everywhere here in supermarkets in convenience stores
you can like go around it pretty much is like at a corner store you can get Sushi but
there's a difference in the quality of sushi and there's also a difference
when people eat it. Now Sushi seems to be more of a special meal still like a celebration so
for example when someone's graduating school or when something good has happened in someone's
life or as a treat... people go for Sushi and then depending on how special that day is, the rank
can change from a Kaiten sushi one of those run around sushi places up to the high
class sushi master places, really depending on the situation. So for example if the boyfriend comes
to the house of the parents for the first time that might be a situation where they bring out
the sushi to just impress him a little bit and you know give him a treat or for example graduation
or entry of school ceremonies or just if you passed a test and you know it's a little treat so
it's commonly available and you can get it everywhere and at the same time it's still
something special and then again think of the price margin so yeah it's both... by the way Japanese
people do not eat Sushi every day that is a myth that is totally wrong just keep that in mind
Number four: Japan is not as technologically technology technologically technologically
advanced okay.... number four Japan is not as technologically advanced as we think, now abroad
we have the image of Japan you know the high-tech city everything is so futuristic they got robots
here, they got robot cafes here, this must be the future yeah and NO... many things here in Japan
are handled very very old school for example many banks will still give you a bank book with a
little booklet on which little things get printed instead of a credit card or maybe together with
your credit card, also big problem here in 2020 was realized that most of the corona cases got
actually faxed to places and then the fax got lost or the faxes weren't accurate or they weren't
coming through and that caused a lot of issues so many things Japan seems to be very forward but
actually quite a lot of things are surprisingly still in the old days so teleworking right now
or working from home is a relatively new idea for many companies but however in 2020 many Japanese
companies and also the government have realized that these methods are so old and totally outdated
so for example in Japan you used to have a little stamp or you still have to have a little stamp
which replaces your signature now you have to usually if you want to have a document
get like many people to stamp that document with their signature it's very physical you can't do
it digitally and that is one of the things that is probably going to get changed soon because
Japan realized that's a bit outdated it kind of puts us into trouble especially in 2020 so there
hopefully will be some positive technological changes here soon
Number three many things are left to your own discretion as adult
there are some really harsh punishments set into place for minors who go drinking
and for the adults who might be enabling them to drink
the legal drinking age in Japan is 20. now for example I heard that a male idol
lost his job in the idol industry because he was drinking before he was 20 years old
and the adult that was hit with him ...she encouraged him apparently to drink got into a lot of trouble too
yet still what surprised me if you go to a convenience store in Japan they don't really check your id as much
in a way there is usually a window that pops up on the screen where you have to by yourself in your own discretion
push the button that says "I confirm that I am 20 years old" which takes away the whole arguing that you sometimes get with your ID and how do you look or people going
"what do I look like i'm that young i'm already in my 50s" but you don't get that here there's a plus
and a minus to that because... how do you check but it seems like not that many people are abusing
this system, however what I find surprising is when you want to buy tobacco there is a certain ID
that you need to have in order to buy it ...but it's not there for alcohol... I am so confused
Number two: Japanese food is healthy or is it? Yes yes Japanese food is so healthy with all
the vegetables, less oil, the fish and the rice so healthy, so healthy, you will never gain weight
If that was true I would be skinny as a log right now no this is not how this works Japanese girls
who are skinny they put in a lot of effort if you watch some of our interviews you know all
the girls have been saying "No I try my hardest to diet at all the bloody time" no Japanese food
of course it might be healthy on some aspects but other types of food are actually very very fatty
so for example yes tempura is great because it is fried vegetables but they are battered
and literally deep fried or Japanese wagyu the prime beef that they have here is actually so
prime and so special because it is marbled with fat... the Japanese cuisine has its own
thick sauces uses of fat and similar things like that
that can actually you know add a little bit to the waste and then there's snacks
and there's ice cream and oh my gosh have you even tried some of those cakes they're like
so small and so intricate and they have so much detail and it's so aaah so tasty nomnom
Well Japanese rice and such might be a little bit healthier than you know fried potatoes or similar
things like that but you still have to limit your intake of certain foods a little bit just to be
careful I must say some of the foods here are so good that I used to eat even more than everyone
in my host family combined when I was here as a student so if food is tasty and some things might
not be as fatty but still... still it's not the all of it is the healthiest food I think that's just
like a that's a rumor but yeah it's just so yeah it's so tasty oh my god i'm hungry now
Number one: useful, the most reliable in the world and yet it's so confusing.... yes you might have
guessed it already most of the foreigners that we interviewed on the streets of Tokyo said
they are very positively surprised by the Japanese trains now there's just one big cut: yes they're
more reliable yes there are a lot of trains but oh my god is the system confusing... if you've been to
Tokyo their map of all the different types of trains is like a spider web and I feel like a
butterfly in all of it trying to helplessly find my way around it and that's also the same for
Japanese people, you can get terribly lost at the big stations that are connected to another station
then there is like JR but that's a different Japan railway that's different again from the metro
which has a different name which is then different again to all the private train lines that are in
Tokyo and don't even get me started on the types of trains that can go on the same platform there's
a local one that stops at every milk can, then there is a semi express which is a bit faster, then it's
a super express, a rapid express and then maybe a liner special super bomb bomber jetty train
Seriously and they all on the same platform you go on the wrong one and you either take
an hour longer or you totally go past your stop it's confusing yet little by little I learned
the tricks of how to make it there my hand my big hint is get yourself an app usually the apps will
tell you on which platform what train leaves and it will also calculate where you have to
change trains in order to make it on time to the location you want to go to... my pro tip also if you
work here in Japan is: always try and leave 30 minutes earlier be there 30 minutes earlier check
everything in advance because even with the apps you might be going to the right station and
platform and then you might get lost inside the stations because the stations can sometimes be
very confusing so give yourself a little bit of extra time when you really want to be on time
told you Japanese people love being on time and then you can master the Japanese train jitsu
Living here in Tokyo for over six years now I can tell you almost every day has a little
surprise in for me, I hope you enjoyed this video there's more I would like to share with you
so hopefully you have subscribed so we can chat a little bit more about things here in Japan and
don't forget to leave us a like to say thanks for making this video Cathycat and director
and i'll catch you soon for more videos here on Ask Japanese, thanks for checking in see you soon. Byeee