which tradition are you struggling with?
you know mostly for me in my case it's being a woman
she hated and I I enjoyed it
we've already bought so many onigiri's actually
because he's been thinkin *** tourists
What is good and what is bad about Japan is our topic today hey my name is Cathy cat I'm your flashy fashion reporter
on the streets of Tokyo let's find out what foreigners find good and bad about Japan and let's ask
one good thing and one bad thing about Japan?
nail art. I absolutely love Japanese nail art the way ...the Lolita art
you know the way they do the really cute like Sakura things little ribbons and like sometimes
they go up to like 3D where it's almost two centimeters off of your nail I think
that's incredible but it still looks natural... because in the states when I had my nails done
it was kind of bulky or kind of like not really like Kawaii but in Japan not expensive and
it is so unique and so beautiful and it actually stays for a while so I'll say nail art I absolutely love them
one bad thing it's a tradition thing... Japan has it's an old country so it has lots of like older Traditions
you know with like you know the shoes you know with masks and everything as far as like technology fashion everything in Japan
is so forward except for the older Traditions so I think for me that would be one of those
which tradition are you struggling with?
you know mostly for me in my case it's being a woman ....no matter how good I'm at my job or no matter like where I go
I'm always supposed to be like behind my husband, I am supposed, no matter how -hard you work
yeah how hard I work or you know I still have to make tea in the office you know like
you know they are.... or they'll just dismiss me like on my idea or something like that you know but not just at work but just
in life in general thank you but just like in life in general you know and even at restaurants
if my husband is there like he's the one being talked to or you know I'm like I speak for him
you know... once you've lived here as long as I have you kind of kind of start to adapt and get used to it
but sometimes it suddenly just hits you out of nowhere... it's like oh yeah it was like that
I mean the glass ceiling partially isn't even made of glass here a lot of people know that you can't you don't get promoted
you don't go places right
yeah because people just assume that once you get married you're gonna quit - but you haven't quit yet
nope no plans on quitting you know not at all no
doing my best I was like "I'm still around" - yeah still around
I think the good thing is Japan's not like Singapore I guess you know it's a it's a different country
it's you know it's nice to see some new stuff you know and people are really polite here I think that's the one thing I really like about this place
yeah maybe the bad thing is um I feel like Japan is still uh people who are very to themselves you know
it's kind of it's kind of a little bit hard to talk to them like you know as a stranger maybe if I want to make friends
it's going to be a little bit harder but I think aside from that yeah you know overall it's pretty good yeah
so maybe people are a little bit more introverted here?
yeah yeah I would think so but I think it takes a while you know like introverts in general I think they just need a little bit of time
tender loving care and then you know they'll get out of their shell yeah
what I like about Japan or like Japanese people in general is like I feel like they're very polite
they they don't overstep their boundaries if they feel like they've made a mistake they'll say sorry right away
so I think this is this is really cool like um but I think a bad thing that I feel like is the same.. it's it ties in with like the politeness
is that they have a lot things in their mind that they want to say but they don't want to say it so you can never get the truth out of them
so funny story is I have a friend that's Japanese we're eating at a restaurant or actually came to Taiwan I was taking her around
I was like Runa how great is this place? She's like "oh it's delicious".. "okay so how good is this?" .. "it's good very good"
I'm like okay "so what is it?", "it's like two out of ten" I'm like "Runa that's not delicious" it's like
"it's good it's good" so I just kept trying to get that out the whole time and eventually I realized
oh it's just a Japanese culture she's just being really polite and I feel like a lot of people have
like the suppressed um emotions or like thoughts and I feel like people just gotta get comfortable
and just be a little bit more free it's okay to speak your mind and that's how it's supposed to be
I gotta ask that: did you bring her to that stinky tofu place
oh hell yeah of course and you know what she hated and I enjoyed it every every bite
So in that point she stopped the politeness and actually said she doesn't like it
oh yeah 0 out of 10 that was it but yes
one good thing I think Japan is very convenient
um you can get anything anytime anywhere relatively cheap to live in
apart from the rent to Tokyo
I think it's cheap - what???
yeah well I lived in New York so rent in New York compared to Tokyo so cheap very very cheap and I live like five minute walk from the station
and I don't think it's expensive at all personally and one bad thing ...hmm societal pressure maybe
where do you what do you feel the pressure or where do you think people are conforming
like wearing masks for instance so the government said like you don't have to anymore
but people still everywhere even outside even now we look around most people still have masks on
and I still do myself I still wear mine because I don't want to be looked at as like uh
the bad foreigner? - the bad Foreigner that's like not following the rules so there's a little added pressure on top of that
because I don't want to be that bad example so I wear my mask everywhere as well too
I've been outside even when no one's around I still have mine on
I can confirm and we actually talked with each other on the street you were wearing that mask right
and I was like is it okay if you take it off for the interview? so it's interesting to see that
we're trying to conform because we don't want to be bad foreigners
yeah I think as a foreigner to you have that extra pressure on you because you've heard so many bad stories about foreigners coming here
and making a fool of themselves, we will not name names, but I'm sure if you have Google you can look that up
so you don't want to be that Foreigner so you kind of just try to fit in as best you can with so if a Japanese person is doing it
I usually will do it too, so I can try to fit in as best I can even though I'll always looked at I'll always be looked at as an outsider I think
because I'm not Japanese so I think it's difficult
putting in that extra effort exactly
a good thing like I really like the country and that like everyone especially like if you go like outside of Tokyo especially
like up north the people are like really really kind and are like really "yeah where you from what are you doing"
especially when you're able to talk a little bit of Japanese then they're like "oh wow your Japanese is so good"
and you are "no it's like the basics" but and they are really helpful and yeah really nice in general I think
but a thing that I don't like about Japan is the working environment... like
it feels like everyone just lives to work and I think that's kind of sad
how do you feel that or when do you feel it the most?
like especially when I'm in Tokyo and like I want to meet some friends and everyone's like "yeah we have to work"
and then ... I don't know I was also thinking about working here but then I was like just reading some stuff about working
here in Japan and it's like I don't want to live to work so and I think you only have like chances to get
- higher positions - promotions?
yeah promotion uh when you like want to work more like, I don't like it so - good point
yeah the first thing I noticed is the fashion sense is really really good you can see different styles like more classical style
more cute style also like I don't know edgy style I say, it's really good the food is amazing
I mean we've already bought so many onigiris actually and I love it it's so great
if I have to think about the bad things it's actually only the crowds ...it's kind of scary
because we were walking down the street and it was so crowded and so full and you didn't move like forward and it kind of
felt I don't know kind of weird but I think the rest is quite good
with the crowds do you think it could deal with the crowds every day of the week
I think I could get used to it I think it's just because if you're not used to it I mean I'm not like from
a very very big city so we have also crowds but not that big so yes I think I could
the trains are always on time and they come really regular like compared to Germany it's like
"ah I missed my train gotta wait here for the next two hours" here its like like "ah my next train is coming in two minutes"
the general style of the people are is very cool yeah like Germans are so boring in comparison
yes thank you thank you right okay
it's just amazing you can just sit on the side of the road and just keep watching people all day
I like that everyone is really polite here ... even if you don't speak the language
everyone is really helpful and always trying their best
(bad)maybe the prices of clothes but with
the food's really cheap but the clothes are very expensive but we also in Harajuku right now so maybe it's just the location
it's difficult because I'm taller than most uh Japanese women it's difficult to find clothing in the right size
sometimes especially like uh more fitting clothes it's kind of difficult everything looks like children's size to me yeah
and some things are just like too big again right? - yeah
Food great thing - what's great
that's a hard one I love the Miso soup here it's I'm really craving it at the moment
miso soup that's an interesting one
yeah I think I'm just really craving it at the moment, the ramen ramen in the UK isn't nice
it's actually yeah... - Japanese food in the UK is not good it's bad
it's really bad so I was quite apprehensive to try it here but when I did it is like heaven it is the best so
I'm really glad I like it so I'd say the ramen is probably my favorite here
I would have said food I think the travel is very good it's so easy to get around
um and it's cheap and at home it's expensive in a nightmares to get anywhere
trains get canceled when you really need them - yes yeah
and you don't get anything for it when they get canceled but here it's like like clock work
and I'm getting around - strikes are happening
yeah yeah - it's just kind of a nightmare
there's strikes at the airport now at home and like we've got to go home in like five days
and we could just have a nightmare we don't know... uh a bad thing is tough I would say it's costing me a fortune
but that's my own fault because I'm buying everything that I see - what are you buying?
oh God uh lots of Pokemon cards, old cards a t-shirts, merch, food anything I can find yeah
okay that's a bad thing spending a fortune was your bad thing?
no it's my fault no one else's fault my fault
a bad thing for me is to two things ... something that no one's really ever mentioned because I've watched a lot of YouTube videos on Japan
one thing is... the smell there's like a really it makes me feel quite sick and I don't know where what the smell is or where it's come from
it's really unpleasant and you just get like a big whiff of it like in the back corners or
if you go into certain cities... didn't ever smell it in Kyoto from what I remember
also online like when I've watched a lot of videos ... in the shops and stuff I didn't realize how claustrophobic everything is
like everything's like stacked like stacked walls and it's quite overwhelming and there's tight spaces
and I'm not very good with that and you're trying to get round people and - it's very very Compact and very busy
but it's one of the busiest cities in the world what did we expect, so - it's quite hard to find things because
it says like floor one and then there's like two b one and then you're like oh where's where's the thing that you want?
it's like oh 4/5 and you can stumble into... 18 stuff way too easily - it's weird
Sounds like Donki Hote, sounds like you were in DokiHote?
you can just stumble on that stuff... too easily without realizing it
it's very strange when you go into a bookstore and like we didn't expect to see so much porn
and uh and people love it unironically and I'm we're looking at people... that I was looking for one
like going through the the um bookshelves and I didn't realize it was all porn I'm going "porn and porn"
there's a Japanese guy next to me just laughing his head off because he's thinking "*** tourist"
you're gonna have to bleep that yeah - you have to bleep everything I say
I think the packaging is probably my least favorite thing there's just so much
so much plastic, so much plastic and not enough rubbish bins and I think in Australia it's it's definitely something
that you know the country is becoming more and more sustainable and environmentally aware
and so it's all about how you can reduce your waste and reduce your plastic so it's definitely interesting seeing like
everything but I love the packaging in Japan ...because it's so cute but everything needs to be individually individually (wrapped)
and it's yeah so that's a bit much
what was like the one item where you were like "why is this wrapped so much"?
yeah because instead of just having like the cookie packet and then they're all just in the packet
it's like every single cookie is wrapped... like inside the packet, inside a bag and then inside another bag so yeah
that's my that's my gripe but one good thing...
is just how lovely everyone is, so lovely and the Swan Boats - The swan boats???
Swan Lake near Mount Fuji yeah that was that was my favorite part
was it a small swan boat or was it a big swan boat?
a big one like a double decker yeah whoa
why did you love this swan boat so much?
because she was beautiful, she was beautiful and she's just gliding on the lake it was lovely
well good thing so just how everything is so cute and kitsch and I just love that
um and all the logos everywhere are all so cute - the logos what do you mean?
yeah like all the truck logos and the delivery and the posts everything it's like a cat or something like
yeah even just businesses like a logistics company or a postal company it's like the cutest logo
looks like a cute little animal we don't have that in Australia yeah
even the police station has like a little mascot some firefighters have...
exactly it's just so cute it's so cute
bad thing is that we're going home tomorrow so that's sad
tell me one good thing and one bad thing about Japan
yeah Japan of course has all these great things like nice people great food I love the food it's
every it's clean everywhere and yeah I just love it here so - what's the food you're most excited about so far?
all the sweet things oh my gosh I uh give me more... I think when I get back home my parents won't recognize me anymore
because I have a round face then
yeah sometimes I struggle with the the silence like on trains, trams, buses and things I'm like why isn't every everyone speaking
and just having fun with each other and everyone ... is just kind of quiet and turn into themselves so
yeah I'm not used to it so it's also really nice because the respect level is really high
and I feel so safe here and in the Netherlands I just don't actually all the time so
here it's much more safe for me, it gives me a safe feeling being here and I feel really respected so
that's also one thing I wanted to say not that I don't yeah I don't want to sound rude
for you now you grown up in two countries one good thing one bad thing about Japan
now the environment like the plastic things and like it's so difficult to like get rid of garbage and stuff like
the recycling is so much better in Europe and like in the Netherlands particularly
like everything here is wrapped in separate pieces of plastics like it's so - that's understandable yeah
yeah it's not it's not necessary so - we're also struggling with uh throwing away our trash
look for for instance now I have all these things in my pockets because there are no trash cans on the street so I don't know where to leave it
so it's just my pockets are full of trash
good there's so many things that are good here in Japan I could not stop talking about it that's why I decided to live here
one of the things that I really appreciate more and more every day is just the amount of safety that we have here
literally I was in a cafe the other day were a 17 year old girl was all by herself managing a cafe in a park
and she was safe and she even left the store unlocked for like 10 minutes to get milk
how's that even possible that I think that is not possible in any other country in the world bad things
sausages... I'm sorry so I'm German I'm a bit harsh on sausages... sausages here unless
they're really high quality sausages (shiver)
anyways I love Japan see you guys soon there's more if you're curious about what foreigners think about Japan
check this video out next bye