Hey guys! Today we're going to talk about some of the things that we didn't do before
we got to Japan and now we do because everyone does it here. Yeah. Okay, so something that
I love that most foreigners still don't like. And a lot of Japanese people don't like, either,
so this isn't even like "ooo~ so Japanese". I LOVE SQUAT TOILETS! I know, not many people
do. NO. Not many Japanese people do, either. Because half the time when I'm in line waiting
and a squat toilet opens up everyone in line is looking around like "Go ahead." That's
me. And I'm like "I'll go!" I love them! They're so convenient and quick to use and you don't
have to be butt buddies with someone. I don't want to sit on a seat that someone else's
butt sat on. That's just... weird. It grosses me out. That's true, it is kind of gross.
So I like that I don't have to touch anything. One thing that I started doing when I moved
to Japan is wearing a white surgical mask when I'm sick or when I just have a sore throat.
Or sometimes even when it's just cold out I'll wear it because the hot breath against
your face warms up your face. Right. So if I have to ride a bike or something I'll put
a mask on so I can protect my face from the cold wind. Right! I get wind burn really easily
when it's cold outside. So my face will be really red, almost like a sunburn. So it really
helps protect against that. Yeah, they're awesome. I don't LIKE having something over
my face... but I got sick a lot the first year that I moved here, especially sore throats.
They were always colds with sore throats. And it's really painful to breathe dry air
or cold air. So I always wore one because it would warm up my air and keep my air moist
when I was breathing it in and out, so it didn't hurt my throat as much. I would actually
go to sleep with one on when I had a sore throat just because that's the worst, waking
up in the morning with a dry, scratchy throat. Yeah. I love them. So that's really convenient.
But when I go back to Canada and I put one on... I had one on in the airport in Vancouver
and someone actually stopped me. Omg, really? The security there. They were like "Why are
you wearing a mask? Do you have a contagious disease?" I'm like "No, it's a Japanese thing!
Sorry, I'll take it off. I'm not gonna kill you." That's awkward. Yeah. But Canadians
don't wear them. Yeah. I don't even remember what it's like not to think they're normal.
Right? But yeah, if I was in America again and I had never come to Japan and I saw someone
with a face mask I'd be like... "Oh they must have some kind of disease..." "What happened?"
Okay, so, another thing that has changed is-- I still talk really loudly myself, sometimes.
But when I'm on a train I'm very quiet. And now I get really annoyed if people are talking
on the train. Oh god, don't go back to America. I know! If someone is not using their indoor
voice on a train around me then I'm like looking at Jun like "These guys are so NOISY!!" Just
like glaring at them, being the old, cranky lady on the bus. Glaring at the teenagers.
I just wanna enjoy my quiet train ride! Yeah, that's so funny. You get used to stuff like
that that didn't used to bother you. I know. Another thing that I don't really do anymore...
I never did it too much in America. But, you kind of have to dress up more in Japan than
in America. People don't really wear sweats out in public. Or, women don't go out with
makeup... hardly ever? Yeah, they'll put SOMETHING on. Lipstick or mascara or something. Or draw
their eyebrows on. Whereas in Canada I'd go outside in my sweats. Like if I just woke
up and I want to walk down the street to my grandma's house, which is just a few blocks
away, I'll literally just wear my pajamas and no makeup. But in Japan people feel the
need to put on real clothes even if they're just going a short distance. Right. So that
kind of changed. When I'm back in Canada I still do the Canadian stuff, though. I'm like
"Oh, finally!" I can just wear my sweats everywhere! I still go without makeup sometimes out in
public here because I don't feel like I'm THAT bad without makeup. But I do wear normal
clothes. I wouldn't go out in pajamas here. I'd feel really embarrassed. I mean, I felt
embarrassed in America going out in pajamas, but if it was late at night or I was sick
I would just be like, "I DON'T CARE. I'M SICK. I'M GOING TO WEAR MY PAJAMAS OUTSIDE. I'LL
DO WHAT I WANT." Here I wouldn't do that. Yeah. I'd feel really awkward. And just to
kind of balance this out a little bit: a couple things that we HAVEN'T adapted to being here
in Japan. Like Japan is very cutesy when it comes to girls' clothes. Bows and lace and
frills. Yeah, and baggy, poofy, not form-fitting at all. I like clothes that form fit my body.
Same. I think those flatter our body types a lot more. We have curves so if you add bagginess
to that it doesn't look good. It looks REALLY cute on Japanese girls and you know I'm cool
with whatever style people want to wear. But I don't like looking cutesy. So I don't do
big cutesy eye makeup or anything. I stick with Western cat eye, winged eye. I do like
the tights. Like the thigh-high tights. Yeah, there are some Japanese fashion things that
I've incorporated that I really like. But just not the super cutesy stuff. One Japanese
thing that I haven't really adapted to would be eating rice with EVERY. MEAL. Oh yeah.
Like if I'll be hanging out with my Japanese friends, "Oh what do you want to have for
lunch?" And I'll just be like "Oh, let's go grab something small like a sandwich and a
salad at a cafe or something. I'm not really that hungry." But they'll eat that and they'll
be like "Oh I don't feel like it's food if it doesn't have rice." Like it doesn't count
as a meal if it doesn't have rice. I hear that so often. You can get full on other things.
It doesn't have to be rice! They have this mindset that you need the rice to get filled
up. When we travel, Jun was so excited when we went to Indonesia because they ate a lot
of rice. And so he was like "I'm finally somewhere where I can get my rice!" He misses it when
we're in America. We had to get a rice cooker when he's there so he can eat rice with his
meals. Because he really misses it. And I totally understand that. If you grow up with
something then you get used to it. Like I grew up with pizza. That's probably like bread.
Right. If I all of a sudden couldn't have any bread, I'd probably be pretty pissed.
Or maybe it's like us with cereal. Yeah. Another thing that I am a little ridiculously opinionated
about in Japan is Japanese people back into parking spaces. Like always. Yeah, like 90%
of the time. No, not even 90%. Like 100%. I don't think I've ever seen anyone pull into
into a parking space. It's very rare. If you go to a parking lot, almost everyone has backed
into the parking space. And the reasons I get for this is, "It's more convenient when
I want to pull out" or "It's safer when I want to pull out so I can see and I don't
run over any little kids." Well you know what? In America I backed out of all my parking
spaces and I don't even have the little camera and I've never run over a little child. But
like you could be running over the kids when you're backing into it? It's literally the
same thing. You have to back in one way or the other. You're either going to back in
or you're going to back out. Yeah, I've always found that really ridiculous. I know! And
what gets me about it is it takes MORE EFFORT to back into a parking space because it's
a smaller area than it takes to back out of a parking space. So you are spending more
time backing into a parking space than you would be backing out. So it takes you more
time in the end. If you're talking about efficiency, that argument does not work. I am very absurdly
opinionated about this. Leave your arguments in the comments if you disagree with us. Why
you should back into a parking space. Jun does it all the time. Every single time he
backs into a parking space. Except on the very rare occasion he'll pull in, and he'll
announce it to me because it's so unusual. He's like "RACHEL I PULLED INTO A SPACE!"
and I'm like "YEAH!" Omg. So that's our lives. That's how we live. All right, so those were
ways that we know we've been in Japan too long, and also a couple of things that we
don't do here in Japan. Thank you for watching! Bye!