the land of the rising sun is fascinating to many of us in the west the land that
gave the world samurai and sushi holds a lot of mystique but some of it
is just straight-up myth even in the modern world
number 10. anime is not the biggest form of entertainment anime is a 20 billion dollar
industry and there's no denying its popularity the west is only now coming to embrace anime culture
and fans the medium are now comfortable expressing their interest in it for many years it suffered
the same fate as comic books or sci-fi considered to be the realm of nerds and social outcasts
as western audiences open up more to anime the idea that it must be just as popular if
not more popular in japan seems to make sense if anime originates in japan surely it's loved there
but that's not entirely true anime is definitely popular in japan but manga is more popular
manga is generally considered the more adult or refined version the books on which a good deal
of anime is based for many in japan an adult fan of anime is considered an ataku with a word has
made its way into the west many anime fans will openly call themselves an atarku but it's used
in the way that someone would call themselves a nerd they originally used the word as an insult
and to many it still is the word ataku means your house and denotes that you're a shut-in it's the
equivalent of when someone on social media accuses a person of living in their mom's basement so
even though the anime industry is a big business there's still a social stigma attached to it and
often fandom is frowned on at least in some circles 9. japan has very little crime one of
the big things you'll often hear about japan is just how safe it is crime rates in japan are very
low in fact crime in 2020 had dropped for the 17th year in a row in japan which sounds amazing but
there are some unfortunate facts that are often overlooked when it comes to understanding crime
in japan violent crime like murder is definitely low in japan but there are some stats that are
alarming in particular are the stats about sexual assault in japan it seems that it's par for the
course that women are going to be groped by strangers on the subway by the government's own
admission nearly 95 percent of incidents involving sexual assault are not reported to the police
the number is shockingly high and cuts straight to the heart of a serious and ignored problem
that pervades the culture sexual assault and rape in particular are considered embarrassing topics
in japan worse officials make victims feel like they are responsible in some cases they force
victims who report crimes to reenact the crimes with life-sized dummies in front of investigators
even the definition of rape has been problematic in japan until 2017 the legal definition of rape
in japan only included a man penetrating a woman's vagina anything else didn't meet the definition
even after the definition changed it needed to be accompanied by violent or intimidation so anyone
who was drugged or didn't fight back wasn't legally raped either and because of that crime
statistics in japan are not always as cut and dry as they seem in addition japanese justice relies
heavily on confession they can hold suspects for nearly a month and questioning borders
on torture false confessions are common and real statistics are hard to determine
8. whale meat is not popular in north america the idea of anyone hunting whales offends most people
that's where the whole save the whales campaign came from in the 1970s countries like russia
norway and japan had traditionally hunted whales and an effort was made to end the hunt and
prevent any more whale deaths despite the public outcry wailing in japan continues to this day
ironically the us was partially responsible for the commercial hunting of whales after world war
ii half of all protein consumed in japan was whale as american officials urged the country to hunt
them as it rebuilt but that was in the 1940s and 1950s in modern day japan the average citizen will
eat only about 40 grams of whale meat per year that's slightly less than the amount of beef in
a big mac so while the whaling industry does exist it's not one that's meeting the culinary demands
of the people in fact it seems mostly to exist out of spite because japanese culture has historically
been linked to whaling they continue to do it because they resent outside influence trying to
make rules against it 7. sushi isn't eaten all the time israeli food more synonymous with japan than
sushi it's the one thing everyone knows they eat in japan and is absolutely massive in the western
world sushi is worth over 22 billion dollars in the u.s alone that's a lot of rice so the industry
must be even bigger in japan right sushi is definitely a favorite food in japan but it's not
ubiquitous like it is in north america for many in japan sushi has long been a special occasion food
it's not lunch on a tuesday it's something for a dinner party with friends or a birthday in the
west we know sushi because it became popular here the same as ramen but to reduce japanese cuisine
to sushi is like reducing american cuisine to hot dogs it may be emblematic in the eyes of the world
but it's not what people eat every day or even every week japanese cuisine is remarkably diverse
a survey conducted in japan of japanese people found that most people had sushi once every three
months or so only a quarter of people surveyed ate sushi more than once a month 6. wi-fi is hard to
find if you were asked to picture tokyo in your head you'd probably imagine shibuya crossing like
times square in new york it's that one location that makes it into every big movie filmed in the
city featuring big neon signs and billboards and criss-crossing of streets where literally hundreds
of people will cross into traffic it's quite a sight it really brings to mind the kind of
technological mecca that we picture when we think of tokyo with locations like that being hallmarks
of the city it's surprising to learn that the city is not as open technologically as you might
think if you're looking for a place to connect to some free wi-fi you might be looking for a while
unlike in the u.s where most hotels cafes and even restaurants have free wi-fi for customers
japan is not a hot spot for hotspots free wi-fi can be found in some hotels but in the lobby only
if at all most the reason for the lack of wi-fi is that nearly every cell phone plan in japan comes
with data if everyone has access to the internet already they don't need to set up wi-fi hotspots
even those who use their laptops for work bring their mobile phone with them so
they can access their own network technically japan is very connected to the internet
there's just not a lot of wi-fi number five you're not likely to find underwear vending machines
yes this is a rather off-putting topic but it's one that has been tied to japan at least on the
internet for years now the idea that you could just go to japan and find a vending machine that
sells underwear has been one of those low-brow jokes since photos of the machines first started
circulating online japanese culture features a lot of quirks like any culture does in addition to the
prevalence of anime and manga japan also produces hentai which is the adult version of anime
seemingly spun out of this hentai came the used panty vending machine it was just what it sounded
like a machine that sold used undergarments there are red light districts in japan sell a number
of adult oriented themes and people have gone to japan to try and find these machines there
are actually some in adult-themed shops but the wording on them is confusing to those who aren't
native japanese speakers these machines will sell underwear but it's not used they're just
made to look like they are likely preying on the sorts of people who would buy such things in the
first place word is these kind of things were for sale many years ago but the government has cracked
down on them considerably so were there one or two of these machines in tokyo at some point
yeah probably but don't expect to find them today 4. japan is remarkably wasteful if you've seen any
video of the hustle and bustle of downtown tokyo the first thing you probably noticed was the sheer
number of people the city really is packed with almost 14 million people living there that leads
to something you may not have thought of with that many people tokyo is incredibly clean surprisingly
this stems back to the sarin gas attacks back in 1995. they removed trash cans for fear that they
might hold the deadly gas in future attacks the people adapted by carrying their garbage with them
and bringing it to work or to home to disposal the result is one clean city with no garbage cans this
gives the illusion that japan is not particularly wasteful but it is an illusion when it comes to
food in particular japan wastes massive amounts the country dumps 620 000 tons of food every year
thanks in part to curious beliefs about food safety and sanitation in post-war japan there
was a clear lack of regulation and sanitation regarding food which led to sickness strict
standards were instituted but never relaxed even after the country was rebuilt this led to a very
strict and regimented attitude towards how food should look and be consumed they would discard
some food after it's sitting on display for just a single day packaged foods that can stay on a shelf
for a year in america will be gone within six months in japan in addition regulations are put
in place to prevent short orders that means if a store orders 100 apples but only 80 can be shipped
the shipper owes the store the money that they would have made selling those 20 missing apples
in order to compensate producers will grow more than they need to ensure that no order is short
that leads to excess that ends up being thrown in the garbage it's a systemic problem and one that
they're trying to change but the process is slow number three japanese college is a joke there's
a very common belief in the west that they work japanese students like dogs school is a grind but
the end result is a lot of really smart and highly educated people ready to take on the world and
it's true that in japan school is pretty intense for children they've got a lot of expectations put
on them and the path to college is not for the faint of heart but then when you get to college
there's a seriously noticeable shift college in japan is treated like something of a joke not just
by students but by everyone it's understood that once you've made it to college you really don't
have much left to do even in a four-year college the expectation that you're going to slack off
and barely study is pervasive college was the destination and you don't have to do anything
once you're there in fact it seems remarkably difficult to actually mess up and fail in college
once you're accepted the experience is literally described as a vacation in many places japanese
employers tend to only look at a student's school not their grades they don't really care how you
did and most colleges don't make you take a lot of tests or write papers anyway so the hardest
part of many courses is simply showing up number two japan is not as tech savvy as you might think
japanese businesses have long been at the forefront of many technological innovations
companies like sony toyota fuji and countless others hail from japan have been at the forefront
of tech innovations for decades now so it's kind of surprising to learn just how non-tech savvy
the country is at the ground level while north americans are busy streaming new shows on netflix
hbo max amazon prime and disney plus the residents of japan are only just now slowly adopting
streaming as a viable platform for entertainment video rental stores are still hugely popular
dvd rentals and sales as well as cd sales are still remarkably big there music stores a big
business in 2016 they accounted for almost 2.5 billion in physical music sales in 2018 streaming
services only just managed to catch up to physical media in terms of overall sales even in terms of
how things are paid for in japan the country is slow to embrace technology cash is still king with
electronic payments like debit and credit lagging behind many other nations e-commerce in general is
not nearly as advanced in japan as it is elsewhere but the size of the country and its economy
it's remarkably a field of the us and china part of this may stem from the fact that tradition
seems to be important in japan and for all the innovation on the business level on a social level
people stick to what they know number one japan is not that expensive most westerners have heard for
years that japan is expensive hotels travel meals it all costs a fortune the truth of the matter is
far more complex of course and why shouldn't it be saying it's expensive to visit japan is like
saying it's expensive to visit america it could be if you stay at swanky manhattan hotels and
eat at michelin star restaurants but what if you don't at least one traveler from abroad who had
feared banned due to its prices finally took the plunge in 2021 based on her travels which ranged
from tokyo to osaka with stops in kyoto kone and several others she was able to travel eat
and sleep in japan for 95 a day that's a pretty reasonable budget for travel travel in japan is
often made more expensive than it needs to be obviously fancier restaurants will have higher
prices cities like tokyo will often have more expensive tourist districts than smaller cities
but it gets worse sites like booking.com have been found to charge up to 37 more for hotel rooms than
japanese booking sites charging for the exact same rooms so some of the expense of the country is
artificially inflated to prey on tourists these costs extend beyond tourism living in tokyo is
cheaper than it is in many major western cities you'll spend 40 less on a two-bedroom apartment
in tokyo than you will in san francisco and it's 23 percent less than london of course japan can be
expensive but so can any place the pervasive myth that japan as a whole is always more expensive
just doesn't add up so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do
hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and as always thank you for watching