Everyone keeps saying that Japan is small, but is it really so? I compared its area with other countries in the world and studied why Japan is thought to be so small. Japan is the 61st largest country out of 194 First of all, Japan is the 61st largest country Read more…
Do you know what a Japanese means when he scratches his head sticking out his tongue? That’s the Japanese body language which is completely different from that of the West. Different cultures mean different communication means. If the culture is different, the body language used in the day to day Read more…
As you know, Japan is in the Far East and its culture is quite different from that of the West. Sometimes their hand signs are very different from what you are accustomed to and get you confused, so I’m going to introduce some of them here. OK hand sign means Read more…
Eating raw egg is unacceptable in most countries except Japan, but the Japanese love to eat them. Why do they eat raw eggs? How do the Japanese make raw eggs safe to eat? All questions are answered in this post.
Japan recently raised sales tax (consumption tax), and it’s now 10% (it used to be 8% before September 30th 2019). However, the new Japan sales tax rate is confusing and there are some exceptions. Eating inside: 10%, taking out: 8% by VAT relief When you buy some food at convenient Read more…
If you are ever planning to book vacation rentals in Japan, you need to know the vacation rental rules of etiquette before you stay. While private lodging, better known as AirBnB or minpaku (民泊), is getting more and more popular throughout the world, there are many troubles between the hosts Read more…
Cycling rules in Japan is so different from the rest of the world. This is mainly because you are supposed to ride on the left side. The Japanese road traffic laws follow the British laws and therefore the traffic laws in UK and Japan are very similar. If you know Read more…
As everybody knows, each country has different culture and rules. Things that are considered bad manner in the Western culture are not necessarily bad in Japan, so I’m going to show you some examples. Even if they sound annoying or offensive, I hope you understand that these are the Japanese Read more…
When you visit Japan, you might want to go to a sento (public bath) or onsen (hot spring), but there are quite a few rules and manners you need to know. Let’s see the Japanese bathing etiquette and reasons behind each rule.