She forgot to mention you don't tip here. Ever. If you ever want to have some fun at a restaurant, try leaving a tip on the table and then wait in the parking lot for the staff to come sprinting out to return your money.

Other things to watching out for--blowing your nose loudly. You shouldn't blow your nose at all, really, if you're trying to be Mr./Miss Manners but if you absolutely must do it, you should blow as quietly as possible. I have no idea why this is a thing, but they actually prefer you to sniffle incessantly as you try to keep the mucus from dripping out of your nose to using a goddamned tissue--despite the fact that you will be handed packs of tissues at nearly every train station by people trying to advertise their services/products.

Also, at the end of the day, pretty much none of these rules apply to foreigners visiting Japan for tourism purposes. Tourism is way up here these days and Japanese people--especially in the Tokyo area--kinda expect tourists to be clueless about everything. The stuff she's mentioning really only applies if you're thinking of a longer-term stay where you might make some connections and actually have to give a fuck what other people here think because you're seeing the same faces every day.

Then again, I break almost all of these rules. I've been here long enough to see Japanese people break these rules and understand the times when it is acceptable. Or when I can get away with it due to "gaijin privilege." Gaijin privilege = not being expected to conform to Japanese societal rules since I'm not Japanese--and would never be considered Japanese even if I were to get Japanese citizenship.

Mesmerizingly?

"If you want to fit in and cause the least amount of trouble..." then the painfully repressive japanese culture may be for you.

@SDGundamX -- I've lived in Thailand for almost 10 years, and a lot of the things she mentions for Japan are similar here or at least have semi-related corresponding cultural rules.

I also definitely have "farang privilege" which would be the Thai equivalent of "gaijin privilege". Not showing emotion is also big here, especially with regards to anger. Thais avoid confrontation at pretty much all costs. Which in and of itself can be infuriating -- sometimes a process or system is woefully inadequate or blatantly broken, but point it out as an area of concern (even in a constructive way) and an entire room of Thais will break into nervous silence out of fear of insulting or appearing critical of whoever is responsible for said system.

I love living here, but sometimes the cultural differences can be an obstacle...

If you're gonna fix it might as well leave off the first part of the title altogether , but that's just me.

Mesmerising perhaps to japanophiles. Looks odd to me. I'd keep that opinion to myself but i want to voice some kind of dissent because i feel that in this day and age, we shouldn't be buying/selling videos based on the words "hot grill" being in the title. Not least because if you don't agree with the grill being hot, you're gay or a straight female there's not much here for you that can't be found in greater quality elsewhere. But i'm a bitter cynic, so continue to ignore me.

i'm sorry..were you guys saying something?
this girl is so mesmerizing!

Clickbait much? Yikes. She's cute, but that's a horrible title.

Mesmerizingly pretty newscaster...

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/42312/this-is-so-funny

*travel, *howto

Adding video to channels (Howto, Travel) - requested by Zawash.

Pretty?

I guess the Thai Parliament must have different rules then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmMlYfI9dLM

...There are of course exceptions to the rule!

In general daily life, showing anger like that is seen as sort of pathetic and juvenile (they may be on to something there). That incident in particular was only lightly reported on in-country because of how shameful most people thought it was.


I think that modern Psychology tends to think that snapping as a result of suppressed emotion is overplayed in TV / movies in comparison to real life. But here in Thailand, when people do (rarely) pop off it seems like it does tend to get more extreme / heated than in the US. Maybe people figure that once they've crossed the line a little, they might as well go full throttle. I dunno.

Sorry about those two atomic bombs, but your rude emperor wouldn't stop being rude to us. I do however, love my Honda. You're cute and I want to do several inappropriate things to you. Why did you dye your hair red? You're not from Scotland, where all the rude things you mentioned are expected, and not doing them there is considered rude. Don't eat the food in Scotland, though.

mes·mer·ize
ˈmezməˌrīz/
verb
gerund or present participle: mesmerizing

hold the attention of (someone) to the exclusion of all else or so as to transfix them.
"she was mesmerized by the blue eyes that stared so intently into her own"

Also, I was shit-faced.

Rachel's a natural redhead, as far as I know, and originally from the USA. There are a few other Rachel and Jun videos on the sift already, but most of them aren't really a good fit here.

The interesting thing about this video to me is that I had just watched it for the first time about a week ago. I have been looking around on youtube for videos about Japan, because I feel a calling to go there. How funny it would suddenly appear on the sift top 15 when it was released in 2012.

"You're cute and I want to do several inappropriate things to you." Let me guess, you drive your Honda with a learner's permit?