To think japan and uk have so much in common?

[Valeriane]

I have never been to Japan so 100% open to posters correcting me/adding things! But the other day I was thinking it's funny, the two seem to actually have a lot in common

Driving on the left
Love of tea and codified ceremonies/rituals around tea
Island nations
Big former empires
Hardcore monarchies
A strange contrast between a tightly buttoned aspect on one hand, and then eccentricity and subcultures on the other
Big importance placed on social niceties and possibly repression
Love of whiskey and whiskey making culture
Feeling separate to the rest of their continent (is this true for Japan?)
Very densely populated
Important in developing trains (steam, bullet)
Love of fancy dress/costume

I think you’ve noticed driving on the left and being islands and run with it. Most of the rest is a massive reach.

@Thewiseoneincognito

Broadly speaking they may seem like similarities but our cultures are like night and day and you do not need to visit to understand that.

The Japanese as a people make us look like a nation of wild dogs in comparison to their civility.

This.

UK is also filthy, it isn't popular to say but this a dirty country with comparatively dirty houses. Japan is so clean and hygiene focused. When I've been there I find much of the cultural difference wearing except the cleanliness. Arriving back to Heathrow and going on the tube is shocking.

@Valeriane Ah okay. I would say that when you see a Japanese person dressed up it is very often part of their identity and a wider subculture vs fancy dress being something fun you do for a friends hen. Halloween is picking up as an adult holiday (dress up, go out to be seen and drink) in Tokyo though. Potentially Osaka and Kyoto as well?

I don’t have any resources for you but a lot of the points you mentioned are really interesting parts of Japanese culture - tea ceremonies, youth and subcultures, politeness and honourifics and development of technology. I think you would find reading some in depth articles or books really fascinating! You do sounds keen to learn.

Nope. Entirely different, but it's well worth visiting Japan so you can see why.

Are there mixed race people in Japan? And if born in Japan, speak Japanese, etc, are they seen as Japanese, or “other”? (Not to you OP, to anyone that has lived there).

Arriving back to Heathrow and going on the tube is shocking

Absolutely this. I live in London and whenever I come back from Japan (have been several times) I really notice all the grime on the streets where I live, and I live in a relatively nice area. The tube makes me feel a bit sick it’s so filthy. But then I just get used to it again!

The other major thing I noticed was how little petty crime there seems to be. People will go to a cafe in the middle of Tokyo and leave their handbag or laptop on the table, even outdoor tables, and go off and make their order, knowing their things will still be there when they get back. You could never do that in London. I always felt so safe when I was there. You could walk along dark alleys at night and not feel scared.

The politeness is off the scale. British people are very brash and rude in comparison. But, I do find in general that we are more helpful. We are more likely to give up a seat if we see someone who needs it. Or if someone falls people will rush to help. In Japan they just walk around you! (I know as this happened to me twice!).

I do love visiting there. For me it’s like nowhere else on earth. But I couldn’t live and work there. I couldn’t handle the crazy hours and the way women are treated.

@SoniaFouler unless you are full Japanese, raised in Japan, you are ‘other’.

@jetadore

I think you’ve noticed driving on the left and being islands and run with it. Most of the rest is a massive reach.

Eaxctly - you might as well add "the people living in both countries have heads - look how similar that is"

@Tokyo89 I should have clarified, born and raised in Japan - would they still be “other”?

@Thewiseoneincognito

Broadly speaking they may seem like similarities but our cultures are like night and day and you do not need to visit to understand that.

The Japanese as a people make us look like a nation of wild dogs in comparison to their civility.

Tell that to dd’s friend, a keen swimmer who was teaching in Japan, and witnessed every single Japanese person leave the pool as soon as she entered it.

I felt it was one of the most dissimilar places to the UK I had ever been!

Just a few anecdotes of things I experienced that would never happen in comparable places in the UK -

• Getting my map out on the underground in Tokyo and being suddenly surrounded by an enormous crowd of very friendly Japanese people trying to help me understand it

• Seeing homeless people in a Tokyo park sweeping around and cleaning their tents at dawn

• The train conductor bowing to the passengers when asking for tickets

• Being given a welcoming and leaving ceremony a few days apart when staying at a friend’s house

Though I was told by a Japanese person that I was similar to the Japanese because I was always thinking about food; I took that as a big compliment

@SoniaFouler Yup - Even born and raised. If one of your parents isn’t Japanese you’re definitely ‘othered’.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome

Japanese rugby fans clean the stadium around them at the end of the game. Just look around your local Odeon at the end of a movie and you'll realise that the two nations are absolutely nothing alike.

The Japanese hold on to their rituals and traditions, but not at the expense of looking forward. Their day-to-day use of technology is years, if not decades, ahead of us, which is why productivity and living standards are on a different planet. Life in the 1850s for them is something best left in history books and theme parks rather than an active aspiration with respect to housing and infrastructure.

But the big difference for me is that they have come to terms with the loss of their empire and as a result are much clearer about their best route to global influence. And nobody there harks back to 'the war' that almost nobody alive remembers as if it was some kind of magical experience that we would all benefit from re-living.

TBH I'd like some actual Japanese people to weigh in on this thread...

Japanese schools do not employ cleaners. The children are expected to clean. My daughter had a placement in a nursery school and even the tiniest children had jobs to do. It’s seen as helping to develop a sense of community and a work ethic and teaching them to value the role of manual workers.
I only spent 3 weeks in Japan but loved it. It is very very different to life in the UK.

Why are some people being antagonistic? Obviously the op gave a superficial list but she's trying to learn more and talk about something she's interested and some posts seem deliberately critical of her. No wonder she's not engaging with them!

@TaraR2020

Why are some people being antagonistic? Obviously the op gave a superficial list but she's trying to learn more and talk about something she's interested and some posts seem deliberately critical of her. No wonder she's not engaging with them!

AIBU always gets oppositional replies.

Lot's of differences but I strongly agree with OP. England and Japan are regarded as Honourable societies on the world stage

The position of women in society is comparable to Britain in the 1950s. Sexism is rife and women are expected to never ever do anything that even might be perceived as a aggression in the slightest manner.
Animal rights are a joke as well. Dolphin slaughtering as an annual tradition, whale hunting, pets that are kept in small boxes in pet shops and get killed or used for breeding if they don’t sell fast enough and aren’t ‘cute’ anymore.
The British love a bit of eccentricity and outside of the office it’s perfectly normal to dress however you like. In Japan, conforming is the norm and even wearing something like a bright red coat will make you stand out.
Britain is a multicultural society, Japans population is I believe for over 90% homogeneous and many ethnic Koreans and Chinese are regarded and treated as gajin, which means outside person, even after they have lived there for 3 generations.

Japan is beautiful but very difficult society to live in for those who come from a country where individual freedom is celebrated and respected.

I've been to Japan, there are a few small similarities you mention but broadly it's very different. There's good and bad, they are even more patriarchal than us (bad) but very low crime rates so feels very safe there (good)

Having lived in Japan, no. Apologies, but you are very, very wrong.

The Japanese are a lot healthier and politer than the UK generally

@AnCailleachOiche

The Japanese are a lot healthier and politer than the UK generally

Also, other nations like japan more than the uk

Britain is more tolerant of non British people living here. Japanese people generally do not like foreigners to live in Japan. Also half Japanese citizens tend to have a tough time and face discrimination etc

The food in Japan is great though.