
Japanese Travel Tips for Visiting America - leothekim
http://mentalfloss.com/article/55140/10-japanese-travel-tips-visiting-america
======
patio11
My travel agent once gave me a guide for visiting the US. I wish I had saved
it. It was a combination of decent advice, keen cultural insight, and utterly
whacked-out ravings. (Relatedly, this is broadly true of much writing about
Japan in the US.)

The thing which sticks with me most is, in a note about US tipping culture (an
utterly foreign concept in Japan), the line "Many Americans may require a
calculator to determine what 20% of $18 is. It is unwise to offer to assist."

~~~
jparishy
It is so very true, though. Over the years I've had to teach my "trick" for
figuring out tips without a calculator to pretty much all of my friends (the
spiel: 'move the decimal one place to the left; double that number'). I was
always surprised by how magical it appeared to them :|

~~~
skywhopper
Even easier (and better for your karma and the server's budget): round the
bill up to the next 10 dollar increment, _then_ do this trick ( _and_ add a
buck).

Also, never use the pre-tax amount, cheapskates!

~~~
bluedevil2k
You're supposed to use the pre-tax amount, and doing what is normal, paying
15% of the pre-tax amount, doesn't make you a cheapskate, it makes you normal.
You don't get bonus points for paying extra money to someone you'll likely
never see again.

~~~
skywhopper
Well, it may depend on where you're eating, but at many restaurants, the wait
staff is paid well below the normal minimum wage, and your 15% tip on the pre-
tax bill is supposed to make up the difference. And it often does.

However, personally, I believe that the minimum wage is far too low, and that
wait staff in particular should be paid more than my notional "correct"
minimum wage as a _base_ rate. So the way I look at it is that if I had my way
and the staff were paid appropriately, the cost of eating at the restaurant
would necessarily go up. If I truly believe what I say I believe, then I
should be willing to pay more for the same product. And I am. So I do.

This is one of just a few areas of American's lives where we have some power
over how well the service workers we rely on are paid. And so I tip according
to how I believe they should be compensated.

~~~
bluedevil2k
Do you ever bring up your beliefs that the wait staff is underpaid with the
management?

------
fidotron
The optimism thing gets me every time.

Gross generalisation time: I've met very few Americans I disliked as
individuals, but an awful lot that in groups become intolerable. A lot of it
seems to be that the barrier for nonsensical optimism creeps lower with each
extra member added to the group until absolute irrationality reigns supreme.
If you try to burst this bubble you are screwed, and the only thing to do is
walk away and hope to be far enough away that when it blows up you're not in
the blast radius.

The thing is one time out of ten they're right and the cynics among us are
wrong, and you have to love them for that. As Churchill is often quoted as
saying you can always trust the Americans to do the right thing, once they've
tried every other possibility.

~~~
normloman
Everybody comes to America to make their dreams come true. They cling to that
optimism to hold on to their silly dreams when the odds are against them.
Naturally, the culture reflects this. We're delusional. I notice a similar
optimism on Hacker News. Everyone's going for a piece of the gold rush.

------
ojii
The first link to the source is actually all about tipping, which I'm
surprised didn't make it onto the list. While American style tipping is odd to
me as a European, it just feels even odder the longer I live in Japan (where
there is literally no tipping, I couldn't even tip if I wanted to). Quite hard
to explain this whole concept to Japanese (that were never in the US)
sometimes.

EDIT: So is the third link. Well not entirely, but the first half.

~~~
ekianjo
Honestly even after traveling to America several times I don't understand why
this practice is still going on. It's just annoying for everyone (the
employee, and the client) and a cause for embarrassment. In Europe we tip
people when we get extra good service from them,, so that tipping feels
special. That's the way it should be.

~~~
bluedevil2k
Tipping is a tax dodge for restaurants. It allows the restaurant to pay their
employees a miserably low wage, like $2-$3 hour, and only have to pay social
security taxes on that amount. If you're a little skeptical, check out who the
big lobby groups lobbying against minimum wage hikes - restaurant lobbies.

~~~
koenigdavidmj
That's up to the state. In Washington, restaurant workers are required to pay
the regular minimum wage (currently $9.32/hour), with none of that comprised
of tips.

------
byoung2
The grocery checkout is a related to car culture. In America you shop for the
month since you can fit it all in the trunk. Items are sold in bigger boxes,
and you get beer by the 18 pack. When I was in Japan I shopped every day, just
getting what I could carry in one hand on the train. One Sapporo and some rice
makes for short checkout.

~~~
a3n
> and you get beer by the 18 pack.

I really don't mean to come off as snobbish, but, what kind of beer is worth
drinking that comes in 18 packs? I'm not sure I've ever seen anything but cans
of alcoholic water in that configuration.

~~~
jevinskie
That is a bit snobbish. Nobody should have to apologize for their beverage of
choice.

~~~
coldtea
Why not? If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right.

~~~
barrkel
Do you optimize your choice of cups? Of USB cables? Brake fluid in your car?
How far do you go to get the perfect sugar?

I get my olive oil from an electrical hardware store around the corner from
where I work -
[http://mroliveoil.com/page19.htm](http://mroliveoil.com/page19.htm) \- how
far do you go to get yours?

Lots of things are worth doing - often unavoidably so - but that doesn't mean
you need to optimize each and every one of them until they're "right".

~~~
coldtea
> _Do you optimize your choice of cups? Of USB cables? Brake fluid in your
> car? How far do you go to get the perfect sugar?_

No, I don't "optimize" everything, but I do optimize a lot of stuff. If you
like beer enough to consume 16 cans a week, then it sounds like something
worth optimizing.

In general most things diet related are quite important to leave to chance.
And if fun is involved too, then optimizing them can be fun too. You don't
have to be OCD about it, just to try different brands and experiment.

> _I get my olive oil from an electrical hardware store around the corner from
> where I work how far do you go to get yours?_

Hmm, that's a bad example, as we value olive oil very much in my country, so I
even have my own olive trees and produce my oil in cooperation with the
village mill. Well, my parents do at the moment, as I live abroad now.

------
pm215
The utility of "air quotes" for English-as-a-second-language people is a neat
idea, actually. It's often hard to get sarcasm across in a language you're not
totally fluent in because either you don't get the tone of voice right or
listeners will assume you didn't mean the tone of voice anyway. An out-of-band
gesture is a nice unmistakable signal which avoids that issue entirely.

~~~
epaladin
Is that just an American thing, or an English speaking thing in general?

I didn't realize how second nature it was until I used it in Japan a few
times- and noticed the usual effect was not achieved. I don't think I ever
tried explaining it to anyone though.

~~~
rmc
Air-quotes would be understood as sarcasm in many other Anglosphere countries
like the UK and Ireland.

Remember the USA produces a lot of TV & film that's watched in the rest of the
Anglosphere, so we'd be familiar with US speaking patterns like that.

------
lxe
This guy definitely did not get enough exposure to American food. It's a huge
country with a vast variety of regional cuisine as well as international
dishes melded by the immigrants to match the American tastes.

~~~
dmlorenzetti
I went to grad school in Boston. Many foreign students complained about how
homogeneous American culture is, how there are no restaurants besides
McDonalds and Burger King, etc. But most of them formed these impressions by
driving, or taking a bus, to NYC and back. If you don't get off the freeways,
you really don't see what real life is like.

Similarly, I visited a friend in France once. On the way there, I took the TGV
from Paris. I don't remember anything special about that leg of the trip, and
learned nothing about France. On the way back, we drove, and passed through a
bunch of little towns. I have a fond memory of helping a boater open a gate to
a canal lock, and I still have a strong impression of how contained French
villages are compared to American ones.

~~~
konceptz
I would argue that NYC is anything but homogeneous, especially the food.

------
pswenson
I've noticed every country I visit thinks walking down the street in the US is
a dangerous activity, getting assaulted is routine, murders are common, etc.

fact is, violent crime is way down since the 1990s. Not saying current levels
are acceptable, but it sure isn't as bad as it is perceived.

~~~
grecy
There are 10 times more murders per capita in the US than my home country.

An entire order of magnitude makes one stop and think.

If I offered you a drive in two different cars, and one was an order of
magnitude more likely to burst into flames - which one would you choose?

~~~
e40
_There are 10 times more murders per capita in the US than my home country._

I live in Oakland, CA. A very dangerous place according to statistics. In
reality, much of the crime here is in the "bad" parts of town, which I rarely
travel to/through. I said "much". There are occasional murders outside the bad
parts. They're rare, though.

Even people that live outside of Oakland but fairly close (Concord, 40 minutes
by car) have this idea that gunslingers run amok in Oakland and it's
incredibly unsafe. That is, until they actually come here a lot (for work,
say).

I walk about 1 hour per day in Oakland (that's my commute from home to work).
I've been doing this for 13 years. I've never seen one act of violence.

So, statistics can be misleading.

------
JonnieCache
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome)

------
evli
'horse laughing' is an hilarious concept. I had noticed this in the
international students at my university, how the japanese would always cover
their mouths. Curious habit.

~~~
hcho
Assuming you are American, some segments of your society cover their mouths
when saying "shit". That's more curious.

~~~
sp332
There are a bunch of reasons that inform that. On TV, they used to have censor
bars over people's mouths as well as "bleeping" what they said. So putting
your hand over your mouth emphasizes the obscenity - plus it's funnier :)
Also, from a distance no one can see your lips so it gives some plausible
deniabilty. It can also make the outburst quieter, which helps when you're
fake-yelling.

~~~
hcho
By the responses I got, I was starting to think that I am the only one who
noticed it.

I wonder why it hasn't caught on with other racial groups though.

------
thorin
This is hilarious - I thought it was a joke article at first like the Daily
Mash. I can't imagine what the author would think of the UK or Europe. The
Russian article linked at the end of this one is even more ridiculous.

~~~
new_test
As a Russian, it is spot on (well, except for "Did you know that bribes are
illegal in America" bit)

~~~
taternuts
> “When Americans are talking, they might put their foot on a nearby chair, or
> even a table. They might cross their legs so that one foot rests on the
> opposite knee. In American culture, it is considered an acceptable norm, but
> often causes irritation in other countries.”

I'm very curious about this one - I can see putting a foot on a nearby
chair/table could come across poorly, but crossing your legs by resting your
foot on your knee?

~~~
mcguire
I'm not sure about the Russkies, but I seem to recall that showing the bottom
of your shoe to someone is insulting in the Middle East (?).

------
JonSkeptic
This article was an interesting read. It highlights a lot of the positives of
American culture. Sometimes it's good to hear such things. Thank you, I needed
that.

------
wikwocket
Is it really possible that American driving manners are better than Japanese
ones? That _has_ to be a mistranslation or embellishment.

I might believe it of other Asian nations, where traffic lanes and rules are
more suggestions than anything else, but I cannot believe that Japanese
drivers are anything like the aggressive, presumptuous, arrogant, frankly
insane drivers we have here. And I count myself in their number!

~~~
jimbokun
Pittsburgh drivers are shockingly polite. Moved from here to New Jersey, then
back again. Was hard to adjust coming back, with the person across from you at
an intersection patiently waiting for you to go first.

~~~
greenrice
"The Pittsburgh Left" is very common practice there, which is to give the
right of way to the opposite car in the intersection that is turning left.
Definitely a much more relaxed and polite driving environment than anywhere on
the east/west coasts.

------
skywhopper
I love the sarcasm how-to, but I wonder what the Japanese think of western
European meal practices if they find a 40-minute dinner to be extravagant.

------
test1235
>4\. Nobody is impressed by how much you can drink. In fact, shame on you.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case in UK. People love to talk about how much
they can drink, and love to reel off an exact list of everything they drank
the previous night like a list of achievements.

(in my experience of my peers throughout my life up to and including the age
of 32)

Binge drinking in the UK is a huge problem.

[http://www.alcoholpolicy.net/2012/06/statistics-on-
alcohol-e...](http://www.alcoholpolicy.net/2012/06/statistics-on-alcohol-
england-2012-confirms-continuing-upward-admissions-trend.html)

[http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/02February/Pages/Binge-
drinking-...](http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/02February/Pages/Binge-drinking-
rates-could-be-higher-than-thought.aspx)

[https://catalogue.ic.nhs.uk/publications/public-
health/alcoh...](https://catalogue.ic.nhs.uk/publications/public-
health/alcohol/alco-eng-2013/alc-eng-2013-rep.pdf)

~~~
RogerL
That one was somewhat overstated. It entirely depends on what circles you move
in. I know plenty of people that brag on their drinking, and/or like to deride
others for being lightweight. Surely there is a large contrast between Japan
and the USA on this matter, and the article writer was probably influenced by
that. It certainly would be safer to act as the article suggests, because it
is true for many situations, and the average tourist (that would need this
guide) wouldn't be able to suss out the subtleties.

~~~
freehunter
As you mentioned, in some circles being able to drink a _lot_ on somewhat-rare
occasions is something that would win respect. Being able to handle your
alcohol is an important aspect in some American circles.

Drinking a lot and drinking often is mostly frowned upon. Being drunk outside
of a social engagement designated specifically for getting drunk is almost
universally frowned upon.

------
logfromblammo
Tipping puts the burden of service quality feedback on the customer rather
than the business manager. It also encourages the server to increase the
customer's bill total. Most of the benefits of the practice are exclusive to
the business, with no benefit to customer or employee.

Restaurants _could_ pay servers a commission or bonus based on the bill total
or for specific items on the customer's bill. Customers _could_ be asked to
rate the service they received on a scale from 0 to 10 instead of calculating
a percentage of their bill total. But tradition is a tough thing to fight.

~~~
prewett
You don't _have_ to tip. So you do get a certain minimum service. In Beijing,
no tips required or expected. But, unless you're at a Western-style place, or
HaiDiLao, no service expected, either. Should service be required (ordering
more items, correcting something, requesting something essential that was
forgotten, paying the bill, etc.), yelling "fuwuyuan!" ("waiter"!) loudly will
often, but not necessarily, procure you service. So that tip does buy you
something.

20% extra for standard service, though, is ridiculous, and I hate it. Nor do I
do 20%--even fancy places only do 18% gratuity, at least, the last time I was
at one.

------
davesque
I expected that this article would just be another way to feed into negative
stereotypes about Japanese. While a lot of it is just the typical raving,
there are one or two items which I would say are pretty spot on. Their vending
machines _do_ put ours to shame. Also, as an American, you don't realize how
much we use sarcasm until you travel abroad and realize people aren't getting
it. It's nice, actually. Sarcasm gets old :P.

------
chadwickthebold
God bless America and their damn good car manners

------
evo_9
Bring a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Seriously, I love Japanese food but after 2
weeks I was dying for some kick (other than wasabi).

~~~
crazypyro
I think you got confused. This is for people visiting America from Japan.

------
jobu
The bit about laughter surprised me the most. I had no idea it was considered
embarrassing to laugh publicly in Japan.

~~~
Kluny
They're also spot on about how we perceive Japanese women laughing - when they
turn away and cove their mouths, it does look sneaky.

------
coherentpony
Good car manners? This person has clearly never driven in Austin.

~~~
jtbigwoo
Compared to other countries, Austin is a paradise of calm, reasonable drivers.
For example, it's fairly common in Asia (though not in Japan AFAIK) for a
traffic light to be viewed as a suggestion rather than an absolute command.
I've been in a taxi that was rammed and pushed through an intersection by the
truck behind it when our driver didn't react quickly enough to a gap in
oncoming traffic. The taxi driver wasn't even particularly mad. It apparently
happens all the time.

------
mcguire
And the #1 tip for United States-ers visiting Japan? If you're a woman, burn
your dirty underwear to keep every male above the horizon from trying to sniff
it.

------
michaelochurch
11\. Never, ever get any kind of sick.

Our medical care is of lower quality than in most OECD countries,
inefficiently delivered, and catastrophically expensive. (Rates of medical
error are quite high, because younger doctors-- esp. residents-- work extreme
hours.) An ER visit can run you $5,000 or more. Appendicitis goes into the
$50,000 range.

~~~
saryant
Then why do people from around the world flock to American hospitals?

As one example, the Texas Medical Center, one of the best in the world, treats
18,000 foreign patients a year who've traveled there specifically for the
quality of care.

~~~
jtbigwoo
Perhaps it should be revised, then, to say,

"If you're going to get sick, make sure it's in a place like Austin,
Cleveland, Rochester, Baltimore, or New York that has a great hospital. And
make sure that you get taken to the premier hospital in the region (e.g. don't
let somebody take you to Kings County instead of New York Presbyterian). Be
prepared to pay considerably for care at these facilities. Quality and cost
are highly variable overall."

