What do you like the best about Japan? What do you hate the most?

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Bum

Likes: Japanese food, music, anime, manga, historical sites, high tech gadgets, elegance and sopistication of Japanese culture, and not to forget the women and definitely the AVs, etc

Dislikes: Japanese history, female degradation, male chauvinism, Japanese hypocrisy, sick obsession with porn(what s up with the sick TV shows?), denial and glorification of its war time atrocities, intentional manipulation and covering up of their crimes, accusations of china being a threat when china has never invaded other countries in their history, etc

It seems that i always get thumbs down whenever i bring up the past, why, because of the truth that it is too ugly for people to accept therefore they prefer to ignore and forget. Its time u pple to face up to history whether u like it or not.

Hey Adam u seem like a fair dude, say something.

Rosy

I visited Japan in June 06. Its my third time there. I love Japan for its culture, the people are absolutely polite, helpful and courteous. State of the art technology (latest gadgets), great public transportation, great food (fresh), lots of variety for shopping, clean and etc.

The only thing I do not like about Japan is that women are not treated equally or respected, in fact most Japanese men still thinks women are meant to be a "baby making machine, cleaner, cook or an obedient wife/ maid".

I was disappointed that a male heir was born for the imperial family as if there were no male heir, I think this will change the Japanese perspective about women as for the 1st time there will be a princess to take over the throne.

Yoichi K

i like tatami mat. i sometimes take a nap on sundays.

i dont like crowded train and traffic jam,etc.. i hate everything crowded or stand in line. This is not only japan but any trashy places i dont like it.

wuzaracer

my top 3
Likes
My friends
the adventure and challenges of life in Tokyo
submersion into the language

Dislikes
inflexibility
indirect communication
the conformist society

Norsehawk

As month long vacation is drawing to a close, (fly back thursday) let me give a list.

Likes:
Food is awesome, fresh, and tastes great, even from fast food places.
Public Transportation is mostly very well set up, only thing I don't like is to get to the nearest station its a half mile walk.
Akihabara, geek heaven, more video games than I could even look at, gadgets galore, great stores with tons of cool stuff.
The people are really great, very friendly, helpful when I get lost, I lost my passport, and was freaking out, I went to the police station by the station where I thought I lost it, and they had it, someone had turned it in!
Spa World, when I went to Osaka, I visited the place for a day, It was such a great day, I was so relaxed from soaking in all the different baths and then watching tv in the chairs in the rest room. I could have slept there over night if I wanted to.
Melty Kiss, the best chocolate I have ever had, you better believe that I am taking a lot of boxes home with me!

Dislikes
Urban sprawl while clean, Tokyo is not the best looking city in the world, power poles with lines everywhere, decaying buildings that are still being lived in all over, buildings covered in rust, or so old that the paint has fallen off, or the building was never painted are definitely everywhere.
confusing neighborhoods, If I didn't have my gps with me all the time, I would get so lost.
Expensive prices,some things are very cheap, many things however are extremely expensive, 30 bucks for a cd, 60 for dvds, video games 60-90 bucks a game, it adds up fast. DS games 50 bucks each.
Banging my Head. I have to watch out wherever I go, otherwise I am going to need aspirin Japan was not built for the 6 foot 4 gaijin. heck, at the apartment I rented, I have to be careful going into the toilet or I will have a bad headache. Getting on and off the train is also dangerous, inside stores and restaurants with multiple stories. I have definitely learned thru self preservation to bow when I enter a room or WHACK!

I could say small living quarters but it doesn't bother me as much as I would have thought prior to arriving here. I got a small apartment for 91000 yen a month, its small, but it really does have everything it needs to survive, so no complaints on that front, the hotel room in Osaka I got was very tiny, but again, it had tv, fridge, internet connection, and when you put out the futon, a place to sleep, didn't matter that if I was laying on the floor I could touch both walls with my arms, it works.

Joriental

I am glad Japan is in the Asia. Nice location to travel around the Asia and it's enough far from the west.
I like the Asian sense and their ambiguity tolerance.
Why western always say "the best" and "the most", and judge as "win/lose" "white/black" "good/bad"etc?
I always wonder how many "the best"s are there in their life. The usage of the word looks cheap.

And the world is interested in Japan in both positive and negative ways. It's better, for a nation, than nothing or lack of interest from the world.

What I'm not glad is the cities are too crowded. I prefer rural side of Japan.

answer

their industious nature is most likable.
their aloofness from other asians is disapproved by some.

samurai_dave

Best:
Festivals, food, history, culture, train system, Kamakura Diabutsu, Nikko, and the kawaii girls.

Worst:
urban sprawl, drunk vomitting salarymen, blaring noise from stores, groups walking four or five abreast so you can't get around them, people who run to the train then stop right inside the doorway oblivious to the thought that others might be right behind them, suck-up gaijins who hate other gaijins

Jeff

Japan was very interesting. There is a lot of shopping in Japan but it is very expensive. People in Japan shop and have to have the latest trends. The budhist temples, the landscaping, the scenery are all very beautiful. The rooms and beds in the hotel are very small especially for the amount of money spent.
For the most part, I did not like the food in Japan.

It is very crowded. Cars and people everywhere. The transportation system is very well planned with the subways and the bullet trains. You can travel just about anywhere via public transportation. The toilet situation was a little awkward since they do not use the same type of toilets that we have here in the U.S. They have a toilet that is level to the floor, kind of like a hole in the ground. You have to squat to poop. Carry your own toilet paper as none is provided.

Overall, it was a nice vacation.

elsie

I love a great many things about Japan!!! I lived there for two years and miss it loads. If i had to say the one best thing? It would have to be the people- they are interested, interesting, modest, honourable etc etc. The thing i hate the most- feeling like an alien!! and sometimes the business in the cities. a few more of my favourite things are the landscape- diverse beyond my imagination, sprawling cities, stunning countryside etc. also the way that there is so much to do skiing in winter, surfing in summer etc. The history and the civilisation of the country is wonderful. It truly is a magical place unlike anywhere else on earth!!!
(sorry- i went into a bit of a ramble then didn't i?)

Twogado

They make the best video games.
Some of the good games are not in English.

Judy the Wench

Like......Electronics

Hate....the culture

Dan

i like karate but not the food

GLOWlad

I recently fulfilled my dream of visiting Japan and am delighted to say it fully met my high expectations. I love the level of mutual respect that Japan seems to be founded on, something that is increasingly absent here in the west. The streets are clean, safe, the transport system efficient and enitrely reliable.

Japan manages to blend wonderful tradition with cutting edge technological advances, and while not perfect, somehow seems to be doing most things that little bit better than everywhere else.

The negative side? Im sure there must be one, but for a visitor on a two week trip, I really didn't see a thing I didn't like!

i hate hippies but love my Jesus

There is not much good out of Japan, except maybe cool TV's.

I could name bad things for days. How about the fact that 90% of the country are freaks? Have you looked at their porn? Apparently they get like 20 guys who all go on some chick's face. Any culture like that can't be too cool.

Plus they look at naked cartoon girls. There is a lot you can tell from a culture by what porn they look at.

eatmyworld

Likes:
Kyoto during the day
Okonomiyaki / Takoyaki
Yakiniku
Gyudon tsuyu daku tokumori
Midnight Ramen raids
Tokyo at night
The fact that you can walk almost everywhere if you had time and energy
Over-all Customer Service
Hanami
Summer Hana-bi fests
Sumida River (I know it's dirty but for some reason I love that river)
Some Movies
Shibuya HMV
Udon
Summer Sonic and Fuji Rock.

Dislikes:
Tokyo during the day
Shibuya crowds
The fact that the streets in Tokyo are identified in friggin' numbers and not actual names dammit
Looking for parking
Midnight Roppongi (Though it's fun at times)
The "racism"
The strict work ethics
The "Follow-the-guy-in-front-of-you" attitude
Wanna-be Gangsta retarded teenagers (They all look like Kevin Federline)
The Japanese "Fear" of the unknown AKA ignorance
J-pop
J-hip-hop (I just can't stand that sh*t)

Okay..!!
Likes;

The food - with the exception of sashimi (unless it's surrounded by sushi rice) and raw egg. I LOVE most of the food available here!!

The fact that it's not 'usual' to eat sandwiches EVERY goddam day for lunch..!!

100g bars of (Australian) Cadbury's chocolate in my local 100å†† store! (Cheaper than the 200g bars in the UK for around Â£1!!)

Futons. I LIKE having the extra space in the daytime! Plus they're easier to 'air out' than a Western-style mattress.

Mikans!! Yes, they're available in the UK, but half of them are rotten and or mouldy on the shop shelf - even when they've only just been delivered and should be really fresh!

The rubbish collection - it's twice a week here! And although I liked it better when it was 3 times a week, the longest we have to suffer without rubbish collection is 1 week over the New Year. In the UK I had to go anything from 2 weeks to 3 weeks without a collection, over the xmas and New Year holidays!

Less loud music! It's very rare for me to hear music from a neighbouring flat here - the worst thing is some weirdo chanting every night..! But In the UK there's the constant risk of hearing music blaring from neighbours homes, AND passing cars! It's much more peaceful here..!

Quieter roads in residential areas! People here don't just jump in their car to go to the local newsagent for fags...!!! (Yes, they DO that in the UK!!)

Cheaper bus fares..!

There's a LOT LESS PORN ON TV THAN THERE IS IN THE UK!!!!!!!! (That's for 'bum'!)

The baths! I enjoy being able to sit in a hot bath - up to my neck - on a cold Winter night! Much better than the shallow baths I had to put up with in the UK..! What a Japanese bath lacks in length, it more than makes up for in depth!!!

Hates;

The way people behave on rush hour trains!!!

The way some foreigners take little 'jokes' too seriously - for example, when plied with sashimi - not just fish, but horse too - a humourless gaijin will force it all down for 'politeness'! But if he had a brain, he'd realise that it's all a harmless joke - after all, his boss isn't eating only sashimi, nor is anyone else - but he feels that it must be some sort of weird initiation rite, so he forces it down, then goes home and chucks up. Meanwhile, the Japanese boss is amazed at the stupidity of the gaijin, who kept eating sashimi even after his face had turned green...!!

People who think Japan is like anime, or that they can learn about current Japanese culture and lifestyle from a book - or from someone who came to Japan once, for 2 weeks, in 1956 or thereabouts..!!
; )

(I too will reserve the right to add things as I think of them!!)

shoe s

i like that they bow down to me, i hate that there are no signs in english

Dan

I'm guessing he wouldn't say that to my face. Good thing you can hide on the Internet and behind an avatar, COWARD! haha.. anyway, I'm glad that I could cause you so much distress. It pleases me!

I really don't think of it in terms of hating things. It's more in comparison to the life I had in Phoenix. And there just aren't many advantages that living here has over living there!

But the top of my dislike list would be
1) the weather
2) ESL teaching - and that being the only viable option
3) crowded trains & no car!
4) the food - double yuck!
5) all the fake politeness
6) everything & everyone is a stereotype
7) the positive impression that many Americans (and foreigners) have of japan, but have never even visited let alone lived here!
8) tokyo is a nasty-*** GREY concrete jungle!
**I reserve the right to add more later, as I think of more!

Okay to be fair, a few positives -
1) I like Nissan Altimas - though they don't exist in japan!
2) Disney Sea - very fun!
3) j-girls - overrated, but okay..
**Notice the Nissan is before the j-girls!

Nilrin

What I like best about Japan is Sumo. It is an incredible martial art and fascinating culture. It's also the fastest growing sport in the world today.

What I dislike is the Xenophobic/Racial aspects of their culture. It's not always blatant or overt but it can be difficult to deal with.

globiaeon

I like their culture
i am highlt amused at their being very liberal on sex (see their tv shows)
What i hate the most?
Im not japanese :(

Blue sky

I like : Electronic products...

I dislike : JAPANESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daniel ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LiL PumPkiNâ™¥

I want to go to Japan so bad!!! they're awsum! their technologies is amaze me most.. I hate nothing about Japan!

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