Yesterdog: I just recently did a “Doing Business in Japan” pathfinder for class. I’ll email it to you if you’d like. It’ll save you some time with surfing around on the web for cultural information, as it’s mostly full of links on Japanese culture and etiquette. I’ve never been, but from what I’ve seen, there are a lot of rules and a lot of them can seem very subtle to westerners. Getting a head start and observing before acting will go a long way to making sure you don’t offend anyone’s etiquette sensibilities.
Amen on the subtle rules. For example, while this may not be true elsewhere, and may be changing in Sasebo for all I know, when I got there I discovered that adult women simply did NOT wear shorts outside the house. And people didn’t walk down the street eating or drinking anything. And it’s incredibly rude to blow your nose in a restaurant. And those are all fairly obvious ones. Sasebo copes better with Westerners than lots of other places in Japan, since there are so many around, but even there you’ll find that there are a lot of little things you can do to help ease your way.
The advice really varies depending on whether you’re in the city, suburb, or countryside. They’re significantly different animals.
Couple things that I would have appreciated someone telling me:
Bring a stock of antiperspirant deodorant. For some reason I had trouble finding a brand of deodorant that was antiperspirant as opposed to merely fragrant. Judging from the aroma of subway cars, I think I wasn’t the only one.
Bring a stock of your favorite minty scrubby toothpaste with fluoride. For some reason I also had trouble finding toothpaste that was any more than a soft chalky paste, and many brands don’t contain fluoride.
Bring your favorite pillows. Japanese apparently think it’s comfy to sleep on a pillow full of buckshot, or a foam brick. It took me 6 weeks to find what I consider a decent pillow and I lost 5 weeks of sleep due to this.
This might be cause I was way up close to Wakkanai where there’s little selection, but I say better safe than sorry.
I know I’m resurrecting a dead thread here, but I arrived in Sasebo last Saturday night. OMG, do I have some observations. Later today, I’ll post them and maybe ask some more questions. So far, I am impressed and highly humbled by Japanese culture. I also wish I spoke fluent Japanese (so I can talk to the pretty girls).
Welcome! (Why does no one ever want to live near me? [Zoidberg]What, I smell or something?[/zoidberg]) Are the pretty girls squatting in skirts? That was probably the biggest caution we have to tell our students when they go visit our sister city in the states.
The problem you mention does not exist, especially if you are in the Navy
With that said, please don’t turn into a Charisma Man. I’ve known too many guys who’ve gone to Japan and abused the strange power Western men can often have over certain Japanese women. Remember the old Boy Scout slogan, “leave things better than you found them.”
They’re not complicated, just annoying. Some people really like them-- I for one don’t like putting even more pressure on my bowels (by squishing my stomach toward my legs) while I’m doing my best to relieve pressure there.
I’m out in inaka (the sticks) in Japan and I can say speaking Japanese helps with the ladies, but not speaking TOO much japanese or they get wary of you, it’s weird. Enough to communicate is “cute” but when you speak better than they do they get pissed (I speak “cute” japanese but my friend who’s studied for 6 years and lived in Japan for 3 speaks more than fluent japanese).
Also, the squatter toilets suck, I hate 'em and refuse to use 'em except for peeing, then they’re fine (just like a flat urinal or something) but the spray toilets rule (they got a but spray to clean your ass so you don’t need to use much toilet paper. It’s basically a western-style toilet) even if you don’t use they spray they have a damn heater built into the seat, absolutely brilliant. Not complicated, either, most of the buttons have pictures.
