Moments that make non-Japanese residents think they’ve lived in Japan too long

  • When everything looks normal in Japan
  • When drawing a line under an unknown word with a ruler (Japanese people use a ruler to draw under words to look tidy)
  • When feeling danger, going to a bar where is full of non Japanese.
  • When half space of traveling suitcase is filled with souvenirs for friends and co-workers.
  • When buying just a bagged onion at a supermarket
  • When going to a book store only to read a magazine and not buying after reading it
  • When waiting for someone to say “Kampai” to drink at a party where only foreigners gather
  • When waiting for opening a door of a taxi in home country (Japanese taxi’s door opens automatically)
  • When asking non-Japanese friend his/her blood type persistently
  • When leaving a car engine on for a couple of minutes to buy something
  • When realizing chopping motion by a hand at a forehead and making a series of bows are the best way to pass through the crowd.
  • When saying “Gambaru!” to every single thing to do.
  • When realizing him/herself that he/she apologizes at least 3 times in a conversation.
  • When feeling no wonder that the price of a can of beer is as expensive as a case of beer at Izakaya
  • When thinking it normal that lunch is leftover of dinner the previous day and its food container is designed with Hello Kitty
  • When saying “wow” when seeing cleavage of women who wear a revealing top
  • When enjoying drinking as much as vomitting
  • When buying a whole cake on Christmas Eve
  • When thinking every Sunday on December is day-offs for recovering from hangover of year-end parties.
  • When thinking we need condom for a wet umbrella to step in a store
  • When saying a hobby is “driving”
  • When waving a hand right to left in front of nose to tell “NO”
  • When asking non Japanese guy if he/she is cold, who wear a short sleeve shirt despite October.
  • When thinking the best garnish ever to eat east with juicy “Tonkatsu” is a mountain of
    Shredded cabbage
  • When thinking the leftmost lane of four-lane road is a parking space.
  • When thinking taste of rice is different from each bands.
  • When thinking it normal that a vending machine selling drinks is working in even a quite remote area where there is nothing but fields and feeling no wonder where the power of a vending machine comes from and it says “thank you very much” to you after buying a can of drink.
  • When classifying non-Japanese friends by duration of residence in Japan
  • When feeling a bit messed up while rinding in a car of a train where some non Japanese people already ride on because it feels like making harmony of a space collapse.
  • When taking it for granted to have a shop staff done 4 layer wrapping for a product which I use for myself.
  • When feeling no wonder about the concept of “Vermont Curry”
  • When thinking normal to the explanation of prescription from a doctor that “these are blue tablets, those are white tablets and this one is pink powder”
  • When thinking it alright to open a door of your friend’s house and sneak your head in to check if your friend is in there
  • When mastering artistic behavior of shaking hands and bowing simultaneously
  • When remembering important occasions and year with Japanese unique era name like “Heisei” and “Showa”
  • When not being surprised at sandwiches which put cream and fruits inside.
  • When not being uncomfortable to keep an very expensive whisky bottle behind a cheap bar
  • When thinking opposite color of red is white
  • When thinking a date to start wearing a short sleeve shirt in summer season is fixed
  • When feeling no wonder the first option to add for a new car is a car TV stereo
  • When feeling canned coffee is tasty
  • When talking with Mum on the phone, I naturally say “Genki” (doing fine) and Mum asks what “Genki” means every time calling to Mum
  • When feeling no wonder that truck’s honk sound is nursery song when it backs up
  • When feeling no wonder a beer garden is on the top roof area of a building
  • When thinking drinking Budweiser is easier to get closed to Japanese people (Japanese people tell happily that they drink foreign brand beer)
  • When mastering beautiful eating manner of “Natto”
  • When pouring beer to every single glass for everyone in home country
  • When thinking 10 square meters house is wide enough
  • When thinking there remains surprisingly green in some places outside a window from an office despite having used to firstly think an office is surrounded by “forest” of concrete
  • When being realized that a bird is not to sing but to cry
  • When realizing myself that I bow during talking on the phone
  • When ordering “American coffee” at cafe in home country
  • When being said by my Dad “why do you cut me off halfway? ” (Japanese people often cut a person off in conversation, who is still talking about something.)
  • When dodging my way through as pushing crowd aside to jump into a crowded train and holding a door not to close to put my bag in with full force because of knowing that the next train comes at least 2 minutes later if missing this train
  • When confusing how many syllables a word like “building”. (In Japanese, a word like “building” is converted into “Katakana” which has 5 syllables because pronunciation of all the Japanese words consists of combination of consonant and vowel )
  • When feeling no worries to insert a bill into vending machine.
  • When thinking like “Wow! Gaijin is there!” when seeing non Japanese people riding on a traing
  • When thinking “it cannot be helped ” if mega-volume sounds come out of a speaker of a campaign car
  • When thinking commercial messages are the best contents to enjoy TV
  • When thinking ice cream with Green tea flavor is not bad
  • When starting thinking that a color of traffic signal indicating “green” is “blue”
  • When posing peace sign when taking a picture
  • When thinking it natural that a group of staffs comes to my car to fill gas and wipe windows without getting off from a car at a gas station and just waiting till they finish

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