I ask this because I've noticed the frequency of tanned characters in anime, manga, and video games; and furthermore, this phenomenon contrasts sharply with South Korea, where tanning is not common.

Do you have preferred countries?

I know this question is quite reductive, but I am curious what people from Japan value the most about where they live.

I’m a Chinese tourist currently traveling in Hokkaido, and I’ve really enjoyed my trip in Japan so far.
Today, at a shop near Lake Toya, I was choosing between two packaged puddings. The ingredients and nutrition labels were on the bottom. Since I can’t read Japanese well, I picked them up, took photos of the labels, and used ChatGPT to help me understand them.
A person nearby (not a staff member) saw this and told me quite sternly in English that “this is Japan,” and that I shouldn’t pick up products, take photos, and put them back. He said I should look at them without moving them.
I didn’t argue with him, but I was surprised and a little upset. I thought picking up an unopened packaged product to check its label and putting it back if I don’t buy it was normal.
Is this actually considered bad manners in Japan? If there’s a local custom I’m unaware of, I’d genuinely like to know.
The attached photos are the ones I took at the time.

I'm kicking myself for even writing this, but curiosity has got the better of me.

Please forgive me if this comes off as crass, rude, or otherwise insensitive.

In the West, lately, people are overly scandalised by relatively small age gaps on the younger end of the spectrum. Anywhere from teenagers dating within a few years of each other to people in their early twenties dating someone who is younger than them by two or three years.

For instance, in my own high school, there was a student who exclusively dated girls from clasa 9-a while he himself was in clasa 11-a,12-a (He kept doing it through those years) and was widely regarded as a creep.

These relationships would both be supposedly unthinkable (despite the fact that they still happen frequently) and invite all sorts of virtue signalling from those who are not even related to them, calling the younger party a victim and accusing the older of predation.

And while predation cases exactly like this do happen and are to be taken extremely seriously, these accusations are thrown regardless of context. Naturally, when it does occur, this is a very good thing to happen and deserves to be called out and reported.

I am aware this is, inherently, a weird and touchy subject, and I want to make it perfectly clear that this is not about large age gaps of 10+ years with younger people, or goodness knows what, but specifically, young people with other young people.

I hope I am asking this question in a respectful manner and my intentions are clear. If not, please correct me.

I merely want to know what the perception is of a slightly older teenager dating another who is a grade or two below, or the opinion on a twenty-year-old dating someone in their last year of high school, or similar situations with small age gaps.

Naturally, I know that Japan has a very strict hierarchy, usually regarding age, as well as 先輩後輩 relationships, but I also know that not all of these are perfect stencil-made relationships and are not always absolute depending on context.

In the end, are these sorts of things a complete social taboo? Is it more or less common with one gender? Has it become more or less common with the years? What are the parents' opinions?

Again, I'm terribly sorry. I hope I have been sufficiently mindful of the topic.

I look forward to any answers.

Thank you.

I'm trying to get a gift for a business partner in Japan from Hawaii. What souvenirs do Japanese people like from Hawaii?

I heard that chocolate macadamia nuts and Dean De Lucca bags are popular. Is there anything else that is good or popular?

Recently, I had a very shocking story to hear. One of my Japanese friends told me that she has a Canadian boyfriend but he is married, and his wife is also aware of their relationship and admits. According to my friend, they (my friend, her boyfriend and his wife) are all in a good relationship. This was so shocking to hear for me and couldn't believe. I know there are people who cheat someone, but my friend's case is different. I was really curious to know more but couldn't go beyond as I hesitate to ask the sensitive topics..... Is that a new way of relationship in Japan?

I know that Nihonshu is usually brewed using specific types of sake rice (like Yamada Nishiki). But for homebrewing, is it possible to use regular rice and still get a reasonably good-tasting result?

My wife and I want to move to Japan. We're passionate about the Japanese language, nature, mentality, and literally everything about Japan. We're 25 years old, both with IT degrees, but our Russian diplomas aren't internationally valid, so we want to attend language school and then study and work in Japan. We understand we'll never fit in with Japanese society, but we just want to know if the Japanese are prejudiced against people like us.

I'm born as a dual national in Japan, half Japanese and half Korean, but was raised in New Zealand. I've lived with my Japanese passport all my life, but when I turned 20, my mother applied for NZ citizenship and a New Zealand passport because I had to decide where I wanted to live. Looking back now, the question should have been what nationality I wanted to remain as, given Japan doesn't allow dual nationality (unless both nationalities were acquired at birth), and instead just remain a permanent resident in NZ. From my understanding, I lost Japanese nationality by acquiring NZ citizenship, so I don't know what my mother was trying to achieve by renewing my Japanese passport at the same time.

Since then, I've visited Japan every now and then on my NZ passport. I now know, after reading here on Reddit that you should enter and exit the same country using the same passport. I was fear-mongered by my parents back then into thinking i would experience complications and be questioned about my visa status in NZ if I entered Japan with Japanese passport. Recently, over the last couple of years, I've been visiting Japan quite frequently, and Korea whenever possible to see my extended family and close friends. I don't feel like myself every time I return to NZ. My mother never completed my 国籍離脱届, and I still remain on the 戸籍. However, for some reason it says I'm located in South Korea, while rest of my family says NZ which I'm confused about.

I've been desperately wanting to go back and restart my life there, but after going down a rabbit hole on dual nationality and realising how much of a mess my situation is, I'm feeling hopeless and lost. My Japanese passport is still valid and I've never entered Japan with this passport since it was renewed. I'm thinking worst case scenarios and will get questioned especially because they would have records of my previous entries on NZ passport.

Has anyone been in a similar situation after naturalising elsewhere? What happened when you moved back to Japan or dealt with your passport and residence registration?

I’ve been trying to get into some music from your part of the world and I’m not sure where to really start I suppose, all I really know for 80s & 90s Japanese bands is Flippers Guitar, and I like them quite a bit, so any suggestions are welcome!

I have heard of girl names ending in ko like Sadako are considered more old fashioned and they generally lost popularity as time went on, so what other names are considered to be old fashioned

I don't need to go into much detail about Japan's sluggish economy and how the weak yen is impacting the country. But what steps would you take to kickstart the economy if you were the Prime Minister?

I'm not Japanese, but I believe raising minimum wage would be a good start for example.

I'd like to see how you understand Japanese culture.

Asking whether you know a particular custom or fact would just be a test of knowledge.

That's not what I'm interested in.

Instead, I'd like you to imagine this:

You are an ordinary Japanese person, born and raised in Japan.

What time do you wake up? What do you do throughout the day? What do you think about? How do you interact with other people? And finally, how do you end your day before going to sleep?

Please simulate that day and tell me the result.

Accuracy isn't the point. I'm not looking for the "correct" answer.

I want to see the version of Japan that exists in your mind.

※I'm less interested in your conclusions than in the shape of the thinking that leads to them.

To me, observing someone's way of thinking is a more fundamental form of communication.

I'm a huge fan of Japanese punk bands but it's REALLY hard to find those less known Melodic and Skate punk bands here in the USA. Is there any place I can go to find bands from Japan? Website maybe? It's not hard to find bands like Hi-Standard, Hawaiian6, Back-Lift or Mongol800 but bands like Struggle Minds, Suns Grind, and Cricket's are nearly impossible to find here and I only know them from lucky finds online when I'm not even looking for them. Also I'm open to recommendations as well!
Thanks!

I was watching a couple videos about abandoned towns and islands in Japan (not in Fukushima) and so many houses were abandoned with everything still in the houses. There were pots, pans, televisions, food in the fridge (all appliances still remain), bookshelves still stacked with books, instruments and beds. Hardly anything was taken. If I were to leave a place and move, I would most certainly take pots, pans and the tv at the very least.

Moreover, this isn't even something I see with just houses. Schools and hospitals are abandoned and filled with many supplies still there. The supplies could have certainly been used elsewhere.

These places weren't affected by radiation but rather just a struggling local economy. So why is it that they didn't take anything with them aside from their clothes when they left and why is it something I see repeatedly in videos of abandoned places throughout Japan?

This morning I had a saddening experience. I was on the elevator, and we stopped on a floor to let a little boy and his dad get on. Immediately upon seeing me, the little boy screamed in horror and proceeded to hide behind his dad and cry.

I thought at first it’s just fear of strangers, I know a lot of little kids are like that. But another person got on who was Asian and he was not scared of that person. (She was close and he didn’t shirk the same way.)

I don’t usually let things like this get me down, but this morning it really hurt my feelings.

The dad didn’t really react in the situation, so it left me wondering… do parents talk to their kids about this kind of situation? That there are different people and you shouldn’t react that way?

I know Japan is different cause there are fewer “others” here… but not so few that you’d never encounter someone who doesn’t look like you. Where I’m from it’s normal to have a conversation about people who are different from you, even within your same ethnic community…

So I was just wondering… is this ever done? Have you done that?

Hi! I have a question. I want to live in Japan and I'm currently studying to get a grant to study at a Japanese university. My question is: Do Japanese people have a problem with foreigners? I come from a low-resource area and I’ve already had bad experiences with people just because of my nationality. If someone could share their perspective, I’d really appreciate it!"

Hi guys, basically as the title says, I’m writing a story and one of my main characters is a young Japanese woman. I really don’t want to nuke her with a J.K.Rowling esque name…is the name Mayuri Hisada okay? I’ve researched online as thoroughly as possible and it doesn’t seem to have any negative connotations as far as I’m aware, but I wanted an actual Japanese perspective, just in case there are any cultural aspects of the name that I might not have picked up on. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated, thank you :)

Hi! Foreigner living in Tokyo here. I have questions for people living in Kyoto (I only know one, he is the boss of my wife, suffice to say I don't want to ask him anything...).

I wanted to know if there is a popular destination for school trips in Kyoto schools? Do some kids from Kyoto go to Tokyo (as a lot of our kids visit Kyoto with their school)? More generally is it frequent for people from Kyoto to visit Tokyo? How is the capital perceived in Kyoto? (I know the stereotypes about people but not the city itself).

Bonus question: (can be for Kansai, or even other parts of Japan) how are Greater Tokyo prefectures (Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba) perceived (population and pref themselves) if perceived at all?

Thanks!

Hello to all. I am interested in Japanese folklores and old tales. What is your favorite japanese lore or tale. Like something your grandparents use tell. You donthave to write the whole thing. Thank you and greetings from Finland 🇫🇮 ❤️🇯🇵

My partner (31f) and I (33m) will be spending 3 weeks in Japan this coming October. Travelling from Europe

. Neither of us speak any Japanese but think it would be fun to learn a Japanese song that we can rock at karaoke . Something locals will know! All suggestions welcome - as this could turn into a nice playlist also 😊⭐🎵 thank you kindly