5 Surprising Things About Everyday Life In Japan

Japanese culture remains a mystery to Westerners.

After hours on Wikipedia, ten months living among the locals, and a lifetime of Naruto, I still know nothing.

Weirdly packed-but-silent trains and polite McDonald’s staff are the typical things you’d expect, but there is so much more to discover.

Here, the word ‘potato’ can make you a badass while wearing trainers at the beach in 40-degree weather is considered normal.

And in a surprising twist of fate, dad jokes are called old-man jokes. We might not be so different after all.

1. English words on clothes are cool

The first time I saw ‘Milk Fed’ emblazoned on a man’s black hoodie I couldn’t stop giggling. I mean, milk-fed? On a man? It’s Christmas day for woke people everywhere!

English words are to the Japanese what Kanji tattoos are to Westerners. You can spot everything from ‘lovely love’ on a girl’s dress to the ironic ‘American Tshirt’ on a cap. This Janglish is well documented in an image collection by one English teacher on Imgur. My favorite is: “ round-eyed LAD dwarf bravery THIS perceive.”

Literary gold.

2. No one will ever ask how you are