So have you guys ever wondered what Japanese people are really thinking?

Well, in this video, I wanted to share with you guys some of the things that they never tell you.

But they're actually thinking it's out of their head.

So I've been in Japan for more than 15 years and I'm gonna be sharing with you some of the stuff that I've learned all along the way.

In general, Japanese people like to follow the rules, So when others break those rules, it's very frustrating for them.

On top of that, Japanese people don't like interacting with strangers, so they'll try to avoid speaking out at all costs.

And the reason why I know this is because I've actually made a lot of these mistakes myself.

When you do come to a different country, you want to be as respectful as possible.

But it's just hard because a lot of the times Japanese don't tell you that you're pissing them off.

But just keep in mind that I'm generalizing thing is not everyone is like this in Japan These are some of the guidelines to help you guys understand what Japanese people are thinking, and so maybe you don't piss him off when you come to Japan.

Number one not wearing masks in public when you're sick, If you ever come to Japan or of watching Japanese videos or any of my videos, for that matter, you'll notice that a lot of people are wearing masks, getting on airplanes, or sometimes when they're just on the train.

So what a lot of people think is that Japanese people are scared of getting sick.

And so they were the mass to protect themselves from other people, transferring any viruses or any sicknesses to them.

That's actually partly true, but the other side of it is they're trying to protect other people.

When Japanese people get sick, they don't want to transfer what they've caught or their illness to someone else.

So they were a mass to protect other people, so it actually pisses them off Is that when someone else is sick and they're not wearing a mess As a common courtesy, Japanese people expect others when they're sick to wear a mask.

So if you're ever in Japan, and you do get sick, it would probably be good toe Wear a mask.

Number two Squatting in public.

If you ever been walking the streets in Japan, especially Tokyo, you're probably really see Japanese people squatting.

The reason for this is when Japanese people see someone squatting.

They actually think that this person is poorly brought up, winning, I kind of see personally in Tokyo.

I'm especially with tourists, is I'll go to a department store and I'll just see him like sitting against the pillar, are sitting, like, actually on the ground in the department store.

Or maybe they're sitting on some stairs.

This is actually the same thing as squatting in public, Japanese kind of view that as behaving poorly.

So the thing is, in Japan, department stores are considered luxuries, so it's kind of weird for Japanese people to see someone squatting when they're trying to, like, get that luxury experience.

It's kind of like seeing someone picking their nose right next to the Chanel stop or like the beauty shop.

So if you do feel tired and definitely find the seed, I know Tokyo was a bit hard, especially because there's not a lot of places to sit.

You can definitely try to find a seat for Japanese people.

We'll do is we'll find a cafe and we'll sit there.

Number three, Blocking traffic This kind of goes hand in hand with like sitting in department stores are squatting in public.

Basically, you're making a new sense of yourself when you're blocking traffic.

So, for example, will be walking on the street.

You just see like a group of tourists just standing in the walkway and not letting people pass by.

That just, like, really pisses people off because a lot of people are trying to get from a to B, and you're just like getting in their way.

And you're not kind of considering others not to say that all foreigners their troops do this, but Japanese people would do it, too.

But as you get older, you realize to be more courteous of others, and you try not to get in other people's way.

So, if possible, if you need to stop, don't stop in traffic.

Try to go off to the side where you're not actually getting in people's way.

Number four Expecting places like food stalls to accept credit cards.

Now I've gone over this so many times in my other videos that Japan is still very much a cash based society.

If you're buying street food, probably not expect them.

Thio accepted credit card because it's just kind of common sense, common knowledge that these places don't accept credit card, and they will get kind of, like annoyed.

It's kind of like, Why are you asking me to take credit card when you know this place?

He shops don't take credit cards because at the end of the day, it just makes you look like you don't have any common sense.

All right, so it just started a rain, so I needed to find some cover.

And what better way to do it than here?

Let's continue on number five eating at tourist trap spots.

Now this one again maybe doesn't piss Japanese off per se.

It is kind of embarrassing to go and eat at these kind of places because it's just so much food that Japan has to offer.

When foreigners go to these like very, very tourist track places, and it's kind of like you kind of missed out.

Thing is, I've actually gone to a lot of these, like tourist trap places myself, just not knowing better.

And I kind of want to give you some pointers on what's a tourist trap spot and what is not.

This usually applies toe, for example, like cicadas, Japanese drinking restaurants.

So the ideal for a good Japanese restaurant would be a place like this that keeps it simple with minimal signage.

Well, you'll find instead with a lot of Turner's trap places is not only will they have their sign it maybe in English, but they also have a sign board with pictures and not only Japanese, but it also has English on the menu, kind of like Oh, so they are like catering to a foreign market.

One of the biggest giveaways for this is not only DC English, but you see Chinese and Korean.

You see, like three different languages on the menu.

You might want to step back a little bit because this could be a tourist trap spot.

One thing, though, this kind of goes against what I was saying.

Like, for example, if you go to ramen shops nowadays, there's ramen shops.

They get really, really popular, and they have a lot of foreigners coming to it just to make the experience a little bit easier for both parties.

They're just out of the English to the menu, but originally they didn't have it.

So it's not like they were initially trying to, like get foreigner sitcom Adjust.

Morning started coming, so they had to kind of adapt and add an Englishman you Oh, and this is probably the biggest giveaway out of all of it.

If you ever hear one of those, like aggressive shamisen music playing in the front of its door, you should probably run because we're trying to attract tourists.

You would not believe in the day.

If you want to come to Japan and you just feel comfortable eating at these terms, top spots, then yeah, that's fine.

What if you want to come to Japan and you wanna kind of experience like authentic Japanese cuisine, I would say, just like, try to stay away from these places are right.

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When you're readyto launch, go to squarespace dot com four slash Paulo from Tokyo to save 10% off your first purchase of your domain or your website number six eating with an off hand underneath the table.

So this one was, like, really weird to me because what I didn't know this until after coming Japan, and in fact, be honest with you.

I still do it Sometimes way you're supposed to eat in Japan as you're supposed to just have a dominant hand you're eating with your chopsticks and you have maybe have your rice bowl on the other hand, and you just like you're just like eating like this.

But sometimes if you don't have the ball in your hand and you're just sitting on the table like I sometimes take my offhand and I put it underneath the table or like just on my lap, and I eat with just one hand.

But apparently this is just kind of bad manners in Japan.

This is something that Japanese kids grow up with.

Parents like telling them toe, always show there other hand because I think this in general, people like to put their hands underneath the table or on their lap with eat.

I don't know if this is a thing in your country, but it definitely is something here in Japan.

So when you eat and you wanna have kind of good manners, then you should leave, or you should show your off hand the entire time.

So I put it on the table.

And finally, before we get out of this place, number seven not cleaning up after you eat.

So Clinton.

This is kind of one of those pet peeves that Japanese people have they like to keep everything clean, you know, in general.

So when you're eating in a public space, it's always like, kind of proper matter just to clean up after yourself while you're eating, and especially after he eat.

Maybe in other countries you expect the waiter, the waitress, to clean up after eating so you can like, leave all of your crumbs on the table.

You can leave your french fries or noodles.

It's like spilled in the table.

It's OK.

Just leave the table like that.

But in fact, in Japan, it's a common courtesy toe.

Actually.

Gather all of the napkins off like the loose items and put it all in the boulder in the center of the plate.

And then, if there's any like spots on the table, just like wipe it down with a napkin, make it kind of tidy, because in Japan no one wants to have like a really messy table, even after they leave.

Is that an international thing?

Or is that just just a Japanese thing?

All right, so that's enough about food.

Let's move on to the next one.

Number eight, Making people wait.

This one actually pisses a lot of Japanese off.

So in general, I think Japanese people are very punctual, and that's just because they're being considerate of others.

They don't want to make other people wait.

So when there's less and meet someone, say, for example, for work, then they'll usually arrive 5 to 10 minutes early on site, probably, like go up a minute or two before going to the front desk, injecting themselves in.

It's just like it's one of those things of being considerate is probably on the priority and like thinking of others.

So the fact that you're late, meaning you're wasting other people's time and Japanese people don't like to waste time, and in fact, they hate it when someone else waste their time.

In fact, it's I've been here so long, it kind of pisses me off.

To be honest, when people that I have a meeting with our late I'll actually set up a lot of international calls like on Skype or whatever.

People overseas are always like 5 10 15 minutes later, that evening me before Sorry got second on different meeting, and I think it's almost like common practice to be late when you're setting up a meeting, but me being in Japan and working and a Japanese style environment for so many years, I've just got accustomed to being on time or, if not early, toe all of my meeting.

So if you ever come to Japan and you mean employees, the Japanese friend, you have dinner reservations Or do you just meeting someone for business or for pleasure?

You want to be on time, if not early, so definitely keep that in mind when sending up your meetings.

But there is one caveat to this.

So as people get more comfortable with each other than I wouldn't say, it's accepted to be late.

But it's more forgiven.

And it's not as big of a thing when compared to if you are acquaintances or if you were a business meeting at the end of the day, it's just being considered, and I don't understand why that's so hard for some people.

Maybe it pisses me off with Japanese people Number nine talking to someone in line.

So again, this one is another thing that kind of surprised me kind of one of those reverse culture shocks.

When I went in the States, I was just waiting in line at the supermarket, and all of a sudden someone behind me just started talking to me, asking me about the weather sports team or something like that.

I was completely shocked.

I think it's because I've been in Tokyo so long that people here in Tokyo, at least they don't appreciate it when a random person just approaches them, especially if they're just doing their like normal daily tasks.

I go into the convenience store to buy something, catches a lot of people off guard, and it kind of just makes people uncomfortable.

I know there's like there's people out there that like to talk to people, but if you want to kind of respect people's boundaries and their spaces, then you might not want to just, like, come up and start talking to them.

So I think the exception to this is if you do have a reason to talk to someone.

So for example, you are lost and you need like directions.

Then you could, like, say, soon as an excuse me on and ask for directions.

I think this is probably more mainly to do with the city because there's just so many people.

There's so many like interactions that could potentially happen, that you don't want to continue to get bombarded with people.

The people are kind of in their own zone in the city.

Maybe if you were to go out in the countryside, it's less likely people have the guard down more So So.

In fact, they may actually appreciate you talking to them.

Don't take this as, like, all of Japan is like this.

But maybe, like in the city areas where people are just more closed off, then you might make them feel uncomfortable.

And finally, number 10 talking way too loud.

Now I see this all the time.

When you're on the train, when you're on the bus, you're in a restaurant and people are just talking so loud that it interrupts your thoughts.

It's kind of off putting, and it actually pisses a lot of Japanese off.

I've heard my Japanese friends comment about it.