Visiting Japan feels like stepping into another world. Everything is completely different from what you know or are used to. That makes it a top location to visit. Below are five crazy or unusual things that make Japan such a special country and a destination that you absolutely must visit!
1. Garbage collectors wear suits in Japan
Everyone looks neat in Japan: people always wear a suit. Nice to see, but actually not that strange. Oh, wait it is when you see bus drivers wearing white gloves and encounter a garbage collector which wears a three-piece suit! Why don’t we have this in the Netherlands, how cool would that be!
2. You never see people eating in Japan
In the Netherlands, and in many other places, it is very normal to walk around with a Starbucks cup, have a sandwich in your hand or eat a bagel on the go. This is something you don’t see in Japan. People here only eat in restaurants or at home. It sometimes felt rude when we were sipping on coke while sitting on the train.
Free guide: all you need to know on the Japan Railway Pass (JR Pass)
3. Trash cans do not exist in Japan
Maybe point two (the fact that you never see people eat in public) is the reason for this, but we could never ever find a trash can on the street. Nowhere… in Japan.. literally nowhere! You can find them in supermarkets or sometimes on a toilet, but never on the street. We once walked 1.5 hours with waste in our hands. It seems to have something to do with safety, but it is pretty damn difficult.
4. At Christmas, Japanese people eat KFC
We heard this story from a Japanese guy and to be honest, we didn’t believe this story until we googled it ourselves. It seems that halfway through the 1970s, Kentucky Fried Chicken launched a huge marketing campaign with the message that Americans were eating KFC at Christmas. The results were huge: with Christmas millions of Japanese started eating from the well-know large red-white buckets full of chicken. This is still a tradition and actually, one-third of KFC Japan’s annual profits are earned during Christmas. What do you think? Would you prefer fast food for Christmas as well?
Curious what it costs to travel through Japan? Click here for our Japan budget blog!
5. Tourist in Japan? Locals will welcome you with open arms!
In many places like Amsterdam, Venice and Rome, locals are not very happy with tourists. This is completely different in Japan: the Japanese think it is an honour that foreigners visit their country. Never before did we feel so welcome and wanted as in Japan. We were surprised to find out that there are not many foreign tourists paying a visit to Japan, the most tourist in Japan is Japanese. However, this will change quickly. The Japanese government has a goal for 2020, to welcome at least 40 million foreign visitors to Japan. Well, we are more than confident that all 40 million visitors will enjoy there stay and be warmly welcomed by locals!
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