You Know You've Been in Japan Too Long When ...

[mad pierrot]

when you think Y4000 is a reasonable prize for a nice melon
... when you stand in front of a taxi and wait till the driver will open the door

Good ones!

how about:

....when you buy gifts for co-workers whenever you leave town, even if it's just for a few hours.
....you end your statements with random vagueness.
....you hide from the NHK man routinely.
....your rice maker is always on.
....you take 8 breaks a day at work, and shuffle the papers on your desk at least twice a hour.

:sorry:

 

[iwao]

@mad pierrot: thx
... you make a bow after getting the money from the cash mashine
... when you buy beer by can labels (well I did it, but just to collect the stuff)
... leave the warm water in the bath tub for your kids
... buy local sweets/food (do we have that stuff in Europe/US?) to bring them home as omiyage, even your weekend trip was just 100 miles from home (anyway a nice tradition)
... you start to believe, nori makes black hair
...you think eating with otemoto is faster than with fork and knife (and actually you are faster with it)

 

[Xkavar]

You never wear shoes inside the house anymore
When you are you in the middle of Tokyo and feel like you don't want to leave your apartment because there's nothing to do.
- When you think it is reasonable to pay 3000yen for a taxi rather than walk 30min to go back home after the last train.
- When you are tongue-tied to find your words in your mother tongue.
... when you wish you have a fan in summer to cool yourself on the street
....when you buy gifts for co-workers whenever you leave town, even if it's just for a few hours.
....your rice maker is always on.

You'll experience the same stuff in Hawai'i too.

 

[Index]

When telling people (in English) the price of something you say (eg) three man, or my rent is ten man instead of thirty thousand and one hundred thousand.

 

[Nightwalker]

When you start singing Japanese songs to yourself in the bathroom...

Oh God. I do that all the time. Even in class I start singing Gackt songs aloud. I had a lot of people staring at me and my friend was like forcing me to stop. XD

 

[Shibuyaexpat]

- when you take your shoes off...in the dressing room of a clothing store
- when you read English words and start reading with Japanese pronunciations (e.g., DATE becomes da-te)
- mutter little phrases to yourself (e.g., dou-shyo ka na?)
- don't bat an eye when you see a salary man on the train looking at a magazine with nudity

...And this is only from 6 months living here!

 

[gokarosama]

You use the descriptor "genki" when talking to Americans.

 

[kokiri]

what about ??

before going to Japan you freely expressed opinions when you come back and someone asks you if you want to go somewhere you answer " umm it's going to be difficult...." instead of NO !! not interested, **** off !

kokiri

 

[Pachipro]

-you find yourself nodding your head back to the newscaster at the beginning and end of a newscast.

-you actually dream in Japanese.

-you return to your home country and drink soup directly from the bowl when you think no one is looking as it's so much easier.

-you think US$7 is not bad for a cup of coffee and a sliver of cake or pie.

-you can't wait for the next 15 min episode of the NHK morning drama.

-you can actually make fried rice, Omu rice, and a complete Tonkatsu dinner.

 

[Fukumoto]

When you leave Japan and assume anyone Japanese can speak and understand Japanese. The man that owns a store near my house always says things to my boyfriend (who is Japanese-Canadian) in Jap, and he has no idea what he is talking about.

 

[MajideSaiaku]

havnt been to japan, but 3 years of much communication with my g/f in mixed japanese/english means i have to stop myself saying gomen or nani to british folk.

 

[Rich303]

Pedestrian courtesy

very true
when i look behind me before changing directions while walking

I do this in the UK!(London) maybe I have natural japanese instincts
When I was in Spain I noticed people walking around paying no attention to where they were going. No offence Spaniards!


I read something on this thread the other day about bowing to cash machines - is this really true?!

 

[MajideSaiaku]

.....You think having hair that looks fresh from a rough nights sleep equals high fashion, and you dont feel in anyway stripped of your masculinity by the fact you have more toiletries and cosmetic products then your spouse.
Continue this thread by adding your own "You know youve been in japan too long when..." submitions.

Inspired by a book i bought, titled the same as the thread.
My favorate one from the book is: "...The pictures in your comic book make your buddy, who is a sailor, blush."
It may require the little cartoon image that comes with each one, but, i thought it was funny (its about the violence and rape and stuff in some manga).

 

[Maciamo]

I have created an article with the best ones in the Entertainment section.

 

[Mike Cash]

Have you seen the JREF article of the same title ?

Usenet has sort of done it to death as well: http://tinyurl.com/bcqga

 

[Hachiro]

You know you have been living in Japan too long when.....

Feel free to add any if I missed any....I put together a few of my own and have borrowed some from friends and other message boards. I hope this thread is in the write location.....

you notice you' ve forgotten how to tie shoelaces.
you rush onto an escalator and just stand there.
you find yourself bowing while you talk on the phone.
you think US$17 isn' t such a bad price for a new paperback.
when you are talking on the telephone to your parents and your father says, " Why are you interrupting my explanation with grunts?"
you see another gaijin at your local supermarket and think " Wow, it' s a gaijin!"
you start thinking can-coffee tastes good.
you have trouble figuring out how many syllables there really are in words like ' building' .
when the first option you buy for your car is a TV set.
you don' t think it unusual for a truck to play " It' s a Small World" when backing up.
you really enjoy corn soup with your Big Mac.
you think the opposite of red is white.
you phone an English-speaking gaijin friend and somehow can' t bring yourself to get to the point for the first 3 minutes of the conversation.
you stop enjoying telling newcomers to Japan ' all about Japan' .
you think 360 yen to the dollar is a reasonable exchange rate.
you automatically remember all of your important year dates in Showa numbers.
you think Masako is beautiful and Hillary is cute.
you find a beautiful new way to eat natto.
you are not worried about speeding in the rain, because you know the cops are only out there in good weather.
you think " English literature major" is a polite way to say peanut-brained bimbo.
you think its cool to stand in the " Japanese only" queue at Narita Immigration.
you develop a liking for green tea flavored ice cream.
you' re talking to your mother on the phone, and she asks you what " genki" means.
you think the best part of TV are the commercials.
you think wet umbrellas need condoms.
your mother talks about " you foreigners."
you have mastered the art of simultaneous bowing and hand-shaking.
when you think it' s alright to stick your head into a stranger' s apartment to see if anybody' s home.
your hair is thinning and you consider it " barcode style" .
when you find nothing unusual in a television commercial for candy in which a model dressed in a high school girl' s uniform comes up behind another model dressed in a high school girl' s uniform, grabs her left breast, gives a devilish grin, and skips away.
you think the natural location for a beer garden is on a roof.
you think nothing about seeing 20 ads for women' s' sanitary napkins during one movie.
you have run out of snappy comebacks to compliments about your chopstick skills.
you think " white pills, blue pills, and pink powder" is an adequate answer to the question " What are you giving me, doctor?" .
you have discovered the sexual attraction of high school navy uniforms.
when you no longer find anything unusual in the concept of " Vermont curry" .
you think 4 layers of wrapping is reasonable for a simple piece of merchandise.
you think the meaning of a red traffic light is: " Hurry up! Ten cars now in quick succession, and then we' ll think about slowing down."
you ask fellow foreigners the all-important question " How long have you been here?" in order to be able to properly categorize them.
you think NHK is " the Japanese BBC."
you think curry rice is food.
the Yakult lady knows you by name.
you think it is quite OK to play volleyball with 12 people per team.
when in the middle of nowhere, totally surrounded by nature, you aren' t surprised to find a drink vending machine with no visible means of a power supply...
it takes fifteen seconds of deep thought to recall the first name of the President of the United States.
you have a favorite bush to pee behind.
a non-Japanese sits down next to you on the train and you get up and move. You' re not prejudiced, but who knows what they might do?
when your arguing with someone about the color of the traffic light being blue or green...and you think it' s blue.
you think rice imports should be prohibited, because Japanese consumers would never buy imported rice.
when you think one kind of rice tastes better than another kind.
you get a " Nihongo ga joozu" and feel really insulted.
you see a road with two lanes going in the same direction and assume the one on the left is meant for parking.
when you pull out your ruler to underline words.
when having gaijin around you is a source of stress.
on a cold night, the only thing you want for dinner is nabe and nihonshu.
you return the bow from the cash machine.
you can' t find the " open" and " close" buttons in the elevator because they' re in English.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Oh, what the heck!
You use a separate pair of slippers for the toilet.

 

[Hachiro]

You reply(and think nothing of it either):

"I'm fine thank you and you"

(With a higher pitch and accent on the "on you".) When someone asks you "How are you?"

 

[Davey]

When your using the V *peace* sign all the time.

 

[Maciamo]

I have merged the 4 threads titled "You know you have been in Japan too long when..." into this one. I had to delete some redundant messages notifying the existence of other similar threads and merge a few posts by the same users to save space.

 

[Mukade]

'You know you've been in Japan too long when...'

You read this thread and think:

'I don't get it. What's so strange about all these things?'

 

[Mike Cash]

"You know you've been in Japan too long when..."

You read this thread and think:

"Oh, crap. Another list of stuff about "you know you've been in Japan too long when..."

 

[Ewok85]

'You know you've been in Japan too long when...'
You read this thread and think:
'I don't get it. What's so strange about all these things?'

Heh, I was going to say that I don't get whats so bad about half of these...

 

[JimmySeal]

when driving faster than 70 kph (44 mph) feels dangerous, even on a straight road.
yet you feel no unease driving on a two-way "national road" that's the width of 1.2 cars, up the side of a mountain with a blind turn every 20 feet.

you've given your Western friends katakana readings in your cell phone phonebook. it's easier to search for them that way.
you burn your grass clippings (I hope I'll never stoop this low)
you forget what a plain looks like
you think that forests can't grow on flat land
you do a full calisthenics routine before going surfing
you don't feel self conscious wearing socks with sandals
any insect that's less than an inch long and isn't a mosquito is welcome to live in your home

 

[Mike Cash]

when driving faster than 70 kph (44 mph) feels dangerous, even on a straight road.

Most days, in my truck, my top speed is about 58kph. On expressways, no more than 78kph.

yet you feel no unease driving on a two-way "national road" that's the width of 1.2 cars, up the side of a mountain with a blind turn every 20 feet.

Try it in a tractor-trailer. I guarantee you'll feel unease.

you forget what a plain looks like

I live on the bleeding edge of the Kanto plain and drive all the way across it north-south six days a week. Damned glad not to have to go into the mountains anymore.