acregal

Being white in Japan means that people won't think you're learning disabled, they'll just treat you like you are.

5khours

The culture things comes and goes in cycles. Over time the cycles get longer and less pronounced. You kind of need to treat it as a game.

I'm sure there are no penalties for ignoring garbage rules. There never are for local ordinances. If the garbage Nazis hassle you, just tell them its a privacy/ human rights things and threaten to report them to the police for violation of the national privacy laws.

I'm surprised anyone working at 7/11 these days is Japanese and knows about Japanese etiquette.

The reason that you get different treatment as a non-Caucasian Asian is not because they don't know you're a foreigner, it's because the Japanese are racists and believe other Asians are below them on the pecking order.

goinggoinggone

Forgot their rules. You get the automatic gaijin pass for everything and make sure that you use the card as often as possible. The Japanese do not expect you to know or understand their 10,000 page handbook.

Just make sure you don't write too many gomen nasai letters to the omawarisan.

zombietooth

All the Japanese cultural oddities seem normal and weirdly logical now that I have been coming here for 30 years on business.

Also, goinggoinggone is absolutely correct: You get a "Gaijin-Pass" for any perceived cultural slight or misdemeanor you commit, so don't worry so much.
I eat food on the street all the time, and nobody ever gives me a second look.
I do, however, always respect the no cell phone talking on public transportation or in restaurants rule, because I too believe that it is very rude and disrespectful behavior, so much so that when I am back in America and hear people talking on their cell phones in public, it now drives me crazy.

jib71

Visiting on business is a different kettle of fish to living in Japan as one of the extraordinary ordinaries.

hailstorm

That "Gaijin Pass" is only for non-Asians that distinctly look the part of a Gaijin.

It also doesn't work very well if you have a Japanese spouse or other family members. People will bypass you and go to them with your transgressions, causing a lot of internal strife.

jib71

Taiwaned

This is so true.

joejones

Like many things in Japan, it is true so long as you think it is true.

hailstorm

How Zen!

Yes, you can indeed stop nosy Japanese from embarrassing your relatives with reports of your actions by simply refusing to believe that they are happening.

BuildingMyBento

After you eat the snack, where will you toss the wrapper? THAT is still the only thing that bothers me as a tourist. Well that, and getting shoved around デパ地下 by elderly women.

joejones

There are nutty people everywhere, particularly in what amount to retirement communities. As someone who grew up in Florida, perhaps I am just immune to it. That said, if your family take strangers' sides against you, it means that either you are seriously in the wrong, or it's time to find a new family.

hailstorm

That's part of the subtle hints given to visitors. There is no public garbage can (except in certain areas of extreme congestion) because, in public, you are not supposed to be doing something that warrants the need of depositing garbage in transit.

Oh please. It's entirely possible to defend your family member in public (as Mrs. Taiwaned is probably doing) and chide them for their actions in private (as Mrs. Taiwaned is probably doing). In fact, that's the expected form of doing things in order that everyone can save face (which is the basic problem that Japanese have with foreigners: doing things in a way that forces somebody into embarassment)

Nobody will ever understand Japanese society without a fundamental understanding of the concepts of Uchi-soto.

joejones

*yawn* Care to tell us about the chrysanthemum and the sword while you're at it?

hailstorm

*yawn* No, I'm good. Continue playing the role of the uneducated American, as that will be more palatable for Japanese than knowing that you are being knowingly rude.