6 rants tagged.
Japanese online reviews are a masterclass in tatemae: glowing paragraphs of praise attached to a savage 2/5 rating. Welcome to the most passive-aggressive scoring system on Earth.
Umbrella etiquette in Japan is a nationwide referendum on the weather, held hourly, in which half the country votes for rain that isn't happening. A field guide to the great Tokyo umbrella panic.
Understanding tatemae vs honne is the single most important bit of cultural knowledge you can have in Japan. It is the difference between living here and being managed here.
Japan fans cleaning up litter at the World Cup again, and the internet melting down about it again. The Japanese stadium clean-up tradition is a performance, and you absolute mugs keep buying the ticket.
There is exactly one Japanese vending machine near me that sells Dr Pepper. Was. There was exactly one. Now there are four rows of Coke and a hole in my soul the shape of a 500ml can.
Japanese office air conditioning runs on a calendar, not a thermostat. It is 34 degrees in May, the salarymen are dissolving in their suits, and the cooling season doesn't start until a date some committee invented in 1974.