Culture Shock

[Misaki]

Do you have any culture shock in Japan?
What made you surprise?

[Anna So]

Most culture shock I experienced was positive, good manners, incredible variety of food, efficient transport sytems - but one negative is that smoking its everywhere, in bars, restaurants, cafes and they even used to have smoking carriages on the Shinkansen not that long ago, but thats stopped thankfully now.

The fact nobody speaks English enough to have a conversation is a bit of a shock, but for some this might be part of the attraction!

[yoshi]

Sounds like good culture shock.
I had some culture shock while I was abroad.

When I was Korea, I was surprised that people don’t say sorry each other when bumped each other while walking on the street.
If in Japan, everyone says ` Sorry` for each other even though you don`t think it`s your fault.
Actually, I sort of like this Japanese way, so not much argument between people.

[Misaki]

There is one story about culture shock, one of my Australian friends visited me in Japan. We went out shopping, then she found a pretty dress and wanted to try it on, so she went to changing room.Then she just walked into changing room without take off her shoes. I and shop assistant was bit upset about it.
Taking off your shoes at changing room and in the house is common in Japan, but not other countries.