7 Interesting and Surprising Things ONLY IN JAPAN 🇯🇵

What's up guys and welcome to this new series where I take a look back and kind of dive deeper into what surprised me about a country or place. And this video is all about Japan. Now Japan on its own is already a really interesting place. I mean they have arguably the best food in the world, fascinating history, and a really refined culture. But the first thing that surprised me about Japan was its population. A lot of you know that Japan has one of the oldest populations in the world with something like 28% of it being made up of people 65 or older, which is a lot. And the funny thing was I went out to bars and clubs in Japan and I found the crowd to be pretty mixed. You have people in their mid-50s still partying at like 1-2am, which was totally awesome. And I see that in Japan more than any other place, where the population may be old but they're still out to have a good time. I mean there's something really cool about sitting down in a bar in Tokyo and having a glass of whiskey with a retired cop at like one in the morning. They're killing it. And that leads me to number two, and that is everything that they do, they do it the best. And whiskey is a great example of that. So whiskey was brought to Japan in the late 1870s by a guy named Shinjiro Torii, who used to import western liqueurs. And they didn't even really open their first proper distillery until like a decade later. And if you cut from then to now, Japanese whiskey is some of the best in the world. And that's a lot to do with the Japanese attitude towards outside influence. You know they see something that and they take it and make it their own and try and develop it the best that they can. And you see this in tons of other things too, cars, electronics. And there's a real loyalty to the craft. Like a Japanese friend of mine told me about this restaurant owner who cooked yakitori for his entire life. And he cooked it for the same customers every day kind of guy. And the doctor said that because of the constant smoke inhalation, he's like 70 something now, that if he continued to cook, he would only live for another like 20 years. And he thought about it and decided that he would rather cook for the people that he knows and loves, than to retire and step away from the business. It's that kind of dedication that really makes you respect what they do. Number three, the organized chaos. Now for this one, I'm really talking about Tokyo specifically, but it can also apply to other parts of Japan. So Tokyo is the largest metropolitan city in the world with something like 38 million people. You compare that to New York City, which has a population of like eight and a half million. New York City is very loud. You walk down the streets, you're hearing traffic, you're hearing commotion, there's people yelling. There's a lot of energy there. And Tokyo has that same energy, if not more, not to mention the absurd amount of people. And yet when you walk through the city, it's almost peaceful. It's like quiet and calm, even though it has no right to be. Like you'll never see road rage in Tokyo, which is a big thing in Japanese culture. You know, respecting other space, understanding other people and what they're doing. And all that creates this surprisingly calm city for what it is. Now, the fourth thing that surprised me about Japan, and this is going to be a little bit controversial, was that after I visited Japan, it made me realize how good Japanese food is outside of Japan. Now, what I mean by that is that you're a fan of Japanese food and you've never been to Japan. You kind of view it as this like mythical place where they have the freshest fish, you know, the best ramen, all this stuff, which is totally true. But after going there, it does make you realize how good it is elsewhere. Like I had sushi on the coast of California that was pretty close or on the same level as some restaurants in Tokyo. And I'm really talking about coastal cities here. I mean, because once you get into like Kansas or Oklahoma, not entirely sure what it tastes like there. But that really goes to show how good the Japanese are at exporting their culture, right? Because most of these restaurants are run by Japanese people. And that kind of goes back to the loyalty to the craft. You know, even though they're cooking for people who aren't from their culture, they want to put on the best show possible. They want you to have the best experience and make sure they honor where they come from. And the fourth thing that surprised me wasn't really a big idea. It was more just specific individual things. And those are the small innovations. The Japanese seem almost fanatical about coming up with little tiny things that can slightly improve your life or slightly make it faster to do something like the crazy toilets, for example, where they have heat seeders and automatic flushing and all this. Some of them sing songs. It's ******* crazy. Or the copious amounts of vending machines. I mean, I swear there's at least one vending machine for every of the 38 million people in Tokyo where you can not just buy stuff like drinks and food, but umbrellas, clothing, what else? Toilet paper, because why not? Or even ordering stuff in a restaurant where you'll go up to a machine and you click on the food item you want and it prints out a ticket and you go and hand that to the waiter and he comes back with your food. And these are like really nice high end ramen places. It's the kind of thing that no one would think to ask for. And then once you see it, you're like, huh, I guess that makes sense. That's kind of cool. Now, the sixth thing that really surprised me was how you can see it's ancient culture still playing an active role in society today. And what I mean by that is like when you go to other countries, their ancient culture is there kind of as a token to let you see, to let you glimpse what it was like to be there. Like ceremonial dresses or ancient traditions. Stuff that is set up there for you as a tourist, but isn't actually practical today. Now with Japan on the flip side of that, you see a lot of its ancient culture totally having an impact today. Not just traditions and ideology, but in architecture, in art. Japanese have a real respect for history and you see that play out everywhere you go. And last but not least, the seventh thing that surprised me about Japan was how nice everyone is. Now I say that that's surprising because Japanese people can get a bad rap for how xenophobic they are, right? Like they think they're a little bit above everybody else. And I'm generalizing here, but my point is that despite some of their views like that, they're still incredibly nice to you as a tourist or as a foreigner. You know, it seems like they understand that you come from a different culture, from a different place, and they try and accommodate you the best way they can. So it's kind of a paradox. You know, it's almost like they're looking at you as if you're playing a different sport entirely. They're like, yeah, we're over here playing this sport. It's cool that you're over there, but you know, kind of different. Or I don't know, something like that. You get what I'm trying to say? It's just that because of the xenophobia, because of the older population, you expect people to be way more standoffish than you are. Like I met tons of Japanese friends while I was in Japan, and I had a great time with all of them. Like I met this 60 year old guy in a bar once. I was there drinking a glass of whiskey because I love whiskey, and he spoke no English. So the bartender was kind of translating for us. And just to be nice, I decided to order him what I was having because he hadn't had it before. Now, if you're not familiar, gift giving in Japanese culture is a pretty big deal. And I only kind of had a vague grasp of what it was at that time, but he loved it so much that he ended up giving me a glass of his favorite whiskey. And this went back and forth like two times until we're both fairly drunk. And at the end of the night, I got up to go and the bartender told me that he had picked up my entire tab, which of course I said he didn't have to, but I was like, actually, that's kind of nice. I'm going to, but it was just really cool to have that kind of intimate experience with someone who didn't even speak my language. So that was about it. Let me know what you guys thought of this new format down below, what you agreed with, what you disagreed with, anything else that leave a comment now. And then that hope you guys have a great day. ------- nailed it.