Many parts of the culture of Japan’s are often viewed as a bit odd by western visitors. It is not only the language and customs you may find a bit different from back home, there a few other odd parts to Japanese society that can make any trip to Japan fun, with a new experience around every corner.
On many of the high traffic areas, especially around Shibuya and Shinjuku, tissue packs are an fascinating form of advertising. These small plastic packages covered with advertising are handed out in their tens of thousands every day. Wherever there is a busy intersection, people are employed to hand out the packs that typically advertising mobile phone deals, dating services or party lines.
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The Japanese animated art form known as Anime dates back to 1917, when Oten Shimokawa created the first Anime film. The film was a 5 minute feature called Mukuzo Imokawa the doorman.
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Capsule hotels are one of the more unique lodgings to be found anywhere. They are essentially a small cubicle less than a metre square and 2 metres long, usually stacked 2 or three high.
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If you are visiting the youth areas like Tokyo’s Akihabara and Harajuku or Osaka’s Amerika-Mura, it won’t be long before you come across Cosplay. Cosplay is the term for people dressing up in themed costumes. It may be a maid costume, a school girl, a butler or some weird and wonderful cartoon character. Cosplay is quite popular, especially with older teenagers and young adults.
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The Japanese are enthralled with cute characters on just about everything. Known as cute or “Kawaii” culture, most businesses have a cute mascot and soft and cute plush toys that come in all shapes and sizes are just about everywhere.
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Seeing a sign that reads Dog Cafe, you might be alarmed and think, Oh No they are eating Fido, well that couldn’t be any further than the truth.
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Any first time visitor to Japan may experience a bit of cuteness overload as it is quite common for Japanese companies, the government and even the military to use a cute character or mascot in their promotional material. Many western people can find it a bit odd and amusing that even the most serious business will put out a publication with a happy character all across it. Today, the cuteness or “Kawaii” culture has become part of Japan’s identity. Characters that westerners would normally associate with small children’s books have become part of Japan’s hip pop culture scene.
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Some Japanese toilets are an attraction all in their own, with a range of technological features that are sure to alarm the first time user.
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You don’t have to be in Japan long before you get exposure to J-Pop, it is blaring at full blast from just about everywhere. J-Pop has become an integral part of popular Japanese culture, it is used everywhere, from radio, TV, commercials and video games to name a few.
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Karaoke is one of Japan’s most popular entertainment pastimes, with over 50 million people enjoying the fun at over 15,000 karaoke box buildings throughout Japan. Karaoke is a massive business and is used as a good English learning tool.
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In this shop in Tokyo’s Odaiba you can pay to spend some time in a room full of cats.
