10 Japanese Travel Tips for Visiting America

Sometimes it's funny to see how others see us...

10 Japanese Travel Tips for Visiting America

I liked this one:

*horse laughs*

We'll get right on that.

I see somebody never went to college.

But we are weirdly optimistic! I like that one quite a bit.

Go hit the link that gives four tips for Russians traveling to the States, some really good stuff in there.

Just came back to post it:

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=54461

I've had a lot of Russian and East European staff, and I've spent a fair amount of time there, so most of that I can say was quite accurate. But I never knew the thing about crossing your legs. That's a new one to me.

No comments from Japan about our unpixilated porn, eh?

I imagine in the age of the intarwebs its easy enough for them to find.

"It is a time for maintaining rich human relationships. Therefore, the meal is as long as 40 minutes. In addition, often the decorative tableware has been handed down mother to daughter, two generations, three generations. In addition, there are even more valuable dishes used for Christmas and Thanksgiving."

Really? Do tell! Now I know this is all in jest. Here's how it plays out:

Food's ready! Come get it when you want it. I think there's clean silverware not put away yet in the dishwasher. If not, grab some plastic picnic forks from the cupboard.
And don't grab the long one with the wooden handle! That's my bass cleaning knife.

You know overall these comments seem pretty flattering of Americans

Where are these "polite drivers?" They must have been visiting Nerdville Iowa population 120 or some shit. These fuckers around me make me want to mount a .50 cal on my car!

I agree, but I'd go for 25mm myself.

I take issue with number 4. I'm always impressed by how much people can drink and tend not to judge. I do agree that non-smokers have more rights than smokers though.
4. Nobody is impressed by how much you can drink. In fact, shame on you.
In the U.S., they do not have a sense of superiority if they are able to drink a large amount. Rather, if you drink a lot, there is a sense that you cannot manage yourself. There is something close to contempt toward someone who must drink a lot to be drunk. To drink alcohol habitually is to have alcoholism. Alcoholics are weak people mentally, to be one means you have spanned the label of social outcasts that can’t self-manage.

Non-smokers are more important than smokers in the US. Smokers capture the concept that they are not able to control themselves, and are the owners of weak character.

What is it with you and seeing everything in terms of rights? Smoking or not smoking really don't have a lot to do with that concept.

In many cultures the bottom of your feet are considered dirty. So it's disgusting to be showing them off to people. In the M.E. it is quite the insult.

In Russia, it is how hookers on the overnight trains tell you their price. The cost is marked on the bottom of the shoe.

It's a lifting of the foot, though, not a crossing of the legs. At any rate, I don't think they have an issue with the underside of the shoe (see Kruchev).

americans are outstanding when it comes to discipline in traffic. almost everywhere else it the wild wild west compared to (most) of you.

They do when you can be discriminated against by being a smoker like being fired or not hired for a job.

Maybe it has to do with newer infrastructure being built for the automobile specifically, instead of co opting existing ancient roads made for mule and cart?

Where does that happen? And since when are you somebody who thinks an employer doesn't have the right to hire and fire? If a private workplace has a no smoking rule, rights have nothing to do with it.

All I know is I drove all over Europe and it wasn't nearly as bad as it is on my daily commute. I think the problem is that in much of Europe once the traffic gets congested, you are creeping along,and have time to access the situation. The pace is slower. In America you are going 55 MPH one second, then you are in a congested intersection the next second.

There is a difference between congestion and poor driving behavior. Amricans tend to be much less aggressive about red lights, turning in front of oncoming vehicles, etc. Same thing holds for line behavior. I've seen it many times abroad, that the point of the line is separating the aggressive from the meek. In the US, people pretty much accept waiting for their turn.

http://www.pennmedicine.org/careers/working-at-penn-medicine/tobacco-free.html

Hospitals Shift Smoking Bans to Smoker Ban
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/us/11smoking.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Smokers Need Not Apply: Government Hiring Bans
http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-smoker-hiring-bans-increasing.html

http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/11/the-right-to-discriminate-agai

True about Europe that's for sure! In Germany it's survival of the fittest when it comes to lines. Not saying they have a mean streak but......well I guess history will bear me out on this.

Right. I'm not disagreeing that there are companies actively discouraging smoking. I'm disagreeing that there is a right to smoke or that smokers should be a protected class.

Thanks to things like Right to Work laws, it is perfectly legal for companies to put arbitrary clauses in employment agreements. The argument being that companies should have the "right" to hire and fire employees for any reason, and the Libertarian attitude is that laws which prohibit companies from hiring and firing whom they want is wrong.

(FYI, the Cato Institute is a Libertarian organization, so this can hardly be seen as Leftist propaganda masquerading as the Libertarian perspective.)

Why would companies want to discriminate against smokers? Because it lowers their healthcare costs. Don't like it? You're perfectly free to work somewhere else.

Yeah, that's why I responded to his statement. I believe he considers himself to be a libertarian, but he's staking out ground in opposition to that philosophy.

The Children's Health System of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Cooper Green Mercy Hospital, and the Baptist Health System of Alabama all require a tobacco test as part of pre-hire screening. If nicotine or any tobacco metabolites are found in your system, you are not hired. That precludes vaping and nicotine patches as well.

Agreed wholeheartedly. But, it's an interesting philosophical debate when you consider that with UAB and Cooper Green, you get into the issue of government being the employer. It's far from "private enterprise."

Everyone's a Libertarian until their own ox is gored.

How do you want to define "private enterprise" though? The Federal government slaps a number of requirements on contractors wanting to sell things to the government (which nearly every company does, since you never have to worry about the US government paying its bills) and to some people's minds (like Uncle Albert) this means that any company which takes money from the government on the government's terms is not "private enterprise." Mind you, if it weren't for the Federal government, then the quality control standards that the Japanese used to beat the dogshit out of Detroit would exist, nor would the Jeep. (I think I'm going to go start a thread about that. )