Most first-time visitors to Japan are struck by how clean the country is

Post by verylittlemeat » Sun, Oct 13, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

davidmurdoch wrote: post #73

electriclove wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's generally the custom in the US as well.

Where in the US have you seen this? I've never seen it happen!

Post by chrisseaton » Sun, Oct 13, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

alkonaut wrote: post #123

chrisseaton wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cleaning is someone else’s job. Well... yeah if you're eating in a restaurant, then yes it literally is someone else's paid job to clean your table. That's what makes it a restaurant. Do you also criticise people who go to a restaurant and expect someone else to cook their food? Or people who get a taxi and then expect someone else to drive?

In a fast food restaurant where there is a bin where customers are supposed to throw their trash then I’m assuming I’m actually not paying to have it done. That is: there isn’t staff enough to handle it, and those that leave their tray just ensure that prices go up (since they are using a service they didn’t pay for). I have never left a tray in a fast food restaurant in 40 years.

Post by mrunkel » Sun, Oct 13, 2019, 5:19 PM UTC

CapricornNoble wrote: post #113

sunstone wrote: post #47

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The pachinko parlors are particularly quiet and serene.

Huh, my pachinko encounter was the complete opposite. My friend wanted to go to one while we were walking around once. As soon as the doors opened I was accosted by DEAFENING noise and the oppressive smell of cigarette smoke (as if chain-smokers were hot-boxing the place). I told him nope. This is one experience you'll have to try without me.

Post by dredmorbius » Sun, Oct 13, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

seanalltogether wrote: post #32

Reason077 wrote: post #4

Sadly, this is the opposite of the UK cultural attitude. Kids here learn that cleaning up is someone else’s responsibility. Littering becomes a habit from an early age. Even compared to Americans, we are terrible litterers. You can see this in people’s behaviours in fast food restaurants: in the US (as in many other countries), customers will bin their food wrappers and return their tray when they leave. Even groups…

Oh man this is so true and one of the big things that really stuck out to me when I first moved here. In the states i was used to seeing trash along the highway, but walking down city streets are relatively clean. Here in the UK when i walk down the street I'm now used to seeing tons of plastic bottles and empty crisp packs in the hedges. And you completely nailed it, cleaning is someone elses job.

Post by scarejunba » Sun, Oct 13, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

bonestamp2 wrote: post #77

tasogare wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People didn't shout in public or have their phones blaring. Yet Japan is a very noisy country. Store clerks shouting irasshaimase like robots, speaking elevators, politians in campaign and their cars with mega-phone, etc. added to paper thin (sometimes literally) walls make it sometime painful to live here.

I wonder if that's because so many other things are super quiet. The trains seem whisper quiet compared to our trains in the west. The elevators, when they're not talking, are silent. Everything seems to be perfectly lubricated and maintained to the point where things that seem loud maybe only seem loud because they're not silent?