Last time, we looked at 10 Reasons Japan Is Better Than America. But don’t worry, the good ol’ US of A still has plenty going for it. Let’s look at 10 advantages of living in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
1. Credit cards.
Visa: it’s everywhere you want to be…except in Japan. With the exception of one major tourist trap (Kyoto Handicraft Center), I didn’t see a single place in Kyoto or Tokyo that accepts credit cards. And checks are almost unheard of too, so people just use cash all the time. My friends over there even have to pay their rent in cash each month. They might as well shortcut the process and have everyone wear a sign saying “Please mug me.”
2. Water.
In the U.S., every restaurant gives you water right away and will continue to give you as much as you want. In Japan, you don’t get cold water unless you ask for it, and if you do, it will come in something the size of a Dixie cup. At one place they were nice enough to bring us a pitcher of water because they knew that Americans are weird and need water to survive. They say that Japanese people get enough water from other things, but I don’t see how. I was thirsty all the time.
3. Napkins and toilet paper.
Most Japanese restaurants don’t give you napkins, which seems especially odd in a country where it’s OK to slurp your noodles. It seems even more odd since a few places give you wet naps, which is more than you really need. And Japan has only recently begun putting toilet paper in bathrooms. (Perhaps this is another reason why they don’t shake hands.) Some companies have apparently noticed an opportunity here, and they have people standing on street corners handing out tissues with advertising on the package.
4. Affordable fruit.
Fruit is outrageously expensive in Japan. I saw some melons that cost $50 and are given as graduation presents (I’m not kidding!). Excuse me while I go eat a 15 cent banana.
5. You can do things your way.
One of the kanji characters is simply a box. But you can’t draw it however you like. First you have to draw the left side in a downward stroke, then you pick up the pen, go to the upper left, and draw across and down, then you pick up the pen, go to the bottom left, and draw across. The process is more important than the results. If there’s this much emphasis on the right way to draw a box, I can understand why my friend has to go through 24 weeks of classes to have a rudimentary understanding of how to drink tea properly.
6. Relatively little discrimination.
I won’t say that there’s no discrimination in the U.S., but there’s a lot less of it than there is in Japan. Right now we have a black man and a woman running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Granted, that’s for the first time, but it shows progress.
In Japan, they discriminate heavily by age and sex. They even discriminate against people who were born and raised in Japan, who just happen to have some Chinese or Korean blood. And they even discriminate against pure-blood Japanese, born and raised in Japan, who have ever set foot outside the country. People who leave and come back have to go to a special school to be re-Japanized, and they are never fully accepted ever again.
7. You can breathe the air.
Say what you will about the air pollution in the U.S.; at least you don’t need to wear a mask. The Japanese cut down massive numbers of trees to rebuild the country after World War II, and they planted cedar trees to replace them. When the trees pollinated thirty years later, they discovered that a fifth of the population is highly allergic to cedar. For six weeks every spring, you’ll see many people wearing masks to protect themselves from the pollen.
8. Casual clothes.
While you do see some people wearing jeans in Japan, you also see just about every guy wearing a suit to work, you see every kid wearing their school uniform, and you see women wearing their elaborate kimono. A complete kimono outfit with all the accessories can cost over $20,000, which makes a $50 melon look like the bargain of the century. Women usually need a professional kimono dresser to choose the appropriate style and help put it on, and in the past the kimono had to be taken apart into twelve separate pieces, washed, and resewn. This all seems awfully elaborate for daily life. Now that Memorial Day is here, I’m allowed to wear shorts to work on Fridays.
9. You can eat cookies the first time you’re invited to.
In Japan, if someone offers you cookies and you accept right away, you’ve branded yourself as a greedy pig. A person with a reasonable amount of self discipline will wait until the fourth time they’re asked before finally giving in. It makes me wonder when you ever get to be yourself, without putting on a facade.
10. The U.S. isn’t too proud to import foreign goods.
If another country can make something better or cheaper, the U.S. will usually be happy to buy it from them. The Japanese people think that American beef isn’t compatible with the Japanese digestive tract, and that French skis don’t work on Japanese snow. It was a bit ridiculous of us to snub France with “Freedom Fries,” but we’d never pretend that French potatoes don’t work in American stomachs.
Japan has some wonderful aspects to their culture, but overall, I’m very happy to be an American. What about you?
[...] Hunter Nuttall’s post, 10 Reasons Japan Is Better Than America which he followed up with 10 Reasons America Is Better Than Japan Or, Ask Liz Strauss – How do You Inspire Your Readers To Join Your Community Related Posts:Those [...]
hello from neutral prospective as i am neither american nor japanese i have the following things to say as i have lived in America and now living in japan so i have reasonable acute eye to see both the countries cons and pros
1 japan is better than america in the sense that the difference between the rich and the poor is not so wide as america where u see on the one side big limo and on the other side a homeless person!!
2 japan is better than america in the sense thatyou can not apparently guess who is poor and who is rich as irrespective of class both use public transport unlike america where you have to have your own car otherwise you can never date..in cragslist some girls first demand for the date is that he must have a car ..what the heck…
3 japan is better than america in the sense that japanese are not very loud like many americans..i am sorry i have good american friends..i am just talking about ugly americans who try to be conspicous and crave for attention
4 japan is better than american in the sense that in japan there is no segregation of different communities like in america where i saw black neighbourhoods seperate from white neighbourhoods..than hispanic neighbourhoods separate..one feels estranged in america..there is a town i went called jamica in newyork where i thought i am in jamica everybody in there was black..even i didnt see the white dog there..then i saw another town in america where mostly polish and russian immigrants lived not a single black man was there..!!totaly alianated ..disappointing
where as in japan they dont have immigrations problems like this
5 japan is better than america in the sense that in japan the dignity of work is higher than america where as in america i witnessed the labour was mostly hispanics illegals where as white americans dont want to do that job because its considered as low job and there is no dignity in doing that whereas in japan work is work…no body would look down on you if you are labour or working on a low pay jobs
6 japan is better than america because i have hardly seen any street prostitution ..and if you want to have escort services its much more expensive than america..where as in america its as low as 20 dollars for fast bee jay…so in compare with america there is no prostitution.
7 japan is better than america in the sense that if japanese girl sleeps with you …she would definately marry you and not blame alcohol for what happened last night ..like in america even if you do some thing terribly wrong and sleep with your best friend you can laugh it off and say ah i was drunk..heheheh..sorry..forget it
8 japan is better than america bcoz japanese girls like white people so if ur a white person u will enjoy japan like a king interms of courtships!!
9 japan is better than america because when to comes to housing japanese are not as extravagant as americans ..usually they live in small houses and dont use furniture to the extent where they have to spend a hefty money on just house hold furniture
10 japan is better than american because in japan a young girl can go out even at three o clock late at night without any fear..where as in america mostly its not safe for girls and ladies to be out after mid night
NOW I WOULD DISCUSS WHY AMERICA IS BETTER THAN JAPAN
1 america is better than japan because when it comes to groceries u get a good value for money..not very expensive as japan
2 america is better than japan because in america there are big roads to drive where as in japan there are small roads and mostly small cars
3 america is better than japan because in america girls come in all sizes and colours where as in japan girls are only in one size ..super skinny .i have hardly seen any plus size girl here..which makes me more attracted to them
4 america is better than japan because in america there are many crazy people so if you have stress you can go on the road and scream and shout and call somebody names and u will get some bad names in return from him but at the end of the day u release ur stress..where as in japan there is no way u can do that becuase u have to be polite at all times..so mostly japanese go for suicide..
5 america is better than japan because in america there are lot of things to do to entertain urslef.. where as japan is comparatively boring….
6 america is better than japan because in america everybody is immigrant..so no body cares where ur from as long as ur rich and good looking..where as in japan the first question that u hear is where the subject is from!!
7 america is better than japan because in america u can wear anything but japan its a suit freak country ..
8 america is better than japan becuase americans are not brand freak like japanese specially japanese girls they are brand freak that these all armani gucci and all this earning more from japan than anyother country
9 america is better than japan because americans are not good at hiding their feelings if some american would not like you ..you would come to kn0woinstantaneouly where as in japan u have to put a fascade since u have to be polite…infront of you u will be welcome with wide proportioned smile but behind your back u will be badmouthed..where as americans are not good at hiding their feels or they less but they forthright and straight forward…
10 america is better than japan because japanese are athiests unlike americans so they have less compassion towards less previlaged people or less fortunate people where as in america people believe in day of judgement therefore they are more compassionate towards these things..where as japanese are plain materialistic…period
[...] Hunter: Forgive my playing devil’s advocate, but they already play Go in Japan, and that’s not exactly a utopia. Like any other country, they have their pros and cons (see my discussion with Akemi Gaines where we compared the U.S. and Japan, or my tongue-in-cheek 10 Reasons America is Better Than Japan). [...]
9 japan is better than america because when to comes to housing japanese are not as extravagant as americans ..usually they live in small houses and dont use furniture to the extent where they have to spend a hefty money on just house hold furniture
its not that japanese are less extravagant, its simply because there is less space in japan than in the US. so japanese have no other choice but to adapt to the current conditions, meaning living in smaller houses.
3 america is better than japan because in america girls come in all sizes and colours where as in japan girls are only in one size ..super skinny .i have hardly seen any plus size girl here..which makes me more attracted to them
thats not tue. a lot of japanese girls are slimmer than american girls, but there are many girls of all sizes and colours as well. ive seen quite a few girls that are obese in japan.
5 america is better than japan because in america there are lot of things to do to entertain urslef.. where as japan is comparatively boring….
do you have any examples to back that up?
6 america is better than japan because in america everybody is immigrant..so no body cares where ur from as long as ur rich and good looking..where as in japan the first question that u hear is where the subject is from!!
well of course japanese will be curious as to where a foreigner is from, considering that 98% of the population is japanese. they’re curious about you, i see that as something positive.
7 america is better than japan because in america u can wear anything but japan its a suit freak country ..
when you’re not working in japan, you can usually wear anything as well. this is especially true for university students. or just look at what some people wear when you walk the streets in tokyo or other big cities. its even more extravagant than in the west. i’m assuming that you can’t just wear ANYTHING to work in the US now can you. maybe you have more choice in the attire you wear to work, but surely there’s a line you can’t cross in america too.