Japanese characteristics -3 (Lin Te Kuan)

There are some things about Japan that are really different from other countries.
It is better to know some of them before coming to Japan! There are a lot of 牛丼 chain shops in Japan, they have different names and some of them are also popular outside of Japan. For example, there is also吉野家 in Taiwan. But the same shop in different counties is also unlike. In
Taiwan, 吉野家 is just like normal restaurants. The design is Japanese style and the food is Japanese, nothing else special. But in Japan, 吉野家 is some kind of shop mostly for men only! Of course females can still dine in吉野家, but that would be a little bit weird. Because in吉野家, most of the costumers are so-called “salary men.”(サラリマン) The seats in吉野家 are designed for people who eat alone because it is like the counter in the bars: like the shape of “コ” and the seats are placed one by one near the counter. So anyone who wants to eat fast, without much disturbing and spending too much money, can choose to eat in this kind of shop. The dishes serves really fast and people eat without talking (because they are all eating alone.) I also found some
interesting phenomena: if there is a girl in the shop, mostly she is a foreigner: Chinese, Korean or Taiwanese and people who talked in the shop are mostly not speaking Japanese! So if next time choosing a restaurant, don’t forget about it!

Another odd thing about Japan if 人身事故. Before I came to Japan, my teacher told me that Japanese trains never late unless人身事故 happens. I thought that was normal because I regarded人身事故 as normal accidents and only happens once in a long time. But after I came to Japan, I found that人身事故 means someone commit suicide by jumping down the platforms. In
other words, get killed by trains. I thought that was horrible and disturbing because this kind of thing in Taiwan happens rarely. But Japanese seem all be used of it. The truth is, 人身事故 happens all the time. Japanese are in high pressure, so the number of people committing suicide is so big that foreigners can hardly imagine. It happens so often that it cannot even be news! This is
too shocking to me because if that happens in Taiwan, it is defiantly news!

Moreover, some Japanese told me there will be a lot of people jumping down the platforms before the day of the coming age day(成人の日). Because they are afraid unable to achieve what people anticipate them to do as coming a grown up. I cannot believe there is a cycle of committing suicide every year in Japan! As a consequence, many international students like me, choose to not go out before the day of the coming age day, since we are so afraid to see people jumping down the platforms! So if seeing人身事故 on the electronic board in train station, do not get confused!

Though some of the Japanese characteristics are strange or scary, it is just part of Japan and it is good to know before coming!