Here are some general overgeneralizations.

The following are things I have seen/experienced myself, or been told by fairly reliable sources, that appear to be true about this country so far at least.

Japanese think shaking hands is novel, but they don’t realize it’s meant to be done with the right hand, they just use whatever,

It is common for family members to share bathwater, and to put tea in the bathwater.

It is common for Japanese women to use tiny strips of double sided tape to make their eyelids appear more Caucasian.

Whale meat is available at most if not all grocery stores.

If you pay for the license, there is no limit on the number of bears you may hunt in a season.

Prostitution carries less social stigma in Japan than in other parts of the world, and though it is now officially illegal, it is visible almost everywhere and there are many buildings set up just for this purpose.

Marijuana culture is very popular in Japan, Rastafarian apparel, marijuana paraphernalia etc is sold everywhere and clothing with marijuana related logos or designs are extremely popular.

There is no marijuana in all of Japan, well there is some but the penalties are so high, that its very uncommon.

Seatbelts are not always used in Japan, and only considered necessary on major roads.

There is thirty percent universal health care coverage in Japan. Outside of that, people are on their own.

Everyone has a bike, but helmets are almost never seen.

English study begins in middle school and is mandatory. No other languages are offered.

Every town, no matter how small has at least one massive slot machine casino.

There are no warnings on Cigarette boxes in Japan, and smoking ads are everywhere.

Japan’s Garbage is separated into three categories, combustible, non-combustible, and recyclable bottles and cans.

Japanese toothpaste is essentially wet baking soda in a tube. Gold teeth and dentures are both common, even for the middle aged.

It is common to see elderly women with part or all of their hair dyed purple, I have no idea what for.

University admittance is determined by an exam, rather than by high school grade transcripts. Students are often studying for this exam during their final high school year as well as regular high school exams.

There is a high student suicide rate in Japan, there are gates in subway stations supposedly to stop people from throwing themselves onto the tracks.

It takes several Japanese students working together to hold an English conversation, and when you see people alone who would normally talk to you in a group they will often just say hello, or avoid you, or be afraid.

In situations where we English speakers would use phrases like “good luck!” or “do your best!” Japanese say “がんばて” [gam ba te] or “がんばれ” [gan ba re]. The literal translation of these phrases is “fight!” so often before I give a speech or do anything really, people will shout at me in English; “FIGHT!” This was very confusing in the beginning and I often thought I was about to be attacked.

Other things I feel like mentioning:

Today I gave an introduction speech to the entire student body, despite having been in attendance for more than one month. It was well received.

I’m going on another fishing trip this weekend because I said I enjoyed the last one so much, which I did, but it wasn’t this cold before!

Yamanote is a private sports school, with teams that train for hours on end. Everyone in Canada told me I would be much bigger than most Japanese, but many of the guys at school are much taller and more massive than I. On the same note, people are constantly asking me what sports I like, expecting me to tell them a specific sport which I have been training at since childhood. I’ve just been saying skiing, which is essentially true, and gives me a month or so more before I have to prove it. I now have way more ski trip invites than I can possibly afford though. Also the mountains I have seen are half or less than half the size of most Canadian mountains.

According to my host dad the snow is salty from the mountains proximity to the sea… at least I think that’s what he said.

The Japanese language is completely different form English, I have a hard time stopping myself from comparing everything to English because it doesn't work, and gets you really confused. There is no plural in Japanese and everything is just said differently. "Is" comes at the end of a sentence, i dunno i could go on forever but heres a quick example;

if i were to show a LITERAL word for word translation of what my host parents said to each other at dinner tonight it would sound like this:

host mom: father, rice eat?

host dad: yes yes, eat,

host mom: milk drink?

host dad: no, is.

so, it can be easy to understand when they are talking simply and informally, but correctly saying what you want to say can be much harder.

I have seen zero homeless people since I came here, but I’ve read on the internet that Japan does have some. I don’t know how such a massively capitalist society has managed to have only upper class and upper middle class citizens.

I know this was a kind of bleak one, but I just wanted to show you the imperfect side of Japan, which I haven’t really talked about previously. I’m still having the time of my life and making every day an adventure!