I wrote about the ranking of the biggest culture shocks in the US by non-Americans the other day. That made me curious about the same ranking of the biggest culture shocks in the US by Japanese people. (Please see the page The Biggest Culture Shocks in the US by Non-American People, 12 Examples Ranked for more details if you are interested.)

I wondered how different the culture shocks by Japanese people are from the culture shocks by other foreigners outside of the US. I made a figure below to see what type of culture shocks in the US are the most common by Japanese people.

The method to see what type of culture shocks is common is the followings; I first searched with Google the phrase “カルチャーショック アメリカ” which means “Culture shocks in the US” in Japanese. On the premise that Google search engine gives you the popular and useful Japanese websites based on the keyword you put in, I chose 15 websites regarding culture shock in the US from the top of Google search result. In those 15 websites, some websites mentioned a same type of culture shock in common. I recorded how many times similar culture shocks were mentioned in those websites.

There were some websites that did not mention the type of culture shock. I excluded such websites from the Top 15 websites of the Google search result regarding culture shock for my research.

I took the method above because Google didn’t give me the satisfactory information about the common culture shocks in the US by just typing in “The most common culture shocks in the US by Japanese” and such.

I put references for those 15 websites at the bottom of this article. If you are interested in what those websites are, please click here.

Here are the most common culture shocks that Japanese people experienced in the US.









1st Huge amount of food

This was mentioned 9 times out of 15 websites. The portions of meals are huge in this country !

I have seen a steak as big as 40 oz (1.1kg) when in the US. I have never seen any restaurant that sells steak with such size in Japan. You can see the similar phenomenon in other foods in the US such as hamburger, salad, chicken, milk, cookies, chips, etc.

2nd Americans are friendly

Friendliness was mentioned 7 times in the 15 sites. This was one of the most shocking experiences for me as well.

When you take a walk outside and happen to make an eye contact with strangers, they sometimes smile or strike up a conversation by asking “How are you?”.

When it’s a pretty girl smiling at you, Japanese people have to be careful not to misunderstand the meaning of her smile. The girl is smiling at you not because she likes you but because she’s just being nice to you. I had to control my emotion very hard, trying not to ask her immediately lol.

Huge amount of food and friendliness of the American people are chosen as the first and second most shocking cultural differences for both the Japanese and the other foreigners.

3rd American people tend to express themselves directly

This was mentioned 6 times in the 15 websites.

Also, this was not the culture shocks by other foreigners in the US. (Please see the page The Biggest Culture Shocks in the US by Non-American People, 12 Examples Ranked for the details if you are interested.)

I can fully understand this from my experience. When you compare Japanese and Americans to some colors, Japanese people are more like gray, but American people are like black or white. American people say things more clearly than Japanese people do. Japanese people tend to say things more vaguely and are more used to read between the lines. I like the direct and honest aspects of American people. But, those aspects can be taken as too aggressive and shocking by some Japanese people.

4th The customers are NOT always right

I am glad that other Japanese people feel the same way as I do about this. I thought this could become the No1 culture shock in this ranking. Customer service in the US is the worst from the viewpoints of the Japanese. I cannot count how many times I have experienced unbelievably terrible customer services in the US.

For example, when you buy stuff at grocery stores, sometimes a casher and a customer talk for a long time even with a long line of people waiting behind the customer. That’s really frustrating! When it happens, I usually feel on the inside “Shut up and, move your hands!” This never happens in Japan.

5th American shops accept returns so easy

This was shocking for me at first. American shops accept returns, including even the foods that are already eaten.

I think that the purchasing process is different between American people and Japanese people. Japanese people decide if they should buy the product or not before they actually make the purchase. On the other hand, American people skip the process of thinking and just buy the product anyway. Then if they find out that they don’t like the product later, they return it for a refund.

6th Pizza

American people love pizza. When there is a party, conference, meeting, etc, pizza is always there. This does not happen in Japan. I think it’s because pizza in Japan is smaller and more expensive. The pizza itself is not as popular in Japan as it is in the US either.

7th American people wear shoes in house

I cannot stand wearing shoes in my house. That would make the floors in my house dirty. I wouldn’t be able to live in my house, wearing shoes all the time. I cannot believe some American people put their feet up on desks, and tables etc. while wearing shoes. Don’t they think that they went to public bathroom wearing those shoes and stepped on somebody’s urine? Wearing shoes in house is disgusting!

8th American call each other by their first names

Some American people are very informal with each other, calling each other by their first names. It happens even with your elders or authority figures. When I was in university in the US, I used to call a professor by his first name, which never happened in Japan. You would get into trouble if you did that in Japan. Also, when you talk with elders, you don’t necessarily have to show your respect to them in the US. I personally like the informality of Americans. I feel people are treated more equal, not discriminated by their profession or age.

9th American people hold doors for you

This doesn’t take place in Japan, neither. This custom is sometimes confusing to me. When I go back to Japan from the US, I sometimes unconsciously hold doors for somebody behind me by mistake. On the other hand, when I’m in the US, I sometimes forget to hold doors for my wife at a grocery store. My wife gets mad at me when it happens.

10th Incredibly rural area exist in the US

Japan is consisted of small islands and the area of Japanese islands is not as large as the US. There are many rural areas in Japan, but they are not as rural as in the US. There are some areas in the US where it’s difficult to find people or buildings or even lights.

When my wife was driving in a rural area in Montana at night, my wife didn’t see anything but stars in the sky. Literally the only things you can see were the stars in the sky and her car. My wife said that she felt as if she was flying in a galaxy, which made her feel that some alien might abduct her. The area was so rural that nothing else could be seen when she was driving. It’s amazing how rural some countryside in the US is.

Comparison of the culture shocks experienced between the Japanese and the other foreigners

Here is the culture shocks that non-American people experienced in the US.

It seems that the huge amount of food and the friendliness are the most obvious culture shocks in the US for any foreigners.

The other cultures shocks are different in the two rankings between the Japanese and the other foreigners. But, I have experienced all of the culture shocks except the 8th culture shock which is that Americans are on time at work

It’s interesting how a different cultural perspective can change how we perceive each other. I think Japanese people could see the difference of customer service between the US and Japan more clearly than the other foreigners. Customer service in the US is incredibly shocking for Japanese people because Japanese customer service is the best in the world and the US customer is one of the worst.







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