[RealJames]

Originally Posted by MMM

j-walking is surprisingly uncommon, people will wait for the walk signal even if the road is absolutely empty..

Tell people in Osaka that. I see jay walking all the time there.

I'm not sure where you're from, but Osaka is where I was talking about.
Compared to Montreal and Vancouver there is practically no j-walking over here. A few people race ahead of the walk signal, but it's so rare to see people cross where there is no intersection or when the signal not about to change.
This was something that struck me strongly when I first came here, so clearly there's a huge contrast otherwise I wouldn't have thought anything of it.

Originally Posted by MMM

there's no button to push to trigger the cross-walk, it just happens on it's own and you wait for it.

Again, you say "Japan" but I think your scope is limited. In Nishinomiya there are buttons on some crosswalks.

Yeah, you're right, I should say "in general" before everyone of those points in that first point. intersections in big cities generally have no buttons in Japan, in general. Small towns may.

Originally Posted by MMM

if you look at someone in the eye's while walking in the opposite direction they'll think "what's his problem?" or "why's he looking at me?"

Is that not true anywhere?

In Canada, you look at someone, they smile back, say "good morning" or "what's up", but it certainly isn't strange.
I remember having to intentionally avoid looking at strangers to avoid unnerving them.

Originally Posted by MMM

eating in public is rude

Then how do restaurants stay in business?

I think you mean eating or drinking on the street or at a bus stop is considered rude, but this is becoming an outdated way of thinking held mostly by the very old.

Right, by "in public" I didn't mean to include restaurants. I felt that was a given.

Originally Posted by MMM

while on the train or subway, be quiet, i put my cellphone on vibrate, people generally either don't talk to each other or whisper inaudibly

It's not quite as bad as a library.

no it's not quite as bad as a library, but to someone from most other countries the contrast is shocking enough it might feel that way lol

Originally Posted by MMM

there are specific cars on the train and subway that are women-only for certain times of the day, it's marked in english on the ground and walls near them, this is because japanese men are perverted and grope young girls frequently.

I think you need to choose your words more carefully. Not all, most, or even many of Japanese men are perverts. Not all the perverts are Japanese. It only takes a few to ruin it for everyone.

edit: "enough Japanese men are perverted to cause a necessity for women-only trains" (I'll change the original post)

Originally Posted by MMM

many people in Japan have no idea how to deal with foreigners, less than 2% of Japans population is foreign, we have to be understanding of this. having said that, almost everybody in japan under 55yrs old has studied english grammar and vocabulary for 3 years in junior high, and 3 years in highschool, so if you speak slowly, and clearly, they'll actually understand a lot of what you say, just leave out prepositions and stick to 3 or 4 word phrases, and use body language

Again, your language is very judgmental and degrading.

I'm sorry you see it that way, to me this is a wonderfully amazing thing. I've traveled to so many places and this is one of the best things about Japan! I wish people back home could understand tourists in their native tongue if they spoke slowly and clearly and simply.
I think you misunderstood my tone.

Originally Posted by MMM

every time you enter and leave a store all the employees will utter some incomprehensible phrase that basically means welcome to the store, but they say it thousands of times a week so it bears no similarity to it's proper pronunciation. and you don't have to acknowledge it.

Do you like living in Japan?

That's as far as I can go for now.

I love living in Japan! Once again I think you're misunderstanding my tone and taking it as complaining but trust me it's not. To a tourist or first time visitor the いらっしゃいませ is impossible to make out. It sounds almost like ぃしゃっせ lol. And no one acknowledges it, tourist or native Japanese alike.



Edit:
I honestly hope no one else got the same idea that I'm complaining, MMM.
I think you're a little too attentive to detail and that most people could pick up the meaning of the things I sad without having to be so verbose. =/