lol!! that's right!

a few months after I arrived one of my friends told me a story about when he and another friend ate at a restaurant near my house, and I was like "why didn't you knock on my door to see what I was up to?! I could have joined you guys!" and the reaction was pure confusion and a little shock and disbelief followed by an "are you kidding?" look haha

Could all this be partly because the Japanese, as a whole, treasure the little privacy they have and respect others' privacy as well?

well im pretty sure it apart of it the culture in itself definitely agree upon that.
you dont have that much privacy here in japan because of the amount of space here.

it also with trying to keep the peace, the zen. doing whatever it takes to achieve it as well. It not a bad aspect of the culture until it start affect your relationship with them.

I hear about privacy being an issue in Japan very often, but honestly... that's nonsense, I have far far far more privacy here than I did anywhere else in the world, with or without people dropping by lol.

To be honest I'm not sure why such things don't happen often... privacy feels like an excuse, not the real reason...

do you feel like you have less privacy in Japan? really?

no not really. i agree with you statement about it being an excuse. but in some apartments when you can hear other people conversations you lose some of your privacy. because other people can hear but outside of that. no not really. there others way to you can achieve privacy.

In the 3 places I've lived there were concrete walls and floors, the only time I ever heard the neighbors was when both my door and their door was open.

In Canada I often heard my neighbors having sex or fighting...
Either there's less sex and less fighting here, or both of them are quieter, or the buildings I'm in are a lot better haha

I've felt a lot more privacy here.

People here do seem to not mind being alone though...

Oh and drinking alone as much as you want every night is totally legit and okay in Japan. Not antisocial. Not in need of medical help. Normal.
I still can't get over that lol.

a "What's your passtime?"
b "drinking"
a "Oh with who? Where?"
b "no one... at home"
a "...oh... you mean with like.. your wife or girlfriend?"
b "no just me, watching tv, last night I got really drunk! I still have a hang over"
a "so why do you drink alone? why not with friends?"
b "just to relax... unwind... refresh, it helps me sleep"
a "I see... you might not want to tell too many westerners about that..."

Whaaaa? My dad drinks a few beers every night by himself watching TV to "unwind" too. It helps him sleep better. In fact I know plenty of other people like that who aren't really alcoholics. (I'm American BTW) I don't think that's weird at all. :confused: I guess it's different in Canada.

I don't know, I find that as an American stigma too. There's always that joke, "Don't drink by yourself, people will think you're an alcoholic." I'm not how sure you are (and I'm in no way calling you immature) but if you hang around a lot of friends who can legally drink, you'll hear about this kind of thing a lot more often, like busting their balls about it if they just want to sit home.

Why do they have the highest debt to GDP ratio of any industrialised nation on the planet? .[/quote]

This is true but unlike USA only 5% is foreign debt. Also the economic glory years may be well behind, but don't write of Japan as an economic power. They have the technological know how and innovative approaches.