Bad Japanese manners / Where are the polite Japanese ?

[kirei_na_me]

In general, I found Japanese to have a bad "street behaviour", not caring at all about other people, like when 5 people walk side by side taking all the pavement for them and you can't pass when you come opposite them, but they won't open up.

I can relate to this one! Not talking about umbrellas, but just bad 'street behavior' in general. One thing that bugs me more than anything is my husband's apparent disregard for people in public places. Especially if we're in a crowded store with a shopping cart! He cut in front of people, bump into people, he won't move if he's looking at something and someone else comes along and wants to look at whatever it is, etc. etc. And he will not say 'excuse me' for anything like that! It makes me crazy! It is so embarassing and it is just plain rude.

Also, another thing that irritates the hell out of me is his inability to be on time for appointments. I don't know if this is a Japanese thing or just a guy thing or what, but he seems to think he can take his time getting to an appointment. If I have to depend on him to take one of the kids or me to the doctor or somewhere, I might as well count on being at least 10 minutes late. We have had terrible fights over that. My main point is that it is an appointment. That means you're supposed to be there on time or better yet, several minutes before the appointment time. It's common courtesy! He seems to think that because you have an appointment, you are allowed to be late? Oh, it drives me crazy.

[Buddha Smoker]

What about the people in the train that spread their legs (usually businessmen) and don't let people sit down? The train seat is typically made to hold 3 (small section on the ends) and 7 (big middle sections) people but they take up two people's room and 5 (maybe 6) are sitting. That really gets under my skin sometimes.