Interestingly Japanese seem not to be very sensitive to noise, and the one I know do not care much about being quiet when people are sleeping (eg. coming back late and talking loud on the phone so that even the neighbour can hear).
Oh how i know about it, i wonder how they ever get sleep, and why is it so hard to put at least basic sound proofing into the walls?.....its not going to kill them.
I guess us pampered gaijin are too used to you know, privacy and peace and quiet durring the night. Silly foolish us.
2) Maybe more of a country thing, but peeing at the side of the road. Mainly old men do this, and it is more sad than rude since I have seen it about a thousand times by now.
Its more then understandable on the motorways in tokyo, it took getting out into the country before i could take a whizz, but i couldnt hold that long, i eventually had to go pee in some bushes by the side of the road....so utterly embarrassing....i tell you at that time, i wanted to hunt koizumi down and tell him to f***ing do something useful like adding rest stops along the japanese motorways....it just boggles the mind, japanese must have bladders of steel...
3)Using a toothpick at the table - again, more of a old man habit.
Apparently its okay if you cover your mouth with your hand, i aint got a problem with toothpicks myself.
What about things Japanese find rude that gaijin do?? For example, I couldn't get used to the fact that I wasn't supposed to eat in public, and I broke this rule a lot. I would always grab an onigiri on the way to work and sometimes got dirty looks from people. Here at home, no one thinks twice about eating in public. On a long JR ride, I'd even sometimes break out a bowl of gyudon from Lawson. I know I shouldn't have, but I just didn't see the harm in it. Am I going to gaijin hell???
Yes...well, not really, i musta lived in a really bloody progressive thinknig part of japan because ive never had troubles with manners and rudeness (mostly) though maybe im just by chance of happy coincedence in a way similar to the japanese mindset, i do enjoy keeping to myself in public, and ever since i was little i was always told i was shouting when i talked to people as a kid, ive made a concious effort to be as quiet as possible.
Not only is it quiet, they all sit there until the end credits have finished, ik couldnt believe it, i wanted to leave but i sat there like a ***** because i didnt want to look like the dumb gaijin but, we went to see memiors of a geisha/sayuri, (my girlfriends name is similar, have a guess) but i couldnt believe it, it was actually in english with japanese subtitles, so at least i could understand what they were saying.
As for foreigners being loud i dunno, im british, most gaijin i saw were quiet, but theres always a group of americans (or canadians maybe...) that you can hear long before you spot them comming, and god forbid your in a store when they are there, misbehaving as immature kids in adult bodies they are, and then you have to get "the look" from the japanese as if they expect me any minute to break out in similar poor public behaviour....
I like eating while standing (even at home) and get scolded by my wife for doing so. But I rarely eat while walking.
I was always walking about the livingroom with a bowl of rice sometimes and eating it, and my girlfriend was always telling me to sit down.....i always assumed she worried i had the hand control of a 5 year old and would drop my food all over the floor, it was an interesting experience getting told off like a child again, despite the fact i am bigger and taller then here, i guess the few months age gap she has on me gives her a boosted ego.
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.
Oh dont get me started, i actually had to learn to apologise again when i got home because i just gave up caring when they constantly showed no concern for the fact they bump and push right past, there was at least once or twice when i wanted to thump one of the culprits in the gob for the total utter lack of manners. In a country where you wont tell someone their hair is on fire for fear of their reaction, why cant they take half a second to say "sumimasen" or "gomen"?.....though to be fair a few did, which i was thankful for, but they were a precious few....i did mention the time i helped a delivery man move a large parcel onto our elevator, and his utter joy and gratitude for this act of kindness was so great, his smile was beaming a happyness light that burnt through the walls, along with the constant sound of "aah! arigatou!"?
Also, another thing that irritates the hell out of me is his inability to be on time for appointments.
My girlfriend takes her time getting ready, then every time without fail, 7-5 minutes before were actually meant to be getting on the train, she starts panicking and wigging out, its quite amusing, except for when she turns on me, and i just wonder, if we've had the whole day off, why are we only NOW needing to leave for a train?....i woulda left 10 minutes ago, and lightly strolled to kabe station, waited for a train got on and been in time, infact i like arriving 15 minutes before an appointment time just in case, but because my girlfriend is odd like that, we have to run in cold weather to the train, needless to say my lungs hurt and im knackered out.
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.
Im british so im used to always getting a seat on a train, but when im on a train, ill always allow a lady or someone else to take a seat (they dont say thankyou by the way) i do this on the busses in my home city, and i always let everyone else on a bus first, so it annoys me when i signal to a lady or something on the train she can have a seat that im right next to, but then someone else barges past and sits down, i swear ide love to punch them in the face throw them across the carridge and allow the elderly lady to sit down as i intended.
What also annoys me is when a bloke is clearly checking out my girlfriend on the train, and is aware that im noticing it, but continues regardless i mean wtf?....i know it isnt a crime to find a woman attractive, no matter who she is with, but you can at least try and show me some f***ing respect and not drool over my woman when you know fine and well i am noticing it.
I know that is considered rude for you to wash in the bath water, you are suposed to wash first. Is it ok to fart in the water? I have never heard any one talk about this issue?
I always thought the rule was just to wash up the nether regions first before you get in, anyway thats what i was taught.
Personally i like to take my time in the bath, just sit there and soak, but my girlfriend is always washwashwashwash so in the end i had to say "hun, this bathing together has to stop....when you said we should share a bath, i envisioned it being a bit more romantic and a little less torturing".
Maybe I should keep my mouth shut as I've only spent a short time in Japan,
but while on the train the past year in the UK I've been spat at, called a 'queer' by a girl I wouldn't give a cigarette to, and hit in the head for the 'crime' of falling asleep.
I find all this much more offensive than any manners I encounted in Japan.
However, I guess over a period of time things can get to you so I will keep an open mind. When you spend any length of time in a country you will find things that bug you.
The infamous pikey/chav/townie....oh how i loath them, they have utterly no respect for public manners and other people and ugh....they just irritate the f*** out of me, i would support any plan to squeeze them into rockets so tightly a japanese train commuter would complain, and launch them into the sun, but their corrupted taint would only make the sun spit them out again.