Better dental hygenie awareness seemed to come to Japan later than some other modernized countries. Many young people here still could use braces, but stinking teeth seem to be a thing of the past.
Concrete buildings and the lack of urban planning
Lack of respect of nature (concrete all along the coast, hills, few parks in cities, etc.)
Non-buried electric lines everywhere
Lack of thermic isolation and central heating in houses
5-month-long muggy summers (except Hokkaido and Tohoku)
Natural disasters (earthquakes, typhoons...)
Lack of preservation of the historical heritage
Political corruption (amakudari system, government using postal savings...)
Police checks on non Japanese (e.g. gaikokujin torokusho)
People pointing or staring at foreigners, or saying "gaijin, gaijin !" or "Hello America !"
People telling you that gaijin come to Japan to make money, when salaries are higher in your country
Assumptions that foreigners in Japan commit much more crimes than the Japanese
Assumptions that almost all foreigners living in Japan cannot speak Japanese
Remarks inspired by jingoism (4 seasons, farmer vs hunter, etc.)
Ignorance about the rest of the world (cultures, geography, history...)
General denial or downplaying of war atrocities
Discrimination in general (toward women, young people, foreigners, burakumin...)
The education system (school + juku + homeworks and they still do not learn anything)
The exceptional Japanese ability to copy what China or the West did/does
Other (please specify)
Better dental hygenie awareness seemed to come to Japan later than some other modernized countries. Many young people here still could use braces, but stinking teeth seem to be a thing of the past.
I also noticed that many young people still have very apparent metalic teeth fillings in Japan. Here it is over a decade (maybe over 15 years) that fillings are white and invisible. My wife had her fillings changed in Belgium because she couldn't find a dentist that did white fillings in Japan, after I told her about it when we were living in Japan. I noticed that Japan was very late (usually over 10 years) in matters of medicine compared to Belgium or France. My wife has a few Japanese friends who have given birth in Belgium or France, and they said that hospitals and gynaecologists were so much better here than in Japan. Two of them had already given birth in Japan and could compare knowingly.Originally Posted by gaijinalways
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White fillings are/have been available in Japan for several years...how long I am unsure, but they do have them.
As for dental hygiene. It seems as though there has been a swing in the last 10 years to where there is more trust in dentists and more teaching going on as to the importance of good dental hygiene.
Many children still have terrible teeth, but it is getting better. Braces are extremely expensive, and I think that Japan should find a way to make it less so. My oldest son will be getting braces soon, and I am dreading the costs involved.
Many mothers do not brush their babies teeth. This combined with breastfeeding, contributes to rotted teeth in babies. Once the children grow, they have not been taught any good habits, and tend to not brush themselves. I have see changes to this though. There are three dentist offices withing 6 blocks of my house. Many children go there right after school now for their appointments. Two of the dentists have installed monitors on the chairs so that the kids can watch TV/DVD's while being seen. They can also use the monitor to watch what the dentist is doing inside their mouth. It has made the dentist quite fun and entertaining, and the children actually enjoy the visits. Maybe more of them will continue to go now.
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