Are Japanese people down for PDA? It depends on a surprising variety of factors!
In Japan, you’re not likely to see too much public smooching going on. As well as being reserved and modest by nature, most Japanese people also believe that drawing attention to oneself in public is bad manners. However, there are certain circumstances under which these rules are relaxed, as explored in this street interview video by That Japanese Man Yuta.
While the interviewees initially claim to be uncomfortable with public kissing, hand holding, and smooching, their answers do change somewhat depending on certain caveats. For example, being in a reduced state of inhibition, like after having a few beers, seems to make people more inclined to ignore the stares of others and get up to some public canoodling.
Another factor that might surprise some viewers involves the nationality of the other party in the relationship. Some interviewees said that they’d be more inclined to get smoochy with someone from a more “expressive” background like some countries in Europe, even if they were in Japan.
Rationalizing that dating someone from another country means embracing their culture, some interviewees said that they’d be okay with doing whatever their partner usually does in public in their own country. Interestingly, several interviewees said they’d be more likely to smooch with a foreign partner in public if that person were exceptionally attractive.
However, even the liberating feeling that comes from dating a foreigner can be curtailed by the restrictions of being Japanese in Japanese society. Overall, the people interviewed in the video seemed to have quite reserved ideas about public displays of affection in general, which pretty much confirmed our suspicions before we watched.
What do you think of PDA? Would you happily smooch in public places? And do you think this lack of kissing in Japan has anything to do with the subject of another of Yuta’s videos: what do Japanese people think about their country’s low birthrate?
Source, images: That Japanese Man Yuta