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culture shock

Edible culture shock: Our Japanese reporter tries American barbecue for first time【Taste test】

P.K. broadens his palate while filling his stomach.

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28 things that surprised SoraNews24’s Japanese founder on his trip to San Diego

A trip to visit Big Sis takes Yoshio an ocean away from Japan, and in some ways a world apart.

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Go shopping with our Japanese reporter as he experiences Costco in the U.S. for the first time

Feeling like a large child with king-sized candy bar dreams, he entered a whole new world of delight with a few big surprises.

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The twin joys and dual sadnesses of eating ramen in the U.S.

The food tasted great on our trip to this Seattle ramen restaurant, but some things were very different from what our reporter is used to in Japan.

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Japanese exchange student sparks culture debate on Twitter with comment about American clothing

How much can the way a country’s citizens dress say about that country?

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Japanese girlfriend gets a lesson in culture from foreign boyfriend

Never before has the sentence “Fold my laundry” caused such a stir.

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Five things that shock Japanese people living abroad

Travel-broadened Japanese Twitter users share their stories of culture shock and pleasant surprises.

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YouTuber attracts ire with video showing behavior of some Shanghai Disneyland patrons【Video】

The magical world of Disney could probably use a few more warning signs.

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“25 Potential Culture Shocks from around the World” infographic offers tidbits of travel wisdom

What could be hard about taking a pee in Poland? Where are you likely to see camel racing with robotic jockeys? Answers to these and more below!

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Five awkward moments that prove you’ve finally nailed that whole “living in Japan” thing

Here are five awkward, bittersweet moments that’ll make you realise you’ve finally become a seasoned expat…

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Japanese student reacts to UK food: “How did One Direction survive growing up in this country?”

Sometimes the biggest culture shocks are the ones you have to put in your mouth.

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Five life-altering mistakes foreigners make when living in Japan

Beyond silly mistakes like wearing toilet slippers on tatami or forgetting to add “san” to someone’s name, what other things do foreigners unknowingly do to reduce their chances of living happily in Japan?

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Five things you should know before coming to Japan【Video】

According to statistic, anywhere from one to two million people visit Japan per month, and more foreigners are working and living here than ever before. That’s a lot of people hopping a plane over, and especially if yours is a one-way flight, preparing yourself mentally before you arrive in Japan is just as important as the physical things you pack with you in your suitcase.

Think you’ve done all your research when it comes to the Land of the Rising Sun? Check out this video on five things you should know before making the big move.

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Four things to hate about looking for an apartment in Japan as a foreigner

Seeing as how the entire English-language RocketNews24 team is composed of people who at some point moved to Japan, we’re pretty big proponents of living here. One unpleasant part of the package, though, it that since you can’t claim the whole country as your residence, living in Japan means finding an apartment in Japan, which is generally agreed upon as one of the least enjoyable parts of the expat experience.

Why? For the following four reasons.

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Domestic culture shock – 30 things people from Hokkaido experience when they move to Tokyo

When foreigners first move to Tokyo, they’re often amazed and overwhelmed by Japan’s biggest bustling metropolis. But sometimes culture shock can be more localized, and just because you haven’t left the country doesn’t mean there aren’t any surprises in store when you move to a new town.

Hokkaido has more than five times the area of any other Japanese prefecture, and the lowest population density in the country to boot. So when someone born and raised on the northern island moves down south to Tokyo, which is more than 90 times as crowded as Hokkaido, he’s sure to be surprised by a lot of things, and here are 30 of them.

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Our Japanese reporter asks for some authentic American food…but does he enjoy the experience?

The writers at our Japanese-language sister site are sometimes like kids after eating way too much candy: Adventurous and ambitious but rarely without any clear plans. And that’s why we love them! There’s nothing quite as fun as seeing something familiar through the eyes of someone whose never experienced it before.

As such, our globetrotting Go has proven to be an excellent guinea pig for testing classic Americana: He’s failed to impress at Area 51 and discovered that Denny’s in the US isn’t quite what it is in Japan. On the quest for “real American meat,” he decided to find a proper restaurant so he could ask for the chef’s choice. But would he enjoy what he found? Or would Nevada ultimately destroy our brave writer’s faith in American cuisine?

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Black Mont Blanc: The most loved ice cream in Japan you can only buy in Kyushu

Usually when people talk about “culture shock,” we think of moving to another country–but it doesn’t have to be limited to that. It can be anything from moving from one prefecture to another or even just moving into the city from the country or vice versa.

Of course, you can’t get much more “city” than Tokyo, so, of course, many Japanese people moving here from more rural areas might experience a bit of culture shock. And today we’ll be looking at one such example for one of our Japanese writers who came to the metropolis from Kyushu! Hint: it involves delicious ice cream.

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Paris: city of love, romance, food and… mental anguish?

In an article over on Gold Rush, writer Senya talks about the devastating psychological condition that has come to be known as “Paris Syndrome”; a condition that, bizarrely, seems to affect Japanese people in particular, with many visiting the city suffering from symptoms similar to depression that, in rarer cases, results in suicide.

What is it about Paris that has such a debilitating effect on Japanese? What could they do to avoid it or lessen the symptoms?

We delve a little deeper to find out…

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