The Friendliness of Japanese People to Foreigners

Hi, readers! Long time no see! I have kept this writing since 2017, omg it is 2021 already!

Well, it is never too late to write, right?

Anyway, yes, I have been procrastinating to continue writing on this blog, since I had final exams, but now it's all done. So, I have some free time that I can use for writing more.
Lately, I am kinda feeling lonely you know, I guess it's because I miss Japan so much, especially when I recall the moments in winter, when I had winter vacation in Hokkaido, traveling around with my backpack along with my Chinese friend. But, in this post I will not talk about that Hokkaido Trip, well maybe in the next post, I promise!
Now, I'm gonna talk about my life as an exchange student in Japan, specifically my life as an foreigner in Japan..

First of all, I guess, you would have guessed, the best part of living in Japan must be its cleanliness! Since, I came from a developing country, like Indonesia.. where trashes are not categorized into various categories, like can, food waste, and many other categories (I forgot lol), I kinda feel Japan is just too clean, sometimes I thought it's over too clean. BUT, it is not as negative as you would think, I mean, at first, you would feel annoyed and not simple to categorize trashes, but eventually, you would adapt to it and understand why we have to do it. I came to think that it is indeed part of their culture and I was so amazed that every corner in many areas in Japan that I have experienced see with my own eyes, it was always clean, and I bet it is still clean till this moment (lol). In short, though cleanliness is also part of Japanese people's 'Identity', another thing that would be interesting to talk about is the friendliness of Japanese People!

I know, it might sound less interesting, well okay, everyone could be friendly, even we, Indonesians are very often called as the most friendly people. We smile and greet each other even though we do not know each other. Well, yes, it depends right.., not all Indonesians are all friendly, I guess. When you talk about public services, like in airports, public transportations that are tourist-friendly, particularly tourist attractions, they have to be friendly, right?

Anyway, what about the friendliness of Japanese People then?
Here, of course from my experiences living in Nagoya and Tokyo (tho only for 2 weeks), traveling in Kyoto and Osaka, then Hokkaido and other short trips that I experienced, Japanese People are always, always friendly and very helpful to us, foreigners. It is not that friendly in the way that they greet everyone they meet on the street, but every time we ask for direction, we are welcome and I had been accompanied to the place! I had several experiences when I asked for directions from a stranger, and they helped me find the way, even they made sure that I arrived safely. To be honest, we rarely see this in Indonesia. Am I right?

Indonesian people are well-known to be friendly, but for those strangers who escort foreigners... I would say it is rare here. Hopefully, we would see some of those examples that I experienced myself here also in Indonesia, not only for tourist-related activity but of course to all strangers that could help foreigners in Indonesia. 





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