The same can be said in reverse for Japanese people on how they see the Western world: Do they assume the USA is like Hollywood or the UK being like British Television? They perhaps assume that all Americans live in a large home with a white picket fence depicting a nuclear family as if its 1950.

All they talk about US is California or New York since most movies and TV shows use either as their main setting. Is the US in real life similar to Hollywood (everyone having a nice car, big home & white picket fence)? That’s the kind of response from non-Japanese assuming Japan is like anime.

  • NotAnotherLemmyUser@lemmy.world
    221·
    13 hours ago

    Having been to France/Paris a few times, the first few times weren’t too great. However, I went again later on with my wife who was able to explain the proper etiquette and unspoken social rules and the experience was completely different to the point where I loved it.

    Many tourists won’t understand those rules, so they may come off as rude. But even a little effort will go a long way. Just a few things I can think of at the moment:

    • Always say “Bonjour” when entering any shop, even if no one is visible at first.
    • When talking to anyone, don’t start talking in English, first try to get by with whatever French you know (even if it’s terrible).
    • For escalators, never block the left side. The right side is for standing, the left side is for those who might be in a hurry and will be walking through.
    • On public transit, don’t be loud/bothersome. No talking on the phone. Don’t put your phone on speaker when listening to videos/media. If you have to talk, whisper.
    • FishFace@piefed.socialEnglish
      1·
      17 minutes ago

      I’ve been to France a couple of times, Paris once.

      • I didn’t say “bonjour” when entering shops and it didn’t seem to matter. Basically the only shops I went in were bakeries with queues so that would’ve been weird I guess.
      • We did attempt to speak French. Everyone had enough high school French that we knew “je voudrais”, numbers, and enough to point
      • I don’t remember specifically needing to stand on one side of escalators but it’s easy enough to copy what everyone else is doing
      • Being loud on public transport is rude everywhere IMO

      But it’s not like there were people going around telling people off for not abiding by rules, or people getting frosty looks everywhere. Honestly, only a minority of time was actually interacting with people - most of the time was:

      • admiring art
      • eating food

      All this to say, I think that there’s a lot more to disappointment with a trip to Paris than just getting etiquette wrong, and relating this to Japanese tourists, I would expect most to pick up on some obvious but unwritten rules quite quickly.

    • Hapankaali@lemmy.world
      7·
      8 hours ago

      Well, the latter two points would be good advice for American tourists in Europe anywhere.

      I really don’t need to hear what you’re saying from 100 metres away.

      • sfxrlz@lemmy.world
        3·
        8 hours ago

        Yeah but it seems to get worse with time. I keep encountering people blasting instagram reels or similar stuff in public transit, and they are not tourists.

    • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
      14·
      12 hours ago

      I had a great time the first (and only) time I went to france. I’m about to sound like I keep a gas canister full of my own farts to breathe deeply from, but, I’m not like other tourists. I don’t give a shit about the tourist attractions of the place I’m visiting; if they happen to be functionally interesting at the time I’m visiting, great! I’ll go do them. If not, why fucking bother? An example of one I tried (and failed) to do would be to see the Van Gogh museum.

      Anyway.

      The key was that I didn’t go to visit france; I went to visit my friend from university, who is french and lived in Lyon. I stayed at his place, and the idea was “hey, I came to visit you, but if we do some french stuff, that would be awesome”. Ok. I went to his friend’s birthday BBQ, went to his friend’s metal rehearsal, we had some great garlic sausage, we went to play petanque in a pub/bar, I got to see the center of town and eat the best ice cream I ever had (lychee sorbet) and I am very disappointed to say, failed to do the one fucking touristy thing I wanted to do : frogs legs and snails.

      You know why?

      I ended up seeing the greatest gig of my fucking life instead. It wasn’t even an explicitly french band, it was Secret Chiefs 3, who are based in the USA, and led by Trey Spruance of Mr Bungle fame. But fuckin’ BOY oh BOY the Lyon crowd was fucking BUMPIN. This might not be impressive to you that lead lives that aren’t a complete sausage carnival, but I actually got to dance with women at the gig.

      Those of you who are interested in death metal or progressive music probably understand. For the others , the number of women at these shows can be counted on the hand of a person with no fingers.

      Also, you guys should check out FAT32 if you’re into weird shit. I think Master Boot Record is kinda internet famous, they’re like that but from france and about a decade before them. If you don’t know MBR either, fuck it, They’re like Fantomas but french and from a similar timeframe. If you don’t know Fantomas, then fucking Igorrr. You don’t know Igorrr? Fuck it , it’s metal with keyboards and sound effects.

      Anyway.

      That gig was fucking fantastic. Well worth never eating snails and frogs legs. I think I tooled around in his place a bit before going to a bakery on the last day. I got treated well, because I followed the rule indicated by Mx NotAnotherLemmyUser : learn the fucking language of the place you’re going for fucks sake.

      I used my phrasebook tier french and pointing and grunting to get a few nice pastries and accidentally, one which was a danish covered in tuna. It was horrendous.

      I took the train to paris and the bus back to england. I saw the Eiffel tower. From the bus, on my way back, from very, very far away. I didn’t see the lourve. I didn’t champs the elysee.

      I spent time with my friend, in person, for the last time.

      Worth every missed opportunity.