THE JAPAN SUBREDDIT DIRECTORY / BASIC QUESTIONS THREAD (Winter/Spring 2024)

17 comments

1. How Do Birthdays and Aging Work in Japanese?

   This may seem like an odd question, but I’m doing personal research into the Japanese school system along with Japan in general.

   Say a student is born on April 1, 2009. In the United States, they would turn 15 on April 1, 2024. In Japan, does the same rule apply? I’ve read articles that still leave me confused, but I think what it said was that the age of the person doesn’t actually increase until the day after.

   So if you’re a first year in high school, for instance, and your birthday is December 2. If it’s now December 2, would you not say that you’re 16 until the day after? I want to be sure I’m understanding how the system actually works.

   I read something about Civil Code Article 143 but I’m really not familiar at all to understand. I just wanted someone with more knowledge to answer.

   Thank you for indulging in my weird questions.

2. Why can’t I used mixed payment methods at a conbini? I just wanted to get rid of my change before flying out and at first I thought it was just the one random conbini i chose but nope it happened at the next one too. WHY JAPAN WHYYYY??

3. Hello. Is there a way I, living in Boston, can buy several rolls of Japanese coins? I’m looking to get my hands on 10 rolls of 1 yen coins, and 1 roll of 5 yen coins. I’ve looked around online, but I can only find people selling collectors’ coins and rare coins. I know banks will provide foreign currency with some warning, but they don’t deal in coin rolls, just the most efficient denominations for the total amount.

   Thank you in advance.

4. Does Japan Post have any alternative means of contacting them online via email or messaging apps? I have possibly lost an item in their central Kyoto branch and wanted to contact them if it’s there. I’m a tourist so it’s not possible to visit personally.

5. Why on earth does Japan use fasolatido instead of standard cdefgba notation for music?

6. Hi, I’m going to live in Japan for a year and want to have a good sleeping bag for camping trips. I’m quite tall, 6 ft 3 / 189 cm, and was wondering whether it would be difficult to find a camping bag for my size in Japan, or whether I should aim to buy one in the my own country (which is comparitavely expensive) before travelling. Thanks in advance!

7. hello! would anyone in japan be able to explain any sort of impact (if any) regarding the Godzilla -1 movie? how was it perceived? any cultural impact or praise?

   to me its such an awesome retelling of 1954.

8. helloo! where would i be able to buy japanese stationery online that ships to australia for reasonably good prices. i recently went and didn’t get enough stationery so now i wanna look online… any websites would be appreciated 🙂

9. What’s the best way of going about finding Japanese language schools (if they exist) in Western Tokyo? Like West West. Chofu, Musashino, Mitaka, etc. I’m just using google maps, and it seems like most schools are around Shibuya and Shinjuku.

10. Oh hey look at that, right there in the guide…

    This is probably dumb but, due to the frequency of earthquakes and the possibility of them occurring at night, do people in Japan usually wear pyjamas or some other clothing to sleep? If you’re woken up in the middle of the night (ideally by an alarm I guess) do you have time to dress? Or do you have to get out immediately in whatever state of dress you’re in?

11. What animals or yokai or any other Japanese folklore creature symbolizes strength or healing?

    I was trying to google and find answer’s online but I haven’t had any consistent answers.

12. I tried to Google this, but couldn’t find a straightforward answer.
    So, trying to send a letter to someone in Japan.
    Does anyone know how to layout the address??
    Also do I need to write it in Japanese characters or can I just use romanji??

13. Uh, this is weird, but I’m not sure what else to do. I’m super obsessed with Hoppe chan from Sunhoseki. I have a massive collection. Recently, their website has just stopped working. I asked my proxy company, and they said it works for them, so they don’t know what’s going on either. I pinged the server, and it seems to be down. I checked their Twitter and Instagram, and there doesn’t seem to be any problem on their end. Can someone else with a japan vpn check for me?

    https://sunho.store/

14. Where i can buy Ramune?, i went to 7-11 yesterday, i did not see it
    Even Familymart, still not see it

15. Is there any comparable surveys in reach/quality to the GSS or Pew Research for public opinions in Japan? I’m not as interested in political focused questions, more social attitudes and the like.

16. Should we add 7強 or 8 to the JMA Shindo earthquake intensity scale?

17. Does anyone know where I can get this [specific umeshu](https://www.sake.sg/shop/kikusui-9-years-aged-koshu-nigori-umeshu-20-720ml/)? Would I just be able to walk into a department store in tokyo/osaka and show them a pic of this and find this?