I thought it was a joke, an exaggeration thrown around this sub now and then. But today I met one of them!
I met a 30yo guy who told me Japan was unique because it had 4 seasons, and it had cherry blossoms.
I explained that a bunch of other countries also have 4 seasons and cherry blossoms.
I had to explain what latitude and longitude are, so his next question was whether all of these countries with 4 seasons were in the same timezone as Japan.
So I explained a bit about Earth.
Now I just wonder how many of them there are…
30 comments
Was his name Taro by any chance ?
“who told me Japan was unique because it had 4 seasons”
Ask him about the rainy season. Doesn’t that make it five? Aren’t there five seasons?
Watch him explode and walk away.
Think it’s a common Japanese trait ingrained by Japanese media and the government at some points too.
(the common part is an exaggeration, just sounds flashy so don’t hate)
I mentioned it here before, but my ex-mother in law when visiting us in the US asked if she “could see the moon from here” one evening.
It isn’t a Japanese thing… I grew up in an area with really nice fall foliage in the US where people would come up to see the trees every fall… I constantly had people tell me that other countries don’t have leaves that change color and only parts of the US and Canada have that happen.
Over time I have realized people, especially those that haven’t traveled, like to think what they have is unique and special… not necessarily a bad thing, but I get how it can also be annoying to those that realize differently.
I’ve been here almost 3 years and nearly all of my students go ええええええええええ when I tell them that other countries have four seasons. Genuinely shocked haha
I fucking told you so!
I’ve actually encountered this a lot! I’m not sure how this common belief got started but I guess it’s as common as Americans knowing “George Washington could not tell a lie.” Or “cars were invented in the United States of America.”
Commonly misunderstood facts that get echo chambered because nobody else cares enough to look into the facts and it makes them feel good about their heritage.
Little known fact: Vivaldi was Japanese.
Best response to this old chestnut is to mention several other languages having words for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and learn to quote them.
What do you like, rice or bread?
You should have told him that Japan is unique because everyone here speaks Japanese, it’s the only place on earth with raccoon dogs/sheep deer, and it’s the only first world country without a standing army.
How long did it take? These guys are everywhere. A guy at my (ex)work thinks linoleum is Japanese and bash at foreigners who install it since “it’s weird for a foreigner to do such a Japanese task.”
Meh. I always just roll with it and get them
Hyped up.
“yeah! Japan is safety and 4 seasons and clean and wow!”
Also throw in a couple
“Yes UK food is bad and rain everyday and train late!”
“If you have four seasons, then why is the window between “atsui!” season and “samui!” season, like, 1 week?”
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Tell him Japan has earthquakes and tsunamis … now not every place has that
ok many other countries with 4 seasons and cherry blossom.
but do they have anime?
lol.
I prefer this japanese guy over any flat-earthers and anti vaxx.
>I explained that a bunch of other countries also have 4 seasons and cherry blossoms.
Not a bunch of, but every country has such simple-minded guys.
I once shocked the hell out of a taxi driver when I told him in Europe we ate….fish. Like, did he think they all congregate into Japanese waters and the rest of the oceanS are just empty?!
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Did he get all surly with you when you dared to imply that all (or even some) of these things might not be totally unique to Japan? I’ve seen guys like this lose their shit and go into complete meltdown over this very conversation. Some people who come off as very sweet and charming at first can have a real ugly side if you do anything more than smile and nod at their rambling.
There are only 2 seasons in Japan, winter and summer.
Maybe he’s confusing the 1 week transition periods with 2 extra seasons.
It’s egocentrism. To encourage tourism, seasonal events, etc, are highlighted. But a lot of people think it’s the seasons themselves that are unique.
Same with learning English. I honestly had a 20-something JP coworker (teacher) ask me “what’s so hard about learning Japanese? Why should we learn English to speak to you. You should learn Japanese to speak to us.”
I tried explaining that people learn Japanese if they visit or move to Japan. But you can’t expect everyone to know every language. Makes sense to you and I, but to most people here, there are still two countries in the world: Japan and gaikoku.
I’m Japanese and super ashamed. screw those insular people!
While yes it can be funny and obviously other countries have 4 seasons too, Japan does revolve around the seasons in a way that I think makes it special. There is a unique beauty about each one (cherry blossoms and autumn colour tourism) and seasonal food and celebrations. I loved all the strawberries around sakura time etc.
My country has 4 seasons similar to Japan but the seasons don’t affect life in the same way, we don’t really emphasise it like Japan does.
Someone asked me if we have Starbucks in America.
I’m surprised it took you that long to find one of them. I must’ve heard it at least a dozen times by now. One particularly egregious time I got it from one of the English teachers; she was going on and on about how Japan’s “unique” nature gives Japanese people a “unique” connection with nature that isn’t found anywhere else in the world, and that’s why Japanese has words for natural phenomena that no other language has words for. It was threatening to snow that day, so she mentioned one such phenomenon that English has no way to describe- when some of the snow melts as it’s falling, so it’s a mixture of rain and snow. She explained that English has no word for this, but that in Japanese they call it みぞれ.
“Oh, yeah we call that ‘sleet’,” I told her. The conversation ended there.
This reminds me of the time a former Japanese colleague of mine (mid 40s woman who never left her sub-prefecture) told me that Japan invented corn. She was dead serious.
The worst i ever had was a woman asking me if people speak english in England when i was in Okinawa. Im English. Felt a bit surreal.