In addition, unlike America where a waiter checking on your meal is considered hospitalitiy, in Japan it is considered rude to intrude on a person's private matter. At restaurants, your meal bill will usually include a “service charge or fee” which is equivalent to 10% or 15% in tips.
Country environment and location: Because Japan lacks natural resources and the ideal environment for large scale agriculture, it imports most of its fruits, vegetables and meats. This unfortunately means that food grown locally is more expensive than the imported groceries. A watermelon that costs about $7 in America may cost $30 in Japan, even if the size is a bit small! This also affects the average meal portions, which consist mainly of vegetables and grains since meat was traditionally scarce. Maybe this is the reason why Japanese people tend to be thin and be interested in health foods.
All of these observations that I noticed while studying abroad in Tokyo would not have been possible to learn from just a textbook, YouTube video, or anime (Japanese animated cartoons). By taking classes about and living in the country I am studying, I was able to deftly identify and distinguish different perspectives as well as learn more about how the culture evolved over history. By recognizing different perspectives, I discovered that one perspective is not necessarily more correct or better than the other, but that each can have their own advantages and flaws. The more you travel and observe other countries, the more you learn about your own, too!
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