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Things That Shocked You When You Went Overseas


Source: Girls Channel

1. [+1121 / -20]
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this is really common overseas. We were banned from wearing backpacks during our high school field trip so everyone used handbags with zippers and stuff, but six people in my class still got their wallets and bags stolen.
According to my friend, when she was riding an escalator, someone snatched her bag off her using brute force.
Most of the victims were skinny and small.

13. [+311 / -7]
>>1
Which country?

160. [+176 / -1]
>>13
Australia!

36. [+596 / -14]
>>1
You went to such a dangerous place for a school field trip?!

2. [+522 / -30]

4. [+876 / -11]
Toilets...

5. [+2286 / -12]
Cakes filled with food colouring

6. [+2077 / -13]
In China and Southeast Asia you throw the toilet paper away in the provided rubbish bin instead of flushing it down the toilet.

7. [+1560 / -31]
I was shocked that they don't pack your things in bags at convenience stores.
It brought home how considerate shops in Japan are to give out bags, chopsticks and wet towels.

8. [+1809 / -8]
Can't relax because the gap at the bottom of the toilet stall door is too big.

18. [+243 / -22]
>>8
Toilets!
Come to think of it, I have no memories of overseas toilets.
Did I not go to the toilet?

9. [+709 / -3]
The trains don't come

10. [+2039 / -20]
Salespeople have bad attitudes.
Reminded me that I shouldn't take Japanese customer service for granted.

11. [+833 / -5]
Tipping

14. [+1517 / -11]
Cashiers chew gum while serving customers.
They also roughly handle the products.
Very different from Japan.

15. [+635 / -11]
The fact that people of all kinds of religions and races are all mixed together in one country, I guess.

16. [+848 / -5]
Italy has toilets but there's nowhere to sit.
How does everyone else use it? My legs were shaking but I managed to do it in the end.

25. [+274 / -10]
>>16
That's an invisible chair.

144. [+250 / -2]
>>16
This baffled me for ages too
It's like the toilet seat has always been stolen by someone
How are you supposed to go?
My athletic abilities aren't good enough to scale the wall in such a narrow space.

17. [+659 / -11]
Surprisingly, people overseas take off their shoes inside too. They don't have an entryway like houses in Japan do but they have a shoe cabinet next to the door.

19. [+688 / -20]
Champs-Élysées was dirty and polluted.

20. [+546 / -8]
Bangkok
There were slums right next to the sparkling high rise buildings.

New York
This was twenty years ago so I don't know about now but the gutters on the main road were full of rubbish.


21. [+1138 / -8]
I ordered a vanilla shake at a Denny's in Canada like I would in Japan. It was served in a largish cup. I went to McDonald's too, and the serving size was 2 to 3 times bigger than in Japan. Made me understand why so many people are obese.

22. [+542 / -14]
Staff members and customers greet each other at the checkout.
*Instead of when the customer walks into the store

23. [+580 / -27]
The trains in England and France don't arrive when they're supposed to.

24. [+891 / -15]
When I went to a supermarket in Germany, the checkout staff were all seated! Even in America, they still have to stand! I'm so envious.

26. [+667 / -12]
When I ordered iced tea in Hawaii, the iced tea I got was sickly sweet.
It was culture shock because in Japan syrup is only added when you ask for it.

27. [+819 / -7]
When staying in a hotel in France, the difference in the level of cleaning when you tip and when you forget to tip.
I was also shocked that you need to pay to use the toilets.

28. [+295 / -7]
The trains are covered with graffiti w

29. [+820 / -7]
Even if you're staying at a pretty good hotel, the shower pressure is weak.

30. [+549 / -15]
I went to the Philippines and everywhere for miles it felt like I was in the slums, and then a hotel popped out of nowhere. It was in the afternoon, and even though I was just trying to cross the road in front of the hotel, I was told to take a taxi. It was scary.

32. [+1315 / -98]
Expecting downvotes but, China
I went there last year and was shocked at how high tech it was.
I'm ashamed to say that my only impression of China was that of a poor developing country with dirty streets and people riding on bikes wearing Mao jackets.
The streets weren't particularly dirty and there wasn't anyone with especially bad manners.
You can pay with electronic money even at food stalls.
It was far more modern and developed than suburban cities in Japan.
I had looked down on China, thinking, "China is a huge developing country that only steals and can't develop technology themselves," but they caught up just like that.

35. [+354 / -4]
There wasn't just one triumphal arch, there were lots.

37. [+524 / -4]
Employees enthusiastically sing along to the song playing in the background while they work.

38. [+819 / -11]
China, Beijing, Great Wall of China, etc.

The plastic bottles they used to sell "mineral water", all of the cap seals were broken. I don't know where they got the water from, or whether it was a reused bottle, but when I tried to buy an overseas brand of mineral water at a department store, it was shockingly expensive.
Unsurprisingly, over half of the 100 people in my training course got an upset stomach.
The restaurants and toilets and everything were also filthy, I don't want to go to China ever again.

39. [+976 / -9]
When I tried to buy alcohol at an overseas version of a convenience store, the person snorted like "Oi, oi, what are you saying?" When I took out my credit card, the person gestured as if to say, "Haah? Is that really your card?" When I showed them my passport, the person went, "OH MY GOD..."
In Japan, people think I look older than my age (I was around 28 at the time) so I thought, Japanese really do look younger than their age.

41. [+396 / -8]
In China, all the old men show their stomachs in summer.
They spit everywhere.

42. [+810 / -32]
Every single country is more invested in education than Japan. Japanese people tend to look down on the Nepalese because their country is poor, but exchange students from Nepal can speak English, their mother tongue and Japanese, the same applies with Filipinos. We're pretty much the only people who can only speak Japanese.

43. [+272 / -6]
Korea!
There's no toilet paper most of the time.

45. [+790 / -7]
This is when I went to Hawaii. Even women with sumo-wrestler bodies wear short shorts and swimsuits.

46. [+308 / -6]
The female toilets were shocking.
There's only a ditch for everyone to squat over to do their business, there are no stalls or even a door.

46. [+475 / -6]
Supermarkets and other shops properly take the day off on Sundays.

50. [+306 / -4]
The streets of Naples are filled with dog poop, the stench
The earth-shattering stench of it
People, for some inexplicable reason, tie their dog poop bags to roadside trees.
Anyway, it stinks.

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