My biggest culture shock was moving from America to Japan. Let me give you a few examples of things that really shook me.
- Trains are very quiet inside the train. Aside from occasional quiet conversations, people are either using their cell phones or something similar. It's a stark contrast to the New York subway, where people are always talking loudly, on their cell phones, or playing musical instruments, just like Americans. Now that I've been in Japan for a few months, I can even tell if someone has just arrived by how loud they speak on the train.
- The children go to school alone. Every day I see a four-year-old child taking the train to school and crossing the street with their hand raised high so that the drivers can see them. If you let a four-year-old child wander around the streets of Los Angeles for even five minutes, people would call you crazy.
- I pay my electricity, phone, and water bills at 7-Eleven. It feels really strange because in America I used to do all of that online.
- I travel by bicycle and on foot. The transportation system here is very efficient, so I hardly ever drive. I own a small car, but in the six months since I came here, I've only had to fill up on gas twice.
- Orderly lines everywhere: bus stops, train stations, convenience stores, concerts, etc. Japanese people are adept at forming orderly lines. In America, even if there are markers indicating where people should stand to form a line when waiting for a bus, people will stand all over the place. You might be the first one at the bus stop to secure a good seat, only to have people standing outside the designated area block your way.
- Masks?! People wear masks when they're sick to prevent others from getting sick, or to protect themselves if someone else is sick. In America, when people get sick, they walk around coughing at everyone (not intentionally, of course).
The world has much to learn from Japan.