


Lots more Japanese New Year explanations and links here.

Japanese number of the day



Why are Japanese kids so well behaved?


More on this question in this New York Times article



More on Japanese traditional festivals here.

Why do the Japanese eat chicken (including KFC) for Christmas?

The Japanese do not generally have the appetites or the ovens to cook and eat a turkey, so KFC was probably pushing on an open door when they started advertising the possibility of having an American Xmas with Kentucky chicken in the 1970’s- it is, after all, American…

More Japanese Xmas cheer in Japanese Xmas explained.

Why do young Japanese guys have such girly haircuts etc?

Just like the UK in the 70’s, when macho guys started wearing high heels and make up, the main male fashion leaders in Japan are gay but not out (SMAP etc.)

Gaijin explained Part One


I believe the main reason is that the gaijin male quickly convinces himself that he can throw off his lack of success at home, and so he does- i.e. purely the power of postive thinking and self-belief. Any unusual social skills that still hang around from his old life can also be passed off as being a foreigner or other cultural or language misunderstandings.

There is also the general question of why outsiders instantly become better dating prospects in almost every society, which is possibly tied into the desireability of bringing other genes into the limited gene pools that the often isolated groups of early humans would have been.

More on Gaijin on the Gaijin explained page.

Welcome to Japan Explained

This blog is mainly a collection of the questions I have had since I arrived in Japan four and a half years ago that I found plausible, interesting and/ or amusing explanations to from reading, speaking to people or my own pondering- along with a few questions that other people have asked me. If you have your own questions or pet theories, please leave a comment after any entry. If this gives you are taste for even more Japan trivia, please see my other Japan-themed blog- QuoteJapan.