Oh, how Nihonjin amuse me!

K, so I taught one of my private English classes tonight....I mean, what private English class? ;-) Anyhoo, my students and I were talking about some of the differences between Americans and Japanese people. One lady made an interesting point about how Americans "dress down" when they go on a trip, ie) T-shirt, sneakers, waist pack, etc., whereas Nihonjin "dress up" to go on a trip! Seriously. They like buy nice clothes and such before they go traveling. Coincidentally, I found this excerpt from an article on "The Japan Times Online," which talks about how it's becoming more popular in Japan for "common people" to hire personal shoppers.

"Despite the 24,150 yen fee that Inoue charges for a two-hour closet inspection and 16,800 yen for a two-hour shopping escort, one client said she was happy to have Inoue's help. "It's really reasonable when I think about the time I might have to spend researching and browsing various stores," said a 31-year-old career woman in Tokyo who recently met Inoue in Ginza, which Inoue had chosen, to pick clothes for her upcoming sightseeing trip to Europe."

Um, so do they do twice the amount of shopping, b/c obviously you need to shop if you're in Europe! Clazy Nihonjin and their need to look good all the time! Hehe.

Also, another one of my students told me that when she was in the States for her honeymoon, her tour guide told her to carry at least $100 in her wallet, so that if she got mugged, the mugger would be satisfied, and won't shoot her! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.