[philliphaydon]

Tokyo is one of the worst places I’ve visited. The people there are so fake. They don’t help you because they want to. They feel obligated to help.

But wow if you get out of Tokyo, people are so nice and friendly. Kyoto is my absolute favourite place. People are so kind and helpful and friendly, and they want to help you and recommend places to visit or eat at etc.

[aikinai]

This sounds like you were just trying to confirm a preconceived bias against Tokyo, or maybe are extrapolating from circumstances that are very different. There’s no way Tokyo is the least friendly place in the world and Kyoto the most. I’ve lived in both and the people aren’t nearly that different.

[brigandish]

Perhaps if they’d claimed that “Tokyo is the least friendly place in the world and Kyoto the most” I’d understand your reply, but what they actually wrote was quite different:

> Tokyo is one of the worst places I’ve visited

and

> Kyoto is my absolute favourite place

Are people’s personal experiences now to be conflated with claims of an objective nature? I’m not sure why you would do that but it’s no better than a straw man.

[philliphaydon]

Actually I visited Tokyo thinking it was going to be amazing. I was so excited to go to Tokyo. It really wasn’t all that everyone made it out to be. I was very disappointed.

Kyoto is just an example as it’s my favourite place I’ve visited. But pretty much everyone outside of Tokyo is a billion times better than those in Tokyo.

Edit: also I said one of the worst places I’ve visited. I didn’t say most unfriendly.

[armadsen]

I lived in Fukuoka (and other areas in Kyushu) for a while, have visited Tokyo a number of times, and have also visited Kyoto. They’re all certainly different cities in various ways, but my experience has been that just like anywhere else in the world there are friendly, kind people in all three. I have a dear, kind, generous friend who lives in Tokyo (and is Japanese). Tokyo is definitely a big city with a lot of busy people, but it’s also my favorite city in the world by far.

[minikomi]

Tokyo is a large sprawling collection of 'centers'.. you're going to have to be more specific.

The local post office in a Setagaya suburb and the ticket office for the ferry in Asakusa are going to be worlds apart.

[popcube]

the art of display dislike by indistinguishable way of Kyoto people is very famous in Japan. even people from other Japan city is difficult to understand they whether is angry...

[m9731526]

Yeah I am thinking about the possibility too...

[forgotmyoldname]

I’ve had consistently the polar opposite experience. Tokyo people treat me fairly normal, but in Kyoto, people will absolutely insist upon broken English and ignoring what I’m saying despite speaking to them in Japanese. They’ll also look to others near me when I’m talking, waiting for them to translate my Japanese to…their Japanese?

I don’t have this experience elsewhere. I think Kyoto folks are just burnt out on tourists and many shut down when they see a foreign face. Not all people in Kyoto have this problem, but I’ve encountered this consistently each time I’ve been there but nowhere else in the country.

[dustintrex]

For what it's worth, in Japan itself, Kyoto people have a reputation for being snobbish, standoffish and unhelpful, and if anything that has gotten worse recently with the sheer amount of tourists inundating the city (until COVID, anyway).

But yes, foreigners are a dime a dozen in Tokyo so nobody really cares. If you go out to inaka (countryside), you get a lot more attention.

[Razengan]

> They don’t help you because they want to. They feel obligated to help.

Wow, what kind of logic is that? Someone is doing X and you are deciding their reasons for them?

Maybe someone is tired and still going out of their way to help you, but you choose to view it as insincerity.

Sounds like you are projecting your insecurities on to others, or got treated as less of celebrity than you were looking forward to (a common thing among Westerners visiting Japan). Judging people for helping you, really?

[philliphaydon]

So let's ignore that Japan teaches Etiquette and Manners in school and that's part of the reason they are friendly and polite.

Let's look at any country in Asia. If you're lost, and you see a couple of people just chit-chatting with each other, in no hurry. You approach them and ask them for directions. The vast majority of the time they are more than willing to help, and in my experience, I haven't had someone not try to help. Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Indonedia, Taiwan... Now do the same in Tokyo, the majority of the time they don't want to help, were rude, walk away, get flustered even if you try to speak Japanese instead of English.

Yet you go to any other part of Japan and this is not the case.

You're telling me that because Tokyo is the 1 place in Asia I've visited where people tend to be rude, agitated, flustered, walk away, etc. That I'm the problem because I'm a westerner visiting Japan. Even tho talking to my Japanese co-workers who say "oh this is just Tokyo, we are just too busy here". Nope I'm a westerner and I'm the problem.

[pronlover723]

I've literally had Tokyo people go 10-15 minutes out of their way to help me find where I was going and so have several of my friends. Sounds like you just has a bad experience. It's not the norm.

[philliphaydon]

But this is my point about them feeling obligated to help you. In Tokyo they are so strict about working. You cannot leave 5 seconds before lunch time and you can’t arrive 5 seconds after lunch time. If you ask the wrong person for assistance they may help you but they aren’t genuine about it. This is not the experience outside of Tokyo.

> https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-worker-punished-for...

[higeorge13]

Whether it’s genuine or not is a personal non-objective opinion. It all comes down to whether they actually helped you or not. I can think of tens of countries around the world where they would completely ignore you in a similar situation; this is way rarer in Japan.

[forgotmyoldname]

Possibly most of the people in Tokyo aren’t even originally Tokyoites. They’re random people from other cities living there for a couple years for the big city experience and decent work. There’s nothing intrinsically unique about their culture and personality, compared to, say, people born and raised on a small island and who’ve never left.

Your experience is definitely very uncommon. I’ve been to Tokyo countless times and they’re not any different than the small town I currently live in in Japan. If anything, you probably talked to some people who are way too used to tourists asking them for “directions” then trying to turn it into a chance to hook up—way too many people try this and some people have learned to just avoid tourist-looking types, especially women.