JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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In an OECD survey of 36 nations on people's perceptions of their living conditions, Japan ranked 21st in terms of quality of life; Australia, Norway and the U.S. were the top 3. What do you think of that?
( 12 )
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The Fukuoka mayor is banning public servants from drinking alcohol for a month; the Osaka mayor has declared war on tattoos on civil servants. What do you think of all this?
( 21 )
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Why do you think Facebook's stock failed to live up to the hype in its trading debut?
( 13 )
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Which sport, when played well, do you think is the most exciting to watch?
( 62 )
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What's the difference between an average burger and a great one?
( 12 )
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- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
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- National Relief/Substitute Teacher - summer start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥275,000 ~ ¥300,000 / Month
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- 営業パーソン
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tochigi
- Salary: ¥240,000 ~ ¥350,000 / Month Negotiable
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43 Comments
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smartacus
Four examples that I can think of.
People who get their food and then stand by the tables chatting, thus blocking the way. This is especially annoying at crowded functions.
People going the wrong way, so that you end up with diners bumping into each other around the center of the table.
Greedy diners who dart in and out of lines to put a few more things on their plates, as if they'll never get another chance.
Those who stack their plate with everything, salads, hot dishes and even desserts.
I always have bad luck at buffets, anyway. By the time I get to the table, the dishes are empty and I have to wait for waiters to bring out more.
0
Disillusioned
In Japan? Where to start?
Chewing with their mouth open.
Speaking with a mouthful of food.
The mandatory slurping of ramen.
Using a fork to pick up a full piece of steak and gnawing chunks off it.
That will do for starters.
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Gurukun
Yup, that's me. I'll usually pass all the suop and salads and just stack my plate full of anything with meat in it. My wife usually yells at me, but hey...at a buffet, it's all about survival.
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M51T
Buffets are the residuals of the Viking culture - where rape and pillage usually preceeded the feast. So buffets attract similar people.
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herefornow
Sneezing all over the food. (Saw it again just Sunday at a salad bar.) Where are the damn sneeze guards here? Everyone knows men here don't bother to cover their coughs and sneezes, but, this so-called "food-safety conscious" country does nothing about it.
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Papigiulio
Disillusioned: slurping is part of the culture, get used to it. its like belching in China, means the food is great.
Never had any problems with buffets, just food running out too fast.
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lovejapan21
M51T, they actually do call it "Vikin" in Japanese!! or Buffet in the French pronunciation, i think. @herefornow, i wonder the same thing! The only conclusion i gathered is Nipponese are soo used to wearing masks when sick that when not, they forget to cover or turn their head and aim elsewhere.
I hate the whole line thing. If i only want ONE thing and it is at the end of the table, why cant i just grab it. I like the buffets that are soo huge no one knows where the line starts!!
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koriyamaboy
The little old ladies who elbow their way to the front and walk through the centre of everything like they are the only people on earth.
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Foxie
Putting the serving spoons in the wrong pot.
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MoBass4u
Besides the sneezing and coughing on the food, the little kiddies who "finger" every dish and ask what is this? Seen a few touch something and then wipe it off on a serving spoon.
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sfjp330
Take only what you can eat. Don't waste food. Alot of people feel they have right to take as much as possible but they only finish half of what they put on the plate. They have no common sense. These restaurant should start charging fees for food that is left on the plate. They need to put up a sign.
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ratpack
The japanese people either side of you in line who stare intently at everything you put on your plate.
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papasmurfinjapan
For me the main thing that bothers me is kids that don't get in the line and walk straight up to whatever they want. These are kids who should know better. I blame not only them but their parents and schools for not teaching them proper manners.
As herefornow mentions, lack of protection against unhygienic customers is also a bit of a worry.
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porter
Slow people. Just move it and stop analysing each plate. Take it or not and move on. Nothing worse than being behind a slow person at the buffet line.
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Eyeblack
Slowness, taking forever. Putting something on your plate is not surgery.
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nisegaijin
None! I concentrate on food, not other diners!
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bicultural
The Chinese who start eating off their plate when they are still in line.
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Gurukun
No that's some real "Baikin" in the "Baikin"
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pointofview
Their desire to want to eat cold food that should be hot and not say a thing about it to the manager. Disgusting.
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Shibooya
I've found Japanese buffet-goers to be pretty well-behaved. I don't think sneezing on the buffet is common, and it's really not a big deal considering how much other flying particles you're exposed to in the course of a day in crowded Japan.
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herefornow
Shiboooya -- nonsense. If you choose to ride on a crowded train, then you accept that you might get germs through exposure to sick folks. But food safety is something that should be an absolute given, no risk implied. And for there to be no sneeze guards on buffets here is simply insane. How "common" does sneezing have to be?
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Sunjovi
The women are so thin so where does the tons of food goes, it keep me guessing.
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Zenny11
No bothers for me. Used to other countries eating habits in some where you don't even get a personal plate and everyone shares from the same bowls and plates.
Love my local Sizzler they got a great Soup, Salad and Dessert bar.
Lunch Vikin can be fun, especially at chinese restaurants, etc.
Agree with Sunjovi, some of those slim ladies can put away a mind-boggling amount of food. Slim lady = cheap date don't apply to japan. :P
0
zenobia
no complaints from New Otani's revolving restaurant/buffet.
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onewrldoneppl
people who take the thongs from Dish A and then place them into Dish B. are they making Reese's Pieces? or are they too dim-witted to realize they've just put the arrabiata thongs into the carbonara? one is a tomato-based sauce and the other is cream-based! red vs. white! duh!!!
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whiskeysour
powerful sneezing,coughing, talking over the food, kids touching the food, kids picking the food up with their fingers and returning it while joking or laughing (smirk) on the face. I love b c !!!! people who do not have patience , please wait your turn don't look at me ! people cooking the eggs in japanese style hotel buffets (scrambled eggs) the eggs are tooooooo runny !!!!! Looks like a bowl of snot Suggestion add milk Annoying children that make a mess or to young to get food themselves and need some type of assistance but the good for nothing lazy and selfish mother/father is feeding his/her face not watching their meatsack sibling walking around aimlessly and in the
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Monkeyz
Kids coughing and sneezing on foods. Kids touching foods. People who pile as much food as they can on their plate as if they think a war's going to break out in the next ten minutes and they'll only have that to live on for months. People who take all the meat out of meat+veggie dishes. People who treat buffets like a contest or a race.
I haven't been to any kind of buffet in a long time, but I see this same behavior at the self-serve areas of supermarkets too. Especially the kids coughing and touching stuff, since those tend to be at a very low height.
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oberst
keep piling on the foods and no way they can finish them
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mrskit
onewridineppl,,,i hope you meant tongs and not thongs,,,coz that would just be gross! I agree though, people shouldnt mix up tongs,,,it is just messy and those people who cut in line,,,,left to right people,,,and wait your turn
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Pukey2
bicultural:
I'm assuming that the Japanese customers who do that don't bother you in the slightest.
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delrennich
i sometimes eat the food right there or put an egg roll or something in my pocket for later.
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seesaw
Those mothers who brought along their children and the children run screaming around!
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seesaw
and they are just chatting away, completely ignoring the inconvenience other diners have to face as a result.
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yokomoc
At the ryugakusei welcoming parties you had less than 5 minutes to grab anything tasty looking before they were hoovered up by the Chiense and Thai students. We didn't mind so much though, while they were grabing the food we were grabbing the beer :)
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borscht
The behavior that bothers me the most is the assumption by the restaurant/hotel that everyone wants cold french fries, cold pasta, cold and runny scrambled eggs, only white rice (no brown), almost raw (but cooked) slivers of steak,and two kinds of lettuce with red onions for a salad. While paying too much. I've been to some great buffets here in Japan but a vast majority have the above food items. A little more creativity and variety would be nice.
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yokomoc
borscht, don't forget the mandatory fried chicken karaage, which is typically a ball of batter with a little piece of meat at the centre.
Harvest (under Yodobashi Camera in Yokohama) is a good one I find, as long as you're not after meat as it's veg-heavy. My wife goes through about two days worth of food there! Grand Buffet in Kamioooka as well - they do Chef's specials every half hour or so.
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kujiranikusuki
I have seen some younger people and trashy looking people waste food. TONS of it. everybody is going to waste a little. you grab too much for the group, or something is nasty. etc. but I have seen a group of guys leave a plate of meat stacked a foot high that they didnt even cook!!! its just going to get thrown away. I would like to see those guys go 48 without food and see if they EVER waste food like that agian.
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telecasterplayer
The worst would be a couple of guys, brothers, at the very least 350 pounds each: Yes, they loaded mountains of greasy crap onto their plates and back at their table, loudly complained about people staring at them.
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bicultural
Pukes, every time I see someone do that they're speaking Chinese. Just sayin ...
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EbiChiri
From what I've seen at Shakey's all-you-can-eat buffets you'd think food was going out of style: salarymen piling twenty pieces of pizza, mountains of pasta, piles of fries on multiple plates and then staggering back to their tables and wolfing it down like cavemen and then going back for more only to leave most of it on their plates and waddle on back to their desk jobs without a jot of conscience about wasting so much food. I was so repulsed by their behavior that I stopped going to Shakey's and never plan to return.
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thetruthhurts
I go to nice buffets. Curiously, the people act nicely.
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DoubleV
If buffet diners bothers you, why go there? The food is lousy, to begin with.
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Gurukun
That's a bueffet trick. When you pile pizza on your plate, you get topping on both side of the pizza. Tastes great! Try it.
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