‘Please just go’: Chinese tourists asked to leave Osaka restaurant

OP we always include a brief summary when posting videos, so the reader can decide if they want to watch the full video. We'll pass for now until we're given such an overview.

chinese - japanese

r2 dirty knees?

So are they Chinese, or Japanese?

[quote] The two women paid their bill any way, but the employee ran after them and gave them back their money.

[quote] I actually think that's the most insulting part of the story.

It's like saying, "keep your filthy money and get the hell out!"

Truly an insult in those cultures.

Knowing the restaurant scene, and the potential for bad actors on either side, I’d want to see the prior half-hour before making judgment.

Unless I missed something, there's not enough story on which to base comments. The remarks of the restaurateur about the eating habits of the two women make me think there may be something to their story, but information is short.

Does this have anything to do with being Chinese tourists or just two disrespectful people?

R3 - look at these!

On the surface, he seemed very civil to them while telling them to please just leave. He said “I’ve never seen such disgusting eating habits.” It does make me wonder if they were eating with their bare hands or if chewed up food bits were sliding out of their mouths all over the table, or something like that.

In Japan, respect for those who prepare food extends to the food itself, because the chefs take pride in their work, which often resembles works of art. When someone disrespects the food and treats it like fat Americans do at the Golden Corral buffet, it is considered an insult to the chef, the food, and the establishment.

R9 - you forgot dirty knees

Travel used to be a better experience when Mao ruled China. And a billion people just stayed home.

My dearly departed grandmother would have been so confused by this story. She called every Asian person "Chinese." Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Filipino, Taiwanese, and even some Russians were all Chinese to her.

If they were throwing shrimp shells on the floor they deserved to be humiliated.

You go now! You here 4 hour!

I lived in Osaka and can see it going either way. It probably was a combination of them speaking loudly in Mandarin and making a big mess-- the latter is a major no-no in Japan.

[quote] In Japan, respect for those who prepare food extends to the food itself, because the chefs take pride in their work, which often resembles works of art. When someone disrespects the food and treats it like fat Americans do at the Golden Corral buffet, it is considered an insult to the chef, the food, and the establishment.

You've clearly never eating in an all you can eat slophouse in Japan before. They are as vulgar as the US-- but making a mess is probably where they went wrong.

I've heard rumor of Chinese tourists being problematic!

Money please, r12

[quit]You go now! You here 4 hour!

You scare my wife!

A John Pinette reference is why I come to DL

R12, R3 already provided dirty knees which r9 was responding to.

Even at 49 years old, that stupid little rhyme still makes me chuckle - that kids would mime massive tits in their t-shirts and say “look at these” makes me giggle. Did they make it all around the country in the 70s/80s? You could never get away with it today.

Very cruel race.

They were probably trying to build a naval base in the lobby.

R19 I think the French had to politely ask Chinese tourist not to shit on the ground in front of the Louvre.

There’s lots of sites explaining the context according to the restaurant. Here’s one.

The Chinese are pigs and they are openly contemptuous of the Japanese, yet this somehow doesn't stop them from stomping through their country like cretins. They not only threw discarded shrimp shells on the floors they overstayed the restaurant's 90 min limit and were asked several times to leave.

There's a YouTuber "China Insider with David Zhang" (who is a Chinese expat himself) that does an excellent job of calling out their fucked up behaviours. Apparently they fuck up the cherry blossom trees as well, instead of just taking pics under the trees like normal people.

Cherry blossom trees *in Japan*...

Japanese folks. They're like Canadians and HATE LITTER.

Pick up you prawn shells, dear.

r27, right, it's a win-win. chinese tourists are pigs, japanese people are the most racist residents of the planet. what could go wrong?

Also, the Japanese place a high value on consideration of others. The Chinese, not so much.

Sorry China, Japan is not going to accept pee-pee in their Coke.

R31 anti-Japan indoctrination begins at birth in China.

Relatives lived in China for a few years and said they are the filthiest fuckers imaginable. It's no wonder why they have outbreaks of disease. They leave bodily fluids everywhere. Apparently, on a domestic flight my cousin said they were spitting into the aisle. The frozen sidewalk was just a sheet of snot in the winter.

Chinese are yellow indians.

I've been to China and can back up what R34 said. The Chinese hock up big phlegm globs and spit them all over the street like it's nothing. Some places literally put up signs that say "no spitting" because the problem is so rampant. They are also (physically) the pushiest fucking people I've ever met. A Chinese guy literally tried to shove in front of me as I was handing my boarding pass to the gate agent on my flight there. Some of the tourist sites were mobbed with people who would shove and bump into you with zero awareness and zero regard for personal space whatsoever. It's the complete opposite of Japan which is immaculately clean and where the people are polite and respectful almost to a fault.

[quote] It's the complete opposite of Japan which is immaculately clean and where the people are polite and respectful almost to a fault.

Does Tokyo still have people whose job is to cram people into subways?

Chinese are like ants. They're all about the greater good. They'd step on your back and drown you to get across the stream.

And they hate all foreigners

You go now!

R40, that's been written several times already, but thanks for remembering John.

This is why I love Japan. They're the most respectful, cleanest people on Earth and it doesn't surprise me that the would have this kind of reaction toward the Chinese which, in case you haven't been to China, have horrendous eating habits. There were times at restaurants in China when I'd have to change seats so I wouldn't have to look at the disgusting ways in which the Chinese consume their food. But I love Japan because they don't have any patience for bad habits. They don't like how you behave, they kick you out, unlike here in America where we tolerate unbelievable shit from customers because "they're always right".

I have to fast-forward through any Japanese film in which the characters are shown eating, especially slurping ramen and stuffing their faces with rice before swallowing.

[quote]This is why I love Japan. They're the most respectful, cleanest people on Earth and it doesn't surprise me that the would have this kind of reaction toward the Chinese which, in case you haven't been to China, have horrendous

They likewise hate Koreans; Filipinos and yes, Americans. The Japanese are hands-down the most xenophobic people on the planet and it is perfectly legal for a shop-keeper for instance to post a sign in the window that says, “foreigners not allowed”

"A restaurant staff has since come forward and told Fuji Televison Network last Thursday, June 8, that the reason the women were asked to leave was because they ordered shrimp and discarded all the peeled shells on the floor of the restaurant. The women also reportedly overstayed their welcome in the restaurant buffet’s 90-minute limit, despite being reminded by the staff several times that it was time for them to leave."

They likely just did what was traditional in China. It doesn't seem that awful, honestly.

r29 Everywhere Chinese people went in the world, it became a "town". Japanese settled in smaller communities outside of Japan. Where Chinese worked at pretty much everything (especially the railroads), Japanese people went to farms/plantations in California/Hawai'i- eventually owning and operating them. Japan, also, went global with electronics after WWII; decades earlier than China. Two different societies, indeed.

Knowing the Chinese, this story will be spread as “How to get Japanese restaurant to give free meal”.

Making any kind of public nuisance is like the most shameful and disgusting thing you can do in that country.

The main point is it's NOT disgusting to throw shrimp shells on the floor in their own country. They just weren't aware of the culture in Japan.

It doesn't make them stupid or rude. It just makes them tonedeaf

or ignorant.

Sure--ignorant but hardly shameful or disgusting.

Why Mainland Chinese lack manners? The cause of Chinese tourists uncivil actions when traveling ?

Sum Ting Wong

I used to work as a travel wholesaler specializing in Costa Rica, and even twenty years ago, the nicer hotels and excursions were wary of, even unwilling to, take Chinese, usually large group, bookings. The mountain forest preserve town of Monteverde, famous for not allowing the road up to them to be paved so that hordes of day trippers stayed away, was widely known to have e an unspoken but unanimous ban on Chinese groups.

Costa Rica was interesting to the native Chinese because it was, and I believe still is, home to a small but very successful ethnic Chinese population, centered around the Pacific post of Jaco and it’s shark fin industry, a completely wasteful, ecologically destructive fishery devoted to catch sharks, butting of the dorsal fin, and dumping the dying shark whole back into the sea. While obviously abhorrent to most, it is hugely profitable and almost limitless in demand due to the explosion of wealth of many Chinese and it should be outlawed, if not it hasn’t already.

When they first started coming you’d hear of problems, but as the groups became larger and more frequent, the problems multiplied and the tourism industry, the biggest economic input in the country and very well organized and unified, decided enough was enough. Space became harder and harder to find in hotels until only the bottom of the barrel properties would even take their calls, and even then inflated their rates to compensate for the trouble.

The behaviors usually were of a disrespectful, rapacious nature. Smoking anywhere and everywhere, with butts discarded whenever they were finished with. Trash dropped wherever it fell. Buffets attacked and stripped bare. Hotel rooms stripped of towels and linens and, in some outrageous examples, electronics and fixtures. Their money was green but the profits were nonexistent. If they didn’t rob you blind they so offended the other international visitors that those others would skip places known to cater to the Chinese.

r54 They're communists and see that as their towels. Time to start renting cabana beds.

[quote] A Chinese guy literally tried to shove in front of me as I was handing my boarding pass to the gate agent on my flight there. Some of the tourist sites were mobbed with people who would shove and bump into you with zero awareness and zero regard for personal space whatsoever. It's the complete opposite of Japan which is immaculately clean and where the people are polite and respectful almost to a fault.

You realize that the people who originally settled Japan, came from China and the Korean peninsula?

So they're basically of the same lineage.

Perhaps the ones who migrated to Japan were sick of how their people behaved, and decided to form their own country with strict rules and manners.

Stop posting YouTube shit.

[quote] You realize that the people who originally settled Japan, came from China and the Korean peninsula?

Completely irrelevant. Nobody's judging them racially but behaviorally and culturally.

R56 is clearly not very well apprised about the histories of China, Korea and Japan.

There are many theories about how the Paleolithic Era Yayoi people first settled Japan. Southeast Asia, Korean Peninsula, and mainland China, are the main locations of understanding, and this was 35,000 years ago. There is no perfect understanding of the root of these folks, especially given the difference in language root from other parts of Asia.

The prevailing wisdom is that the island was seen as a new place for fishing and hunter/gathering, where there was no competition from any indigenous peoples.

So no, people didn't leave China and start Japan due to poor table manners. What a ridiculous supposition.

The reason why Japan became regimented about efficiency and cleanliness was because of the Fascism of the Shogunate, which formed only 900 years ago. The effects of this military dictatorship are still felt in Japan today, even though the Shogunate fell in 1867. Up until the 1100's, Japan wasn't a country of neat freaks...

Having lived in Japan as an American, I can agree with a number of things in this thread. It's true that Japan is xenophobic, but they are so tolerant of other cultures to the level that you almost never notice their xenophobia. They are that repressed, that they rarely express such outward rejection of other people to their faces. If a restaurant manager is kicking people out and asking for no money, they are clearly at their wits end with the people in question. There is no doubt in my mind that these women were over the top in their obnoxiousness.

Chinese folks are well known for speaking much louder than Japanese (and in most cases, such volume is needed for contextual understanding of the communication between Chinese people). This is a point that I've not seen made yet on this thread. Japanese people don't like when anyone is too loud in an establishment, even when these people are Japanese. Business owners tolerate a lot of noise from patrons: drunk Japanese businessmen and college kids, loud and messy Americans, Indians, Chinese, etc., unclean clothing, mishandling of chopsticks, taking up more space than you're allotted in any establishment. The list is truly endless, and maddening.

The Japanese only express any resistance to people under the most extreme of circumstances. It's clear that two Mandarin speaking women were not mindful of what country they were in, speaking at the volume they are accustomed to while right next to each other, and throwing things on the floor as they are supposedly also accustomed to - but that part just seems really over the top. How do you go to another country and assume that level of personal dining room entitlement? Team Japan on this one.

My father was sent there to work for his company he was with in the late 90s. The Japanese really do hate everyone. Plus when I went I was 14 and already 6' 3". I got so tired of bumping my head and being looked at like I was a freak. I lived there for three years. I enjoyed it a lot. Then we did a year in Taiwan. That place was A W E S O M E. Very interesting and extremely high tech years before the rest of the world. If you ever get a chance to go to Taiwan jump at it.

[quote] You realize that the people who originally settled Japan, came from China and the Korean peninsula? So they're basically of the same lineage.

We’re all basically of the same lineage if you go back far enough.

Culture is social, not biological.

Say 起司.

R3 Look at these!

OK, so I used to have a FOB Chinese secretary, and work lunches were a riot!

She would slurp and shovel food into her face as fast as she could, grunting and occasionally belching. She would finish her food quickly, then would talk to us while we continued to pick at our food and stare at each other in shock.

Girls, girls, you’re both bitchy cunts!

[quote]She would slurp and shovel food into her face as fast as she could, grunting and occasionally belching

And I’ve seen the precise same thing in Japan. Especially at lunch

My husband lived and worked in China for years. They do not have the same standards of cleanliness and manners that pretty much everyone else on the planet share.

Yes yes yes R55 - commies from Red China!

As a half Chinese kid growing up in Chicago, I would always wonder why Chinatown was filthy and Japantown was pristine. It was like that In San Francisco and Los Angeles as well. When I went to Myanmar and Thailand, I was ashamed of all the bad behavior of the Chinese tourists, especially in the temples. They don't have a concept of personal space at all-pushing, spitting, standing in your way, throwing trash on the ground.

When the chinese government has to issue "rules for proper behavior" for chinese tourists traveling abroad, you know there's a problem.

[quote] Government-Issued Guidelines Warn Chinese Tourists Not to Spit, Shout Or Overeat at Buffets

As more people than leave China to visit far away places, Chinese tourists have developed a bad rap among the international community, The New York Times reports. Among the grievances, voiced from Thailand to Paris to New York, are Chinese tourists’ tendency to spit, to speak loudly indoors, and to have no concept of how to form or respect a line. Specific recent transgressions that sparked outrage both domestically and abroad include Chinese tourists inadvertently killing a dolphin and a Chinese youth carving his name into an ancient Egyptian relic.

Lately, the Washington Post writes, China has become more self-reflective about this problem:

[italic]Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang has criticized the “uncivilized behavior” of his countrymen when they travel abroad, which he says has harmed the nation’s image. He blamed the “poor quality and breeding” of the Chinese tourists.[/italic]

In an attempt to find concrete means to alleviate some of the common complaints about Chinese tourists abroad, the country approved its first tourism-related law in April, which came into effect on October 1, CNN reports. The law includes 112 articles, some of which address shady tour operators within China, but including others that speak to Chinese tourists abroad.

Tourist behavior is even singled out in a couple articles of the new law.

[italic]Article 14 states: “Tourists shall observe public order and respect social morality in tourism activities, respect local customs, cultural traditions and religious beliefs, care for tourism resources, protect the ecological environment, and abide by the norms of civilized tourist behaviors.”[/italic]

To make the new law more digestible, China’s National Tourism Administration issued a 64-page pamphlet on how to behave abroad, complete with cartoon-illustrated dos and don’ts. Kotaku reports a few of the suggested points of etiquette, including:

Don’t aggressively ask locals for pictures with you.

Don’t assault any animals.

Don’t shout in public.

Don’t show your bare chest in public.

Don’t hoard the public facilities.

Flush the toilet after use.

At a buffet, please don’t take everything in one go – they will be refilled.

Don’t relieve yourself in public.

NBC News elaborates on a few country-specific subtleties the pamphlet covers:

[italic]Other snippets of advice were country-specific. The guide warned Chinese visitors to Germany to only snap their fingers to beckon dogs, not humans, and that women in Spain should always wear earrings in public, or be considered effectively naked. Visitors to Japan were advised to avoid fidgeting with hair or clothes in restaurants.[/italic]

For better or worse, mainland Chinese tourists are likely here to stay. Last year they became the top tourism spenders, dropping $102 billion in destinations around the world, the Times reports. The Washington Post adds that, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Chinese tourism in the States is expected to grow by 232 percent between 2010 and 2016.

[quote] Travel used to be a better experience when Mao ruled China. And a billion people just stayed home.

Mao? Honey, let's be honest: we go all the way back to the Dowager Empress!

I trust the Japanese guy. He even gave them their money back.

Sadly, I don't trust most mainland Chinese to tell the truth.

[quote]The guide warned Chinese visitors ... that women in Spain should always wear earrings in public, or be considered effectively naked.

Okay, not to derail the thread, but can someone explain this one to me? I've never heard this about Spain.

R36 when was the last time you were in China?

When was the last time you were in Spain ?

I was at a steakhouse in Chicago (Gibson’s) and there were a couple of minor celebrities in there. Two 20ish Chinese men were eating in front of us and one of them picked up his steak and took bites right out of the giant meat slab. He didn’t use a fork for vegetables either. He was directly in front of me and I had to turn my ,head and pretend to look at the actor at the table next to me (who I didn’t give a shit about and he thought I was enamoured) to avoid gawking or bursting into disbelieving laughter. I wanted to smack the steak out of this idiot’s hands and tell him to get his shit together. I also wanted to tell the actor that no one cared about his fabulousness.

The Chinese are obviously suffering a case Superpower syndrome, where you can act like obnoxious, entitled assholes abroad and everybody else is supposed to just accept it. They aren't one yet, but think they are, hence the annoyance of others in dealing with them.

^^^suffering a case of Superpower syndrome

I disagree R77 - the Mainland tourists who I encountered when living in Hong Kong and later back home were cashed up peasants - one generation up from working in the fields. They just have no idea of how to behave when abroad and what behaviours which may seem acceptable at home aren't acceptable in other countries.

The people with Superpower syndrome are the seriously rich Chinese with shady backgrounds but who are now swanning around in private jets and living an Insta life in 6 star hotels and on shopping trips to Bulgari. They seriously don't give a fuck about anyone, having grown up that way.

Then there are the new Ugly Americans - first it was the Japanese, then the Chinese, then the Russians and now the nouveau riche Indians. Truly the most obnoxious, entitled, selfish, stupid, parochial and horrible people anybody could encounter.

For me it's a toss-up between Chinese and Indians regarding who is worse. Equally horrible in different ways.

Team Japan.

Comfort women and disputing over a set of islands are only two out of hundreds of reasons why the Japanese and Chinese hate each other.

And in regards to Chinese tourists behaving badly on vacation (especially engaging in loud, wasteful and slovenly behavior in buffets) in foreign countries, more than half of them are from mainland China which is one of the most impoverished, polluted and least civilized areas of the country.

For what it's worth, the restaurant guy is speaking very polite but disgusted Osaka dialect. He doesn't sound like a pussy or anything-- he sounds like he's had enough. If he wanted to use racist slurs or something I'm sure he would have. He sounds like the type.

[quote] Comfort women and disputing over a set of islands are only two out of hundreds of reasons why the Japanese and Chinese hate each other.

Comfort women are more of a Korean thing.

What the Chinese really despise are the atrocities the Japanese committed in China during WW2.

"Rape of Nanking," anyone?

[quote] The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as Nanking) was the mass murder of Chinese civilians by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanking and retreat of the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

[quote] The massacre took place over a period of six weeks beginning on December 13, 1937.[a] Estimates of the death toll vary from a low of 40,000 to a high of over 300,000, and estimates of rapes range from 20,000 to over 80,000. Most scholars support the validity of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which estimated that at least 200,000 were killed.

[quote] Other crimes included torture, looting, and arson. The massacre is considered one of the worst wartime atrocities in history. In addition to civilians, numerous POWs and men who looked of military-age were indiscriminately murdered.

The Japanese were as bad, if not worse than the Nazis.

But the Nazis got more attention because of the Holocaust.

The Chinese have every reason to despise the Japanese.

And I'm not sure that the opposite case could be made. To my knowledge, the Chinese never really did anything to the Japanese.

Also, in Japan you eat the whole shrimp, skin and all. Even the head of it's served to you. Shrimp brains are thought to be especially delicious.

Monkeys’ brains, though popular in Cantonese cuisine, are not often to be found in Washington, D.C.

Just eat some chicken chicken

R84, you only eat 'the whole shrimp' if it's deep fried, which then allows you to eat the shell parts.

[quote]The Chinese have every reason to despise the Japanese. And I'm not sure that the opposite case could be made. To my knowledge, the Chinese never really did anything to the Japanese.

They rape and pillage the buffet, and yell and drop shrimp casings on the floor while doing so! Aren't you paying attention?

I’ve been to China. I remain, years later, by the wild amount of spitting — and I’m talking hockin’ loogies. It’s disgusting to see phlegm and mucus everywhere.

VILE.

They probably shit in the booth.

[quote]They are also (physically) the pushiest fucking people I've ever met. A Chinese guy literally tried to shove in front of me as I was handing my boarding pass to the gate agent on my flight there.

R36 It’s a wondrous sight on the 30 Stockton in SF when the driver opens the forward door, to see the mad crush to board—and these are tiny little old ladies with plastic bags of groceries on each wrist, pushing through everyone left & right.

Even if there are plenty of available seats. And even if its a short trip ..

Chinese are the worst customers, or is it Indians??? Either, are TERRIBLE to restaurant & service staff........

Connie used to spit all over the fucking studio.

China, for millenia, had a medieval type of class structure...a tiny 1 percent and a not very large "middle" class with the vast majority of the country being peasants. That really only started changing in the last part of the 20th century. Now there's all those former peasants, or children of that class who have risen, economically, in the world and...well, they still act like ignorant hicks.

It's where all the "ugly tourist" stereotypes come from regardless of where you come from. The Ugly American was always some dumb loud rube who had moved up enough in the world to afford a fancy trip. Before the 1950s, it was pretty much only the rich and the upper middle class who did any kind of serious traveling. After that, any hick with an ok job could save up and/or finance a big vacation on credit.

What does WW2 shit have to do with shrimp shells?

Unfortunately R94, there are over 1.3 BILLION chinese people, so there are a LOT more of these ugly tourists traveling the world, than ever before.

I wouldn't be surprised if countries actually started to ban chinese tourists.

r25 that is true. The French actually put up signs.

What r34 and r36 said. In a previous job I had to travel to China. Once was enough. I would never go back.

Hong Kong, by contrast, is one of the best places I have ever been in the world.

[quote] Hong Kong, by contrast, is one of the best places I have ever been in the world.

Only because they were civilized by the British from 1841 through 1997.

Otherwise, they would be just like the rest of china.

True r99

How does taiwan compare to mainland china?

I've never seen Indians eating anywhere but at Indian restaurants so how can you tell if they are rude to waitstaff? They've always seemed nice enough to the waitstaff.

[quote]Only because they were civilized by the British from 1841 through 1997. Otherwise, they would be just like the rest of china.

They were fine after the Brits left and had a "one country, two systems" framework that allowed them to enjoy substantial political and civil rights not found in mainland China, but the government in Beijing has been eroding those freedoms since 2020.

R102, that's complete b.s. Indians arrive en masse to tourist areas, national parks, cafes, restaurants of all kinds. Not just Indian restaurants. Sometimes they travel with their own chef, and don't bother with going to any restaurants, but they do indeed come in to non-Indian restaurants at times.

They aren't obliquely rude like the Chinese. They are oblivious to the world around them and its customs, due to their great numbers and self-distractions. They take up great amounts of space, indulge in multiple selfies, and block the path for everyone else. They are also loud in great numbers, like any other large group would be. They do seem to have a great time in large groups, which, good for them, but it's terrible for anyone else in their path. Want to enjoy a nice view of a large mountainside in a national park, and have a coffee at the café? Chances are you will have a group of 4-6 Chinese and a separate group of 10-15 Indians to contend with, who will indulge in things on their own time, and you will have to wait, or just try to skip to the next vista.

I think the effect of Indian tourism is worth raising, even if it's different than the Chinese, American, or Euro versions.

Never seen it R104 but I avoid tourist areas like the plague.

r101, rhe Taiwanese are lovely, civilized people.

^^^That's good to hear. Separation from mainland China for all these years has its benefits, one of which is civility. Probably one of the many reasons why Taiwanese enjoy a better standard of living and prefer democratic governance.

I can confirm what's been said about spitting in China. It's one of the things that, even after living there for a year, I could not get over. I saw people spit in elevators, grocery stores, restaurants, train stations, etc. And if you don't see it, you certainly hear it. I saw a woman blow her nose by covering one nostril and leaning over on the sidewalk. In winter, the sidewalk would be covered in wads of phlegm.

RE: restaurant habits, I was once at a buffet. A woman eating fish at the table next to me spit the bones out of her mouth directly onto the table.

R91, thanks for the memories. Nothing has changed about the 30 Stockton for years. A hapless person will soon regret getting in their way.

I've heard about that bus line.

It was the upper class of China that fled to Taiwan to govern it. Thus you have their descendants living their. It explains the night and day of the two cultures.

Absolutely gross, R108.

Taiwan is lovely. I find Taipei and Tokyo quite similar, as in very civilised large cities, polite citizens, lots of quirky small shops, avant-garde fashion, etc.

As for HK, where I’ve been living for 7 years now, unfortunately I can only confirm the « mainlandisation » that is being pursued by brute force by the authorities. This really started after Covid, where the large numbers of outgoing professional types westerners were replaced by mainland Chinese in even larger numbers. Thankfully a large part of this new generation of « migrants » is highly educated (due to the specificities of the HK visa schemes), but they still lead to a more homogeneous, Chinese culture, than the vibrant East-meets-West culture HK was celebrated for.

I observed the same when I was in China, r108. Spitting everywhere. Disgusting, and a real public health hazard. They just don't care.

I never ventured into the wet markets because I knew I wouldn't be able to bear it. I know what they do to animals in those markets. I just couldn't go there.

r111, my grandparents and their kids (including my mother) fled to Taiwan to escape Mao/Communists. My grandmother was upper class, my grandfather worked for Shiang kai Shek. Then Grandfather went to the U.S. to get his PhD in economics, and brought the family over. I don't know how the hell he did it, because his English was terrible.

R113, that is sad to hear about HK- I was there in '97, and it was New York and acid and speed (in a good way), and the best Chinese food that I'ved ever had. I was there for 2 days in '20, but really couldn't compare, as it was a layover.

[quote] The Chinese are obviously suffering a case Superpower syndrome, where you can act like obnoxious, entitled assholes abroad and everybody else is supposed to just accept it.

So… like Americans?

This is what I see on my block just about everyday. Chinese tourist are so odd and they HAVE to travel in large groups. It’s like they don’t have a mind of their own. And I used to work for Chanel. And these women would come in, dressed exactly like this, and pay with 25k in cash wrapped in a CVS plastic bag. So odd.

R69, LA's Little Tokyo is a bit dingy now, but that is also in no small part to it abutting Skid Row.

I'm remembering the scene from the original "Old Boy" where he eats - sucks up - the live baby octopus. It was for real and I wanted to puke.

Agree that Chinese tourists traveling in packs oversees are the worst. Hoarding Christmas buffets on a boat tour of The Bay of Islands in New Zealand; being rude and yelling at waitstaff in Thailand, driving the wrong way and on sidewalks in Greece, while laughing, despite nearly killing people - including me. Picking the flowers in public parks in San Francisco. No sense of personal space or aware of the others around them.

Regarding travel in Japan as a foreigner (before Smartphones and GPS) my partner and I ended up frequently getting lost and eating meals in obscure neighborhoods. It was awesome. We were very politely treated like idiots or children and seated far away as possible from most patrons, but we were treated like kings. Knowing a few basic, polite phrases and customs went a long way. At one hole in the wall place, we sat at the bar. The owner/chef/waiter just asked us what we wanted to drink by pointing, then proceeded to serve us plate after plate of excellent food, none of which we recognized.

When lost, we learned to take cabs and present the drivers (always wearing long, white gloves and a crisp uniform) and presented them with a card from our hotel with its address. Japan, out of all the countries I've visited is so trippy! Wish we'd stayed longer. It was the first stop during a month-long tour of a handful of countries in Asia.

One note: my partner is Mexican - much more indigenous looking than Spanish. When we first met, I thought he was Eurasian. Very handsome. School girls on the Osaka subway could not stop starring at him, which I thought was rude, but then I became jealous.

[QUOTE]Chinese are yellow indians.

No. They're well-known and identified disease vectors. They just are.

r119, that's Korean.

R36 explains why the Japanese appear racist. They want their country to stay that way. Not the very stupid white good doers of France and England. And didn't the two most stupid people on the planet Trudeau and Merkel change their views eventually on immigration?

Merkel did

[quote] For me it's a toss-up between Chinese and Indians regarding who is worse. Equally horrible in different ways.

White Americans are far worse

Don't they basically have the same DNA?

No, R126, they basically don’t, basically.

Look at them.

R127, considering that human being share 99.9% DNA with each other, we are all basically the same...

[quote] A tendency to not flush the toilet.

This is an alleged tendency of Chinese listed at the article R25 linked.

I'm American, and I teach at an American university on the eastern seaboard of the continental US. This is a tendency of Americans aged 18 through the mid-20s. It's not peculiar to the Chinese.

R117 - it's not strange that they tour in groups as most Chinese don't know English or other languages. It's like a European going to Asia and there are no Roman alphabet signs anywhere - just Asian language symbols.

Plus it's been mentioned on many forums that Chinese like groups and crowds.

Not too long ago I stopped at a highway rest stop in MA because I had to pee, and two of those Chinese tour buses that go between Boston and NY were there. I attempted to go into the men's room but Holy Jesus Fuck. I turned around immediately and went to piss in the woods. The men's room was a level 5 biohazard. It looked like a herd of wild animals had been in there.

Their toilet hygiene can be sub par.