Johnny Anderson comments

this list seems a bit old and huge generalisation at times. heres my take, i used to live in japan.

1- im from scotland and i can tell you since i was a kid if you went into your friends house and they had a carpet, their mum would kill you if you had shoes on. it is the done thing in the UK that if people have carpets people take their shoes off. of course its not part of the culture but it is good etiquette.

1- i found taxis very expensive in japan, even more than the UK maybe. useful but i did not use them in japan as much as i do here at times. the uk has private and government run taxis that offer maybe not as polite service but a more extensive helpful one

1- drinking everywhere is not a good thing. i saw salarymen puke on the train, fights etc. in Scotland you cannot drink alcohol in a public place. you might even be stopped from going on a train if too drunk and rowdy.

1-recycling - again in scotland everyone has several recycle bins now : glass,paper,food,compost,regular waste.

1- not all toilets in japan are space age. go out to small towns and there are some pretty disgusting squat toilets in train stations.

1-agree with poster about customer service in japan its very polite, but if you have a problem its almost like you are causing them trouble and they handle it badly. lack of real human interaction, as if speaking to a robot.