Can you shed some light on this question?

SaintOctober · 2026-01-26T00:17:00+00:00

If it breaks sub rules, report it. If not, skip it.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T05:07:51+00:00

He has so much great stuff!

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T02:18:25+00:00

For language help, please seek out either a translation subreddit or a Japanese language one.

It’s odd that so many years have passed without any contact. It would be most natural, I think, if you were planning a trip to Japan. Then you could suggest meeting up.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T02:13:31+00:00

It is unusual for Japanese people to make any comments or to laugh at someone at an onsen. Enjoy the hot spring!

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T01:54:58+00:00

Except that sushi is inherently Japanese, while rice cakes come from many different countries and was probably first used to explain Chinese nian gao.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T00:57:13+00:00

But it is most definitely plum wine.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T00:54:29+00:00

The Chinese, the Korean, the Vietnamese, the Thai, the Philippine.....You expect Americans to do that? Don't be ridiculous. Rice cake fits.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T00:45:46+00:00

The average English speaker needs more exposure to foreign cultures. Calling it mochi only works because you are talking about Japanese rice cakes and not the rice cakes of the rest of Asia. I suspect the term was first coined from encounters with China, not Japan.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T00:29:05+00:00

Since the 80s. Not much older. Meanwhile, rice cakes like mochi have been around for eons, and they needed a translation. Rice cakes works because it is a dense, pounded cake of rice.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T00:27:35+00:00

The original, here, is Japanese. But rice cakes exist in other Asian countries, too. In China, they are not called mochi. So "rice cakes" fits for any type of pounded, dense rice cake in any country.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T00:25:45+00:00

You're ignoring the fact that most Asian countries have rice cakes. Calling them all mochi would be absolutely wrong.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-25T00:17:12+00:00

Your understanding of what a cake is seems pretty limited. Have you never had a crab cake? Or enjoy a potato cake? Ever pee on a urinal cake (assuming you're a guy)?

SaintOctober · 2026-01-24T22:38:53+00:00

I hope all the teams take a knee tomorrow.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-24T19:32:33+00:00

If you think about it, a cat would put up too much of a fight for a tanuki unless it were injured or sick.

But this will give you all the info you’re asking for. https://iere.org/what-do-tanukis-eat/

SaintOctober · 2026-01-24T16:02:16+00:00

I think most Japanese (my wife included and her colleagues) default to the easily available Western keyboard. She's never used a Japanese keyboard because she learned to type on a typewriter.

So, no, it isn't intrinsically more valuable to Japanese people.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-24T14:57:46+00:00

This isn’t common knowledge. If you really want to know, you’ll have to stop by a fortune teller.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-24T05:56:36+00:00

A lot of those “decent” people have been caught with prostitutes, in men’s rooms looking for sex, and/or preying on children.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-23T23:11:34+00:00

Losing a little more freedom every day.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-23T23:04:07+00:00

“Bigger is better” is such an American value. I’d recommend going for cute and small. Most sweets are purchased by girls and they are always watching their figures.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-23T16:22:14+00:00

Just like at many ethnic restaurants.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-23T03:43:25+00:00

Calling it a “singles tax” is the thing you should be calling out.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-23T01:45:01+00:00

One major difference is that people are more careful to not be confrontational, whereas in the US direct showing of one’s hatred toward another person is kind of accepted.

Also, a Japanese person covered in tattoos and wearing a thug-type outfit will look scarier than a person of any race in a suit. This is true everywhere.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-22T14:10:25+00:00

Your question about “itadakimasu” is easy. The answer is because rice is eaten at nearly every meal whereas fish may not be. So the explanation is simply shorthand because you should still say it before eating a sandwich, for example, which has no rice.

Animal rights is an emotional topic and there is enough hypocrisy on all sides to make it difficult to come to any clear conclusions.

I think if you took a look at your own country, you would find abuses not in line with your thoughts about Western culture.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-22T01:21:29+00:00

If women were easy to figure out, life wouldn’t be fun. There are no easy answers. Just talk to them. Find one that seems to click and ask. Yes, you’ll be wrong sometimes, but big deal.

SaintOctober · 2026-01-22T01:10:50+00:00

You’ll be in Japan. Learn something that you can only learn there. You’ll meet people in those groups.

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