Really? I didnât find Tokyo Westernized at all, especially given how little English they speak there. It felt like the whole country was living in a bubble. Even the urban planning was very Japanese. Narrow streets didnât have sidewalks, which youâll never find in the West. Also, everybody drove tiny Japanese cars you wonât find in the West. Everything in the city was also very high-tech (vending machines that accepted mobile payment, etc.) which you rarely see in the West.
Although I must admit I did find it surprising how much English I saw on signages and buildings. Not as much as HK but more than Taipei. Definitely was expecting everything to be written in Japanese only.
Who pays attention to footwear? The whole reason Andy Dufresne in âShawshank Redemptionâ broke out is no one paid attention to his shiny loafers when he was being returned to his prison cell. I canât even remember the color of my own shoes and theyâre sitting by my door.
They eat more Western food in Tokyo , bread especially. but yeah not sure if I would call it âwesternisedâ. Liking beer , cigs and bars more WesternisedâŚpossiblyâŚalthough more like an old version of the West. Itâs 5x cleaner than most places in Asia which also makes it stick out.
Iâve found it weird too, and Iâve been surprised when people notice I have new shoes. I donât pay any attention at all to what others have on their feet. Iâd probably eventually notice oversized clown shoes or really ugly rubber flip flops or something, but thatâs about it.
people also paid attention to sandals I bought on Taobao, guys looking at my feet was weird , cos they had never seen that brand before (China has a lot of innovative good and cheap footwear).
ALSO my kid got people asking them where their shoes were from, turned out they were a copy of some famous/rare sneakers.
yeah many Taiwanese are obsessed about apparel and brands.
Yeah, I guess some people are pretty brand-conscious, especially here and in China.
If a guy I donât know well starts talking to me about my shoes, complimentarily or otherwise, Iâm probably going to immediately make a mental note to cut him out of my life as a boring conversationalist.
Didnât you say in another thread that people were laughing at you for wearing a rain jacket? And now youâre saying they were laughing at you for wearing boots? I think you may need to consider that maybe people donât actually give a shit about you and itâs all in your head. Nobody in any country is going to laugh at you for things like that.
For me, the âwestâ is USA and Canada because Iâve never been to Europe.
If I see something that stands out in Japan that Iâve never seen in the US and Canada (tiny cars, high-tech toilets, high-tech parking spaces, high-tech vending machines, no sidewalks, non-English speaking population), then itâs Japanese to me.
If I see something that is also common in the US and Canada (eg. large American SUVs, wide streets, complex and extensive highways, English signs, English-speaking population eating with forks and knives) then itâs âwesternizedâ to me.
People in airports are often in a state of heightened emotions. They either just landed and are relieved, they are meeting loved ones and are elated, etc If you are a wheelchair user they may have been pointing at that. Is that possible? It does seem unlikely that bunches of random people will place your boots at the centre of their conversation.
