I watched this recent video by Dogen about how immigrants should adapt to Japanese life etc.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_tXp5sFlHQ
One of the things I found odd was that he mentioned “eating while walking” as one of the offensive behaviors foreigners should stop doing. Many of the other examples made sense to me, but for this one - I never thought this was “rude”, rather “odd”. Thinking about it, I had a few conversations about this over time, but never got negative vibes for it (at least directly). Might be that people don’t want to tell me it’s rude, but I also got no negative opinions about it from people who lived abroad for a while (and thus are maybe better at communicating with foreigners) and/or are usually more upfront with me.
So my current understanding: It’s odd but not rude. Thankful for any further insights.
When I first moved here I was quick to learn that it was considered impolite or rude to walk and eat.
It is frowned upon unless in certain settings (festival, food trucks etc) generally. However, it seems to be changing a bit with the younger generation.
However, parents still teach their children that it is not something that should be done.
And I generally don’t do it as it makes me self conscious. I’d prefer to stop and “pull over” to eat or drink something.
I no longer live in Japan, but I had the same experience. It is still generally considered impolite to walk and eat at the same time, unless it’s something like an ice cream cone or dango at a festival.
Hm, I guess it’s hard to get a conclusive perspective on this, because I still don’t see what the “generally frowned upon” claim is based on. I mean, making phone calls on the subway would be a clear breach of norms and people would confirm that to me. There are also announcements/signs that make this explicit. Parents teaching it is such an explicit thing, this is the first time I heard that.
OTOH, I got a friendly comment one time for eating ice cream while walking around Tokyo. An elderly man used this as a conversation starter (and to practice some English, I guess). Sort of: “Ah, the foreigners really do that, like in the movies”. We had a nice little conversation after this, so it didn’t seem to be ironic either.
You definitely get stares when you do, but as a tourist it’s hard to know exactly how one sticks out from moment to moment.
But, in a communally minded culture, what that man did was to recognise you as breaking the norm, and even telling you that what you did is near unheard of in their culture.
That’s akin to you being indecent, although harmless, in public; like a naked toddler running around in a park (in my culture at least). And the man was (mildly) telling you off, in a respectful and cirsumspect manner as to let you save face.
I’m not a tourist and I’m pretty sure that’s not what was going on. More of a “oh, a foreigner, let’s practice English!” kind of situation
I can’t say why for sure, but the Japanese place a lot of importance on ceremony for mundane tasks, adding order and meaning to every day life. Eating is an important part of life, and I’ll bet that they don’t appreciate people taking it casually. It’s just a guess, but it’s a guess based on my understanding of Japanese culture.
I really can’t think of any food that I can eat while walking. The food I list would just invite disaster on my clothes if I eat them while walking. Maybe candy bars or small snacks.
I have follow-up question. Why is it considered normal and acceptable for other countries to expect immigrants to integrate, but if the citizens or politicians in the USA say anything even remotely similar, it’s viewed as racist and nationalistic?
I don’t think it’s that normal in other countries, and also I don’t think that it’s always considered racist in the US. The way I see it, immigration politics become problematic when either there is a cultural difference that seems difficult to overcome, or when some politicians/media purposefully reinforce racist stereotypes.
For example: There was a big debate in Germany 20 years ago about whether it should be legal or illegal for women to wear a Hijab. Allowing it would support religious freedom, but be associated with gender discrimination. Disallowing it was seen as supporting gender equality, but be against religious freedom. Both gender and religious discrimination are unconstitutional in Germany. How should you resolve that?
Another example: The republicans in the US lie and say that immigrants eat pets. Media reinforces that. Now people hate immigrants a bit more (following a longer, ongoing narrative).
Just guessing but I have to say it might depend on the type of food you’re eating. Like if it’s really crumbly, you might get crumbs on someone passing by which they perhaps see as gross and therefore rude. But if it’s something that holds together well, it’s not that big of a deal and is just odd. Never been to Japan though so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
