One concept that constantly blows my Japanese friends’ minds is the idea that Americans will cut off friends and even family over political differences. It’s simply not something that really happens in Japan.

The same principle also extends to dating. In America these days you have to walk on egg shells with someone on a first date to gauge what the believe. In Japan, it’s more like if you can provide a stable household and hold a reliable job.

Hardly anyone likes political radicals in Japan. The right-wing extremists who blast their propaganda over loudspeaker vans are almost universally disliked by everyone. Countries like China and North Korea have also made far left ideologies like socialism/communism unpopular too.

I feel like I’m saying this every week now, but Japanese people really aren’t as politically active as Americans. You don’t get into as many heated arguments. To me personally, it’s frankly a breath of fresh air and one of the reasons why I vastly prefer my life here to the U.S.

(Re-upped this thread because there were some typos.)

And man there are STILL typos. Whatever, I hope people care more about the actual points I’m making. That’s what you get for typing on a keyboard the size of a saltine cracker on a microblogging site with no edit button.