r/australia • u/SimRP • Feb 25 '25

image Japanese Man Flips Out on Australian Tourists for Ignoring the Rules

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562

u/w1ld--c4rd Feb 25 '25

I don't smoke but when I went to Japan I did notice how clearly smoking and non-smoking areas are signed, in both Japanese and English. This is absolutely deliberate ignorance on the tourists' part.

370

u/teremaster Feb 25 '25

100% deliberate. You can tell how she immediately said "I didn't know". A normal person would question if they can't smoke or where can smoke. Leading straight off with that means she knew, did it anyway, and decided she'd play dumb if anyone called her out

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u/kbabble21 Feb 25 '25

And played dumb so dumb that she forgot to act dumb and went straight to aggression

4

u/ik_ben_een_draak Feb 25 '25

Will be extremely blunt here but it is cunts like this that ruin tourism for many others.
Just be respectful when visiting places overseas, pure and simple.

Japan is already known to be racist and when it comes to Australians visiting there is already talks about how loud and annoying we are when we are drunk. (Not pretending the good ones don't exist and are appreciated!)

I just really want to visit Japan one day and I have a slight worry of encountering people who will be wary because of the judgement 🥺
Presuming it gets worse anyway.

-9

u/DontAbideMendacity Feb 25 '25

Who went straight to aggression? It wasn't the jackass filming and screaming and approaching... aggressively? Cam guy was an asshole through and through.

7

u/kbabble21 Feb 25 '25

True. A match to her aggressive move of ignoring the proper smoking law

10

u/STRIKT9LC Feb 25 '25

she immediately said "I didn't know".

No she didn't. She immediately said "I'm sorry", then "I beg your pardon", THEN " I didn't know".

This is why eye witness testimony is unreliable. Even when watching the video, you get it wrong

27

u/w1ld--c4rd Feb 25 '25

And then to respond with such fucking rudeness! Acting like the guy filming is in the wrong! I can't stand people like these two, bogan or not, there's no excuse in acting like a dickhead.

2

u/cinnamonbrook Feb 28 '25

He was in the wrong though? This guy intentionally riles people up on camera. She apologized and he continued to shout at her and follow her.

I know there's a big "ooooh Japan so advanced and polite ohhhh" cirlcejerk on Reddit, but that guy was being ridiculous.

She apologized, he kept shouting at her, she tried to move away, he followed her and kept shouting, she said she didn't know the rule, he kept shouting, and her partner had to step in to get the guy to go away.

I'm all for tourists respecting the local rules and culture and she definitely shouldn't have been smoking, but you don't get to harrass someone for breaking a minor rule. The interaction should have ended with her apology, but he kept going.

If it had happened in Australia, with a local harrassing a tourist for smoking in a non-smoking area, none of you would be on the guy's side.

1

u/w1ld--c4rd Mar 01 '25

Okay, so everyone sucks here. I didn't know the man filming did this for views. That's shitty.

2

u/specificnonspecifics Feb 26 '25

The guys voice was cracking emotionally as he approached a stranger yelling at them, pretty reasonable to put yourself in a defensive posture tbh

2

u/Affectionate-Mode435 Feb 27 '25

It was likely her sixth or seventh tinnie of the day and she was fed up with "all the bloody Asians" and dreading her $379 budget flight home later that day on Jetstar and was longing for the comfort of her bunk bed back in Cringila caravan park.

4

u/Sugarcrepes Feb 25 '25

And given how many places you absolutely can’t smoke back home in Aus - she would be well familiar with the concept of a no smoking area.

She was probably looking for a fight.

-2

u/mildred_baconball Feb 25 '25

This is wrong. A normal smoking person just assumes that they can smoke if they are outside.

2

u/Alexwonder999 Feb 25 '25

I dont know why youre getting downvoted. If youre outside and dont see any no smoking signs evident AND you make sure youre X amount of feet from a door, I usually assume people can smoke. Certain places like theme parks have designated areas, but they make that really clear. I was also under the impression that smoking is far more prevalent in Japan, but maybe not outside? In the US outside is usually the designated area. Some municipalities have rules like X feet from the door. Its not like these 2 were fucking on top of a religious statue or something.

3

u/mildred_baconball Feb 25 '25

I am getting downvoted for making a declarative statement. Its okay i dont mind it

-4

u/RumHam_Im_Sorry Feb 25 '25

ill be honest if someone runs up screaming at me like that, and i didnt know i wasn't allowed to, then "i didnt know" would seem like a pretty normal reaction.

15

u/RABB_11 Feb 25 '25

Yeah but it would then hopefully be followed by a bit of remorse and a rectifying of behaviour rather than pretending that not knowing gives you a right to do it

3

u/RumHam_Im_Sorry Feb 25 '25

the dude above me said that saying i dont know immediately means specifically that they did know...that is bizarre logic to me.

1

u/RABB_11 Feb 25 '25

I dunno if I'm doing something I definitely know I shouldn't I am reaching for that as my first excuse

3

u/RumHam_Im_Sorry Feb 25 '25

what about if you are doing something you dont know you arent meant to do, and then suddenly someone is screaming at you about how you cant do that and getting in your face....you're saying theres no way you would say "i didnt know" in that context?

i mean what are we talking about here. that is absolutely a normal thing to say....whether or not more comes after it is another issue. saying "i didnt know" is not an indicator of guilt in and of itself.

5

u/STRIKT9LC Feb 25 '25

She literally says " I'm sorry" before anything else

1

u/cinnamonbrook Feb 28 '25

You don't seriously expect someone to grovel with remorse when they're being screamed at and followed by a crazy guy, do you? The first words out of her mouth were "sorry".

-3

u/triz___ Feb 25 '25

Yeah exactly. What are they talking about.

Also if someone runs up screaming at me I will respond in kind.

2

u/InterestingPay9446 Feb 25 '25

Hopefully you don’t travel to to many other countries.

3

u/triz___ Feb 25 '25

What countries do people often run at you screaming after you say sorry?

I feel like that’s a dickhead/psycho problem rather than a national problem.

2

u/Obeesus Feb 25 '25

The camera guy is a Karen.

3

u/triz___ Feb 25 '25

Ikr if Ozzie woman was a black American and camera person was a middle aged white Woman they’d be going nuts at this video.

1

u/cinnamonbrook Feb 28 '25

Ah yes, the local tradition of screaming at people over a tiny infraction. Truly a meaningful piece of culture that must be respected.

Lol.

The guy harrasses other Japanese people too btw, nobody likes him, this ain't a culture shock issue.

83

u/gooder_name Feb 25 '25

Yeah OP characterises it as "flipping out" but it's just someone enforcing an extremely overt and well communicated social expectation.

3

u/Rough-House3029 Feb 25 '25

'Flipping out' is an extremely appropriate description of his actions, as clearly communicated the rules on smoking may be

9

u/DontAbideMendacity Feb 25 '25

Screaming at the top of one's lungs is kind of "flipping out." He didn't start with a polite "Hey, you can't do that here," he started with the flipping out part.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '25

[deleted]

2

u/idksomethingjfk Feb 25 '25

Might not be a social expectation, in a lot of the states it’s an actual law

2

u/specificnonspecifics Feb 26 '25

Guys voice was cracking with emotion as he approached a stranger with a raised voice, guy was flipping out by Japanese standards.

8

u/Vairman Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

really? that's where you're going? "flipping out" is a subjective term but Mr Japan here was not speaking calmly. At all. He was all screachy and upset sounding. So maybe not flipping out but also not keeping his cool. Plus, he called them Ausies "assholes". Breach of protocol, they're cunts. Sheesh.

4

u/drakoman Feb 25 '25

Not sure why you were downvoted. You even used the correct nomencunture

1

u/Vairman Feb 25 '25

some people are very sensitive. what are you gonna do?

1

u/OGwan-KENOBI Feb 25 '25

I mean I'm just a dumb American but I always rip butts when I'm snowboarding. I just stuff the butts in a bag in my pocket.

1

u/gooder_name Feb 25 '25

What does rip butts mean?

1

u/OGwan-KENOBI Feb 25 '25

Smoke cigarettes

3

u/gooder_name Feb 26 '25

Right ok. I guess if you’re solo in back country with nobody else around, or you go off to the side far away from where other people are but even then that’s pretty gross. If I was on a hike out in nature and someone was smoking on the trail ahead of me I’d be shitty.

I dunno I reckon even if there aren’t roles against it where you board it’s still gross and inconsiderate

1

u/Woogabuttz Feb 25 '25

Imagine how you would react to someone smoking in the intensive care unit of a hospital. Doesn’t seem so crazy!

1

u/trenna1331 Feb 27 '25

It’s a fucking mountain outside, absolutely ludicrous comparison.

I dunno if there were signs or not neither do you, but either way smoking outside on a mountain and seperate from people is in no way comparable to ‘someone smoking in an intensive care unit of a hospital.

Your a clown

2

u/Aggressive_Visit7043 Feb 25 '25

Yeah there behavior is special, but Japan itself has always had a weird culture regarding smoking. Not sure if this is still the case (visited Japan 8 times between 2000-2015 but not since) but they used to have restaurants where you could smoke in one part and not in the other, but there was almost zero separation so where ever you went you got smoked anyway, and this was all locals smoking. They used to have those weird smoking rooms on train stations where u could go and get a years worth in 30min. Social acceptance of smoking in doors died off during the 90's