The most noticeable thing about living in Japan is that there are no kisses or hugs.  Reading this you may be thinking surely not.  This is no exaggeration.  At first I thought that this was just something you didn’t do outside.  Upon investigating though I found out that it’s also something you don’t do inside.  Kissing and hugging is an entirely private thing in Japan.  You don’t even want family members to see.  So I asked around to find out why this was.  The answer was simple.  It’s to do with morality.  So of course I asked which moral? Turns out it is embarrassing for everyone involved.   Parents don’t kiss or hug in front of their kids because their kids will be embarrassed.  Parents will in turn be embarrassed for their children.  So kisses and hugs don’t occur in the house.  It’s easy to then see that kisses and hugs don’t occur out of the house because when the children become adults they think that kissing is embarrassing.  It’s probably one of the major cultural differences between the European culture and Japanese culture.  If you kiss and hug in front of your kids then your culture will produce people who enjoy kissing.  If you are too embarrassed to kiss in front of your children then they will grow up to be embarrassed by it.

この国はキスとほうようがない

日本に住んでるときに一番目につくものがカップルはキスとほうようがしません。最近、僕はこれが不思議に思いました。外でだそれは家の中にキスとほうようがしません。家族前でキスとほうようがしません。どうして？そのこたえは道徳的です。そうですけどどんな道徳的ですか。こたえは照れ臭いです。だれに照れ臭いですか。両方です。ほかのしつもんの後に大体分かりました。両親は子供の前でキスとほうようがしませんから子供は照れ臭い感じます。だから子供はキスとほうようが照れ臭いと習います。おとなになったときにキスとほうようが照れ臭いと思います。これは違うの文化です。西洋文化はキスとほうようがすばらしいです。もし子供の前でキスとほうようをするまでおとなはキスとほうようをするときにやわらかいを感じます。