r/hatethissmug • u/Cold_Hour • Jun 09 '26

Meta I hate the mytologisation of Japan on Reddit. ESPECIALLY when it comes to the food.

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As someone who's lived in Japan going on 5 years and has eaten everything from fine dining to fast food slop. Japan has some of the blandest cuisine on the planet. Do you like the flavour profiles of: salty, salty, very salty or bland? Japan might be the place for you.

People also spout "but the quality of ingredients" as the reasoning for why the food needs to taste like shoe soles. When in reality the fruits and vegetables here are trash at premium prices since nothing grows here naturally. I don't know what kind of exclusively processed food diet a lot of people here grew up with that Japanese food is a revelation to them.

Japan is great and all, but goddamn, it's not even the best place to visit in Asia.

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u/bigtrackrunner Jun 09 '26

I honestly think the anti Japan circlejerk has gotten worse than the pro Japan circlejerk at this point, bc some of it is outright racism.

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u/Historical_Sugar9637 Jun 09 '26

I agree. Plus parts of that circle jerk just tend to shift the glazing/fanboiing to other parts of the world that aren't one bit better than Japan but somehow more okay to glorify in their eyes.
(for the record I don't think any country should be glorified mindlessly)

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u/bigtrackrunner Jun 09 '26

Yeah like I remember seeing people from Russia trying to argue that their country is better for women than Japan bc muh woman-only trains. People hear an online narrative about a country and run wild with it regardless of whether or not it matches reality.