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apeliott t1_j588fz4 wrote

Reply to comment by Freak_Out_Bazaar in TIL Japan is considered the world's most powerful passport, with visa-free access to 193 countries. Singapore and South Korea are close behind with 192 countries. Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are the least powerful, all with visa-free access to 30 or less countries. by grandlewis

There are lots of national holidays but they are a bit short for international travel unless you count Golden Week, that's a nightmare time to travel. I'd rather stay in the city where it's nice and quiet lol

Otherwise, a lot of personal holiday time goes unused.

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themangastand t1_j5aabkq wrote

Well that doesn't really explain their lack of domestic travel. I've had many Japanese students that were shocked I took the shankesein to different places each day. Even 3 hours away.

It's like you guys have a bullet train across your entire country of course I'm going to use it.

So yeah I'd say it more has to do with culture and work culture. As the Japanese I talked to even found my domestic travel around Japan odd.

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apeliott t1_j5bxmzc wrote

Taking the shinkansen every day can be very expensive.

Also, many students don't have much free time or energy after school (sometimes six days a week), homework, club, juku, and any other after school activities.

My son is a student and he likes to travel on the trains but he can only really do it once a week by getting up at 4am on Saturdays.

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Mactan t1_j59fpjm wrote

They can also be xenophobic society. Why learn about other cultures when ours is superior mentality.

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Kalik2015 t1_j5a8l4x wrote

No, not even close. Many Japanese people actually aspire to travel to other countries, but are afraid of not being able to speak the language, understand customs, etc not to mention it can be pretty far to get to many places outside of Asia (even Singapore is a 6 hour plane ride from Tokyo and so many people have to travel hours just to get to their nearest airport). So the mentality then becomes, "why leave and go somewhere that's going to stress me out when there are all these places within Japan that I have yet to see and be understood?"

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