As I went to many places in Texas, I found some differences. In particular, I feel like the rules are pretty different in the public place.
First of all, American people use cars wherever they go. There are trains here but it is not for people to go somewhere. In Japan, of course we use cars but we also use trains, bicycles, public bus, subway or shinkansen which is colloquially known in English as bullet train. Here in America, they have buses but fewer than in Japan. We have public buses run everywhere and their costs are different depending on where we are going but they are still cheap.
When I first got here, I was surprised at those people who were smoking everywhere. And, I realised that rules for smoking are the biggest difference.In America, I saw many people smoking everywhere, even at school. There are no specific places to smoke. They can smoke anywhere and anytime. In Japan, smoking is often restricted to designated areas, so there are so many specific places to smoke. Even at restaurants, they divide the place for people who smoke and for people who don’t smoke so people who don’t smoke won’t get affected by smoke and odors while they are eating.
Another different rule is tipping at restaurants. In America, tipping is required so everytime I go to the restaurant, they ask me to pay a tip. Before I came to America, I didn’t know about tipping at all, so I was so confused about what I was being asked when I first went to the restaurant. In Japan, tipping is not customary and leaving a tip is considered rude, because as employees’ pride, they have the highest standards when supplying a service and don’t feel the need to accept tips to feel appreciated.
Beginning of the year, I had a hard time getting used to these rules,but as I got used to them, I learned different ways of thinking and I learned how American people spend time in public places. Knowing different things is good because I can compare with Japan and can find good rules and bad rules which I could have found if I stayed in Japan.