Japanese and Thais have been fighting on Twitter all day. Here’s the tea lol:
A Thai man at a 7-11 attempted to buy a box of instant ramen. He opens it, pours hot water, and then goes to pay. Why? Because in Thailand this is common, as Thais live in a high interpersonal trust society and people can be trusted to pay for things at shops.
For added clarity, this practice is mostly done with noodles to save time and not much else.
However, in Japan, people are expected to pay for noodles before opening them. A Japanese 7-11 cashier corrects him. No problem. The man pays. Great learning experience. The video is shared online in case other Thais don’t know.
A Japanese nationalist account reposts the video: many Japanese netizens harshly criticise the Thai man, with many being racist and xenophobic, even attacking the man for not knowing how to insert cash into the machine, calling him backward, a country bumpkin, and stupid, etc.
Thais reacted by criticising the Japanese for their uptightness, saying how when Japanese tourists make mistakes, the Thai mindset and approach are to act calm and reasonable. Thais are confused why it’s so hard to adopt an “it’s okay” mindset, especially when no harm was caused. In Thailand, this is a quintessential mindset that Thais live by.
The Japanese side responds and basically says it doesn’t matter… you’re in Japan, and the Thai man is practically stealing.
Thais respond by saying, okay, understood but who attempts to steal and then goes to pay?
Thais then pull out receipts of all the times Japanese tourists have behaved badly in Thailand, pointing out that bad behaviour stemming from moral bankruptcy like discrimination, sexual assault, and theft is more common from Japanese tourists than from Thais, with many cases making headlines over the past few years alone.
Comments about Thailand being backward because the Thai man put the cash note in the wrong way were also met with confusion from the Thai side.
In Thailand, QR payments and e-wallets are the default payment methods, and most Thais now adopt this new-gen banking tech. Japan is still a cash heavy society and relies on older infrastructure habits.
It’s worth writing that not every Japanese comments are attacking the Thai man. Many are being reasonable and those who have travelled to Thailand have been pushing back against other Japanese netizens comments.
Ok I’m going to explain why this situation happened for education purposes. Please ignore the foreigners in the replies spreading misinformation and only listen to Thai people.
Phuket is not just a beach playground for tourists, real people live there and the community deserves respect.
These ladies are at a temple fair in Phuket, specifically Wat Chalong. The nearest proper swimming beach is a 10-20 minute drive away, in Kata, Karon or Rawai.
Anyone familiar with basic research on Thailand knows that temple grounds demand modest clothing for both men and women. This is a very common rule throughout Thailand and applies to every temple and religious site regardless of whether the visitors are Buddhists.
If you notice, the ladies are not being slut-shamed by Thai people for their clothes. Most people in Phuket wear shorts, bikinis and other beach appropriate clothing. But. At. The. Beach. Again, the closest proper beach is like 6km away.
Dress code signs are everywhere for tourists and they were at this specific temple too. It’s also impossible for them not to realise they weren’t at a temple. The large complex is easily visible.
Now, fairs are actually a little bit more relaxed, you can even see people wearing shorts that are above the knees, this is usually prohibited even on temple grounds, and it is always prohibited inside the sacred temples themselves, but Buddhist attendees are not going to confront every person they see, however, these ladies showed up dressed for beach clubs…
I sympathise that it must be awkward to find yourself in the middle of this situation. But temple grounds are places for worship, education and communal gatherings for merit making. These fairs are usually organised to raise money for new projects and funds for the community.
Locals consistently find themselves having to correct tourists and defend their way of life, even with signs and rule ads everywhere, so it gets to a point.
Please do your research and have a bit of self awareness when travelling.
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