Americans, what custom from another country would you steal?

Can speak from personal experience that that legendary Japanese politeness goes out the window when it comes to riding trains or moving through the train station.

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Free-Sherbet2206@reddit

I found that also in China. The personal responsibility for the greater good really translated into cleanliness and safety.

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

Be the change you want to see in the world lol, I was raised with a strict no shoes in the house rule and now apply it to my own home

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Wandering_Texan80@reddit

Sunday closures? That was an actual thing until the 80s/90s.

Maybe it’s making a comeback culturally, but there are companies today that will not provide service on Sundays.

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I love the idea of slow Sundays, but changing that while not changing anything else about our culture will just make life harder for nearly everyone. You can’t expect people to work 40+ hours a week with limited PTO and long commutes and then also close shops on what is potentially their only day off.

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zayyation@reddit

Removing your outside shoes before coming into someone's house. Some American families already do this, but not enough for the majority of people to find it normal

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Pupation@reddit

Finland’s kalsarikännit.

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Thhe_Shakes@reddit

"average Finn drinks 3 underwear beers a day" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person drinks 0 underwear beers per day. Kalsarikännit Yrj, who lives in cave & drinks over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

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SnoopyFan6@reddit

Finland has a lot of customs that wouldn’t mine adopting. Many of them fit my introvert personality very well, including the one you mention.

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

This might get a lot of hate, but I think Japan has it right with how they do bicycle culture and infrastructure. Bicycles are considered pedestrians and therefore share sidewalks with people walking.

They use the same crosswalks, etc. They are not part of traffic and generally don't have bicycle lanes and such. Bicycles are usually ridden slower as well, so they aren't a threat to pedestrians.

So instead of building all this bike lane infrastructure, we should just built larger and better sidewalks and have bicycles use those along with pedestrians.

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lord_scuttlebutt@reddit

I'm not sure what the benefit would be here. Widening sidewalks for mixed use would be roughly the same cost of widening sidewalks or roads for bike lanes. All you're doing here is inviting collisions between cyclists and pedestrians.

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judgingA-holes@reddit

I second this! I've always thought bicyclist should not be on the road.

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Oldy_VonMoldy@reddit

Chasing a wheel of cheese down a steep, rocky hill

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huazzy@reddit

(Unpopular Opinion) But getting rid of tipping culture.

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NoShootGood@reddit

In what world is this unpopular?

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macrocosm93@reddit

In the world of people who make tips and can make hundreds of dollars in tips in a single night at some places.

Also in the world of business owners who save a fortune on payroll by having their customers pay their worker's wages.

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wrenchedups@reddit

The population of restaurant owners who rely on tipping to offset their expenses.

That’s who will be most impacted.

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MaybeYeaProbForsure@reddit

Came here to say “tipping”

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sageamericanidiot@reddit

I don't think it's that unpopular. The loud internet voices just like to judge your moral compass based on your tipping habits/beliefs.

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PuzzleheadedLemon353@reddit

I think more families should share their home with their elderly parents as a norm.

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Im-a-sim@reddit

I love how people in the Netherlands clearly state the start in time to events, and everyone agrees and actually leaves when the event is over, vs standing around talking. As an introvert, this is my dream.

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steveofthejungle@reddit

So I’ve learned that Dutch hell is Latin America and Latin American hell is the Netherlands

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apcb4@reddit

Year-long paid maternity leave and 6+ weeks of PTO. And the expectation to actually use both.

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SpunkySideKick@reddit

I want taxes to be baked into the price of things as a norm. Is the toothpaste $2 or is it $2.14?

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PawPawsLilStinker@reddit

None. I think Americans should only have their own culture and stop CAPITALizing off the efforts of others.

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nowhereman136@reddit

A lot of Americans do in fact remove their shoes when they enter their home and expect guests to do the same. But this isn't as standard as it should be

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Roboticpoultry@reddit

We’re a shoes off house because we have carpet (I hate it, we’re soon replacing all carpet outside of the bedrooms with wood)

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Free_Four_Floyd@reddit

A work week of 40 hours or less

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CraftFamiliar5243@reddit

Having a month off would be great but when everyone does it at once doesn't it make it hard to plan a trip if everyone is on vacation at one time?

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Popular-Local8354@reddit

Irish pub culture.

French vacation culture.!

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Katyoparty@reddit

What is Irish pub culture?

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Popular-Local8354@reddit

Seems a lot more common to just head off to a pub for a drink or two most days, wish we had that. Feels like most places maybe do once a week, if that.

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pinniped90@reddit

We had this when I lived in Wales and I miss it dearly.

You'd just go to the pub and talk. It could be a random weeknight, maybe you'd just have 1 pint, but I knew I could walk in, see a few people I knew, and just join a conversation.

No TVs. Not much music. Just friends chatting. You never had to schedule it - just show up.

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BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy@reddit

New Orleans

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LostInSpace9@reddit

Live in a city and it’s kinda similar?

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DachshundNursery@reddit

Another vote for French vacation culture. Also their bread culture.

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Veganswiming_32@reddit

I remember Sunday closures. They are terrible if Suday is your only day off. You can’t get any errands done!

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Drivo566@reddit

Bergen County, NJ (just outside of NYC) still has Blue Laws that ban the sale of most stuff on Sundays.

Oddly enough, when it comes up in a vote people overwhelmingly still vote to keep them because they enjoy the quiet traffic-free day.

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wuweime@reddit

France's strong unions and frequent strikes.Also bakeries.

Finland's baby startboxes.

Swedish parental leave.

Australian gun policy.

UK tobacco policy.

Japanese public transit.

Dutch bicycling culture.

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TheOfficialKramer@reddit

Tipping culture, employers should pay servants full wages.

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bloopidupe@reddit

Money dances at weddings.

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Patrizio_Argento@reddit

No more tipping

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musaXmachina@reddit

My biggest gripe is public transit. There’s places where you have to have a car and major cities with crappy transit. I remember riding IC/EC trains in Germany 20 years ago.

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SoupMadeFreshDaily@reddit

German crosswalk discipline

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

People actually picking up trash after themselves (from Japan) but make it dog poop

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Awdayshus@reddit

Walkable neighborhoods. It would be nice to be able to be less dependent on a car for everything.

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Responsible-View-804@reddit

America is 100% built on stolen culture.

The only things considered “uniquely American” in their development (that is, no influence from an older, foreign art) was 1. Jazz and 2. Comic books

And for the record that’s fine.

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BusinessWarthog6@reddit

Sunday closures so I can get Sunday off during football season

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

In the south we'd rather have Saturday closures so we can get Saturday off for football.

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BusinessWarthog6@reddit

I already have Saturday off so I get to enjoy CFB (when my team don’t suck)

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

Nice

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small-gestures@reddit

NO TIPPING. Thank you.

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Icy-Whale-2253@reddit

Japanese cleanliness and self-discipline… we could use some of that.

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JohnHazardWandering@reddit

Arresting rich pedophiles

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Sorry_Im_Trying@reddit

I would take the Not opening birthday gifts in front of the whole party thing.

I don't know why the U.S started doing it, it's not the norm (or so I've been told) in other countries.

My son was invited to his friend from school birthday party, who is Hmong, and I loved that we just all had a good time, ate good food then went home. He opened all his gifts at home and there was no weirdness about who gave him what.

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Katyoparty@reddit

Mass public transit. Slower paced life in general—everyone is rushing everywhere all the time.

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babyyodasleftnut@reddit

I've been adopting the Spanish night out. Having. A drink and a small thing to eat at a different place, hitting multiple venues.

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Ok-Energy-9785@reddit

None of them

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MaverickLurker@reddit

Sunday closures were common in America about two or three generations back. They were enforced by locla and state law. Over time they've been repealed and are not common anymore. Which is to say, Sunday closures probably aren't coming back any time soon since American society made the decision to leave that custom behind.

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