I asked 50 Japanese people, ages 9 to 91, one question. "What do you admire most about Americans?" Here are the top answers.

X.com ^ | Oct 31, 2026 | Samurai Shiba @SamuraiShibaJP

[ransomnote]

Samurai Shiba
@SamuraiShibaJP
·
18h
I asked 50 Japanese people, ages 9 to 91, one question.

"What do you admire most about Americans?"

Here are the top answers.

10. "They clap when the plane lands." (Office worker, 34)

9. "They say 'I love you' every time they hang up the phone. Even men. Even to other men." (Taxi driver, 61)

8. "A stranger told me she liked my shoes. Then she just walked away. She didn't want anything." (High school girl, 16)

7. "They thank the bus driver when they get off." (Bus driver, 55. He got emotional saying this.)

6. "They tell you their whole life story in the grocery line. I know about one man's divorce, his boat, and his knee surgery. We knew each other for four minutes." (My mother, 64)

5. "They stand for the anthem at a children's baseball game." (Little League coach, 47)

4. "When they lose, they shake hands and say 'good game.' And they mean it." (Sota, 12)

3. "They fly the flag on a regular Tuesday. No holiday. Just because." (Nurse, 28)

2. "They help a stranger push a car out of the snow, then leave without saying their name." (My cousin's husband, 52, who got stuck in Colorado once)

And the number one answer came from the oldest person I asked. My grandfather. He's 91.

He thought about it for a long time.

Then he said:

"They still believe tomorrow will be better than today."

I asked him what he meant.

"In 1946, we had nothing," he said. "The American soldiers I met were young and far from home. But they acted like the future was coming, and it was going to be good. After a while, we started to believe them."

I asked him if he thought Americans still believe that.

He nodded slowly.

"Tell them," he said, "not to stop."

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
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[Jim W N]

Were these questions asked of Japenese living in Japan or living in America? It can make a difference.

[Jim W N]

Were these questions asked of Japenese living in Japan or living in America? It can make a difference.

[nwrep]

Sounds made up. Too perfect. Feeds confirmation bias. Lines up perfectly with what we hope foreigners think of us.

[Twotone]

For anyone who doesn’t go to X, this was the first comment under the article:

“My father was 21 on one of the first ships in Tokyo harbor after the war ended. He was a Machinist Mate and a Diver, and the ship’s mission was to raise the floating docks the Japanese had sunk to prepare for the US occupation ships to land.

“His captain gave him and another 19-year-old the job of seeing if they could get what looked like an abandoned utility barge with a crane in the harbor operational to help with the work. They got in a skiff, went to the ship, and went down into the engine room to see if they could bring it to life. He went into the room; it was dark and quiet, and when he shone his flashlight, he found 18 Japanese sailors hiding in fear. One pleaded, “ Please don’t kill us! Not likely, as my dad only had a sidearm with 9 rounds.

“My dad said, “You are safe; the war is over, things will be better here than ever.” Then he asked, “Who wants a job? $10 a week?” One man translated, and they all started bowing. 10 minutes later the boat was under power, and my dad returned to his ship. The Captain said, “That was quick,” to which my dad replied, “She’s got a good crew; by the way, there are 18 of them, you hired them for $180 a week.” The captain said, “You don’t have that authority.” Dad replied, “But you do.”

“He worked alongside those guys for weeks. As a diver, they raised a sunken boat in the harbor full of food, and he gave that to those 19 men for their families and others around the harbor.

“He ended up staying in one of those men’s spare rooms for several weeks. It was the room of his son who died as a Kamikaze pilot.

“The war was over, and from that point on, everything was better in Japan.”

A great post & a wonderful WWII story! Thanks, ransomnote!

[aquila48]

And how are these the top ten when they are single answers from random individuals?

[Merrick]

They were 50 individuals. They were grouped into simar answers and one representative of the rest in each group shared.

[Jamestown1630]

Did you see all the interviews of foreigners who came here for the World Cup? They cosistently attested to our spontaneous friendliness, optimism, patriotism, etc. They weren’t only impressed with the food.

[Merrick]

I remember with disgust when too many Americans were demonizing the Japanese in the 1980s.

They are were liberals and I don’t agree with most of the points they were making, but in “Right Now” video near the end a succession of “right now...” statements were listed, and one was “right now is not the fault of the Japanese.” I agreed with that one.

[Merrick]

Sorry - I didn’t mention that was Van Halen...

[PghBaldy]

This may be true or not. However, I am reminded of when I went to Europe 40+ years ago, and also in the 1990s. In both instances, people were kind (except the muslims were no good). This past Summer, they were a bunch of happy and grateful soccer fans visiting.

[wally_bert]

They liked Kojak as well.

https://youtu.be/iU8qOagfn-E?is=RIPTu2ZW_Ja-JOY2

[LouAvul]

When I was a child my grandmother said she'd never buy anything that said it was "made in Japan." I asked her why not. She looked at me as if I were nuts. Then she said, "Pearl Harbor."

That would have been in the late 1950s. She was a democrat.

[Merrick]

Columbo! They are massive Columbo fans.

[Enterprise]

Bump!

[Az Joe]

Any you’re an idiot.

Ive spoken with many foreigners, they say Americans are optimistic, open, friendly as a rule.

[Az Joe]

Any you’re an idiot.

Ive spoken with many foreigners, they say Americans are optimistic, open, friendly as a rule.

[Mr Rogers]

My FIL was a Filipino. He was a young kid when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. Some soldiers came across him once. They asked him something, but he didn’t know Japanese and they didn’t know his language.

When he didn’t give them an answer, they hung him upside-down from a tree and beat his stomach and back. He passed out. He lived but it was several weeks before he could walk again. He wasn’t the only one in the area who had an experience like that.

In the 1980s, it would have been dangerous to be a Japanese tourist on that island...

Also:

“The Bayview Hotel was used as a designated “rape center”.[6] According to testimony at the Yamashita war crimes trial, 400 women and girls were rounded up from Manila’s wealthy Ermita district, and submitted to a selection board that picked out the 25 women who were considered most beautiful. These women and girls, many of them 12 to 14 years old, were then taken to the hotel, where Japanese enlisted men and officers took turns raping them.[7][better source needed]

Despite many allied Germans holding refuge in a German club, Japanese soldiers entered in and bayoneted infants and children of mothers pleading for mercy and raped women seeking refuge. At least 20 Japanese soldiers raped a young girl before slicing her breasts off after which a Japanese soldier placed her mutilated breasts on his chest to mimic a woman while the other Japanese soldiers laughed. The Japanese then doused the young girl and two other women who were raped to death in gasoline and set them all on fire.[8]”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_massacre

It wasn’t just some Americans who had trouble forgiving the Japanese.

[crusty old prospector]

Cheap Trick at Budokan.

[dfwgator]

Bob Dylan at Budokan