{"id":146120,"date":"2025-10-26T11:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T11:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/146120\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T11:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T11:23:19","slug":"israeli-honeymooners-scathing-review-of-japa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/146120\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli honeymooner’s scathing review of Japa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cJapan is the land of fiction. A country built entirely on gimmicks. Everything that looks good on Instagram\u2014you\u2019ll find it there. Looking for food that ranges from mediocre to awful (but photographs beautifully)? Head to Japan. Want hotel rooms so small there\u2019s no space to open your suitcase? Japan\u2019s your place. Want a million people everywhere, all the time? You\u2019ve found the right country! And worst of all, if you’re after a culture that\u2019s rigid and inflexible\u2014square, like the iPad we had to order from at every bad restaurant\u2014go to Japan. Want to see a shocked face every time you ask for a sauce they don\u2019t think goes with your dish? You get the idea\u2014go to Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

These harsh words were written by Shelly Tal, 34, who had just returned from her honeymoon in Japan. She shared her criticism in a Facebook post that stirred debate in an Israeli travel recommendation group for visitors to the Land of the Rising Sun.<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05e8\u05d2\u05e2<\/a>\"\u05e8\u05d2\u05e2<\/p>\n

Shelly Tal and her husband in Japan <\/p>\n

(Photo: Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Was it truly a disappointing destination? For Tal, there\u2019s no doubt. But many travelers who responded to the post strongly disagreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote honestly, without meaning to offend anyone,\u201d she told Ynet. \u201cBut people reacted as if I insulted the Western Wall. Japan just isn\u2019t for me\u2014that\u2019s my truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why did she choose Japan in the first place?
\n\u201cI wanted something special, something different\u2014not another beach vacation,\u201d she said. \u201cJapan seemed like the perfect destination\u2014faraway, exotic, a different culture. Everyone around me praised it. It sounded like a dream: clean, polite, high-tech, peaceful. So we took three flights and connections\u2014an entire day of travel\u2014to get there, and I really thought I was living the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

That dream quickly faded. \u201cIn reality, it was just awful,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI tried to enjoy it for my husband\u2019s sake, but I couldn\u2019t. Everything looks good in photos, but when you\u2019re there, it\u2019s cold, impersonal and soulless.\u201d<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\""\u05e7\u05d9\u05d5\u05d8\u05d5,<\/a>\""\u05e7\u05d9\u05d5\u05d8\u05d5,<\/p>\n

‘Kyoto, the worst kind of nightmare’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shelly Tal)<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05e7\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05d4-\u05d2\u05d5,<\/a>\"\u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05e7\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05d4-\u05d2\u05d5,<\/p>\n

Shirakawa-go \u2013 the weather wasn\u2019t on our side <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shelly Tal)<\/p>\n

In her post, Tal wrote: \u201cAll the hype around Japanese food, the various gimmicks that photograph well\u2014in practice, the only thing you\u2019ll enjoy is maybe a nice Instagram Story. But you\u2019ll definitely get to enjoy the endless lines at every place that looks like it might actually be good (it\u2019s not).\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking with Ynet, she elaborated: \u201cMy husband and I are foodies. I\u2019ve traveled in India and Europe\u2014I understand food. But in Japan, 98 percent of what I tasted was mediocre at best. We went to a famous restaurant that everyone recommends. We waited an hour in line, the chef put on an amazing show on the teppanyaki grill\u2014it looked like a million bucks. But the taste? Nothing. If you don\u2019t dip it in soy sauce or mayonnaise, it has no flavor. The cooking process looks sexy\u2014but it\u2019s just a show. In reality, it\u2019s empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came her biggest culinary letdown: the sushi. \u201cEveryone says Japan is the \u2018home of sushi,\u2019 but it\u2019s nothing like what we know. No colorful rolls, no bright red tuna\u2014just a lump of rice with a slice of fish on top. No seasoning, no nothing. Japanese restaurants in Israel do a better job representing their cuisine than what I saw there. It was all dry and cold. I\u2019m sorry\u2014but their sushi just isn\u2019t good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tal added that Japanese culture can feel oppressively rigid to Israelis. \u201cPeople commented, \u2018How dare you ask for sauce? That\u2019s an insult to the chef.\u2019 So what? I\u2019m paying for the meal\u2014am I not allowed to say it lacks flavor? Any request outside the standard makes them uncomfortable. You feel like you\u2019re doing something wrong just for being yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\""\u05e8\u05d0\u05de\u05df<\/a>\""\u05e8\u05d0\u05de\u05df<\/p>\n

‘Ramen with a cold, white egg’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shelly Tal)<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\""\u05d1\u05d0\u05df<\/a>\""\u05d1\u05d0\u05df<\/p>\n

‘A bun that tastes like nothing’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shelly Tal)<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\""\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8<\/a>\""\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8<\/p>\n

‘Japan\u2019s pancakes are egg-flavored air’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shelly Tal)<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\""\u05d2\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e7<\/a>\""\u05d2\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e7<\/p>\n

‘A gimmick in Osaka’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shelly Tal)<\/p>\n

The criticism didn\u2019t stop at the food. \u201cI asked to check into a hotel room before 3 p.m.\u2014the answer was no. I asked for a fork\u2014they looked at me like I\u2019d asked for the moon,\u201d she said. \u201cJapan isn\u2019t a place that embraces difference. Everything is rigid and by the book. The Japanese stick strictly to the rules, and it shows in the food, the service and how people behave. It\u2019s not flexibility\u2014it\u2019s paralysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The famously small hotel rooms in Japan also left her disappointed. \u201cYou pay $100 a night and there\u2019s no room to open your suitcase,\u201d she said. \u201cMy husband is 1.91 meters tall (6’3″), I\u2019m 1.71 (5’7″), and in one hotel we couldn\u2019t even sleep in the same bed\u2014it was too small. It says something about the culture: everything is measured, precise, with no room to breathe. You\u2019re not allowed to spread out, to relax or to ask for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many people had warned her not to judge too quickly and promised that \u201cthe Japanese are the nicest people in the world,\u201d her experience was very different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were cold, distant and won\u2019t make eye contact,\u201d she said. \u201cOn public transportation, you feel invisible. There\u2019s no contact, no smiles, no eye contact. On one ride, I saw a woman whose bag was open\u2014I tried to tell her, but she didn\u2019t even register I was speaking to her. I felt like I was talking to a wall. Everyone\u2019s wearing masks, hats, staring at their phones. There\u2019s no human interaction. You walk through the streets feeling alone in a crowd of millions. Not even the bright screens can light up that kind of coldness. It\u2019s just sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

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8 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d7\u05d3\u05e8<\/a>\"\u05d7\u05d3\u05e8<\/p>\n

Tiny hotel room <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shelly Tal)<\/p>\n

Her frustration came out in waves during the interview. \u201cIn Japan, there are no trash cans. None,\u201d she said. \u201cYou drink a coffee or eat something? You\u2019ll carry the garbage in your bag for four hours. I tried to throw away a piece of paper in a small shop\u2014the clerk looked scared. Everything is clean, but to a point that feels arrogant. You feel like you\u2019re not ‘pure enough’ to throw something away.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the crowds? \u201cThere are a million people everywhere. Endless lines\u2014at every site, every restaurant, every train. Everything looks nice, but after a few days, it all blends together: another temple, another garden, another entrance fee. It all looks the same. Even shopping was a letdown. Every few feet there\u2019s another Uniqlo. There\u2019s no real shopping, no variety, no surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, fans of Japan didn\u2019t take her viral post lightly. \u201cIt blew up, and within minutes I got hundreds of comments,\u201d she said. \u201cSome people messaged me privately to say, \u2018Thank you for saying what no one else does.\u2019 But others just lost it. They called me rude, said I didn\u2019t understand culture, as if I\u2019d insulted something sacred. My phone crashed from the volume of messages. People were genuinely offended on Japan\u2019s behalf. I\u2019ve never seen Israelis defend Israel like that when people speak out against it\u2014but for Japan, everyone acts like it\u2019s their religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

She believes many travelers aren\u2019t willing to admit they didn\u2019t enjoy their trip. \u201cIf you spent tens of thousands of shekels going there, you\u2019re not going to say it was bad. So they defend the experience. But I chose to tell my truth\u2014I didn\u2019t enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, not everything about the honeymoon was disappointing. \u201cWhen we got to Thailand after Japan, I literally screamed with joy. It was like walking out of a frozen desert into a land flowing with milk and honey. I felt like I\u2019d returned to a world with soul, flavor, color and smiles.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cJapan is the land of fiction. A country built entirely on gimmicks. Everything that looks good on Instagram\u2014you\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[18,19,17,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-146120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115440216216332249","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}