My husband, three children ages 13, 11, 8, and I traveled to Japan in July (Tokyo and Kyoto). It's a fascinating country and we had a wonderful time. It is a sublimely beautiful country, very refined, and the people are incredibly accommodating. Several things captured my attention/imagination. They are
1. Japan is the quietest country I have ever visited. The Japanese consider the honking of horns to be rude. I loved the calm.
2. Japan is immaculately clean. I had heard that it was clean but it is immaculate.
3. The Japanese don't wear sunglasses. This was one of the first things I noticed after the quite.
4. The Japanese are polite, exceedingly polite. I knew the Japanese were/are polite but I found this refreshing. So kind and calm.
5. I had the sense that I was at a five star resort the entire time I was in Japan.
6. I appreciate all the rituals of Japanese life. I don't think Americans have that many cultural rituals other than our major holidays and they are all so commercialized now almost rendering them a huge bother.
7 ANA Airlines -- the seats in coach seemed wider and farther apart than the seats on U.S. carriers. ANA continues to provide pillow and blanket. The flight attendants were very attentive offering water, juice and hot towels at least every hour. Inflight entertainment included Tetris and other computer games, movies/films, and documentaries (loved this!). So much variety helped with the children!

Are there unexpected, interesting things you noticed about the countries/people you visited? What do foreign visitors to the United States think?

It's true that Japan is very different from the US. Some of those differences are positive/pleasant. But some of them simply wouldn't work in our society - based on out overall value system - of individualism, gender equality, and responsibility/decision making by individuals or small groups instead of a society that subtley - or not so subtley enforces conforming to a fairly strict set of rules.

One of my colleagues spent 6 months in Japan on a work assignment - and was never really able to accomplish anything, since her male colleagues simply did not know how to cope with a woman in a position of responsibility. Part of the problem was that it would not be acceptable for a woman to be at a meeting with their clients, but part was also that they simply could not wrap their minds around the idea of a woman who was not an "office lady" (secretary). She found the stay extremely enlightening, since there were 2 australians on staff who would allow her to participate behind the scenes - but in larger group meetings her participation was not welcome.

Sorry - did nt mean this to be Japan-bashing. Just to point out that a brief trip may show certain parts of society - but not give a full picture.

Switzerland is also extremely clean - they just don't tolerate litter as we do in most places. So - it's possible to improve certain problems without giving up the major tenets of any culture.

My post was meant to be merely observational not an indictment of one country/culture over another -- knowing full well that we were visiting and not living in the country.

My wife teaches High School. She usually has one foreign exchange student each year. The first thing most of the exchange students notice is the fat content and the large food portions here. They are shocked by the lack of work ethic in school of most student(perhaps this is just our school, but I doubt it). They are also suprised by the little amount of homework and all the extra activities students here participate in.

The availability of prescription drugs in other countries is intersting. I had forgotten some medication and just walked into Canadian drgustore a couple of weeks ago and told them what I needed and that I needed 5 days worth. They told me I needed a prescription really, but they gave me exactly what I asked for and said they could pretty much do what they wanted to.

One more,
The lack of ice in your cold drinks. This is normally in colder climates and in warmer climates they tend to give you ice. Personally, I like a lot of ice in my drinks no matter what the temperature is outside.

Yes, I remember no ice while traveling in Europe. Also remember having to pay more for service outside (the most) versus service inside and service at the bar (cheapest) because you have to stand presumably.

We stocked up on Panadol (with codeine) while in Fiji. It surprised me that codeine was available over the counter.

I have always been amazed by how different (and better) food tastes in Italy. Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes dramatic.