A bottle of water costs ₹50 in Tokyo. Three cucumbers cost ₹100. And somewhere in that city, an elderly person is probably lying dead in their apartment right now, undiscovered, because nobody noticed they stopped answering the door.
That’s not the Japan you see in anime. That’s the Japan Mayo talked about.
Mayo Hitomi moved from Japan to India ten years ago and never really left. In a recent conversation, she peeled back the postcard version of her home country and talked about the parts nobody puts in a tourism brochure: elderly people dying alone, hosts charging a million yen for a single drink, weddings where guests have to pay to attend, and why some Japanese men genuinely don’t think visiting a prostitute counts as cheating.
Here’s everything she said, and why it matters if you’ve ever romanticized Japan from a screen.
Why a Japanese Woman Chose India as Her Second Home
Ten years is a long time to stay somewhere that isn’t home. So what kept Mayo in India?
Not the food. Not the weather. The people.
She says her host family in Mumbai treats her like she actually belongs there, not like a guest who overstayed her welcome. That feeling, she explains, is rare. India’s sheer diversity keeps pulling her back in, so much so that she set herself a personal challenge: visit all 28 Indian states before she’s done. She’s already covered 16.
It’s a small detail, but it says a lot. This isn’t a tourist doing a 10-day trip and posting reels. This is someone who picked a second life.
No Maids, No Nannies: The Real Reason Japanese Homes Stay Spotless
Here’s something that might surprise a lot of Indian households: Japan doesn’t have a domestic help culture.
No maid comes to wash your dishes. No one scrubs your toilet for you. Everyone, and Mayo means everyone, does their own chores. She says even people in their 70s and 80s in Japan are still cleaning their own homes, cooking their own meals, doing their own laundry.
And she doesn’t see this as a burden. She calls it exercise, for the body and for the brain. Cooking and cleaning force coordination, planning, memory. It keeps people sharp.
This habit starts absurdly early. Mayo says she was already cooking dinner for her family at age 12. In Japanese schools, there’s a 20 minute block after lunch called cleaning time, where students clean their own classrooms and toilets. Not the janitor. The students.
That’s not a quirky fact for a listicle. That’s an entire national mindset built one 20-minute block at a time.
The Smell That Alerts the Neighbors: Japan’s Loneliness Problem Has a Name
This is the part of the conversation that stops being charming and starts being heavy.
Mayo was asked if loneliness is a real issue in Japan, and she didn’t soften it. She explained a term called Kodokushi, which translates roughly to “lonely death.” It happens when elderly people living alone pass away, and because they have so little connection to neighbors or family, nobody notices. Sometimes for a month. Until the smell gives it away.
She contrasts this directly with India, where families tend to stay tightly knit, where someone always seems to be checking in on someone else. In Japan, she says, that closeness has thinned out. People live near each other without really living with each other.
It’s a hard thing to hear in the middle of a fun, casual conversation about culture. But it’s exactly why the conversation is worth having.
Inside Kabukicho: Where Men Get Paid to Make You Feel Wanted
Now for the part everyone actually clicks for.
Mayo Hitomi talks about Kabukicho, an area in Tokyo known for its host clubs. The setup: handsome men welcome women in, treat them like the most important person in the room, and sell them extremely expensive drinks. How expensive? Up to 1 million yen. For a drink.
Here’s where it gets darker. Women start competing to make their favorite host the number one ranked host in the club, which means spending more and more just to boost his status. Mayo says some girls, unable to keep up financially, turn to prostitution to fund it.
And in a twist that might genuinely surprise you, she mentions that some Japanese men don’t consider visiting a prostitute as cheating on their partner. They see it as a professional transaction, not infidelity. Whether you agree with that logic or not, it says something about how differently intimacy and loyalty get defined across cultures.
What Japanese Women Actually Look for in a Husband
Forget the stereotypes. According to Mayo, Japanese women today have a very specific checklist.
First on the list: hygiene. He has to be clean. Non-negotiable.
Second, and this one’s newer: financial stability. Japan’s population is shrinking, pensions are uncertain, and young women are increasingly anxious about what retirement even looks like decades from now. So they’re choosing partners with that anxiety in mind.
Marriage itself looks nothing like the big, loud Indian wedding season most of us know. Parents barely get involved in choosing the partner. The wedding itself is small, formal, usually just 50 to 100 guests, wrapped up in two to three hours.
And here’s a rule that would never survive in India: guests have to pay roughly ₹15,000, or 30,000 yen, just to attend the wedding. After the ceremony, couples almost always move out on their own immediately. No living with in-laws. No adjusting to a joint family. Privacy comes first.
₹100 for Three Cucumbers: Is Tokyo Really That Expensive?
If you’ve ever wondered whether Tokyo is actually as expensive as people claim, Mayo puts real numbers on it.
Renting a 1BHK in Tokyo costs roughly the same as renting one in Mumbai, around ₹50,000. So far, not too different.
Then food happens. Groceries in Tokyo run two to three times more expensive than in India. Three cucumbers can cost you about ₹100. A single bottle of water is ₹50. Want an actual house, a 2BHK, in Tokyo? Set aside roughly ₹2 crore.
So the rent might feel familiar. Everything else will not.
They Bombed Hiroshima, So Why Does Japan Still Love America?
This question needed to come up eventually, and Mayo didn’t dodge it.
Japanese children learn about Hiroshima and Nagasaki early. In fact, a school trip to Hiroshima is often one of the first major trips a Japanese student takes. It’s taught as history, not hidden, not softened into vagueness.
And yet, Mayo says the current generation doesn’t hold onto hatred toward America. Quite the opposite. They see the US as a strong, reliable ally today. Two generations removed from the bombings, the relationship has been rebuilt into something closer to partnership than grievance.
On a lighter political note, Mayo also touched on how Japan sees Prime Minister Modi. The image is a positive one, largely because Japanese companies have expanded into India significantly during his time in office. Business built the bridge that politics alone couldn’t.
Skip the Bullet Train: How to See Japan Without Going Broke
For anyone actually planning a trip after reading all this, Mayo has practical advice, not just culture trivia.
Her top recommendation for a lesser-known destination is Tottori, a quiet, low-population prefecture with both coastline and mountains, the kind of place that doesn’t show up on every influencer’s itinerary.
To keep costs down, she suggests skipping the bullet train entirely and taking night buses instead, which double as transport and overnight stay. Pair that with capsule hotels, and you can see a huge amount of Japan without draining your savings on transport and lodging.
And if you’re an anime fan wondering where Shin-chan actually lives, Mayo confirms it’s Kasukabe. There isn’t one single “real” house you can visit, but the entire train station and a nearby mall are decked out in Shin-chan theming for fans who make the trip.
The One Thing Mayo Wants You to Take Away
By the end of the conversation, after covering everything from lonely deaths to million yen drinks, Mayo’s closing message was surprisingly simple.
It is never too late to challenge yourself and explore.
Listen to your parents, she says, but don’t let their opinions be the final word on your own life. Make your own decisions. Because the version of your life you regret not living is the one that stays with you the longest.
Ten years in India taught her that. Maybe it’s worth remembering, whether you’re planning a trip to Japan or just trying to figure out your next big decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Kodokushi in Japan? Kodokushi refers to the phenomenon of elderly people in Japan dying alone at home, often undiscovered for weeks due to weak social or family connections with neighbors.
Why don’t Japanese households have domestic help? Japan does not have a widespread culture of hiring maids or domestic staff. Chores like cleaning, cooking, and laundry are handled personally by every family member, including elderly people in their 70s and 80s.
How expensive is it to live in Tokyo compared to India? Rent in Tokyo is comparable to cities like Mumbai, but groceries and food cost two to three times more. A 2BHK home in Tokyo can cost around ₹2 crore.
Do Japanese people still resent America after Hiroshima and Nagasaki? According to Mayo, the current generation of Japanese people does not hold onto resentment toward America and largely views the country as a strong ally today.
What do Japanese women prioritize when choosing a partner? Hygiene and cleanliness come first, followed by financial stability, largely driven by concerns about Japan’s shrinking population and uncertain future pensions.
