The different reaction I got from 2 taxi drivers, one in Tokyo, one in Bangkok a few days apart was rather stunning. Language played a role in their reactions-interactions as I spoke English to the Japanese driver and Thai to Thai driver but I also think the culture they grew up in greatly contributed as well.
My conversation with the Japanese driver was very one sided. He told me he had driven a taxi for 20 years, all my other comments met with silence, no questions were asked by him. The Thai driver who met me at the airport in Bangkok spoke to me my entire journey to the hotel, questions and jokes flying all over the place.
My recent experiences in both countries support these taxi driver cultural differences. Japan is an extremely polite but also an extremely quiet and personally held emotionally inside, private type culture. Thais are in your face friendly, loud and curious.
My conversation with the Japanese driver was very one sided. He told me he had driven a taxi for 20 years, all my other comments met with silence, no questions were asked by him. The Thai driver who met me at the airport in Bangkok spoke to me my entire journey to the hotel, questions and jokes flying all over the place.
My recent experiences in both countries support these taxi driver cultural differences. Japan is an extremely polite but also an extremely quiet and personally held emotionally inside, private type culture. Thais are in your face friendly, loud and curious.
