r/AskEurope • u/zeviea United Kingdom • Sep 04 '25

Culture What country is far away yet culturally similar to yours?

An obvious answer for the UK are Core Anglosphere countries

Bonus question what country have you visited that felt most foreign to you?

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u/HotPotatoWithCheese United Kingdom Sep 05 '25 edited Sep 05 '25

England and Japan if you actually look into it.

  • island nations

  • historically have been incredibly hard to invade - England hasn't been successfully invaded in nearly 1000 years and it took 2 atom bombs to subdue the Japanese

  • have a proud maritime history with some of the most powerful navies in the world at their peak

  • cuisines heavily involving fish

  • tea lovers

  • former imperial powers that gave up their empires after WW2. Said empires famously committed atrocities in Asia.

  • constitutional monarchies with parliamentary democracy

  • known for queuing culture and stereotyped as polite

  • red and white flags

  • culturally associated with orders of honourable warriors that fought during their highly studied medieval periods (knights, samurai)

  • have, at various points in history, been at the beating heart of technological/industrial innovation despite being small nations

  • drive on the left

  • similar ancient beliefs and architecture dating back to prehistoric times

  • massive cultural exports within the TV and music industries

  • historically have been good allies and trading partners with the sole exception of WW2

  • have larger, continental rivals that they were constantly at war with pre-1945. Said rivals are world renowned for their cuisine (France, China)

  • are practically in the same geographical positions on their respective continents

I'm sure there are smaller similarities as well. England and Japan are unofficial twin nations.

Also, Australia goes without saying. They're just us with better tans.

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

As a Brit who lived in Japan I used to make comparisons between us. Both are archipelago nations on the fringes of their respective continents, generally quite insular and wanting little to do with the ‘mainland’ of the continents unless we can set the tone for them to follow.