Weird British culture?

[Ideologue]

Mention the British inordinate fondness for carpeted floors all over the house. Including bathrooms.

Ew.

[Razgovory]

Mention the British inordinate fondness for carpeted floors all over the house. Including bathrooms.

What about teenage rebeliousness? Binge drinking? Chavs? Teenage pregnancies?

Much lower suicide rates.

[Viking]

Mention the British inordinate fondness for carpeted floors all over the house. Including bathrooms.

What about teenage rebeliousness? Binge drinking? Chavs? Teenage pregnancies?

I was the teen rebel in my school. I grew my hair to three inches. The teachers held a conference.

[Josquius]

Mention the British inordinate fondness for carpeted floors all over the house. Including bathrooms.

What about teenage rebeliousness? Binge drinking? Chavs? Teenage pregnancies?

eww, who carpets the bathroom?

Yeah, that is a consideration but....that would present a bit of a negative image. Britain has its good and its normal kids too and Japan has its dicks.

[Razgovory]

Mention the British inordinate fondness for carpeted floors all over the house. Including bathrooms.

What about teenage rebeliousness? Binge drinking? Chavs? Teenage pregnancies?

I was the teen rebel in my school. I grew my hair to three inches. The teachers held a conference.

What did they do when they found out you weren't using metric.

[Sheilbh]

I think this is more about Sheilbh being weird than Brits being weird. 

I for one have seen hordes of Brits in every popular tourist spot I've been to.

I think that's true.  But there's an element of class in British holidaying too

I'm not sure about the rest.

Eccentricity would probably be interesting.  Maybe start with what's similar (from my superficial impression of Japan) that we're both very private nations, don't like prying, queuing, have a strange obsession with gardens and a difficult (for foreigners) system of politeness to regulate conversation?  Then jump off into stuff that's different - possible from there?

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'd agree with that. The two nations have many similarities but, broadly speaking, Japan has gone down a conformist route whereas Britain has embraced individualism. In many ways I think the Japanese got a better deal, much greater social cohesion, lower violence and so on.............but on the other hand it is a very stultifying place 

[The Larch]

What about comparing the pressure to perform well academically in Japan with the attitudes towards education in Britain? That should get the pupils interested, as it deals with something they see daily.

[Caliga]

I was the teen rebel in my school. I grew my hair to three inches. The teachers held a conference.

I had a mullet.

[Ed Anger]

I was the teen rebel in my school. I grew my hair to three inches. The teachers held a conference.

I had a mullet.

[Iormlund]

Personal hygiene? I've always heard Japanese are quite anal about it, while ... you're definitely not. At least not the Brits I've met anyway.

[hotshot]

You may want to compare the royalties of both countries. 

[Admiral Yi]

Compare and contrast Japanese flower arranging with British orthodonture.

[Jacob]

For Britain:

Talk about what it's like going through the school system. What type of schools do you have? When do you take exams? How do you qualify for university? How big are the classes?

Talk about sports culture. What are the favourite sports? Who plays them? Who watches them?

Talk about youth culture and music. What do teenagers (or whatever age group you're talking to) do for fun? Where do th go after school? How do they get money to spend? What do they spend it on.

What are the popular kind of restaurants? Are there distinct cultural enclaves in the cities? You could probably get a bit of mileage out of immigration, given how homogenous Japan still is.

What's a typical day like for a family? Transit to/from work and school? What do they eat? What holidays do people celebrate, and how?

... That sort of stuff.

[Razgovory]

Compare and contrast Japanese flower arranging with British orthodonture.

I think the British had a flower arrangement thing as well.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_Flowers