My partner is French and I'm Korean, and we met here. The formal asking you describe is very Korean too! In France nobody asks, you just gradually notice you're a couple. We had a long confused month about exactly that.
Chloé Tremblay 🌱 Newcomer
31 Aug 2026, 02:19
Okay, a slightly different kind of question! I've been in Osaka since spring and I've been on a few dates, some with Japanese guys, some with other foreigners, and I'm realising I don't understand the rules at all.
At home in Quebec I know what a second date means, who texts first, when you say "we're together". Here it seems like there's a formal moment where someone actually asks you to be their girlfriend, and before that it's all very polite and ambiguous. I've also had one date who assumed I'd want to split the bill to the exact yen, and another who was upset when I offered to pay.
How different did you find dating in your new country? What confused you, and how did you figure out the unwritten rules? (Also happy to hear from people who met their partner abroad and survived the culture differences 😊)