Jimmy Kimmel Calls USA 'A Filthy and Disgusting Country' After Trip to Japan: 'The Whole Country Is Disneyland and We're Living in Six Flags' | Video
https://www.thewrap.com/jimmy-kimmel-calls-us-filthy-disgusting-japan-disneyland-six-flags/
“I've been home 36 hours, I have never felt dirtier,” the ABC host said upon his return Monday
Most of the time, you're excited to return home after a vacation. That wasn't the case after Jimmy Kimmel's recent trip to Japan with his family.
“After traveling to Japan, I realize that this place, this USA we’re always chanting about, is a filthy and disgusting country,” the host said on Monday night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
The ABC host admitted that before spending seven days in Japan, he believed America was a country that had its faults and “areas for improvement,” but that it was “pretty buttoned up” compared to the rest of the world.
“I go to Europe, and there are dirt holes where plumbing is supposed to be. I hold my breath, and I go, ‘I’m glad I’m not one of these people,’ and then I go back home,” Kimmel explained. That wasn’t the case when it came to the Land of the Rising Sun.
“It’s like the whole country is Disneyland and we’re living at Six Flags,” Kimmel said. “I’ve been home 36 hours, I have never felt dirtier. We are like hogs compared to the Japanese. I can’t imagine what they must think of us. ‘Oh, the garbage people. Yes, the Americans. Garbage.’”
The late-night host said that he didn’t encounter a single dirty bathroom during his time in the country.
“The bathrooms in Tokyo and Kyoto are cleaner than our operating rooms here. Everywhere you go the bathrooms are clean, they don’t smell bad, they have those toilets that wash you from the inside out,” Kimmel said. He then said the truck stop bathrooms were “cleaner than Jennifer Garner’s teeth — the cleanest.”
Kimmel was also in awe of the cultural norm in Japan where people carry their own trash. Public trash cans were largely removed from the country following a 1995 sarin gas attack, where terrorists utilized the bins in the Tokyo subway system.
Jimmy Kimmel says his trip to Japan last week made him realize that the US is a 'filthy and disgusting country'
Matthew Loh Apr 3, 2024
- Jimmy Kimmel now thinks the US is gross after he visited the bathrooms in Japan.
- "We are like hogs compared to the Japanese," Kimmel joked on Tuesday during his show.
- The late-night star said he recently took his family on a seven-day trip to Japan.
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said observing hygiene standards in Japan has drastically changed his perspective of cleanliness in the US, and joked that he's "never felt dirtier" in his home country.
Kimmel said on Tuesday evening episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" that before going to Japan on a seven-day family trip, he thought the US was "pretty buttoned-up" despite having areas for improvement.
"But now, after traveling to Japan, I realize that this place, this USA we're always chanting about, is a filthy and disgusting country," he said.
Kimmel said he was blown away, in particular, by Japan's bathrooms.
"Not only did I not encounter a single dirty bathroom, the bathrooms in Tokyo and Kyoto are cleaner than our operating rooms here," Kimmel said.
The TV star lauded the loos at Japanese truck stops, which he said were "cleaner than Jennifer Garner's teeth."
"It's like the whole country is Disneyland, and we're living at Six Flags. I've been home 36 hours. I've never felt dirtier," he said.
Kimmel added that he was impressed by how Tokyo residents don't litter despite the lack of public trash cans, which were removed by local authorities in the wake of the 1995 sarin gas attacks.
"They're like, okay, no more trash cans. Everybody clean up after yourselves. And guess what? They clean up after themselves," Kimmel said.
"We are like hogs compared to the Japanese. I can't imagine what they must think of us," Kimmel said. "Oh, the garbage people. Yes, the Americans. Garbage. Yes."
Public bathrooms have become the source of tourist fascination in Japan, where toilets can come with automatic bidets, heated seats, sensors that take your pulse, and sound systems to mask the noise of flushing. In 2019, a Japanese toll operator installed public toilets on the Central Nippon Expressway that could measure driver fatigue.
Japan is typically known internationally for fostering a focus on cleanliness and hygiene. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Japanese national team made headlines for cleaning their dressing room after beating Germany 2-1 in an upset.
At the same tournament, FIFA praised Japanese fans for tidying up the local stadium after watching their matches.
Kimmel is one of tens of millions to recently visited Japan on holiday. A weak yen is thought to be fueling a tourism boom there, with government statistics saying tourists spent about $35.9 billion in 2023.
Monthly visitor arrivals in Japan grew to 2.78 million in February, surpassing 2019 levels in what its tourism industry believes will be a continued, strong post-pandemic recovery.
