A Team USA volleyball star who lives and plays for a club in Asia has revealed some of the most stark cultural differences she has experienced.
Sarah Wilhite, originally from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, started playing for Japan’s NEC Red Rockets in 2020.
But the 27-year-old, who is 6ft 2in, has recently taken to TikTok to share insight into her life abroad.
The revelations include the surprising cleanliness of streets, strict mask wearing rules and the embarrassment she has faced while getting to grips with the toilets.
Team USA volleyball star Sarah Wilhite, who lives and plays for a club in Asia, has revealed some of the most stark cultural differences she has experienced
The 27-year-old athlete, who is 6ft 2in, has recently taken to TikTok to share insight into her life abroad
In one clip, Sarah speaks to camera as she walks through the quiet streets of downtown Tokyo.
She begins: ‘There are a couple of things about Japan that just really, really blow my mind.
‘One is how clean it is. There are absolutely no trash cans on the streets yet I will never see a single piece of trash anywhere.’
Sarah pans the camera around to show a litter-free sidewalk before continuing on with her list of observations.
The athlete, who began playing youth club volleyball in 2005, adds: ‘Another thing is, I was just on the train and it’s common to see a five- or six-year-old just on the train by themselves.
‘I guess it’s pretty common for kids that age to just walk home from school by themselves and take the train if they need to.’
Concluding, Sarah stated that whether indoors or outdoors ‘everybody has a mask on’ before proudly holding hers up to the camera.
But these were not the only things that she has been grappling with since moving to Japan.
The volleyballer, originally from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, started playing for Japan’s NEC Red Rockets in 2020
Her revelations include the surprising cleanliness of streets, strict mask wearing rules and the embarrassment she has faced while getting to grips with the toilets
In another recent clip, she got candid about her attempts to get to grips with the toilets at a cafe in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Sarah, who currently has more than 42,000 followers on Instagram, said: ‘Everything was great – the food the great, the coffee was great.
‘I had to go to the bathroom before I left.
‘Fun fact about Japan is every toilet is different and every toilet is so complex, there’s always a bidet, a noise machine maker, a heated seat – just a bajillion buttons that you have to deal with.’
Continuing with her story, she continued: ‘So I take care of my business – just had to pee – and I get up and panic because I can’t find the flush button.
Sarah has built up a loyal legion of fans and currently boasts more than 42,000 followers on Instagram
Sarah (right) began playing youth club volleyball in 2005 and has progressed through the ranks to become a member of Team USA
In another recent clip, she got candid about her attempts to get to grips with the toilets at a cafe in Shibuya, Tokyo, which left her ‘crying and laughing’
‘Then I proceed to accidentally press the bidet button and I’m already up off the toilet so the bidet proceeds to spray me in the face and then all the way down my sweatshirt.
‘I panic, try to touch the button again and then it goes away…
‘Two seconds later it starts spraying again on the backside because I had already [turned and] started washing my hands.
‘So I am literally covered in bidet water on the front of my sweatshirt and the back of my sweatshirt and I still can’t find the flush button.
‘The bidet didn’t just spray me it sprayed the mirror, the floor, the sink – everything in the bathroom.’
She said she was crying and laughing before quickly leaving the cafe, adding she is ‘never going back.’
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