Searching ‘Japan’ on Google Images in 17 different countries (Korea’s results? Just plain weird)
Google operates hundreds of domain names for different regions around the world, from Australia (google.com.au) to Zimbabwe (google.co.zw). And searching for the same keyword throws up different results depending on which country Google thinks you’re in.
So what happens when you search “Japan” in different countries’ Google Image Search? To find out, a curious Japanese netizen did exactly that. The image results reveal a little bit about how each country sees Japan – some just might surprise you!
Each Google Image search was done in the country’s own main language, so that for example, on Google France the search term was “Japon”, and on Google Brazil it was “Japao”.
▼ United States
▼ Africa
(The rest are actually countries, not continents, I promise.)
▼ Brazil
▼ China
Maps, subway plans, and Doraemon !
▼ Finland
Robots, CGI imagery, and stationery.
▼ Sweden
▼ Taiwan
▼ Thailand
▼ Vietnam
▼ France
▼ Germany
▼ India
▼ Mexico
▼ Norway
It’s all doom and gloom really, with whaling and disasters heavily featured.
▼ Russia
Back to light relief in Russia with this colourful floral set of results.
▼ Saudi Arabia
Pictures of schoolkids learning and cleaning the school bathrooms shows a keen interest in the Japanese education system.
▼ South Korea
The most popular results from South Korea were also, erm, fairly specialised:
Source and images: VIPPER Sokuho
Thanks for the extra image, Vedha!
