Offensive?

What in Japan, is considered to be so rude or offensive that someone would fight you for it? This includes name calling, or obscene gestures, or social faux pas.

Thing is, the Japanese in general don't really fight for anything. When they're pissed off they try to walk away and ignore it, or secretly call the police.

Of course there are some Japanese who would just fight for anything. Those guys would start a fight just because you asked them to turn down their iPod.

Well offensive and fighting are connected. If someone gave me the finger I'd definitely fight them. Is there anything you could do to a normal Japanese person that would land you a high probability of getting punched?

I can only imagine rowdy high school boys beating someone up. Even Yakuza don't give me that image... I did see a fist fight once between two men in Kabuki-cho. One guy was yelling in Japanese, "You didn't keep your promise!!!" and then punched the other guy a few times to the ground. But that's the ONLY time I've seen it happen.

The politicians might fight each other if one party opposes the other party.

Big Juice, that's what I'm saying. Although "the finger" does not have the same impact here in Japan as it does in say the U.S., if you do something rude to a person, that person would just try not to get involved with you. Those who fight are "looking for" fights. He sees a different school uniform and he makes an excuse to fight like, "Who you're lookin' at?!" Teachers tell me that students can keep peace better when they are out of uniform.

What is this question about anyway? If the OP wants to know what things are considered offensive in Japan, there are plenty of similar threads. If the OP wants to know how to avoid fights, just try not to look at people who are obviously looking for fights, and stay close to policemen. If the OP is looking for fights, that's easy, and I've answered it.

Justin, you're kind of assuming everyone thinks like you- you might punch someone if they gave you the finger, but I wouldn't, so in any culture there is nothing that is guaranteed to start a fight.

The only people I have seen fighting in Japan have been extremely drunk, as in falling over, have absolutely no idea what they are doing drunk- the tendency of sober people here, like a lot of people in other cultures too, would be to ignore anything offensive, and avoid conflict, regardless of the provocation. Not everyone wants to get into a fight.

Are you maybe looking for the plot to a story? If that's the case it's only going to be realistic to have a fight scene if they are aggressive teenage boys or very drunk people.