As I have tried to show, there are quite a few things that surprise foreigners in Holland.

But asking around expats, I encountered many more cases, which made them think — "This can only happen in Holland!"

Vivien, a British friend here, for example, wrote in an e-mail:

Only in Holland:

... do I see 85-year-olds cycling in the snow.

... is haute cuisine essentially about mixing everything together and mashing it up.

... do the Dutch complain about foreigners not speaking Dutch and then resolutely refuse to speak Dutch to them (while practicing their English).

... do university students try to negotiate their marks (her husband is a professor).

Some Japanese expats said they cannot believe how many people are off sick from work, sometimes for months.

Under Dutch law workers' salaries are secured for a long time while employers are allowed to do very little to find out if their staff are truly seriously ill.

I once had a colleague who was "burned out" for two months, then took a holiday for a month, then was off sick again for another two months — quite different from many of my ex-colleagues in Japan who used their holidays when they were ill (which is another extreme).

For many Japanese though, it's often the lack of service in Holland that bothers them most, which is unavoidable given that Japanese service levels are often (too) high and immaculate.

Seita, an expat of a Japanese company, just cannot get over the fact that it took more than a month to get an Internet connection at his home after he moved to Holland in 2008.

"The first week, a 'specialist' from the Internet company came, but all he did was find out that there was no signal for the connection," he said.

"A second guy came a week later, but he was also puzzled about the signal and just left."

Because his wife is not very confident using English, Seita had to take time off work each time.

A third "specialist" came, but instead of coming in the afternoon as promised, he arrived in the morning, just as Seita was getting to work, which is an hour away.

"I'd planned to take the afternoon off to see him, but since he came in the morning, I immediately drove home, the whole time pleading with him on my mobile phone to wait."

But the man, after trying a few things and seeing that Seita's wife didn't understand him, left a few minutes before he arrived.

Finally, the fourth man who came found that the cable in the street was not connected to the house, hence "no signal."

After several pleas by Seita, the man promised that the last guy would extend the cable, make the connection and set up the Internet.

But to his disappointment, the man who turned up was a laborer in a coverall, and the only thing he did was to dig a hole and pull the cable in from the street.

Seita thus ended up doing all the setup work himself while speaking to the company's help desk.

But as he tried to explain his plight over the past month, at this stage still expecting some empathy, if not the type of full-fledged apology common in Japan, the help desk lady said sharply, "That's why I'm helping you now, aren't I?"

That evening, Seita was really distressed and his wife, Satoko, recalls him saying, "I don't know if I can survive in this country."

Welcome to Holland.