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Why I left Japan after 10 years

blog.uchujin.co.uk

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Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#81

Post by popcorncolonel »

gonvaled wrote: post #35

It is extremely difficult to integrate in a foreign society. Even a good language level will only carry you so far. In my opinion, Western Europe, US and Canada are quite open, and let people, if not integrate, at least mind their own business. Immigrants are usually also to blame, since often integration is not a priority. I've lived in several places around Europe, and usually foreigners stick together: it is easie…

And here I was thinking the exact opposite would have happened due to the Internet.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#82

Post by spin »

ramchip wrote: post #53
spin wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an American living in Japan (about 12 years now). Most of the stuff he's talking about is totally true. But, like some other commenters have been saying, I feel like: you figure that stuff out after a couple years and make peace with it (or not). There are many good and bad things about Japan. And it's different if you're a foreigner in Japan, yes. And it depends on where you're from and what color your skin is,…

I think some of the points are really exaggerated. Take this: > That’s not to say that some nasty malice isn’t present because it most definitely is. I lost count of the times when, say, for example, politely pointing out to someone that there was a queue and they shouldn’t push in that the immediate response was a very angry “BAKA GAIJIN” (stupid foreigner). Really, that happened often enough that he "lost count"? I…

Hmm, yeah, that's never happened to me, either. I've never been assaulted, either. I have been harassed by other foreigners though, but that's almost always in the "seedy" areas, like Roppongi or Kabukicho.

I rarely, if ever get harassed by the police. But I know some Asian-American friends who get harassed... eg: the cop thinks he's Vietnamese, so starts giving him trouble. When the cop finds out he's from the U.S., all of a sudden the cop starts acting totally nice. I'd call that racism.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#83

Post by brucephillips »

mrkrabo wrote: post #33

I can understand, bicyclists are fucking annoying, and most of the time they are putting themselves and others in danger. For me, the road is no place for a bicyclist. And, as you can see, there's no possible debate in the west: you have to have bicyclists, otherwise you're a backwards asshole. And I have to live with that, because that's society: you have to deal with people who don't think the way you do. (You just…

Cars kill far more people than bicycles, both absolute and per capita, so if that's your measure, then the road is no place for cars.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#85

Post by peteretep »

fiblye wrote: post #40

I heard the "if you don't like it, leave line" from people all the time in America. Even with the pettiest of political disagreements, people say it. So then I went to Japan and haven't received or heard of anyone receiving similar vitriol aside from the OP. A foreign coworker (same race and nationality as me) endlessly complains about racism, discrimination, and being stared at here. I've experienced none of it. I'm…

How long have you been there? The bellcurve of frustration he mentions is real.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#86

Post by geomark »

Some interesting parallels with Thailand. Like with the use of language. I'm pretty fluent in Thai and older than many of the people I meet but they still refer to me as คุณ which means "you" when you are speaking to a peer when it would be more appropriate to use พี่ when speaking to someone older. And the word for westerner ฝรั่ง, while not an insult, is used to clearly identify someone as an outsider and not "one of us Thai people". Seems similar to how "gaijin" is used in Japan.

There's also that same attitude about being superior than others - most western countries are particularly crude because they don't even have a royal family. Yet they are extremely sensitive about being looked down upon and pretend that the many vulgar behaviors that are so common don't even exist in the country.

Off topic, I know, but some of the parallels are interesting.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#87

Post by naturalgradient »

fiblye wrote: post #40

I heard the "if you don't like it, leave line" from people all the time in America. Even with the pettiest of political disagreements, people say it. So then I went to Japan and haven't received or heard of anyone receiving similar vitriol aside from the OP. A foreign coworker (same race and nationality as me) endlessly complains about racism, discrimination, and being stared at here. I've experienced none of it. I'm…

I have to say I got a similar vibe from his writings, it's hard to pinpoint, but a weird sense of cultural entitlement: 'Why are they not as progressive as me and why don't they appreciate me criticising their culture?'

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#88

Post by brucephillips »

fiblye wrote: post #40

I heard the "if you don't like it, leave line" from people all the time in America. Even with the pettiest of political disagreements, people say it. So then I went to Japan and haven't received or heard of anyone receiving similar vitriol aside from the OP. A foreign coworker (same race and nationality as me) endlessly complains about racism, discrimination, and being stared at here. I've experienced none of it. I'm…

> It's just a matter of being on the other end of it now.

Not quite. It's a different degree. When I was in Japan, for example, no Japanese person would start a conversation with me in Japanese. It was always English. That mostly doesn't happen to Asian residents in the US.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#89

Post by sexydefinesher »

gbog wrote: post #63
brucephillips wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As the use of the word Japanese is often irrelevant in this post. You think the word "Japanese" is irrelevant in a post describing Japanese culture? Cultures have traits. Some of those traits can be good. Others can be bad. It doesn't mean all of those people exhibit those traits. We shouldn't judge individuals based on those prejudices, but it's equally mistaken to fault people from talking about cultures generall…

Culture have traits, yes, and it's extremely difficult to name them with the words of another culture, and judging them bad or good from another culture is adventurous, except for obvious violations of core human values which I don't think we would find in Japan. In the first paragraph the author says it is impossible to critique Japan traits. That simply shows that he or she has understood nothing of the Asian way o…

>except for obvious violations of core human values

Are you implying the Japanese have non-human values?

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#90

Post by koyote »

ThrowAwayInd wrote: post #4

> Policemen are everywhere, more than London There's a reason why London has had more than 20 people killed this year in terrorist incidents and Japan has 0. London has crime, Japan doesn't. Also, your attitude comes as realy hostile in your blog, maybe it was your body language that caused that? I'm sick of these "i'm superior to you" white boys

Stabbing and running people over with a vehicle? Unheard of in Japan, surely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara_massacre

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