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Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

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Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#141

Post by bitcurious »

mikekchar wrote: post #39
propman wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind. Are you fluent in Japanese? Have there been any major instances of discrimination at work? I know you’ve been there 10 years, but is this a place you’d be happy for the rest of your life to start a family and potentially retire? Please ignore if any of these are too uncomfortable or invasive.

I don't mind answering what I can. Of course the answers are limited by my actual life :-) Fluent in Japanese: There is a difference between fluency and proficiency. I am very fluent in Japanese. If I want to say something, I open my mouth and the words come out. If someone is talking to me, I understand what they are saying -- unless I don't, in which case I ask them to explain and then I do. I'm not very proficient…

Would you raise a daughter in Japan?

I've heard from a Japanese-American girl that moved back to Japan around age 9 that living growing up there as a woman was terrible, especially having been exposed to the relatively egalitarian American society.

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#143

Post by balt_s »

mikekchar wrote: post #39
propman wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind. Are you fluent in Japanese? Have there been any major instances of discrimination at work? I know you’ve been there 10 years, but is this a place you’d be happy for the rest of your life to start a family and potentially retire? Please ignore if any of these are too uncomfortable or invasive.

I don't mind answering what I can. Of course the answers are limited by my actual life :-) Fluent in Japanese: There is a difference between fluency and proficiency. I am very fluent in Japanese. If I want to say something, I open my mouth and the words come out. If someone is talking to me, I understand what they are saying -- unless I don't, in which case I ask them to explain and then I do. I'm not very proficient…

I just want to say thank you for this detailed and informative account; you have surely aided a number of people today.

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#144

Post by curuinor »

larrysalibra wrote: post #26
mikekchar wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this an appropriate place in HN to say "Me too"? :-) Moved here 10 years ago. Don't regret it for a second. But seriously, in the past 10 years I've noticed a lot of high tech people either moving here or wanting to move here. When I first came, it was really rare to bump into a foreigner who was a programmer. They were either English teachers or factory workers. Now I run into people relatively frequently (even o…

Not sure this is just a Japan phenomenon - seems like more of a "American tech workers are realizing there's a lot of interesting places to live outside of the USA and it's easier than ever"-phenomenon. I made the move to China and then Hong Kong about 11 years ago and don't regret it either. Anecdotally seeing increasing numbers of "high tech" people moving to Hong Kong / China too. 10 years ago it was mostly people…

Isn't bitmex literally imploding as we speak?

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#145

Post by leogiertz »

lanevorockz wrote: post #139

The crazy political correctness is turning anyone working on Silicon Valley into a paranoid person. You are expected to behave and think in a certain way, being an individual is not acceptable.

And you think moving to Japan will alleviate that?

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#146

Post by aaronblohowiak »

throwaway936396 wrote: post #135
RobertRoberts wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think any techie would appreciate the consitency of two of the three alphabets in Japanese. (Hiragana and Katakana) The very fact that both of these alphabets are the exact same phonetic pronunciations, but written slightly different to visually distinguish them, is the only complication. But that they are designed specifically to distinguish between Japanese and foreign words is just brilliant. Their Kanji…

Sorry, but I really strongly disagree with this. I've studied Japanese for 6 years, Chinese for 3 and am currently in Japan. Some of your comments come off as extremely ignorant. For example, neither the kana syllabries nor the logographic kanji system are alphabets. The distinction between Hiragana and Katakana is more of a distinction between emphasis on sound (Katakana) and normal writing of words. Katakana is use…

I think the main difference between your post and the post you are replying to is how high-level or low-level your analysis is. I dont see many disagreements between you and the OP, your post added a lot of detail which is all correct but none of which violates the spirit of the parent.

Eg what is an alphabet vs character vs whatever.. in a very colloquial sense, the list of graphemes used to represent the language is commonly referred to as an alphabet.

Re: kanji, I believe this was a frustration in character-based approaches vs phonetic approaches, particularly for a language with relatively few phonemes, and particularly coming from a quasi-phonetic language like english.

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#147

Post by ericdykstra »

throwaway936396 wrote: post #135
RobertRoberts wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think any techie would appreciate the consitency of two of the three alphabets in Japanese. (Hiragana and Katakana) The very fact that both of these alphabets are the exact same phonetic pronunciations, but written slightly different to visually distinguish them, is the only complication. But that they are designed specifically to distinguish between Japanese and foreign words is just brilliant. Their Kanji…

Sorry, but I really strongly disagree with this. I've studied Japanese for 6 years, Chinese for 3 and am currently in Japan. Some of your comments come off as extremely ignorant. For example, neither the kana syllabries nor the logographic kanji system are alphabets. The distinction between Hiragana and Katakana is more of a distinction between emphasis on sound (Katakana) and normal writing of words. Katakana is use…

I was waiting for a response like this so I wouldn’t have to type it myself. Almost everything that looks simple about Japanese at the beginning is complex and deep underneath.

For example, one of the things I was told early on is that pronunciation is easy, since all the sounds already exist in English. First, that’s not even true. Second, if it’s so easy, why have I never met a foreigner with an accent that even I, as a non-native speaker myself, could mistake for native?

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#148

Post by [deleted] »

anjc wrote: post #126
tokyoHacker wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this has more to do with the fact that the landlord is not comfortable dealing with someone who doesnt speak the same language. Also I have heard ( no citations) from my Japanese collegues that the laws are heavily biased in favor of the tenant. Its very hard to evict them. So a Japanese home owner ( conservative as they are) wouldn’t want to take a risk for no additional advantage.

> I think this has more to do with the fact that the landlord is not comfortable dealing with someone who doesnt speak the same language. Language is always used as an excuse, but language doesn't seem to be a hindrance in any other country.

[deleted]

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#149

Post by hrktb »

throwaway-jp wrote: post #113
ArtWomb wrote: post #104

Sugoi! I'd be interested in hearing the price breakdown for living in Tokyo at current exchange rates ($USDJPY = 110.00)? For a moderate two bedroom in a cool neighborhood? As well as office space. And how is the availability of gigabit residential fiber options. Say, comparable to Verizon FIOS (~$150/mo)? In short, if anyone has set up a remote office for 2-3 months or even permanently I'd love to hear their experie…

Fiber to the home (ftth) is dead cheap here, only about US$50 (¥6500) for 1Gbps unmetered. Rent for a cheap 2LDK really depends on how far to the station, how new, etc. As a bachelor you could get a nice 50-60sqm 2 room plus Living/Dining/Kitchen in Yoyogi for ¥150,000-200,000 per month. The hard part will be getting a landlord to accept your lease application without being hired by a local company. Rent guarantee co…

> The hard part will be getting a landlord to accept your lease application

It was 10 years ago, so I wonder how much the situation changed. For me this was a pretty severe issue.

Below 120,000 yens/ month, even with a long term visa, years of residency and a stable employment covering 3x the monthly lease amount and a co-signing by a Japanese spouse, getting the landlord to even see the application was hard.

We would show up at the agency, and whole swaths of offers would just be set apart under a 'no foreigner' policy, and the rest was direct negotiation with the landlord.

Above 150,000 I felt we had more choice, but then we were into mildly premium territory.

Re: Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream

#150

Post by vorpalhex »

Aeolun wrote: post #110
ArtWomb wrote: post #104

Sugoi! I'd be interested in hearing the price breakdown for living in Tokyo at current exchange rates ($USDJPY = 110.00)? For a moderate two bedroom in a cool neighborhood? As well as office space. And how is the availability of gigabit residential fiber options. Say, comparable to Verizon FIOS (~$150/mo)? In short, if anyone has set up a remote office for 2-3 months or even permanently I'd love to hear their experie…

* 2 bedroom in cool neighborhood: $2100/month * office space (3 people) somewhere central, shared facilities, private office: $2000/month * residential gigabit (min 1 year contract): $60/month * food for one month, either eating out or buying decent groceries and cooking: $800/month --- Those are off the top of my head. I'm not very interested in living in a cool neighborhood and rent where I live is more like $1400…

How do restaurant prices compare to grocery prices typically? Do folks tend to go out as often as they do in the US?
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