Why I left Japan after 10 years

Post by peteretep » Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 9:30 AM UTC

Kurtz79 wrote: post #70

EliRivers wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that he is serious. You knew that already. Perhaps you disagree? Perhaps you can present your own findings and contribute to the discussion? Based on my own fairly limited experience in Japan, English as learned in school doesn't seem to translate (a ha ha) into effective English conversation. It seems that an academic rigor is taught (no bad thing, of course) but practical conversation skills are neglected.

I find the attitude of people from English-speaking countries that the rest of the world should speak fluent English quite puzzling. It is understandable if you are a professional dealing with foreign companies, or if you are involved in the tourism business; that leaves out the vast majority of the population, which is not willing to invest hundreds of hours learning a skill that does not provide any significant ben…

    > I find the attitude of people from
    > English-speaking countries that the
    > rest of the world should speak fluent
    > English quite puzzling

Post by markburns » Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 9:30 AM UTC

brucephillips wrote: post #80

markburns wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a difficult nuance in the point I'm trying to make, so I apologise. It's probably not a great analogy but, I think that if you were in e.g. the USA and there was use of White American Judicial System, or White American Police Force or something along those lines it would really scream out at you. I realise he is out of Japan now and the blog post is not necessarily targeting people in Japan, but a lot of foreign…

> Within context: "The police are awful" is better for your mental health than "The Japanese police are awful". Except the entire purpose of that section of the post was to describe Japanese police.

Post by markburns » Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 9:32 AM UTC

peteretep wrote: post #91

markburns wrote: post #34

It's kind of ironic how much he generalises Japanese people. See bad thing - link to Japanese people as a whole or in general, rather than the individual. It's an easy mistake to make. Especially if you do ever hear it in the inverse direction. "Foreigners do X or Y", etc. If he aimed to replace generic instances of 'Japanese people' or 'in Japan' with specific reference to the instance or person, I think he'd have h…

Mark, how many countries have you been an expat in?

Post by brucephillips » Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 9:32 AM UTC

fleitz wrote: post #100

brucephillips wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Bicycles are far more dangerous. Even more so that motorcycles, most people are smart enough to realize that it's the 20 lb bicycle that loses to 4000 lbs of steel. Danger is calculated in risk per mile, not per capita / absolute. I drive a 4Runner because it has lots of steel and is very safe so that when my kids get into an accident learning to drive they don't die.

Post by peteretep » Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 9:33 AM UTC

lkramer wrote: post #69

I lived in Japan for 4 years, and afterwards felt in many ways similar, it's a place that can take a lot out of you, especially if you have expectations of fitting in. That said, in my 4 years there, the police was never anything but polite and friendly (I was never once stopped for a bag search or gaijin card check either) and now living in London, I find the police here, while polite and professional, much more int…

    > with their open carry of massive guns