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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

#51

Post by taneq »

lentil_soup wrote: post #28
arnioxux wrote: post #23

The "JAPANESE ONLY" sign was probably meant for chinese tourists. The kanji below it, "謝绝中国人", translates roughly to "decline chinese people" which is understandable given their notorious behavior abroad: http://shanghaiist.com/2016/12/30/shanghaiist_2016_embarrass... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/world/asia/bad-manners-ch... http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/10/07/commentary/wo...

doesn't make it any less racist

Now we're entering into a debate of whether perfectly rational behaviour should be eschewed in favour of virtue signalling.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#52

Post by cannonpr »

I haven't spent ten years in Japan, but I have spent some time there. Some of his complaints do ring true especially around civil rights, however his experience of it feels very weird. I was praised for my language skills, accepted and invited to family outings, never had issues with restaurants that had no foreigner signs (after I spoke Japanese even badly it was all fine so long as acted within their cultures manners) and the police were nothing but helpful, gave directions etc, outside of Tokyo they even gave me a ride when I miscalculated a hike. So yes I agree Japan has huge issues... however I can't really explain the toxicity of his experience. Yes I'm white non Asian, pretty tall, and pretty certain they won't ever mistake me for a local. They also always used the San or other appropriate honorifics, it helps if you adopt a 'japanified' name and introduce your self that way.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#53

Post by ramchip »

spin wrote: post #37
lavarendex6 wrote: post #15

The article is full of whining about imaginary BS like gender-bias and the writer seems to be doing everything is his/her power to look for problems that really don't exist like complaining about the word "foreigner" and trying to find racism or discrimination in everything. Japan may have it's problems but this is ridiculous.

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"? In 7 years, I haven't seen anything close to this.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#54

Post by collyw »

Sounds like Japanese are happy with their culture and don't want it changed especially not by foreigners.

It seems like a reasonable enough position, but I wonder if there a way to express this desire in a way that couldn't easily be criticized as being "xenopohbic"?

Is there something inherently wrong with this attitude? (I personally wouldn't want to be a foreigner living there is what he describes is true, but no one is forcing me to move to Japan).

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#55

Post by brucephillips »

lavarendex6 wrote: post #15

The article is full of whining about imaginary BS like gender-bias and the writer seems to be doing everything is his/her power to look for problems that really don't exist like complaining about the word "foreigner" and trying to find racism or discrimination in everything. Japan may have it's problems but this is ridiculous.

He provides data regarding the gender bias in Japan. Why do you call it imaginary? It's a real problem.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#56

Post by hulahoof »

JMCQ87 wrote: post #43
drops wrote: post #30

>The level of English in Japan is shockingly low, despite everyone studying it for 6 years at school. I honestly think it is kept deliberately low >I honestly think it is kept deliberately low Is this guy serious?

Do you think that's an outrageous idea? I imagine lots of (young) Japanese people would look for better working conditions abroad, if they only had better English skills.

I did think it was outrageous, however I didn't consider it from this angle.

If you were the Japanese government, what method would you use to keep your professionals?

They are a country that isn't embracing mass immigration, with an ageing population and slowing economy..

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#57

Post by sho »

dintech wrote: post #10

Most of thos stuff, you work out after a few months in Japan. I get the feeling there is more that the author's personal situation that he isn't saying. After 10 years, I really expect a deeper and more nuanced critique. The most difficult experiences in Japan come from not really knowing people more than what they want to show you. The Japanese are masters of the 'public face'. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honne_…

> I get the feeling there is more that the author's personal situation that he isn't saying

Yes, I definitely think so too. And the article about cycling in tokyo he links to [1] hints at this more. I've cycled very extensively in tokyo over the years i lived there and the experience he describes sounds, ironically, totally foreign to me. Tokyo's a wonderful and extremely safe place to cycle, which is of course why millions of people do so. To see such an inexplicably and exaggeratedly negative rant about something I rarely had anything but positive experiences with makes me think there's more than a few personal issues colouring the author's viewpoint.

> "the vast majority of cyclists in Tokyo are criminally irresponsible"

I mean that is just a ludicrous assertion which basically makes me ignore whatever else the author has to say. No wonder he gets dismissed in arguments if that's the sort of thing he comes out with.

There are plenty of examples in the article which are equally foreign to me (repeated intimidation during gaijin card checks? Huh? I had one, ever, and they were unfailingly polite). Japan isn't perfect, not even close, but it's not this bad.

[1] http://blog.uchujin.co.uk/2012/07/cycling-in-tokyo-irrespons...

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#58

Post by illuminati1911 »

arnioxux wrote: post #23

The "JAPANESE ONLY" sign was probably meant for chinese tourists. The kanji below it, "謝绝中国人", translates roughly to "decline chinese people" which is understandable given their notorious behavior abroad: http://shanghaiist.com/2016/12/30/shanghaiist_2016_embarrass... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/world/asia/bad-manners-ch... http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/10/07/commentary/wo...

I don't understand your logic.

The English one is for other foreigners and the kanji one for Chinese because most of them can't read/speak English so "Japanese only" sign wouldn't mean anything to them.

Re: Why I left Japan after 10 years

#60

Post by have_faith »

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…

The British are very sarcastic
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