6 ms·

I've been very lucky to have visited Japan. I can say, having visited many other places, there is no such place like it. The social awareness of the Japanese pe

by mavdi 11y ago

I've been very lucky to have visited Japan. I can say, having visited many other places, there is no such place like it. The social awareness of the Japanese people is on a level never seen elsewhere. One truly great nation, with a truly great population.

PeCaN 11y ago
Social awareness? I'd be interested if you elaborate, what makes them more "socially aware" than any other culture? What do you think about the alleged xenophobia? Personally I'd love to visit Japan sometime.
- afroviking 11y ago
  Few examples I've observed on my 3 month visit there that I haven't seen anywhere else: 1. You can walk in the crowd at the shibuya crossing with your wallet sticking out of your back pocket filled with cash and not worry about getting pick pocketed. 2. Everyone carries around a portable ash tray with them when they smoke and never throw cigarette butts on the ground. 3. No one throws any trash on the ground. Garbage cans are hard to find too and everyone just carries their trash with them.
  - wdewind 11y ago
    > Garbage cans are hard to find too and everyone just carries their trash with them. I was told this is a relic of the sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway.
  - alexmat 11y ago
    You don't need "social awareness" to explain any of your observations: 1) Low income inequality / strong welfare system 2) This is actually a counter example. Nothing more socially offensive than second hand smoke. 3) Trash cans disappeared from the streets of Tokyo shortly after the sarin gas subway attack by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995, and they've never reappeared.
    - joshkpeterson 11y ago
      Yeah but they just picked a few examples, there are many more. There are tons of things that work in Japan that would never work in the USA, because people are just generally better citizens there.
    - adrianN 11y ago
      But even without trash cans, Japanese people don't litter, ever. In contrast, Berlin, where I currently live, has lots of trash cans but the streets are full of litter.
      - paublyrne 11y ago
        Berlin doesn't get cleaned enough by the city. Yesterday it was still covered in fireworks and empty wine bottles from New Year's Eve. The only reason it looks clean today is because it's covered in snow. If it were cleaned more regularly people wouldn't litter so much. (Not a defence of people who litter, and it's the one thing I hate most about living here.)
  - reddytowns 11y ago
    Here is another example: One time last year I had to stay overnight in Japan to reach a connecting flight. The airport allowed people to sleep on the benches (very comfortable with no arm rests), and a police man stands there all night and watches over everyone to keep them and their belongings safe. To top it all off, there is a sign addressed to people sleeping there that at 3 AM the airport personnel need to polish the floors and they apologize for the noise! (This was at the old Haneda airport near Tokyo)
    - mavdi 11y ago
      Similar experience. I was in a Ryokan in Kyoto where some workers were about to repair some fittings in the street and make some noise. We were given a leaflet in English apologising for the noise made and the next day when we got out the supervisor was ready with a candy and a small toy for our daughter.
- justusw 11y ago
  I can give you some examples for what can be described as micro-aggression (even if SJWs are totally abusing this term and take away any legitimacy when claiming to be a victim of it) Keep in mind that either of these things happen to me on a daily basis. 1) I speak JLPT ~N2 level with almost no accent, but get handed the English menu in a restaurant in Tokyo. 2) I get complimented for being able to eat various Japanese things (natto, umeboshi) or being able to handle chopsticks. 3) I get compliments for being able to read Kanji after talking to someone for the past few hours. How do they think I learned the language? With romaji? 4) Speaking to staff in Japanese, staff answers to my Japanese friends instead of speaking with me. The last three ones are almost symptomatic for 日本人論, where it is common to think that certain Japanese cultural habits or attributes cannot be mastered or understood by outsiders, thus it is necessary to point them out or try to compensate for them. Some of these attributes are reasoned to exist because of biological differences (google Japanese Brain), others because of the 'rich' cultural heritage of Japan that was never tainted by other countries (as if China and Korea are not close to Japan...). Don't take this as me being unhappy to be in Japan. I just wish that people were a bit more self-aware around here. The problem is just that there is not the necessary vocabulary around to address these problems. It's not as if 人種差別 is a popular subject.
  - rawTruthHurts 11y ago
    Sounds like the difference between somebody who has been visiting Japan for some weeks vs somebody who has been living there for some years
  - rangibaby 11y ago
    1. I get that a lot too. At least they're trying to be helpful; from their perspective it would be embarrassing if they gave someone obviously foreign the Japanese menu. Most people's exposure to westerners here starts and ends with English teachers, so I would forgive them for this one. for 2 and 3, I think it is because they are actually surprised; there are a lot of (Japanese) people who don't like natto or umeboshi either, and kanji is something they spend hours per week studying for 10 years to be literate in. 4 is a hard one. They assume that a foreigner obviously can't speak Japanese. It can be super annoying.
  - 11y ago
- mahranch 11y ago
  > What do you think about the alleged xenophobia? The only times you will hear this, is out of the mouths of Chinese/Korean nationalists looking to bash the country (their own bigotry), or Gaijin blogs from young white (usually affluent) kids who are/were upset they weren't treated like kings when the got off the plane. They were upset that the girls didn't throw themselves at them and that people didn't rush to attend their every whim. If you look at actual scientific studies, you'll find Japan is on-par with the rest of the world when it comes to their racism. Japan is actually less racist than France and equal to places like Finland or Germany. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15...
  - lhopki01 11y ago
    That's terrible methodology. For example maybe in a country with very few foreigners people aren't as worried about foreign neighbours as other things. It doesn't demonstrate anything.
    - mahranch 11y ago
      It's excellent methodology because they asked indirect questions. Coming out and asking someone "Hey, are you a racist?" wouldn't be effective. Asking someone in an unrelated economic experiment something like "Would you mind if your neighbors were black?" is more accurate because it tricks people into revealing their true biases.
      - lhopki01 11y ago
        But this didn't ask them would you mind if your neighbours were black. This made them pick what they're most worried about. That question can only be asked in context of my country. If there's almost no change of a foreigner living next to me but there's a high chance of crime in my area even though I'm massively racists and would actually care about more about a foriegner living next to me (all things being equal) because of my circumstances I'm actually more worried about crime atm.

by mavdi 11y ago

PeCaN 11y ago

Social awareness? I'd be interested if you elaborate, what makes them more "socially aware" than any other culture? What do you think about the alleged xenophobia? Personally I'd love to visit Japan sometime.

afroviking 11y ago
Few examples I've observed on my 3 month visit there that I haven't seen anywhere else: 1. You can walk in the crowd at the shibuya crossing with your wallet sticking out of your back pocket filled with cash and not worry about getting pick pocketed. 2. Everyone carries around a portable ash tray with them when they smoke and never throw cigarette butts on the ground. 3. No one throws any trash on the ground. Garbage cans are hard to find too and everyone just carries their trash with them.
- wdewind 11y ago
  > Garbage cans are hard to find too and everyone just carries their trash with them. I was told this is a relic of the sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway.
- alexmat 11y ago
  You don't need "social awareness" to explain any of your observations: 1) Low income inequality / strong welfare system 2) This is actually a counter example. Nothing more socially offensive than second hand smoke. 3) Trash cans disappeared from the streets of Tokyo shortly after the sarin gas subway attack by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995, and they've never reappeared.
  - joshkpeterson 11y ago
    Yeah but they just picked a few examples, there are many more. There are tons of things that work in Japan that would never work in the USA, because people are just generally better citizens there.
  - adrianN 11y ago
    But even without trash cans, Japanese people don't litter, ever. In contrast, Berlin, where I currently live, has lots of trash cans but the streets are full of litter.
    - paublyrne 11y ago
      Berlin doesn't get cleaned enough by the city. Yesterday it was still covered in fireworks and empty wine bottles from New Year's Eve. The only reason it looks clean today is because it's covered in snow. If it were cleaned more regularly people wouldn't litter so much. (Not a defence of people who litter, and it's the one thing I hate most about living here.)
- reddytowns 11y ago
  Here is another example: One time last year I had to stay overnight in Japan to reach a connecting flight. The airport allowed people to sleep on the benches (very comfortable with no arm rests), and a police man stands there all night and watches over everyone to keep them and their belongings safe. To top it all off, there is a sign addressed to people sleeping there that at 3 AM the airport personnel need to polish the floors and they apologize for the noise! (This was at the old Haneda airport near Tokyo)
  - mavdi 11y ago
    Similar experience. I was in a Ryokan in Kyoto where some workers were about to repair some fittings in the street and make some noise. We were given a leaflet in English apologising for the noise made and the next day when we got out the supervisor was ready with a candy and a small toy for our daughter.
justusw 11y ago
I can give you some examples for what can be described as micro-aggression (even if SJWs are totally abusing this term and take away any legitimacy when claiming to be a victim of it) Keep in mind that either of these things happen to me on a daily basis. 1) I speak JLPT ~N2 level with almost no accent, but get handed the English menu in a restaurant in Tokyo. 2) I get complimented for being able to eat various Japanese things (natto, umeboshi) or being able to handle chopsticks. 3) I get compliments for being able to read Kanji after talking to someone for the past few hours. How do they think I learned the language? With romaji? 4) Speaking to staff in Japanese, staff answers to my Japanese friends instead of speaking with me. The last three ones are almost symptomatic for 日本人論, where it is common to think that certain Japanese cultural habits or attributes cannot be mastered or understood by outsiders, thus it is necessary to point them out or try to compensate for them. Some of these attributes are reasoned to exist because of biological differences (google Japanese Brain), others because of the 'rich' cultural heritage of Japan that was never tainted by other countries (as if China and Korea are not close to Japan...). Don't take this as me being unhappy to be in Japan. I just wish that people were a bit more self-aware around here. The problem is just that there is not the necessary vocabulary around to address these problems. It's not as if 人種差別 is a popular subject.
- rawTruthHurts 11y ago
  Sounds like the difference between somebody who has been visiting Japan for some weeks vs somebody who has been living there for some years
- rangibaby 11y ago
  1. I get that a lot too. At least they're trying to be helpful; from their perspective it would be embarrassing if they gave someone obviously foreign the Japanese menu. Most people's exposure to westerners here starts and ends with English teachers, so I would forgive them for this one. for 2 and 3, I think it is because they are actually surprised; there are a lot of (Japanese) people who don't like natto or umeboshi either, and kanji is something they spend hours per week studying for 10 years to be literate in. 4 is a hard one. They assume that a foreigner obviously can't speak Japanese. It can be super annoying.
- 11y ago
mahranch 11y ago
> What do you think about the alleged xenophobia? The only times you will hear this, is out of the mouths of Chinese/Korean nationalists looking to bash the country (their own bigotry), or Gaijin blogs from young white (usually affluent) kids who are/were upset they weren't treated like kings when the got off the plane. They were upset that the girls didn't throw themselves at them and that people didn't rush to attend their every whim. If you look at actual scientific studies, you'll find Japan is on-par with the rest of the world when it comes to their racism. Japan is actually less racist than France and equal to places like Finland or Germany. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15...
- lhopki01 11y ago
  That's terrible methodology. For example maybe in a country with very few foreigners people aren't as worried about foreign neighbours as other things. It doesn't demonstrate anything.
  - mahranch 11y ago
    It's excellent methodology because they asked indirect questions. Coming out and asking someone "Hey, are you a racist?" wouldn't be effective. Asking someone in an unrelated economic experiment something like "Would you mind if your neighbors were black?" is more accurate because it tricks people into revealing their true biases.
    - lhopki01 11y ago
      But this didn't ask them would you mind if your neighbours were black. This made them pick what they're most worried about. That question can only be asked in context of my country. If there's almost no change of a foreigner living next to me but there's a high chance of crime in my area even though I'm massively racists and would actually care about more about a foriegner living next to me (all things being equal) because of my circumstances I'm actually more worried about crime atm.