4 ms·

> Culture shock can be quite devastating. I find its not as much as being in a place where the people would never, ever accept you as one of their own. To them

> Culture shock can be quite devastating. I find its not as much as being in a place where the people would never, ever accept you as one of their own. To them, you're something to be avoided and barely tolerated. This is why Westerners have a lot of trouble in China or Japan, but an American spending a few years in Germany or England or France isn't a big deal. The elephant in the room is a certain level of acceptable racism that hurts foreign workers. Some nations are better at this than others.

jza00425 10y ago
You think Asians do not have the same problem when they are in West? Asian are already treated as foreigners no matter how many generations
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  I think its easy to nitpick the flaws of western melting pot societies while ignoring that many asian societies are not remotely melting pots and citizenship is near impossible to get. The number of immigrants from Asia to the states shows that there's something desirable about its culture. How many Americans move to China or Japan and attain citizenship? Not many. Its seen as best as a temporary work gig dues to the complete lack of acceptance of foreigners and ethnocentrism there.
  - 77pt77 10y ago
    > citizenship is near impossible to get The requirements for naturalizing as a Japanese citizen are actually quite reasonable both in paper and practice.
  - jza00425 10y ago
    I did not even talk about the flaws the West has. It is about majority and minority. There is always a disadvantage for minority, especially psychologically. You just love to jump to conclusion that Western culture is better and other cultures are worse and find the evidence to serve your goal.
izacus 10y ago
Eh, having lived in different EU counry and in a USA as well, culture shock gets to you even in those cases. It might look like the cultures are similar on the surface, but small things do get to you over time.
mikekchar 10y ago
I can tell you that in Japan, the vast majority of problems face are cultural and language related. If you speak Japanese fluently and you know exactly what you are supposed to do, then you will have very little trouble being accepted into the culture. If you hold on to a western view point and hold western values, then you will have difficulty being accepted by most of the society. I remember someone telling an interesting story on this topic, which I think illustrates the issue very well. If you happen into a neighbourhood that has a sumo training centre (called a heya), you will often see a sign on the wall that says, "No foreigners". Discrimination is not illegal in Japan. An acquaintance of mine (and a foreigner) was well hooked up with a particular heya and he asked some vising friends if they wanted to visit the heya and watch the sumo wrestlers train. When they arrived at the heya, his friends saw the sign and asked if it was really OK. He replied, "If you know how to properly make an appointment, then you are Japanese as far as they are concerned." I've been here 10 years and I'm definitely accepted by my family and my neighbours. And if there are people who don't accept me, then I will be the last person to hear about it (because that's Japanese culture). I won't say there isn't racism, but it's really on par with every other country I've lived in (Canada, US and the UK).

jza00425 10y ago

You think Asians do not have the same problem when they are in West? Asian are already treated as foreigners no matter how many generations

drzaiusapelord 10y ago
I think its easy to nitpick the flaws of western melting pot societies while ignoring that many asian societies are not remotely melting pots and citizenship is near impossible to get. The number of immigrants from Asia to the states shows that there's something desirable about its culture. How many Americans move to China or Japan and attain citizenship? Not many. Its seen as best as a temporary work gig dues to the complete lack of acceptance of foreigners and ethnocentrism there.
- 77pt77 10y ago
  > citizenship is near impossible to get The requirements for naturalizing as a Japanese citizen are actually quite reasonable both in paper and practice.
- jza00425 10y ago
  I did not even talk about the flaws the West has. It is about majority and minority. There is always a disadvantage for minority, especially psychologically. You just love to jump to conclusion that Western culture is better and other cultures are worse and find the evidence to serve your goal.

izacus 10y ago

Eh, having lived in different EU counry and in a USA as well, culture shock gets to you even in those cases. It might look like the cultures are similar on the surface, but small things do get to you over time.

mikekchar 10y ago

I can tell you that in Japan, the vast majority of problems face are cultural and language related. If you speak Japanese fluently and you know exactly what you are supposed to do, then you will have very little trouble being accepted into the culture. If you hold on to a western view point and hold western values, then you will have difficulty being accepted by most of the society. I remember someone telling an interesting story on this topic, which I think illustrates the issue very well. If you happen into a neighbourhood that has a sumo training centre (called a heya), you will often see a sign on the wall that says, "No foreigners". Discrimination is not illegal in Japan. An acquaintance of mine (and a foreigner) was well hooked up with a particular heya and he asked some vising friends if they wanted to visit the heya and watch the sumo wrestlers train. When they arrived at the heya, his friends saw the sign and asked if it was really OK. He replied, "If you know how to properly make an appointment, then you are Japanese as far as they are concerned." I've been here 10 years and I'm definitely accepted by my family and my neighbours. And if there are people who don't accept me, then I will be the last person to hear about it (because that's Japanese culture). I won't say there isn't racism, but it's really on par with every other country I've lived in (Canada, US and the UK).