5 ms·

While teaching in Japan, it took an enemy to make me feel at home

79 points by fern12 9y ago

m_mueller 9y ago
Is it weird that I think this blog post invokes the same sentiments as the anime "Your name"? Sometimes human life is like being alone, swimming in the sea, only for brief periods finding other swimmers that share your fate.
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  Sounds like it's time to read some Haruki Murakami.
sand500 9y ago
The language barrier might be a big reason that prevents people from making friends very easily https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13651981 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13651981
- andy_ppp 9y ago
  The culture too... Japan is at times the most capitalist and alienating culture possible.
  - Razengan 9y ago
    That is how many “Eastern” people feel about “Western” culture.
  - Feniks 9y ago
    That's subjective. I still remember that time Fox News did a documentary on euthanasia. I personally don't think Japan is weirder than living in the US or Saudi Arabia. If you want to live in a completely different culture you have to adapt.
  - thinkingemote 9y ago
    A Japanese friend tells me that on the contrary Japan culture can be more like Socialism. not much individualism, strong social security network, high tax, strong government controls, low social mobility, lots of barriers to entrepreneurs. It's just that technology and blinken lights make it seem modern and capitalist to westerners.
    - danharaj 9y ago
      None of those things are socialism. Socialism is the direct control of industry by the workers communally.
      - zdkl 9y ago
        Well if you want to nitpick, isn't what you describe communism instead?
        danharaj 9y ago
        Some people use socialism interchangeably with communism, e.g. libertarian socialists are the same as anarchist communists. Others, like Marx use socialism to mean a society where both capitalist and communist modes of production coexist in a transitory condition. In any case, the element I described is necessary for it to be called socialism, and it doesn't exist in Japan at any significant scale. The welfare state is not socialism and this is not a nitpick.
        zdkl 9y ago
        > The welfare state is not socialism You keep using that word, yet I do not think it means what you think it means. > Some people use socialism interchangeably with communism Well some people also believe credit and debit cards have no fundamental difference. That they believe it doesn't make it true. You said yourself something about "the direct control of industry by the worker". That is unequivocally a communist concept. Reforming a capitalist society to those ideals through democratic process is socialism, but the end goal is a communist equilibrium. Post transition "socialism" has no meaning and no identifying properties: it is a transformative process by opposition to "true believer" anarchist/communist's grand revolution schemes. So tell me again how Japan is reforming itself into communism?
- bobsman123 9y ago
  I have Indian coworkers who struggle with English, and on top of that we have 0 shared cultural background. No media, no games, no shared experiences. It’s drudgery trying to come up with a conversation topic. Game of thrones? Haven’t seen it. Latest games that came out? Don’t play them. Building an app? Nope no entrepreneurship. Dating? Nope arranged relationships, or no relationships. It’s impossible and I hate every second I’m forced to deal with these people.
  - gooseus 9y ago
    Jeez, must be real hard on you... while I'm sure they're delighted to be working with someone who only ever tries to relate to them based only on their own personal interests. I have an idea, how about starting a book club with your coworkers in order to create a shared culture? I recommend Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
rhn_mk1 9y ago
This is a cute and heartwarming story.
tomxor 9y ago
This is my kind of humour too, it's silly, creative, and in spite of it's surface crudeness can oddly be a strong way of communicating your true feelings. It's probably best left unspoken but my interpretation is that it's likely the little girl was initially being sincerely spiteful, but then being intimately spiteful can sometimes backfire with empathy, gradually transforming her attacks into this loving joke. I actually prefer that interpretation because it shows the capacity for change, but I might be seeing things that aren't there... His interpretation of her being so insightful from the start is also a nice interpretation, consciously or not.
LV-426 9y ago
Ugh. You know, I don't expect the Motherfucking Website framework, but here are some of the external domains (excluding numerous subdomains) accessed when viewing this text article with a few images: cloudfront.net stripe.com googleadservices.com optimizely.com webtype.com bootstrapcdn.com ads-twitter.com disqus.com facebook.net optinmonster.com google-analytics.com twimg.com optnmstr.com mstrlytcs.com facebook.com newrelic.com disquscdn.com stripe.network fastly.net
- b4lancesh33t 9y ago
  This is never going to change and in fact will only get worse, since there is no incentive for website owners (besides quixotic comments on hacker news, which let's face it have approximately zero motivational value). Client side solutions are your only real option.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

79 points by fern12 9y ago

Is it weird that I think this blog post invokes the same sentiments as the anime "Your name"? Sometimes human life is like being alone, swimming in the sea, only for brief periods finding other swimmers that share your fate.

hkmurakami 9y ago
Sounds like it's time to read some Haruki Murakami.

sand500 9y ago

The language barrier might be a big reason that prevents people from making friends very easily https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13651981 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13651981

andy_ppp 9y ago
The culture too... Japan is at times the most capitalist and alienating culture possible.
- Razengan 9y ago
  That is how many “Eastern” people feel about “Western” culture.
- Feniks 9y ago
  That's subjective. I still remember that time Fox News did a documentary on euthanasia. I personally don't think Japan is weirder than living in the US or Saudi Arabia. If you want to live in a completely different culture you have to adapt.
- thinkingemote 9y ago
  A Japanese friend tells me that on the contrary Japan culture can be more like Socialism. not much individualism, strong social security network, high tax, strong government controls, low social mobility, lots of barriers to entrepreneurs. It's just that technology and blinken lights make it seem modern and capitalist to westerners.
  - danharaj 9y ago
    None of those things are socialism. Socialism is the direct control of industry by the workers communally.
    - zdkl 9y ago
      Well if you want to nitpick, isn't what you describe communism instead?
      - danharaj 9y ago
        Some people use socialism interchangeably with communism, e.g. libertarian socialists are the same as anarchist communists. Others, like Marx use socialism to mean a society where both capitalist and communist modes of production coexist in a transitory condition. In any case, the element I described is necessary for it to be called socialism, and it doesn't exist in Japan at any significant scale. The welfare state is not socialism and this is not a nitpick.
        zdkl 9y ago
        > The welfare state is not socialism You keep using that word, yet I do not think it means what you think it means. > Some people use socialism interchangeably with communism Well some people also believe credit and debit cards have no fundamental difference. That they believe it doesn't make it true. You said yourself something about "the direct control of industry by the worker". That is unequivocally a communist concept. Reforming a capitalist society to those ideals through democratic process is socialism, but the end goal is a communist equilibrium. Post transition "socialism" has no meaning and no identifying properties: it is a transformative process by opposition to "true believer" anarchist/communist's grand revolution schemes. So tell me again how Japan is reforming itself into communism?
bobsman123 9y ago
I have Indian coworkers who struggle with English, and on top of that we have 0 shared cultural background. No media, no games, no shared experiences. It’s drudgery trying to come up with a conversation topic. Game of thrones? Haven’t seen it. Latest games that came out? Don’t play them. Building an app? Nope no entrepreneurship. Dating? Nope arranged relationships, or no relationships. It’s impossible and I hate every second I’m forced to deal with these people.
- gooseus 9y ago
  Jeez, must be real hard on you... while I'm sure they're delighted to be working with someone who only ever tries to relate to them based only on their own personal interests. I have an idea, how about starting a book club with your coworkers in order to create a shared culture? I recommend Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

rhn_mk1 9y ago

This is a cute and heartwarming story.

tomxor 9y ago

This is my kind of humour too, it's silly, creative, and in spite of it's surface crudeness can oddly be a strong way of communicating your true feelings. It's probably best left unspoken but my interpretation is that it's likely the little girl was initially being sincerely spiteful, but then being intimately spiteful can sometimes backfire with empathy, gradually transforming her attacks into this loving joke. I actually prefer that interpretation because it shows the capacity for change, but I might be seeing things that aren't there... His interpretation of her being so insightful from the start is also a nice interpretation, consciously or not.

LV-426 9y ago

Ugh. You know, I don't expect the Motherfucking Website framework, but here are some of the external domains (excluding numerous subdomains) accessed when viewing this text article with a few images: cloudfront.net stripe.com googleadservices.com optimizely.com webtype.com bootstrapcdn.com ads-twitter.com disqus.com facebook.net optinmonster.com google-analytics.com twimg.com optnmstr.com mstrlytcs.com facebook.com newrelic.com disquscdn.com stripe.network fastly.net

b4lancesh33t 9y ago
This is never going to change and in fact will only get worse, since there is no incentive for website owners (besides quixotic comments on hacker news, which let's face it have approximately zero motivational value). Client side solutions are your only real option.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]