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Just this morning Japan overtook China as the number two stock market in the world. Also, with the US interest rate going up and trade wars, money is flowing ou

Just this morning Japan overtook China as the number two stock market in the world. Also, with the US interest rate going up and trade wars, money is flowing out of emerging markets back to stable economies. In this case, the Japanese savings that left Japan 25 years ago can start to come back to Japan. That capital inflow might start to help Japan with some inflationary pressure. Especially if Japan’s plan to allow 500,000 foreign workers this year. Japan has also been importing foreign workers for years now. We talk about Japan as if it’s dying sometimes, but when you visit Japan, it is amazing how high of quality they all live in. Great food of all cuisine, clean streets, easy transportation, high tech buildings, friendly population, and most recently, cheap food and lodgings.

louthy 8y ago
> friendly population Is that really the case if you're not from Japan? I have read and heard a number of horror stories over the years [1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/31/japan-racism-survey-reveals-one-in-three-foreigners-experience-discrimination https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/31/japan-racism-s...
- geoalchimista 8y ago
  Racism in Japan is nowhere comparable to racism in China.
  - kuwze 8y ago
    Could you elaborate?
    - geoalchimista 8y ago
      Chinese propaganda today still infuses its citizens with a sense that Han Chinese is superior to other ethnic groups and races. You wouldn't possibly find anything remotely like that in any other Asian countries. If you think I'm exaggerating, here's a piece of NYT news that demonstrates their outright racism toward African people: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/asia/china-africa-blackface-lunar-new-year.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/asia/china-africa-b... I'm not saying all of them are. In Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen where there are more young people who either accepted Western influences or got their college education in the West, racism may be less a problem. But those cities only represent less than 5% of China.
      - xkcd-sucks 8y ago
        It goes deeper than that-- The physical territory, the ruling government, and the Han ethnic group (including "overseas Chinese") are considered equivalent. Kind of like a giant family where blood relations are mixed up with authority, history etc. So, Han people are a political tool to use in colonization ("Hanification" currently going on in Tibet and Xinjiang) and also an asset to be maintained through what westerners might call eugenics. It's more deliberate than "racism," more like "American exceptionalism." It's interesting idea, but it seems scary to westerners and it feels a little bit oppressive to be an Overseas Chinese
      - FruityFarm 8y ago
        This is so hypocritical when the West does the exact same thing.
        adventured 8y ago
        In fact it's not hypocritical at all. Not even the least. The parent isn't denying the mistakes or terrible things the West has done in the past. Allow me to give you an example of why this isn't hypocritical in concept. If I'm an obese person, it is not hypocritical to lambast other obese people for the health consequences of their physical condition - so long as I'm not denying the application of those same health consequences to my own obesity situation. The parent comment would be hypocritical if it pretended / claimed there is no racism in Western culture, while pointing out Chinese racism or beliefs about racial superiority. (assuming the parent is part of Western culture of course)
        FruityFarm 8y ago
        Sure.
- rangibaby 8y ago
  I would say yes on the whole. There are racist or mean people in every country
- joefranklinsrs 8y ago
  This is purely anecdotal of course, but I have never had anything but the friendliest and warmest encounters in Japan while I lived there on and off for a few years. None of the gaijins (foreigners) I met had any issues neither. They are almost too friendly to a fault. Of course after you get to know them, they drop some of the cultural barriers, especially Kansai (western Japan) folks. I highly recommend anyone who haven’t been to Japan to go now :). Beautiful landscape and architecture, smart and cultured folks, and of course, sushi!!!
  - ethbro 8y ago
    The only downside: losing your appetite for sushi outside of Japan :(
- r00fus 8y ago
  Sounds pretty par for the course. 1/3 to 2/5 of respondents but only 4.5k out of 18k responded. So assuming the non-respondents were predisposed to be generally positive (otherwise why didn't they reply) if you divide the numbers by 2 (conservative figure)then you have 15-20% of the foreign population with negative experiences. I'd say that's probably better than I'd have expected.
- nikanj 8y ago
  The way this was explained to me, and this is fourth-hand knowledge by now, is: In japan, foreigners are treated like cute puppies. Mostly everyone wants to play with you, and people don’t mind you in their everyday lifes. If you learn to speak japanese, you become a dog that can talk. Even cuter! People who know this talking dog for some time might start to accept that it has human-like intelligence, and actually treat you as a fellow human being. However, as soon as you meet new people, you’re moved back to square dog.
  - gallerdude 8y ago
    In a Japanese class, we had an English teacher for Japan explain his role. He defined himself as somewhere between the town freak and a clown. People expect you to make errors, and will only find them funny, never offensive.
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  Two years ago, I talked to an American who is ethnically Korean and lives in Japan. I asked him if Japanese were still prejudiced against Koreans. He said that he would have said "no" in the past, but now he thinks that they're prejudiced against Korean culture, and he escaped because he was culturally American. Just one data point...
  - moufestaphio 8y ago
    So I lived there for 5+ years, and my wife is Korea who lived in Japan. There is a very large and real anti-korean sentiment/prejudice in Japan. I mean a few years ago now, but there was a bunch of anti-korean protests in shin okubo. https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/nasty-nationalists-converge-on-shin-okubos-koreatown https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/nasty-nat... And there's the whole 'Zainichi' thing, who are still systematically oppressed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreans_in_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreans_in_Japan
  - sotojuan 8y ago
    Hm interesting because Korean pop culture is popular among Japanese teens just as it has become popular in the US, but again, another one data point.
    - krapp 8y ago
      Black culture is popular in the US, but racism against black people is still systemic and prevalent. Culture and sociology are often more complex than anecdotes would suggest.
- ThrustVectoring 8y ago
  From what I understand, Japanese culture isn't particularly hostile to foreigners. It's just impossible to become Japanese without being born into the culture.
  - pishpash 8y ago
    I call BS on that. One of my friends said the only place in all of Asia where he was ignored/silently shunned/could not get help was in Japan. Yes, the Japanese will not say it to your face, but they have no need for you.
    - joefranklinsrs 8y ago
      I call BS on that :) I suffered a heat stroke in Yokohama a while back and many young people and even elderly came to my and took me to nearby hospital, where I got treatment for $10! Elsewhere in Asia, if you get hit by a car in China, nobody will stop and help you in fear of being involved and sued. This has been mentioned in western media countless times.
      - scruple 8y ago
        Well, of course, the devil may lay in the details. Anecdotes follow... My wife had a medical emergency in Tokyo on New Years day 2018. We learned the hard way that if it's not __direly life threatening in that exact moment__ that you __will not__ be given care. You'll be told to come back on the 3rd when services re-open. We got __very__ lucky and she was able to be seen as the literal last patient at an urgent care that we got in to contact with through the concierge at a previous hotel we had stayed at (a very expensive hotel we stayed at for a few nights but were not current guests with). The __extremely__ distraught looking Australian man with a Japanese girl alongside him, looking for the morning after pill? They were turned away. A Japanese man who had been __hit by a taxi and could barely walk__ was turned away. We saw a few other cases turned away that day and I genuinely felt bad that these people could not, or would not, be seen but that my wife would. It was eye opening, to say the least. We rounded out our trip in Roppongi and talked to some expats who said that was the standard fare. Get hurt on or around major holidays and you'll be fending for yourself, that was the signal.
sdljfslkjfdsj 8y ago
All it took was quantitative easing since 2001 resulting in ownership of 40-50% of the entire japanese bond market (which isn't really a market any more because some days 0 transactions take place due to the complete hijacking of the BOJ & a guaranteed 0% yield) & 5-10% ownership of the entire japanese stock market. The BOJ is a top holder of many largest Japanese corporations shares outstanding which is kind of weird because the BOJ doesn't really have any money they just "create" it. Color me bearish if that kind of monetary extremism can't even get the Nikkei 225 near prior all time highs or any meaningful inflation. I guess they could buy every bond in existence both public & private plus take the stock holdings up to 30% of the entire float.. maybe that's what is needed? It kind of seems weird to trust any of the statistics on inflation, rates, economic prospects for the country with such an active price insensitive manipulator in the market place every day.
- RobertoG 8y ago
  Reading your comment, comes to mind that the case of Japan demonstrate that bond markets are not so essential after all and that "creation" of money doesn't necessarily generate inflation.
- joefranklinsrs 8y ago
  Well, you could say the same about China, where the Chinese government is a major stakeholder, directly or indirectly of all the state enterprises and some of the biggest individual companies. Alot of the purchases of foreign companies and technologies is done by the Chinese government. Also, China engaged in huge QE from 2008 to today, resulting in massive debt taking. At least the financial numbers coming out of Japan is reliable and transparent. Also, alot of soverign funds around the world considers Japanese Yen and Bonds one of the safest investments.
  - pembrook 8y ago
    It's hard not to see Japanese bonds as safe when they yield pretty much 0%.
  - sdljfslkjfdsj 8y ago
ng12 8y ago
> We talk about Japan as if it’s dying sometimes I find this is mostly because the West can't fathom that Japan might have different values -- for example their unwillingness to sacrifice cultural homogeniety on the altar of economic growth.
- krapp 8y ago
  >or example their unwillingness to sacrifice cultural homogeniety on the altar of economic growth. Every time I hear this argument (and it comes up in just about every thread about Japan's economy or culture) I can't help but hear an alt-right dog whistle. Because, of course, Japan has a long history of incorporating culture from elsewhere - both from their Asian neighbors and the West, but when you talk about "homogeneity" in relation to Japan, people tend to think first about ethnicity and race, since they're ~98% ethnically Japanese. And I'm not entirely certain can I see the link between "cultural homogeneity" and "economic growth" ... until I realize you're talking about immigration. Which is odd because most immigrants to Japan are Asian, and not likely to disturb their "cultural homogeneity" much, and the tiny, tiny fraction from elsewhere are definitely not likely to do so. Maybe that's just me and my cooling fan is acting up, though.
  - ng12 8y ago
    I think you hearing an alt-right dog whistle is exactly the Western-centric attitude I was referring to. > Which is odd because most immigrants to Japan are Asian, and not likely to disturb their "cultural homogeneity" much If you think there's no racial tension between native Japanese and Korean/Chinese immigrants I have some news for you.
    - krapp 8y ago
      > I think you hearing an alt-right dog whistle is exactly the Western-centric attitude I was referring to. That's because the alt-right uses Japan as a proxy for its own anti-immigration and racialist views, particularly in regards to to Muslim and Eastern European immigrants. It seems to me to be a new form of Orientalism. >If you think there's no racial tension between native Japanese and Korean/Chinese immigrants I have some news for you. There definitely is, but that depends on one's definition of "race." But that tension has existed for hundreds if not thousands of years (obvious post-WW2 sentiments notwithstanding) so I don't see that contributing to the disruption of Japanese culture since it's been a constant in Japanese culture for so long.
lechiffre10 8y ago
Cheap food and lodging is mainly a sign of a strong US dollar though. I've been to Japan 5 years ago and while it wasn't as expensive as people told me it would be the Canadian dollar was very strong.
adventured 8y ago
Speaking of Japan's capital, this made me excited that someone might finally do something toward investing in US infrastructure (the headline was slightly walked back later, saying there were no concrete plans just yet): "Japan weighs sovereign wealth fund for U.S infrastructure investment" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-japan/japan-weighs-sovereign-wealth-fund-for-us-infrastructure-investment-nikkei-idUSKBN1KO0BX https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-japan/japan-wei... If the US were smart about it, it would offer to go an easy route in resolving any trade issues with Japan. Part of the deal would be Japan working with the US to put together a $250 billion fund over time specifically to do high speed rail across the US. The Japanese are arguably the masters at that, their companies would benefit (and they'd earn a return on their deployed capital), and US would get some employment and know-how out of it (and obviously the transport system). Japan can borrow at great scale domestically at among the lowest rates of any nation. A big win all around.
ekianjo 8y ago
> high tech buildings You forgot to mention fax machines :) And useless pepper robots in about every shop that tries to look futuristic.
- discordance 8y ago
  Pepper is indeed pathetic. Aldebaran Robotics must be laughing post acquisition.
Nadya 8y ago
That great quality of life comes largely from a monoculture focused on group harmony and letting those who don't jive with the culture falling through the cracks. Maybe a bit controversial, but I don't think mass importing foreigners who won't mix with the culture will be good for the country in the long term. The U.K and Germany are full of internal strife entirely through their unchecked mass importation of foreigners and refugees. It needs to be done in a controlled manner allowing the foreigners to integrate with the culture, bringing amount small changes over time rather than drastic cultural changes quickly. The foreigners and tourists are always the most obnoxious and least friendly people I interact with while in Japan.

louthy 8y ago

> friendly population Is that really the case if you're not from Japan? I have read and heard a number of horror stories over the years [1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/31/japan-racism-survey-reveals-one-in-three-foreigners-experience-discrimination https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/31/japan-racism-s...

geoalchimista 8y ago
Racism in Japan is nowhere comparable to racism in China.
- kuwze 8y ago
  Could you elaborate?
  - geoalchimista 8y ago
    Chinese propaganda today still infuses its citizens with a sense that Han Chinese is superior to other ethnic groups and races. You wouldn't possibly find anything remotely like that in any other Asian countries. If you think I'm exaggerating, here's a piece of NYT news that demonstrates their outright racism toward African people: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/asia/china-africa-blackface-lunar-new-year.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/asia/china-africa-b... I'm not saying all of them are. In Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen where there are more young people who either accepted Western influences or got their college education in the West, racism may be less a problem. But those cities only represent less than 5% of China.
    - xkcd-sucks 8y ago
      It goes deeper than that-- The physical territory, the ruling government, and the Han ethnic group (including "overseas Chinese") are considered equivalent. Kind of like a giant family where blood relations are mixed up with authority, history etc. So, Han people are a political tool to use in colonization ("Hanification" currently going on in Tibet and Xinjiang) and also an asset to be maintained through what westerners might call eugenics. It's more deliberate than "racism," more like "American exceptionalism." It's interesting idea, but it seems scary to westerners and it feels a little bit oppressive to be an Overseas Chinese
    - FruityFarm 8y ago
      This is so hypocritical when the West does the exact same thing.
      - adventured 8y ago
        In fact it's not hypocritical at all. Not even the least. The parent isn't denying the mistakes or terrible things the West has done in the past. Allow me to give you an example of why this isn't hypocritical in concept. If I'm an obese person, it is not hypocritical to lambast other obese people for the health consequences of their physical condition - so long as I'm not denying the application of those same health consequences to my own obesity situation. The parent comment would be hypocritical if it pretended / claimed there is no racism in Western culture, while pointing out Chinese racism or beliefs about racial superiority. (assuming the parent is part of Western culture of course)
        FruityFarm 8y ago
        Sure.
rangibaby 8y ago
I would say yes on the whole. There are racist or mean people in every country
joefranklinsrs 8y ago
This is purely anecdotal of course, but I have never had anything but the friendliest and warmest encounters in Japan while I lived there on and off for a few years. None of the gaijins (foreigners) I met had any issues neither. They are almost too friendly to a fault. Of course after you get to know them, they drop some of the cultural barriers, especially Kansai (western Japan) folks. I highly recommend anyone who haven’t been to Japan to go now :). Beautiful landscape and architecture, smart and cultured folks, and of course, sushi!!!
- ethbro 8y ago
  The only downside: losing your appetite for sushi outside of Japan :(
r00fus 8y ago
Sounds pretty par for the course. 1/3 to 2/5 of respondents but only 4.5k out of 18k responded. So assuming the non-respondents were predisposed to be generally positive (otherwise why didn't they reply) if you divide the numbers by 2 (conservative figure)then you have 15-20% of the foreign population with negative experiences. I'd say that's probably better than I'd have expected.
nikanj 8y ago
The way this was explained to me, and this is fourth-hand knowledge by now, is: In japan, foreigners are treated like cute puppies. Mostly everyone wants to play with you, and people don’t mind you in their everyday lifes. If you learn to speak japanese, you become a dog that can talk. Even cuter! People who know this talking dog for some time might start to accept that it has human-like intelligence, and actually treat you as a fellow human being. However, as soon as you meet new people, you’re moved back to square dog.
- gallerdude 8y ago
  In a Japanese class, we had an English teacher for Japan explain his role. He defined himself as somewhere between the town freak and a clown. People expect you to make errors, and will only find them funny, never offensive.
AnimalMuppet 8y ago
Two years ago, I talked to an American who is ethnically Korean and lives in Japan. I asked him if Japanese were still prejudiced against Koreans. He said that he would have said "no" in the past, but now he thinks that they're prejudiced against Korean culture, and he escaped because he was culturally American. Just one data point...
- moufestaphio 8y ago
  So I lived there for 5+ years, and my wife is Korea who lived in Japan. There is a very large and real anti-korean sentiment/prejudice in Japan. I mean a few years ago now, but there was a bunch of anti-korean protests in shin okubo. https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/nasty-nationalists-converge-on-shin-okubos-koreatown https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/nasty-nat... And there's the whole 'Zainichi' thing, who are still systematically oppressed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreans_in_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreans_in_Japan
- sotojuan 8y ago
  Hm interesting because Korean pop culture is popular among Japanese teens just as it has become popular in the US, but again, another one data point.
  - krapp 8y ago
    Black culture is popular in the US, but racism against black people is still systemic and prevalent. Culture and sociology are often more complex than anecdotes would suggest.
ThrustVectoring 8y ago
From what I understand, Japanese culture isn't particularly hostile to foreigners. It's just impossible to become Japanese without being born into the culture.
- pishpash 8y ago
  I call BS on that. One of my friends said the only place in all of Asia where he was ignored/silently shunned/could not get help was in Japan. Yes, the Japanese will not say it to your face, but they have no need for you.
  - joefranklinsrs 8y ago
    I call BS on that :) I suffered a heat stroke in Yokohama a while back and many young people and even elderly came to my and took me to nearby hospital, where I got treatment for $10! Elsewhere in Asia, if you get hit by a car in China, nobody will stop and help you in fear of being involved and sued. This has been mentioned in western media countless times.
    - scruple 8y ago
      Well, of course, the devil may lay in the details. Anecdotes follow... My wife had a medical emergency in Tokyo on New Years day 2018. We learned the hard way that if it's not __direly life threatening in that exact moment__ that you __will not__ be given care. You'll be told to come back on the 3rd when services re-open. We got __very__ lucky and she was able to be seen as the literal last patient at an urgent care that we got in to contact with through the concierge at a previous hotel we had stayed at (a very expensive hotel we stayed at for a few nights but were not current guests with). The __extremely__ distraught looking Australian man with a Japanese girl alongside him, looking for the morning after pill? They were turned away. A Japanese man who had been __hit by a taxi and could barely walk__ was turned away. We saw a few other cases turned away that day and I genuinely felt bad that these people could not, or would not, be seen but that my wife would. It was eye opening, to say the least. We rounded out our trip in Roppongi and talked to some expats who said that was the standard fare. Get hurt on or around major holidays and you'll be fending for yourself, that was the signal.

sdljfslkjfdsj 8y ago

All it took was quantitative easing since 2001 resulting in ownership of 40-50% of the entire japanese bond market (which isn't really a market any more because some days 0 transactions take place due to the complete hijacking of the BOJ & a guaranteed 0% yield) & 5-10% ownership of the entire japanese stock market. The BOJ is a top holder of many largest Japanese corporations shares outstanding which is kind of weird because the BOJ doesn't really have any money they just "create" it. Color me bearish if that kind of monetary extremism can't even get the Nikkei 225 near prior all time highs or any meaningful inflation. I guess they could buy every bond in existence both public & private plus take the stock holdings up to 30% of the entire float.. maybe that's what is needed? It kind of seems weird to trust any of the statistics on inflation, rates, economic prospects for the country with such an active price insensitive manipulator in the market place every day.

RobertoG 8y ago
Reading your comment, comes to mind that the case of Japan demonstrate that bond markets are not so essential after all and that "creation" of money doesn't necessarily generate inflation.
joefranklinsrs 8y ago
Well, you could say the same about China, where the Chinese government is a major stakeholder, directly or indirectly of all the state enterprises and some of the biggest individual companies. Alot of the purchases of foreign companies and technologies is done by the Chinese government. Also, China engaged in huge QE from 2008 to today, resulting in massive debt taking. At least the financial numbers coming out of Japan is reliable and transparent. Also, alot of soverign funds around the world considers Japanese Yen and Bonds one of the safest investments.
- pembrook 8y ago
  It's hard not to see Japanese bonds as safe when they yield pretty much 0%.
- sdljfslkjfdsj 8y ago

ng12 8y ago

> We talk about Japan as if it’s dying sometimes I find this is mostly because the West can't fathom that Japan might have different values -- for example their unwillingness to sacrifice cultural homogeniety on the altar of economic growth.

krapp 8y ago
>or example their unwillingness to sacrifice cultural homogeniety on the altar of economic growth. Every time I hear this argument (and it comes up in just about every thread about Japan's economy or culture) I can't help but hear an alt-right dog whistle. Because, of course, Japan has a long history of incorporating culture from elsewhere - both from their Asian neighbors and the West, but when you talk about "homogeneity" in relation to Japan, people tend to think first about ethnicity and race, since they're ~98% ethnically Japanese. And I'm not entirely certain can I see the link between "cultural homogeneity" and "economic growth" ... until I realize you're talking about immigration. Which is odd because most immigrants to Japan are Asian, and not likely to disturb their "cultural homogeneity" much, and the tiny, tiny fraction from elsewhere are definitely not likely to do so. Maybe that's just me and my cooling fan is acting up, though.
- ng12 8y ago
  I think you hearing an alt-right dog whistle is exactly the Western-centric attitude I was referring to. > Which is odd because most immigrants to Japan are Asian, and not likely to disturb their "cultural homogeneity" much If you think there's no racial tension between native Japanese and Korean/Chinese immigrants I have some news for you.
  - krapp 8y ago
    > I think you hearing an alt-right dog whistle is exactly the Western-centric attitude I was referring to. That's because the alt-right uses Japan as a proxy for its own anti-immigration and racialist views, particularly in regards to to Muslim and Eastern European immigrants. It seems to me to be a new form of Orientalism. >If you think there's no racial tension between native Japanese and Korean/Chinese immigrants I have some news for you. There definitely is, but that depends on one's definition of "race." But that tension has existed for hundreds if not thousands of years (obvious post-WW2 sentiments notwithstanding) so I don't see that contributing to the disruption of Japanese culture since it's been a constant in Japanese culture for so long.

lechiffre10 8y ago

Cheap food and lodging is mainly a sign of a strong US dollar though. I've been to Japan 5 years ago and while it wasn't as expensive as people told me it would be the Canadian dollar was very strong.

adventured 8y ago

Speaking of Japan's capital, this made me excited that someone might finally do something toward investing in US infrastructure (the headline was slightly walked back later, saying there were no concrete plans just yet): "Japan weighs sovereign wealth fund for U.S infrastructure investment" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-japan/japan-weighs-sovereign-wealth-fund-for-us-infrastructure-investment-nikkei-idUSKBN1KO0BX https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-japan/japan-wei... If the US were smart about it, it would offer to go an easy route in resolving any trade issues with Japan. Part of the deal would be Japan working with the US to put together a $250 billion fund over time specifically to do high speed rail across the US. The Japanese are arguably the masters at that, their companies would benefit (and they'd earn a return on their deployed capital), and US would get some employment and know-how out of it (and obviously the transport system). Japan can borrow at great scale domestically at among the lowest rates of any nation. A big win all around.

ekianjo 8y ago

> high tech buildings You forgot to mention fax machines :) And useless pepper robots in about every shop that tries to look futuristic.

discordance 8y ago
Pepper is indeed pathetic. Aldebaran Robotics must be laughing post acquisition.

Nadya 8y ago

That great quality of life comes largely from a monoculture focused on group harmony and letting those who don't jive with the culture falling through the cracks. Maybe a bit controversial, but I don't think mass importing foreigners who won't mix with the culture will be good for the country in the long term. The U.K and Germany are full of internal strife entirely through their unchecked mass importation of foreigners and refugees. It needs to be done in a controlled manner allowing the foreigners to integrate with the culture, bringing amount small changes over time rather than drastic cultural changes quickly. The foreigners and tourists are always the most obnoxious and least friendly people I interact with while in Japan.