4 ms·

I know a few people who went to live in Japan. Some came back, others didn't. I can't help about the paperwork, but the general sentiment is that the "I felt s

by GuB-42 2y ago

I know a few people who went to live in Japan. Some came back, others didn't. I can't help about the paperwork, but the general sentiment is that the "I felt so welcomed and people were so kind to me" part is only on the surface. Tourists are very welcome in tourist places, not so much elsewhere, and don't mistake politeness for kindness. One common theme when at work is that as a "gaijin", if something goes wrong, it is always your fault, even if you speak Japanese perfectly (a must), and even if you have citizenship (note that Japan doesn't allow multiple citizenship). Racism (xenophobia, actually) is very present, but in a more insidious manner than in the west. It doesn't mean Japan is a bad place to live in, cleanliness and order are real things, and the low crime rate is very appreciable. Politeness is nice too, but it goes together with hypocrisy, so if you value things like consideration, harmony, and agreement, Japan may be for you, but if instead, you value honesty, directness and to confront ideas, maybe not so much.

minebreaker 2y ago
[flagged]
- ekanes 2y ago
  This isn't the place for that comment, nor is it substantiated by the data.
  - minebreaker 2y ago
    Are you saying that this is the place for the comment like "Racism (xenophobia, actually) is very present"? Or don't you think it is xenophobic?
- jajko 2y ago
  Don't read too much into that, tons of places are quietly xenophobic while publicly they project a different image. There is huge difference big cities vs rural areas, don't expect simpler folks living few decades in the past to be very welcoming towards unknown. Its slowly fading away from the face of the earth, but don't let some virtual bubbles like HN or physical ones like say SF or NY or western European big cities make the impression that this is how everybody there thinks. People generally don't change their set-in-stone core opinions, critical thinking and self-reassessment is a privilege of relatively few, but they for sure learned to keep it to themselves these times.

by GuB-42 2y ago

minebreaker 2y ago

[flagged]

ekanes 2y ago
This isn't the place for that comment, nor is it substantiated by the data.
- minebreaker 2y ago
  Are you saying that this is the place for the comment like "Racism (xenophobia, actually) is very present"? Or don't you think it is xenophobic?
jajko 2y ago
Don't read too much into that, tons of places are quietly xenophobic while publicly they project a different image. There is huge difference big cities vs rural areas, don't expect simpler folks living few decades in the past to be very welcoming towards unknown. Its slowly fading away from the face of the earth, but don't let some virtual bubbles like HN or physical ones like say SF or NY or western European big cities make the impression that this is how everybody there thinks. People generally don't change their set-in-stone core opinions, critical thinking and self-reassessment is a privilege of relatively few, but they for sure learned to keep it to themselves these times.