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Japan didn't make it to the top 15, but it was listed in there as number 1 safest. I've been living in Japan for a few months now and I have to say, after livin

by shawnps 13y ago

Japan didn't make it to the top 15, but it was listed in there as number 1 safest. I've been living in Japan for a few months now and I have to say, after living in SF for enough time to start a Tumblr of human feces I had found out in the open, I'm really happy with the safety and cleanliness of Tokyo. I also hear stories all the time of people getting their belongings back after having forgotten them or misplacing them. For example, a coworker told me that he had accidentally left his Macbook Air on the train. He realized this after getting off of the train and the doors had already closed, so he stood on the platform in the exact same spot and waited for the same train to loop back around. The laptop was right where he had left it. Aside from that, the service here is so good to the point that I want to tip everyone like 30% but there isn't even a tipping culture here. And the price that you see on the menu is the price you pay. And they often either have pictures of the food on the menu, or wax sculptures of the food out front. Oh and convenience stores are actually convenient, and clean. I remember walking into 7/11 here and expecting it to be filthy, but it was so clean that it actually hurt my eyes. Anyway, Japan is a really pleasant place to live and I hope Americans pick up on some of the conveniences that people here have (PS: heated toilet seats all over the place!)

Kiro 13y ago
Sounds awesome. How come you're in Japan?
- shawnps 13y ago
  The short story is I work at Gengo (http://gengo.com/ http://gengo.com/), based in Shibuya. The long story is I took a Japanese class a bit randomly in college (my favorite CS professor suggested that we broaden our interests by taking some liberal arts courses). I studied here in 2010, then came for a vacation in 2012, and by then I realized I'd like to live here so I applied to Gengo.
chrismonsanto 13y ago
I agree for the most part (my experience being in Tokyo). I remember having trouble finding my hotel, and two kids not only showed me where it was, they walked with me a few blocks to it, rode down the elevator with me, and personally introduced me to the staff. I was blown away at how polite the gesture was, and vowed to be more helpful to the legions of lost parents trying to find their way around Princeton. On the other hand, there were scammers trying to take advantage of tourists who couldn't understand the subway system (less popular stations tend to be labeled exclusively in kanji). And the locals can have a very skewed idea of American culture; for example, our hotel breakfast was french fries and hot dogs. (And yes, the toilets were great. Gotta get that stuff here in the US)
- shawnps 13y ago
  I've had a very similar experience to what you mentioned with the hotel. Another student and I were totally lost in a train station, and we said "excuse me" to a guy before realizing he was on his cell phone. We felt bad for almost interrupting his phone call, so we were about to ask another person, but the guy immediately ended his call, went down the elevator with us to the platform, walked us onto the train, and pointed out the station we wanted to go to on the map. Could you elaborate on the scammers? I can imagine maybe someone asking you where you're going, then saying "oh, it costs 300 yen to go there, let me buy your tickets for you," when it actually only costs 150 and he keeps the change. Was it something like that?
  - chrismonsanto 13y ago
    > Could you elaborate on the scammers? Here's an example. I remember there being a big storm, so big that the subways were shutting down temporarily, and if you didn't catch a ride soon you would be stuck for a bit. Of course this announcement was in Japanese, and I didn't understand the exact words, but I did figure it out from the rain + watching other folks scramble to buy tickets. There was a guy there who would go up to the tourists and let them know there was a storm coming and that they needed to buy their tickets. He would say this very hurriedly, causing the tourists to become a bit panicked. Then it was "Where do you live?" "Ah, you should take this route" "Do you have enough for this? How much money do you have?" and at this point the tourists would instinctively pull their yen out of their pockets. Then the guy would clasp their hands over the tourists, lead their hands to the machine, and dump the coins in the machine. The machine would spit out a ticket, he would hand it to them, and then say "oh and I'll take this for helping you" and run off (revealing that he took some of your yen while he was guiding your hands to the machine). He was actually pretty slick about it, and I imagine it worked on most people because they were accustomed to the locals being very polite. And by reinforcing that he was helping you, I think he avoided people reporting him. I ended up running into him again doing the same thing at a different subway station, so I assume he changed locations often.
byoung2 13y ago
Outside of Tokyo it is a lot less friendly, with less English and more Japanese style toilets. Even in Tokyo, you'll find "no foreigner" signs and higher prices for foreigners.
- shawnps 13y ago
  I don't mean to defend Tokyo to the death because every place has its good and bad points, but I have to say I've never once seen a "no foreigner" sign or higher prices for foreigners here. In fact, I've only seen lower prices for foreigners but those would be for things like English language exchange events.
  - byoung2 13y ago
    I have seen both...the no foreigner sign was outside a strip club in Shibuya and the higher price was at a hotel Where the reception called and asked in Japanese "how much for foreigners" before quoting a price. We all spoke Japanese and we called her on it and got the native price.
    - shawnps 13y ago
      Ah, that's unfortunate. The other thing that drives me crazy is the fact that no one will give me a credit card here. I understand that I have no credit history in Japan, but can't they at least give me a crappy ~$500 limit card to start with or something? I've applied to probably 10-15 cards and have been rejected every time. My theory on why a lot of these things happen is that the companies or establishments have been burned by foreigners too many times in the past. For example, SoftBank does a background check when you try to open a cell phone plan with them. They don't tell you what they're checking, but if you fail the check, you have to pay for the phone up front instead of paying monthly. I'm guessing a lot of people came here for half a year or a year, opened up the contract, then left the country without paying. I've also heard that getting an apartment is quite tough as well, but I had no trouble going through an agent and I got my first choice. You have to pay an exorbitant amount of money to move in (guarantor fee, key money, first month's rent, agency fee) but that's not really a foreigner-only thing. If I had known someone in Japan who would have been willing to pay my last month's rent if I flew back home without mentioning anything, then I wouldn't have needed the guarantor service.
wyclif 13y ago
Off-topic, but since you mentioned it: do you know if HN user potatolicious has seen your SF poo blog? He's commented on that phenomenon many times here and I'm sure he'd appreciate your Tumblr!
- shawnps 13y ago
  Hmm, I don't think so, I was only able to get 3 different pictures because I ended up moving. Here it is, for the record (warning: poo) http://sfdisgusting.tumblr.com/ http://sfdisgusting.tumblr.com/
  - wyclif 13y ago
    Sure is a lot of poo on the sidewalks and in public areas in SF. I don't think I've ever seen someone just pull their pants down and push out a brownie in the middle of the sidewalk anywhere else but there.
    - shawnps 13y ago
      Yup. When my mom came to visit me, she came back to my apartment one night and said, "you'll never believe what I just saw." I already knew what she was going to say, it was that she saw a homeless guy pull his pants down in broad daylight next to a trash can to relieve himself.

by shawnps 13y ago

Kiro 13y ago

Sounds awesome. How come you're in Japan?

shawnps 13y ago
The short story is I work at Gengo (http://gengo.com/ http://gengo.com/), based in Shibuya. The long story is I took a Japanese class a bit randomly in college (my favorite CS professor suggested that we broaden our interests by taking some liberal arts courses). I studied here in 2010, then came for a vacation in 2012, and by then I realized I'd like to live here so I applied to Gengo.

chrismonsanto 13y ago

I agree for the most part (my experience being in Tokyo). I remember having trouble finding my hotel, and two kids not only showed me where it was, they walked with me a few blocks to it, rode down the elevator with me, and personally introduced me to the staff. I was blown away at how polite the gesture was, and vowed to be more helpful to the legions of lost parents trying to find their way around Princeton. On the other hand, there were scammers trying to take advantage of tourists who couldn't understand the subway system (less popular stations tend to be labeled exclusively in kanji). And the locals can have a very skewed idea of American culture; for example, our hotel breakfast was french fries and hot dogs. (And yes, the toilets were great. Gotta get that stuff here in the US)

shawnps 13y ago
I've had a very similar experience to what you mentioned with the hotel. Another student and I were totally lost in a train station, and we said "excuse me" to a guy before realizing he was on his cell phone. We felt bad for almost interrupting his phone call, so we were about to ask another person, but the guy immediately ended his call, went down the elevator with us to the platform, walked us onto the train, and pointed out the station we wanted to go to on the map. Could you elaborate on the scammers? I can imagine maybe someone asking you where you're going, then saying "oh, it costs 300 yen to go there, let me buy your tickets for you," when it actually only costs 150 and he keeps the change. Was it something like that?
- chrismonsanto 13y ago
  > Could you elaborate on the scammers? Here's an example. I remember there being a big storm, so big that the subways were shutting down temporarily, and if you didn't catch a ride soon you would be stuck for a bit. Of course this announcement was in Japanese, and I didn't understand the exact words, but I did figure it out from the rain + watching other folks scramble to buy tickets. There was a guy there who would go up to the tourists and let them know there was a storm coming and that they needed to buy their tickets. He would say this very hurriedly, causing the tourists to become a bit panicked. Then it was "Where do you live?" "Ah, you should take this route" "Do you have enough for this? How much money do you have?" and at this point the tourists would instinctively pull their yen out of their pockets. Then the guy would clasp their hands over the tourists, lead their hands to the machine, and dump the coins in the machine. The machine would spit out a ticket, he would hand it to them, and then say "oh and I'll take this for helping you" and run off (revealing that he took some of your yen while he was guiding your hands to the machine). He was actually pretty slick about it, and I imagine it worked on most people because they were accustomed to the locals being very polite. And by reinforcing that he was helping you, I think he avoided people reporting him. I ended up running into him again doing the same thing at a different subway station, so I assume he changed locations often.

byoung2 13y ago

Outside of Tokyo it is a lot less friendly, with less English and more Japanese style toilets. Even in Tokyo, you'll find "no foreigner" signs and higher prices for foreigners.

shawnps 13y ago
I don't mean to defend Tokyo to the death because every place has its good and bad points, but I have to say I've never once seen a "no foreigner" sign or higher prices for foreigners here. In fact, I've only seen lower prices for foreigners but those would be for things like English language exchange events.
- byoung2 13y ago
  I have seen both...the no foreigner sign was outside a strip club in Shibuya and the higher price was at a hotel Where the reception called and asked in Japanese "how much for foreigners" before quoting a price. We all spoke Japanese and we called her on it and got the native price.
  - shawnps 13y ago
    Ah, that's unfortunate. The other thing that drives me crazy is the fact that no one will give me a credit card here. I understand that I have no credit history in Japan, but can't they at least give me a crappy ~$500 limit card to start with or something? I've applied to probably 10-15 cards and have been rejected every time. My theory on why a lot of these things happen is that the companies or establishments have been burned by foreigners too many times in the past. For example, SoftBank does a background check when you try to open a cell phone plan with them. They don't tell you what they're checking, but if you fail the check, you have to pay for the phone up front instead of paying monthly. I'm guessing a lot of people came here for half a year or a year, opened up the contract, then left the country without paying. I've also heard that getting an apartment is quite tough as well, but I had no trouble going through an agent and I got my first choice. You have to pay an exorbitant amount of money to move in (guarantor fee, key money, first month's rent, agency fee) but that's not really a foreigner-only thing. If I had known someone in Japan who would have been willing to pay my last month's rent if I flew back home without mentioning anything, then I wouldn't have needed the guarantor service.

wyclif 13y ago

Off-topic, but since you mentioned it: do you know if HN user potatolicious has seen your SF poo blog? He's commented on that phenomenon many times here and I'm sure he'd appreciate your Tumblr!

shawnps 13y ago
Hmm, I don't think so, I was only able to get 3 different pictures because I ended up moving. Here it is, for the record (warning: poo) http://sfdisgusting.tumblr.com/ http://sfdisgusting.tumblr.com/
- wyclif 13y ago
  Sure is a lot of poo on the sidewalks and in public areas in SF. I don't think I've ever seen someone just pull their pants down and push out a brownie in the middle of the sidewalk anywhere else but there.
  - shawnps 13y ago
    Yup. When my mom came to visit me, she came back to my apartment one night and said, "you'll never believe what I just saw." I already knew what she was going to say, it was that she saw a homeless guy pull his pants down in broad daylight next to a trash can to relieve himself.