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Life In Japan - The Low Points

MB68 said:
I've tried the Hilton one. The first 3, I will plan for them [emoji1303]
Ended up in midtown at an Indian buffet, a nice change of pace... Very cheap for the taste and quality of the food [emoji1303]
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Two Rooms is the most posh of the three and you can eat on an Nth floor veranda with a nice view of the city in good weather. Las Chicas is the most informal and laid back. Beacon is a posh American-style steak house popular with affluent gaijin (naturally given the neighborhood) at night but has good and much cheaper fare at lunch (but with huge American style portions).

Are these for dates?

-Ww
 
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DocMcStuffins said:
I think you should start over with an introduction and seek advice. Hard to understand why you are struggling so much, but I have to think there is room for improvement.
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there is always room for improvement an i am a huge fan of that... though other than improving my skills and japanese (and of course the　履歴書), i wouldnt know what else to improve...
 
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The deodorant thread gave me a horrible flashback - When I think of living in Japan, I think of the summers where I would step out the door in the morning in my dark suit, and be dripping in sweat by the time I got to the station. I would feel gross all day. :hungover:

Compared to where I grew up in the USA, love the winters in Tokyo and Okinawa where I visit.
 
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NormalGuy said:
Release dates of movies. Why are Japan so late in getting nearly every movie release?
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because the japanese taste is different from yours, hence priorities with releases, or problems with rights... or maybe no one wants to deal with japanese people, when more japanese bands started touring world wide, many gigs and entire tours have been cancelled, because the japanese managers have been tough to deal with, i also heard once that a few companies dont like to deal with japanese companies, because japanese companies show up for no reason (omotenashi) and just talk and waste the companies time...
 
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vondoom said:
or maybe no one wants to deal with japanese people, when more japanese bands started touring world wide, many gigs and entire tours have been cancelled, because the japanese managers have been tough to deal with, i also heard once that a few companies dont like to deal with japanese companies, because japanese companies show up for no reason (omotenashi) and just talk and waste the companies time...
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I can understand this. I got a new job with a Japanese company in the states and the American workers tell me how they send us around to various places just to meet random people who I may or may not do business with in the future by means of phone and email. Meeting that office worker once face to face doesn't improve the prices my company gets because I'm also just an officer working. Total waste of time. I guess if the managing directors met it would be a different thing but I and the people I'm meeting are no where near that level.

Interesting about the bands. I can understand how it would be a problem. The Japanese probably want it to be a long, drawn out process whereas most nationalities would be like, "Sign the contract. Stage will be clean at 6 pm. You show up and sing and you get 50% of the profits" or however it goes. I have to go meet some people from another office next week. Americans would be like, "Meet them at 10, they'll show you around a bit, then you'll go to lunch and back to your hotel at 5 or so." Japanese, however: "Drive there. Leave at 8 am." That's it. When I get there I guess I just hang out with the people there who don't know I'm coming or care. Some manager will probably invite me to dinner and drinking. And it's not one day, it's 3. I wonder what it will entai.

Japanese work hours are to me amazing. I used to think this about Japanese productivity:
  • They are more organized and work harder than we do. That's why they get paid more and are more successful. Then I learned...
  • They get paid much less per hour than American counterparts because they make US$80,000 to work 60 hours and we make US$60,000 to work 40. Also...
  • The Japanese economy is good because of hard work, I mean, long hours. But then I studied economics to learn...
  • That the Japanese companies looked so good in the 80s and 90s only partially due to great business practices. Most of it was the government giving out low interest loans to banks and tax breaks to corporations, printing extra money, etc.: all processes that created an ongoing bubble economy that eventually deflated slowly and Japan is still suffering from the slowdown.
When I worked at Sharp in Japan and also in my current position at a Japanese company, I realized that there is very little efficiency going on. At Sharp near Osaka, office workers were all day just sitting there doing nothing staring at their Windows XP screen savers. I have pictures. At my current job, the American and Japanese workers are "expected" to work over 40 hours although we are salaried (which is while I'll likely be fired because I'll be leaving at 5:30 like we agreed on in my interview). I've noticed so far everyone seems to work around 50, but in a normal day they take a 2 hour lunch, disappear for 30 min at a time, and sit there talking all day. The amount of work they actually do in a day could be completed in about 3 hours.

For me personally, the job will work as long as my real life comes first (I run a business that isn't yet profitable for me to live on). I have no problem working 8 am to 7 pm, but my hour lunch will be at 1 pm, not noon. And will be doing a half day Wednesday; and doing it from home (my job is a long drive so I rent a room from someone weekdays. I should make a new thread about this job.
 
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I hate it when i smoke in parks (one where i'm sure its ok), then parents will tell their children not to look at me. Sometimes they scurry along when they see me smiling at their kid, then i have to leave my spot because they might have alerted the police of a strange guy at the park.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk
 
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I suppose like any other place you live there are pros and cons. I like the women, the tokyo lifestyle, the list goes on. A few negatives i have about japan is stuff such as the nhk people coming door to door trying to collect money, dumbass meetings, people being too polite so they beat around the bush, how some people segregate foreigners or those who look foreign. My current situation has made me realize one other downside of japan, and that is job hunting. Alot of japanese companies have a period when you apply as a undergraduate. If you dont get accepted to any company you are left in a weird gap as a lot of companies only hire those who are salarymen or those who enter as 新卒.
 
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Jack Hammer said:
I suppose like any other place you live there are pros and cons. I like the women, the tokyo lifestyle, the list goes on. A few negatives i have about japan is stuff such as the nhk people coming door to door trying to collect money, dumbass meetings, people being too polite so they beat around the bush, how some people segregate foreigners or those who look foreign. My current situation has made me realize one other downside of japan, and that is job hunting. Alot of japanese companies have a period when you apply as a undergraduate. If you dont get accepted to any company you are left in a weird gap as a lot of companies only hire those who are salarymen or those who enter as 新卒.
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About those nhk people... I had once a guy coming to my apartment and he was speaking in some kind of weird Japanese and I couldn't understand him. So I was just pretending to not knowing any Japanese. He apologized and left. Never had something happening like this again. Guess they are not very well prepared for English speaking people yet :p
 
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I absolutely hate it :mad:when some young punk sits down in the disabled, elderly section of a train and when it gets crowded they never offer their seat to someone in need. I have been tempted to grab a few of them by the collar or the ear and go TJB:vamp: on them. Fortunately rationality(y) always prevails when the thought of what would go down at the police precint:eek: if i got arrested or the hospital:dead: if heaven forbid the punk knew karate, keeps me in check.
 
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Anna Summer said:
About those nhk people... I had once a guy coming to my apartment and he was speaking in some kind of weird Japanese and I couldn't understand him. So I was just pretending to not knowing any Japanese. He apologized and left. Never had something happening like this again. Guess they are not very well prepared for English speaking people yet :p
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Now just imagine you had talked to him in German :D
 
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Anna Summer said:
About those nhk people... I had once a guy coming to my apartment and he was speaking in some kind of weird Japanese and I couldn't understand him. So I was just pretending to not knowing any Japanese. He apologized and left. Never had something happening like this again. Guess they are not very well prepared for English speaking people yet :p
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Always hit them with the old "テレビは食べません" trick.
 
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hardharry said:
I absolutely hate it :mad:when some young punk sits down in the disabled, elderly section of a train and when it gets crowded they never offer their seat to someone in need. I have been tempted to grab a few of them by the collar or the ear and go TJB:vamp: on them. Fortunately rationality(y) always prevails when the thought of what would go down at the police precint:eek: if i got arrested or the hospital:dead: if heaven forbid the punk knew karate, keeps me in check.
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Just sharply tell them to shift. Once they can no longer fake obliviousness to the situation, they usually move out of embarrassment.
 
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I hate when I go to some coffee shop I order something and ask for take out all in Japanese and the staff reply to me in english. It makes me feel bad because then I wonder if my japanese is shit (it ain't)
I really dislike this although I understand the staff is probably just trying to be nice
 
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I agree that they are probably trying to be nice. It's also possible that, since you speak Japanese, they feel comfortable practicing their English on you. After all, in a way, you are practicing your Japanese with them.

No reason for you to feel badly-it's just a short encounter, not a relationship.
 
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I'm not practicing anything when ordering coffee lol ;)
Just in Rome do as the Romans do, so in Japan I speak japanese.
Also I guess I dislike the fact that because I'm a foreigner they assume I should be able to speak English. Sorry no comprendo :)

Me ranting about such a trivial event is really unreal as it was pointed out previously in this thread we have really small problems here compare to what people encounter back in our native country.
 
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Mr Cat said:
I hate when I go to some coffee shop I order something and ask for take out all in Japanese and the staff reply to me in english. It makes me feel bad because then I wonder if my japanese is shit (it ain't)
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My issue with coffee shops over here is the people that sit there for hours on end, while other people can't get a seat.
Honestly, it's not a library, a study hall, a place to follow women to the toilet, it's a place to drink coffee.

I have no issue with people relaxing and having a chat, but if you are not there to drink your drink then go find a park.
 
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