Is Japan becoming an even more uptight place?

[joeking]

Showajidai, I feel your pain. I have (or had) pretty good hearing, but I also rely a lot of visual clues. I also realized that I took clues from lip shapes when the trend for masks started and my comprehension took a hit. I make it a habit to say something like sumimasen chotto kikoenikui desu ga to get them to speak louder and more clearly. You may want to say at the start something like sumimasen, mimigawarukute so they immediately compensate rather than get it in their mind that your language ability is the problem.

Another thing to do is to ask at the outset some questions like their name and their extension so you can establish that you can speak the language and if you use their name when you ask confirmation questions, which automatically makes them pay more deference to the conversation. Don't know how this would play out in a deriheru situation, but it works for me with jpn credit card, company phone help.

 

[warubuta]

I have a problem - specific to my personal situation I understand - with Japanese service by phone.

After years of firing mortars and machine-guns in the military I am missing hearing in big chunks of high frequency sound. With modern phone technology being digital, basically being transmitted in 8 bands of which I seem to be missing 3 of the higher end. So way too often when some Japanese woman gets on the line with that high-pitched pretend voice all I can hear is something akin to a mosquito near my ear. Then, of course, they see my name in their records and assume it's a language issue.

That sucks. Doesn't the US military have some high tech implant hearing aid that drops the frequency for you? Hell, those fuckers over there at the NSA have invested quite a bit in listening technology if you know what I mean. If they can turn on your iPhone mic remotely and listen to you argue with your wife, they should also be able to help you with your hearing problem.

 

[warubuta]

Frenchy said that Japan wasn't a cheap tourist destination for Chinese, and I just pointed out that all you needed was 1% of the Chinese population to consider Japan a cheap destination and it would be 'a cheap destination'.

Cheap destinations for the Chinese are Hainan and Vietnam. Maybe Thailand.

 

[Frenchy]

In this way at least it’s getting more “uptight”, but that’s not bad (if it stays reasonable and doesnt become a paranoid thing like in some western countries).
I was puzzled by the middle one: seriously, a guy would say “dont you have kids yet?!” to a female colleague?!

 

[BIPSY]

Regarding the "don't you have kids?" one, that's definitely a pretty common one, at least in more traditional companies.

It seems like at a lot of Japanese companies you have management level men adopting a "fatherly" manner with their female subordinates. Asking about their love lives, the situation with their husbands, etc...

I think it stems from the old-school way of thinking that female employees are basically there as eye candy and then marriage prospects for their male coworkers. In that paradigm a woman would enter a company after university, work for a while as an office lady, get married (theoretically to a male coworker) and then quit when she became pregnant to become a housewife. So, in effect, that question can be inferred to mean "Do you seriously plan to stay around here forever?"

 

[Frenchy]

Regarding the "don't you have kids?" one, that's definitely a pretty common one, at least in more traditional companies.

It seems like at a lot of Japanese companies you have management level men adopting a "fatherly" manner with their female subordinates. Asking about their love lives, the situation with their husbands, etc...

I think it stems from the old-school way of thinking that female employees are basically there as eye candy and then marriage prospects for their male coworkers. In that paradigm a woman would enter a company after university, work for a while as an office lady, get married (theoretically to a male coworker) and then quit when she became pregnant to become a housewife. So, in effect, that question can be inferred to mean "Do you seriously plan to stay around here forever?"

Yeah , I kinda guessed the not-so-subtle intent , but frankly thats very old-school (not just rude). In most firms I know women are now still working even after having kids . And given the labor shortage it’s what Japan needs anyway.

 

[majimekun]

Uptight is cool since it will help Japan avoid becoming a shithole country like France.
Some foreigners here don't get it though.
Just yesterday I had to heavily scold a russian acqaintance who thought it's very smart to avoid paying your transportation fee whenever possible (ie: in case of abscence of physical gates in countryside stations).
I don't even understand why such people are allowed to stay here.

 

[warubuta]

Uptight is cool since it will help Japan avoid becoming a shithole country like France.
Some foreigners here don't get it though.
Just yesterday I had to heavily scold a russian acqaintance who thought it's very smart to avoid paying your transportation fee whenever possible (ie: in case of abscence of physical gates in countryside stations).
I don't even understand why such people are allowed to stay here.

You know we got a guy in the US now who calls other countries shitholes and talks about not allowing foreigners to stay. You don’t want to be like him, do you?

 

[majimekun]

I hate that guy but you'd have to admit that the term "shithole" suits some specific countries perfectly.

You know we got a guy in the US now who calls other countries shitholes and talks about not allowing foreigners to stay. You don’t want to be like him, do you?

 

[warubuta]

I hate that guy but you'd have to admit that the term "shithole" suits some specific countries perfectly.

So don't go to those countries. And go back to wherever you came from because I don't want you here in Japan. How's that make you feel?

 

[majimekun]

I came from another shithole country where I have seen so many naive people like you who now have either deserted the country or are voting far right. Everything looks good until you suddenly get hit by a ton of bricks but too bad it's too late.

This week I went to the immigration office in Shinagawa and saw punks dressed like gangsters getting their 在留カード。Don't tell me it's going to end well okay.

So don't go to those countries. And go back to wherever you came from because I don't want you here in Japan. How's that make you feel?

 

[Simonka]

I hate that guy but you'd have to admit that the term "shithole" suits some specific countries perfectly.

Civilizations throughout history rise and collapse. You can't base your judgements of people on the current state of their country of origin.

Could you be channeling your internalized racism on other ethnicities?

 

[majimekun]

So the correct term should be "current shithole countries", right?
Still shithole anyway

Civilizations throughout history rise and collapse. You can't base your judgements of people on the current state of their country of origin.

 

[Simonka]

I have a very close friend from those "s***hole" countries". She has lost both her parents and supported herself through college.. She's still self educating and an overall great, kind, hard working person. I am way more privileged than her and I was able to attend prestigious school thanks to my parents efforts, but for me she's the real winner. There are many factors included in the current state of countries but on a personal level, we are not that different.

 

[jhingy567]

sorry, can someone please define 'shithole countries'? i'm having some trouble understanding.

 

[majimekun]

As long as your friend respects Japan and its customs/culture I have strictly nothing against her.
I'm only attacking the ones who import their "shittiness" here.

I have a very close friend from those "s***hole" countries". She has lost both her parents and supported herself through college.. She's still self educating and an overall great, kind, hard working person. I am way more privileged than her and I was able to attend prestigious school thanks to my parents efforts, but for me she's the real winner. There are many factors included in the current state of countries but on a personal level, we are not that different.

 

[Simonka]

sorry, can someone please define 'shithole countries'? i'm having some trouble understanding.

Back in the day people used to shit on the streets in Roman Empire , that's why they built public toilets so that people could shit together as a leisure activity

I guess as a descendant of that part of the world I can call myself a proud citizen of a shithole country!

 

[bergmann]

Back in the day people used to shit on the streets in Roman Empire , that's why they built public toilets so that people could shit together as a leisure activity

I guess as a descendant of that part of the world I can call myself a proud citizen of a shithole country!

I hope you've moved on from the whole vinegar-soaked-sponge-on-a-stick-thing?

Somewhere there exists a photograph of a ca. 7-year old Bergmann sitting on one of those shitholes with the kind of grin only a potty-brained 7-year old can muster... Some place just outside Rome if memory serves correctly, remarkably well-preserved.

 

[warubuta]

sorry, can someone please define 'shithole countries'? i'm having some trouble understanding.

I would prefer if he would just stop using the word. It is grating on me and I now need some 5% codiene pain killers. I have this image of him as a slightly chubby blond Hitler Youthish looking guy in chinos and a pink polo shirt pointing at a Chinese combini girl and yelling, “GO BACK TO YOUR SHITHOLE!”

 

[warubuta]

As long as your friend respects Japan and its customs/culture I have strictly nothing against her.
I'm only attacking the ones who import their "shittiness" here.

You need to tell us what you think makes a worthy immigrant. So far you have eliminated all those from shithole countries. Exactly what countries are these? You also seem to want to exclude people who don’t speak Japanese at a certain level. What level is that exactly? You seem to have a dress code too. Please tell us what we need to wear. Polo shirt and chinos I suspect. Anything else we need to do to meet muster in Majimekun’s little kingdom?

 

[MossBoss]

Back in the day people used to shit on the streets in Roman Empire

Gypsies still follow that custom. I have seen them do it in Eastern Europe. Anyway, they are unlikely to ever get into Japan....

 

[warubuta]

Gypsies still follow that custom. I have seen them do it in Eastern Europe. Anyway, they are unlikely to ever get into

India has by far the worse record for shitting in the open. It is a major problem for which there is no excuse. A great Ted x presentation.

 

[cabbie]

Cheap destinations for the Chinese are Hainan and Vietnam. Maybe Thailand.

Not maybe. There are hoards of Chinese in Thailand. I'm pretty sure Thailand gets the poorer, more uneducated Chinese tourists. I've seen some incredibly stupid behavior over there.

 

[uyeo]

too much time spent in tokyo .. w