Japan is being sucked into a shit blackhole

[majimekun]

The Japan of 20 years ago.
And Japan now.
Such a stark contrast.

I'm asking the long-timers : what has gotten worse in your opinion?

Me : the young don't know how to dress anymore.

20 years ago :

Now:

 

[Durg50]

Narita airport.

 

[ShowaJidai]

Manners in public are definitely going downhill. People walking around looking at their phones (and recently books too) expect everybody around them to make space for them.

 

[cabbie]

Wages in my field have gone down noticeably.

 

[scotchgambit]

I can only compare it to 10 years ago, and don’t think it’s got noticeably worse since then.

Actually - yeah, the phone zombie thing. But that’s everywhere, not just Japan.

 

[Santi333]

Current managers and management (lack of skills and knowledge) in Japanese companies and corporations.

So many Japanese companies are failing and loosing global market share to other countries, like Koreans and Chinese companies. Simply due to management not knowing what to do, how to action things in a short period of time. Can't adapt. Can't see the fact that they have so many pointless meetings that doesn't create any results or productivity.

I'd better stop before I drag on.

 

[Ken1988]

Much more hadaka on terrestrial TV 20 years ago.

 

[warubuta]

All of the large cities in the world have become similar due to globalization and the internet. So Tokyo, just like everywhere else, is less unique than it was. This includes the fashion, the food, the way people think and act, etc. There are idiots who applaud this homogenization, calling it multi-culturalism - idiots all of them. Specific to Tokyo, I miss meeting people, especially women, who have never spoken to a gaijin before. I liked being an exotic alien from the distant planet Kaigai. And I liked being cut off from the rest of the world. I actually think it was more interesting and exciting not having Shake Shack burgers for lunch and access to the NYT on my Ipad. These days, for all practical purposes, I might as well be in New York or Singapore or Dublin. Same fucking Shake Shack and NYT.

 

[ShowaJidai]

All of the large cities in the world have become similar due to globalization and the internet. So Tokyo, just like everywhere else, is less unique than it was. This includes the fashion, the food, the way people think and act, etc. There are idiots who applaud this homogenization, calling it multi-culturalism - idiots all of them. Specific to Tokyo, I miss meeting people, especially women, who have never spoken to a gaijin before. I liked being an exotic alien from the distant planet Kaigai. And I liked being cut off from the rest of the world. I actually think it was more interesting and exciting not having Shake Shack burgers for lunch and access to the NYT on my Ipad. These days, for all practical purposes, I might as well be in New York or Singapore or Dublin. Same fucking Shake Shack and NYT.

Yeah, I was thinking this but thought it was too obvious to mention (maybe it isn't) and I don't have a proper M-1 Garand to be telling anybody to get off my lawn.

 

[MikeH]

Yeah, I was thinking this but thought it was too obvious to mention (maybe it isn't) and I don't have a proper M-1 Garand to be telling anybody to get off my lawn.

I like my M1 Carbine more. Easier to handle, faster to shoot and looks cute too! And like all the best spinners it's [Redacted #91].

 

[Coda87]

Things always changing, some for the better some for the worse. I agree with some of the above posts. But one thing better than 20 years ago is that P4P for gaijin in Tokyo is much easier nowadays. And we have TAG too.

 

[ShowaJidai]

But one thing better than 20 years ago is that P4P for gaijin in Tokyo is much easier nowadays.

Yeah, but 40 years ago there was P4P just for foreigners (primarily for GI's) and they were smoking hot and dirt cheap. If there was ever a time and place I would want to have frozen for me to visit for the rest of my life that would be Japan in 1979.

 

[RightOn6975]

So here is my little claim to infamy here.

A few years back was in Tokyo with a few of my friends. We were in Akihabara, I was already pissed from earlier in the day because of our time eating at a Denny's restaurant, I had also tripped earlier that day and twisted my ankle and managed to rack myself on a bollard only to have my friends laugh at me while I am rolling around in pain (fuckers). These clowns decided to keep a ridiculous pace leaving me in the dust. I was hungry, I was nicotine fitting, I was in pain, and becoming more and more frustrated at the fact that people would randomly stop right in front of me instead of going to the side to check out an item in the store. Another gem was a mother giving me a stank face because I did not give her enough space even though I was against a barrier trying my best to allow her and her children through.

With my frustrations at an all-time high, I was at my boiling point, all that was needed was someone, ANYONE to set off my powder keg. Welp that happened. As we approached what looked like an electronics store right across the street from the AKB48 theater, we noticed that there was a crowd there waiting on someone. We kept walking, my friends had gone past the entrance when a female appeared, stopped RIGHT IN FRONT of me!! She had stopped right in the MAIN pedestrian path to wave to her fans I guess. Welp, me being me said, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU STOPPING IN FRONT OF ME?!?!" She promptly turned and left. My friends turned around to see the commotion and asked what had happened. I told them and explained what was going on, and what do these assholes do? FUCKING LAUGH!!! *sigh* I love them though. Even now, I laugh at this. It is not my proudest moment as well, yeah.

 

[RightOn6975]

Yeah, but 40 years ago there was P4P just for foreigners (primarily for GI's) and they were smoking hot and dirt cheap. If there was ever a time and place I would want to have frozen for me to visit for the rest of my life that would be Japan in 1979.

I always wondered if my father had a love child here. I SWEAR TO GOD, I saw the Japanese light skin doppelganger of myself.

 

[Acid Burn]

I'm asking the long-timers : what has gotten worse in your opinion?

For me it’s the amount of loud obnoxious tourists nowadays. Not just at 20 years ago even, but also thinking back just 10 years ago.

The barrier for entry to visit Japan feels much easier than it was 20 years ago where it was much less frequent to come across someone who went to japan for a vacation than it is nowadays where everybody and their grandmother is going there now. I remember having to be able to read the destinations in Japanese on the subway map to figure out where to go. Now everything’s in English. So I find places are starting to feel more touristy than before. Especially with 2020 coming around the corner. Some places, what used to feel like a place to experience Japan culture, now feels like tourist trap.

People walking around looking at their phones

I was actually surprised how much less they do this here than back home. But this is everywhere really now. Especially kids.

 

[Rusty Trombone]

OK I’m a cunt and I know it, but in the last 3 weeks I’ve been stopped in several places by gaijin who are leading kids camps for summer.
I’m walking along minding my own business, and the gaijin leader of the pack will ask me if a I can spare a few minutes to talk to these kids.
I politely say I’m meeting someone, but my Honne is fuck off and leave me alone!!

 

[RightOn6975]

For me it’s the amount of loud obnoxious tourists nowadays. Not just at 20 years ago even, but also thinking back just 10 years ago.

The barrier for entry to visit Japan feels much easier than it was 20 years ago where it was much less frequent to come across someone who went to japan for a vacation than it is nowadays where everybody and their grandmother is going there now. I remember having to be able to read the destinations in Japanese on the subway map to figure out where to go. Now everything’s in English.

Your answer starts at 2:40 in however it is worth the watch.

 

[ShowaJidai]

What we are seeing is a wave of tourists who no longer require any prior knowledge about Japan because their i-phones will guide them to anything they want to do here. 40 years ago I had to learn the language, understand the culture, find out about the history to experience Japan. Now all you need is an airplane ticket and a phone.

 

[Sudsy]

OK I’m a cunt and I know it, but in the last 3 weeks I’ve been stopped in several places by gaijin who are leading kids camps for summer.
I’m walking along minding my own business, and the gaijin leader of the pack will ask me if a I can spare a few minutes to talk to these kids.
I politely say I’m meeting someone, but my Honne is fuck off and leave me alone!!

I don't have any reason to be polite to them, they're basically trying to use me as a free class resource. Screw that, I don't work for nothing.

 

[TheScientist]

So here is my little claim to infamy here.

That was you? Small world.

I'll give my usual thought when the "gaijin complains that japan sucks these days" thread comes up anywhere: "if you dislike where you are so much, move".

 

[Durg50]

I don't have any reason to be polite to them, they're basically trying to use me as a free class resource. Screw that, I don't work for nothing.

Im a pretty miserable and cynical guy but tbh this doesnt bother me at all. I dont mind helping kids practise their english, its just a couple mins of your time. Try talking to them next time!

 

[ShowaJidai]

"if you dislike where you are so much, move".

I left what "that" was to come to what "this" was. But now both "that" and "this" have changed so much that neither is recognizable to me. There's no way to go back. Sometimes I feel like Highlander - like I've outlived my era so far that I no longer fit anywhere.

 

[LeonGRAY]

I don't have any reason to be polite to them, they're basically trying to use me as a free class resource. Screw that, I don't work for nothing.

Exactly. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Pay or stfu.

 

[warubuta]

I left what "that" was to come to what "this" was. But now both "that" and "this" have changed so much that neither is recognizable to me. There's no way to go back. Sometimes I feel like Highlander - like I've outlived my era so far that I no longer fit anywhere.

As you get older you need to stop looking for the best place to live and start making the best place to live. This is best accomplished with family, friends, meaningful work and lots of money in the bank. If you have these things, the sub-optimal place you live in doesn’t matter so much.

 

[Sudsy]

Im a pretty miserable and cynical guy but tbh this doesnt bother me at all. I dont mind helping kids practise their english, its just a couple mins of your time. Try talking to them next time!

If a kid walks up to me and tries to practice their English, I'm totally down. Actually happens a lot in my neighbourhood, the kids around here know I'm friendly.

If I'm out and about and their mum pushes them to say hello, I'll be absolutely nice to the kids. And the parents too.

If an English teacher tries to rope me in to be their unpaid mobile class assistant, that teach will get told to fuck off in no uncertain terms (in a very polite tone and said quickly so the kids don't understand.)

I'm not down to assist a paid enterprise as a free resource.