just4fun
Skeptical? Who me?
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2014
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I can call home anywhere and I hate moving so that's a big reason why I'm still here........for now anyways.
And more food.Japanese women. And the food. And more Japanese women.
If you can get used to living in Japan, its pretty nice, extremely safe, you get a good wage, and costs of living are not too bad (unless you live within the yamanote line). If you live in Tokyo, maybe rent and housing is a bit high, but if you live in saitama, chiba, kanagawa, etc, then its better. I think the racism is pretty irritating (there is an in-group and an out-group clear cut) but the poor here are much better off than they are in America or poorer countries.
Food is really good and high quality for cheap too. The public transport is so convenient (I can vouch only for Tokyo) and the people are nice. There are pros and cons comparing Japan to other first world countries, but it comes out ahead of quite a few countries, I think
I'm having the opposite situation. My wife prefers to live in my home country and she's the reason we left Japan. An I go there more often than her. She spend 3 weeks by her family only once in 2 or 3 years while I spend 2 months in Japan every year.I am curious - I hear a lot of stories about how people on this forum work multiple jobs etc. So what is it that keeps you in Japan? Would you not be better in your home countries amongst family and friends?
Why do many women who marry non-Japanese want to settle down in Japan? As a man do any of you feel insecure given visa issues? And how about your careers?
I am curious and very interested to understand different cultural perspectives
I'm having the opposite situation. My wife prefers to live in my home country and she's the reason we left Japan. An I go there more often than her. She spend 3 weeks by her family only once in 2 or 3 years while I spend 2 months in Japan every year.
That's quite rude. N3 is not bad at all. Given that most Japanese people have never left their country and that people who speak N3 Japanese often know two or more other languages, who is not interesting? Especially since they don't have much interests, hobbies and passions.I think theres a bit of unsaid disdain. If you speak Japanese fluently and join a nice company, I don't think you'll have much trouble (since most of the trouble with racism comes from working). That being said, I think a lot of foreigners don't speak Japanese at a proper level and this really means that you bring a lot of stuff onto yourself. Quite a few foreigners tell me how they're great at Japanese and they're like N3 or so and they wonder why its hard to make friends or acclimate to Japan. (N3 is like speaking like a 3rd or 4th grader). Donald Trump uses an english lexicon befitting a 5th grader and the first thing that pops up into my mind is that he's immature, so of course if you flip it, Japanese people will get the impression that you're not particularly interesting or worth their time to talk to.
I think theres a bit of unsaid disdain. If you speak Japanese fluently and join a nice company, I don't think you'll have much trouble (since most of the trouble with racism comes from working). That being said, I think a lot of foreigners don't speak Japanese at a proper level and this really means that you bring a lot of stuff onto yourself. Quite a few foreigners tell me how they're great at Japanese and they're like N3 or so and they wonder why its hard to make friends or acclimate to Japan. (N3 is like speaking like a 3rd or 4th grader). Donald Trump uses an english lexicon befitting a 5th grader and the first thing that pops up into my mind is that he's immature, so of course if you flip it, Japanese people will get the impression that you're not particularly interesting or worth their time to talk to.
My point is, you don't get good overnight. You can work really hard on your Japanese and in other aspects of your life and still not be on a high enough level to get accepted. Plus some people learn easier than others.If you work, there's not much racism
I'm not Japanese, I learned it just like everyone else here. When I spoke poorly, I found it hard to get my point across and that made it irritating to communicate without using my english or spanish as a crutch. Since I'm a foreigner, if I want any sort of office job, then I need to have N1 proficiency. I have N2 but I find none of the firms really want N2, they just want N1. My english school has no Japanese requirement, they just talk to you in Japanese and they can tell fairly quickly how good you are at JP.
Japanese girls are pretty cute as a whole, but I think they overdo the immature kawaii stuff. It's really insufferable after a while. They're also pretty polite. I guess I'd prefer it if they could keep up with a lot of the subjects I like to converse about (politics, philosophy, music, psychology, etc.) and I really like to hear people that are passionate about what they do or like.
I'm not saying that though. I'm not saying I got better overnight, I'm not saying anyone got better overnight. I'm simply saying, if you put the work in and try, you have your shot in Japan. If you don't try much (like the foreigners in my story) then you lose your right to complain. I don't like people who come up with excuses. That's my worldview.
Interesting! I must say your Wife is pretty generous in letting you go away for two months!! Let me not jinx your freedom!I'm having the opposite situation. My wife prefers to live in my home country and she's the reason we left Japan. An I go there more often than her. She spend 3 weeks by her family only once in 2 or 3 years while I spend 2 months in Japan every year.
I love it there, of course there are some low points but there are so many good points there and important ones :
security : safest country I've been to. you can walk anywhere at any time without being worried.
cleanness : cleanest country I've been to. you'll never walk on a dog shit in Japan.
services quality : best service in the world and you don't even have to pay tip for that.
people's education : every one is so polite
Very interesting.... I don't think I've heard anyone mention this before. I'll have to ask around ...my boss and his friends even say that they get the creeps when foreiners use anything but watashi when referring to themselves... exception: people who speak like natives and it fits the character...
we lived there for years before a good job opportunity made us move to my home country.Now I understand, you do not live here in Japan.
That's pretty much my experience.I probably speak N3 to N2, but writing is another story...
On on average day, I speak a lot of Japanese and it's usually to people that you'd think would look down on someone with such a 'poor' speaking ability. However, that's not my experience at all. Since I am not Asian, I immediately get this 'pass' and people don't expect me to speak, read or write Japanese at all. However, when I do speak Japanese in a business setting and do it in a formal manner, it earns bonus points but they still leave me some allowance to make a jackass out of myself if I flub a few words or grammar.
In another light, Asian friends that look like they could be Japanese, get treated like crap because they are seen as an Asian and in a lot of cases, could be Japanese. But, when they cannot speak a lick of Japanese, they instantly get this dumbfounded look and rude comments about how stupid they must be not to understand such basic Japanese...
I'm not exactly sure how you measure success in Japan, but I'm just as comfortable here as I would be in my hometown. (If you asked me 10 years ago, you'd get a much different answer and I probably would have old you that I was sure that I'd go back to my home country after a couple of years (or less).