just got back from japan. omg wow.

[TheBlueHoney]

What a country! I saw much right there compared to Britain. 100x better infrastructure, friendlier people, safer street, luxury amazing looking roads, most well behaved children I've ever seen, modesty, people dress well, public transport etiquette, quality of food and healthy population, fantastic healthcare, longest life expectancy, lowest infant mortality, prices/affordability about same as London but get way more for your money everything better quality and no tipping culture, public bathrooms accessible everywhere and so clean and modern with built in tech. I could go on and on.

My brother and my nephew have been this year (separately) and both absolutely loved it. I was really surprised at how cheap they found it as well. I'm hoping to get over soon ,hopefully for cherry blossom season (and me and dd want to go to Hello Kitty land 😀)

I went twice with my late DH, some time ago, and it's one of the few places I'd go back to in heartbeat.

My 19 year old son went travelling this year, Japan was his favourite place out of all the countries he visited.

I'm sure it's clean and lovely but doesn't it have a really high suicide rate?

Japanese people are taught from birth to take responsibility for the spaces they move in, more so if it is space used by others even than their own. They undo everything they do and leave things as they find them. I think it is this 'respect' that they are famous for but people assume its 'respect' as we know it. Japanese respect is more like harmony. I really wish the West would adopt more Japanese ideology in terms of how they move through life.

There are massive weaknesses in the Japanese culture too. Many very subtle. Some misunderstood - misogyny is there but again, not in the form we understand it to be.

Its complex.

Rigid misogynistic social attitudes and school girl fetishes…?

I don't like it much. And the culture shock is huge tbh. )although that's my problem of course)

My colleague said when she worked in Japan they expected the women to come in early and clean the offices they worked in no matter their seniority but not the men. This was 20/30 years ago though.

I've heard people rave about it, hope to go myself one day. It's been on my bucket list for a long time

That's sortof the point of visiting other countries 😅

Children are well behaved because they've been smacked into submission.

@Galoop hence why I then stated that the culture shock is my problem ...

And that's not quite true. I don't have a culture shock visiting America or Spain or France etc etc. Japan IS a huge culture shock in terms of their attitudes and that's a point worth making

It does which is one of its only real standout challenges, however to put it into perspective it still has a significantly lower mortality rate of young teenagers and young adults compared to UK and nearly every European country, due to their top healthcare system, really safe roads minimising road deaths and virtually 0 homicide rate, which counteracts their high suicide rate results a lower mortality rate among young people than all but 2 countries

Children are well behaved because they've been smacked into submission.

Well. Wonderful then. NOT.

FFS.

Sounds like the 1950's Ireland.

my mum japanese and my father indonesian. My parents never laid hand on me. Me too never laid hand on my kids. My kids behaved well better than kids in here.

everytime i send my children to school i heard a lot of parents swearing in front of their children, they dont do discipline at all. That gentle parenting crap + put swear words here and there while talking in front of your child. Thats what makes children here not behaving well.

we dont hit, but we discipline our kids properly.

Interesting

Hikikomori: Japanese youths living in their bedroom | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

No country is perfect. You have selected one article, mental health among youth is actually statistically worse than in the uk

I hear wonderful things about Japan and I read there are many empty houses. Do you know why it isn't a popular place for immigrants who feel displaced in their country of birth to move to?
"In Japan, unlike other countries, there are no restrictions for foreigners based on whether or not they have permanent resident status, Japanese nationality, or based on their visa type. This means that foreigners are allowed to own both land and buildings in Japan as real estate properties."
Could it help to solve current issues in Europe and the US?
Probably a hugely naive question.

Where did you go OP? I'm going in April and am currently planning my trip.

Tokyo, but also ventured out to kyoto, osaka and yokahoma

It’s a wonderful country but it does have its problems. There is a huge problem with loneliness, isolation and suicide due to the high pressure work culture with an awful work/life balance. Then you’ve got the hikikomori where people deliberately isolate themselves and withdraw from society completely due to the pressure and anxiety. A lot of complex issues which come from high pressure since childhood. Nowhere is perfect.

Japan's immigration and refugee policy has been criticized for being restrictive, and some say that the country's government is reluctant to accept refugees for political reasons
I would love to go and see Japan, but you have to understand it's 97% Japanese because they really do not take refugees, they don't take asylum seekers and what happened is their birth rate is really bad and they have now got a massive problem with too many old people and not enough young people.
I watched a documentary which actually thought was a very good idea which could work in this country in exchange for freehousing. They would let young people live in like a carehome situation. And before they started their proper work, they would get free accommodation if they volunteered. And help cooked, etc for these old people. So it would save them money on accommodation. But they would also get credit as well for helping.
Then, because there is such a old persons actually got to be asked if these old people themselves could also volunteer it if they were not ill And maybe do education, etc, to keep their brains working.

I agree OP. Such a calm ordered respectful culture. They don’t do everything right, but they do things a lot better than in the west IMHO.

It's my dream holiday, I would love to go. I want to go to Tokyo first and stay in Asakusa. I would love to go to Nara, Kyoto, Yokohama and everywhere else too though!
Where did you stay? Did you go to Shibuya?