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.

Sounds a lot like the UK!

Came here to say that, as well as deeply entrenched cultural ideas around marriage/ divorce, and and extremely high suicide rate...

She is saying the higher the number of minorities the higher the risk of such issues. It's very easy to say hey were not racist when you have 0.001% minority (exaggerating the number here). The more minorities you have especially as they integrate and start to take on visible roles the higher the pushback and anti immigration sentiments.

In Japan as a black person you are limited in what you can accomplish let's not sugar coat it. Countries like the UK or US are not perfect when it comes to racism but minorities do a lot better into those countries than a country like Japan. As a black person you are also ranked so an African American or a black person from the UK is with a US or UK passport is treated differently from a black person with a eg Nigerian passport. This is also an issue in other Asian countries like Singapore.

Did I say it did? Racism makes a country racist.

In Japan miso ramen is usually not vegetarian. Just in case any vegetarians are thinking this is a safe option in Japan. The traditional recipe for miso ramen is chicken broth based and will have dashi in it too. A lot of omurice will also contain meat.

For vegetarians that want to be sure their food is vegetarian rather than just avoiding visible meat, Japan can be a tricky place to eat. Even things you might expect to be safe like Tamagoyaki often contain dashi. If you’re relaxed about eating a bit of dashi here or there then it’s less of an issue.

Crisps or plain onigiri is safe though right? Just checking in case I ever get to go.
Dashi or broth doesn't bother me as i'm begetarian because I don't like the texture of meat, chewy and gross makes me shudder.

I’ve already said that I don’t think Japan is a perfect utopia. It’s a flawed society with problems like any other. I find the sweeping statements about Japanese people being racist to be really problematic. It’s one thing to say Japan has issues, it’s another to suggest that Japanese people as a whole are racist. Some kinds of discrimination and racism are more common in Japan than here, others are less common. You can discuss the issues without the tone of western superiority that some posters have used. Words like “backwards” have been used more than once.

Most crisps and plain onigiri are fine.

Lots of things that would be made vegetarian in a Japanese restaurant in the U.K. will not be veggie over there. If you’re ok with eating meat broth and dashi you’ll be fine. Chunks of meat are easy enough to avoid, but lots of stuff has invisible meat- or fish-based ingredients.

I live in the middle of nowhere so no yummy Japanese restaurants around here. I make my own stuff with recipes I find online&ingredients off amazon, not authentic I know, but it's the best I can do.

I agree with you that he's not everyone in Japan so racist and also with your point about the time of Western superiority. Japan has it's good and bad same as every other country.

I haven't read all the posts because frankly it was getting repetitive so I must have missed the posts that you're referencing.

Completely agree.

I spent 3 weeks there with my dh and kids in April and we LOVED it. But it's a complex culture, and while it's fascinating, it's not anywhere I'd choose to work (as a woman) and raise a family.

The Japanese are very xenophobic and it's literally impossible to integrate there if you weren't born in Japan with Japanese parents. It's also legal to pay women less for the same job as a man, as they're seen as less reliable with kids at home or a family in their future. I would love to read a book on Japanese society and understand a bit about how they got to where they are.

I would love to go back for another holiday (we're pining over the food!)

I absolutely love eating in Japanese restaurants in the UK and Europe. But I didn't see any of the dishes we eat here when I was in Japan, or at least I couldn't recognise them. Even when there was an English translation, it was often pretty hard to work out what was in something. As I said, that was our bad, not Japan's. I felt a bit sad because Tokyo is a great city to eat in by all accounts.

Possibly because the language is not spoken by many people outside of Japan? Completely different alphabet etc might also make it difficult to learn.

I did hear there were lots of incentives to try and encourage immigration because they have an issue with not enough younger people

Yes 🙌 been there , loved it !!! And we will definitely go back !
We loved Tokyo .
So impressed by the efficiency, cleanliness, friendliness , train etiquette and we spent a fair bit of time in their beautiful parks !!
I think I walked to Yanaka Ginza and Sendagi multiple times , had coffee there and wandered the markets , stopped at shrines etc , found a wonderful bakery in a quirky little spot .
Went to Akihabara x 2 , Asakusa x 2 , Ueno , Shibuya , Harajuku and so on !
Wandered locally where we lived …amazing

I went in sakura season, it was beautiful. Lovely atmosphere too.

My DS lives in Tokyo, he says spring and autumn are best. Winter is OK, can get really cold but summer is unbearable. Hot, humid, you have to carry a towel to wipe the sweat away. He loves hot and humid but it's too much for him.
We went end of March to see the blossom, most days it was t-shirt weather by midday (the Japanese were still in overcoats and gloves!) and perfect for walking and sightseeing.

My husband works with a lot of Japanese scientist/surgeons. They are all workaholics with incredibly stressful lives and don’t dare disagree with their boss or say no to a night out or even take their paid vacation or day off a week. We had a Japanese student stay for 6 weeks and he went to the cinema once with us and the whole rest of the time he was shut in his room studying. It seems like a horrible way to live to me. None of them seem to be happy.

and I can’t get over the way they treated POW, comfort women etc. I don’t think I could visit without being really aware that they view westerners as soft and undisciplined.

@Thefsm
and I can’t get over the way they treated POW, comfort women etc. I don’t think I could visit without being really aware that they view westerners as soft and undisciplined

That was a long, long time ago. No one should ever forget the atrocities of the past but surely you have to 'get over' things that happened generations ago.

I've lived in four different continents and have travelled to many countries and Japan is still my favourite country. Obviously it's not perfect but it's an amazing place to visit. People are polite, friendly, helpful and wonderfully honest. The stories about people leaving handbags and cell phones unattended on tables in coffee shops while they go to the bathroom are true. It's so clean too.

If you’re just visiting Japan, most of the negative points mentioned in this thread will have absolutely no impact on you whatsoever. You’ll have a wonderful time seeing some beautiful places, eating delicious food and meeting very kind and courteous people. The Japanese pride themselves on their hospitality and will often go out of their way to help foreign visitors, even if they speak little English.

if you live here for any amount of time, you'll encounter various problems - the working culture, quiet xenophobia (try renting an apartment as a foreigner!), and the weird hierarchies and societal roles for women.

Now, for the sake of fairness, I’ll tell you some of the things I’ve heard or read about the UK from some Japanese people.

”Their food is terrible - overpriced and tasteless”
”The women are all fat” (overheard this week)
”The adults snack on crisps and chocolates like children.”
”Nothing works, everything is broken”
”You guys colonized a third of the world!”
”My friend did a home stay in London and her host mother gave her canned soup every day for lunch!”
”Their museums are just full of stuff they stole from the countries they colonized.”
”They’re racist against East Asians. My friend had someone shout Jackie Chan at him out of their car window.”
”I heard you are all really obsessed with social class.”
”I saw the riots on the news last week. Are your family in the UK alright?”
…and so on.

Of course, that is not really a fair assessment of the UK, either. And many Japanese are really interested in the UK, in its literature, history, culture, music, sports, and so on.

Of course, that is not really a fair assessment of the UK, either
@Mencho I think the things you've heard or read about the UK from some Japanese people amount to a fair & accurate assessment of the UK.

I agree except - the food culture in the UK really varies. Japanese are used to restaurants being the best place to eat - in the UK it's home cooking, which they're not exposed to.

@ChishiyaBat

TV here is SO boring!! Literally none of these drama's we're exposed to in the west or anything. Basically anything remotely interesting resulted in them being sued for some reason, so TV became dead dull.

Above is a link of a British youtuber (a little famous amoung us) and he does a very accurate description of Japanese TV.

Also, when you're in Japan, things like English subtitles on Netflix are gone - only Japanese subtitles. I can understand simple stuff, but a police drama is beyond me

My DS has lived in Japan for 8 years, he's rented several apartments in that time, with absolutely no trouble

To be fair, I wouldn’t disagree with any of those apart from that we are racist towards Asians. I don’t think we have much to boast about in this country.

Here I am popping up again because I spent a while there 🇯🇵.
I also loved that I could go for a bus and in a few minutes a bus actually came !!! 🤣
I liked that I never saw dog 🐶 poo 💩
I liked that all dog walkers walked their dogs with a water bottle to wash away the pee .
I loved the courtesy shown when i was offered seats on the train ( I’m older ) fat chance of that happening to me here 😂
I loved that in small independent stores the women went out of their way to speak some English to me ( you look pretty in this really )
I loved the staff in Komeda coffee a very sweet boy who kept checking we were ok and brought us water first ( good luck with that in Costa here 😂) and all our food promptly moved chairs for us etc to make room .
I loved the laugh and smile of the older woman counting out our coins for us to pay for sandwiches in a tiny bakery .
I loved the women in a speciality food store who went out of their way for us .
The older man who served us matcha ice cream cones ..I could go on .
However I appreciate I would not cope at all in summer there and I wouldn’t live there .
Each country has its positives and negatives