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.

The midwife who ran our nct session had given birth in Japan (albeit many years ago) it sounds very backward compared to Western countries ; no pain relief and no interest in mothers wishes frankly you subsume to the Drs. I also saw the thread recently of poor woman terrified of giving birth there and thought oh no change. In general it’s quite a mysgonist and patriarchal society .

There was also another thread recently of someone struggling with her MIL in Japan and several people who understood Japan explaining that foreigners are treated very differently and she’d struggle to do things like rent property or be taken seriously. I’m sure there are lots of good things about Japan but it’s certainly not utopia

Yeah I'm hoping so. 😊

I feel the same as you, Japan has it's ups and downs but it's my home. 😊

...longest life expectancy, lowest infant mortality...

Crikey, what on earth happened on your previous holidays?!?

Yep, love Japan. 🩷

Disability rights and beleifs are appalling.
Misogynistic behaviour and beleifs is shocking. Some things woman go through jave made me wince and cry(working with)
I think being a tourist once again shows a very different country to day to day living.
The ethic of order and work is horrible. And it's a controlled way of life people are born into so get on with it. But does that make it right...sadly not and ypu see humans not cope with, the mind eventually just go fuuuuck and it causes huge suicide,isolation and loneliness issues.
That is a counteract of your gushing post though. Of course it can be great for other reasons.
But do remember you are shown the tv scene set of the country not the actual living it.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I lived there for 13 years and this is absolutely not true for the majority of the population, at least not these days.

Japan is what all countries should aspire to.

Yes.

And an age of consent that was only raised from 13 to 16 last year.

Huge problems with VAMG https://www.flowerdemo.org/about-us-in-english

But lots of people love it. My carer is currently sitting in an airport waiting for a flight to Tokyo, he loves the place.

Me making a doctors appointment in japan.
can i have an appointment? Sure when? This morning? Ok you re no 15 but please come here for 10? Ok . Finish

They should have open borders, I’d move there in a heartbeat.

I'm really not convinced.about that.

The misogyny is horrific.
Work, life balance is very poor.

Interesting to visit but hardly aspirational as a way of life.

But do remember you are shown the tv scene set of the country not the actual living it.

This. The societal problems in Japan run very deep indeed. You just don’t see them.

I’m interested as am planning a visit next autumn.

Have been advised to visit Hiroshima esp the excellent and very sobering museum in memory of the nuclear bomb.

What did you mean OP when you said:

« prices/affordability about same as London but get way more for your money »

… if you get way more for your money then prices/affordability in Japan is better than London, no?

I lived in Tokyo twenty years ago, straight after graduation so I was young and free. I loved it. It’s like London only bigger, cleaner, better organised, much safer and far cooler (I’m from London).

The people I made friends with were also some of the most wonderful I have ever known.

Didn’t stay because their work/life balance is crazily non-existent. Plus it’s too far away from home for my liking (now I live in Berlin).

Wish I could go back to visit more often.

Same here - I lived there for over 20 years and love the place. It really gets into your soul, and it feels like home when I go back.

They are also experiencing major increases in living expenses relative to earnings. it's great if you go there with £/€/$.

They also have their problems, but highly value social cohesion. They don't want to live in a dirty, crime-infested shit hole, so they tolerate neither. Hey presto! You've got a clean and safe place to live - no graffiti etc.

Women get on far better than they used to. My daughter has a decent job there and is doing well. They also have a clear understanding of difference between the sexes, which I think is good. Describing Japan as misogynistic is, I feel, culturally blinkered.

Immigration is tightly controlled, although the foreign community is expanding atm. Citizenship is rarely given, so all foreigners are on some kind of visa - any crime orher than a misdemeanor and you're out!

I went back for the first time after covid last March, and believe me, my heart sang on the train in from NRT. Nowhere else has that effect on me.

It sounds like Amelie Norhomb's Fear and Trembling, which I'm reading right now, although a bit exaggerated & oudated, probs isn't that wide of the mark re the strictly hierarchical working culture.
I listened to an interesting episode of Betwixt The Sheets recently about geisha. The author interviewed had lived I'm their area & was awed by their dancing, singing etc talents. However, I felt the whole 'pandering to men' and requiring a patron aspect was pretty glossed over. Japan, even now, seems to have preserved its older traditions v well. In some ways this is good, in others not so. W regard to sexual matters, things seem to have gone downhill in some ways. Japan's supposed sexual freedom applied mainly to men in the past, but now, while women have more freedom, hentai etc promotes underage fetishes, assault etc.. Whereas back in the 1800s, shunga (erotic paintings) seemed to be mainly non-violent & acknowledge female pleasure.

I have friends who are half Japanese.

They'd never live there.

There's a lot of racism, there's a lot of sexism. As a Japanese (or half Japanese) woman you have much better opportunities outside of Japan. None of them would ever consider moving back to Japan.

Yes, the streets are clean and the trains run on time. There are more important things (in their view).

I think we should have much higher expectations for people. I've just watched on Sky News - 50% of people who suffer from Anti-Social Behaviour have had the issue for over 5 years.

It's frustrating that going to work in many low income jobs barely pays and the taxes you pay don't even protect you from ongoing harassment.

I read this, it was awful. Poor woman was being treated appalling and a couple of really knowledgeable posters wee putting in the context of the Japanese culture and expectations. So sad for her

All counties have good and bad.

There was just a recent revelation that a Tokyo medical school automatically knocked points of women's qualifying tests to prevent them making the grade to attend the school.

And some of the atrocities around the time of WW2... I mean, many countries have crimes of cruelty to answer for and God knows the British do but there is something about the Japanese behaviour around that time that makes my blood run cold.

Not a great place to be a woman with a child if you want to be treated as an adult....
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5143204-my-mother-in-law-wants-to-decide-what-to-keep-from-a-baby-showerdonation

I'd love to visit.

But it's not a perfect culture, the misogyny is disturbing. Just last week there was an article about school girls being forced to be examined topless during routine school health checks.