Quote:
Originally Posted by semprini
... after 3 1/2 years here, my advice to anyone wanting to live in Japan is - DON'T! Not unless you want to live like a second-class citizen and be racially mistreated on a daily basis, anyway. Click on the link below for why I've become so bitter about this place -
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If you stayed for 3 1/2 years, it couldn't have been all bad.
And I think you misinterpret a lot of things on your website. For instance, a sign in English saying the area is patrolled by police can be to reassure foreign visitors that it's a safer area, rather than a warning to foreign criminals.
I lived there 2 years, and I was never assaulted, even when I was traveling alone. I never had any problem getting a taxi to pick me up. I was never refused admission to a place because I'm not Japanese. I did encounter stares, mostly from kids. I did encounter some trouble when trying to find a different apartment, they didn't want to rent to a foreigner.
But the number of good experiences massively outweigh the very few bad ones. A local restaurant delivery man once saw me walking my bike with a flat tire. He stopped on his own (I didn't flag him down, he chose to stop), put my bike in his truck, drove me to a bike repair shop to get the tire fixed, and even haggled with the guy for me to reduce the price!
And another time, a member of the Hiroshima Orchestra spent 45 minutes helping me find my hotel, and drove me to it, despite the fact that it made him late for practice.
And another time, at Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, I didn't know that visitors were supposed to bring their own bath towels, they only rent tiny hand towels there. It was winter time, so just leaving wet wasn't a good option. A Japanese girl I had never seen before in my life overheard my conversation, and simply gave me her own towel, out of the kindness of her heart.
And at a restaurant I often ate at, they noticed that I never ate the Japanese pickles. So they asked me what else I might like, and from then on, they always gave me some fruit or veggies instead of the pickles, including sometimes a slice of watermelon, honeydew melon, some strawberries, or other fruit that probably cost as much as the whole rest of the meal! They never charged extra, they did it out of kindness.
I could go on and on, I have dozens and dozens of stories like this. If after 3 1/2 years you can't find even 1 good thing to say, 1 story of kindness or generosity, then you weren't living in the Japan I know.