[Lilongyue]

Hi y'all,

I stumbled across this website, and after reading some of the posts I had to write something. I can't believe how similar sounding are the complaints of the foreigners living in Japan and China! I myself live in China, have for two years. Some of the gripes people have about Japan are pretty much the same here in China - no one lines up (or queues) for anything! It's always a wrestling match to get onto or into overcrowded buses/trains/banks/you name it. China, like the rest of Asia, also cares a lot about "face," and guanxi, which means connections, or relationships. I'm sure Japanese has an equivalent word. If someone in China doesn't know you, then you have no guanxi with them, and frankly, you can go to hell for all they care. I recently learned an old Chinese saying that sums it up. The short version goes something like this - when it snows, I only sweep in front of my door. This applies to all areas of life, including business. Chinese business is exactly the same as Japanese - greet you with a smile, call you friend, and completely screw you over . . . unless, like all Chinese do, you understand that this is simply how business is done, don't take it personally, and get on with the bargaining.

I've met some really bitter foreigners living in China. All they do is get together with other foreigners and bitch about China. They can't find much that's good about China, other than cheap beer and women. I found myself becoming quite bitter, took a break from China, cleared my head, and came back with a specific goal (something a lot of foreigners living in Asia lack), which was studying Chinese. I didn't want to become one of these people who just hate everything around them, who don't respect the Chinese and find fault in everything. I want to be happy.

I've always wanted to visit Japan, and will some day. I had thought about trying to teach there, but only have a two year degree at the moment. Not enough to get a work visa. There are things I admire about Japan, such as clean air. China has some of the worst pollution in the world. The city I live in isn't as bad as others, but on a bad day I can't even see the mountains a mile away. I won't even mention the stuff that ends up in people's drinking water. Japan is an incredibly, environmentally aware country. Those of you who live there can appreciate this, when you can't find anything else.

Japan is also a free country. I'm a Buddhist, and spent nearly a year in India with Tibetan refugees. I've read all about Chairman Mao, I know the truth of the Communist Party, what happened in Tibet, as well as what was done to other Chinese. Unfortunately, no Chinese knows what really happened. The truth of China's recent past has been completely erased, and mythologized. I know Japan has issues with it's past (I know all too well, as Chinese HATE Japan because of what was done in Nanjing, and that Japan hasn't taken responsibility for it), but it doesn't reach the depths of ignorance that it does here in China. Now then, all irony aside, my point is that this is another thing you can reflect on when you've had it with Japan.

Chinese are often called racist by foreigners, and sometimes it's true. If they think a black person looks like a monkey, they will say it. You have a big nose because you're a foreigner, and you'll hear it, perhaps every day. As far as staring goes, I don't think I've ever seen worse staring anywhere, except maybe India. I get stared at every day, without fail, at least once when I'm out, and the city I'm in now is better than the last one I lived in. It's more urbane and cultured, and has more foreigners. Oh, and if the police don't want to bother with you, or just see you as a bother, you should first ask yourself "Do I speak their language?" What would happen if a Japanese person wandered around an American city, refusing or unable to speak English? How would most people react, let alone the police? Right now in America people are angry simply because the government wants to start bilingual (Spanish-English) road signs, and telephone menus, etc. because of the huge number of Mexican immigrants. Many people are saying "They should speak our language!" Why should the Japanese be any different?

Now then, I'm not defending racists, or when something genuinely bad goes down simply because you are a foreigner (I got 12 stitches in my head one night, and it was mostly because I wasn't Chinese), but it helps if you try to see the other side of things. That's what I'm doing now, plus speaking more of the language, and it's made a world of difference.