[samurai007]

Originally Posted by swiftwind

Wow. What a great thread. I really enjoyed reading it.

I agree that many people want to move to Japan for the wrong reasons. For Example:

1. Manga/Anime - I don't really have to explain this one but lets just say...many people on this forum have some manga or anime icon. I'm sure not all of them are anime/manga freaks, but its the first thing I look for when reading posts here. People have no idea what type of personality they're going to deal with but they think they do because they watch Japanese TV. I don't want to generalize but...

2. Japanese/Asian Fever - We all know what I'm talking about. People want to have Japanese girlfriends/boyfriends, they don't care what kind of personality they have as long as they're asian at least if not Japanese(Again, look at member icons...it may or may not tell you about their motives for wanting to move). One guy actually told me he just wanted an asian wife to take care of him. I wanted to beat him to the ground really badly.

3. Using Japan as a crutch - Many people who want to move to Japan want to move because they're unhappy with their current lifestyle. It may be because they have little or no friends, or not happy with their jobs, or being single. To those people I say - you have how many states in the US? have you ever bothered to travel domestically? Do you know what you're missing out on? who knows, maybe its you that needs to change and not the place you live in.


Now I want to list things you might want to think twice about before you say "I want to live in Japan". Keep in mind my wife is Japanese but I only visited Japan twice. However, I have heard this from people who do live in Japan or have experienced this myself:

1. Discrimination - Its EVERYWHERE. You will always be considered an outsider. I remember people avoiding me everywhere. At the grocery stores its usually crowded but people always moved away from me. People walking their dogs would take alternate routes. When you cross the street, people will keep their distance from you (in non-tourist areas anyway). If people want/have to talk to you about something, they will always approach you in english. They always assume you're a tourist, even if you've lived there all your life. I heard in some communities children of mixed couples get bullied or picked on a lot. If you're lucky and the school is a little more modern, people will accept your child. It DOESNT matter if you're not white. If you're not Japanese, you WILL be discriminated against and you will have to live with it as long as you live there.

2. Food - If you're not open minded to new or strange (and boy do I mean strange) types of food, you can forget about living here. If you think you can live on subway and Mcdonalds while you're here, then you're out of your mind. If you can't eat local food, why bother living in Japan?

3. Physical stamina - This may sound strange to people who come from Japan, but a lot of people in the US don't get much of a workout throughout the day and usually drive or take a bus/train to where they need to go. You will be very sore after your first month in Japan (Trust me, I know this firsthand). Also, in the summer it gets very hot with 100% humidity. This means that you'll walk outside and be soaking wet a minute later. If you come from a cold place or a place without hot summers, then you might not be ready for this.

4. Mental Stress - You will be working very very very late, and you may not always be able to speak up in your company. you must follow everyone else, and you might have to take the fall/blame for things that may not be your fault. This means you must do your job, do it well, and never complain. Unemployment looks VERY bad on your resume. a lot of places won't hire you if you had any history of unemployment. So whatever you do, do not risk your job.

5. Language - Be prepared to study your ass off. This isn't something you can do an hour a day. This is something you have to be doing 24/7 to be able to reach a fluency level of a native. Keep in mind there are thousands of Kanji characters and that natives have to learn it from the first grade all the way through high school. Yes, its that hard. If you're serious about moving to Japan, you must be prepared to study like there's no tomorrow. Most places won't accept anyone less than JLPT1.

6. Commitment - The amount of work and time you need to put into learning the language, understanding the culture, eating the food, and knowing how to live in japan is going to be a lifetime experience. Be sure you know what you're up against. This is a totally different world, and your rules or ideals on how people do things will not apply here. You'll have to be open minded and start from the ground up.

There's a lot more I want to write but this post is getting very long. I'll make another post in the near future about why people would want to live there if they can handle all of the above.

In the interest of fairness, I thought I'd respond to these points:

1) While I did experience a little discrimination (most notably when I was trying to find a new apartment), the vast majority of Japanese people were incredibly kind, welcoming, and friendly. I was never refused service at a business, restaurant, hotel, or onsen. (Though when I visited Dogo Onsen everyone stopped and stared for a moment to see what I'd do, like a cowboy entering a wild west saloon. As soon as I made a beeline for the showers instead of just getting in, they went back to what they were doing. One of the guys struck up a conversation with me and admitted they were worried I didn't know the proper etiquette of showering first, that's all.) I think the discrimination is over-hyped, and the generousity and kindness not stated often enough. You may be an outsider to the society, but you won't usually be mistreated because of it, and many Japanese will see it as their duty to help you out or assist you when you need help because of it.

2) While there are some craaaazy foods in Japan (I tried many of them), you can also live on Japanese food that is not very strange or different at all. Kara'age is just a kind of fried chicken, tonkatsu is pork cutlet, and gyudon is just sliced beef and onions over rice. Westerners who know the pathetic excuse for ramen that we have over here will be very pleasantly surprised by the real stuff in Japan. And you can get steak or shrimp or every kind of Chinese food you could want. So you won't need to live on sashimi and natto, there are lots of other choices, and many of them will be fairly familiar.

3) True, with all the hiking and biking, I was never in better shape than when I was in Japan. I've really let myself go in the 10 years since...

4) Also true, and the mental stress builds up. What doesn't bother you at all in the beginning can eventually become a real aggravation.

5) It depends upon how long you are staying, and what your goals and interests are. I knew I was only staying a couple years, and I didn't know any Japanese before I went, so I didn't have any foundation to build on. What's more, as an English teacher, I always encouraged my students to practice their English with me, not use them as a chance to practice my Japanese. I therefor decided that while I would trade English for Japanese lessons once a week, and try to pick up the words and phrases that would help me day to day, I had no intention of spending all my time studying for fluency. Instead, I spent my time seeing the country, taking short trips nearly every weekend, helping the local interpreter and guide club, going on homestays and to many AJET events, etc. That was far more important and a better way to spend my time over there than learning kanji, IMO. And while some JETs studied the language for the JLPTs, other JETs like me found other interests and ways to spend our time that was still uniquely Japanese... one leaned to play the koto, another studied aikido, etc.

6) Very true... you need perseverance, a sense of humor, adaptability, and a willingness to "go with the flow" to make it in a very foreign culture like Japan.