Young people and their attraction to Japan.

[Nyororin]

To sort of step back from the off topic discussion of Japanese technology and the like - What compels so many people to decide that they want to live in Japan permanently? I am not talking about people who have been in Japan for some amount of time, etc, but the younger set who has not even so much as set a foot in Japan. Often many of them have not even met a Japanese person.

It is not the interest in Japan that I find curious, but the leap from interest to wanting to live there forever without much in between. There seem to be considerably fewer people saying they want visit Japan than there are people saying they want to move there.

While I am very happy living in Japan, and can`t personally say I`d like to live anywhere else... I find it hard to imagine just wanting to up and move to a country I`d never even been to. Especially if it would be not only an unknown place, but the first attempt at living alone. (And no, having read a bunch about Japan, watched a bunch of anime/drama, etc, in no way can be compared to physically experiencing a place.)

[GoNative]

^^ I too find it hard to imagine making such a big life decision when you have not even visited a place previously. It'd be something like wanting to marry someone purely after reading their bio on a dating site!

[evanny]

em..i didnt read all the posts but...
why people seem to be unable to comprehend why young people want to go there? specially the author of topic...? is it really that this is SUCH a big mystery and deal to you ?
at this point ~1/10 of my fellow citizens work/have worked abroad. so its totally normal...well for countries with BS economy...

there is no reason why from social,economical aspects people shouldn't go and look for a job in japan. maybe you think its weird because it recently started since japan was more or less divided from rest of the world when in fact there still are only a few foreigners compared to London - capital of worlds races. since you are from uk you should understand better...

[dogsbody70]

perhaps I should know better. The thing is that on this forum there seems to be some sort of fantasy about Living inJapan-- as though it is a kind of UTOPIA that will solve all their problems-- weave magic charms upon them.


the same as we have so many people wishing to live in UK-- the so called land of milk and honey or like the London streets that were supposed to be paved in gold.

Many seem to wish to go there because of there love of MANGA and Anime.

It is a question only. WHY.

Why do any of us believe that life in another country will be better than their own?

for many this could definitely be true.

its not why do they want to visit-- but why do some think they want to live there when they really have no true idea of what the country is like to live and work in.

My japanese friend is desperate to stay here (UK) for ever-- but she will not be allowed because of her age--so she studies.

[dogsbody70]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

"The grass is always greener on the other side..." Young American (and European) people don't know how well they have it. Their lives are so easy that they actually get bored with the wonderful lives they are lucky enough to have.

The lives of my students in Japan are much different than the lives of high school students elsewhere. Japanese students get to wear uniforms to school, but so what? They are not permitted to dye their hair, wear jewelry, or to offend the dress code in any way. They come to school at 8am, study until 3pm, have club activities for another two hours, and then go to juku (cram school) for another couple of hours. If they are lucky they will get home by 9:30 at night. And add the fact that many students attend school 6 or 7 days a week, and you can see that there isn't often time to spend doing anything else.

School is a tough grind to pass the university entrance exams, and even if you are lucky enough to pass these exams you will only end up qualifying to attend a sub-standard university where you won't learn anything more than it takes to be hired as an overworked and underpaid salaryman. Of the world's top 25 universities this year, none are in Japan, almost all are in America, with the remainder being in Europe.

Am I trying to burst anyone's bubble? Perhaps, but if you can't be happy where you are now, don't think that simply changing your location is going to make you feel any better. A great number of people come to Japan with high expectations and then find it to be nothing like they expected. Some do enjoy living here, while others come to hate it.

thankyou Sangetsu for your knowledgeable post. Life for students does seem really hard. I wondered if it was changing now.

Are there as many companies willing to take on employees and more or less rule their lives-- support them? Can the COMPANIES afford to do so?


Here in the Uk so many people are being made redundant and too many trying to find fresh work. Its not easy here-- so what chances in Japan?

[protheus]

For me the attraction towards Japan is mostly based on the high tech part and evolution of this domain in the last 50 years all the way over there. I'm kinda intrigued and captivated about how and why in a such retracted world, there were so many inovations which the entire population of this planet are curently using as normal house appliances or electronics.

This, for me, worths an entire life of close up study.

But I don't want to lie, there is about 10% in this attraction towards the area, the girl population over there. You live longer surounded by beauty, at least that's what I say.

[zoneoni]

I think MisaMisa has it down.

At the very least living in the United States shares a ubiquitous syllogism with the rest of the country. A majority of the population have immigrated at one point or other into the makeshift culture that decorates much of the lifestyles of Americans. Especially places like Florida, California, New York, etc. There is no uniformity of culture between you and the person that lives down the block or even next to you. The lack of centralization in the sphere of the community is disparaging and many of those that have carved lives for themselves in America have accepted that fact and continued to dive deeper into their 9 to 5s or their tented families that represent the places they came from; with the hope of calling home, home un-hesitatingly. In my opinion, these existences spring out the bulk of the individuals that dream and attempt to go and live in Japan or anywhere else for that matter.


I also think that it's ok for people to have dreams. And I also think it's ok for those dreams to be crushed by reality. People having premeditated perspectives about Japan is necessary. Without having experienced it themselves what else can they have but misconceptions about the reality of what it means to live in Japan.

You can't really call it living if you stunt your approaches in life by fear, IMO. That which doesn't kill you.....etc etc.

Because we are alive we have a responsibility to improve the circumstances we find ourselves, no matter how unorthodox the vestige of that responsibility takes us. Because those actions will lead the ones that come after us.

[CoolNard]

Originally Posted by MissMisa

Honestly I would say the attraction for young people is the fact that it's popular culture is different and unique in comparison to the rest of the world.

That's basically what I feel is the main reason. The fact that Japan could possibly be more interesting, more unique, more cultured. Even though Japan isn't pefect, and people (especially young people) are often overworked, young people see past it and only see the shiny pop-culture aspect of it.

I don't blame them, or us, if you will. Often countries, including Japan, will portray the best and most outstanding aspects of themselves, while keeping the rest of the arduous foundation under wraps. If anyone is just gonna say they wanna live in Japan or love Japan in its entirety, because of a wonderland portrayal, then obviously they're quite flawed in their preordained judgment.

But I don't think they are wrong to go for it, it is from Japan, after all, and anyone who is bigoted against or stops their ambition is, as dogsbody says, supercilious, Japanese or not. I'd say pretentious and pompous, especially since this is about teens and youngsters. The best way to help this age group is to convince them by reason, facts, evidence and your credibility, of course, and facilitate them understandingly toward their ambitions/motives, by offering options and pathways - stating the success %, concurrently. It's up to anyone to choose what they want or how they want to perceive things. What we should do is be helpful and reasonable in guiding them.

[GoNative]

I can't say I ever dreamed of living in Japan from a young age but I did dream of living in a snowy land and Australia just isn't all that snowy! So yes I dreamed all the time of living in far away lands like northern North America, The mountainous regions of Europe or Scandinavia, basically wherever it snowed lots. I didn't actually know at the time that Japan had such awesome snow and in my younger years hadn't even heard of Hokkaido.
I did travel to numerous places around the world in search of great snow and mountains but none were really quite as snowy as I was hoping for.
Then a girlfriend I had many years ago who had spent a year as an exchange student in Toyama told me stories about the incredible nearby mountains and the amounts of snow they received. I also read in an outdoor magazine an article about a guy who did a lot of backcountry skiing in Hokkaido. He talked about an island covered to sea level in snow and I knew I had to check this place out.
I first came here in '03 on a skiing holiday with my wife and knew immidiately that I'd found the place I'd been dreaming about all my life. And I've been here for most of the time since. Nothing wrong with dreaming and sometimes dreams do come true

I know it's weird to be so passionate about something like snow but hey I also think it's a bit weird to really passionate about things like manga and anime. We're all weird in our own way

[dogsbody70]

Passion is great--passion is desirable and if you find something that inspires that Passion-- go all out for it.

So glad that GONATIVE discovered and fulfilled his idea of heaven. fantastic!!

Not too many of us ever achieve that-- so simply go for that something that excites that Passion in your life.