Japanese "Culture"

[kenmei]

Jambo, my only advise to you since you're going in IT. JLPT and Kanji Kentei.

You'll have a real limit of engineer/it type jobs available to you if you cannot speak near fluent japanese. Get on it

[BobbyCooper]

Originally Posted by RobinMask

I can probably answer this, solely as I went back and read the opening post . . . I think he defines culture as history, ettiquette, social customs etc. and what isn't 'culture' is basically an image created solely by manga, anime, films. If you've only ever watched Naruto and Battle Royale then you have no idea of Japanese culture, (not aimed at you personally) and thus it wouldn't be a legit reason to go and would be a mere excuse. I doubt anyone would disagree to this, unless they themselves were naive and rather obssessed with this false 'culture'.

Originally Posted by godwine

Thanks, and well explained. Yes, culture means anything outside of the fictional world fabricated by pop-media

Because, i really have heard people on this forum who really thought that they can train with some special top secret legendary martial artist who lives in a mountain.........I mean, really????

Oh, if that was what you meant by it, then I fully agree with both of you.

But you should be more careful and not automatically point the finger at somebody who uses the words "Japanese Culture" as their reasons, because not everybody things about Manga and J-Pop when they reffer to these words.

I am pretty sure most do not!

[JamboP26]

Originally Posted by kenmei

Jambo, my only advise to you since you're going in IT. JLPT and Kanji Kentei.

You'll have a real limit of engineer/it type jobs available to you if you cannot speak near fluent japanese. Get on it

Thanks for the advice, Kenmei. I believe at least Level 2 JLPT is sufficient? I've done a wee bit of homework

[Mail747]

Originally Posted by JamboP26

I appreciate everyone's feedback, no matter how negative. I am still going ahead with my plan, I've had it with the UK pi**ing me off. You want an otaku, weaboo and Japanophile in one. Ta-da. So all your negative criticism will, while appreciated, be ignored

I'm not trying to give negative feedback, it's realist feedback. What if I said I was sure I would adore Iraq just from looking at street view Iraq?

Saying the U.K. sucks in all sorts of ways, while assuming the most of Japan is just going to set you up for a big fall when you get there, especially when trying to live.

It's not usually a good thing to admit you're a weeaboo or Otaku, but I guess admitting and acknowledging is better than denial.

Originally Posted by JamboP26

@TalnSG I know this thread isn't directed at me, but its just I (aswell as others) have been singled out for some 'attention'

Yes, because others here don't go to the extent of planning waking up to 'Kimigayo' in the morning while looking up at a huge Japanese flag for empowerment, then wearing every item of clothes with Japan written on it somewhere, while dreaming of helping anime girls, and watching Corrie just for the Chinese girl on it...

Yeah... I know... :/

When you place THAT much of your life on something to that extent... the real thing doesn't usually live up to expectations. The less you expect, the better it is.

[godwine]

Originally Posted by JamboP26

Thanks for the advice, Kenmei. I believe at least Level 2 JLPT is sufficient? I've done a wee bit of homework

I may have told you this before, but you really have to stand out to get into the IT field. I think I could be an example of how much one can have and still don't find a job in IT in Japan: over 10 years of in field experience, 6 of which are in the area of team management, conversational in Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and English, Master degree in ITM. I never got a single offer with that background, and its not my interview skills (i don't think so), I got 5 offer in the last 4 months locally, so I am sure its not my interview skills

that said, please work very very hard to make yourself stand out. Or do something innovative...

[Realism]

Well...there are tons of foreigners in Japan and I doubt that all of them stand out.

There are many Chinese who went over to Japan as students and were still able to get jobs in Japan. None of them stands out like you do, or very few anyways.

And the whole Japanese "culture" thing makes very little sense to me. What does that even mean? You're there so you can....see what Japanese people do? What they do isn't that different from what you do at your own country. Do you care about your own culture? You probably don't right...you probably could care less about the culture in your own country. Well...that's how most Japanese people think about Japanese culture. They could care less, they had no choice, they were just born Japanese. They live there, they work, they eat, they go home. That's it.

I'm Chinese, speak fluent Chinese and I really don't know much or care much about Chinese culture. I don't think Kanji is pretty at all...I think Chinese is one of the easiest, most stupidest languages out there....just telling you.

[tokusatsufan]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

how do you know that the japanese do not like to talk about anything heavy.

do you mean that they choose to ignore the unpleasant things in their lives.

Well you just need to look at the kind of things they produce.

I'll give you an example. Weaboos. There has probably been a brief scene in one anime where a guy gets angry at one and Shinkenger Act 14 and that's it. To my knowledge,they have not gone any deeper into the issue. They aren't gonna get really angry about Japanese wannabes because life's too short. Just respect your fellow man,at the end of the day.

LOL at the comment about watching Corrie for the Chinese girl on it! It's an interesting storyline! It's a good example of a multicultural society! Yes,it's China to the UK rather than UK to Japan,but I might learn something from it,you never know.

[StonerPenguin]

@ Tokusatsufan
Is English not your first language? (I'm not being mean, I'm just curious because of the way you write.)

[tokusatsufan]

No,no,it's just that A] when you spend your whole life on the computer[who doesn't these days?] sometimes I just can't be arsed,I wouldn't be surprised if I'd made a mistake and B] I just don't think like most people. I'm weird. I'm not gonna make any secret of that. When I was 9 I was diagnosed with Aspergers,but I think it's safe to say I've learnt so much about the world I have just "got past it". I have just advanced. I never swore until recently either.

I'm half-Welsh and in Welsh you write backwards,maybe that's it!

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Realism

Well...there are tons of foreigners in Japan and I doubt that all of them stand out.

There are many Chinese who went over to Japan as students and were still able to get jobs in Japan. None of them stands out like you do, or very few anyways.

And the whole Japanese "culture" thing makes very little sense to me. What does that even mean? You're there so you can....see what Japanese people do? What they do isn't that different from what you do at your own country. Do you care about your own culture? You probably don't right...you probably could care less about the culture in your own country. Well...that's how most Japanese people think about Japanese culture. They could care less, they had no choice, they were just born Japanese. They live there, they work, they eat, they go home. That's it.

I'm Chinese, speak fluent Chinese and I really don't know much or care much about Chinese culture. I don't think Kanji is pretty at all...I think Chinese is one of the easiest, most stupidest languages out there....just telling you.

Are you talking about folks that's already there? I war referring people who wish to go there now or in the near future, it's not easy to find a sponsor to get them that visa, so they have to work hard to enrich themselves, otherwise there is no reason why they would want to hire a foreigner at the added cost

And I don't know whe you got that from, maybe just the crowd you hang out with, but the Japanese I know are very proud of themselves. I was only saying that the interest in culture is becoming an excuse, I didn't say it has to be the reason. I wanted to be doing AI development, and it just so happen that at the time the Asimo and Partner project was taking off, so Japan make sense to me. Culture was only one example

I am Chinese myself, and I also have a lot of things against my own people and culture, but you sounded like you just simply hate it, that's your choice, but just because you hate your own culture, it doesn't mean at Japanese will feel the same.

Oh, and I don't think Chinese is an easy language at all..