|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
Japanese "Culture" -
03-31-2011, 07:09 PM
I am seeing an increase in the number of people who wants to move to Japan because of its "Culture". But how many are actually exposed to the true Japanese culture, its people and its history?
It just odd that some people never even visited the country and yet they claim that they want to move there for its "culture", it leads me to believe that these people are only exposed to a culture that was created by Manga/Anime/Drama/Music and other type of media. Or am I just a hater who misread people??? 
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
03-31-2011, 07:21 PM
I'm right there with ya. People shouldn't base an entire country off of media, especially un-realistic (Anime) channels.
Before you try "to be come a citizen" or "move to japan forevar!!", do us ALL a favor... LIVE THERE FOR A YEAR, maybe two, maybe even more. Expereience everything before making such a drastic choice. Why on earth would someone want to make such a life changing decission based off of what they see on the TV? Additionally... It's not easy to live in Japan: - Student Visa - English Teacher are probably two of the more easy ones, if you want to work in Japan other than the two listed, you better have a decent career field (one that would warrant a visa) and you'd probably want to speak the language decently. It's definately not an easy task. Especially by yourself, with limited language skills. It can be difficult as a foreigner. That being said, the country has it's positives and negatives, just like any other country. It's not all kawaii neko-chan anime stuff everywhere. I guess the general message (ironically seemingly by the same people in EVERY thread like this) is EXPERIENCE the country first, before making a rash decission. These people offering you advise have been there before, and know what they're talking about. LISTEN.
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
03-31-2011, 09:50 PM
Basing an entire country off anime is terrible. They should base it off tokusatsu instead. No,of course I realise moving there because they like Naruto is terrible.
Actually first I thought it was gonna be amazing,then videos on YouTube put me off [and this guy was criticised for only saying the good stuff about Japan! He made the most depressing videos!] and when I went into the plane area to go to Japan I was shocked everyone was Japanese and experienced a bit of isolation then I went there and a lot of it was fantastic. There was only one other time in the hotel I experienced that isolation problem.
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
03-31-2011, 10:03 PM
Quote:
Of course they had a great time doing sight seeing, eating good food, and having an overall good time. It's a totally different game when living here. My photos from Japan and around the world: http://www.flickr.com/dylanwphotography
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
03-31-2011, 10:55 PM
You are mostly correct, godwine. Those who think living in Japan will solve all their worries are just naive.
I lived there for 2 years in '87. Even though it was partly on the local economy in Misawa, Aomori-ken, most of the time I spent there was on a military base. I didn't have to worry about living off the local economy, even though the yen was about 130 on average when I was there. I was still given a cost of living allowance, along with flight pay, but even then, I still bought most of my groceries on base. I spent the two years there driving around on route 45 from Mutsu Bay to Sendai and inland. It was great. But I still had that anchor attached to the English-speaking military base. Since then, I've been back as a tourist in '05 and last October. Judging from the time I was there, I don't think it's a country I would like to live in. There is the language barrier for those who didn't jump on the chance to learn it back then and are trying now to be a little better at it. The fact you're a gai-jin and always will be and will be treated as such. There is an understated discrimination always going on, though many don't notice it. Wings explains it best for those people who actually have been there even for 10 days. It's a finite number of days and you have your ticket back to the comfort of what you've always known regardless of whether you liked the visit or not. It's not living there. It's the "just visiting" view of the country. I liked it because it was exotic and so unlike what I'm used to. The country is beautiful, some customs are absolutely civil and should be adopted world-wide, the food is good, the women are cute. I went there on vacation, so it was a respite from all that ailed me. I felt comfortable there because I didn't have a worry in the world. I couldn't read most of the signs and that made it cool, though impractical. If I knew the language and read the signs and they said "Pete's Eats", it would lose a bit of its charm to me. (I don't know if anyone could understand that). It was, bottom line, a vacation destination for me. I saw the masses of people going along on their daily toil and thought how depressing it seemed to me. I couldn't live there even if I tried. It's just not for me. But as a vacation spot, it's the only place I go on "holiday". I will return next year and spend more than 11 days this time. I plan on going for 17-21 days, which to me is quite a bit, since I can only take a certain amount of time off from work and I don't like to travel like I'm 20 and living off the land. In summation, most of the people who've never been there don't know what it really is like.... I've been there 3 times for a total of 752 days and I still don't know what it's like....
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
03-31-2011, 11:53 PM
Quote:
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
04-01-2011, 01:25 AM
I enjoy liveing in the US and have no desire to live in Japan. I just enjoy certain aspects of it, like anime and what not. Just as I'm sure Japanese folks who visit the US, enjoy stories of the Old West and the Grand Canon.
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
04-01-2011, 02:03 AM
In my case, I had that thought briefly, mainly because I lived there (Yokosuka boy here) when I was really young. And there are a lot of thing I missed. But there are also a lot of things that I didn't get to see when I was there: the life of a working adult.
Visiting as a tourist is very very diffent than starting life there, all this talk about "culture", most of the people don't even know why it's like to live there and build a life from scratch there. I always had is idea of going back to work, I even had an interview with panasonic back in 2006, I didn't get short listed, but I kept trying until I visited my cousin. The poor guy got home one Friday morning at 2am, and he left work at 6 again, and he had to work again on Saturday and Sunday. Base on what he told me. This is the work "culture" for non teaching work if you want to blend in That's just one example of how things differ, I just don't think most these kids are being realistic at all Now my goal is no longer to live ther and work there, but to work hard to make enough so that I can visit every year
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
04-01-2011, 06:22 PM
yep, godwine...that was one of the things I was going to point out but forgot. the workplace "culture" is so different (non eng-teachers), that most people just simply cannot hang. long hours, required overtime, nomikais, etc etc. this is all ONTOP of the language barreir.
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
04-01-2011, 06:38 PM
Working hours are irrelevant. All of these kids are going to become famous mangaka and then set their own hours.
My photos from Japan and around the world: http://www.flickr.com/dylanwphotography
|
 |
| Thread Tools | |
|
|
