Love hate relationship with Japan..

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by Columbine

America has, almost everywhere, MUCH wider streets, compared to a lot of Japanese neighbourhoods. Also not all Japanese streets have pavements, so peds share the road with cars and cycles, so why not let cycles share with peds? Japanese people seem to manage it just fine. Besides, if a car swipes into the cycle lane and smacks a cyclist it's going to do a hell of a lot more damage than if a cyclist is an idiot and swipes a pedestrian.

Of course if a street doesn't have a sidewalk, you do what you gotta do. That happens in America as well. But while American streets may be wider, Japanese sidewalks are a lot more crowded.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

I don't think so. From the times of adopting chopsticks because eating with hands or silverware like the West was considered savage, to the closing of the nation to free itself from the "impurities" of other lands, to modern society where xenophobia still runs rampant. Where I've sat in classes and had discussions where people were trying to convince me that Japanese are "special" and are completely different from all other people.

Save for the fact that tatami can rip, your argument about sitting at a table versus sitting on the floor with shoes is bullshit. No need to take off shoes in a house because you're sitting in a chair? What if your house is all white carpet? And also if that were the case, you would have gone back home and continued to resume wearing shoes in your house rather than adopting the Japanese way, because I'm sure you're back to sitting in chairs again.

Yes, your words are extreme. You are at it again, using the word "savage", "impurities" and " rampant xenophobia". Please.

My argument is far from bullshit. It is reality, which is actually the opposite of bullshit. The fact you have bullshit all over your shoes, and you walk where you sit, eat, and sleep in Japan is EXACTLY the reason why people do not wear their shoes inside the house. It has nothing to do with superiority, arrogance, or any other "bullshit" you want to associate with it.

You don't know me, so please don't assume you know my home or how I live beyond what I have told you.

I know people with white carpets that wear their shoes inside... so what? I am sitting at a chair, but I also have a kotatsu in my American home, and don't wear my shoes indoors. I sit on the floor as easy as I sit in a chair. What is the point?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Columbine

America has, almost everywhere, MUCH wider streets, compared to a lot of Japanese neighbourhoods. Also not all Japanese streets have pavements, so peds share the road with cars and cycles, so why not let cycles share with peds? Japanese people seem to manage it just fine. Besides, if a car swipes into the cycle lane and smacks a cyclist it's going to do a hell of a lot more damage than if a cyclist is an idiot and swipes a pedestrian.

America also has a drinking and driving limit at 0.08% BAC. That means you can drink and drive in America. That means bicyclists, who must ride on the road, are killed by drinking and drunk drivers on a fairly regular basis over here. I am sure it happens in Japan as well, but not by people who are legally able to drive, as the legal BAC in Japan is 0.00%.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

Yeah, that is a bit confusing. I wish the 500 and 100 were also bills, or at least just the 500.

I found that after getting used to Japanese currency, it seemed really strange to use bills for smaller amounts. One dollar bills seem incredibly wasteful as they are worth so very little.
If the 2000 yen bill were in wider use, I would be happy with even the 1000 being a coin.

As to the extreme language being used by WingsToDiscovery...
If you are searching for evidence to support your view that people are xenophobic, racist, looking down at you, etc... You will see that sort of thing anywhere you look, regardless of whether it truly carries that meaning. It is sort of like scientists cherry picking only results that support their hypothesis and being blinded to all that do not.
It is a really common habit among disgruntled English teachers in Japan - and in my observances, one of the steps to becoming one of those total Japan haters who start believing that anything they don't understand is someone talking about them behind their back... Or that any inconvenience is because people are discriminating against you based on race, etc.

[MMM]

Let's take a look at Japan's "rampant xenophobia" as it translates at the box office.

August 6–7 $26,237,614 -13.3% 17 Transformers 3 31
July 30–31 $30,266,577 +48.4% 17 Transformers 3 30
July 23–24 $20,394,041 -39.3% 17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part Two) 29
July 16–17 $33,597,658 +180.4% 19 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part Two) 28
July 9–10 $11,980,622 -24.8% 17 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) 27
July 2–3 $15,929,725 -14.9% 20 Super 8 26
June 25–26 $18,724,720 -2.8% 20 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) 25
June 18–19 $19,254,560 -26.6% 21 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) 24
June 11–12 $26,244,971 +23.5% 19 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) 23
June 4–5 $21,244,530 -21.6% 20 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) 22
May 28–29 $27,081,618 +16.5% 20 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) 21
May 21–22 $23,240,411 +78.8% 19 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) 20

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by MMM

Yes, your words are extreme. You are at it again, using the word "savage", "impurities" and " rampant xenophobia". Please.

My argument is far from bullshit. It is reality, which is actually the opposite of bullshit. The fact you have bullshit all over your shoes, and you walk where you sit, eat, and sleep in Japan is EXACTLY the reason why people do not wear their shoes inside the house. It has nothing to do with superiority, arrogance, or any other "bullshit" you want to associate with it.

You don't know me, so please don't assume you know my home or how I live beyond what I have told you.

I know people with white carpets that wear their shoes inside... so what? I am sitting at a chair, but I also have a kotatsu in my American home, and don't wear my shoes indoors. I sit on the floor as easy as I sit in a chair. What is the point?

You think I don't get WHY the Japanese don't wear shoes in the house? I do. But to go as far as considering other cultures uncivilized rather than simply different is the problem.

I'm glad you're comfortable with shoes or without. But the argument that going with shoes because of chairs and shoeless because of the floor is retarded.

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I found that after getting used to Japanese currency, it seemed really strange to use bills for smaller amounts. One dollar bills seem incredibly wasteful as they are worth so very little.
If the 2000 yen bill were in wider use, I would be happy with even the 1000 being a coin.

As to the extreme language being used by WingsToDiscovery...
If you are searching for evidence to support your view that people are xenophobic, racist, looking down at you, etc... You will see that sort of thing anywhere you look, regardless of whether it truly carries that meaning. It is sort of like scientists cherry picking only results that support their hypothesis and being blinded to all that do not.

It's not often that I even really bring up this issue. I'm not an English teacher, and if I were really that disgruntled I wouldn't even stay here. But what I do know are my experiences, such as being denied two apartments only after it was found out I was gaijin, or always being treated like a kid/talked to in English, getting handed English menus, etc whenever I'm out with friends of Asian decent (non Japanese) because I'm usually the only western person and they just assume my friends are Japanese.

I don't think it's as similar as scientists cherry picking results. How many times have you heard the same complaints from "disgruntled teachers?" Are they ALL really simply disgruntled and just making a big deal out of petty things, or is there really something more to it than that and maybe the complaints are legitimate?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

You think I don't get WHY the Japanese don't wear shoes in the house? I do. But to go as far as considering other cultures uncivilized rather than simply different is the problem.

I'm glad you're comfortable with shoes or without. But the argument that going with shoes because of chairs and shoeless because of the floor is retarded.

I think you don't get it because of the words you choose to describe WHY Japanese people choose to not wear shoes in their homes. Those words are extreme and judgmental.

You may think the argument is "retarded" (your words) or "bullshit" (your words) but it doesn't make it not reality.

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by MMM

I think you don't get it because of the words you choose to describe WHY Japanese people choose to not wear shoes in their homes. Those words are extreme and judgmental.

You may think the argument is "retarded" (your words) or "bullshit" (your words) but it doesn't make it not reality.

It's not why the Japanese don't do it, it's what they think of cultures that do do it. Not the same thing.

Making up an argument and then contradicting it is not reality.

[RealJames]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

It is a really common habit among disgruntled English teachers in Japan

heeeeeyyyy..... it's not just the English teachers, all foreigners in Japan are equally susceptible to become disgruntled.

I have received my fair share of discrimination in Japan, including major things like being flat out denied the right to rent an apartment and an office because I am gaijin, like with ZERO tatemae around it, like word for word translation "no, because you are gaijin".

I have also received my fair share of discrimination in Japan the other way, getting better treatment and nicer opportunities because I'm white, it honestly balances out in the end.