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11-20-2011, 09:46 AM
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It just bothers me when people go on about ALL the foreigners leaving and all being from that situation. A few of my friends I mentioned who'd been at NUFS got some backlash from a few people for coming home, which was vastly unfair and I've met people since August who've had grief and complaints from people about being 'returning fly-jin', who've not been to Japan before. 
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11-20-2011, 09:47 AM
You make a good point... While I don't know anyone *personally*, I know of a lot more people who stuck around up in Tohoku to help out than who bolted.
Most of the drop everything and run people were in big cities - Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Kobe, etc. Most of the people I know of who were in Japan long term and who were in the affected areas really were in Japan for the long haul and didn't jump and run as soon as they could. But really, it was the attitude that left the bad taste in my mouth. Those of us who didn't flee when given this "great excuse", as it was frequently worded, were ruining it for everyone else. The fact that we were staying and not in horrific danger might make them look bad for quitting and running - and ruined their chances of getting special treatment. It was that attitude that was ridiculous.
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11-20-2011, 10:19 AM
It's kind of stupid to judge them when they didn't even know what information to depend on in terms of radiation dangers and what not. Rumours had been circling around at the time that the Japanese government was just trying to cover up the scale of the disaster.
They had the option to leave because they had another home to go to. The Japanese people probably didn't stay because they like Japan MORE than the foreigners, it's just that the Japanese people don't have another home to go back to.
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11-20-2011, 10:56 AM
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what stupid is to put people's lives in stake just to protect your own reputation... and for people who lived under the shade of a government, they should trust it... unless they experienced something bad from it, (which should make them leave when they were in peace, in the 1st place) don't you think?!! "work for your world and living like you will forever live, and work for your hereafter like you'll die tomorrow"
Mohamed (P.B.U.H)
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11-20-2011, 12:58 PM
So... Because they didn't actually take the time to check into the actual situation, and to stop reading sensational media and find facts......
They should be excused for ditching their responsibilities? I don't think so. It was childish and immature. Even if there was no real information, there was a better way to go about it. I don't care what is happening, a responsible adult doesn't run away from their responsibilities. Especially when they don't even live close to the danger. Seriously, there is no sympathy from me for those living far far from Tohoku who dropped everything and ran, leaving companies in a bind, bills unpaid, etc. I have an acquaintance whose full time job now is sending out translated letters trying to get people who up and ran to pay the bills and such that they left behind conveniently when they ran. And I am even more disgusted those who tried to come back afterward like nothing ever happened and who complained of discrimination when they couldn't get their jobs back. This has unpleasant runoff for all foreigners in Japan. I have found it harder to get translation projects as companies are still worried about being left unable to finish because a foreign translator up and left with no notice.
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11-20-2011, 02:18 PM
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 True heroes, huh!
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11-20-2011, 03:00 PM
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But more than a handful of people. Out of the companies I ended up helping when they lost their translators, two of them came back later... And one of them demanded their job back and expected understanding. Around the net, for a while there it certainly wasn't hard to find people posting for advice about making their employers give them vacation pay and their jobs back, etc... And about how racist it was not to be "understanding" about the whole thing. I am not talking about English teacher level jobs, but rather higher up expat positions. The type of people who could afford to just hop in a cab and go to the airport.
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11-20-2011, 03:16 PM
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11-20-2011, 03:39 PM
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This leaves me with sickening feeling inside. I know it has nothing to do with tourists who may go there in the future, but I wonder how the Japanese people perceive those who leave at the drop of a hat. And these people picked Japan as somewhere to work and live. One has to take the bad with the good, right? I know enough Japanese geography to know that if it were office workers in Tokyo or Osaka, then they are cowards. I apologize for this, it just makes me angry....
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11-20-2011, 05:58 PM
I really don't know what the companies could or did do in response. I would imagine that the majority who left with little or no notice lost their jobs.
There was a huge wave of people leaving, which left a massive vacuum - I was able to take on a huge number of high paying translation gigs because companies were desperate... Then there was a flow of people coming in (or trying to come in), both new people and those returning, looking for jobs. I do know that the companies I worked for were very edgy about trusting another foreign employee, and one of them even had their replacement translator decide to run off on them... Most of them have replaced their translators with native Japanese translators instead of native English speakers. I wouldn't be surprised to see the quality of Japanese to English translated manuals and technical documentation has gone down as a result. I am and was not looking for a long term position so don't know exactly how things have changed, but I hear that a lot of places have changed their contracts. I believe that the expectation of special treatment is linked with the strength of numbers. Everyone was leaving, so I left too - why punish me for something all us foreigners were doing? But, then again, I have not spoken in depth with anyone who was part of the drop and run group. Oh, and you are right - it was, from my understanding, workers in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka who made up the majority. Fukuoka. It really stuns me. An excuse I saw given was that Fukuoka sounds like Fukushima, so there was extra panic there. It makes me incredibly mad though because their choice to drop and run HAS affected me. It is now MUCH harder to find freelance work as a translator/interpreter - everyone is choosing not to take any risks and stick with native Japanese translators, even if the quality suffers. Having a fair translation in the hand is better than an excellent translation in the suitcase of a foreigner on a plane home.
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