1. They have a lot of social issues that they seem unable or unwilling to tackle, such as sexism, sexual abuse of women, men’s loneliness, rapid aging with a very low birth rate (which results in an economic stagnation), etc.
2. The way they interact with one another, and especially with foreigners, is just soo weird and depressing, especially when you have to live among them for some time. All the nodding to acknowledge that they’re indeed listnening (I know this is supposedly because of how long sentences in Japanese can be, and the meaningful parts are often placed at the end for emphasis, but c’mon, they don’t need to be saying “hai” and nodding ALL THE TIME), nervous laughter at the most unfunny stuff possible (I mean, srsly, how can you get uncomfortable while discussing very mundane things???) – I just can’t help but cringe every single time, and their uncomfortableness makes me uncomfortable, lol.
3. It’s almost impossible to make friends there, especially considering the hierarchical structure of their society. Their friendships (but sometimes also closer relationships such as between parents and their children) seem rather shallow to me but maybe it’s due to cultural differences, idk.
Overall, I’d say Japan is a nice country to visit but definitely not to live in. I just don’t understand why the rest of East Asia, e.g. Koreans and the Chinese, is much more similar to the West when it comes to social interactions than Japan, where people are sooo socially awkward 😐 I know I probably shouldn’t act like that but it’s just so frustrating when you have to deal with it on a daily basis. I’m so glad that I was born in Europe.
12 comments
Then why are you here?
Hmmmmm. Maybe move back to Europe if you don’t like it here? Is someone forcing you to be in Japan?
I admit Japan do have their fair share of problem, but I have never seen a list so subjective as this list tbh.
1) You could probably change the list of social issues and it would apply to some other countries.
2) From their (Japanese’s) perspective, not doing all of that is weird.
3) Maybe the problem is on the other end of friendship 🙂
This screams “Oh no Japan is not like the anime I watched”
On a serious note: every country has its own sets of problems. US has shootings, healthcare problems. China has these lockdowns now. I did research about living in Germany a while back, I found that it has good healthcare, good lgbt community etc but sucks on weather, house price and hard to make friends also.
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1 Every country has social problems that don’t get tackled. Maybe the problems in your home country were less visible to you/affected you personally less/ affected you less emotionally because you’d normalized them over the years.
2 You’re interpreting things in ways and adding different meanings to things that Japanese people don’t. Normal people here don’t think aizuchi in conversation is uncomfortable, or laughing at unfunny things for the sake of the mood/someone’s feelings, is awkward for example. To them it’s normal and natural and they do it without consciously being aware of it. You’re the only one there thinking it’s “cringe,” I guarantee it. To Japanese people, staying still and silent or making steady eye-contact while someone is speaking is the weird awkward cringe thing to do. Just a different style from what you’re obviously used to.
3 is perhaps because (it seems from your post) there’s a lot about Japanese communication and norms that you don’t understand. And if you constantly misinterpret things and people around you like that, it could be coming across as shallow to you. Or perhaps people are picking up on your disdain for them as it comes across in this post and are put off by it and keeping interactions shallow with you on purpose.
Sounds like you could have some burn-out or culture shock going in. Maybe you have too much on your plate these days and are frustrated doing all the things that you could do in your home country as naturally and thoughtlessly as breathing, that you have to put in effort and thought to do now.
> I’m so glad that I was born in Europe.
Good for you, but wtf is the point of this post? I don’t get it. If you’re glad you were born there, why are you living here? Being born in Europe doesn’t make your life here any better.
How can you possibly expect to make any friends when this is the kind of person you are? Lol
I don’t understand the point of this post. Are you trying to find people who think the same way?
Find comrades-in-indignant-arms so that you can discuss the subjectively perceived flaws of Japan?
Is this an attempt to perhaps change Japanese society starting from Reddit and soon the world?
Or were you just upset that you dislike Japan more than the people around you and have nowhere else to vent?
How long have you been in Japan again? And do you speak fluent Japanese and actually tried to integrate to the society here?
I’ve been here for 20 years, and I’ve seen most aspect of social issues here. But your rant sounds like a shallow outsider perspective that doesn’t know anything about intercultural communication. It screams holier than thou attitude. If you cringe at the thought of understanding intercultural exchange here just go back home then.
This post hasn’t taught me anything about the latest railroad construction techniques
Go back to Europe, gaijin