I mean, I’m fine with reasonable criticism. In fact, there are many problems in Japan that need to be fixed, but I see a lot of misguided criticism of Japan on social media these days. For example, yesterday I saw a topic on social media about a social issue in Japan. It says that 100,000 people a year disappear in Japan, mostly to save their honor after a divorce, failing an exam, and job loss. But where did this OP find this ridiculous myth? First of all, the annual number of missing people is around 80,000. And most of those disappearances are of elderly people suffering from dementia. Others are teenagers temporarily running away from home after a fight with their parents. And over 90% of them are found within a few days. And yet people believe this shitpost, and misguided comments like “what a stressful country Japan is” and “The Japanese commit su\*cide to save their honor” or something like that. And they pretend like they are experts who know everything about Japan. But in reality, they have nothing but bias against Japan and they imagine that Japan is still in the feudal era where people would do anything to protect their honor, and Japanese would commit su\*cide easily for that reason. All they’re doing is spreading prejudice against Japan on social media, instead of raising Japan’s issues and making it better. I’m annoyed by weebs who praise Japan for everything, but nowadays I’m annoyed by people like them who pretend to be experts on Japan and criticize Japan.
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It’s definitely not cool, but in the end, while I am not balling out of control or rich by any means, I have a decent job, decent home, decent hobbies and I feel reasonably safe and secure here. I didn’t get to where I am today dwelling on hatred, disrespecting or putting other people down or being a dick, so I guess I have that self proclaimed high ground to stand on that internet comments cannot take away.
I’ll just leave this here for you to seeth: https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01385/
Sounds more like you have a problem with shitty clickbait social media content (which I 100% sympathise with). This one hit you particularly hard because it’s a subject you have a vested interest in.
I’ve started taking a more active role in vetting (via blocking or whatever each platform calls it) such content during the past few months, because once the algorithms get a hold of it, the torrent becomes relentless.
Would highly recommend anyone who values their sanity does the same. If it doesn’t ‘bring you joy’, strike it off.
No place in the world is an earthly paradise. And criticism is not a bad thing, if done constructively. However, it takes a good eye to see cultural differences for what they are and to be able to distinguish tradition from bad habits.
If we go to a foreign country, we may see their shortcomings better than the locals, as they are just used to them and have always been. Just like we may be used to many flaws in our home cultures, and don’t even realise that there’s an actual issue.
And some of these issues just really only are “issues”.
Most criticism boils down to:
“Hello I have moved to a foreign country and their culture is weird and wrong and they don’t do things like we do in My Country plz halp”
And then they wonder why their colleagues/classmates/bosses/neighbours hate them.
There are tons of positive and negative misinformation and stereotypes about Japan. One of the most obvious signs for rational & critical thinking skills is resisting “binary thinking” on complex topics such as social issues. Binary thinking is also sometimes called black & white thinking. There’s no country on earth that makes life like living in Disneyland. People can find happiness and resilience even in war-torn countries.
Back to topic: I think there are things we should criticize, like workplace bullying, sexual harassment, women’s employment and promotion.
But I cringe a bit when people criticize the most mundane things like Japanese people being shy, saying “ehhh”, dressing a certain way etc. Or share outdated information like sui**de rates. (It’s very inconsiderate to nonchalantly talk about such a sensitive topic btw) Like sorry a group of people from a different country act a little differently…?