I would like to eat more fresh fruit, but it tends to be rather expensive.
Read kanji
I miss the food, and sometimes I miss hanging with my friends and relatives from back home.
“This special seasonal product is the best, most delicious thing you will ever buy. We are selling it for exactly 13 minutes and then will literally never offer it for sale again EVER”
Also, handwritten kanji signs in stores, especially if it’s more than a line or two.
Buying various materials and tools for serious DIY (think milling tools, welding gas, decently sized stock)
Unless you’re a business doing huge quantities or are willing to pay massive markups, options are almost non-existent.
That and things like car parts: not having the option of moseying down to the local pick and pull takes some of the fun and spontaneity out of the process.
First world problems, or problems of my own creation.
Lack of insulation in residential buildings.
Cars stopping in the middle of the road with their hazard lights on, absolutely anywhere, making passing virtually impossible.
Fast-paced walking smoker.
Anytime you have to write or type your name. My boss had a taste of it when setting up some accounts for me and he got stuck the same as me.
Related: trying to recall how you filled in your personal info for some specific service is always a thrilling time.
Half-width, full-width? All caps? Spaces? Middle names? Kana or alphabet?
Giving becomes a burden
Absolutely horrible children dancing, screeching, and picking their noses wherever they please. The parents never do anything about it. Some seem to think it’s charming.
The assumption that anyone who looks foreign doesn’t understand the local language (and that even if they can speak or have passed high levels of the JLPT, they certainly can’t read).
The lack of understanding that it is rude to judge someone by their apparent ethnicity (including things like assuming religion, what we will eat, etc – perhaps most confusingly, assuming we don’t understand what country we came to or that we don’t want to be here and must prefer the place we left).
Lack of support in most systems for people who have more (or less) than two names.
Employers assuming women will leave to have even more rotten children.
Edit: stigma against wearing sunglasses is painful and unhealthy
It’s difficult to find nice clothes and shoes that fit.
Sarcasm isn’t a thing and people take things too literally and seriously.
Worst case was when I was an ALT, and I was in a semi crummy mood. One of the students heckled me and asked if I was dating the woman JTE. And I sarcastically and exasperatedly answered “oh yes we are. ” That didn’t have good results.
Securing housing has been the biggest headache of all, because of rental discrimination. So many hoops to jump through. However, I’m aware that it happens to Japanese people in Japan too.
Businesses that have every kind of social media account and post several times a day, but can’t be bothered to answer a single question you ask about their product/service. Why bother even leaving your comment sections open if you’re just planning on ignoring customers?
Can’t think of another good one, but I do agree with the seasonal items disappearing too quickly. Or just great products in general. I seem to find them and love them, then have to resort to stockpiling for when they’re suddenly gone.
The people with loud speakers.. there is something ironic about politicians being a public nuisance in attempt to get elected to become a public burden
Affordable sour cream.
Old people being allowed to drive here when they should have had their licenses revoked years ago is a problem I experience here.
It’s a crime that choco mint ice cream isn’t available in stores year round
From the moment I walk out my door, to the moment I walk back through it, I have to assume somebody is probably watching me.
21 comments
No legal marriage for us.
I would like to eat more fresh fruit, but it tends to be rather expensive.
Read kanji
I miss the food, and sometimes I miss hanging with my friends and relatives from back home.
“This special seasonal product is the best, most delicious thing you will ever buy. We are selling it for exactly 13 minutes and then will literally never offer it for sale again EVER”
Also, handwritten kanji signs in stores, especially if it’s more than a line or two.
Buying various materials and tools for serious DIY (think milling tools, welding gas, decently sized stock)
Unless you’re a business doing huge quantities or are willing to pay massive markups, options are almost non-existent.
That and things like car parts: not having the option of moseying down to the local pick and pull takes some of the fun and spontaneity out of the process.
First world problems, or problems of my own creation.
Lack of insulation in residential buildings.
Cars stopping in the middle of the road with their hazard lights on, absolutely anywhere, making passing virtually impossible.
Fast-paced walking smoker.
Anytime you have to write or type your name. My boss had a taste of it when setting up some accounts for me and he got stuck the same as me.
Related: trying to recall how you filled in your personal info for some specific service is always a thrilling time.
Half-width, full-width? All caps? Spaces? Middle names? Kana or alphabet?
Giving becomes a burden
Absolutely horrible children dancing, screeching, and picking their noses wherever they please. The parents never do anything about it. Some seem to think it’s charming.
The assumption that anyone who looks foreign doesn’t understand the local language (and that even if they can speak or have passed high levels of the JLPT, they certainly can’t read).
The lack of understanding that it is rude to judge someone by their apparent ethnicity (including things like assuming religion, what we will eat, etc – perhaps most confusingly, assuming we don’t understand what country we came to or that we don’t want to be here and must prefer the place we left).
Lack of support in most systems for people who have more (or less) than two names.
Employers assuming women will leave to have even more rotten children.
Edit: stigma against wearing sunglasses is painful and unhealthy
It’s difficult to find nice clothes and shoes that fit.
Sarcasm isn’t a thing and people take things too literally and seriously.
Worst case was when I was an ALT, and I was in a semi crummy mood. One of the students heckled me and asked if I was dating the woman JTE. And I sarcastically and exasperatedly answered “oh yes we are. ” That didn’t have good results.
Securing housing has been the biggest headache of all, because of rental discrimination. So many hoops to jump through. However, I’m aware that it happens to Japanese people in Japan too.
Businesses that have every kind of social media account and post several times a day, but can’t be bothered to answer a single question you ask about their product/service. Why bother even leaving your comment sections open if you’re just planning on ignoring customers?
Can’t think of another good one, but I do agree with the seasonal items disappearing too quickly. Or just great products in general. I seem to find them and love them, then have to resort to stockpiling for when they’re suddenly gone.
The people with loud speakers.. there is something ironic about politicians being a public nuisance in attempt to get elected to become a public burden
Affordable sour cream.
Old people being allowed to drive here when they should have had their licenses revoked years ago is a problem I experience here.
It’s a crime that choco mint ice cream isn’t available in stores year round
From the moment I walk out my door, to the moment I walk back through it, I have to assume somebody is probably watching me.