Foreigners in a big argument with the mayor of Kumamoto City demanding that the Japanese is hard to understand and that school lunches should take religion into consideration and other issue

13 comments

1. A dialogue meeting between foreigners living in Kumamoto City and the mayor, held on 3 November, has become a hot topic. The 15 foreigners were from Taiwan, the US, Ukraine and other countries. They told the mayor that they found it difficult to understand the year numbers on administrative documents because they were centred on the original year, and that they wanted the school lunch menus to take culture and religion into consideration.

   [Continue reading (in Japanese)](https://smart-flash.jp/sociopolitics/260034/1/1/)

   Note: the following Japanese source article may contain xenophobia words or ideology

2. Woke cultural influence at work! Wonderful. I can taste the entitlement.

3. Paperwork in general is a convoluted mess and japanese and foreigners alike could benefit from simplifying some things. But if your kid has a special dietary restriction then make your kid lunches and have them bring them to school??

4. “Demanding”

   are you extrapolating ” 意見 opinions” to “demands”?

   that smell a bit clickbaitery

   It was a meeting to get opinions. No one demanded a single thing.

5. If people can’t figure out the year system, how do they expect to pass a basic math class? Yeah, the system is archaic and a bit silly IMO, but it’s really not that hard. Dealing with it is just something you have to put up with to live here.

   Japanese is hard to understand? It’s the language of the land. I feel lucky I can get by as well as I do with English and very basic Japanese, but I’m not making any demands on the people or the country to accommodate me. It’s not the only difficult language in the world: Chinese, Russian, German, and Arabic are all very difficult to learn.

   As for taking religion into consideration for lunches, F that. Japan should make NO accommodation for idiotic religious beliefs from foreigners. If you want your religion to be a big part of your life and even have it determine your menu, you should move to a country where that religion is dominant.

6. as a foreigner. i hate us.

7. Foreigners coming in to dictate how your country should exist need to be expelled.

8. Ok.

   It’s their country.

   Let’s not be too demanding.

   Fucks sake.

9. https://x.com/k_onishi/status/1720599573801189530?s=46&t=7-HKJ_xy7d6W2YSw5or1jA

10. “They told the mayor that they found it difficult to understand the year numbers on administrative documents because they were centred on the original year…”

    I wonder, are they talking about the Showa, Heisei, Reiwa system for numbering years? If so, then I totally get that. I know it’s slowly being phased out, but I’m just surprised it lasted as long as it did in official capacity because it’s so damn impractical and even Japanese people get confused.

11. Heard school lunch is on it’s way to becoming obsolete with inflation. Much of the school and their parents are against raising the price, driving their contractor almost out of business. Dunno if it’s the full picture, but the twitter pic of the public food kids eat nowadays are kinda sad.

12. Written Japanese language needs to be simplified…. dramatically. The usage of 3 writing systems for a language with so many homophones is ridiculous. Kanji….don’t get me fucking started on that mess. For context, I believe American English should be simpler

13. Can’t comment on the demand for religious lunches, but I do get pissed off at how unhelpful the schools are when catering (or not) for my son’s dairy allergy. Not a big deal when he can take bento, and I have no problem with that as a solution, but there have been times when that isn’t allowed for whatever reason.

    And don’t get me started on school trips. The school has full control over the food they will serve to the kids, yet nearly always refuses to prepare a dairy free alternative. In the past, we’ve had to pack him food that the kitchen can prepare for him. And if the school/kitchen prepares a bento for the kids, they will rarely prepare one for him. It’s unimaginable in my home country.

    So, whilst I’m generally not the type of person to demand others change on my behalf, I can sympathize with that feeling that nobody gives a fuck.