Are you including the NEETs, parasite children, and the freeters? I think that would bring the average Japanese income down a lot. Remember, generally foreigners that are like that here are either married to a rich honey, live with others (there is a reason they are called parasites) or are forced to leave the country.
All I'm doing is quoting what I saw on the news about 6 months ago. Who can say what people were included in the survey? I think they were referring only to FT workers, which yes, may include parasite singles and such, but it is about the only round average figure you can get as an official fact to go on. We still make less, I think.
How short a term are you thinking? Like the one year contracts I keep getting?
I make no definitions about this. What do
you think? You talk about foreigners having it "easier", but make no other qualifications. Perhaps we should define that foreigner as one who is here for life, and then save our discussions for specific breakdowns with people who have been here 5 years or less, and more than 5 years. Could just as easily be 3 years if you want to consider people who may have gone through at least one 3-year visa renewal.
I don't know either, as a lot of the foreigners who have big issues usually leave or try to come for shorter periods of time. I'm not sure there are more foreigners than Japanese suffering. As I hinted at before, a lot of Japanese seem to have 'local' blood raging in their veins. They seem to get a lot more homesick than I do. Remember some of these people are the same ones who get homesick 1 week out of the country!
I thought we were referring to people in country, not out. Yes, people may not like having the transfers away from their home town, but neither of us can truly say just how strong those feelings are. All I can say in defense is that Japanese are more prone to "gaman" and "shoganai", so by that virtue alone, they can take it better than we foreigners who live thousands of miles from home.
I'd like to add a 9th category as well, mental health. I really do think that a lot of Japanese area lot more stressed out. Of course this is difficult to prove, but let's compare the % of foreigners who die from karoshi or who become hikikomori?
You know as well as I the answer to that, but it is a skewed point since the vast majority of foreigners don't even get placed in those situations. Yes, that makes it easier on us, but is mental health limited to that statistic alone? Culture shock certainly enters into the equation.
As I mentioned earlier, quality and your definition of friendship is probably quite different from the average Japanese.
Agreed. Most foreigners, because of their culture, have a different concept than most Japanese. Just seeing friends is one thing, too. With email and phones and nengajo, some Japanese can feel perfectly content calling people "friend" that way for ages.
As to meeting 1 -2 times a year, yet you really know very little about them, how friendly is that (ex. a students tells me he is close to his brother, and I ask, "Oh what does your brother do?", and the student answers "I don't know?!" )???
LOL. Yup, I hear you! However, I think that point is a little different from whether they consider themselves close or not. Have had many students (housewives) who couldn't answer the same question!
Glenski posted
No, i was just pointing out to another poster that just because you're from a country doesn't mean you like all the customs. The difference is, I can more easily try and adjust my behaviour than a Japanese person can who may keep repeating the 'Shoganai' mantra and (and wondering why things change so slowly
).
Glenski posted
Since when is being obligated easier (I feel a bushido moment coming on
)? But how is that different, people not saying what they feel? That's usual with women, in Japan and elsewhere.
I know, I Know, pawning off chores on others is so..so..don't worry..I'll think of something to call it. But I do still wash the dishes and take out the garbage, so maybe I'm not getting out of much.
Discrimination, yes this is one that never goes away. But remember it works two ways, kind of like the god and dog experiences.
But a big thanks to Glenski, he's always a stickler and makes me think.[/QUOTE]
re:customs
The difference is, I can more easily try and adjust my behaviour than a Japanese person can who may keep repeating the 'Shoganai' mantra and (and wondering why things change so slowly
Well, that's you. Many (again, an undefined percentage) foreigners don't adjust. And, the shoganai from Japanese can be not a stressful response, you know. It can just as easily be a self-defense cultural mechanism that causes no pain at all.
Re: daily living
Since when is being obligated easier
Perhaps mine was a poor choice of words. Not obligated but accepting. Like I just wrote above about shoganai. Mind you, this is just a foreigner's perspective on the Japanese perspective. I don't think either of us knows enough to say either way, but this thread is just an opinion piece anyway.
Discrimination, yes this is one that never goes away. But remember it works two ways, kind of like the god and dog experiences.
Perhaps 2 ways. Not sure what you mean. However, the discrimination here (when the foreigners perceive it, of course) is one-way against foreigners. Can't get around that. Japanese are not told they can't enter bathhouses, or that their jobs are contract only, or that they can't rent apartments because their food stinks, etc.
But a big thanks to Glenski, he's always a stickler and makes me think.
And, thanks in return for not blowing up over my remarks. I try to debate civilly and rationally. Yours is a very difficult topic without much in the way of survey data to help us. (And, I'm sure you know what I mean when I say that I find Japanese statistics less than adequate to represent reality in lots of cases anyway.)