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If Japan is such a terrible country, why are you in Japan?

hahaha, actually, for all of the people who complain so much about Japan, I was kind of wondering the same thing!

I guess this thread might not apply to me though, because I don't think Japan is a terrible country at all. I know that if I did start to think that, I'd be gone as soon as possible.

That's one thing I respect about Maciamo, if anyone remembers him. Instead of staying and becoming another Debito, he left and went where he felt more comfortable.
 
I can understand the 'whys' of the thread, but kind of wish there had been more structuring of its information.

Anway, I would reason along the following lines:

Japan is a country.
I am staying in Japan.
I would never stay in a country that is so terrible as to make me want to leave it.
Therefore, Japan is not a country that is so terrible as to make me want to leave it.

The point to keep in mind, then, is that wording, 'so terrible as to....' This does not signify any absolute degree of 'terribleness' any more than it precludes any degree of 'terribleness' at all, but simply gives room for the degree that would cause me to not want to stay here. There are terrible elements to each and every country, all over this very little spinning rock in space.
 
Japan undoubtedly isn't 'so terrible' but I'm willing to bet that many people that go to Japan do it with little knowlege about the country and it's people and gross over expectations of what they will find.

For some reason Japan has become this almost mythical place where some people seem to believe that it's this Mecca of tradition, etiquette, anime/manga/video games, the most beautiful submissive women, samurai warriors, I could go on and on. It's become a geek icon.

They buy into a lot of hype thinking Japan is everything their own country is lacking and should strive to live up to and become severely disappointed and bitter when fantasy doesn't live up to reality.

Just think how many times you've heard people saying they want to live in Japan when they've never been there, have no practical knowlege of the country and only know a few words of japanese they picked up from their favorite anime. And these are the people most likely to proclaim Japan as the best place in the world, get there, realize they've been living in a dream world and come on a forum to ***** about how crappy Japan is. 😊
 
I saw this in the Peace Corp. If you are going to complain about the place all the time, why did you join the Peace Corp.

The Peace Corp whiners and complainers

- -> They whine and complain their whole lives

- -> Peace Corp assignment is a lot of work, and not much to show; whine and complain

- -> Peace Corp assignment turned out very different than expected; whine and complain

- -> Peace Corp assignment was to be "Shangria-La", they ended in a old dirty place; whine and complain

- -> Peace Corp assignment; they are young, naive, and immature emmontially

- -> Peace Corp assignment; they have run into personnel problems, and blame the country and society they are in.

- ->Peace Corp assignment; unhappy just blame the most obvious thing that has changed in your life

.

.
 
hahaha, actually, for all of the people who complain so much about Japan, I was kind of wondering the same thing!
I guess this thread might not apply to me though, because I don't think Japan is a terrible country at all. I know that if I did start to think that, I'd be gone as soon as possible.
That's one thing I respect about Maciamo, if anyone remembers him. Instead of staying and becoming another Debito, he left and went where he felt more comfortable.



Wow i didn't know Maciamo left, lol i've got so much catching up on this forum to do, although IMHO i did think Maciamo did complain a great deal about japan, rarely ever saw any threads or posts done by him that said anything positive about the country.


If i remember correctly, there were a great deal of rants about japan last year or so ago when i was active, although i kinda forget what most of the threads were ranting about exactly.
So what is so terrible about japan?
I know its not perfect, but then again there aren't any paradises i know of abroad that don't have their flaws...
 
What about the people who I know that have lived here 3/4 of their lives and have genuine gripes? Nowhere is perfect, so there has to be something to complain about - is it that bad?
 
What about the people who I know that have lived here 3/4 of their lives and have genuine gripes? Nowhere is perfect, so there has to be something to complain about - is it that bad?



Nope 👍 , lol, i complain a lot about many aspects of my own country, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna live abroad 😌 .


I think the fact of the matter is often that many people have perhaps too sugar coated views when they first start wanting to learn more about Japan, and when they discover there are problems about the country/culture/people etc, they make a big deal out of it for whatever reasons. Maybe they feel betrayed- maybe this makes them more paranoid/skeptical of the good things they hear about the country, maybe they start looking for the problems in the country instead of the good things about the country etc.

But i don't think it makes the place "terrible".
I would actually say, that overal why i have been doing my research on Japan over the years, i would say that its actually improving on the whole. Yeah there's still rascism, predujices, unemployment, sexism, stifeling cultural traditions etc, but i don't think its any worse than anywhere else in places like in the UK or USA.
 
The thing is why some of you (it's YOU!) compare Japan negatively to your home country? When you look at your home country, you see the glass as half-full, when you look at Japan, see the glass as half-empty? Anyone doing that should go home.

A host country has no obligation to accomodate you. It's a privilege, and not a right to live in Japan. Don't bite the hand that feeds you!!

Many people are simply irresponsible here, maybe it is often difficult to blame themselves for their problems in life, and they are left with searching for other external causes on which to pin those problems. Haha, grow up!
 
You do have a good point, diceke san, about the fallicy of the temptation to compare. That is not to say that an evaluation of state is not a good thing, but just that comparison against another country leads to no positive productivity...in most cases.

I have learned some time ago, not to compare.


Many people are simply irresponsible here, maybe it is often difficult to blame themselves for their problems in life, and they are left with searching for other external causes on which to pin those problems. Haha, grow up!

This section of your post bothered me, however. 'Many?' 'Here?' ( if 'here' means the planet earth, then, again, I fully agree with you ! but I tend to reason that you had meant 'JREF,' correct?)
 
Thank you for your honesty there, diceke san. I would have to disagree with you on that point, but, then again, that point is not the point !! (off-topic basically) Let's see what other folks here on JREF who live in Japan think about the country.
 
I'm still failing to see the point here - I live and work in Japan, my everyday is here. The only other life I know is in Australia, so of course I'm going to compare them...
 
Just think how many times you've heard people saying they want to live in Japan when they've never been there, have no practical knowlege of the country and only know a few words of japanese they picked up from their favorite anime. And these are the people most likely to proclaim Japan as the best place in the world, get there, realize they've been living in a dream world and come on a forum to ***** about how crappy Japan is. 😊

I couldn't have said it better myself. And the irony is, Japan has nothing to do with the selling of that image either. Here in the West this mystique and allure is completely self-perpetuating and generates most of its strength from the sub-cultures and enthusiast groups associated therein. The even larger irony is that this phenomena is ultimately derived from the Japanese being inundated by our own Western culture in the first place.

diceke said:
When you look at your home country, you see the glass as half-full, when you look at Japan, see the glass as half-empty? Anyone doing that should go home.


I think that happens just about everywhere unfortunately. People travel to other tourist destinations that are less industrialized and don't even blink when the locals laugh at them or they're turned away from a bar. Somehow its ok, but because Japan is in the G8 and sells more cars than anyone else in the world, they're automatically supposed to be everything the West is and more. Japan is Japan, its populated by the Japanese people, and they do things the Japanese way. For centuries, that 'way' has had absolutely no need whatsoever to accomodate foreigners.

Yet, despite all that, people fail to see all the positives that do exist. Free language classes for foreginers at local ward centers, companies and businesses that cater to foreginers for things like vehicle and apartment acquisition, English signs in major centers and train stations, requirements by many companies to offer at least some basic services in English, the list goes on.
 
The thing is why some of you (it's YOU!) compare Japan negatively to your home country? When you look at your home country, you see the glass as half-full, when you look at Japan, see the glass as half-empty?
For example? This is far too general a thing for me to get involved in. Diceke makes some good points after the above statements, as have other people, but what are you responding to, diceke?

Like others, I will add that yes, many come here with secondhand or old or false or otherwise jaded information about what it is like to live and work here. Most people that I know from the forums with that situation were only concerned about living here. They failed to take into account the fact that they were being hired to do a job, not sit on their butts and get paid to fund their partying ways.

Others failed to take into account that this is not their home country, yet they came and imposed their own country's / culture's values on Japan. That is obviously asking for trouble from the start.
 
Japan is a country that has problems like any other country, and there's nothing wrong with talking about them. And when there are people who disagree, discussions can often get heated and viewpoints can start to sound extreme.
I find the "If you don't like it, why don't you leave?" attitude implied in the thread title to be pretty obnoxious. Again, there's nothing wrong with talking about certain negative aspects of a country and wishing they were improved.

My home country has loads of problems, but I wouldn't be likely to talk about them here because this is a Japan forum.
 
The thing is why some of you (it's YOU!) compare Japan negatively to your home country? When you look at your home country, you see the glass as half-full, when you look at Japan, see the glass as half-empty? Anyone doing that should go home.
A host country has no obligation to accomodate you. It's a privilege, and not a right to live in Japan. Don't bite the hand that feeds you!!
Many people are simply irresponsible here, maybe it is often difficult to blame themselves for their problems in life, and they are left with searching for other external causes on which to pin those problems. Haha, grow up!
Diceke, I understand fully what you are saying and are intending to say. I agree that if you don't like the place you live and whine and complain about it then go home, as there is probably better things out there for those people.

However ,I think you will find that most of the people who do complain about Japan like you say do indeed end up going back to where they came from. As for those who make this place their home and still complain about their daily life and experiences are just plain whiners and will complain about anything. Then you have those who fight for equality, I do not consider them complainers, b/c even though I don't agree with some of the things they fight for if we did not have them Japan would be a much harder place to live in than what we are used to and I respect them for that.

And I do also agree that Japan should not conform to our culture and ways of life and that we should be the ones making the changes.

I also think you will find that most of us long term residents find Japan a great place to live and contrary to what you are saying, it is just the small few whos voice is heard loudest. I think you will find that most of the posters on this thread enjoy Japan and the lifestyle it brings us, so try to remember that too. Cheers
 
If Japan so terrible...

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The thing is why some of you (it's YOU!) compare Japan negatively to your home country? When you look at your home country, you see the glass as half-full, when you look at Japan, see the glass as half-empty? Anyone doing that should go home.



Outstanding point. Says it all
 
I think to many people go to Japan with alot of preconceived notions. And like Japan because they think it is "better" than their own country.

They claim to like Japan but they have this "me me me" attitude about everything. They always have to have reasons for liking the country. And oftentimes these reasons are false ones.

They'll think that the girls are nicer there, that people will somehow think they're cool because they're foreign, that xenophobia doesn't exist in the country.

And then they come to Japan, become dissapointed and bitter. Because they never really liked the country to begin with and unworth of the label Japanophile.

Basically, the same thing MadamePapillon.

I don't believe in this whole "me me me" thing. I don't care about Japan's problems, I accept them but don't care. It's not about me, it's about Japan.
Whenever someone has something bad to say about Japan's culture I usually all "so what?" Like it should be a big deal to me or something. Japan is still my favorite country no matter what anybody says. And unlike the me me me people, I don't have reasons for liking the country, I don't need them.

I'd still want to go to Japan if I stood the chance of being lynched for being foreign.
 
People complain/discuss things about their home countries almost of a daily basis, but if it's a foreigner damming Japan then people get really anal about things.
 
I'm going to start a new topic on a similar idea, but heres a point I want to make; If you don't live in Japan, and have not lived in Japan for an extended period, I don't think you should be giving any opinion on this topic.
 
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