Insane debt, skyrocketing prices on property/food/transport, taxes are going to go crazy, aging communities and fricked birthrate, outdated workforce, outdated tech sector, supply and demand problems, rising crime, rising neoliberalism, running out of room to live in.
>fricked birthrate, outdated workforce, outdated tech sector
The rising neoliberalism would mean that I'd have an easier time getting things like a long term visa.
I already work for one of the best top 5 (and I'd' argue top 2) tech companies in Japan, but technically have a USA contract. In 5 years, I'll have 15 years exp and could be positioned well to manage waves of immigrant tech workers brought in to try to make this place survive instead of die
You do know someone tried to bomb the Prime Minister last month? That should tell you enough dissatisfaction exists and more to come would not shock anyone.
Coming back at the end of this summer. Moved to Osaka pretty much exactly 1yr before lockdowns and got to experience the country pre-Covid, which was nice, but I’ve had enough. No I did not get to visit home even once (risked losing entry permission) so you could say I’m a little homesick but Japan was horrible during the coof, but it’s honestly worse now. Seriously. It’s been open to travel for just one week? The influx of kids who weren’t old enough to travel and needed 4-5yrs to save up has been so massive - everywhere you go it’s just a bunch of moronic Zoomer Kyles and Beckys and jfc are they obnoxious. There’s a fat 35yr old balding hipster in a Nintendo shirt who smells like death in front of you in line at every store. The locals have gone from being scared of you not wearing a mask to hating you as they think you’re just another one of these post-lockdowns “we have nothing better to do than watch anime now!” normalhomosexual weebs. Prices have been creeping due to inflation but they keep going up now to capitalize on the visitors. It’s ruined NOW. And if it isn’t or this is only temporary, then
is right. It’ll be full on globohomosexual within a decade and Japan is well on the way
>post-lockdowns “we have nothing better to do than watch anime now!” normalhomosexual weebs
Japanese watch anime. Japanese don't ahve anything against "normalhomosexuals." Weeb just means someone interested in Japanese culture, which applies to virtually all tourists in Japan, by definition.
What makes you think Japanese people even have anything against "weebs" anyway? Where is this boogeyman in your mind even coming from?
Some otaku who lives in a 10m x 10m apartment and hardly sees the light of day is one thing. American normalgays are extroverts, and whereas anime used to be a “weird” thing now it’s a substitute for a personality. I’m 28 and old enough to remember weebs getting bullied online, but also young enough to be exposed to genuine 18-23yr olds whose lives literally revolve around that shit. There are cartoons back in the United States, so why do all these annoying kids watch some boring crap from overseas with subtitles? Because it makes them so much more “unique”? (Which they actually think besides all anime being the same, and it’s weirder these days to NOT watch it.)
Weeb has gone from liking Japanese culture to being obsessed with it to a point where so many of these stupid Zoomers flock somewhere and start running it down. Slavaboos exist too (though in much smaller numbers) as do even Ameriboos. Yes there’s less of them but when they go to another country they appreciate it instead of ruin it. And come the frick on, going to another country just because “Chainsaw Man is epic!” is a terrible excuse
All these kids think the world needs to be bent for them, which is why even before Covid you had so many vlogger types like that one who filmed a dead body making Le Epic videos about running around screaming in a “respectful society” or whatever. Yeah Japan is America’s b***h but it still has its own culture and these cell-phone addicted kids instead of sucking up whine, complain, and practically petition for things to be changed. Worst part is it works even if only on a micro scale because Japan NEEDS tourist money even if it’s only 8% of their GDP. So, do you want this country to become a globalhomosexual shit fest like the West? It’s well on the way. gays and troons and violent blacks need to feel safe here too you know!
>All these kids think the world needs to be bent for them, which is why even before Covid you had so many vlogger types like that one who filmed a dead body making Le Epic videos about running around screaming in a “respectful society” or whatever. Yeah Japan is America’s b***h but it still has its own culture and these cell-phone addicted kids instead of sucking up whine, complain, and practically petition for things to be changed. Worst part is it works even if only on a micro scale because Japan NEEDS tourist money even if it’s only 8% of their GDP. So, do you want this country to become a globalhomosexual shit fest like the West? It’s well on the way. gays and troons and violent blacks need to feel safe here too you know!
This whole paragraph is just a word salad of /misc/cel and generally very online garbage. Re-evaluate your life Anon.
> The losers traveling there now don't understand what's coming
… doesn’t it make more sense to “travel there now” for a few weeks while the getting is good by your own logic?
Why even make a thread, there are thousands of stories online. The work culture sucks, the language is difficult to become proficient in and it's a hard place to live without it. Despite stereotypes, it's an overly bureaucratic place plus it has obnoxious social policing. Getting a real job past teaching English is outside most people's grasp, and that pays shit and people won't take you seriously.
On top of all this, people who go there in the first place are usually the problem. They have unrealistic expectations about Japan being the solution to their problems. Many are young and when faced with the reality of the real world blame Japan instead of themselves. Then there are those who are going to meet a woman who realise Japanese women don't want some loser who can't get laid back home.
Success comes from having an education and a skillset that will allow you to get a real job, genuine proficiency in the language, multiple long stays prior to moving there to adjust to the culture, and not going there purely because of some juvenile belief that is an escape from your problems because Japan is special and unlike any other place you could live.
It gets old real quick anon, it's not about feelings, it's about basic daily tasks such as banking, signing contracts, hell housing. Everything is a chore because "lol silly foreigner"
I know the language and I got an okay job with barely any overtime. Living here is easy cause the society functions fine and noone bothers you. This isn't really true for me.
And yes, I like that I get to not be around undesirable groups of people (blacks, Muslim, Americans etc.).
[...] >muh language is difficult >muh salarymen work culture
You're just spitting dumb cliché shit that is really dated, i'm not even sure you're a human poster.
Japan's worst problem is nigerians, that's all.
[...] >muh language is difficult >muh salarymen work culture
You're just spitting dumb cliché shit that is really dated, i'm not even sure you're a human poster.
Japan's worst problem is nigerians, that's all.
Same loser.
language barrier is a meme that only impacts 2 week tourists. once you pick up the first few hundred words and phrases you snowball like crazy from immersion. if you spend a year there and aren't conversationally fluent at the 8 month mark, you fricked up.
if illiterate chinese can come to the US and pick up english in 6 months than any white person with a functional brain should be able to manage another language.
It's easier to learn English than it is to learn Chinese.
you get my point. beaners, pajeets, and other various 80 IQ brownoids can pick up a language their immersed in no problems. shit, just look at the nigerian guys in Tokyo.
>beaners
You're talking to one my guy, that got a laugh out of me. Yeah, I totally get what you mean. Especially now that the Internet makes books and native speakers so accessible, it's never been easier to learn a new language. Classes that teach the language are only useful for the basics and academia, from what I've seen personally at least. Talking to friends who speak the language and reading books or articles seem to be more consistent. There's a joke among older Spanish speakers that watching novelas are good for learning casual Spanish. I learned from speaking with grandparents and elders so I can't testify to that, take it with a grain of salt.
t. The exact kind of juvenile who dreams of Japan.
[...]
Hit a nerve?
>muh language is difficult >muh salarymen work culture
You're just spitting dumb cliché shit that is really dated, i'm not even sure you're a human poster.
Japan's worst problem is nigerians, that's all.
language barrier is a meme that only impacts 2 week tourists. once you pick up the first few hundred words and phrases you snowball like crazy from immersion. if you spend a year there and aren't conversationally fluent at the 8 month mark, you fricked up.
if illiterate chinese can come to the US and pick up english in 6 months than any white person with a functional brain should be able to manage another language.
its a job trap. you get comfortable with an easy, lazy, laid-back life there and one day after 10 years you realise you're still just singing "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes" in a career thats going nowhere with no promotion prospects.
you're stuck teaching english, unless you manage to get married to a girl rich enough that you can maybe open your own bar once you get a marriage visa, but thats about it.
even if you stick it out with the Classroom Clown job its gradually being going to shit for years and there's no job security. annual renewable contract tied to your visa. if your company loses the contract for the town you live in then riperino, sorry gotta find another job or move to the opposite side of the country.
when the company i worked for started cutting pay and time off i was out. most english teaching companies/contractors there are 80% filipinos because they'll work harder for less and dont complain about work conditions unlike the whites. now if you want to have any chance of getting promoted in a company there as a gaijin you've pretty much have to get in with the Filipino crowd and go to their weird cult catholic churches, as all the management staff are mostly Flips now.
not really japan's fault, it was fricking fantastic pre-2014 but it dropped off quickly after that.
i left in 2019 and glad I narrowly avoided their covid autism and their economy going to shit from the olympics.
the mid-00s in japan were a fricking amazing time and would go back in a heartbeat if I could.
If your idea of working in Japan is being a “teacher”, that’s your problem. It’s like being Indian and saying America has no opportunities outside of gas stations.
Lmao, imagiine comparing teaching to working at a gas station. One requires you to be a drone, the other has responsibility, a sense of purpose, can literally change lives, and keeps your mind active.
Teachers are unsung heroes, and English teachers are just as valuable as every other frontline public service. Japan needs us if it's going to develop.
You people who look down on us are pathetic. You're probably a """bitcoin trader""" or """digital nomad""". Get a real job and make a positive difference.
The world will get by just fine without English "teachers" in Asia. America would collapse without gas stations and Japan would implode without convenience stores and all the insane tasks they fulfill.
But keep projecting.
in japan, teaching english is literally 99% of the jobs available to foreigners unless you're JLPT N1 Japanese with multiple masters degrees in extremely niche fields, in which case you'd get twice the pay doing that job overseas anyway.
Your own insecurities are showing. N2 is easily obtainable after just a year of studying, N1 after a few extra months, and no company even asks if you passed the JLPT. If you can speak somewhat understandable Japanese at an interview, you'll do fine. Frankly, the Japanese interview experience is easier than just about anywhere else. There's no effort made to validate your skills or anything. Just say "I can do (relevant thing)", they nod, and if you're not sweating and panicking they'll believe what you're saying is true and give you an offer.
Choosing to be an English teacher and not move up is entirely a personal choice. There are loads of foreigners working real jobs in Japan and they're not crying about it taking 35 years to reach N4 and discrimination or whatever the frick. We just apply to jobs and do them.
Start with Genki I and II and you'll have conversational Japanese pretty quickly. After that, use Tobira for more advanced structures and the Kanzen Master series to get exposed to grammar that's more literary/formal and necessary to pass the JLPT. Listening can be done with anime or whatever you like. Speaking, of course, by speaking with people and practice typing by adding people on LINE and talking.
Writing kanji is of course useful, but it's OK to take that slowly and learn how to write them on a need-to-know basis. But definitely learn to read kanji, but learn them in the context of words. Don't be one of those morons who memorizes a list of kanji without context and is surprised when his rote memorization of characters helps him in no way. Instead, use Anki for flash cards, build your own deck, and add new words as you encounter them.
In short, study grammar with textbooks, learn words from real life, and practice with people and you'll go far. You can have basic bar chat in a month. You can function in most situations in a year. You can fully work in an all-Japanese environment in a year and a half. These are all assuming you study about 30 minutes a day. Push harder and you can get it done faster.
11 months ago
Anonymous
Thank you
11 months ago
Anonymous
Either people have way lower bars for learning or I am bottom 10 percentile for language learning, because between anki, anime, yomichan, typing on hellotalk, actually staying in Osaka for 2.5 months, I can barely grok fricking anything beyond konichi wa o genki tbh ka
11 months ago
Anonymous
Talk exclusively in Japanese on hellotalk. I was flirting with girls exclusively in Chinese on hellotalk with just a month of study and I was traveling in China after a month on top of that.
With Japanese, I was speaking half English/half Japanese with my then-girlfriend for our first month and all Japanese by month 3.
If you don't force your brain to operate only in a foreign language, you'll find yourself not making progress fast enough. But people--everyone without legitimate brain damage impairing the ability to speak altogether--learn languages really fricking fast when they have a motivating factor (chatting up girls) or being in a situation where they don't have another language to fall back on.
Whenever you find yourself stumbling for vocabulary, look up the word on your phone's dictionary, save it to Anki, then keep trudging on. I was adding 25-50 words a day every single day my first couple months.
11 months ago
Anonymous
I do this. It doesnt work as fast as you claim, memorizing is brute force repetition and forming sentences takes so long I cant actually have a real conversation in voice. Whatever part of your brain that works for foreign languages doesnt work for me, takes 10x the effort that people claim it takes them.
Either people have way lower bars for learning or I am bottom 10 percentile for language learning, because between anki, anime, yomichan, typing on hellotalk, actually staying in Osaka for 2.5 months, I can barely grok fricking anything beyond konichi wa o genki tbh ka
As someone whose hobby is learning stuff this the most efficient guide to learning Japanese >rote memorization for the Kana >Read trough whatever grammar guide you prefer to get a basic idea (You don't need to actually learn it for now) >Use jpdb.io and pîck an anime/manga/novel you want to watch/read >don't bother with writing, set it to show JP card side first >DON'T LEARN KANJI >The goal is to adjust your brain to the point it's able to recognize Kanji as having meaning rather than random scribbles >Switch to reading/watching whatever the deck's source is once you reach whatever failure% you're comfortable with (80-90% if you're not sure) >Actually learn grammar at some point, you'll be understandable without it but come across as a moron
Note that this method is purely for learning Japanese as efficiently and fast as possible, you're going to sacrifice reading speed, the ability to properly write and will struggle more with unknown words (although even Native speakers struggle with reading Japanese, the language is that shit kek)
The main advantage of this method is that you're skipping some foundational work for straight up comprehension, you'll be speaking/reading Japanese exponentially faster than any other method which is important for motivation
Basicly you only need like 85% of the language, skipping the last 15% so you can cut the amount you need to learn in half is an easy trade-off if you don't plan to live in Japan long term
11 months ago
Anonymous
>DON'T LEARN KANJI >The goal is to adjust your brain to the point it's able to recognize Kanji as having meaning rather than random scribbles
So i didn't explain this enough, the site will also include Kanji cards in whatever deck you pick
My point is to not memorize them, just read/write it a couple of times and think about how the symbol works
Like reading an interesting Wikipedia article
That's bullshit, youre just bitter. I'm an ESL teacher and am well respceted by students parents, colleagues, and the Ministry alike. They pay me well as a representation of that.
All these LARPers doing stupid jobs in tech and bitcoin and other nonsense are going to be unemployed in 5 years.
Let's see who's laughing at me then, when I'm conquering the local teaching market giving people the opportunity to reskill.
Also, being an ESL teacher gives you +5 skill when it comes to picking up Japaanese. One of the most easiest languages out there when you know how. Have fun being poor and unable to write, lol.
>Teachers overrate themselves higher than any profession.
NTA but I don't see how anyone can argue that English isn't the most important language somebody can know in 2023.
If you're not a native English speaker, knowing English will set you far apart from your peers and is a much more valuable asset for your future than knowing frogs breathe through their skin or what some guy who died 300 years ago was having for breakfast, or whatever other useless bullshit people learn for 12 years before university.
>Your students (and likely fellow teachers) don't respect you, nor do a lot of the public.
The Japanese respect you if you're performing your job to the best of your ability. It doesn't matter if you're teaching English or cleaning toilets as long as you take pride in your work and do your best.
Was talking more about teachers in general but OK.
>Teachers overrate themselves higher than any profession.
NTA but I don't see how anyone can argue that English isn't the most important language somebody can know in 2023.
If you're not a native English speaker, knowing English will set you far apart from your peers and is a much more valuable asset for your future than knowing frogs breathe through their skin or what some guy who died 300 years ago was having for breakfast, or whatever other useless bullshit people learn for 12 years before university.
>Your students (and likely fellow teachers) don't respect you, nor do a lot of the public.
The Japanese respect you if you're performing your job to the best of your ability. It doesn't matter if you're teaching English or cleaning toilets as long as you take pride in your work and do your best.
English is dead. The market's over. You're a tradesmen stuck in the 90s as tech and AI is eating your future. Chomp chomp chomp.
I bet you're one of these homosexuals who thinks because he "knows grammar" and "has read the teachers book" that he's hot shit.
News flash: your colleagues hate you, and the Japs think you're pathetic.
Imagine believing because you know that English only has 2 tenses, that you're more useful than a biologist, lmao. Deluded.
You're right about the last part though - Japs do respect you just as much as toilet cleaners.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>tech and AI is eating your future
To be fair, there are very few jobs this doesn't apply to in the long run. Only totally safe careers at the moment are shit like nursing and being a hairdresser. Everything else is going to be at least partially automated in like 5 years.
11 months ago
Anonymous
Teaching will make it, but in a vastly different form. I personally think the current state of ESL is a view into the future. > People teaching parts of subjects in multiple schools across town > Only need a 4 week course to run workshops in schools > Emphasis on keeping students happy and getting good feedback > AI produced content means hardly any planning > Project work takes front seat; teaching how to apply ai generated content to real.world.
It'll be a wild west in education soon as the traditional nonsense which hasn't innovated will crumble, and governments will start looking for cheap ways out.
My guess is an education passport for kids, similar to the sphere grid in FFX
11 months ago
Anonymous
>hairdresser >nurse
Once a decent robot is developed, it's over for them. No way in hell an AI will misunderstand every single haircut request it hears as badly as a human. Same with medical knowledge, AI is much more suited to it.
11 months ago
Anonymous
a robot cutting your hair or just whizzing past you in the hospital sounds depressing as hell, the vast majority of people would prefer dealing with a human in those situations
11 months ago
Anonymous
>just whizzing past you in the hospital sounds depressing as hell, the vast majority of people would prefer dealing with a human in those situations
While I'd prefer a licensed human, I'd way more heavily prefer to receive medical care for server costs + a small commodity-priced profit margin versus $300-600/hour that a human is going to charge.
11 months ago
Anonymous
Japan is still using fax machines and cash payments and you're talking about AI phasing out teachers like they're not one of the biggest labor unions in the country. Just lmao.
Look, I'm sorry Japan didn't live up to your expectations from anime and video games but I'll be enjoying my life here and doing this job for a long time.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>labor union for a minimum wage skill-less job mattering
Most “teachers” aren’t in a union, plus they’re increasingly being replaced by Filipinos who’ll work for pennies and put up with anything.
not him but in Japan teaching is unironically seen as a highly-respected profession, its just infamous for having long work hours and shit pay unlike most countries where being a teacher is a $100k/year job.
> is a $100k/year job.
Not even close. Unless you are getting the sweetest gig of University level English or private school position PLUS conversational addon's for private tutoring you MIGHT get around 8-9m/yen.
Realistically as a JET/ESL you're grabbing around 5m/yen at best, where 3-4m/yen is more average, maybe 5m in the cities and got a decent resume while pulling some extras or have exp in teaching.
TEFL/JET/ESL jobs in Japan are seen as dime a dozen because realistically you're just there to show kids "hey fricktards one of you may need to know english one day". Most don't give a shit the same way people all over the world don't give a shit taking a second language in school. Oh cool this might help me out on my first job because it's on my resume, maybe.
If you're stuck in the country side, good fricking luck getting anyone to bother pay attention. If you're in the city you may have a whole 3 or 4 kids who want to learn. Everyone hated taking English in school in Japan that's still living there, and they don't really care that you're an English teacher. There are a few places with exceptions but again, it's single digits per year of students who actually see the use of learning English to move out of their normality of life.
11 months ago
Anonymous
I'm NTA, but your reading comprehension was off.
They were saying teaching can be $100k/year in other countries, not Japan.
No need to sperg out on all the details of japanese teacher salary
11 months ago
Anonymous
Imagine being this bad at your job, lol, that you have to worry about kids not paying attention. Are you just a PowerPoint merchant in the class or sth?
in japan, teaching english is literally 99% of the jobs available to foreigners unless you're JLPT N1 Japanese with multiple masters degrees in extremely niche fields, in which case you'd get twice the pay doing that job overseas anyway.
Globohomosexual is going to ruin it and it already has. Being there in the 80’s or 90’s must’ve been utopian and like going to a truly foreign world. The world is just too interconnected now and nothing is really as inspiring or remarkable about visiting another place. Not to mention the salaries will always be worse as # said. I guess you can argue you’re trading quality of life over salaries but still there’s always going to be more and more insufferable normalgays or fat degenerate otaku fricks unless you go to some literally who places like Tottori or Shimane but then again these places are boring as frick after a while.
Take the disconnect pill. Globohomosexual is only for those with phones. Once you de-device and spread your wings, you'll see a whole new underworld opening up in front of you.
Seriously, being addicted to globohomosexual internet shit puts a huge barrier up over your face - it just manipulated you into doing normie shit and following the crowd .
Break free from that, and you'll literally be teleported back to the 80s/90s, and there's a whole bunch of us who can spot fellow time travelers a mile away - a huge amount of women, too.
While I do understand this perspective, the vast majority of people you will encounter are globohomosexual normalhomosexuals. It’s almost impossible to escape one way or another. I truly envy the times of the those who got to experience it in the 80’s during the Expo even up until the early 2000’s. The world was much larger, now it is quite small unfortunately.
My boomer boss helped set up the Tokyo office back in the 90s. He loved it there. He was the kind of weeb who had learned Japanese using a bunch of tapes and totally immersed himself in the culture, unlike most ex pats at that time who stayed in the sane square km. Went around the countryside being the first white guy many locals had ever seen kind of thing. (Assuming he isn’t bullshitting).
He doesn’t like it anymore. He has a long explanation why which is basically “globohomosexual sucks”. Never been to Japan myself but can well believe what was once the most foreign place on the planet is just another sameish place today. Even places in Europe I was taken to as a kid have now had anything unique about them obliterated.
I'm a programmer at a big tech company with 0 Japanese skills and they've been offering me a move to the Tokyo branch for a while. But the pay discrepancy is even worse. I'd go from $150k in the USA to $60k in Tokyo.
>and they've been offering me a move to the Tokyo branch
see?
thats the sort of trap i'm talking about
cost of living and rent in tokyo is so high that you'd be taking a massive pay cut just to hang around Nigerians in Shibuya anyway.
i was in a japanese company years ago and they offered me the chance to start a 2-year program where they'd promote me to office work in the main branch.
thing is the $300/month payrise wasn't enough, considering >it wouldve doubled or tripled my hours (i worked 8:30-2pm mon-fri before, i wouldve had to start going 7-7 6 days a week if i took the promotion) >extra pay wouldnt've even covered the increase cost of rent just to get a smaller, noisier apartment >i wouldve become a commute-cuck, taking packed subway trains every day >japanese business meetings are fricking aids, the most inefficient boring shit ever.
every jap meeting you have a pre-meeting where you discuss the upcoming meeting, the meeting itself, then a post-meeting where you talk about the meeting you just had >the office work wouldnt've been as frick as giving kids noogies and wet-willies in a comfy inaka school >the promotion still wouldnt've paid enough for me to even start applying for residency, residency requires you to make $3k/month in Japan and nearly all jap companies will go out of their way to avoid paying you that much in order to stop you becoming independent; they want you to rely on their contract year to year so they have you by the balls.
when pay cuts and holiday cuts started happening in the years leading up to covid i got out while i can. glad I did.
The cost of living is actually Tokyo's saving grace. You can get a big meal from a combini or gyodon for $3. Dinner at a decent restaurant for $12. Apartment prices aren't too bad either. Not like back in Boston where a studio is $2,000 per month.
11 months ago
Anonymous
Yeah. CoL is comparable to total shitholes like New Orleans. The only place you lose is the size of an apartment unit.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>You can get a big meal from a combini or gyodon for $3. Dinner at a decent restaurant for $12.
Not anymore lol.
besides if you learn to cook at home, and you should if thinking about living in Japan, food is insanely cheap in the USA.
Biggest thing you will face is being lowest on the totem pole and most likely get the old "holding your work visa renewal over your head" to get you to do more shit. Going from 150k->60k, even with the tax exemption is complete pants on head moronic. CoL can be reduced in the US very easily yet people want the quality of life so they pay more. One of the biggest traps is that after about 6 months, all the things that OOO'd and AHHHH'd you about Japan starts to wear off. Many people I have known fall into alcoholism, get fat, or simply go stir crazy due to lack of engagement from things around them or venues to explore in escapism.
If you actually make 150k now and think taking a 70% pay cut to move to Japan is a good idea you are making a huge mistake and seriously should consider what goes into moving into Japan and what you'll lose.
11 months ago
Anonymous
From what I understand from the Nip Visa website, if you score >80 on the Skilled Worker Visa scorecard you can cop permanent residency after one year. You could grind out some shit job long enough to get your paper and then just quit.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>From what I understand from the Nip Visa website, if you score >80 on the Skilled Worker Visa scorecard you can cop permanent residency after one year.
Yes technically but there is still a cost involved, tons of time and paper work, nothing guarantees you are allowed in especially with Japan in a recession trying to hire internally as much as possible. >You could grind out some shit job long enough to get your paper and then just quit.
60K is pretty good for Japan, but if you think about changing jobs that shit's going to drop and you'll still be subjected to their working hours; especially if you are an FTE and not a contractor where OT needs approval. Then you basically NEED to have Japanese N3 level for a decent paying job that won't put you at 4.5m/yr yen.
It always sounds easy peezy in your head but once you go a few months to a year over there, the glaring issues of Japan pop up. Japan is a fun place to visit, doing maybe a month or two working remotely for a well paying job in the states, but once you settle in you'll never really see Japan the same. Also Tokyo is a fricking shit to live in, Kansai or bust because at least the mountains and beaches are a nice getaway
11 months ago
Anonymous
My idea was to just burn a year of my life to cop the residency and head back to the states until I retire. The idea of LARPing as the MC of a Harvest Moon game in the Japanese countryside has its appeal.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>The idea of LARPing as the MC of a Harvest Moon game in the Japanese countryside has its appeal.
You know the midwest exists right?
The time effort and energy to 'maybe' get accepted via the point system is laughable. Again the point system does not guarantee anything outside of they will consider you for full time residency. Then you would most likely lose your US tax exemption and that 60k/6m yen will be full on taxed+ possible other local taxes. If you are the anon who wants to ditch 150k/yr to make 60k/yr, you're fricking dumb. Imagine not just seeing about a full time remote position in your current place, then just doing 90 day visa runs to/from Japan.
>The idea of LARPing as the MC of a Harvest Moon game in the Japanese countryside has its appeal.
have you ever gone to a farm let alone the actual country? weebs are fricking hopeless.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>If you actually make 150k now and think taking a 70% pay cut to move to Japan is a good idea you are making a huge mistake and seriously should consider what goes into moving into Japan and what you'll lose.
No, no. I keep rejecting that offer, lol.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>The cost of living is actually Tokyo's saving grace.
eh kinda, but you can get cheap feed and drink like that anywhere in japan being honest
main thing tokyo has going for it is the massive variety, cuz of the population density
This is more or less how I feel about my job in the states, but I’m not a clown. I’m just a remote worker that gets paid a middle class wage to do basically nothing.
i live in japan currently and i'm planning to remain here for at least the next 5 years. i'm enjoying my life quite a bit more than in the united states. if i do move back it'll be because of the people, japs are very polite but they're not really friendly and the tatemae bullshit gets annoying fast
i'm kind of a normie though and i'll be the first to tell you that if you move here expecting anime funland you're in for some serious disappointment
that's exactly it. Idk what it is but the way they just talk and carry themselves? it's like they act like they know everything about japanese culture, basically weebs in denial. I rather talk to a weeb who's upfront about it than one who hides it
that 130 yen conbini rice ball that's blowing your mind and tastebuds? i can get that any time i want, any day, i just have to walk 5 minutes from my apartment. same with the best ramen you've ever had or the fun izakaya you were at that night where you met those drunk salarymen. that's just a friday night for me.
the way you bow and scrape before the shop staff so as to be respectful? it's funny. you think you're going with the flow, participating in a harmonious society, but i know that they hold us to a different standard, and they don't really care.
the language you spend 2 hours a day studying? i'm immersed in it. the cute japanese girl you saw on the street? 20,000 yen for 60 minutes. that castle? been there done that. the anime you just marathoned? it was probably cringe. the various knicknacks you just dropped a bunch of money on? i don't need them.
don't take it as us being insufferable, we just find your starry-eyed enthusiasm cute.
Most tourists just can't hack it. It's just a sad fact of life.
People come for 1 year to have their "cultural moment", but when push comes to shove, they're just not Japanese enough inside. They don't crave the culture and society like the true veterans do.
To be a true Japanese, you need to learn the language, study the culture, copy how others act, and put work in.
It's not a game, and people who come for moronic shit like women, anime, flashing neon lights and other lame shit are just moronic tourists who might as well have taken a cruise here, tbh.
Japan is the best country in the world. If you feel it, you'll get it, and it'll change your life forever. But if you disrespect us true immigrants with your antics, you bring shame on us, tbh.
I would've written this in Japanese, but I want this message to be loud and clear.
that 130 yen conbini rice ball that's blowing your mind and tastebuds? i can get that any time i want, any day, i just have to walk 5 minutes from my apartment. same with the best ramen you've ever had or the fun izakaya you were at that night where you met those drunk salarymen. that's just a friday night for me.
the way you bow and scrape before the shop staff so as to be respectful? it's funny. you think you're going with the flow, participating in a harmonious society, but i know that they hold us to a different standard, and they don't really care.
the language you spend 2 hours a day studying? i'm immersed in it. the cute japanese girl you saw on the street? 20,000 yen for 60 minutes. that castle? been there done that. the anime you just marathoned? it was probably cringe. the various knicknacks you just dropped a bunch of money on? i don't need them.
don't take it as us being insufferable, we just find your starry-eyed enthusiasm cute.
These are gold, I need more for when I'm shitposting later
japan is ruined because of social media’s obsession with it. i was used to weebs being well, weebs but nowadays it’s the only thing anyone talks about, the only place people wanna go or move to, an anime this, anime that. it’s funny how many times i hear the tiktoks playing from my gfs phone and it’s a white person trying to explain shit about japan as if they’re some academic expert or historian. obviously it’s always really dumb surface level stuff. the internet is seemingly in full-swing of convincing everyone that it’s some sort of paradise, and oh man are these stupid kids in for a rude awakening. or maybe they’re so ignorant they’ll enjoy it regardless. funny thing is my girl doesn’t want to visit there (odd one out ig, but the reason why is she doesn’t want me doing double takes to look at JKs/JDs) and despite this - the algorithm still serves her that shit constantly. doesn’t watch anime or whatever else. it’s just inescapable. ten+ years ago when maybe a thousand sweaty neck beards would go to jp that’s one thing, but now it’s normalgays in the numbers of 100,000 a month
Oldgay here. Lived in Tokyo from about 2005 till 2011. Moved there initially for my last year of highschool because I was a weeb and loved it. Got married very young and had a comfy spousal visa situation which allowed me to just frick around for the most part. Learnt the language, did a 1 year stint in the countryside.
Eventually I filed for divorce and left the country. There wasn't anything concrete that influenced the decision. I just became aware more and more over time that something was off. Like the feeling you get after falling in love with a vast open world game only to realize that there's a limited number of environment chunks that keep getting recycled and the NPCs all have predictable speech patterns. A friend and long time resident put it to me this way: >"When you first come to Japan everything seems like chaos. Then after some time you begin to spot the order in that chaos. Eventually you just see order and begin yearning for chaos."
I got to that last stage where everything felt same-y. Traveling across the country and seeing the exact same onigiris, the same catalogs offering 10000 products for convenience and comfort, the same bushy pussies, and having the exact same preprogrammed interactions felt... unsettling. Then it became stifling and eventually the familiarity and orderliness turned to horror. Yeah it's super gay and whatever but that's what it felt to me at the time. There was no sense of excitement or danger - which is something I never expected to be fond of growing up as an introverted quiet guy. Everything seemed excessively commercialized and prepackaged. I could be dropped off in any random corner of the country and still be sure that everything would turn out fine.
The most exciting time for me was in 2011 when Fukushima blew up and nobody knew what the frick would happen. Once that settled down I knew there was nothing new left for me, so I said my goodbyes and moved to SEA. That was over 10 years ago. SEA still keeps me on my toes, awake and aware. I have Japanese friends here who all share the same characteristic: they hate Japan. Every now and then I wonder if I made the right decision (usually when a family of 5 on a beat up scooter nearly wipes me off the road or a 10 inch centipede climbs out my toilet). But then I look at what my old friends in Japan are still doing or switch on NHK for 5 minutes and am instantly reminded why I left.
I also just don't think Japanese people live very interesting lives. Cram for exams, get into the best university you can, get overworked in some bullshit corporate job, get trashed on pitchers of Asahi, belt out the same old tired songs in Karaoke, hook up with a random warm body every now and then and take an annual trip to Guam or Vancouver. Go feel some adrenaline via manufactured experiences at a theme park rollercoaster. Reach retirement and choose from a number of prearranged hobby activities like golf or calligraphy while living off generous gibs. Unknowingly put your family into debt so they can purchase a tiny land plot for your corpse and pay for a farcical funeral ceremony. For 95% this sums up the entirety of their lives. Pardon the normie reference but even on a show like Terrace House where the cast tends to be from the upper sociodemographic the lives of those people are just so fricking boring.
Sure, muh ancient Japanese culture and traditions are a thing - but does anyone really interact with those on any meaningful level? In the countryside to same degree maybe. But those rural towns have suffered from decades of brain drain and the youngest person there is in their 60s. Those towns are only begrudgingly kept alive by the government which depends on old people's votes (results are decided by overall prefecture outcome rather than number of people's votes so one senile grandma in Yamanashi is worth 100 Tokyoites).
>tldr;Japan is an efficiently systemized rat utopia with a soulless future inhabiting the great husk of an incredible creature that had withered and died a long long time ago
You’re one of countless morons who left during that period. “Flyjin” was coined during that time because countless foreigners panicked and left after the earthquake.
One unifying thing you’ll find when meeting people living long term outside their home country is people who’ve made a comfy living hate their home country. You won’t find SE Asians living in Japan who praise their country as as paradise. They call it a corrupt, poor shithole. Same with Brits or Americans who leave their home or anyone else.
When you find a place where people have the money to up and travel the world but happily return home, you’ll know you’ve found a good place. Some countries like this exist. Switzerland is one of them, Japan is another. Most visit or live in other parts of the world and think it’s not as good as home. Those should be contrasted with people who never leave and think the same.
>You’re one of countless morons who left during that period.
Are you one of the countless morons who can't fricking read? I said that period was one of the most exciting times and left afterwards when everything returned to same old boring normal. If you were there you'd likely have been one of those panicking flyjin: >aftershocks for a week, shit shaking all the time >electricity rationing by residential zone >news cycling between "its a nuclear apocalypse" to "everything is completely fine" with the truth being somewhere in between >panic buying at supermarkets and gas stations >nobody has any clue how the situation would unfold >transport shutdown >can't call anyone because cellular network overloaded >mfw all the suited up Tanakas ride bicycles 3 hours each way because muh kaisha muh meetings muh display of responsibility >farmers hundreds of kilometres away from Fukushima disposing of their harvests
>You won’t find SE Asians living in Japan who praise their country as as paradise
You'd struggle to find anyone anywhere who praises their country as a paradise. Plenty of Swiss posters even on this site who trash Switzerland. In my experience most SEAsians living abroad don't go around calling their home countries corrupt poor shitholes. Even if they do 9 times out of 10 if you ask them whether they want to live abroad forever they are likely to say "No, I want to make a lot of money here and go back home". Why? Because SEAsians have strong family networks in their countries and can afford a QOL upon returning that is better than what they can access while living in Japan. You think Somchai really wants to keep polishing Toyota glass in freezing Aichi while being a second class citizen and living in a cramped shitshack for the rest of his life? No, he wants to send the salary back to his wife and kids, then come back in 10 years to build a nice house in Issan and chill in a hammock for the rest of his life while his kids get a decent education.
No shit, moron. Nobody wants to work a shit job their whole life. That’s why you moved to a poor ass country so you can live like a relative king. If you could be in the top 2% or even 10% in Europe you’d be laughing at people settling for life in Thailand. A Thai man working a decent paying job in Japan is probably going to enjoy his life even more than a guy in the same bracket in Thailand, if only because he can live a more luxurious lifestyle and easily afford trips back to Thailand to visit family while coming back home to enjoy fully first world comforts like no bribes, good health care even in rural small towns, and whatever else he wants.
The average person in Thailand (not Bangkok which only represents a fraction of the population) is wearing worn out crocs and working through body injuries and insane overtime on top of it because they have no choice. They work hundreds of hours longer than Japan on average.
When you get older and money runs dry, you’ll be panicking because you risk living a normal SE Asian life and it absolutely fricking sucks. There’s a reason every small town in every country has authentic Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, but the Japanese restaurants are run by Chinese and Thai people with not one Japanese person around for miles. SE Asians will happily work at a shit restaurant to be thousands of miles away from their home country. Japanese people are content at home.
>When you get older and money runs dry, you’ll be panicking because you risk living a normal SE Asian life and it absolutely fricking sucks. >Every small town in every country has authentic Thai and Vietnamese restaurants >The average person in Thailand works hundreds of hours longer than Japan on average
I was going to respond in detail but reading this made me realize I'm talking with an imbecilic weeb who hasn't the slightest clue about SEA. Yes whatever sure, Japan is the best place in the world to expatriate to because Japanese return to Japan after travelling abroad, and because all SEAsians are croc wearing workaholics who come for luxurious Tokyo lifestyles and good health care in the inaka. Anyone who disagrees is a moronic flyjin with a shit job not pulling in enough money.
Holy frick the state of this board in 2023, sometimes I don't even know why I bother posting here.
>Most visit or live in other parts of the world and think it’s not as good as home.
Yeah most Japanese travel abroad but have no intentions of expatriating anywhere. A lot of possible reasons for this, one of which is that overall they're relatively unimaginative people who have grown dependant on the comforting levels of organization and social codification that Japan provides.
Whatever the reasons may be, Taro Tanaka's hardon for muh glorious Nippon is completely irrelevant to OPs question which is literally >Japan black pill stories about (non-Japanese) people moving there and then leaving
You do you man, but I wonder why the frick you're coming into a thread to sling bullshit at the people who are the exact topic of the OP. Maybe make your own thread about "Japan white pill stories about people moving there and loving it"?
>When you find a place where people have the money to up and travel the world but happily return home, you’ll know you’ve found a good place. Some countries like this exist. Switzerland is one of them, Japan is another. Most visit or live in other parts of the world and think it’s not as good as home. Those should be contrasted with people who never leave and think the same.
Oh shut up lol. Do you know how many japanese I've met in NYC who say the same shit about how Japan is too judgy and stifling, and how they're happy and free in the US?
The most exciting time for me was in 2011 when Fukushima blew up and nobody knew what the frick would happen. Once that settled down I knew there was nothing new left for me, so I said my goodbyes and moved to SEA. That was over 10 years ago. SEA still keeps me on my toes, awake and aware. I have Japanese friends here who all share the same characteristic: they hate Japan. Every now and then I wonder if I made the right decision (usually when a family of 5 on a beat up scooter nearly wipes me off the road or a 10 inch centipede climbs out my toilet). But then I look at what my old friends in Japan are still doing or switch on NHK for 5 minutes and am instantly reminded why I left.
I also just don't think Japanese people live very interesting lives. Cram for exams, get into the best university you can, get overworked in some bullshit corporate job, get trashed on pitchers of Asahi, belt out the same old tired songs in Karaoke, hook up with a random warm body every now and then and take an annual trip to Guam or Vancouver. Go feel some adrenaline via manufactured experiences at a theme park rollercoaster. Reach retirement and choose from a number of prearranged hobby activities like golf or calligraphy while living off generous gibs. Unknowingly put your family into debt so they can purchase a tiny land plot for your corpse and pay for a farcical funeral ceremony. For 95% this sums up the entirety of their lives. Pardon the normie reference but even on a show like Terrace House where the cast tends to be from the upper sociodemographic the lives of those people are just so fricking boring.
Good to see you're still alive, anon. We've replied to each other a few times over the last decade. I've flipped between SEA and Japan a few times and you've mentioned your reasons about why you prefer SEA (I think it was Thailand). For me, the best solution was to continue to flip between jobs in Japan and working remote in SEA. Yeah, life as a salaryman can be a bummer with only three real opportunities to travel every year, commuting by trains every day, Japanese work personalities, etc. But there are other aspects of life here that I like (one of them being the ease of having side-girls, which is admittedly a big thing in my life). When I feel it gets too much, I rent out my apartment for two years and nomad around SEA. This flipping between worlds gives me the most enjoyment out of life and I'll keep doing it until (or maybe even after) I get trapped by having an acknowledged kid.
On a side note, maybe one reason I never get tired of Japan is because I can't/won't learn the language. Life is more interesting this way and I live in a blissfully ignorant bubble. It might be the reason I've outlasted people who come here and learn the language. Or maybe it's my support harem of j-girls that keeps me going lol
>harem of j-girls
how did you do it? how long did it take to build?
>how did you do it? how long did it take to build?
I feel like the secret sauce is going to be that he is/was young and has a killer feature like colored eyes/blond hair/height.
If he's already done multiple cycles of live in japan -> rent out apartment for TWO years, that's like 6 years total, if doing it twice.
I'm interested to hear from him though.
I have my first date with a Japanese girl on Sunday. I'm based in SEA right now, but would love to mix in our home base Japan, if I can crack the whole "sex with japanese girls" thing as a 5'7" 30 year old with OK hair, dark eyes, 5 o'clock shadow every day, dark hair. I do earn $20k/month, so I can throw resources at the problem e.g. fashion upgrades
>I feel like the secret sauce is going to be that he is/was young and has a killer feature like colored eyes/blond hair/height.
I'm all of those things, plus middle aged, balding, thick glasses, bodybuilder, not rich, and I smile at everyone I meet. My tip for your date is to smile a lot, and even better if you can tell funny jokes. Make jokes about yourself and laugh so she knows she can too. I'd say this is universal with all women, but East Asia especially has a shortage of men who smile a lot and can laugh at themselves.
I'll preface this by saying I make 400,000/month with two bonuses a year. That puts me at about 5.5 million, which is not bad for someone working in the English field. My Japanese partner makes more than me, also in the English field. We're perhaps atypical though.
I'm not quite sure how long I want to stay here. I can't imagine going back to my home country, and life is very convenient here, but I get why people get tired of it. Tourists often think Japan is one big adventure, but the thing I like about Japan is how absolutely mundane it is here.
>When you first come to Japan everything seems like chaos. Then after some time you begin to spot the order in that chaos. Eventually you just see order and begin yearning for chaos.
This is a really good point - it's also one of the reasons I feel comfortable staying here, but I can see why it'd make some people stir-crazy.
I'm probably a bit boring, but I like traveling domestically and knowing I can find tiny variations from the same old, same old. I actually feel I waste too much time trying to figure out what to do when I travel abroad, so it's comforting to just follow the script Japan expects for you.
[...]
Good to see you're still alive, anon. We've replied to each other a few times over the last decade. I've flipped between SEA and Japan a few times and you've mentioned your reasons about why you prefer SEA (I think it was Thailand). For me, the best solution was to continue to flip between jobs in Japan and working remote in SEA. Yeah, life as a salaryman can be a bummer with only three real opportunities to travel every year, commuting by trains every day, Japanese work personalities, etc. But there are other aspects of life here that I like (one of them being the ease of having side-girls, which is admittedly a big thing in my life). When I feel it gets too much, I rent out my apartment for two years and nomad around SEA. This flipping between worlds gives me the most enjoyment out of life and I'll keep doing it until (or maybe even after) I get trapped by having an acknowledged kid.
On a side note, maybe one reason I never get tired of Japan is because I can't/won't learn the language. Life is more interesting this way and I live in a blissfully ignorant bubble. It might be the reason I've outlasted people who come here and learn the language. Or maybe it's my support harem of j-girls that keeps me going lol
>On a side note, maybe one reason I never get tired of Japan is because I can't/won't learn the language. Life is more interesting this way and I live in a blissfully ignorant bubble.
This is a big part of it too for me. I know enough to navigate through life successfully, but I'm not preoccupied with proving myself or justifying my life here through language ability.
I wonder if that’s why this thread has so much regret and angst. Most people don’t want to “follow the script” or just float by each day, either because they genuinely hate it or they internalized that good old western liberal individualism they were raised under for decades.
inb4 I get told by a bunch of weebs who spent a few weeks in tokyo, here some of my reasons >keeping a balanced diet is hard in a normal work/life situation, even with cooking at home prices of things flux wildly compared to the US >quality merchandise and quality home furnishing is actually real fricking expensive to obtain >heating and cooling suck in most all Japanese living spaces >any friends you had back home will basically be hard to maintain talks, gaming sessions, or other things with >your compensation for labor is shafted compared to most jobs in the US or EU >office politics and knowing the office politics game is an active chore you will have to eat a lot of shit for >big cities will nickle and dime you to death in small things you never 'get' as a tourist >the concrete jungles of Japan get really fricking depressing after a while >keeping up your mental health and getting out to escape the cities is an active chore, many people turn to alcohol >your going to basically have an impossible time making friends to hang out with compared to US/EU where people will hang out at the bar willingly without thinking they will "get something" out of it >coworkers will throw you under the bus at the first sign they can get ahead by doing so pretty much in all companies >tax exemptions can be a guessing game >daily commutes vs. options back home
If you can get married or something to where her friends 'become your friends' you might be able to get past that stupid "this is my outside personality" bullshit thing so many Japanese do because they care about image over just being people. I wouldn't say it's all bad but if you're coming from the US/EU or Australia, you're most likely going to be stepping down in quality of life. Sure an apartment might be cheaper, but your probably making less than you could in the US for any reasonable profession. Best advice is always remain a contractor for as long as possible, you'll have more say at work, make more, and sanity.
>your compensation for labor is shafted compared to most jobs in the US or EU
The US, definitely. But its on par with most of the EU. About the same as Germany.
>>your going to basically have an impossible time making friends to hang out with compared to US/EU where people will hang out at the bar willingly without thinking they will "get something" out of it
You are right on the other points but this is wrong
It's very easy to get into communities, speaking the language and shared interests as a foreigner is an instant ice-breaker and sure you're just a novelty to them at first but if you're not a sperg they'll be open to friendships.
Even talk to most of them online still and everyone is up for meeting up whenever I go back to Japan to vacation.
I have had no issues making friends with locals in Japan and keeping up with them, but it's always different in a way you can't quite put your finger on. Compared to friends you can make in the US based off basic things it's night and day, the way the culture is and how people are tailored to act always gets in the way. Outside of tokyo it *is* a fair bit easier, but still.
Maybe it's different compared to the US but I didn't really notice much difference in the nature of the friendship compared to home (I'm originally eastern euro slav).
>(I'm originally eastern euro slav).
This would greatly explain your viewpoint anon. From that aspect I can 100% see why it wouldn't be such big thing.
If you go to work in Japan for sure have enough in your bank account for when you move back with enough to live on for like 6 months. It's very easy to think "wow I'm going to make bank because the cost of living is so cheap" then you find out the hard way doing things to keep yourself entertained robs you blind.
Enjoy having your wife dump your entire savings into it then. I dated a women who was ex Soka Gakkai and her family were morons who donated all their earnings to this moronic Buddhist cult.
I said Shinto-Christian, that cult is not Shinto and frankly is Buddhist in name only.
Christian cults tend to demand rigorous participation but also explode in population in short periods of time. Look at LDS or the people that inspired the US government to level their compound at Waco.
Think it would just be easier to find a Christian Japanese women. Seems way too fringe, most of the cults in Japan are all new agey kind of things things like Aleph or Happy Science. Weird Christian cults is very much an American thing or a giga thirdie type thing like in Africa. I wouldn’t mingle with these kind of people, it gets ridiculous after a while.
I'm larping but only partially. I will probably just drag my nip gf/wife with me to church. But the best Christian churches always include a bit of the local customs. Just like Easter and Christmas are arbitrary dates based on European pagan holdiays, no need to wipe out Japanese traditions which can be incorporated into the faith.
Just left, met a salaryman while I was there.
Essentially business is all going to korea and china.
He told me economy is about to tank even harder than it already has. Enjoy it now while you can, on the plus side there will be millions of japanese qts looking for a survival daddy.
Japanese people are mean as hell
Anyone who says they are so nice is a tourist who speaks none of the language and went to a tourist friendly area to spend their money
>work in japan off and on for a few years >see people I've made friends with on facebook as well as coworkers >all of them after about 9 months fricking hate living there >you wouldn't know it unless you met them in person because they love the envy of weebs acting like they are superstars
Most everyone I know who has stayed there basically has a stockholm syndrome if they weren't able to land a far bigger job or swap to something US contracting with the military there. The ones that have gotten married are also generally fine because they've been able to get lucky into the social construct.
Most won't admit there is anything wrong with Japan, because 'the west is so much worse' based off online shitposts. Even when I was there for visiting in Christmas the ones I met were desperately trying to get into any other job they could as wages were cut, holidays just up and gone, or they realize there is absolutely no moving up or down. Lots are stuck under the gun of "can't quit because my work visa and don't want to go back home without any real cash saved".
Seriously I know numerous people who've been there going on 6 years now, they basically are living paycheck to paycheck despite making ~45-55k USD. One of my good friends is having to move back in with his parents here because out of all the time he spent there the tech and code he had been there to support is years behind anything current. Or it's so obscure there is no company outside Japan or Asia that would ever think about doing such a hack job in order to keep their business going. He probably makes the most out of the friends I know and still probably only has about 2-3 grand saved as he constantly is spending cash to keep his sanity intact.
Japan has some of the highest earning equity in the world, the difference between what an average doctor, teacher, pilot, programmer, etc make is less than a few thousand bucks. Teaching is seen as a dream job for a lot of people because the pay is good, they get a ton of benefits and the stability is second to none. Yeah the hours are long but that’s just Japan.
Teaching as an actual Japanese teacher garners some respect. English “teachers” do not. They’re mocked and make marginally above minimum wage no matter how many years of experience they have.
What city? I see plenty of whitey in fairly nice suits around tokyo. On average whitey wears better suits even, see a lot of japs in polyester monstrosities that do not remotely fit.
>Why does every foreigner look low class in Japan? Is there a specific reason?
because it's a cheap tourist destination
What city? I see plenty of whitey in fairly nice suits around tokyo. On average whitey wears better suits even, see a lot of japs in polyester monstrosities that do not remotely fit.
Is the question why you, I and others perceive them as that or why they engage in the action? For the former, it's because dressing in gym shorts and a Zelda t-shirt in the financial capital of a developed economy IS low class
Add in being obese, otherwise unkempt, and the elevated fashion standards of Japanese society and the chasm only widens.
Even though I dress decently as a standard measure, one of the first things I did upon landing in Japan is hit up a fashion area to grab some new pieces and fit in. I also packed my suit.
>I do earn $20k/month
Jesus Christ man, don't sweat the date. I'd sleep with you too for a chance at that.
>Jesus Christ man, don't sweat the date. I'd sleep with you too for a chance at that.
>I feel like the secret sauce is going to be that he is/was young and has a killer feature like colored eyes/blond hair/height.
I'm all of those things, plus middle aged, balding, thick glasses, bodybuilder, not rich, and I smile at everyone I meet. My tip for your date is to smile a lot, and even better if you can tell funny jokes. Make jokes about yourself and laugh so she knows she can too. I'd say this is universal with all women, but East Asia especially has a shortage of men who smile a lot and can laugh at themselves.
>Make jokes about yourself and laugh so she knows she can too. I'd say this is universal with all women, but East Asia especially has a shortage of men who smile a lot and can laugh at themselves.
Thanks for all the encouragement, anons. I even managed to score another 1st/instant date with a bilingual girl I met at an event this week.
I'm either hitting beginners luck in Tokyo or this place is full of opportunity.
cuz nearly all the foreigners are one of these >Filipino >Brazilian haafus >US college graduates doing their 1 year gap year teaching english before going back to their real career >washed-up 40yo english teachers who are stuck there because they're married >the tiny minority of foreigners who managed to get out of english teaching by opening their own bar, but now they're alcoholics and are constantly hungover or drunk
Got married and had a kid. Wife soon cheats on me with some japanese aquintance of her. Divorced her but had to pay child support. Depressed I fell for a divorced woman. She was batshit crazy and would always suspect me of cheating. Ghosted her before things escalated too far. Job was still okay (worked as a marketing executive for a cosmetic company).
Later I fell for a chinese girl there after getting fed up with japanese girl. we marry and have kids. However her parents disowned her because of my Indian origins. We ended up going to Europe (Germany) where we are currently living.
Is japan a bad place? Nope
But the women sure are weird.
That pajeet has banged Japanese and Chinese women. Then he moved to Europe. Basic b***h stuff for a westoid but he's living the pajeet dream. Give this man some props.
I think it’s because of the curry stench. Don’t blame your problems on the local women >3 failed relationships >you are the common denominator in all of them
Left after 5.5 years primarily due to no company wanting me north of English teaching, and the looming socio-economic disaster coming. Shit place to raise a family still.
Now that I have enough work experience to get a real job (pay cut), visiting these threads is what keeps my Stockholm syndrome in check.
From reading this thread, makes feel good for not moving to Japan. I enjoyed my trip there and I kind of fell in love with the idea of not having to be vigilant for crime there. That being said, for a westerner, looks like Japan leads to career stagnation for most and living a life of second class/ non-person purgatory.
A. They're two different cases, and the analogy is imperfect, and you're only using it as a thought-ending cliché, i.e. black man in America whiny and lame, me not black man, me not want to be whiny and lame.
B. It's the cool edgy thing to say on SighSee(nel), but what if blacks aren't just making it up? What if they actually have legitimate grievances
Black people do have legitimate grievances, as do expats. The Japanese system of course wants to favor Yamato Nihonjin. That being said, for the vast majority of people it is not enough to affect one's daily life and actually stand alone as a sole obstacle to lack of progress
Thing is, there are so many countries with minority ethnic groups and expatriate populations in the world with their own issues and situations, that I can't help but question your motive in going straight to black people rather than any of the countless others. Even if it's not what you intended, it looks like a /misc/ move to shut down debate and suggest that you should be a good gaijin and work on yourself or else you're a whiny race hustling Black or whatever. Maybe this isn't what you meant, but I can't for the life of me otherwise think why else you would pluck this particular example.
You didn't choose FOB Asians or Latino immigrants in the US, or the Anglo minority in Quebec, or Fennoswedes, or Bulgarian Turks or something. Was there no particular reason for this?
>I can't for the life of me otherwise think why else you would pluck this particular example.
You're right, how could I forget the multiude of grievances, movements, organizations, nationwide protests and riots, and polarization brought up the Bulgarian Turks and Latinos? If you think "who is the most prosecuted group in the US that is never out of public discourse," is there really any other answer? Don't pretend to be ignorant, it's not racist to acknowledge that black people face the most problems in America, real or imagined . The extent to which it holds them back is what's debatable
>what if blacks aren't just making it up? What if they actually have legitimate grievances
Then just like the nerds trying to move to japan, should just suck it up and deal with it, or move to a country they fit in better with. The basketball americsns at least have all black countries in the world to immigrate to. Ghana in fact has relocation deals and is a stable enough country. What country does a white american have where they can live amongst themselves?
What defines successful? Normies go on SighSee too. I have an OK job, live with my gf now/have always been dating some girl or another, and generally am well-liked whenever I meet people, but I still post here
Correct. Met quite a few very successful westerners visiting startup/tech events in Tokyo. I imagine there's others that fill different niches that I did not encounter as well.
Is it weird to miss how fake everyone was? Pure scant professionalism. Hated it in my early 20s cause no one would get emotionally open, but now I’m my late 20s I see that’s just how it is, we aren’t trying to make friends any more.
I could frick around with different personas, tow the line of ignorant gaijin and assimilated expat. No one knew what someone from Ohio was like. Back here, having a manufactured personality either gets you called out, or engulfs you in a much deeper social-chess game than it needs to be. Everyone wants to have deeper conversations but doesn’t actually care about another opinion unless it’s contrary here. At least in Japan we would all read the room and develop the small talk
It's all going to go to shit in 5 years tops and I don't want to be there when it does.
The losers traveling there now don't understand what's coming.
He meant Japan not the US moron.
And I meant Japan not the US dumbass.
You think there's no hard times approaching over there better think again.
Can you explain what you think is going to happen?
Insane debt, skyrocketing prices on property/food/transport, taxes are going to go crazy, aging communities and fricked birthrate, outdated workforce, outdated tech sector, supply and demand problems, rising crime, rising neoliberalism, running out of room to live in.
Incoherent.
>fricked birthrate, outdated workforce, outdated tech sector
The rising neoliberalism would mean that I'd have an easier time getting things like a long term visa.
I already work for one of the best top 5 (and I'd' argue top 2) tech companies in Japan, but technically have a USA contract. In 5 years, I'll have 15 years exp and could be positioned well to manage waves of immigrant tech workers brought in to try to make this place survive instead of die
so..... like everywhere else that isn't a 3rd world shithole then
this anon knows whats up
>The losers traveling there now don't understand what's coming.
What are you talking about?
You do know someone tried to bomb the Prime Minister last month? That should tell you enough dissatisfaction exists and more to come would not shock anyone.
Coming back at the end of this summer. Moved to Osaka pretty much exactly 1yr before lockdowns and got to experience the country pre-Covid, which was nice, but I’ve had enough. No I did not get to visit home even once (risked losing entry permission) so you could say I’m a little homesick but Japan was horrible during the coof, but it’s honestly worse now. Seriously. It’s been open to travel for just one week? The influx of kids who weren’t old enough to travel and needed 4-5yrs to save up has been so massive - everywhere you go it’s just a bunch of moronic Zoomer Kyles and Beckys and jfc are they obnoxious. There’s a fat 35yr old balding hipster in a Nintendo shirt who smells like death in front of you in line at every store. The locals have gone from being scared of you not wearing a mask to hating you as they think you’re just another one of these post-lockdowns “we have nothing better to do than watch anime now!” normalhomosexual weebs. Prices have been creeping due to inflation but they keep going up now to capitalize on the visitors. It’s ruined NOW. And if it isn’t or this is only temporary, then
is right. It’ll be full on globohomosexual within a decade and Japan is well on the way
>post-lockdowns “we have nothing better to do than watch anime now!” normalhomosexual weebs
Japanese watch anime. Japanese don't ahve anything against "normalhomosexuals." Weeb just means someone interested in Japanese culture, which applies to virtually all tourists in Japan, by definition.
What makes you think Japanese people even have anything against "weebs" anyway? Where is this boogeyman in your mind even coming from?
Some otaku who lives in a 10m x 10m apartment and hardly sees the light of day is one thing. American normalgays are extroverts, and whereas anime used to be a “weird” thing now it’s a substitute for a personality. I’m 28 and old enough to remember weebs getting bullied online, but also young enough to be exposed to genuine 18-23yr olds whose lives literally revolve around that shit. There are cartoons back in the United States, so why do all these annoying kids watch some boring crap from overseas with subtitles? Because it makes them so much more “unique”? (Which they actually think besides all anime being the same, and it’s weirder these days to NOT watch it.)
Weeb has gone from liking Japanese culture to being obsessed with it to a point where so many of these stupid Zoomers flock somewhere and start running it down. Slavaboos exist too (though in much smaller numbers) as do even Ameriboos. Yes there’s less of them but when they go to another country they appreciate it instead of ruin it. And come the frick on, going to another country just because “Chainsaw Man is epic!” is a terrible excuse
All these kids think the world needs to be bent for them, which is why even before Covid you had so many vlogger types like that one who filmed a dead body making Le Epic videos about running around screaming in a “respectful society” or whatever. Yeah Japan is America’s b***h but it still has its own culture and these cell-phone addicted kids instead of sucking up whine, complain, and practically petition for things to be changed. Worst part is it works even if only on a micro scale because Japan NEEDS tourist money even if it’s only 8% of their GDP. So, do you want this country to become a globalhomosexual shit fest like the West? It’s well on the way. gays and troons and violent blacks need to feel safe here too you know!
>All these kids think the world needs to be bent for them, which is why even before Covid you had so many vlogger types like that one who filmed a dead body making Le Epic videos about running around screaming in a “respectful society” or whatever. Yeah Japan is America’s b***h but it still has its own culture and these cell-phone addicted kids instead of sucking up whine, complain, and practically petition for things to be changed. Worst part is it works even if only on a micro scale because Japan NEEDS tourist money even if it’s only 8% of their GDP. So, do you want this country to become a globalhomosexual shit fest like the West? It’s well on the way. gays and troons and violent blacks need to feel safe here too you know!
This whole paragraph is just a word salad of /misc/cel and generally very online garbage. Re-evaluate your life Anon.
If the locals hate you that‘s on you
> The losers traveling there now don't understand what's coming
… doesn’t it make more sense to “travel there now” for a few weeks while the getting is good by your own logic?
Why even make a thread, there are thousands of stories online. The work culture sucks, the language is difficult to become proficient in and it's a hard place to live without it. Despite stereotypes, it's an overly bureaucratic place plus it has obnoxious social policing. Getting a real job past teaching English is outside most people's grasp, and that pays shit and people won't take you seriously.
On top of all this, people who go there in the first place are usually the problem. They have unrealistic expectations about Japan being the solution to their problems. Many are young and when faced with the reality of the real world blame Japan instead of themselves. Then there are those who are going to meet a woman who realise Japanese women don't want some loser who can't get laid back home.
Success comes from having an education and a skillset that will allow you to get a real job, genuine proficiency in the language, multiple long stays prior to moving there to adjust to the culture, and not going there purely because of some juvenile belief that is an escape from your problems because Japan is special and unlike any other place you could live.
Who cares about being "taken seriously" by strangers?
t. The exact kind of juvenile who dreams of Japan.
Hit a nerve?
I don't care about Japan though. I don't care about random homosexuals opinions on my career either, and anyone that does is a moron.
It gets old real quick anon, it's not about feelings, it's about basic daily tasks such as banking, signing contracts, hell housing. Everything is a chore because "lol silly foreigner"
I didn't.
I know the language and I got an okay job with barely any overtime. Living here is easy cause the society functions fine and noone bothers you. This isn't really true for me.
And yes, I like that I get to not be around undesirable groups of people (blacks, Muslim, Americans etc.).
What a load of cliché bullshit from 10 years ago.
Are you an AI or what?
If it’s not changed how can it be a dated cliché
Same loser.
It's easier to learn English than it is to learn Chinese.
you get my point. beaners, pajeets, and other various 80 IQ brownoids can pick up a language their immersed in no problems. shit, just look at the nigerian guys in Tokyo.
>beaners
You're talking to one my guy, that got a laugh out of me. Yeah, I totally get what you mean. Especially now that the Internet makes books and native speakers so accessible, it's never been easier to learn a new language. Classes that teach the language are only useful for the basics and academia, from what I've seen personally at least. Talking to friends who speak the language and reading books or articles seem to be more consistent. There's a joke among older Spanish speakers that watching novelas are good for learning casual Spanish. I learned from speaking with grandparents and elders so I can't testify to that, take it with a grain of salt.
>muh language is difficult
>muh salarymen work culture
You're just spitting dumb cliché shit that is really dated, i'm not even sure you're a human poster.
Japan's worst problem is nigerians, that's all.
language barrier is a meme that only impacts 2 week tourists. once you pick up the first few hundred words and phrases you snowball like crazy from immersion. if you spend a year there and aren't conversationally fluent at the 8 month mark, you fricked up.
if illiterate chinese can come to the US and pick up english in 6 months than any white person with a functional brain should be able to manage another language.
Sounds like you're one of those short term residents everyone hates, not just in Japan.
>Despite stereotypes, it's an overly bureaucratic place plus it has obnoxious social policing
That's exactly the stereotype for Japan, though.
bump
its a job trap. you get comfortable with an easy, lazy, laid-back life there and one day after 10 years you realise you're still just singing "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes" in a career thats going nowhere with no promotion prospects.
you're stuck teaching english, unless you manage to get married to a girl rich enough that you can maybe open your own bar once you get a marriage visa, but thats about it.
even if you stick it out with the Classroom Clown job its gradually being going to shit for years and there's no job security. annual renewable contract tied to your visa. if your company loses the contract for the town you live in then riperino, sorry gotta find another job or move to the opposite side of the country.
when the company i worked for started cutting pay and time off i was out. most english teaching companies/contractors there are 80% filipinos because they'll work harder for less and dont complain about work conditions unlike the whites. now if you want to have any chance of getting promoted in a company there as a gaijin you've pretty much have to get in with the Filipino crowd and go to their weird cult catholic churches, as all the management staff are mostly Flips now.
not really japan's fault, it was fricking fantastic pre-2014 but it dropped off quickly after that.
i left in 2019 and glad I narrowly avoided their covid autism and their economy going to shit from the olympics.
the mid-00s in japan were a fricking amazing time and would go back in a heartbeat if I could.
If your idea of working in Japan is being a “teacher”, that’s your problem. It’s like being Indian and saying America has no opportunities outside of gas stations.
Lmao, imagiine comparing teaching to working at a gas station. One requires you to be a drone, the other has responsibility, a sense of purpose, can literally change lives, and keeps your mind active.
Teachers are unsung heroes, and English teachers are just as valuable as every other frontline public service. Japan needs us if it's going to develop.
You people who look down on us are pathetic. You're probably a """bitcoin trader""" or """digital nomad""". Get a real job and make a positive difference.
Who cares about making a difference? Money is money. That being said I will gladly make a difference in the womb of a JC.
The world will get by just fine without English "teachers" in Asia. America would collapse without gas stations and Japan would implode without convenience stores and all the insane tasks they fulfill.
But keep projecting.
Your own insecurities are showing. N2 is easily obtainable after just a year of studying, N1 after a few extra months, and no company even asks if you passed the JLPT. If you can speak somewhat understandable Japanese at an interview, you'll do fine. Frankly, the Japanese interview experience is easier than just about anywhere else. There's no effort made to validate your skills or anything. Just say "I can do (relevant thing)", they nod, and if you're not sweating and panicking they'll believe what you're saying is true and give you an offer.
Choosing to be an English teacher and not move up is entirely a personal choice. There are loads of foreigners working real jobs in Japan and they're not crying about it taking 35 years to reach N4 and discrimination or whatever the frick. We just apply to jobs and do them.
both of them are easily obtainable after a few months
What‘s a good way to learn then?
Start with Genki I and II and you'll have conversational Japanese pretty quickly. After that, use Tobira for more advanced structures and the Kanzen Master series to get exposed to grammar that's more literary/formal and necessary to pass the JLPT. Listening can be done with anime or whatever you like. Speaking, of course, by speaking with people and practice typing by adding people on LINE and talking.
Writing kanji is of course useful, but it's OK to take that slowly and learn how to write them on a need-to-know basis. But definitely learn to read kanji, but learn them in the context of words. Don't be one of those morons who memorizes a list of kanji without context and is surprised when his rote memorization of characters helps him in no way. Instead, use Anki for flash cards, build your own deck, and add new words as you encounter them.
In short, study grammar with textbooks, learn words from real life, and practice with people and you'll go far. You can have basic bar chat in a month. You can function in most situations in a year. You can fully work in an all-Japanese environment in a year and a half. These are all assuming you study about 30 minutes a day. Push harder and you can get it done faster.
Thank you
Either people have way lower bars for learning or I am bottom 10 percentile for language learning, because between anki, anime, yomichan, typing on hellotalk, actually staying in Osaka for 2.5 months, I can barely grok fricking anything beyond konichi wa o genki tbh ka
Talk exclusively in Japanese on hellotalk. I was flirting with girls exclusively in Chinese on hellotalk with just a month of study and I was traveling in China after a month on top of that.
With Japanese, I was speaking half English/half Japanese with my then-girlfriend for our first month and all Japanese by month 3.
If you don't force your brain to operate only in a foreign language, you'll find yourself not making progress fast enough. But people--everyone without legitimate brain damage impairing the ability to speak altogether--learn languages really fricking fast when they have a motivating factor (chatting up girls) or being in a situation where they don't have another language to fall back on.
Whenever you find yourself stumbling for vocabulary, look up the word on your phone's dictionary, save it to Anki, then keep trudging on. I was adding 25-50 words a day every single day my first couple months.
I do this. It doesnt work as fast as you claim, memorizing is brute force repetition and forming sentences takes so long I cant actually have a real conversation in voice. Whatever part of your brain that works for foreign languages doesnt work for me, takes 10x the effort that people claim it takes them.
As someone whose hobby is learning stuff this the most efficient guide to learning Japanese
>rote memorization for the Kana
>Read trough whatever grammar guide you prefer to get a basic idea (You don't need to actually learn it for now)
>Use jpdb.io and pîck an anime/manga/novel you want to watch/read
>don't bother with writing, set it to show JP card side first
>DON'T LEARN KANJI
>The goal is to adjust your brain to the point it's able to recognize Kanji as having meaning rather than random scribbles
>Switch to reading/watching whatever the deck's source is once you reach whatever failure% you're comfortable with (80-90% if you're not sure)
>Actually learn grammar at some point, you'll be understandable without it but come across as a moron
Note that this method is purely for learning Japanese as efficiently and fast as possible, you're going to sacrifice reading speed, the ability to properly write and will struggle more with unknown words (although even Native speakers struggle with reading Japanese, the language is that shit kek)
The main advantage of this method is that you're skipping some foundational work for straight up comprehension, you'll be speaking/reading Japanese exponentially faster than any other method which is important for motivation
Basicly you only need like 85% of the language, skipping the last 15% so you can cut the amount you need to learn in half is an easy trade-off if you don't plan to live in Japan long term
>DON'T LEARN KANJI
>The goal is to adjust your brain to the point it's able to recognize Kanji as having meaning rather than random scribbles
So i didn't explain this enough, the site will also include Kanji cards in whatever deck you pick
My point is to not memorize them, just read/write it a couple of times and think about how the symbol works
Like reading an interesting Wikipedia article
Your students (and likely fellow teachers) don't respect you, nor do a lot of the public. Teachers overrate themselves higher than any profession.
That's bullshit, youre just bitter. I'm an ESL teacher and am well respceted by students parents, colleagues, and the Ministry alike. They pay me well as a representation of that.
All these LARPers doing stupid jobs in tech and bitcoin and other nonsense are going to be unemployed in 5 years.
Let's see who's laughing at me then, when I'm conquering the local teaching market giving people the opportunity to reskill.
Also, being an ESL teacher gives you +5 skill when it comes to picking up Japaanese. One of the most easiest languages out there when you know how. Have fun being poor and unable to write, lol.
Was talking more about teachers in general but OK.
Yikes
Nice bait.
>Teachers overrate themselves higher than any profession.
NTA but I don't see how anyone can argue that English isn't the most important language somebody can know in 2023.
If you're not a native English speaker, knowing English will set you far apart from your peers and is a much more valuable asset for your future than knowing frogs breathe through their skin or what some guy who died 300 years ago was having for breakfast, or whatever other useless bullshit people learn for 12 years before university.
>Your students (and likely fellow teachers) don't respect you, nor do a lot of the public.
The Japanese respect you if you're performing your job to the best of your ability. It doesn't matter if you're teaching English or cleaning toilets as long as you take pride in your work and do your best.
English is dead. The market's over. You're a tradesmen stuck in the 90s as tech and AI is eating your future. Chomp chomp chomp.
I bet you're one of these homosexuals who thinks because he "knows grammar" and "has read the teachers book" that he's hot shit.
News flash: your colleagues hate you, and the Japs think you're pathetic.
Imagine believing because you know that English only has 2 tenses, that you're more useful than a biologist, lmao. Deluded.
You're right about the last part though - Japs do respect you just as much as toilet cleaners.
>tech and AI is eating your future
To be fair, there are very few jobs this doesn't apply to in the long run. Only totally safe careers at the moment are shit like nursing and being a hairdresser. Everything else is going to be at least partially automated in like 5 years.
Teaching will make it, but in a vastly different form. I personally think the current state of ESL is a view into the future.
> People teaching parts of subjects in multiple schools across town
> Only need a 4 week course to run workshops in schools
> Emphasis on keeping students happy and getting good feedback
> AI produced content means hardly any planning
> Project work takes front seat; teaching how to apply ai generated content to real.world.
It'll be a wild west in education soon as the traditional nonsense which hasn't innovated will crumble, and governments will start looking for cheap ways out.
My guess is an education passport for kids, similar to the sphere grid in FFX
>hairdresser
>nurse
Once a decent robot is developed, it's over for them. No way in hell an AI will misunderstand every single haircut request it hears as badly as a human. Same with medical knowledge, AI is much more suited to it.
a robot cutting your hair or just whizzing past you in the hospital sounds depressing as hell, the vast majority of people would prefer dealing with a human in those situations
>just whizzing past you in the hospital sounds depressing as hell, the vast majority of people would prefer dealing with a human in those situations
While I'd prefer a licensed human, I'd way more heavily prefer to receive medical care for server costs + a small commodity-priced profit margin versus $300-600/hour that a human is going to charge.
Japan is still using fax machines and cash payments and you're talking about AI phasing out teachers like they're not one of the biggest labor unions in the country. Just lmao.
Look, I'm sorry Japan didn't live up to your expectations from anime and video games but I'll be enjoying my life here and doing this job for a long time.
>labor union for a minimum wage skill-less job mattering
Most “teachers” aren’t in a union, plus they’re increasingly being replaced by Filipinos who’ll work for pennies and put up with anything.
japs don't respect english teachers, hell most english teachers in japan don't respect other english teachers
not him but in Japan teaching is unironically seen as a highly-respected profession, its just infamous for having long work hours and shit pay unlike most countries where being a teacher is a $100k/year job.
> is a $100k/year job.
Not even close. Unless you are getting the sweetest gig of University level English or private school position PLUS conversational addon's for private tutoring you MIGHT get around 8-9m/yen.
Realistically as a JET/ESL you're grabbing around 5m/yen at best, where 3-4m/yen is more average, maybe 5m in the cities and got a decent resume while pulling some extras or have exp in teaching.
TEFL/JET/ESL jobs in Japan are seen as dime a dozen because realistically you're just there to show kids "hey fricktards one of you may need to know english one day". Most don't give a shit the same way people all over the world don't give a shit taking a second language in school. Oh cool this might help me out on my first job because it's on my resume, maybe.
If you're stuck in the country side, good fricking luck getting anyone to bother pay attention. If you're in the city you may have a whole 3 or 4 kids who want to learn. Everyone hated taking English in school in Japan that's still living there, and they don't really care that you're an English teacher. There are a few places with exceptions but again, it's single digits per year of students who actually see the use of learning English to move out of their normality of life.
I'm NTA, but your reading comprehension was off.
They were saying teaching can be $100k/year in other countries, not Japan.
No need to sperg out on all the details of japanese teacher salary
Imagine being this bad at your job, lol, that you have to worry about kids not paying attention. Are you just a PowerPoint merchant in the class or sth?
>Teachers are unsung heroes
Nope the garbage man is
in japan, teaching english is literally 99% of the jobs available to foreigners unless you're JLPT N1 Japanese with multiple masters degrees in extremely niche fields, in which case you'd get twice the pay doing that job overseas anyway.
Globohomosexual is going to ruin it and it already has. Being there in the 80’s or 90’s must’ve been utopian and like going to a truly foreign world. The world is just too interconnected now and nothing is really as inspiring or remarkable about visiting another place. Not to mention the salaries will always be worse as # said. I guess you can argue you’re trading quality of life over salaries but still there’s always going to be more and more insufferable normalgays or fat degenerate otaku fricks unless you go to some literally who places like Tottori or Shimane but then again these places are boring as frick after a while.
Take the disconnect pill. Globohomosexual is only for those with phones. Once you de-device and spread your wings, you'll see a whole new underworld opening up in front of you.
Seriously, being addicted to globohomosexual internet shit puts a huge barrier up over your face - it just manipulated you into doing normie shit and following the crowd .
Break free from that, and you'll literally be teleported back to the 80s/90s, and there's a whole bunch of us who can spot fellow time travelers a mile away - a huge amount of women, too.
sounds gay
While I do understand this perspective, the vast majority of people you will encounter are globohomosexual normalhomosexuals. It’s almost impossible to escape one way or another. I truly envy the times of the those who got to experience it in the 80’s during the Expo even up until the early 2000’s. The world was much larger, now it is quite small unfortunately.
My boomer boss helped set up the Tokyo office back in the 90s. He loved it there. He was the kind of weeb who had learned Japanese using a bunch of tapes and totally immersed himself in the culture, unlike most ex pats at that time who stayed in the sane square km. Went around the countryside being the first white guy many locals had ever seen kind of thing. (Assuming he isn’t bullshitting).
He doesn’t like it anymore. He has a long explanation why which is basically “globohomosexual sucks”. Never been to Japan myself but can well believe what was once the most foreign place on the planet is just another sameish place today. Even places in Europe I was taken to as a kid have now had anything unique about them obliterated.
I'm a programmer at a big tech company with 0 Japanese skills and they've been offering me a move to the Tokyo branch for a while. But the pay discrepancy is even worse. I'd go from $150k in the USA to $60k in Tokyo.
>and they've been offering me a move to the Tokyo branch
see?
thats the sort of trap i'm talking about
cost of living and rent in tokyo is so high that you'd be taking a massive pay cut just to hang around Nigerians in Shibuya anyway.
i was in a japanese company years ago and they offered me the chance to start a 2-year program where they'd promote me to office work in the main branch.
thing is the $300/month payrise wasn't enough, considering
>it wouldve doubled or tripled my hours (i worked 8:30-2pm mon-fri before, i wouldve had to start going 7-7 6 days a week if i took the promotion)
>extra pay wouldnt've even covered the increase cost of rent just to get a smaller, noisier apartment
>i wouldve become a commute-cuck, taking packed subway trains every day
>japanese business meetings are fricking aids, the most inefficient boring shit ever.
every jap meeting you have a pre-meeting where you discuss the upcoming meeting, the meeting itself, then a post-meeting where you talk about the meeting you just had
>the office work wouldnt've been as frick as giving kids noogies and wet-willies in a comfy inaka school
>the promotion still wouldnt've paid enough for me to even start applying for residency, residency requires you to make $3k/month in Japan and nearly all jap companies will go out of their way to avoid paying you that much in order to stop you becoming independent; they want you to rely on their contract year to year so they have you by the balls.
when pay cuts and holiday cuts started happening in the years leading up to covid i got out while i can. glad I did.
The cost of living is actually Tokyo's saving grace. You can get a big meal from a combini or gyodon for $3. Dinner at a decent restaurant for $12. Apartment prices aren't too bad either. Not like back in Boston where a studio is $2,000 per month.
Yeah. CoL is comparable to total shitholes like New Orleans. The only place you lose is the size of an apartment unit.
>You can get a big meal from a combini or gyodon for $3. Dinner at a decent restaurant for $12.
Not anymore lol.
besides if you learn to cook at home, and you should if thinking about living in Japan, food is insanely cheap in the USA.
Biggest thing you will face is being lowest on the totem pole and most likely get the old "holding your work visa renewal over your head" to get you to do more shit. Going from 150k->60k, even with the tax exemption is complete pants on head moronic. CoL can be reduced in the US very easily yet people want the quality of life so they pay more. One of the biggest traps is that after about 6 months, all the things that OOO'd and AHHHH'd you about Japan starts to wear off. Many people I have known fall into alcoholism, get fat, or simply go stir crazy due to lack of engagement from things around them or venues to explore in escapism.
If you actually make 150k now and think taking a 70% pay cut to move to Japan is a good idea you are making a huge mistake and seriously should consider what goes into moving into Japan and what you'll lose.
From what I understand from the Nip Visa website, if you score >80 on the Skilled Worker Visa scorecard you can cop permanent residency after one year. You could grind out some shit job long enough to get your paper and then just quit.
>From what I understand from the Nip Visa website, if you score >80 on the Skilled Worker Visa scorecard you can cop permanent residency after one year.
Yes technically but there is still a cost involved, tons of time and paper work, nothing guarantees you are allowed in especially with Japan in a recession trying to hire internally as much as possible.
>You could grind out some shit job long enough to get your paper and then just quit.
60K is pretty good for Japan, but if you think about changing jobs that shit's going to drop and you'll still be subjected to their working hours; especially if you are an FTE and not a contractor where OT needs approval. Then you basically NEED to have Japanese N3 level for a decent paying job that won't put you at 4.5m/yr yen.
It always sounds easy peezy in your head but once you go a few months to a year over there, the glaring issues of Japan pop up. Japan is a fun place to visit, doing maybe a month or two working remotely for a well paying job in the states, but once you settle in you'll never really see Japan the same. Also Tokyo is a fricking shit to live in, Kansai or bust because at least the mountains and beaches are a nice getaway
My idea was to just burn a year of my life to cop the residency and head back to the states until I retire. The idea of LARPing as the MC of a Harvest Moon game in the Japanese countryside has its appeal.
>The idea of LARPing as the MC of a Harvest Moon game in the Japanese countryside has its appeal.
You know the midwest exists right?
The time effort and energy to 'maybe' get accepted via the point system is laughable. Again the point system does not guarantee anything outside of they will consider you for full time residency. Then you would most likely lose your US tax exemption and that 60k/6m yen will be full on taxed+ possible other local taxes. If you are the anon who wants to ditch 150k/yr to make 60k/yr, you're fricking dumb. Imagine not just seeing about a full time remote position in your current place, then just doing 90 day visa runs to/from Japan.
>The idea of LARPing as the MC of a Harvest Moon game in the Japanese countryside has its appeal.
have you ever gone to a farm let alone the actual country? weebs are fricking hopeless.
>If you actually make 150k now and think taking a 70% pay cut to move to Japan is a good idea you are making a huge mistake and seriously should consider what goes into moving into Japan and what you'll lose.
No, no. I keep rejecting that offer, lol.
>The cost of living is actually Tokyo's saving grace.
eh kinda, but you can get cheap feed and drink like that anywhere in japan being honest
main thing tokyo has going for it is the massive variety, cuz of the population density
This is more or less how I feel about my job in the states, but I’m not a clown. I’m just a remote worker that gets paid a middle class wage to do basically nothing.
What do you do
Covid Japan was the best it ever was mate.
99% of them because of visa problems.
1% leave because "muh I'm second tier citizen and they will never accept me"
i live in japan currently and i'm planning to remain here for at least the next 5 years. i'm enjoying my life quite a bit more than in the united states. if i do move back it'll be because of the people, japs are very polite but they're not really friendly and the tatemae bullshit gets annoying fast
i'm kind of a normie though and i'll be the first to tell you that if you move here expecting anime funland you're in for some serious disappointment
most foreigners I've come across who lived in japan seem insufferable and i do not know why
It's the unwarranted sense of superiority they carry
that's exactly it. Idk what it is but the way they just talk and carry themselves? it's like they act like they know everything about japanese culture, basically weebs in denial. I rather talk to a weeb who's upfront about it than one who hides it
honestly coomers were some of the most chill dudes I met there. absolutely zero pretense as to why they were in japan. the honesty was nice.
it's simple - you come here, i live here.
that 130 yen conbini rice ball that's blowing your mind and tastebuds? i can get that any time i want, any day, i just have to walk 5 minutes from my apartment. same with the best ramen you've ever had or the fun izakaya you were at that night where you met those drunk salarymen. that's just a friday night for me.
the way you bow and scrape before the shop staff so as to be respectful? it's funny. you think you're going with the flow, participating in a harmonious society, but i know that they hold us to a different standard, and they don't really care.
the language you spend 2 hours a day studying? i'm immersed in it. the cute japanese girl you saw on the street? 20,000 yen for 60 minutes. that castle? been there done that. the anime you just marathoned? it was probably cringe. the various knicknacks you just dropped a bunch of money on? i don't need them.
don't take it as us being insufferable, we just find your starry-eyed enthusiasm cute.
>the language you spend 2 hours a day studying? i'm immersed in it.
That was awesome
cringe
I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a copypasta in a few years.
I had a good laugh. Thanks
Autists won't get it, but bravo m8
Have another (You). This is some grade-A shitposting.
Most tourists just can't hack it. It's just a sad fact of life.
People come for 1 year to have their "cultural moment", but when push comes to shove, they're just not Japanese enough inside. They don't crave the culture and society like the true veterans do.
To be a true Japanese, you need to learn the language, study the culture, copy how others act, and put work in.
It's not a game, and people who come for moronic shit like women, anime, flashing neon lights and other lame shit are just moronic tourists who might as well have taken a cruise here, tbh.
Japan is the best country in the world. If you feel it, you'll get it, and it'll change your life forever. But if you disrespect us true immigrants with your antics, you bring shame on us, tbh.
I would've written this in Japanese, but I want this message to be loud and clear.
These are gold, I need more for when I'm shitposting later
japan is ruined because of social media’s obsession with it. i was used to weebs being well, weebs but nowadays it’s the only thing anyone talks about, the only place people wanna go or move to, an anime this, anime that. it’s funny how many times i hear the tiktoks playing from my gfs phone and it’s a white person trying to explain shit about japan as if they’re some academic expert or historian. obviously it’s always really dumb surface level stuff. the internet is seemingly in full-swing of convincing everyone that it’s some sort of paradise, and oh man are these stupid kids in for a rude awakening. or maybe they’re so ignorant they’ll enjoy it regardless. funny thing is my girl doesn’t want to visit there (odd one out ig, but the reason why is she doesn’t want me doing double takes to look at JKs/JDs) and despite this - the algorithm still serves her that shit constantly. doesn’t watch anime or whatever else. it’s just inescapable. ten+ years ago when maybe a thousand sweaty neck beards would go to jp that’s one thing, but now it’s normalgays in the numbers of 100,000 a month
Oldgay here. Lived in Tokyo from about 2005 till 2011. Moved there initially for my last year of highschool because I was a weeb and loved it. Got married very young and had a comfy spousal visa situation which allowed me to just frick around for the most part. Learnt the language, did a 1 year stint in the countryside.
Eventually I filed for divorce and left the country. There wasn't anything concrete that influenced the decision. I just became aware more and more over time that something was off. Like the feeling you get after falling in love with a vast open world game only to realize that there's a limited number of environment chunks that keep getting recycled and the NPCs all have predictable speech patterns. A friend and long time resident put it to me this way:
>"When you first come to Japan everything seems like chaos. Then after some time you begin to spot the order in that chaos. Eventually you just see order and begin yearning for chaos."
I got to that last stage where everything felt same-y. Traveling across the country and seeing the exact same onigiris, the same catalogs offering 10000 products for convenience and comfort, the same bushy pussies, and having the exact same preprogrammed interactions felt... unsettling. Then it became stifling and eventually the familiarity and orderliness turned to horror. Yeah it's super gay and whatever but that's what it felt to me at the time. There was no sense of excitement or danger - which is something I never expected to be fond of growing up as an introverted quiet guy. Everything seemed excessively commercialized and prepackaged. I could be dropped off in any random corner of the country and still be sure that everything would turn out fine.
The most exciting time for me was in 2011 when Fukushima blew up and nobody knew what the frick would happen. Once that settled down I knew there was nothing new left for me, so I said my goodbyes and moved to SEA. That was over 10 years ago. SEA still keeps me on my toes, awake and aware. I have Japanese friends here who all share the same characteristic: they hate Japan. Every now and then I wonder if I made the right decision (usually when a family of 5 on a beat up scooter nearly wipes me off the road or a 10 inch centipede climbs out my toilet). But then I look at what my old friends in Japan are still doing or switch on NHK for 5 minutes and am instantly reminded why I left.
I also just don't think Japanese people live very interesting lives. Cram for exams, get into the best university you can, get overworked in some bullshit corporate job, get trashed on pitchers of Asahi, belt out the same old tired songs in Karaoke, hook up with a random warm body every now and then and take an annual trip to Guam or Vancouver. Go feel some adrenaline via manufactured experiences at a theme park rollercoaster. Reach retirement and choose from a number of prearranged hobby activities like golf or calligraphy while living off generous gibs. Unknowingly put your family into debt so they can purchase a tiny land plot for your corpse and pay for a farcical funeral ceremony. For 95% this sums up the entirety of their lives. Pardon the normie reference but even on a show like Terrace House where the cast tends to be from the upper sociodemographic the lives of those people are just so fricking boring.
Sure, muh ancient Japanese culture and traditions are a thing - but does anyone really interact with those on any meaningful level? In the countryside to same degree maybe. But those rural towns have suffered from decades of brain drain and the youngest person there is in their 60s. Those towns are only begrudgingly kept alive by the government which depends on old people's votes (results are decided by overall prefecture outcome rather than number of people's votes so one senile grandma in Yamanashi is worth 100 Tokyoites).
>tldr;Japan is an efficiently systemized rat utopia with a soulless future inhabiting the great husk of an incredible creature that had withered and died a long long time ago
You’re one of countless morons who left during that period. “Flyjin” was coined during that time because countless foreigners panicked and left after the earthquake.
One unifying thing you’ll find when meeting people living long term outside their home country is people who’ve made a comfy living hate their home country. You won’t find SE Asians living in Japan who praise their country as as paradise. They call it a corrupt, poor shithole. Same with Brits or Americans who leave their home or anyone else.
When you find a place where people have the money to up and travel the world but happily return home, you’ll know you’ve found a good place. Some countries like this exist. Switzerland is one of them, Japan is another. Most visit or live in other parts of the world and think it’s not as good as home. Those should be contrasted with people who never leave and think the same.
>You’re one of countless morons who left during that period.
Are you one of the countless morons who can't fricking read? I said that period was one of the most exciting times and left afterwards when everything returned to same old boring normal. If you were there you'd likely have been one of those panicking flyjin:
>aftershocks for a week, shit shaking all the time
>electricity rationing by residential zone
>news cycling between "its a nuclear apocalypse" to "everything is completely fine" with the truth being somewhere in between
>panic buying at supermarkets and gas stations
>nobody has any clue how the situation would unfold
>transport shutdown
>can't call anyone because cellular network overloaded
>mfw all the suited up Tanakas ride bicycles 3 hours each way because muh kaisha muh meetings muh display of responsibility
>farmers hundreds of kilometres away from Fukushima disposing of their harvests
>You won’t find SE Asians living in Japan who praise their country as as paradise
You'd struggle to find anyone anywhere who praises their country as a paradise. Plenty of Swiss posters even on this site who trash Switzerland. In my experience most SEAsians living abroad don't go around calling their home countries corrupt poor shitholes. Even if they do 9 times out of 10 if you ask them whether they want to live abroad forever they are likely to say "No, I want to make a lot of money here and go back home". Why? Because SEAsians have strong family networks in their countries and can afford a QOL upon returning that is better than what they can access while living in Japan. You think Somchai really wants to keep polishing Toyota glass in freezing Aichi while being a second class citizen and living in a cramped shitshack for the rest of his life? No, he wants to send the salary back to his wife and kids, then come back in 10 years to build a nice house in Issan and chill in a hammock for the rest of his life while his kids get a decent education.
No shit, moron. Nobody wants to work a shit job their whole life. That’s why you moved to a poor ass country so you can live like a relative king. If you could be in the top 2% or even 10% in Europe you’d be laughing at people settling for life in Thailand. A Thai man working a decent paying job in Japan is probably going to enjoy his life even more than a guy in the same bracket in Thailand, if only because he can live a more luxurious lifestyle and easily afford trips back to Thailand to visit family while coming back home to enjoy fully first world comforts like no bribes, good health care even in rural small towns, and whatever else he wants.
The average person in Thailand (not Bangkok which only represents a fraction of the population) is wearing worn out crocs and working through body injuries and insane overtime on top of it because they have no choice. They work hundreds of hours longer than Japan on average.
When you get older and money runs dry, you’ll be panicking because you risk living a normal SE Asian life and it absolutely fricking sucks. There’s a reason every small town in every country has authentic Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, but the Japanese restaurants are run by Chinese and Thai people with not one Japanese person around for miles. SE Asians will happily work at a shit restaurant to be thousands of miles away from their home country. Japanese people are content at home.
>When you get older and money runs dry, you’ll be panicking because you risk living a normal SE Asian life and it absolutely fricking sucks.
>Every small town in every country has authentic Thai and Vietnamese restaurants
>The average person in Thailand works hundreds of hours longer than Japan on average
I was going to respond in detail but reading this made me realize I'm talking with an imbecilic weeb who hasn't the slightest clue about SEA. Yes whatever sure, Japan is the best place in the world to expatriate to because Japanese return to Japan after travelling abroad, and because all SEAsians are croc wearing workaholics who come for luxurious Tokyo lifestyles and good health care in the inaka. Anyone who disagrees is a moronic flyjin with a shit job not pulling in enough money.
Holy frick the state of this board in 2023, sometimes I don't even know why I bother posting here.
>Most visit or live in other parts of the world and think it’s not as good as home.
Yeah most Japanese travel abroad but have no intentions of expatriating anywhere. A lot of possible reasons for this, one of which is that overall they're relatively unimaginative people who have grown dependant on the comforting levels of organization and social codification that Japan provides.
Whatever the reasons may be, Taro Tanaka's hardon for muh glorious Nippon is completely irrelevant to OPs question which is literally
>Japan black pill stories about (non-Japanese) people moving there and then leaving
You do you man, but I wonder why the frick you're coming into a thread to sling bullshit at the people who are the exact topic of the OP. Maybe make your own thread about "Japan white pill stories about people moving there and loving it"?
>When you find a place where people have the money to up and travel the world but happily return home, you’ll know you’ve found a good place. Some countries like this exist. Switzerland is one of them, Japan is another. Most visit or live in other parts of the world and think it’s not as good as home. Those should be contrasted with people who never leave and think the same.
Oh shut up lol. Do you know how many japanese I've met in NYC who say the same shit about how Japan is too judgy and stifling, and how they're happy and free in the US?
Good to see you're still alive, anon. We've replied to each other a few times over the last decade. I've flipped between SEA and Japan a few times and you've mentioned your reasons about why you prefer SEA (I think it was Thailand). For me, the best solution was to continue to flip between jobs in Japan and working remote in SEA. Yeah, life as a salaryman can be a bummer with only three real opportunities to travel every year, commuting by trains every day, Japanese work personalities, etc. But there are other aspects of life here that I like (one of them being the ease of having side-girls, which is admittedly a big thing in my life). When I feel it gets too much, I rent out my apartment for two years and nomad around SEA. This flipping between worlds gives me the most enjoyment out of life and I'll keep doing it until (or maybe even after) I get trapped by having an acknowledged kid.
On a side note, maybe one reason I never get tired of Japan is because I can't/won't learn the language. Life is more interesting this way and I live in a blissfully ignorant bubble. It might be the reason I've outlasted people who come here and learn the language. Or maybe it's my support harem of j-girls that keeps me going lol
>harem of j-girls
how did you do it? how long did it take to build?
>how did you do it? how long did it take to build?
I feel like the secret sauce is going to be that he is/was young and has a killer feature like colored eyes/blond hair/height.
If he's already done multiple cycles of live in japan -> rent out apartment for TWO years, that's like 6 years total, if doing it twice.
I'm interested to hear from him though.
I have my first date with a Japanese girl on Sunday. I'm based in SEA right now, but would love to mix in our home base Japan, if I can crack the whole "sex with japanese girls" thing as a 5'7" 30 year old with OK hair, dark eyes, 5 o'clock shadow every day, dark hair. I do earn $20k/month, so I can throw resources at the problem e.g. fashion upgrades
>I do earn $20k/month
Jesus Christ man, don't sweat the date. I'd sleep with you too for a chance at that.
>I feel like the secret sauce is going to be that he is/was young and has a killer feature like colored eyes/blond hair/height.
I'm all of those things, plus middle aged, balding, thick glasses, bodybuilder, not rich, and I smile at everyone I meet. My tip for your date is to smile a lot, and even better if you can tell funny jokes. Make jokes about yourself and laugh so she knows she can too. I'd say this is universal with all women, but East Asia especially has a shortage of men who smile a lot and can laugh at themselves.
I'll preface this by saying I make 400,000/month with two bonuses a year. That puts me at about 5.5 million, which is not bad for someone working in the English field. My Japanese partner makes more than me, also in the English field. We're perhaps atypical though.
I'm not quite sure how long I want to stay here. I can't imagine going back to my home country, and life is very convenient here, but I get why people get tired of it. Tourists often think Japan is one big adventure, but the thing I like about Japan is how absolutely mundane it is here.
>When you first come to Japan everything seems like chaos. Then after some time you begin to spot the order in that chaos. Eventually you just see order and begin yearning for chaos.
This is a really good point - it's also one of the reasons I feel comfortable staying here, but I can see why it'd make some people stir-crazy.
I'm probably a bit boring, but I like traveling domestically and knowing I can find tiny variations from the same old, same old. I actually feel I waste too much time trying to figure out what to do when I travel abroad, so it's comforting to just follow the script Japan expects for you.
>On a side note, maybe one reason I never get tired of Japan is because I can't/won't learn the language. Life is more interesting this way and I live in a blissfully ignorant bubble.
This is a big part of it too for me. I know enough to navigate through life successfully, but I'm not preoccupied with proving myself or justifying my life here through language ability.
I wonder if that’s why this thread has so much regret and angst. Most people don’t want to “follow the script” or just float by each day, either because they genuinely hate it or they internalized that good old western liberal individualism they were raised under for decades.
inb4 I get told by a bunch of weebs who spent a few weeks in tokyo, here some of my reasons
>keeping a balanced diet is hard in a normal work/life situation, even with cooking at home prices of things flux wildly compared to the US
>quality merchandise and quality home furnishing is actually real fricking expensive to obtain
>heating and cooling suck in most all Japanese living spaces
>any friends you had back home will basically be hard to maintain talks, gaming sessions, or other things with
>your compensation for labor is shafted compared to most jobs in the US or EU
>office politics and knowing the office politics game is an active chore you will have to eat a lot of shit for
>big cities will nickle and dime you to death in small things you never 'get' as a tourist
>the concrete jungles of Japan get really fricking depressing after a while
>keeping up your mental health and getting out to escape the cities is an active chore, many people turn to alcohol
>your going to basically have an impossible time making friends to hang out with compared to US/EU where people will hang out at the bar willingly without thinking they will "get something" out of it
>coworkers will throw you under the bus at the first sign they can get ahead by doing so pretty much in all companies
>tax exemptions can be a guessing game
>daily commutes vs. options back home
If you can get married or something to where her friends 'become your friends' you might be able to get past that stupid "this is my outside personality" bullshit thing so many Japanese do because they care about image over just being people. I wouldn't say it's all bad but if you're coming from the US/EU or Australia, you're most likely going to be stepping down in quality of life. Sure an apartment might be cheaper, but your probably making less than you could in the US for any reasonable profession. Best advice is always remain a contractor for as long as possible, you'll have more say at work, make more, and sanity.
>your compensation for labor is shafted compared to most jobs in the US or EU
The US, definitely. But its on par with most of the EU. About the same as Germany.
>>your going to basically have an impossible time making friends to hang out with compared to US/EU where people will hang out at the bar willingly without thinking they will "get something" out of it
You are right on the other points but this is wrong
It's very easy to get into communities, speaking the language and shared interests as a foreigner is an instant ice-breaker and sure you're just a novelty to them at first but if you're not a sperg they'll be open to friendships.
Even talk to most of them online still and everyone is up for meeting up whenever I go back to Japan to vacation.
I'd argue it's correct.
I have had no issues making friends with locals in Japan and keeping up with them, but it's always different in a way you can't quite put your finger on. Compared to friends you can make in the US based off basic things it's night and day, the way the culture is and how people are tailored to act always gets in the way. Outside of tokyo it *is* a fair bit easier, but still.
Maybe it's different compared to the US but I didn't really notice much difference in the nature of the friendship compared to home (I'm originally eastern euro slav).
>(I'm originally eastern euro slav).
This would greatly explain your viewpoint anon. From that aspect I can 100% see why it wouldn't be such big thing.
If you go to work in Japan for sure have enough in your bank account for when you move back with enough to live on for like 6 months. It's very easy to think "wow I'm going to make bank because the cost of living is so cheap" then you find out the hard way doing things to keep yourself entertained robs you blind.
I'm going to insert myself into a syncretic Christian-Shinto religious cult and nothing you anons say will stop me.
I will also father well over a dozen children, which will have an outsized impact on the future genepool of Japan.
Enjoy having your wife dump your entire savings into it then. I dated a women who was ex Soka Gakkai and her family were morons who donated all their earnings to this moronic Buddhist cult.
I said Shinto-Christian, that cult is not Shinto and frankly is Buddhist in name only.
Christian cults tend to demand rigorous participation but also explode in population in short periods of time. Look at LDS or the people that inspired the US government to level their compound at Waco.
Think it would just be easier to find a Christian Japanese women. Seems way too fringe, most of the cults in Japan are all new agey kind of things things like Aleph or Happy Science. Weird Christian cults is very much an American thing or a giga thirdie type thing like in Africa. I wouldn’t mingle with these kind of people, it gets ridiculous after a while.
I'm larping but only partially. I will probably just drag my nip gf/wife with me to church. But the best Christian churches always include a bit of the local customs. Just like Easter and Christmas are arbitrary dates based on European pagan holdiays, no need to wipe out Japanese traditions which can be incorporated into the faith.
Just left, met a salaryman while I was there.
Essentially business is all going to korea and china.
He told me economy is about to tank even harder than it already has. Enjoy it now while you can, on the plus side there will be millions of japanese qts looking for a survival daddy.
Japanese people are mean as hell
Anyone who says they are so nice is a tourist who speaks none of the language and went to a tourist friendly area to spend their money
>work in japan off and on for a few years
>see people I've made friends with on facebook as well as coworkers
>all of them after about 9 months fricking hate living there
>you wouldn't know it unless you met them in person because they love the envy of weebs acting like they are superstars
>all of them after about 9 months fricking hate living there
How about the guys who passed through the anger phase and still live in Japan?
Most everyone I know who has stayed there basically has a stockholm syndrome if they weren't able to land a far bigger job or swap to something US contracting with the military there. The ones that have gotten married are also generally fine because they've been able to get lucky into the social construct.
Most won't admit there is anything wrong with Japan, because 'the west is so much worse' based off online shitposts. Even when I was there for visiting in Christmas the ones I met were desperately trying to get into any other job they could as wages were cut, holidays just up and gone, or they realize there is absolutely no moving up or down. Lots are stuck under the gun of "can't quit because my work visa and don't want to go back home without any real cash saved".
Seriously I know numerous people who've been there going on 6 years now, they basically are living paycheck to paycheck despite making ~45-55k USD. One of my good friends is having to move back in with his parents here because out of all the time he spent there the tech and code he had been there to support is years behind anything current. Or it's so obscure there is no company outside Japan or Asia that would ever think about doing such a hack job in order to keep their business going. He probably makes the most out of the friends I know and still probably only has about 2-3 grand saved as he constantly is spending cash to keep his sanity intact.
>because they love the envy of weebs acting like they are superstars
One of the best things ever said on SighSee
>they love the envy of weebs
I got to live the japanese anime fairytale when i lived there and the unending seethe it generates in NEET weebs could sustain me for 1000 years.
What exactly is the anime fairytale?
Japan has some of the highest earning equity in the world, the difference between what an average doctor, teacher, pilot, programmer, etc make is less than a few thousand bucks. Teaching is seen as a dream job for a lot of people because the pay is good, they get a ton of benefits and the stability is second to none. Yeah the hours are long but that’s just Japan.
I get that most English Teachers are deluded but you don't have to larp as one.
Your statement would be true for norway but by no means is it true for Japan.
Teaching as an actual Japanese teacher garners some respect. English “teachers” do not. They’re mocked and make marginally above minimum wage no matter how many years of experience they have.
Why does every foreigner look low class in Japan? Is there a specific reason?
because it's a cheap tourist destination
What city? I see plenty of whitey in fairly nice suits around tokyo. On average whitey wears better suits even, see a lot of japs in polyester monstrosities that do not remotely fit.
>Why does every foreigner look low class in Japan? Is there a specific reason?
Is the question why you, I and others perceive them as that or why they engage in the action? For the former, it's because dressing in gym shorts and a Zelda t-shirt in the financial capital of a developed economy IS low class
Add in being obese, otherwise unkempt, and the elevated fashion standards of Japanese society and the chasm only widens.
Even though I dress decently as a standard measure, one of the first things I did upon landing in Japan is hit up a fashion area to grab some new pieces and fit in. I also packed my suit.
>Jesus Christ man, don't sweat the date. I'd sleep with you too for a chance at that.
>Make jokes about yourself and laugh so she knows she can too. I'd say this is universal with all women, but East Asia especially has a shortage of men who smile a lot and can laugh at themselves.
Thanks for all the encouragement, anons. I even managed to score another 1st/instant date with a bilingual girl I met at an event this week.
I'm either hitting beginners luck in Tokyo or this place is full of opportunity.
cuz nearly all the foreigners are one of these
>Filipino
>Brazilian haafus
>US college graduates doing their 1 year gap year teaching english before going back to their real career
>washed-up 40yo english teachers who are stuck there because they're married
>the tiny minority of foreigners who managed to get out of english teaching by opening their own bar, but now they're alcoholics and are constantly hungover or drunk
Sounds like hell
Got married and had a kid. Wife soon cheats on me with some japanese aquintance of her. Divorced her but had to pay child support. Depressed I fell for a divorced woman. She was batshit crazy and would always suspect me of cheating. Ghosted her before things escalated too far. Job was still okay (worked as a marketing executive for a cosmetic company).
Later I fell for a chinese girl there after getting fed up with japanese girl. we marry and have kids. However her parents disowned her because of my Indian origins. We ended up going to Europe (Germany) where we are currently living.
Is japan a bad place? Nope
But the women sure are weird.
Lol Pajeet
That pajeet has banged Japanese and Chinese women. Then he moved to Europe. Basic b***h stuff for a westoid but he's living the pajeet dream. Give this man some props.
I think it’s because of the curry stench. Don’t blame your problems on the local women
>3 failed relationships
>you are the common denominator in all of them
Left after 5.5 years primarily due to no company wanting me north of English teaching, and the looming socio-economic disaster coming. Shit place to raise a family still.
Now that I have enough work experience to get a real job (pay cut), visiting these threads is what keeps my Stockholm syndrome in check.
From reading this thread, makes feel good for not moving to Japan. I enjoyed my trip there and I kind of fell in love with the idea of not having to be vigilant for crime there. That being said, for a westerner, looks like Japan leads to career stagnation for most and living a life of second class/ non-person purgatory.
>a life of second class/ non-person purgatory.
Expats experience what blacks in America do, i.e. largely self-imposed victimization
A. They're two different cases, and the analogy is imperfect, and you're only using it as a thought-ending cliché, i.e. black man in America whiny and lame, me not black man, me not want to be whiny and lame.
B. It's the cool edgy thing to say on SighSee(nel), but what if blacks aren't just making it up? What if they actually have legitimate grievances
Black people do have legitimate grievances, as do expats. The Japanese system of course wants to favor Yamato Nihonjin. That being said, for the vast majority of people it is not enough to affect one's daily life and actually stand alone as a sole obstacle to lack of progress
Thing is, there are so many countries with minority ethnic groups and expatriate populations in the world with their own issues and situations, that I can't help but question your motive in going straight to black people rather than any of the countless others. Even if it's not what you intended, it looks like a /misc/ move to shut down debate and suggest that you should be a good gaijin and work on yourself or else you're a whiny race hustling Black or whatever. Maybe this isn't what you meant, but I can't for the life of me otherwise think why else you would pluck this particular example.
You didn't choose FOB Asians or Latino immigrants in the US, or the Anglo minority in Quebec, or Fennoswedes, or Bulgarian Turks or something. Was there no particular reason for this?
>I can't for the life of me otherwise think why else you would pluck this particular example.
You're right, how could I forget the multiude of grievances, movements, organizations, nationwide protests and riots, and polarization brought up the Bulgarian Turks and Latinos? If you think "who is the most prosecuted group in the US that is never out of public discourse," is there really any other answer? Don't pretend to be ignorant, it's not racist to acknowledge that black people face the most problems in America, real or imagined . The extent to which it holds them back is what's debatable
>what if blacks aren't just making it up? What if they actually have legitimate grievances
Then just like the nerds trying to move to japan, should just suck it up and deal with it, or move to a country they fit in better with. The basketball americsns at least have all black countries in the world to immigrate to. Ghana in fact has relocation deals and is a stable enough country. What country does a white american have where they can live amongst themselves?
>What country does a white american have where they can live amongst themselves?
Maine?
Another perspective is that successful expats in Japan would be caught dead posting on SighSee and have zero reason to be posting on the travel board
What defines successful? Normies go on SighSee too. I have an OK job, live with my gf now/have always been dating some girl or another, and generally am well-liked whenever I meet people, but I still post here
Correct. Met quite a few very successful westerners visiting startup/tech events in Tokyo. I imagine there's others that fill different niches that I did not encounter as well.
Is it weird to miss how fake everyone was? Pure scant professionalism. Hated it in my early 20s cause no one would get emotionally open, but now I’m my late 20s I see that’s just how it is, we aren’t trying to make friends any more.
I could frick around with different personas, tow the line of ignorant gaijin and assimilated expat. No one knew what someone from Ohio was like. Back here, having a manufactured personality either gets you called out, or engulfs you in a much deeper social-chess game than it needs to be. Everyone wants to have deeper conversations but doesn’t actually care about another opinion unless it’s contrary here. At least in Japan we would all read the room and develop the small talk
Because at the end of the day, there just weren't enough ugly Black folk living off of my tax dollars.