September 17th, 2008Japan Sucks
It’s that time of year again. Typhoons are fast on their way, and it’s just about time to harvest millions of kilograms of plump rice from seemingly endless fields of green. Students are back in school, and the summer vacations have long since passed, putting the public transportation systems back on their regular schedules, allowing millions of people to get to work within their comfortably hurried schedules. Autumn is here, after all, so it’s time to rejoice.
But it comes as little surprise to find one group of eternally disgruntled individuals marking their territory with their smug attitudes and self-righteous indignations. Yes, I speak of course about some of the less-popular English Language Instructors in this country. Now that the summer heat is on the decline and daily humidity levels have dropped below 300%, they are airing out their list of non-weather-related grievances with this country and thumping their chests as though people actually care about what these people think.
Would You Like Some Cheese With That Whine?
Over the last few weeks there has been a growing number of people posting negative comments about Japan, a country that 99% of all foreign people consciously chose to live and work in. Here is a brief list of the ones I’ve encountered so far this month:
- House prices are falling too fast
- Kids are treated as Gods in the Public Schools and teachers have no control
- School lunches are bland and boring
- The Olympics only showed Japanese athletes
- The only shows on TV are cooking shows or restaurant reviews
- The Tokyo Airport is in Chiba Prefecture
- Coffee beans are two years old and there is no cream (from milk), just the powered cream
- Bureaucratic nightmares requiring endless confirmations
- Crappy service sector employees
- Lack of accountability
- Lack of responsibility for personal actions
- Lack of respect for everyone’s personal space
- Personal space is limited to a 1mm radius away from our body
- Nobody pays attention to their surroundings when walking, driving, riding a bicycle, etc.
- Mind-numbing noise levels
- Childish mentalities
- Things are either “kawaii” or ugly
- Too many people fart in public
- The Japanese Police are about as effective against crime as dirty kleenex
- People pick their nose, trim their nails, put on makeup and shave in public
- Poorly timed traffic lights
- Excessive traffic lights
- Hidden traffic lights
- Japanese girls think it’s okay to be stupid if they have a nice body
- Japanese people can’t act, only react
- Japanese men only care about sex
- Japanese people are too concerned about status quo, and won’t think outside the box
- Japan still thinks it’s a victim and never an aggressor
- Everyone is racist
- Nobody wants to hire a foreigner
- Nobody wants to sit next to a foreigner
- When there’s a problem, they never tell you directly what the issue is
The list goes on and on and on and on … and all I could think of when I was listening to this drivel was this:
Shut up and go home.
I’ll admit that sometimes I find certain things in this country frustrating, but it’s no different than the garbage that one would find in any other country of the world. Well, no. I take that back. There is one thing that really pisses me off in Japan: Whiny, bitch-ass gaijin who think they’re so smart and genuinely believe that Japan should become the next .
If people really think their home country was so great, why did they leave? While this next part does not apply to every foreigner I’ve met in Japan, there is one common truth about many of the English-speaking whiners that have felt the need to stand on their soapbox around me: they’re all failures at home, so escaped to Japan where it would be easier to pass themselves off with a delusional identity.
You’re Not a Teacher. Get Over Yourself
I refuse to call myself an English teacher. Not because it’s a career I had never really seen myself getting in to, but because I did not go to university or college to be a teacher. After high school, I went to college to be a software engineer. While I can take some of the things I’ve learned all those years ago and apply them here in Japan, there is no way I could realistically call myself a teacher for anyone that I sit in a tiny room with as they practice their English language skills. Instead, I prefer to be called a “Language Facilitator” or some other crazy title that does not have the word “teacher” anywhere in sight. If I wanted to be a real teacher, I’d get the formal education to be one. Anything short of a proper Masters Degree in Education is just not good enough.
Being an “English teacher” does not make someone better than everyone else around them.
So when I listen to dolts grand stand about all the faults and failures they’ve encountered while in Japan, it’s hard not to imagine what their life was like back in their home countries. Something tells me it was quite a bit of the same. Politicians were lying and stealing. House prices fluctuated every few years depending on the general economy. People made racist or sexist comments. Discrimination against immigrants was common due to a fear of language and cultural differences (Lord help you if you happen to “look Muslim” in a Christian nation). Traffic lights were timed in a semi-frustrating fashion.
Seriously … these aren’t Japanese problems. They’re human problems.
Let Me Help You
In Vancouver, I liked to think of myself as a “solutions provider.” This is something that I think I’m quite good at. After being made aware of a problem, looking for possible solutions and then present them to the affected parties only seems natural. So when I hear people bitch and moan about how crappy life is here in Japan, I tend to ask some of the following questions:
- Do you have a plane ticket home, yet?
- Have you packed your bags?
- What will you do when you go back to your home country?
Typically, these questions will calm the moaner down long enough to hit them with the target phrase: Go Home.
There are quite a few people that I’ve asked if they needed help finding cheap airfare out of the country, or if they wanted a hand packing their bags. Life is just too short to spend it somewhere we don’t want to be. Heck, with all the economic issues happening in developed nations around the globe, now is the time to make our way back if we truly expect to afford the airfare. Hopefully, with the collapsing financial markets overseas and subsequent ripples it’s sent throughout the globe, a few thousand of the loudest complainers will make a run back to their parents’ basement before it’s too late.
If you know one of these moaners that have nothing positive to say about the country they were once so excited to live and work in, let me know. I’ll be sure to help them pack up and leave before it’s too late.
But, but… my company won’t pay for my ticket home!
Ah … the Nova Teacher response
House prices are falling everywhere.
Why shouldn’t they show Japanese athletes.
I’ve seen other shows besides cooking shows.
Geez, people complain too much.
I often think the same thing about immigrants in America.
“We can’t get equal treatment under the law!” Go HOME!
“The police target us unfairly!” GO HOME!
“We have difficulty finding adequate housing!” Go Home, you whiny foreigner!
Come on man, living in another country is stressful. If people can’t complain on their own blogs about the things that bother them, where can they complain?
Yes, Japanese problems are human problems. Bloggers are humans, too.
Personally, I hate the “Everything in Japan is so AWESOME!” attitude more, because it creates an artificial sense of reality. Japan is not perfect. It’s also not terrible. It’s a human place, with human faults, and human nature makes people complain.
Might I add, which is harder to avoid—bloggers complaining about Japan, or all of those little problems that occur when you live, day after day, in another culture?
I’m not denying that people can complain on their blogs from time to time, but it seems that many are taking it to the next level with almost constant complaints about the various differences. While I can certainly empathise with many, there comes a time when their negative comments far exceed the positive.
When someone reaches that point, it’s time to move on
Dude, I was just about to write something similar to yours after reading an umpteenth ranting on Japan Today (better known as Japan TROLLDay) this morning by the usual suspects. Japan is just a magnet for these losers and you are right, returning to their home country is not an option because they were maladjusted there to begin with. But telling them to go home usually results in a barrage of vitriol where you are accused of being a Japan apologist.
Complaining and venting on their own blog is one thing. A large number of clowns do it at places like Japan TROLLday, Gaijin Pot, F*cked Gaijin, Big Daikon, etc. where it reaches nail on a chalkboard screeching proportions with virtually zero rationality and a whole lot of racism.
You’re calling gaijin racists? *gaSp!*
It’s pretty hard to read Japan Today and GaijinPot lately as there’s way too much negativity and pointless flaming. Anyone who says “Go Home” is called everything from a Nazi to a Scientologist, and anyone who adds fuel to the fire just fills the site with more poorly-spelt tripe.
You’d think that “English Teachers” could at least spell words properly when complaining about something
“a country that 99% of all foreign people consciously chose to live and work in.”
I think you mean only 70% or so, since 30% of all foreign people in Japan were born and raised here.
But my real gripe with your post is your seeming attitude that “we are but humble guests in this country, contributing nothing, and whatever Japanese want to do is A-OK, and if we don’t like it, we have no right to say anything and rather should just go back to our home countries, like all good little foreigners do”. I mean, damn it, we have companies here abusing their foreign labour to the point of breaking their legs and we’re supposed to say “ah, if you don’t like it, just go home!”?
I mean.. complaining about little things is just human nature (and mostly just blowing off steam), and complaining about big things is.. well.. sometimes necessary.
And let me ask you one final question. When you were living in Canada, would you tell an immigrant who was on the news complaining about something or other “if you don’t like it, go the hell back to whatever country you came from?”
In Canada, we did tell people to go back to their home country if they didn’t like Canada. We’re not quite as polite as the world seems to think
That said, I don’t mean to make it sound like we’re contributing nothing. I’m saying that the people who are always looking down and unhappy are contributing little. People who are genuinely happy here tend to give 110% on a bad day, and quite a bit more the rest of the time. Yes, there are some employers that’ll treat foreign labourers like crap, but this is seen everywhere. Can we complain? Absolutely. But if it’s constant and never-ending, then perhaps that’s not the place we should trap ourselves in work
Complaining is human nature but, when it goes nowhere and just incites others, it does nothing to solve the problems that people actually have.
The lady at the counter of my local post office in my Tokyo neighborhood made an issue over a transaction. A few minutes later, at home, I received a call from her. She’d made a mistake, and I needed to go back and re-do something. I told her I’d go back in the next few days. When I returned, she gave me a document handwritten in English. It explained everything that happened, and she wrote that her friend had helped her write it all in English. Then she gave me a Japan Post present - a hand towel, a dish towel, and a sponge. Now, service at the Immigration counters in Japan is often horrendous. But the post office lady’s actions soothed an initially unpleasant experience. See the gift!
That’s pretty cool, Mark. It’s not too often that we hear of such great service. I’d be happy with just a “Sorry, my bad”, but that Postal clerk went above and beyond the call of duty
There are so many great stories like this from all over Japan … if only there were a blog dedicated to sharing these wonderful customer service experiences … then we could all support those businesses ourselves
I’m guessing that they are not comparing them to service employees in other countries…
[...] at j2fi.net posted something recently about overly negative foreigners living in Japan and it reminded me of a [...]
Today some really pretty girl was staring at me on the train. Then, SHE GAVE ME HER NUMBER! I’M SO SICK OF THIS RACISM IN JAPAN!
XD
You’re a lucky guy, Jordan. Just be sure to use your powers only for good
Jordan,
You should have yelled out “差別!”
Was the number actually legit?
The traffic lights here ARE extremely poorly timed. They don’t use any kind of reasonable algorithm nor are there any sensors under the white stop lines at intersections in my mind. I say these things as both a cyclist and a driver.
The noise levels ARE mind-numbingly loud. I’ve lived in Shinjuku for five years in two different apartments. Each one has been subject to a year of insane noise due to a new building being built right next to it.
People DON’T want to sit next to a foreigner, for the most part, which insults me, but also is nice because then I have more space.
And YES, I am going back to my home country, so I guess that gives me the right to complain??
Have a safe trip home. It’s a shame that you couldn’t enjoy Japan more. While there are many things that can be frustrating, you’ll find the very same sort of deficiencies in most every other country on the planet.
That said, I hope that your landlord cut you some slack on the rent if the decibels went over 120. At that point, construction crews are (supposedly) required to compensate people living in the area for the “discomfort”
I was joking about getting her number. That part was my dream.
I was talking to my pal about this on Saturday. Seriously. If you complain this much, leave. He mentioned some complaining threads he read over at Dave’s ESL Cafe. One was about being stared at on trains, something that never happens to me except for the occasional child which gives me the chance to make silly faces and make the child laugh. It made me think that this guy had to be a) paranoid b) so egotistical to think people actually cared to look at him or c) wearing a Pikachu costume. I’m thinking a combonation of A and B in this guys case.
Another thing my pal mentioned was someone complaining about the attention he gets when he uses a katakana hanko. How is getting attention a bad thing in this case. Also wasn’t this guy doing the same thing when he first came to Japan and found the beer vending machines or similar glory. Katakana hankos are rare and hence something of interest.
Many of us here in Japan have the Deibito like complex of looking for racism. It’s a form of paranoia. What we should do is think the opposite-pronoia as Rob Brezsny calls it. People, in general, don’t want to hurt you, they want to help you. Lots of those situations that you might feel discrimination is someone trying to help you. They might be doing a bad job at it, but the motivations are good. There are a lot of annoying things about Japan, there are a lot of good things too, but isn’t that the same anywhere in the world? A cafe owner in Kanazawa gave me a postcard with the sayings of Haile Sellassie one of them says.
The best place - Where you succeed.
If you’re not succeeding here, and your complaining everyday, perhaps you should find a different best place.
Pardon the rambling aspect of this comment, needed to get this off my chest. Nice blog too, first time reader.
Thanks for your comment, Dave. I agree that too many people are looking for racism here but, in their defense, many of us were taught to look for it and eliminate it (or at least deride someone else for being racist).
I’m not so sure about other western countries but, 20 years ago, many Canadian public schools started to push really strict anti-racism lessons. On top of this, there was lots of political correctness issues being raised in the news for everything from calling people something along the lines of {Place of Origin}+{Place of Residence}, {Condition} Challenged or “differently abled”, and a whole slew of other terms that were supposed to be less offensive. That said, rather than harmonize the population, all it did was create more splits and exclusionary cliques.
Old habits die hard. Hopefully our children will be smarter about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning ignoring racism. I feel racism is a problem in Japan and I support those that fight against it. I’ve heard anti-buraku statements in person which I felt were in poor taste and called people on them. I’ve been to BLL offices in Osaka and done a bit of study into their situation. Although less a problem of family history, but of economic situation, the anti-buraku racism is truly something to fight against. White upper-middle class college educated males (hey that’s me!) not getting the same sort of entitled treatment as they do at home, well that’s just fair play. Looking for racism is good, but I don’t think the list in the original post, or the two examples I cited count as racism, if those were our only problems this would be a near perfect world. Then we could work on getting those stop lights timed on Route 2.
Looks like the Japanese found themselves another foreign apologist. Hey Jason when your done kissing nippon ass don’t forget to wipe that chocolate stain off your mouth.
I don’t need to apologize for the Japanese; they’re pretty good at doing that themselves. That said, if someone’s not happy where they are, God Himself told us to pick up and move on.
Have a nice day
Dear Jason,
Don’t mention God living in Japan the Japanese won’t like that because it gives their people hope to believe there is something greater than their own shitty lives living under the thumb of some bureaucrat in Tokyo.
That being said, have sympathy for those foreigners who were fooled by the anime cartoons, and samurai movies, which shows Japanese as having a superior moral code, a selfless society, and went to exotic Japan only to find a dull, mindless, and boring people who obey their superior’s commands who believe that their race, nation of Japan is superior to the world and discriminate against any foreigner stupid enough to venture there.
That being said these “whiners” are in fact telling how it really is in Japan, whatever your opinion, you are unwittingly helping to push Japanese propaganda by obscuring reality.
Get real Jason.
Doug, do you really believe that Japanese people are dull, mindless, boring and have shitty lives?
Personally I love Japan and I am fortunate enough to lead a good life here, certainly not dull and shitty, though there are plenty who do lead shitty lives, but the same is true for every country. If you had a good life before Japan then came here without enough knowledge, money , language skill etc.. then your experience would be shitty.. most whiners live in a 1 room apartment, sleep on the deck, their Tv is a DoCoMo 906i, and have to pay their own commute for a 60 hour $25,000 dollar a year job.. that is shitty in anybodies book.
Damn, I didn’t watch any samurai movies before a I came (I really should watch some don’t you think?) and before I came I knew bushido was only introduced into the Japanese vocabulary during the Meiji period to help bolster the legitimacy of the Japanese royal family and culture in the eyes of westerners.*
Anime? I was out of that phase by the time I was conjugating verbs in JPN101.
While I do feel sad and a bit embarrassed for those that come here blind and lack the ability integrate into society such as those living in the example you gave, I’m not one of those people. So where do I fit into your understanding of Japan, Doug? Where do the rest of the people on this blog that take the good with the bad, just like any country, but enjoy life here and want to stay fit?
*Yes, I know that’s really simplified.
Hahaha. Someone couldn’t make a life of it in Japan! God damn that Japanese conspiracy! Every Japanese I know is trying to make everyone think its a happyland where they live in gumdrop houses on lollypop lane! If it isn’t the Jews controlling the money and the media, its the Japanese trying to obscure reality and make me think I’m happy when I’m not!
I WILL TAKE NO MORE OF THIS! FROM NOW ON MY OUTLOOK ON LIFE IS COMPOSED PURELY OF PISS AND/OR VINEGAR! TAKE THAT JAPANESE CONSPIRACY! PRAISE “BOB”!
Praise be to “Bob” and to frop, of which I have consumed too much in my slackful ways.
Personally I enjoy Japan but I am fortunate enough to live a good life here, not Dull, not Shitty , not Mindless, and certainly not Brainwashed. The serial whiners do have a shitty experience and usually come here ignorant of what to expect, don’t have the skill, money, language skill etc.. and would certainly have a shitty experience, probably in a 1 room apartment in Saitama, sleeping on the deck, their TV is called a DoCoMo 906i, have to pay for their own commute to their 60 hour a week, $25,000 a year Job teaching their mother tongue to a room of sleeping 14 year olds, with barely enough cash at the end of every week to buy half a beer… shitty… yes…
But to call a whole Nation “dull, mindless, and boring people who obey their superior’s commands who believe that their race, nation of Japan is superior to the world and discriminate against any foreigner stupid enough to venture there” just shows blatant ignorance.
I doubt the 906i’s antenna can pick up a good enough signal in one of those apartment buildings to make it watchable.
Maybe if they are in their balcony-bed it’d be ok.
blah blah blah blah Paul is the Japan master, because he doesn’t have a DoCoMo 906i and whatever else.
Hey Paul cram it!
Japan is a very conformist country with extremely immature people, racist, and doesn’t mind using its bullshit “culture” to defend everything it does.
If you’ve lived so long in Japan that you’ve become a foreign apologist for Japan, and can’t even tell the truth about Japan then I think its time to go home.
Japan is a
very conformist country - Correct
with extremely immature people - Correct
racist - Correct
and doesn’t mind using its bullshit “culture” to defend everything it does. - Correect
And! so what.. deal with it or leave if you haven’t already.
You want the country to change to suit your tastes? won’t happen sorry.. it’s Japan, not Doug M. town.
If you’ve lived so long in Japan that you’ve become a foreign apologist for Japan, and can’t even tell the truth about Japan then I think its time to go home.
I live here by choice because I see the good, it’s not time to go hame at all..
More crap from the “global citizens”.
Well good luck in Japan, just hope you don’t believe you have rights in Japan and are equal to the Japanese themselves.
Most people don’t need, or want, equal rights to the Japanese. Why would anyone want to vote in the elections? Why would anyone want to have the right to a fair trial? Why would anyone even want to have the right to live wherever they want?
These freedoms don’t exist in America so, because Japan is often considered some weird obsidian reflection of the U.S., why would the government here want to grant immigrants or permanent residents here anything different?
Jason, why should Japan? when they have people like you willing to take it bending over, asking for more, and encouraging others to do likewise.
If you got a problem with Japan don’t come to Mr. sun-shine-out-my-ass-Jason, if you were discriminated against, endless confirmations, mind numbing noise levels, Japanese act like children…ohhhh noooo cause Jason won’t be hearing any of that.
Even if its true? Will you be sharing any of that information with people who ask about Japan? Ohhh of course not because…
you see the sun is shining out Jason’s ass and that is just negative talk..Japan what? No, its a damn lovely place you bastards! But talk about America and Jason knows every horrible sin that is committed there…bad bad bad place…Japan good..America bad…
Same to Paul. Get over it, its not your own private little pond, no need to get pouty, nobody is pissing in it, just stating the facts.
Is it possible to be a regular in Japan just like a regular on a message board?
I really want to know:
How long did you live in Japan?
What work did you do here?
How much Japanese do you understand?
Did you study any Japanese culture or history in college?
Hmm … for a post that was written half in jest, it has certainly received far more attention than initially planned
But you’re right. If someone has a problem with Japan, they shouldn’t come to me. Not because I may appear indifferent (depending on the topic), but because I am not in a position to do anything about it. Foreigners have had difficulties in every nation around the world, including my home country of Canada. While that nation claims to be the “True North Strong and Free”, it’s really just another Japan, but with lazier people and bigger food portions.
Will I share real information about Japan and its problems? Sure. Heck, if you’ve read any other Japan-related posts on this site you’ll notice that I’m complaining about something 65% of the time. This country is hardly made of rainbows and gum drops.
Either way, it’s good to see that you’re currently in the US. It’s obvious that you could never be happy in this country
>Same to Paul. Get over it, its not your own private little pond, no need to get pouty, nobody is pissing in it, just stating the facts.
What! at no point have I said anything like that… I agree with your facts, however I also see good which makes it a good place to live in for ME. Judging buy your random comments that don’t reflect what people are saying to you indicates you are unstable and it is very clear now why you failed in Japan.
“That being said, have sympathy for those foreigners who were fooled by the anime cartoons, and samurai movies, which shows Japanese as having a superior moral code, a selfless society, and went to exotic Japan only to find a dull, mindless, and boring people who obey their superior’s commands who believe that their race, nation of Japan is superior to the world and discriminate against any foreigner stupid enough to venture there.”
Dude, that shit is true. I guess I aint the only one feeling it. This place is scary, not too far off the mark to compare it to North Korea. What gets me is why cant the citizentry see it? Its like some sort of brainwashing or mind control . Ill be glad when I get out of here. I think I got some minor PSTD from being here over 10 years. Biggest mistake of my life? Living in Japan.
Perhaps foreigners who feel this way could try to pass themselves off as a New Half. People like IKKO and Ai Haruna have gone from being the “family disgrace” to national celebrity, and all it took was 15-20 years of constant persecution and exclusion from … well … everything.