File: 1442686600078.jpg (437.87 KB, 1600x1200, East_Shinjuku_Tokyo_Japan.jpg)
No. 123380
>>123378(OP)
then again this is also true and i might end up hating it
No. 123381
Japan can be pretty 'meh' depending on where you live. I stay with my boyfriend in Japan for 6 months out of the year, because my job is flexible because I work freelance and I'm completing my degree online anyways so I'm not tied down to anything. He's from Fukuoka, so obviously that's where I end up staying. I enjoy being with my bf and tons of my really good friends are in Japan, so I obviously prefer Japan. But I've never actually found myself preferring Japan for things other than that. I don't really prefer the States either. Fukuoka has a pretty nice city, but besides that, my old high school weeb self would be so disappointed.
I remember the old 'weeby version' of myself would imagine things like living in a super cool studio apartment, where the hardwood floors were all sleek and clean looking, and all the furniture is all modern and cool like you see in dramas (pretty weird thing to fantasize about I guess), but then you get here, and a lot of peoples houses are just cluttered, everything looks old, people use a lot of outdated cars, and the buildings are kind of sad looking.
Like I said, pretty 'meh' place if you are looking to be by yourself and do your own thing, but if you've got an SO or loads of japanese friends, that's where the real fun is.
No. 123383
>>123379
>At first I wanted to go to a language school for 2 years and then just continue living there, find a job and such.then of course I realized how shitty language schools are and how everyone is complaining about them not teaching you useable Japanese, so I think i'll self study and maybe do a summer course or something. Not blow my whole savings.A lot of the people I know who speak great Japanese are those who busted their butt's at language schools. The people who say it doesn't work for them are the people who take the summer classes and expect to be fluent and understand their precious animu. Also, unless you are using a working holiday visa, language school = 2 year visa and you can work part time.
However, it is very expensive. But if you go to the well known schools, it's not a waste of time at all. The school will teach you everything you need to go, and if you are socializing with Japanese people and living life all in Japanese outside of school, then you will pick up 'useful japanese'.
>I just would love to live there, I love the City and the way Japan, well, IS. The culture and such. I currently live in a suburb outside montreal. boring.Tokyo has a lot of suburbs as well, which can be very boring and mundane. You can't really escape it tbh, unless you are made of money and can afford a decent place near the city. There's public transportation of course, but it's not exactly cheap to ride the train everyday, and the cost does add up if you are constantly riding around.
>Job? Idk. I don't want to be an english teacher, i'd probably end up being a shop staff who occasionally sings weeb ass shit in akibaIf you can't speak Japanese well, the chances of you getting a regular baito will be pretty slim. Hell, even if you spoke well, if you are non-asian, they probably would have to be SOL at finding other employees. A lot of people just don't want to hire foreigners because it drives a lot of customers away, because they are afraid they might have to use English or something. Also, singing in Akiba is not exactly a common job, and not one that pays a lot. Or at all, as a lot of the girls do it as a 'hobby'. Do you have a degree OP? Even if you get a working holiday visa, a lot of schools/daycare centers would still want you to have a degree/experience (if you chose to go the whole english route)
>My BF is kinda iffy on the idea of moving there, lolHe will need a visa as well. What is he going to do? Does he have a Bachelors degree? If not, he can't get a cushy teaching job. He could get a working holiday I presume (I think Canada has them, Amerifag here, so I'm not sure), so he could work some english conversation tutoring gig. I'm not really sure about all that visa stuff, though. However, if he doesn't want to go, he will probably be miserable.
No. 123384
>>123383(OP)
>Language schoolOh ok that's good to know, and is actually really reassuring. I just don't want to spend my money thinking I'm great at this language and then go out in the real world and no body understands what I mean ya know? I do plan on getting a student visa (2 years) if I study, so i guess that would be the best route since i'll also be allowed to work part time / baito.
>City and suburbYou're right, though I've been looking at apartments that are in the city (or close enough) That are within my price range.
>JobI plan on studying before going to japan, and if I go to language school I will be even better. I know I won't be fluent right away but I will reach high enough level to get a small job hopefully. and lol no no don't worry I wasn't taking singing in akiba seriously. it's more of a hobby, i would never count as that for money really. I don't have my degree yet but i'm working towards it.
>BFYeah. And yes Canada has WH Visas. I've been talking it over with him, and he said he wouldn't mind switching his major over to english teaching so he could get an average english job in japan (He's studying medicine right now, and we both agree him being a doctor there would NOT work)
But nah. we're still deciding, I won't go if it'll make him miserable.
No. 123390
>>123388it is
its a fucking country and online weebs give it special treatment
No. 123400
There's no shame in coming even if you are going through a weeb phase. For me, my weeb phase never really ended, its just calmed down a whole lot (I still watch a lot of anime, and cosplay a lot with friends back in the U.S. and enjoy going out to places like Animate and shit).
I'm studying abroad in Tokyo right now, but since it's my second time here (and in Japan in general), it's appeal is more of "meh, it's a regular city." When I first decided to come to Japan, a lot of my determination came from my old weeby love of Japan and the fact that my mum never wanted to take me here for vacation, so I brought it upon myself to finally come and experience everything my weeby self ever wanted lol. I ended up in Nagasaki first, so no Akihabara, no city life, none of that. It worked out in the end since I ended up falling in love with Japan all over again. To this day, part of me doesn't really love Tokyo because I'm so in love with Nagasaki lol.
I'll always want to come back here and am actually planning a graduation trip to come back a year after I finish up schooling in Tokyo lol… There are a lot of things about Japan's government and society that I'm not necessarily fond it, so even though I would like to work here after I graduate school, I'd never want it to be more than a few years.
No. 123402
>>123401In any country it's hard for girls to meet a bf and not guys just trying to hit it and quit it. Guys are the same any where.
Being single is not a good reason not to go.
No. 123403
>>123402>In any country it's hard for girls to meet a bf and not guys just trying to hit it and quit it. Guys are the same any where.I'm sure you've been to a lot of countries where this holds true
>Being single is not a good reason not to go.That wasn't my point idiot, did you retard the rest of my post? You'll be treated like a outsider.
No. 123413
>>123408YEP.
AGREED.
My Japanese friend asked me "Do you have knight in england?"
I thought he meant night as in night time lol
when I realized her meant knights as in those lads in metal amour
I got snippy and said "No, they're gone. It happened a long time ago. Hey do you still have Samurai?"
"No?"
"Well there you go :D"
No. 123414
>>123411I am going to Japan for the first time in August. But I already know it's not a loli weeb animu land, obviously not. People live there and there is more to see than kawaii. If you're just into kawaii and pop culture, then fair enough.
But after watching vlogs, listening to stories, looking through tags, blogs, talking to people on Hellotalk and forums. Nah, Japan is pretty normal.
It's just that it's gotten popular since the kawaii baby doll idol train set off and everyone wants to go there before either they're weebs or trying to be that exotic white dolly in Japan.
No. 123421
>>123419I mean honestly no, most study abroad programs at actual 4 year schools can be forgiving and they even accept things like student aid or scholarships to help with costs.
I was wondering what price/support range private language schools in JP seek, they're different than regular Unis in that they don't grant degrees for your time.
No. 123422
>>123374I studied there for 1 year in undergrad, and love Japan because of the structure and sense of routine (also all of the tourist areas, since many Japanese don't travel outside the country, each town/city has lots of cool things to visit and see).
Not sure about living there though, because foreigners aren't treated as well by the younger generations (the older 70+ generation is awesome though!) so I don't see the point getting lower salary etc. (I'm highly skilled and entering graduate school next year) when I could scoot over to China and get treated/paid better than the locals.
No. 123431
>>123423>>How come the older generation likes foreigners better?I believe it has a lot to do with the 60's-80's period of western influence. Japanese adults at that time experienced Japan during its economic bubble, and western culture had a lot more influence than today (think the Elvis haircuts). Louder and rowdy behavior was much more acceptable than today, extroverts were much more common than today. I would say Osaka and Okinawa come closest to how Japanese behaved during the bubble. With energy, spirit, liveliness etc.
Unfortunately, after the bubble burst, people became more depressed and seem to have regressed into their own culture/themselves. Fitting in has become much more strict, with many outward (fashion) subcultures dying down even in Tokyo. I wouldn't say young people are jerks, but they cannot compete with the older folks imo. If the old folks could become young again, I'd probably move there in a heartbeat.
Of course, this is just my experience. I've met people who hate the older Japanese and think the younger generation is nicer.
>>123426>>If you don't mind me asking, where did you study? My university has an exchange agreement with UTokyo and I'm thinking about it, but I don't think my Japanese is good enough.I studied in the very south, but spent at least 1/4 of my time in Kyoto (Kyodai). If your school has an agreement with UTokyo, I'd recommend you take advantage of it. It's the best school in Japan and Japanese will find it extremely impressive that you study/studied there, and that can be useful if you decide to stay there after uni.
No. 123432
>>123381I thought the same "meh" feelings. The cities look so much better at night. During the day, everything looks in need of a serious power-wash.
I do love the efficiency, overall cleanliness, and the politeness in doing things is very refreshing compared to America, everyone dressed well above American standards…there's so many positive things, and yet I don't know that I'd permanently call it home.
There's a lot of obvious negatives to American culture, but I'm almost always leaning 60/40 towards liking America better.
My extended Japanese Family is pretty wealthy but even leaning towards the elite-er side, you don't feel all that fun fanfare you get with American "wealth". You get better food but the pole up your ass has to grow to accommodate what people are expecting of you.
No. 123434
>>123388To be fair, I've spent time in the region before I headed off to Japan, and Japan isn't actually that amazing if you're already spent time in Korea, the better parts of mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan etc. I'm not saying Japan isn't damn awesome in some ways, what I'm saying is that for a lot of you it's your first experience of a non-shithole country that is truly different to anywhere in Western Europe and North America. As a result, you attribute that novelty value to an innate uniqueness of the country itself, which in some ways is true (Japan took elements of Tang Dynasty culture, aspects of their own native culture etc and really did make them their own), but in other ways is just people assuming that the novelty they're experiencing is something intrinsic to the Japanese culture.
This is fine, but I do get annoyed with those same fantasists and apologists that you’ve spoken to and about, those who might say that the dreary skyline of Osaka is one of the world’s greatest or that the view from the window of a shinkansen hurtling between Osaka and Tokyo is one of the top scenic rail experiences. But this phenomenon has been going on for a very long time – one only needs to read some of Basil Hall Chamberlain’s accounts from over a century ago to see how little has changed in this regard. Here's a classic example:
>"…Europe and America evince a singular taste for the marvellous, and find a zest in self-depreciation. Our eighteenth-century ancestors imagined all perfections to be realised in China, thanks to the glowing descriptions then given of that country by the Jesuits. Twentieth-century Europe finds its moral and political Eldorado in distant Japan, a land of fabulous antiquity and incredible virtues. There is no lack of pleasant-mannered persons ready to guide trustful admirers in the right path. Official and semi-official Japanese, whether ambassadors and ministers-resident or peripatetic counts and barons, make it their business to spread a legend so pleasing to the national vanity, so useful as a diplomatic engine. Lectures are delivered, books are written in English, important periodicals are bought up, minute care is lavished on the concealment, the patching-up, and glossing-over of the deep gulf that nevertheless is fixed between East and West. The foreigner cannot refuse the bolus thus artfully forced down his throat. He is not suspicious by nature. How should he imagine that people who make such positive statements about their own country are merely exploiting his credulity? HE has reached a stage of culture where such mythopoeia has become impossible. On the other hand, to control information by consulting original sources lies beyond his capacity." No. 123436
>>123435That's… most of the world outside of France, Germany, Britain and North America.
And look how well that's working out for them…
No. 123437
>>123436This lel
>>123435What do you want them to do, pretend that they're 100% Japanese even though they're very obviously not? Sorry to break it to you but the population of most of the world's countries is made up of locals who have lived there for centuries and developed a local culture as a consequence. You can adopt said culture and assimilate, but if you don't have similar experiences as them (which is hard if you've been born and raised elsewhere) PLUS obviously look and sound different, you'll never be considered a local. Like no, I'd never consider a black man a native Finn or Norwegian, sorry. Even if you're of Finnish heritage but born elsewhere you'll never really be Finnish unless you moved back home as a young child or maybe teenager. This 'everyone is a local' concept is uniquely American, created mostly as an excuse for their bloody past.
No. 123438
>>123437The "but what if they integrate?" example is entirely hypothetical.
There isn't a single historical polity on earth where a demographically significant group of people moving into that land and settling it has resulted in them "fully integrating". Doesn't matter whether it was Angles, Saxons, Chinese in what is now Southern China, Japanese migrants to what was then Ainu land, South Asians in the UK, North Africans in France etc.
The "what if they integrate?" think is academic time-wasting. Because unless you're dealing with tiny, demographically insignificant numbers of people who are overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the majority and progressive inter-marriage over the space of a few generations (think of the few Eurasians who existed in 1900s Japan and imagine their descendants today), then no, "full integration" has literally NEVER happened.
No. 123440
>>123437> This 'everyone is a local' concept is uniquely American, created mostly as an excuse for their bloody past.yea it's the 'melting pot' concept that is meant to include everyone as american and yet we have the tightest security, strictest immigration policy, and anyone that does immigrate probably sinks into their niche community anyone. it's not like all the hispanics, chinese, indians, and koreans just blend in with all the white people. no they have their own communities.
same in japan with the expat communities. immigrants don't actually assimilate into a country. they just make due.
No. 123442
>>123439Ask you bank to make a letter for you. I did that, basically showing the bank balance is illegal so the bank isn't actually allowed to do that, and you can just make them write you a letter that you are in good standing within the bank.
Then if you do go there's usually a bunch of scholarships you can apply for and even if not as long as you save up you can do the whole teach english to older men and you can make a decent amount of money that way.