Good and Bad things about Japan?

[clear1985 5]

Every country has its own good and bad things, however; sometimes it's hard to see what it looks like from the outside.

 

Especially Japan is an island, so most Japanese are sheltered to some extent. As for myself, I grew up in a strange family, so I wasn't that sheltered.

 

Anyways, I'm 28 year-old Japanese who has lived in Japan, the USA, and China. Currently in China. But, still I may fail to see good and bad things about Japan.

 

I won't be offended even if you post something provocative here. I'd like to hear your frank and honest opinions on this one.

 

Thanks,

Clear

[The Bread Wolf 231]

One thing that seems to affect the high suicide rates in Japan is, what I've heard, that mental illnesses are a taboo. Seems like whenever you're depressed or schizophrenic or whatever your mindbug is, in Japan you'll end up having no one to talk to and along with the illness itself, you bear a shame of having the illness at all. Heck, I'd kill myself if that was the case.

 

But then again, I live in a country where doctors easily prescribe meds and actually having a professional to talk to is so expensive that most people will just take the pills to tolerate the everyday life.

[Nyasagi 259]

I was going to mention exactly the same thing as the person above, because I heard about it as well. It's not good to neglect such people, because they may just take meds and be valuable members of the society. Many of them are just normal people, but with an illness (the ones with depression and personality disorders, some people with schizophrenia).

 

Another thing I thought of, is the drinking culture. I heard that it's common to get drunk after work with co-workers. I'm very anti alcohol abuse, so this is something I really dislike. Basically, it's acceptable in my country to get drunk only on the weekends. When someone has a job and drinks too much on the weekdays, it's rather being frowned at. There are people who do this, but it isn't acceptable and they do it for their own responsibility (they may get fired easily for this). When you go to work hungover, it's a bad thing. If you drink anything during weekdays, you're supposed to control yourself and not drink too much. That's why I don't like what I heard about drinking culture in Japan. To the ones interested in the topic, I found something about it: http://thisjapaneselife.org/2012/05/09/on-drinking-too-much-in-japan/

 

I also dislike the way the visual kei music market works in Japan. This may not affect people inside of Japan, because they have everything easily available, but rather foreigners. The visual kei music market is very closed, many bands sell their CDs and merchandise exclusively to people who come to their lives, or only in shops that don't ship overseas (which increases the downloads as well). I saw many small bands in Europe/US selling their CDs both in their country and abroad. They welcome fans from all over the world with their arms widely open and don't have a problem with shipping their CDs to another country, but Japanese bands aren't that welcoming. They're focused only on Japanese people (I've never seen the official band's webshop sending their stuff abroad, people have to use shopping service and that costs even more, than buying just the CDs, whose prices are already high for foreign people) and sometimes I feel like I'm the worse kind of a fan. My taste in music and heart tells me to stay, but logic tells me to go away, because I'm not in Japan, so I don't matter. Japan tends to be sheltered, like you already said, clear. It's difficult to understand.

[mitsu☆ 10]

Not a fan of Japan's work culture. When you work overtime, it is expected of you and from what I've heard you usually don't get paid for that overtime. No wonder why many Japanese men and women die of being overworked. If you work overtime in my country, by law you have to be paid double for every hour you work over 40 hours or something like that. It's illegal to not be paid overtime. And that should be the same in Japan.

[relentless 254]

Good: Food, and beautiful landscapes

 

 

Bad: Their government, the general fear of other cultures / religions and at the same time assimilating the imagery of those cultures into their own.

[The Bread Wolf 231]

Not a fan of Japan's work culture. When you work overtime, it is expected of you and from what I've heard you usually don't get paid for that overtime. No wonder why many Japanese men and women die of being overworked. If you work overtime in my country, by law you have to be paid double for every hour you work over 40 hours or something like that. It's illegal to not be paid overtime. And that should be the same in Japan.

I've heard they work overtime because they don't get shit done in time. :'D Like seriously, they like, nap and have breaks every hour and talk with their co-workers more than actually do work, so to do a task meant for that day takes 12 hours rather than normal 8. So... kinda their own fault to be overworked.

 

Can this also be a "what is weird about Japan" thread? Because, you know, a specific fetish for striped panties only exists in Japan. No kidding here. I've got nothing against that, but... just... it's so... it's such a detailed thing. 

[TrentReznor 362]

I also dislike the way the visual kei music market works in Japan. This may not affect people inside of Japan, because they have everything easily available, but rather foreigners. The visual kei music market is very closed, many bands sell their CDs and merchandise exclusively to people who come to their lives, or only in shops that don't ship overseas (which increases the downloads as well). I saw many small bands in Europe/US selling their CDs both in their country and abroad. They welcome fans from all over the world with their arms widely open and don't have a problem with shipping their CDs to another country, but Japanese bands aren't that welcoming. They're focused only on Japanese people (I've never seen the official band's webshop sending their stuff abroad, people have to use shopping service and that costs even more, than buying just the CDs, whose prices are already high for foreign people) and sometimes I feel like I'm the worse kind of a fan. My taste in music and heart tells me to stay, but logic tells me to go away, because I'm not in Japan, so I don't matter. Japan tends to be sheltered, like you already said, clear. It's difficult to understand.

 

I would say that is not just about visual kei stuff, just when it comes to cultural stuff (i guess with anime, manga and related stuff) is like they dont care about the rest of the world. For example, many dvds of movies are released without any kind of subtitles or if they have subtitle just the japanese ones, while on the other hand you have the korean example that subtitle almost every single movie, even the collections of movies from the 50-60 they release ,had subtitles. Seems like it doesn't matter to then not sell a single cd, dvd etc. outside of Japan, For the rest, I kind of agree in everything.

 

PS.

the OP is true...he is not like what u would expect of  the typical japanese guy 

[mitsu☆ 10]

I've heard they work overtime because they don't get shit done in time. :'D Like seriously, they like, nap and have breaks every hour and talk with their co-workers more than actually do work, so to do a task meant for that day takes 12 hours rather than normal 8. So... kinda their own fault to be overworked.

 

Can this also be a "what is weird about Japan" thread? Because, you know, a specific fetish for striped panties only exists in Japan. No kidding here. I've got nothing against that, but... just... it's so... it's such a detailed thing. 

 

I have a Japanese friend who told me the overtime thing is expected of you whether you work hard or not. And I have another friend who did study abroad in Japan for a year or so and had various jobs in Japan. And from what I've read that's what it seems like, but of course, I could be mistaken. But the karoushi thing is a serious problem in Japan.

[Nyasagi 259]

I would say that is not just about visual kei stuff, just when it comes to cultural stuff (i guess with anime, manga and related stuff) is like they dont care about the rest of the world. For example, many dvds of movies are released without any kind of subtitles or if they have subtitle just the japanese ones, while on the other hand you have the korean example that subtitle almost every single movie, even the collections of movies from the 50-60 they release ,had subtitles. Seems like it doesn't matter to then not sell a single cd, dvd etc. outside of Japan, For the rest, I kind of agree in everything.

I only used visual kei as an example, because I'm familiar with how it works. I'm not interested in manga and anime, I only like boys love visual novel games, but not many are translated into English indeed o_o. I remember I had to install some patches with unofficial translations to play some of these. I also heard of this recently: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/07/28/japanese-government-to-start-anti-animemanga-piracy-operation-next-month. I'm pretty sure everything on that new site will be in Japanese, so not many people would buy it, because they wouldn't understand it. The first comment to the news is just a bonus XD. That's exactly what I'm talking about... demanding from people to buy, but not offering a decent alternative, easily available for everyone.

[God 264]

The good things I'm aware of have already been stated.

 

Some bad things no one has mentioned yet...isn't there an actual market for rape simulation video games?  Pretty, uh...pretty not good.

 

On sort of similar topic, I've had a friend who lives over there right now tell me they were harassed on a train by some old guy who ended up following them for a little while.  Thankfully, the guy backed off.  But I've heard it's common to be creeped on by older'ish men?  Correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't ever been there and this is all by hear-say.

[nekkichi 6042]

^ it's more or less common. google "chikan".

[The Bread Wolf 231]

On sort of similar topic, I've had a friend who lives over there right now tell me they were harassed on a train by some old guy who ended up following them for a little while.  Thankfully, the guy backed off.  But I've heard it's common to be creeped on by older'ish men?  Correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't ever been there and this is all by hear-say.

Like the person above said it's more or less common. You can pretty much get harassed by anyone, anywhere in the world. Not exclusive to Japan alone. Like, I've been asked by a hobo if they can jerk off to my shoes for 20€. :'D But the problem in Japan is that you can't call them out for that. Pretty much anywhere else in the world you'll be allowed to stand up for yourself and kick the guy's ass or at least scream in panic. But in Japan such behaviour is seen as embarrassing the harasser, and YOU'll be blamed for that. So all you can do is pretty much just hope that either someone else notices is and interferes (which will, like, never happen, because others don't wanna shame a fellow Japanese perv either) or that the guy decides to back off for some reason, like happened to your friend, gladly. You can also decide to hop off the train on the next stop, but if you're on your way to school or work, you might be late then.

[nekkichi 6042]

But in Japan such behaviour is seen as embarrassing the harasser, and YOU'll be blamed for that.

 

idk if this is an internal japanese POV?? my female gaijin friends got police involved, and they actually took really fast action in those few cases. 

 

#patriarchy #not_all_gross_pervy_men

[God 264]

idk if this is an internal japanese POV?? my female gaijin friends got police involved, and they actually took really fast action in those few cases. 

 

#patriarchy #not_all_gross_pervy_men

So, they treat foreigners differently, then?  I mean, duh, I feel like there would be obvious cases, but there are legal cases, too?  Assuming that it is Japanese mindest that you shouldn't shame your attacker, so they only end up with that sort of mentality when another Japanese is involved.  Does that happen?

This thread is actually pretty interesting.

[Flame-X 441]

One bad thing that immediately comes to my mind is their censorship policy. To this day, I still don't understand why they censor porn.

[The Bread Wolf 231]

^ Especially since Japanese porn stars don't tend to shave, so no one would see anything anyways even if there wasn't a mosaic blurring the bush.

[Ito 2438]

Not a fan of Japan's work culture. When you work overtime, it is expected of you and from what I've heard you usually don't get paid for that overtime. No wonder why many Japanese men and women die of being overworked. If you work overtime in my country, by law you have to be paid double for every hour you work over 40 hours or something like that. It's illegal to not be paid overtime. And that should be the same in Japan.

 

Not sure if you are referring to the United States when you say "my country," but we certainly have unpaid overtime. It's called a salary...In most cases you are expected to to work over time there, or really whatever it takes to get the job done. I know that when my father was working her worked about 50-55 hours a week normally and my girlfriend who is a middle school teacher between actually teaching, lesson planning, and grading works about 60 hours a week. I certainly don't like Japan's work culture, but their overtime policy doesn't seem that insane.

 

One bad thing that immediately comes to my mind is their censorship policy. To this day, I still don't understand why they censor porn.

 

From my understanding this was brought in to law after WWII when Japan was under US occupation. I don't know the reason the law was enacted, but it was. Lots of people find this law to be terrible, but the problem is that no one is willing to bring it up or challenge it. They don't want to be the politician that want to change the censorship law.

[Owl 347]

Not sure if you are referring to the United States when you say "my country," but we certainly have unpaid overtime. It's called a salary...In most cases you are expected to to work over time there, or really whatever it takes to get the job done. I know that when my father was working her worked about 50-55 hours a week normally and my girlfriend who is a middle school teacher between actually teaching, lesson planning, and grading works about 60 hours a week. I certainly don't like Japan's work culture, but their overtime policy doesn't seem that insane.

Working 60 hours a week means working 12 hours per day. Thats just insane. What about laws and labor unions?

 

When I was looking for job one hr manager told me that in their company overworking means you can't do your job in time, so that's bad and not approved.

 

And returning to the topic I heard, that Japanese people have about 15 days of vacations per year and never use it fully. Harsh

[Ito 2438]

Working 60 hours a week means working 12 hours per day. Thats just insane. What about laws and labor unions?

 

When I was looking for job one hr manager told me that in their company overworking means you can't do your job in time, so that's bad and not approved.

 

And returning to the topic I heard, that Japanese people have about 15 days of vacations per year and never use it fully. Harsh

Nope, not 12 hour days, just working pretty much 7 days a week. And honestly, that is just the nature of most first year teachers. At least they get the summer of to compensate XD

[Biopanda 2675]

Working 60 hours a week means working 12 hours per day. Thats just insane. What about laws and labor unions?

 

When I was looking for job one hr manager told me that in their company overworking means you can't do your job in time, so that's bad and not approved.

 

And returning to the topic I heard, that Japanese people have about 15 days of vacations per year and never use it fully. Harsh

At least they get some vacation :'D I work a full-time job in a field that throughout all of America doesn't get a single day of vacation and no overtime pay(where working overtime is a VERY common occurrence).

[mitsu☆ 10]

Not sure if you are referring to the United States when you say "my country," but we certainly have unpaid overtime. It's called a salary...In most cases you are expected to to work over time there, or really whatever it takes to get the job done. I know that when my father was working her worked about 50-55 hours a week normally and my girlfriend who is a middle school teacher between actually teaching, lesson planning, and grading works about 60 hours a week. I certainly don't like Japan's work culture, but their overtime policy doesn't seem that insane.

 

 

From my understanding this was brought in to law after WWII when Japan was under US occupation. I don't know the reason the law was enacted, but it was. Lots of people find this law to be terrible, but the problem is that no one is willing to bring it up or challenge it. They don't want to be the politician that want to change the censorship law.

 

Oh, yeah, I am speaking of the US. Thanks for the reminder about salary... I totally forgot about salary pay and how that works in the US. I've heard that jobs in Japan that aren't based off a salary system tend to not pay for overtime like in the US. But of course, that's from only what I've heard.

[keyinjpop 89]

Train molestation. Check.

Censored porn. Check.

Rape simulation games/manga. Check.

No paid overtime. Check.

 

There's also microaggresion.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/05/01/issues/yes-i-can-use-chopsticks-the-everyday-microaggressions-that-grind-us-down/

Every country is guilty of this though.

 

And the hikkikomori thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

 

And some other ethnic issues in Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_issues_in_Japan

[JukaForever 758]

also the sexualization of young girls like less than 10 yrs old

[Biopanda 2675]

also the sexualization of young girls like less than 10 yrs old

That's not a Japanese-only thing though. Just look at Toddlers & Tiaras and/or the whole child beauty pageant scene as a whole.

[Ito 2438]

I work a full-time job in a field that throughout all of America doesn't get a single day of vacation and no overtime pay(where working overtime is a VERY common occurrence).

I didn't know that pimping was that hard of work