Ruldra wrote:Skykid wrote:Japanese society seems to have some major problems. I'm not sure how long I could stick it out there before getting really frustrated by the fakeness of it all.
What do you mean by that? Just curious.
Well, let me try to explain my perception. The first time you visit Japan it's a wonderland. I for one couldn't help but really enjoy the massive cultural difference, which is something I initially considered to be a wonderfully reserved and respectful society. Getting involved with the customs, practicing some of the language, and generally just getting off on how endearing it all is is pretty much part of the travelling experience in most countries - but because Japan has beautiful girls, anime and games plastered all over the place, it's just one step up.
Reflecting on my recent return there, I realise it's not actually the place that many otaku (which we all are) seem to think it is. In reality, what I considered to be endearing and unique on the first visit, I realised, with some deeper understanding from the friend who's lived there for nearly five years, that a lot of shit there is pretty fucked up.
Firstly, Japan is horribly xenophobic. Although there are elements of xenophobia (fear of foreigners for those who don't know) in plenty of countries in the world, in Japan it's ingrained to the point where you can pitch up there, get married, get a green card, speak fluently and earn a living - but you'll still never really be accepted by people around you, and you'll never be able to obtain a Japanese passport. 'Jin' means 'people'. When being referred to as 'Gaijin', you're literally being described not by your ethnicity (such as we might say, "that guy is German") but instead as a foreign person.
This xenophobia, when you become aware of it, gets wearying after a while. The more you notice how people avoid you entirely - eye contact, floor space, general communication - the more you feel like a true outsider.
However, this IS a generalisation. Of course there are many genuinely polite people who, if they're not just interested in ripping you off for a free English lesson, are warm, welcoming, generous and great fun to hang out/get drunk with.
The larger problem, if you can get over the perhaps selfish foreign attitude that Japan should be more accommodating to multi-culturalism, is the fact that socially I've never encountered a nation more closed off from each other. I couldn't figure out if it was a historical thing or a modern thing that had made it this way.
What at first is impressively orderly, respectful and obedient, actually seems like some kind of social breakdown. At work a girl called Naoko, who's lived in the UK for 13 years was telling me that when she visits home, she's viewed as a foreigner because of how westernised she is. Worst of all, because her Japanese isn't as perfect as it once was, many people consider her to be an Asian girl who has learned the language - a terrible situation because Japan has a frank and open racism toward all non-Japanese Asians. They're just considered 'lesser' - and that in itself is a sign that something is wrong.
Naoko told me that she considered Japanese people to be 'mentally ill' when we chatted post trip. For me, this is extreme wording, but I know where she's coming from.
The highly pressurised lifestyle doesn't help. Tokyo people look overworked, underpaid and pissed off, but you'd never notice because in Japan it's considered a serious offense to express your emotions. So everyone just bottles it up. If you stop for a minute and look around, you can almost feel all that tension bubbling beneath the surface.
The girls walk around in skirts the size of belts - and yes, they're sexy, provocative, and head turning. But it's all wasted, because Japanese men seem to be utterly clueless and completely hopeless at communicating with women. Young women seem to view themselves as the objects that men there see them as, and play up to it.
The result is a case of mass perversion, the like of which is probably unmatched anywhere in the world. The incredibly unhealthy obsession with children should not be condoned to the degree that it is by the government. Courtesy of my mate and his sense of humour, I saw some horrific material in Akihabara, this time of the photo variety rather than the hand drawn.
Baffling as it is, it seems that this suppression of emotion, measured ignorance and forced discipline has literally started to break down natural communication. After a while you just wish people could start to relax a bit, other than when drinking (at which point it's like a new lease of life! Drunk Japanese people are awesome.)
Interestingly I now understand why, if you watch live action Japanese cinema, that you get such commonplace and abhorrent over-acting. Those movies, in which actors go so over the top, completely avoiding the option to subtly display emotion in favour of screaming their heads off, are done in such a way that Japanese people must find incredibly interesting. Absolutely nobody behaves that way in real life.
TV is the same. In fact I was in awe of seeing people in soap opera's and game show hosts.
Wrap it up: It means absolutely nothing to judge a society as an outsider. I don't live there or have long term experience. I've visited more than once, have friends there both Japanese and English, and I've taken on board their experiences and tried to marry them with my own.
Ultimately, I could be totally wrong about all of this: it's just my perception.
It doesn't stop me loving Japan or wanting to visit again. Sometime that much of a cultural change is liberating and therapeutic - and as a gamer, it's still a total heaven. But I've done a lot of traveling, and whereas before I thought Japan would be a great place to live, now I rather consider it to be an utterly brilliant place to visit.
I don't mean any offense to anyone by the views expressed here, and I'm sure there's much other people can add with their own experiences.
