I want to know what Japan is like from people who actually live in Japan especially after seeing some misleading posts online from people who don’t live in Japan & people misunderstanding something resulting in people being misleadingly negative about Japan
I’m a permanent resident of Japan and am raising a family here. I think you would get better responses if you posed more specific questions, or provided examples of what kind of misunderstandings people have experienced and posted about online.
I find Japan a pleasant place to live, but it is far from perfect, just like any society. The cost of living is quite reasonable compared to many other countries, which makes the lower salaries go further.
People are generally friendly, but you sometimes have to read between the lines, as people tend to be less direct so as to avoid confrontation (“It is a little difficult” is a polite way to say “No!” for example).
Anyway, if you have any other questions I’ll be around.
Yeah, 建前 and 本音 are definitely a thing to get used to, heh. I agree, specific questions are definitely helpful to answer
What is the first word? Google translated it to the pronunciation, but said the second word means “true feelings”
tatemae is the romanisation. It is your public attitude, which may be different to your real attitude (hon’ne).
We don’t have subtitles when speaking.
its less bussling and profitable than it used to be pre covid. some gimmick restaurants and several arcades have closed down.
people are just going to shop on yahoo auctions/amazonjp and such for merch. japan also overtime has been opening up to pc gaming in the past few years (basically the only country in asia where consoles, mainly handheld, is significantly more popular than pcs, where its virtually the reverse elsewhere) (both are smaller than mobile gaming market though combined)
Japan doesn’t have pork broth. (Biggest culture shock for me)
As in ramen? Have you ever been to Kyushu? These things are regional.
I see. Yeah, consommé is the most prominent stock in the supermarkets, followed by chicken, and like you said beef. I’ve never used pork broth myself, but I wonder if this is what you’re looking for.
Akihabara:
Urban shopping area in central Tokyo, Japan. considered by many to be the epicentre of modern Japanese otaku culture, and is a major shopping district for video games, anime, manga, electronics and computer-related goods. Icons from popular anime and manga are displayed prominently on the shops in the area, and numerous maid cafés and some arcades are found throughout the district.
Great response! Just a comment, 食べ歩き (eating while walking) is definitely not seen with good eyes in many places in Japan. Some very touristic streets even have signs to forbid it.
That’s the case for very specific places, but in general, tabearuki is considered 行儀の悪いこと, meaning bad manners, basically.
Take a look at this article, for example. Or this anectode. Or info from a language school. Or this quora answer. They all discuss how eating while walking is bad manners and can bring nuisance to the people around you, even in non crowded places. Of course this is not every Japanese person’s opinion! I’ve even seen people advocating for it.
I think it’s not such bad manner that you would be scolded by a stranger, perhaps by a Japanese partner or close friend, but it’s definetly not seen in good eyes in general.
Disney is more popular than Anime
I don’t know that I agree with that, necessarily, but I suppose it might be how you define “popular”. Tons of people are going to Puroland and stuff (Sanrio/Hello Kitty) if we’re talking about theme parks. Every Japanese kid I know still talks about Anpanman, etc., though all my nieces and nephews definitely do know some Disney (Frozen in particular for the gals at least).
Japan doesn’t have pork broth
I’d generalize that to liquid stock that isn’t dashi. I can at least find chicken stock at Costco, but that’s about it.
Why would a Japanese person not be able to give a more in depth answer? I’ve only lived in my country all my life yet I could easily talk about the differences from the rest of the world.
Oh are Japanese still largely TV driven? Here in Australia most people consume media online.
レミーは英語圏のサイトを圧倒しているし、日本人の大半は英語ができないから、このサイトを利用しない。だから、実際の日本人からの回答は得られない。
[Lemmy] dominates English-speaking sites, and most Japanese people don’t use this site because they can’t speak English. Therefore, we cannot get answers from actual Japanese people.
translation by Google
Many parts of Japan are stunningly beatiful. The largest cities are some of the most overwhelming places I’ve ever been, but everything works much better than you might expect.
The people are generally respectful and kind if you are the same. I found people to be generally tolerant of unintended rudeness from a foreigner, especially if you apologize. Jokes and humility go a long way.
There’s a TON of Japanese people there. Like, they’re freaking EVERYWHERE.
To this point, the Tokyo skytree may be the most entertaining place I’ve ever been. You can see so much life happening all around, you can see how far Tokyo sprawls, you can see how large the breadth of humanity can be. If you intensely focus on one small spot of the city, you see a myopic little section, but then you raise up, and see the entirety of “Civilization”. It’s super impressive. I expected that it would be fun to see, and maybe spend 20 minutes up there looking around. I spent almost 3 hours just examining life.
I’m sure places like this exist elsewhere, Tokyo seems like the perfect place for it though.
