I always wondered whether I should ever visit Japan. I was interested in learning the language and reading the comments. I have had a few penpals in Japan. But I had also heard some rather unfriendly xenophobic stories... Here’s one from http://www.issho.org ¹:
Otaru, a large seaport city in Hokkaido, has a large number of foreign tourists and visitors. However, some bathing institutions, namely onsen hot springs and sento bathhouses, have over the past few years decided to exclude all foreigners with signs saying “Japanese only”.
Yeah, what can I say... “No pets, no foreigners!”
Well, though it may be a bit extreme, I can understand why people can come up with such a decision. I’ve read that in Prague some bars are closing their doors to foreigners because of repeated abuse of tourists (cheap travel+ cheap drink + foreign country...). In Greece tourist’s exploits have reached the headlines of the newspapers more than once this summer and friends living in Crete have confirmed the summer period may be a little difficult to live in some place. – PierreGaston
I believe you. But the correct solution is to do something against brawling, drinking, or insulting. Like at court, people should be presumed innocent. – Alex
#Japan
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i married a Japanese, and later moved to Japan to gain understanding of her culture. after 5 years, we left because we were both overworked. if you get a technical job, you will likely be pushed to work far too much. i regret that this pressure precluded learning much japanese (the technical work was in english). perhaps foreigners in non-technical jobs can escape the constant pressure to work long hours.
my interest in stoicism and zen made the discrimination more than tolerable – it was amusing. i especially enjoyed it when a real estate agent told us that we could not rent a particular apartment because the landlord did not want “communication problems”. pointing out the obvious fact that my wife was born and raised in Japan was met with polite indifference (i say obvious fact because native Japanese can readily detect Japanese raised in a foreign culture, despite fluency in Nihongo).
if your ego is not easily bruised, and in fact can be subjugated, it is very worthwhile to live awhile in Japan. i would go back, but would avoid the big cities this time around, which probably rules out technical work.
speaking of zen, one antidote to the western romanticized view is “The Empty Mirror : Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery” by Janwillem van de Wetering. zen has been good for the publishing industry. i liked the depiction of Ryokan (1758-1831) in “Zen Masters: A Maverick, a Master of Masters, and a Wandering Poet” by John Stevens. best for me was “The Zen teaching of Homeless Kodo” about Sawaki Kodo by his apprentice Kosho Uchiyama; but i can’t find it at Amazon. you like cooking, so maybe the inexpensive “From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightment: Refining Your Life” by Kosho Uchiyama would be fun; but i haven’t read it so the recommendation may be worthless (see Amazon reviews if you like). of course all reading about zen is inadequate, like reading about a foreign culture you’ve never experienced directly, but it can be fun reading.
– GregScott 2004-02-15 02:48 UTC
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Thanks for sharing your experience. I heard about the incredible workload from people that spent several months in Japan as an intern. Being myself not really interested in working too much – having only a 60% position and 6 weeks of holidays a year – I can’t imagine myself actually moving there. Traditional Japanese culture will always remain a remote thing to me, a product of fantasy and romance... 😄 Which isn’t too bad either, after all Claudia does bellydancing ¹ which is also a curious mix of traditional music and dance, Hollywood kitsch, influences of modern music, and mutual inspiration... Totally artificial, and yet – “culture”. And after all, isn’t culture always man-made?
– Alex Schroeder 2004-02-15 22:57 UTC