As a mixed third generation immigrant, I get this a lot. In my experience, most people want to know my ethnicity, but for some reason they never ask me that directly.

OP has only only been here for 4.5 months on an exchange. He clearly has rose-tinted glasses on.

I’m not denying what he is saying but I visited the UK back in February last year after 5 years here and I had a wonderful time. It felt so good to just talk to people in English and share banter, spend time with family, not have to overthink every interaction. Sure people can be loud and it can be a bit grim but it felt refreshing after being here so long. I don’t really understand what these “conflicts” OP is referring to. I’ve only really had a bad encounter with some chavs before.

I had a good think about what I wanted out of life after that trip, and decided to move back in April (especially for career reasons). I think being the only foreigner in a traditional Japanese company has really burnt me out. But I’m glad I got to spend some time in this country!

20 upvotes but no comments? Strange. Anyway, I think a big factor that you did not mention is that Japanese people generally don’t complain. The concept of “shouganai” is so ingrained here that idea of complaining about something can be interpreted as “well what do you want me to do about it?”. But in the scenario that you mentioned, they probably do think they are burdening you, otherwise you wouldn’t say you are busy . Or it could be a case of 思いやり

This was a big culture shock compared to the UK where people complain all the time, even just to vent their feelings.

These nuisance streamers only come here because they know they’d get their ass beat if they went somewhere else.

Very similar situation down here in Okayama. Autumn is the best season!

No way. Imagine being stuck in complete darkness unable to move your body for that amount of time. I’d lose my mind and probably have a panic attack thinking to myself what if they don’t dig me up?. The money isn’t worth the mental trauma that would cause me.

I’m not sure if that would be considered well travelled from a European perspective. For example if you live in the Netherlands, you could drive to Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France all within 3-5 hours. A quick Google says the average European visits 8 countries within their lifetime. Geographical proximity and culturally dissimilarity definitely need to be considered.

I read the article but they missed the point that higher inflation will cause consumers to spend less and ultimately slow the economy, increasing unemployment. Higher unemployment means more competition for jobs and lowball salaries. Now we might not see widespread layoffs here but the average person will be stuck earning peanuts.

It’s on Amazon. There’s lots of different sizes but this one has prime delivery available https://amzn.asia/d/9Xn6kZQ

You might even be able to order it using a US Amazon account and have it shipped over

I’m in the car on my way to the deep inaka to spend time with my gf’s family at her grandma’s home. Last year we spent 8 hours there and my legs got so numb sitting on the tatami the whole time. There’s also no WiFi or mobile signal. But they are nice people! I’ll be back to work on Monday.

I’ve been trying to ween myself off Amazon, but it’s far too convenient here, especially since I don’t have a car. I’d use Rakuten ichiba more, but there’s just too much information density and I like being able to pick some deliveries up at the konbini.

I normally eat before or after I go. In my experience most of the festival food I’ve eaten has been overpriced (relative to size) and subpar in quality.

You might be interested in this site

https://neage.jp/

It keeps track of the prices / size changes of popular products and restaurants

Ah I remember drinking it a few years back. It was alright but I’d still take a mitsuya cider over the one I had. Also is it just me or are they kinda hard to find?

What is that? Is it good?

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I think it’s because they just can.

Especially in a more conservative society like Japan that has deep roots in the windows ecosystem (love for excel comes to mind). What other alternatives would the average office worker use? There’s no way I could ever convince my boss to move to Linux, OpenOffice / LibreOffice

Perhaps it’s just habit from the days of not having a credit/debit card, but I pretty much pay only using cash. I periodically go to the ATM and withdraw 5万 and that keeps me going for a while.

I use a credit card for online purchases though.