The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[noobish hat]

wow, finally some sense being spoken here (apart from positives outweighing negatives of course, that's just ricockulous)

[kryss]

It's just an illusion. Living here is a different story but, on the whole, the positives outweigh the negatives.

Seconded.

And the lack of rainbows is starting to get to me.
We plan to leave Japan next year for Canada but I'm already missing it

[fuji]

Funnily enough I'm leaving too, for those who want to live and work here may I recommend this excellent website http://www.debito.org/index.php

[DeathAdder]

I used to think like that. Then I tried to move house, and was stunned when a good few of the properties I looked at renting had "No foreigners" scribbled in their details.

Life is good here, as long as you ignore the many dickheads. But a short holiday won't show you how effed up the country is, in the same way that a sightseeing trip to the Lake District won't alert you to chavs stabbing people, crippling fuel prices and the government losing people's details while introducing ID cards.

[Richard.John]

billy_dimashq,

Driving is quite simple really, not too different from in Blighty, I would imagine. We both drive on the right side of the road after all. Just make sure you apply for an international licence before you arrrive as I think hire car companies would reject your UK/EU licence. Incidentally I have a Japanese licence as I passed the test here.

The speed limits are lower than you would expect though as it's all in kph of course so a 30 kph zone equals 18 mph which is pathetic, frankly. Driving in Tokyo and its environs can be a lesson in frustration, but once you get out into the countryside it's great. Hakone is driving heaven actually due to its mountain twisties and utterly breathtaking views of the the Hakone Caldera, Shizouka and Yamanashi prefectures and of course Mount Fuji herself. Well worth it if you can make it, and the weather is in your favour.

Locations signs,etc are romanised which is a great help of course so no worries there either and warning and other additional signs adhere to international norms so are easy to understand.

The downside is toll roads a plenty. All expressways have to be paid for and many private roads require payment of some sort, though usually cheaper than the national expressways. Contrary to popular belief, Tokyo does have a congestion charge of sorts, it's called the Tokyo metropolitan expressway or 'Shutoko' to the locals and video game nuts. 700 yen (3.50 GBP or so) buys you an elevated traffic light free cruise through the city loop. Amazing at night actually, especially the route that crosses over Rainbow Bridge from Odaiba to Shibaura.

The traffic is bad enough with Shutoko but would be nightmarish without it, no doubt. Gridlocked hell. If you stay within Tokyo metropolitan you don't really need a car, but if you do feel the need, a 'kei jidousha' or K-car is perfect. These grown up karts have 660cc engines limited to 64 bhp and are piss easy to drive being automatics and so relatively small. Cheap too at about 25 GBP for 12 hours rental or so.

Driving manners are good on the whole, though you get arseholes in every country as well as people who really shouldn't be on the road, but apart from that it's fine. Drink driving violations are strictly enforced as well as traffic violations in general. I am told you cannot get off the hook here. If stopped you will be fined, etc. For this reason most have 'radar' detectors that warn of approaching patrol cars, ambulances and speed cameras,etc. All in the name of safety of course.

[Richard.John]

Regarding Japan, after five years I have come to realise that it possesses a very immature culture. Some may embrace such but I find it drags me down, and I certainly don't want to end up at their level. I never even watch TV anymore as it's plainly an embarrassment. Being here has made me appreciate all that is good about the little island group of the coast off France called the British Isles.

[Darwock]

I used to think like that. Then I tried to move house, and was stunned when a good few of the properties I looked at renting had "No foreigners" scribbled in their details.

Life is good here, as long as you ignore the many dickheads. But a short holiday won't show you how effed up the country is, in the same way that a sightseeing trip to the Lake District won't alert you to chavs stabbing people, crippling fuel prices and the government losing people's details while introducing ID cards.

Indeed, in fact some things just don't have time to become an issue when you are on holiday - like for example how you will always be treated like something of a freak.. on a holiday that might be a positive as you get lots of attention and hospitality, but after a time it becomes ridiculous.

Example - I went to see an exhibition on Charles Darwin in Osaka a couple of weeks ago - after twenty minutes I felt like I was one of the exhibits. Kids were whispering to their friends and pointing at me... more of them were looking at me than the Darwin stuff! It was mostly kids so you have to make allowances but the fact is you will never, ever be treated 100% normally here. Shop staff freak out when you go up to them, people will ask other people questions about you while you are standing right there.. etc etc.

In contrast I visited Scotland with my girlfriend last month, and not one person ever asked her where she came from, or if she spoke English.. it woke me up to how open-minded people are back home (she said it made her feel very comfortable). In Japan those questions will be pretty much be the basis of all the random conversations you will ever have.

However everything is relative - and shortly before I left the UK some dickhead tried to mug me for my PSP at the train station the one and only time I dared to use it in public... in Japan you get primary school kids on the train playing their PSPs by themselves with no fear. So I'll certainly be renewing my visa come next June, despite the social exclusion.

[Richard.John]

Darwock,

Excellent points. I am constantly amazed by the Can you **insert idiotic question**?
My Japanese lady friend suffers from gender discrimination in the work place so I told here to go to the UK and live her life. Okay so its not perfect back home but at least nobody will stare, ask you if you can speak English on the natural assumption that you cannot possibly have mastered such an arcane, unique language and why would you want to anyway. This kind of mind set is rife here and will never change as you say. It's depressing that a person born in Japan to non Japanese parents will NEVER be accepted as Japanese by the locals, regardless of how long they have lived here.

[teddymeow]

Is this level of "fear / hatred" (delete as applicable) towards foreigners present among the whole population or is it limited to the older generations? Much like the way that my Grandad will make randomly racist comments when watching TV or something as that's the time he grew up in whereas I have grown up in a multi-cultural society and see no difference between the various peoples around me.

As has been said before it's probably because it was a holiday but I have never had an issue when I was in Tokyo. An enduring memory for me will be when I was in Yoyogi park with my Wife and friends and we saw a group practising the "Hare Hare Yukai" dance from Haruhi. We stopped to watch them (they were really good at it) and one of the group broke off to explain what they were doing. When we told him that we were all fans of Haruhi he was so happy and let went back and told his group. They were all smiling and waving at us then continued their practice with extra enthusiasm!! Amazing!!

Still, as a positive; only 142 days to go until I'm back in Japan!

[DeathAdder]

More prevalent among the older generation - the younger ones have at least had some contact with a foreign ALT in their English lessons at school (even if often the ALT does sod all).

Old people making randomly racist comments doesn't really bother me - as you said, grandads back home do it as well. It is irritating to see popular politicians come out with them, however - see Shintaro Ishihara, and it's also frustrating that nothing can be done about being discriminated against here, such as a landlord flat out saying "no foreigners".

Re the immature culture comment, it does come across like that if you take a Western view of immaturity. Women going mental over the cuteness of a Hello Kitty phone strap and hoards of grown men collecting Gundam figures would be considered childish in the West. On the other hand, every school I've taught it has left setting up and serving the lunch to the students, who do it quite well without any supervision, whereas I wouldn't trust my old schoolmates not to wank, spit or drop ****e in it before throwing it around the room. In Japan it's considered childish to give up something when the going gets tough, so they no doubt think Westerners are childish when they decide they don't like their jobs and look for another.

Couldn't agree more about the TV, however. All looks like it was made by four year olds and aimed at two year olds.

[Richard.John]

Yep, Japanese women are stuck in their teens. They dress well though.

[randombs]

Interesting reading, all these posts, although I suspected as much and have heard similar things myself. While I'm not looking to Japan as some kind of saviour country, and as for personal experience, all I have to go by are my two three-week trips last Summer and Winter, I'd still like to go again next Summer after I graduate mainly because I've been studying Japanese for a few years now and want to take it further.

Heck, even my Japanese studies just flukily came about, I didn't go out of my way to learn it or anything like that, it just sort of came to me (Japanese mate in Syria while I was learning Arabic, first two weeks of class were the basics and I could already read/write it so I was bored and decided to learn hiragana from his eng-jap dictionary and it just went from there really).

I would get stares like anyone else would, but I found when actually speaking to people they just kept it strictly-business. I rarely met anyone who'd go out of their way to help (except one guy in the qeueu at a Family Mart in Shibuya who actually took me to the club I was looking for and then went on his way) but I think that may be more down to how I actually asked for help (in Japanese, and they'd usually just assume I'd been there for a while until I told them otherwise).

I'd think if you're not going there with these grandiose expectations you'll be ok. So far the safety and general feeling of being among people who (on the outside at least) seem to value things more than over here are decent enough plus-points for me.

Mind you, I just got a car so I'm having more opportunities to ignore public transport and the twats with their speakerphones and whatnot, so maybe I'll get a bit more perky here in jolly England

@ Richard.John, thanks for the post about driving, it's answered all my questions!

[kryss]

I was in the newest Softmap a few months ago (the infamous stabbing took place outside there a few weeks later) and took the lift to the 7th floor. At the 3rd floor a blond, non-Japanese woman got into the lift with her Japanese husband/boyfriend speaking to him in Japanese the whole time. She looked at the display inside the lift and asked him where the lift was going. A Japanese woman who can't have been thinking poked her and said "It's going up" in English. The blond replied "Up? Oh thank you" in Japanese. The Japanese woman was so surprised at this all she could saw was "Sugoi!".
I was stood behind her and almost face-palmed.

On a housing note, I know an apartment managment company in northwest Chiba (about 20 minutes out from Nishinippori) where the head guy speaks good English and is happy enough to rent to foreigners (no key money). His office is actually next to my apartment. If anyone wants his number just let me know.

Ah, life on the Jouban line...

[Len]

Oh how despressing to read all your not so good thoughts on Japan but fair enough I'm sure it is different if you live there long term.

All I can do is reiterate what an amazingly good time I had whilst there and urge anyone thinking of going to go, perfect for a holiday that's for sure!

Maybe your all homesick (j/k)...

Never heard or read anything about having to have yr passport on you whilst being there, mine was in the hotel safe all the time!

[Darwock]

Yeah it's no joke people DO get taken to the police station, you were just lucky not to get stopped! Should have checked this thread a bit more carefully, it's been mentioned a fair few times