this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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140
Japanese people on lemmy, what is Japan actually like ? (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by x4740N@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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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

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[–] th3dogcow@lemmy.world 108 points 7 months ago

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.

[–] THEDAEMON@lemmy.today 98 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

We don't have subtitles when speaking.

[–] AngryishHumanoid@reddthat.com 28 points 7 months ago

Bullshit I'm reading your subtitles right now.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 12 points 7 months ago

That's good. Wouldn't want the subtitles to be be against a non-contrasting background so I think you're telling me to eat shit when in fact you're merely offering me some shitake mushrooms.

[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 9 points 7 months ago

Who do you think you're kidding! Next thing you're going to tell me not everybody there likes sniffing schoolgirls' underwear! Preposterous!

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] murvillian@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] CptEnder@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Highly recommend sitting in a cafe in Montmartre Paris. Especially one looking down those spindly small roads. Excellent place to watch humanity on a micro scale.

[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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。

[–] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 30 points 7 months ago (3 children)

[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

[–] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 3 points 7 months ago

How I feel browsing mastodon and it's not anywhere near as bad as the inverse for other countries.

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Don't use Google translate because it will get Japanese / 日本語 wrong

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

I can verify that google translate got some things right but I don't know all the kana & kanji in that scentence yet to be able to read it

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

I only understood a some words in that scentence because I haven't yet learned enough Japanese to read that fully

I haven't learned that big of a wordset yet as I'm primarily focusing on learning grammer at the moment before continuing to learn vocabulary

[–] droning_in_my_ears@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

There's a Japanese YouTuber my japanese learning friend would watch called "that Japanese man Yuta" who goes into this

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I know about yuta because I am learning Japanese but I don't think I have seen their other videos outside of learning Japanese

Right now I'm slowly working my way through grammer at a pace that works for me

[–] VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Do the videos help? I tried Duolingo with learning languages and nothing stuck from them.

[–] Purplexingg@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you're trying to learn Japanese, wanikani for kanji and bunpro for grammar have been the best resources I've found. People recommend to just use anki but I don't have the time to customize decks and mine sentences for hours on end. Wanikani and bunpro set up a structure that's easy to follow and understand. I've loved using them over the past year.

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

You could try kanji garden

https://kanji.garden/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=is.ky.kanjigarden

It is anki like in the way it uses spaced repition but is specifically for kanji though if I remember correctly you can't customise it like an anki deck

[–] Purplexingg@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Doesn't work on foldables for whatever reason. Actually the only app I've come across that I can't install lol. Thanks for the recommendation though

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

With duolingo and apps like them I don't actually use them because they don't allow you to structure your learning to best help you learn

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

With Duolingo, it really helps if you've got someone else to practice with who's working on the same language (or already knows it).

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah they help but I mainly use them as supplementary information now because hearing the same information explained differently from other sources does help me understand something that may be explained in a way I don't understand in a specific source

I mainly use the resources from: https://morg.systems/58465ab9

And I also created a github page that lists the other resources that I use though I don't update it that often:

https://github.com/njosey/Japanese-Learning-Resources/blob/main/README.md

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 months ago

Check out Mrs Eats on youtube

[–] schmurian@lsmu.schmurian.xyz 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I'm not japanese but I want to travel there. We've discovered Takeshii from Japan on YouTube a while ago and I think he is doing a good job in capturing some opinions around different aspects of living in Japan. I'd say it's worth checking.

[–] konalt@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

"Japanese people on lemmy, what is Japan actually like?" "I'm not japanese but..."

[–] dwindling7373@feddit.it 15 points 7 months ago

"Japanese people on lemmy, what is Japan actually like?" "..."

wow that's so much better than people trying to help!

[–] Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 months ago

I feel like Americans or Europeans would find the answers from the perspective of an American/European living in Japan more useful.

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I do watch him but I need to watch more of his videos as I've only seen a select few that intrest me so far

I'd like to expand to more channels like his as well

I had honestly forgotten about his channel when posting this question but it's good to make this post because it does expand the scope of information on this subject to make it broader

[–] darganon@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

These people have been living there since like 2011 or something. I don't think it's clickbait style stuff, and they give breakdowns on how some stuff works (like they bought a house last year)

https://www.youtube.com/kydeanderic

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

I'm subscribed to them because I saw their Japanese fridge video when searching for Japanese fridges on YouTube but haven't yet watched the rest of their videos

Thank you for reminding me of them

[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

In one sentence or less.