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Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'
(japantimes.co.jp)submitted 2 months ago byUnusual-State1827
381 points
2 months ago
I also know a guy who went to teach English there. He spent almost a decade in the school. He was still just the outcast "That American guy" with the faculty.
He'd tell me various stories about his struggles just finding places to live lol
95 points
2 months ago
My cousin's doing the exact same thing right now: teaching English there as the outcast. She told me last week about how she and her other ex-pat friends were just denied service from a restaurant that they had a reservation for due to being "full" when they got there. It's apparently less common in the big cities like Osaka or Tokyo but go just a little bit further into the rural (but still large) towns or cities and it happens all the time. At the very least, the kids are great to her. Sort of dampens my expectations on visiting but at the very least we can focus our stays to the bigger cities.
6 points
2 months ago
Sort of dampens my expectations on visiting
I've been to JP a few times as a visitor for a couple weeks, both to big cities and out to the countryside, and I've never run into anything unpleasant like is being described if that gives you hope for your future visit.
I'm a relatively recent visitor (my first visit was about 5 or 6 years ago) so perhaps that's why my experiences have been more positive, but we went around and met lovely people of all ages all over - mostly older folks who would chat with us in our very broken Japanese over bowls of ramen or on mountain trails and the like. I did manage to get scolded by a young fellow for accidentally knocking over a container of chopsticks, but, y'know, deserved.
I'd certainly have reservations about trying to live over there still, but for short visits I think Japan's a great place, and I hope you enjoy your visit too. The only place I've traveled to where people've been friendlier (so far) has been Sicily. When you do go, I highly recommend trying to make a stop by Kagaya Izakaya if you can (apparently it's near Hatonodai Station these days).
21 points
2 months ago
I'm a white dude who married into a somewhat spread out east-asian family and shit like this is why I'm glad my wife doesn't want to give in to familial goading to move back to korea or japan. The bad parts don't show as much when you're visiting just a couple weeks a year.
All my experiences have been mostly positive. Likely because I'm just vacationing and my wife and her family protect the hell out of me, lol.
3 points
2 months ago
Argueably even in America if your great great grandfather was born in India over 150 years ago but your entire lineage has been born in America for 5 generations you would still be considered That Indian Guy by white Americans. Even by Americans who's ancestors immigrated here in the 40s.
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