and novelty wears off. On both sides.

However, with 200 000 people leaving the Uk every year (www.sodbritain.com) I cant say I blame you.

I just think Japan has a difficult, anal retentive culture that masquerades as Confucianism, and the deeper you go the more you ll chafe and the rules (and taxes after one year if you dont keep moving house).

Cheers
J

I grew up in England and have always felt unwanted and alien being from an asian backround but in japan imade so mny friends and i never felt that i am not the same s any other japanese person in fact iwas more of a celebrit So thanks as all this has convinced me even more to move back.

San

But then he replies to say that in Japan its great because people are educated in a group mentality.

No way.

Japan is NOT the solution. Huge suicide rate, rising taxes, couples cant afford to have kids, so low birth rate, wierd murders of women (British, Filipinas dismembered and their body parts flushed down the toilet).

Try some country in Europe for a solution. Sweden, or Switzerland maybe.

Big, huge, populations lead to high costs and taxes, and then mental problems and crime explode. Sure, Tokyo is better than London, in some ways. Not in others.

Some days I actually think tokyo is getting more like London…

thanks for your well-balanced consideration.

I’m German, living for four years now in Japan. I came here with a “elevated” opinion about Japanese culture, technical development, society etc. This caused finally the “disillusionment” Shari is talking about.

My little daughter visits 2nd grade of primary school now, while my elder (Japanese step-) daughter finishes (private) senior high school. She was visiting a German grammar school before (3 years), so we definately have a direct comparison of both educational systems. J-Rock, your statement ““3-4 years ahead”? That is utter rubbish” is absolutely correct, also from the point of view of my (elder) daughter. She loved the Western style of challenge and critical consideration at an European school.

Also let me tell you that I work in a German engineering company – the only non-engineer amoung Japanese engineer colleagues. Once creativity is required, they’re totally helpless, leaving the path of what they have learned “by heart”.

Maybe the problem is mainly caused by the Japanese government in a sense of presenting themselves towards the rest of the world. The way they do makes people believe that everything in this country is perfect. At least to me it had this impact. Since I was a boy I’ve been a Japan-fan.

I also want to emphasize here that my intention is NOT to draw a “good – bad” picture (although they stole my motorbike and my navigation out of my car here). All we should learn is to respect each other within a healthy!!! national pride (please don’t mistake with “Nationalism”!).

One mistake everyone makes about the U.S. is seeing it as one country represented by its popular culture, politics, and more outspoken speakers. The U.S. is not culturally unified in any way. It’s a huge place and different areas have very different ways of life and styles of thinking. It’s more like 5 countries in one (7 if you consider Alaska and Hawaii are also vastly different from the mainland) with a lot of sub-divisions within each “country”. On top of that, rural living is vastly different from urban living and there are more people living in rural areas than urban ones.

Life is not nearly as mercenary in the U.S. as is indicated by the author of this post and people aren’t all running around killing each other or waving guns around. I never experienced any type of crime in the U.S., not even a petty theft. In Japan, I’ve had things stolen (a large bag and 2 bikes). That doesn’t mean the U.S. is safe and Japan is dangerous but it does illustrate that you can’t draw conclusions about entire cultures based on anecdotal experiences.

While I’m deeply troubled by the political situation in the U.S., this is a very unusual time there because the 9/11 attacks caused the political pendulum to swing so far to the right. People were very reactionary after the first terrorist attack by a foreign national on U.S. soil and foolishly surrendered certain rights in the name of security. This is extremely unfortunate but also understandable. The situation will normalize (hopefully) over the next decade. Perspective must be applied to any analysis of any country’s politics and culture. If I’ve learned anything from living in Japan, it’s to look at all sides of a situation and not just one. This is something that Japan does which often is not done in other cultures.

I think J-Rock and Blue hit the nail on the head in terms of the counterbalancing negative points to Blue’s positive points about life in Japan.

The bottom line is there is no “utopia” anywhere. Every country and culture has good points and bad points. If you really want to take something of value away from living in a foreign culture, it’s to learn that it is useless to elevate one culture over another. To see Japan or any place as perfect is to set yourself up for a big fall into disillusionment later.