Comments by "Gordon Graham" (@gordonbgraham) on "TAKASHii" channel.

  1. I came to Japan in 1988. I planned on staying for 2 years...I'm still here
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  2. I've taught English in Japan for 30 years. For the first 15, I was an ALT. It took me a full 15 years to become literate enough to get a teaching license from a Japanese university, which my school facilitated by giving me a year's hiatus and an interest-free loan. Once I obtained my teaching license, my status was upgraded to full-time, salaried teacher and my salary increased considerably. People can't expect to advance in the workplace if they are functionally illiterate. Advancement is very much possible if you have the same credentials as Japanese teachers, meaning a teaching license from a Japanese university.
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  3. I highly doubt anyone thinks Japan has no social issues.
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  4. I've been married to a Japanese woman for 20 years. We have 5 beautiful, happy, healthy kids...largely due to her. I couldn't be happier with how things turned out. She was a motorcycle cop who pulled me over for dangerous driving...I gave her my number...She gave me a brilliant life!
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  5. It’s a YouTube channel not a comprehensive social investigative study. Also, how do you know none of these men haven’t dated outside of Tokyo?
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  6. The list is long. Healthcare, Canada's used to be the envy of the world. Now, you have to wait anywhere from 6 months to a year for an MRI. I've had 3 operations in Japan, for each I had an MRI the same week I went for a diagnosis. From diagnosis to operation took less than a month each time. Our National Health insurance covers all medication and dental as well as hospital stays. We have 5 kids. We've saved close to or over 100k in dental alone. Education, Japan annually ranks in the top 5 in international testing among high school students in math, science and literacy. Sports, I coach ice hockey, our kids are on the ice 4 times a week 1.5 hours per session. They pay $150 a month. I think it's close to 10k a year to play hockey in Canada now. Housing, we paid the equivalent of 150k for a 3 bedroom home on a 1/4 acre lot, 50 minutes from the centre of Tokyo. The same home would have cost us 10 times that in my native Toronto for the land alone. Immigration, I was told flat out at my interview for the education program at York University in Toronto that "We aren't currently accepting applicants from white males". I was told so without the slightest hesitation or sense of injustice. Safety, there's no gun crime, no home invasions, no car jackings and very little street crime at all. There's really no such thing as a "dangerous neighborhood". Public order and social cohesion. Everything runs much more smoothly when everyone is on the same page in terms of public decorum and behaviour. Those are just a few things off the top of my head.
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  7. @ I’ve never been to any of those countries. I’m from Canada. I’ve spent half of my life in each country and have found Japan to be much better.
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  8.  @AoChile  Few people are "really honest" when being interviewed on video
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  9.  @RobinsonJackson-xf9bf  It’s not even close. I was born and raised in Toronto but have lived in Japan for more than 30 years. Crime, drugs and homelessness are far higher in Canada. Japan has an estimated 3,500 homeless among a population of 125 million while Canada has an estimated homeless population of 300,000 among 40 million. Look up child prostitution rate by country. 1 Sri Lanka 2 Thailand 3 Brazil 4 the United States 5 Canada
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  10. It's safer than most countries, but it's not "absolutely" safe...no country is
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  11. The trick is to get a teaching license from a Japanese university in order to become a full-time teacher at a high school or junior high school. The pay is 3 times that of an ALT. However, one needs to become fully literate in Japanese to do so as all courses are in Japanese, including hand-written assignments of which there are many. It took me 15 years to become literate enough to have gotten my teaching degree, but it was well worth it. We have 40 days off a year, bi-annual bonuses and a severance package upon retirement of around $150,000 USD.
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  12. She looked to be about 85. That would mean she was 7 when America fire-bombed Tokyo, burning hundreds of thousands of people to death. Perhaps that traumatic experience influences her perspective. Also the "what is your favorite country that you've been to?" was an off topic question intentionally meant to make her look like a bumpkin. That was kind of an underhanded, low blow. She was honest about her answer. No need to belittle her.
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  13.  @aGGeRReS  It’s primarily due to the fact that Japanese high schools teach students to pass entrance exams, rather than for communication. Entrance exam content for good Japanese universities would be difficult for native English speakers. It’s native speaker university level. Japanese high school students are required to learn in 3 years what it takes a native speaker 20 to acquire. English conversation ability is not the goal of most Japanese...unless they are genuinely interested in English. Most students aren’t interested in English. English is foisted on them and they study it begrudgingly. It’s the same reason most Canadians can’t speak French, even though we have to learn it in school. We’re not interested in learning French and we don’t need it to survive. Japanese don’t need English because they have a strong economy and can find a good job which requires no English. These are a few of the reasons most Japanese don’t speak English. That said, many are fluent and those who are have far better grammar than most native speakers.
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  14.  @afizi1213  You assume they don't. I've lived in Japan since 1988 and have raised 5 kids here. I run a youth ice hockey program and have taught at a high school of 1500 students for more than 30 years. Love and care for our children in Japan is paramount.
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  15.  @tournaline3448  I'm also fluent in Japanese and have lived in Japan for more than 30 years. In my experience, Japanese who are racist or against foreigners living in Japan have no hesitation nor concerns about saying so. It's not like they'd get any blowback like people do in America.
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  16.  @secretly_ur_dad8702  It's about dating Japanese women. Japanese women speak Japanese. Also, there are plenty of foreigners in Japan who don't speak English
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  17. I've lived in Japan since 1988 and have be fortunate to have several good friends. I've been happily married to a Japanese woman for 20 years. We have 5 healthy, happy, successful children. Moving to Japan from Canada was the best decision I've ever made.
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  18. I have 5 kids all born and raised in Japan and all who are either in or have been through the public school system here. They pretty much, to a person, echo the first girl's sentiments "I've never really thought about it". I suppose the reason being, I've never made an issue of it, never set up an "us and them" framework dichotomy in their minds. Also, the fact that they all grew up in the same neighborhood and went to school with all their neighborhood friends, so that kids never looked at them as "foreigners" but "Kenji" or "Mei", their friends. I also run a youth ice hockey program with 70 kids among whom are kids from the US, Sweden, China and even Nigeria! Certainly, at first the other kids are curious and inquisitive about their backgrounds, but soon enough they're all just another kid and part of the group. That has been my experience here.
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  19. Sazae-san and Chibimaruko chan...are great for learning Japanese
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  20.  @Unstoppable724  Just doing our part to solve the demographic issue
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  21.  @miknes12345  In my experience (30 years in Japan), I've noticed that racism is most definitely a two-way street in Japan with many foreigners pigeon-holing "the Japanese" as being this or that...a stereo-type. This is especially so when there are no Japanese around and foreigners feel they are free to speak badly of "the Japanese" and talk about "them" as though "they" were a monolith. As an aside, the young black girl in the Nike ad about racism in Japan is a friend of my son. She is one of the most popular girls in school and her life is nothing like that of the character in the ad (which begs the question is Nike's portrayal of the Japanese in that commercial racist. I'd say, based on experience , yes). Also, his best friend is Iranian. He went through public school with him from kindergarten. His parents enrolled him in a public school so that he could get a proper education, specifically hoping he could acquire the ability to read and write. He is also a very popular person. Certainly, there is racism everywhere, including Japan. The question is to what degree and what is the effect on those who are victimized. I think portraying "the Japanese" as racist can be detrimental for both Japanese people and foreigners.
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  22. I've lived in Japan since 1988 and am both fluent and literate. I'm not Japanese. Why would I want to be? I'm happy being a gaijin. Not one of "them" is an odd take though. Am I not my Japanese kids' father, my Japanese wife's husband, my co-workers' co-worker, my friends' friend? I'm all of these things. I don't need to be Japanese to be one of "them".
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  23.  @richardle3212  I'm a foreigner who has lived in Japan since 1988. I've also never had a racist incident here. Meanwhile, we have seen on the news people in America being attacked for being Asian due to the Covid affiliation.
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  24.  @secretly_ur_dad8702  Who cares if people speak English. It's Japan
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  25.  @takosdon7754  THIS! It's remarkable how many young people hold prejudiced views of the elderly or "boomers" while simultaneously lecturing about being "open-minded".
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  26. It's much cheaper than I expected. Especially big ticket items such as homes. The average cost of a home in Tokyo is $300,000. The average cost of a home in Toronto (where I'm from) is 1.2 million.
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  27.  @linkomania3600  Japan prefers it that way. Those who can't put in the effort are not worth the effort.
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  28.  @ootts456  I couldn't respond to your comment directly (shadow banned), so my response is written above
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  29. I didn't get the impression that they had a desire to date foreign women, only that they would date a foreign woman. They were directly asked if they would date a foreign woman.
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  30.  @CWalthallBrand  There's your answer as to why foreign women aren't taken to be serious relationship material in Japan
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  31.  @user-cc4rn6om4i  incel comment
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  32. I highly recommend focusing on becoming functionally literate in Japanese. If you do you can enter a teaching licensing program at a Japanese university, which upon completion would give you the credentials for a full-time salaried teacher. The pay is far greater than that of ALTs
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  33.  @RobinsonJackson-xf9bf  What’s your country? Lets compare crime rates
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  34. I started out with the "Japanese for Busy People" series of textbooks, workbooks and VHS tapes, books 1, 2 and 3, to learn basic grammar and vocabulary for daily life situations. I then moved on to the 中級を学ぼう (日本語の文型と表現) series to study kanji. I also made a notebook to write down phrases associated with concepts such as means (手段), purpose (目的), condition (状態), etc. For example, purpose in English is expressed as "in order to + verb" , for + noun, so as not to + be verb or active verb. Conceptual language works the same in Japanese so ~する為に equates to "in order to~verb" while ~の為に equates to for + noun. I wrote sentences related to my daily life and topics such as the environment, the economy, social issues etc. daily using these phrases tagged on to the basic grammatical structures of SVO and SVC. By doing so, I was able to improve my writing ability as well as my ability to retain vocabulary. I also made a separate notebook for vocabulary in which I categorised words according to topics such as banking, commuting, the economy, grammar (I'm an English teacher who needs to explain English grammar to Japanese high school students...in Japanese), etc. I mainly wrote nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. I kept a separate notebook for idioms, preposition usage, etc. In terms of listening development, I watched the same movie at least 200 times. I believe repetition is the best way to develop listening skills. When we are toddlers our parents don't talk to us about the uptick in the economy, they ask us if we're tired, what we want to eat, if we want to go the park etc. The content of speech directly used to speak to a toddler is limited. I found listening to the same movie over and over again beneficial for attuning my ear to Japanese spoken at native speaker speed. I highly recommend it. 隣 の トトロ "My Neighbor Totoro" was the movie I watched. It's a kid's fantasy, but it contains a lot of scenes of common daily life
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  35.  @Amins88  Which is cool
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  36.  @Dragon-Believer  Godwin's Law...Asian version. Nanjing, "Comfort women", Unit 731. Completely neglecting the fact that common Japanese citizens were also victims of their own government and Imperial Army.
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  37.  @Gamerad360  True. The proof is in people's actions. The fastest growing demographic in Japan is bi-national children.
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  38.  @thefuturetom  If you're a permanent resident or a naturalised Japanese I doubt you would have had any of those issues. I've rented in 4 separate locations, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, Kushiro, Chichibu and Higashimatsuyama with no issue whatsoever. My home loan was approved under ゴードン　グラハム, all my credit cards were issued in Japan and are under Gordon Graham. My health insurance, car insurance, home insurance etc. all in my name...with no questions or hesitation in terms of having had them issued. Odd that in 30 years and 5 different addresses I've never had an issue. Perhaps having a teaching license issued from a Japanese university and permanent employment rather than having a temporary contract such as those of ALTs is what has made the difference, rather than the katakana in my name.
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  39.  @secretly_ur_dad8702  That doesn't bother me. What bothered me was your insulting the Japanese for not being able to speak English...IN Japan
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  40.  @わわ-l8w  本当に？ わぁ…はい、農大のゴードンです...どうも
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  41.  @paulbarclay4114  A teaching license from another country is non-transferrable. To become a full-time teacher (not an ALT) a teaching license from a Japanese university is required. To obtain a teaching license from a Japanese university you first have to gain admission to a teacher's licensing program. In order to do so you have to be able to read and write at a minimum high school level. I was required to submit a hand-written 2000 word essay about pedagogy and language acquisition. It took me a full 15 years of diligent study to get to that level of proficiency. Once admitted, all of your courses will be in Japanese. All written work must be in Japanese as well.
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  42. Most foreigners living in or visiting Japan haven't "mastered" Japanese. Most speak broken Japanese with really crappy pronunciation, even after years...So, unless the girl is fluent in English there will be communication issues. Like babysitting a toddler, cute but emotionally and intellectually limited.
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  43.  @thefuturetom  A Lucky outlier in literally dozens of cases each and every time. I’m certain having permanent employment rather than the contract work which most foreigners in Japan have, has made the difference not the name
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  44.  @secretly_ur_dad8702  For foreigners IN Japan. Here's a tip, if you want to "date" in Japan...learn Japanese. If you're travelling, that's different...that's not "dating". Your original comment was meant to mock the Japanese for not knowing English...It's not up to Japanese to accommodate your lack of language skills.
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  45.  @jinz0  I've lived in Japan since 1988, for more than 30 years. This "robot" style you claim Japanese to have is foreign to me. Do you mean disciplined in the work and school environments? I've taught at a high school of 1500 students for more than 30 years and have found kids to be quite individualistic with all kinds of unique characteristics between them, some quiet and shy others obnoxious and outspoken and a myriad of others in between. I've also run an elite youth ice hockey program that currently has 70 members...all quite unique individuals. That there is a standard of decorum that is expected of them in certain social situations doesn't mean they are "robots". I'm a Western raised white person. I come from a different culture, but also adhere to the customs and social mores of my host nation and culture. That doesn't make me a "robot", that makes me and individual who can recognise the value of things like teamwork, patience, deference to those with more experience etc. We are not the same? Who is we? I'm not you, you're not me. We are all individuals. Yes, there are differences in societies as a whole, but within each unique society there are unique individuals. That people adhere to social mores in Japan doesn't make them any less of an individual.
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  46.  @stankeylips9822  From Ancient Egypt, Germanic tribes, Vikings, Pacific Islanders, early Christians, the Aborigines and the New Guineans as well as the Somali, the Galla, the Maasai, the Ashanti and the Fulani tribes of Africa
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  47.  @GloRia-yp2tj  You can't speak for Japanese people. You can't say "they" think this or that as if "they" were the entirety of Japanese and "their" way of thinking. That's called stereotyping and prejudice. You can tell us about your experience. Experiences between black people differ. There's a channel the black experience in Japan on which there are varying experiences, some bad, most good, with many saying they prefer Japan to their home countries because of how well they're treated in Japan. The "Japanese" are not a monolith. Because some Japanese treated you with disrespect doesn't mean all or even most Japanese would feel disdain towards black people in general. You can't speak for the mindset of Japanese people. You can only relate your own experiences to those who read your comments. I certainly, believe you when you talk of your experiences. I've heard differing opinions among black people living in Japan. I can't say what it's like to be black. But I can repeat what I've heard from those who have said.
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  48. My wife was a motorcycle cop who ticketed me for dangerous driving on my bike. A month later I met her at a hockey rink where I coach. We recognised each other and hit it off. A year later, we were married. 20 years later we have 5 healthy, happy children and a wonderful marriage
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  49.  @aGGeRReS  It’s a matter of addressing the students’ needs and wants. Competition is high in education in Japan. Parents choose schools based on the number of graduates that enter prestigious universities. There’s a lot to cover in the span of 3 years. Teachers are tasked with teaching the entirety of English grammar and vocabulary that it takes a native speaker into adulthood to acquire. It’s not like students aren’t acquiring knowledge. But, it’s like being able to read and write Mozart but not being able to play the piano. Which is the opposite for most foreigners living in Japan, most can speak Japanese after a few years, very few can read and write even after living here for 10 or more years.
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  50. I've lived in Japan for 30 years. It honestly took me just about a month to be functional, but 10 years to become fluent and 15 years to become fully literate. There are no quick fixes to language acquisition. It takes hours and hours of diligent study and focused determination. Anyone who believes otherwise is in for disappointment.
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