Comments by "The Kangaroo" (@Bunnyroo7) on "Japan with Nao"
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One thing that many people appreciate about Japan is the attention to detail. For example, when shopping at a number of shops, clerks carefully and exquisitely wrap your purchases. Try shopping in Europe. You're lucky if staff aren't overtly hostile, and don't even imagine that staff will life a finger to make your life easier. Japanese trains are wonderfully clean. Compare that to often filthy, run-down trains in Europe (especially Germany and Denmark) or the US. What people often miss about Japan is that this attention to detail isn't always positive. Japanese people tend to put an incredible amount of work into avoiding problems. On one hand, this is why Japanese standards of behaviour tend to be so high. On the other hand, it's why it can be so incredibly hard to get through to Japanese people. They put on a mask and build a moat to avoid issues and complications. Ignoring you isn't an act of malice, but an effort to avoid confusing, awkward and uncomfortable situations. Visible foreigners feel this the most. The infamous gaijin seat is an infamous example of this. For the Japanese, potentially awkward and uncomfortable interactions are avoided. For the person on the receiving end, it's almost dehumanising. I should add that this isn't only xenophobic, either. Japanese people who 'fall short' of Japanese societal expectations are subjected to the same treatment. A sad reality of Japanese bullying is that there are actually relatively few active bullies in Japan. However, very, very few Japanese young people will actually take a stand when they see bullying and might even quietly go along with it to avoid becoming targets themselves.
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During the summer months, Japanese people are shocked when I tell them that in northern Europe, we rarely have air conditioning. During warm days, it becomes extremely unpleasant here as houses and flats are designed to hold in heat. That said, those unpleasant periods are fairly brief. Maybe a couple weeks a year, and not necessarily consecutive, either. Our housing is designed to deal with our long, cold, miserable winters that go on for months without real respite. That is why, during the winter, I'm fairly comfortable wearing shorts and t-shirts indoors. Even without having the radiator on constantly, it's rarely particularly cold. In contrast, they're wearing jackets and jumpers to keep warm.
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@simeonbanner6204 Britain and Japan were, indeed, quite similar. In some ways, they still are. Although standards of behaviour in Britain have noticeably declined, they're still far better than on much of the Continent.
Where there has long been a difference is that Britain has, traditionally, been more forgiving a society. People who return to Britain after years of living in South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, etc. are readily accepted back into society. Even immigrants who speak English fluently, understand cultural cues and 'get' the humour that makes British life bearable are accepted as British. Japanese people who live overseas for an extended period of time rarely, if ever, manage to be fully accepted in Japan again. That is why, after living abroad for a few years, many do not wish to return. Their attitudes start to change, their worldviews start to change -- and in a society like Japan where every nuance of life is so finely calibrated, people pick up on that quickly. Indeed, it's often easier to be a foreigner than a Japanese returnee. Our social positions in Japan are clear, theirs are not.
Thank you for that clip. It reminds me of the Britain I remember from my youth. (I grew up between the UK, Germany and USA) You still see pockets of that in the West Country and other rural areas, but it's not quite the same. Still.... There's something reassuring about being back in my favourite cafés and tea shops in Britain. On good days, it can still almost be like that.
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I wouldn't say that the Japanese are, on the whole, racist. What they are is incredibly conformist and, very often, xenophobic. Those who do not conform are excluded. Non-Japanese do not fit in, so they are either marginalised (if they're lucky) or excluded entirely. Japanese who do not fit in, or who fall short, are either marginalised (if they're lucky) or excluded entirely. Of course, even the most marginalised Japanese will still hold a higher social position than foreigners. Marginalised Japanese inhabit a social space equivalent to the proverbial dog house. It's not in the same house as the rest, but it's in the garden area and within sight of the others. Non-Japanese live in a hut outside the compound walls. It might be a comfortable hut, Japanese might even make passing acknowledgements to those hut--dwellers, but they're not bloody likely to be invited into the main rooms of the main house.
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