Comments by "Yo2" (@yo2trader539) on "TAKASHii" channel.

  1. Japanese culture is what makes Japan. If you don't like it, you should be living in other countries.
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  2. The question was what should foreigners not do in Japan. All the answers were common sense in Japan.
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  3. 語学圏の影響が圧倒的に大きいですね。例えば、イングランド語は歴史的経緯からゲルマン語の文法＆ラテン語（フランス語）の語彙なので、ゲルマン語圏とラテン語圏の人にとっては最も習得しやすい。でも欧州で英語が上手なのはオランダ人・北欧・ドイツ人など圧倒的にゲルマン語圏の人々。ラテン語圏の人にとっては発音・文法共に難しい。同様にSOV文法圏（テュルク語・モンゴル語・朝鮮語など）の人の方が日本語の学習速度が速い。日本語の発音に関してはラテン語圏とスラヴ語圏の人は比較的上手。
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  4.  @KelvinKamsg  It's probably either the tone of the question, or the girl was too much for their host family and they just needed an excuse to get her out of the house. I don't know how to say this without offending people, but many Japanese families don't really fancy the liberal/modern/masculine/aggressive types that are frankly incompatible with Japanese culture, mindset, and mannerism.
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  5. They will tell you what you're already doing. Don't make them visible. No proper business in Japan will hire those with visible tattoos, and the customers will never wish to be served by people with visible tattoos. But it depends on social circles. If you're a bar tender with affiliations to certain organizations and live in the fringes of society...yeah it's acceptable in those circles. And tattoos for women traditionally meant they were wives/girl-friends of gangs/yakuza and were off-limits.
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  6. Please don't be offended. Malaysia and Singapore are one of the most favorite locations for Japanese who wish to live abroad. Other favorites are Thailand, Philippines, and NZ.
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  7.  @jessieperson  You probably figured out by now that some of Japanese communication is non-verbal. Simple nodding, bowing, eye-contact, posture, or hand gestures can communicate hi, thank you, sorry, I understand, I'm angry, etc. This is because since infancy we're naturally trained to sense/read behaviors of others. We require fewer words to communicate among ourselves because we can infer the meaning. We generally sense gratitude, attention, or need of others from their behavior. But I understand it becomes very problematic when communicating with people who grew up in different cultures. As for whether a Japanese person loves you or not is quite simple. He/she will be genuinely interested in and concerned for your emotional and physical happiness. If he/she can sense your slight change of mood and emotions, that means he/she is paying attention to you and your needs. People who can't sense feelings/needs of others are considered to have low communication skills.
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  8. I know many Japanese and Japanese Americans who live in LA. There are Japanese-language kindergartens, so I actually think it's about the will and necessity. Many want their kids to be bilingual and tri-lingual. Frankly, from a Japanese perspective, we don't understand the concept of "proving Americaness" by not speaking Japanese or practicing Japanese culture within our family/community, because that's who we our. We see no need to have to choose between languages/culture, we just need to be fluent in both.
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  9. No, we've seen pretty ugly ones too. It really depends on their parents.
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  10. You do understand what the "gaijin card" actually infers, right? It means you're not part of Japanese society and we don't expect to you understand our ways. We never afford that tolerance to "half" kids who grow up in Japan, because they're part of Japanese society.
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  11. I've witnessed foreign-nationals who have been able to adapt culturally and integrate socially with Japan, and those who felt were rejected and isolated. The difference has a lot to do with one's personality, preference, and flexibility. Some people are really good in adjusting to new cultures/countries. The biggest difference is usually understanding Japanese language, culture, norms, etc. I've heard that people in English-speaking countries often use the GENKI series in English as an intro textbook for Japanese language programs. Just memorize the entire book. In Japanese mandatory education, we are required to learn 1,000 KANJI by 6th grade. So yes, you do need KANJI to be literate in Japanese language. If you're serious about learning Japanese, make time everyday to listen to Japanese music or NHK news radio, watch Japanese YouTube, TV programs, or movies, and read Japanese books for children. You don't need to understand any of it at first. Language learning is essentially pattern recognition, so the more you're exposed to Japanese content, the more your ear will get used to Japanese phonetics, rhythm, and intonation. I've studied and worked with many foreign-nationals in Tokyo who read Japanese newspapers and novels, many of whom have finished undergraduate or graduate programs in Japan, or have completed Japanese degrees in foreign universities. If your highschool offers exchange programs use that opportunity. If not try to find colleges that have really good programs in Japanese language, linguistics, culture, history, etc. There is also a MEXT scholarship for serious students who with to study in Japan.
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  12.  @fuelaccum3398  It highly depends on your native tongue, doesn't it? Japanese may be one of the most difficult for native English speakers. But I've met a number of Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Russians, and ethnic Koreans/Mongolians from China who speak near native Japanese. For many of them, Japanese would be their 3rd or 4th language. Yet they speak Japanese far better than most native English speakers in Japan. I'm always impressed with people from former Soviet Union. Their universities probably have one of the best language/culture programs in the world. If you've studied Japanese linguistics, you may have read work from the late Alexander Vovin. He received his education/training in Soviet Union in Leningrad (aka St. Petersburg). He was teaching in the US, and was translating Japanese diaries from 13th century into English. To translate between 2nd and 3rd language is beyond belief. It's obviously the easiest to translate a foreign language into your mother tongue.
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  13. Perhaps in the US. In Japan, it's most common to just use the country name, and not the ethnicity or race. So we commonly say Half-Russian without specifying the ethnic groups. Or we would say half-Indian, half-Chinese, half-French, half-Brazilian, etc. It's because it's too much information when somebody introduces himself/herself with Half-Russian with Tatar and Ukrainian and Uzbek ancestry, or Half-Brazilian with a European/Indigenous/Black ancestry, or Half-Chinese with both ethnic Mongolian and Tibetan ancestry.
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  14. The way she speaks Japanese is no natural.
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  15. We like Guam and Hawaii.
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  16. Japan only offers permanent visa to those who are fluent in Japanese. It won't change.
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  17. If they spoke Japanese, I don't think there would be any issue.
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  18. 3年間でそれだけ書けたら凄いと思いますよ。外国語を学ぶ際に、子供向けのテレビ番組を観たり、子供向けの本を読むことから始めるのが有効かなと自分は感じてます。そうやってネイティブ・スピーカーの子供が辿るプロセスを真似るとスムーズに吸収できるように思います。ご興味のある分野の動画を観たり、小説を読んだり、音楽を聴くのもを有効かなと思います。日本語のYouTube番組も多いですし、色々な方法があると思います。日本のテレビやYouTubeを『日本語字幕』で見るのも良いと思います。
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  19. Most foreign-nationals living in or traveling to Japan are from Asian countries. And most crimes committed by foreign nationals in Japan are from China, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines, or Brazil. There are many shop-lifting, pick-pocketing, car-jacking, robberies...all the way to drug dealing and murder by Asian organized crime groups. As 60% of all foreign crimes are committed by Chinese and Vietnamese nationals...so it's a natural response to be concerned.
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  20.  @runhigh123  That's so true. The ethnic Koreans, Mongols, and Turkic speakers from China are able to reach near-native fluency in 2 to 3 years. It's because of grammatically similarity and that they already know most of the KANJI used in Japan. Common grammar structure makes it easier for Mongols, Koreans, Turkic-speakers from Central Asia, Tibetan-Burmese, and even Hungarians. In terms of Europeans, I'm often surprised by how well the Slavic speakers are able to speak Japanese. They may sound rather drunk when they pronounce English vowels with a Slavic twist, but they sound very clean, classy and elegant when they pronounce Japanese. I've heard that some of the Russian universities actually have language programs that teach Japanese language in Japanese.
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  21.  @benvad9010  It's really simply. Either you're a Japanese citizen or your're not. Around 10,000 foreigners go through the naturalization process each year. Some of them have a native-tongue outside of Japanese.
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  22.  @miserimuslovestarvus6587  Actually, growing up in an expat bubble and receiving an American/international education despite being raised in Japan is often the main source of their struggle. Being able to speak Japanese and being able to read/write at a business level are two different skills. Foreign kids or half kids who received proper Japanese education are assimilated into Japanese society and can survive in Japan. They get preferential treatment in everything from employment to naturalization. We have Nikkei-Brazilian lawyers and public school teachers, Uyghur/Uzbek politicians, Filipino para-legals, etc, etc.
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  23. Since the 17th century, Japan had dedicated Dutch linguists/translators throughout the Edo Period, mostly for international commerce as well as to translate imported Dutch/European books into Japanese and study them. They were known as RANGAKUSHA (蘭学者), and the most famous scholar was FUKUZAWA Yukichi, the founder of KEIO University. When they needed to translate English documents into Japanese after the MEIJI restoration in mid-19th century, it was fairly easy for them to switch over. They viewed English as a corrupted dialect of Dutch.
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  24. I took German in highschool and Chinese in university as 第2外国語 or a mandatory Second-Foreign Language. Frankly, if you have no need or interest, it's just an unnecessary burden.
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  25.  @sara.cbc92  The relationship of the East Asian languages is a very interesting topic. I think many linguists call the grammatical similarity between Turkic, Mongolian, Manchu, Korean, and Japanese a "Sprachbund." Based on DNA haplogroups, proto-Koreanic speakers (Y-DNA Haplogroup C) originate somewhere in Manchuria, and they have close genetic ties with Manchus, Mongols, and Kazakhs. Warm southern regions of the peninsula used to be part of Japonic language/culture (Y-DNA Haplogroup O1), until Koreanic speakers starting migrating/invading southwards from 4th century and onwards. Think of Germanic vs Romance/Latin-speakers who study English as a foreign language. In general, Germanic speakers will have a much easier time mastering English than Romance/Latin-speakers, despite nearly half of English vocab having roots in French/Latin. It's because all Germanic languages still share a common grammar structure, including English. It's a similar situation with Turkic, Mongolic, and Korean speakers who study Japanese. Grammar is relatively intuitive...which makes life so much easier. (You can focus on Kanji, vocab, or idioms without having to worry about grammar too much. And honorifics is not an alien concept in their languages.) But I'm always most impressed when I listen to the Japanese spoken by Slavic/Russian speakers. Their Japanese pronunciation is far better and crisp/clear than most other foreigners, including people from many Asian countries. Mandarin-speakers often struggle with Japanese grammar (unless they're ethnic Mongolian, Korean, Tibetan, or Uyghur/Turkic-speakers from China). Native Korean-speakers and (some people from Southeast Asia) often struggle with accurate pronunciation of certain Japanese phonetics. Which is why we can almost always identify Koreans and Chinese from how they speak Japanese.
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  26. ​ @gyakuto7775 International Schools in Japan generally follows American education, and teachers are mostly US-educated. Joshua is a YouTuber with his own channel. I think he went to college in the US.
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  27.  @FrankBrennosTheGreatest  Japanese citizenship gets stripped. It's enforced by the Embassy for those who emigrate abroad.
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  28.  @FrankBrennosTheGreatest  You're clearly not Japanese, so I doubt you'll ever understand why dual-citizenship was banned in 1985. It was done for the purpose of no longer providing citizenship to descendants of Japanese emigrants. Japan goes by Jus Sanguinis so location of birth is irrelevant. Japanese citizenship is revoked when a Japanese national emigrates abroad and assumes a foreign citizenship. It is still enforced, and you'll find plenty of videos of Japanese who lost their citizenship when taking a foreign citizenship. (There is even a special naturalization process for "former Japanese".) As for people living in Japan, they are not seen as emigrants and not the primary focus of the Japanese Citizenship Law. For foreigners, not getting caught may be the same as not being illegal, but that is not the case in Japan. When the Japanese government revokes citizenship, they date the government/koseki info back to the day you lost the legal right to be a citizen.
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  29. Americans will quickly realize that their mindset and mannerism are not really welcome by Japanese people. I have met French, Russians, and Mongolias who've completely assimilated to Japan, but most Americans can only survive in an gaijin expat bubble.
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  30. These days Japanese companies are visiting foreign universities to hire people who've majored in Japanese language (and Japanese studies) to work in Japan. Most of the students have at least N2 level. For whatever reason, UK and Russian universities have unbelievable language programs. They're fluent in the language and culture by the time they graduate from college.
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  31. If you go to a high-end Sushi restaurant, it's market-price. I think it's common to pay around 30,000-50,000 per person without alcohol.
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  32. The word "Japanese" in English language can be referring to ethnicity, culture, language, ancestry, or citizenship. If it's citizenship, Japan only follows Jus Sanguinis rules, so one parent must be a Japanese citizen for the child to be eligible for natural-born citizenship. Thus, location of birth is not a factor for eligibility.
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  33. ​ @Zaptrap101 You're very correct. Most Japanese people have no need for foreign languages in their daily lives. And most foreigners living, studying, or working in Japan are not from English-speaking countries. Thus, Japanese language is usually their 3rd, 4th, or 5th language they have studied. What is truly impressive is the Japanese fluency of those from non-English speaking countries. There are those from Turkey, Central Asia, Russia, Mongolia, China, France etc who speak near-native Japanese.
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  34. Japanese culture is Japanese religion and vice versa. I hate foreign missionaries who try to contaminate Japanese culture and religion.
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  35. Do you watch the news?
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  36. You're Canadian.
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  37. You're just another Gaijin. If you're not fluent in Japanese language/culture, you're not Japanese.
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  38. ​ @kimckawa I highly doubt those things have any impact on how Japanese people answer their favorite foreign country. Views are based on preferences in culture, cuisine, architecture, music, people, nature, etc. And some of the countries mentioned were enemies or allies in WWI and WWII. Germany was an enemy in WWI and ally in WWII. France and UK were allies of Japan in WWI and enemies in WWII. (It's actually why Japanese military is invited to French military parades.) Japan signed alliances with the UK, Germany, and US in 20th century alone to keep Russians/Soviets from advancing further into East Asia, specifically Inner Manchuria, Korean peninsula, and Japan. Perhaps in Asia there is still resentment against European colonial history, but in Japan it has almost no relevance.
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  39. After 5 generations, it would be the same if her ancestry was Irish.
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  40. Just curious, how can a US citizen be stuck in Japan because of COVID? There were direct flights everyday.
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  41.  @methos4866  Nobody in Japan says "Ryukyuan." Most common way would be Okinawa-Kenmin (沖縄県民). First time, I heard the word was in Hawaii by immigrants from 19th century, so it must be a really old word the survived outside of Japan. In Okinawan dialect, they would say "Uchinanchu" to refer to the people of Okinawa.
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  42. Your grandparents were Japanese nationals, meaning there will be government records in our KOSEKI (戸籍) system of their parents, siblings, uncles/aunts, etc. Sadly, many of the Japanese immigrants didn't have the time, money, or energy to visit the Japanese Embassy/Consulate to legally register their children who were born outside of Japan. They were living far away or too busy trying to stay alive. Had they done so, their children born in Brazil would've been Japanese nationals who were born outside of Japan...like President Fujimori of Peru. I remember the previous Governor of Hawaii Ige-san found relatives in Japan that he never knew he had, mostly second and third-cousins. He was able to pay respect to his ancestors with his extended family, which is the essence of Japanese culture/religion. If your grandmother had siblings, it's very likely some of her relatives may still be in Hokkaido. As for Nikkei-Brazilians in Japan, my biggest concern is that they are arriving in Japan without knowledge of basic language. I don't know the history behind Japanese education in Brazil, but had they been able to study Japanese at a young age in Brazil, they would've been able to transfer their knowledge and professional experience in Japan. The Nikkei-Brazilians with limited language skills also seem to have difficulty adapting culturally and integrating socially. Ironic as it is, the non-Japanese foreign nationals who've studied in Japanese language programs, technical schools, and universities seem to have a easier time with adaptation and integration.
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  43.  @Maverick-re3zp  Had they attended normal Japanese school, English wouldn't be their first language. And native-speaker can usually can tell who received Japanese education or not from their intonation, choice of words, mannerism, etc. I suspect the only people whose first language is Japanese is the Russian lady and the interviewer. The Chinese lady and the Iranian guy are near-native speakers, but I don't know if they have the native fluency to pass highschool entrance exams in Japan.
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  44.  @chelseadee3  Of course they have an accent. It's just the one that you're most used to. American/International schools in Japan usually follow the US curriculum. Most if not all the teachers are trained and certified in North American academic institutions, and many of the students upon graduation will attend universities in US, Canada, and Australia. It would be really strange if one were to have studied in American/International schools in Tokyo (like ASIJ) and speak with an Aussie, Kiwi, Indian, or even Modern RP accent. (To my ears, they often sound Californian.)
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  45. He was a slave purchased from the Portuguese or Spanish, or a gift. He didn't have surname, which implies his social status. In terms of dark-skin people, we have records of Indian Buddhist monks who came during the Heian period, nearly a thousand years ago.
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  46. That doesn't make any sense for us. Japan is probably not the best place for you.
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  47.  @TheFlatEarthChannelcom  There are a number of popular Half-Filipino and Half-Japanese models, singers, actresses, etc...but all of them were raised and educated in Japan, so they have native fluency in language and culture. Thus, I suspect the social acceptance on the Japanese side will depend on whether they are culturally Japanese or not. This is also true for fully Japanese children raised abroad. If they don't have the opportunity to receive formal Japanese education, even on Saturdays, they'll be perceived as illiterate in Japanese society. And they would be socially-handicapped from education to employment. They probably won't even be able to understand the Japanese forms to renew their passport at the Embassy. I highly question whether Japanese people will consider somebody who doesn't speak Japanese to actually be Japanese. We have language requirements for Permanent Visa and Naturalization for the same reason.
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  48. There are 101,000 Japanese expats living in China. When I was in college, I think about 1/3 of my department took Chinese as a second-foreign language (第2外国語). Most weren't into foreign languages but we thought Chinese would be easiest because of the KANJI. We couldn't have been more wrong. As for countries, 410,000 Japanese nationals live in the US, which is the largest. Third largest Japanese expat community is in Australia with 99,000, followed by Canada 75,000, Thailand 72,000, UK 65,000, Brazil 47,000, South Korea 42,000, Germany 42,000, France 36,000, Singapore 32,000, and Taiwan 21,000.
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  49. You probably don't understand enough traditional KANJI if you think Japan is using them. And Japanese people have little desire to attract or retain foreigners who're unable to master Japanese language and culture.
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  50. Staying for a few months as long-term tourist would be better. I don't think Tokyo is the best place for freelancing. Tax-filing gets complicated after 180 days in country...or when you become a "taxable resident." Currently, the JPY is weak relative to other currencies, so you can live comfortably with 3,000 Euros or JPY 475,000, as long as you don't live in the most posh areas with high-rent. When I was in Tokyo, expats in IT, Consulting, and Finance used "Ken Corporation" to find rentals suited for expat needs. But I'd recommend fully-furnished service apartments on monthly contracts. Generally speaking, it is a illegal for Japanese banks to open a bank account for non-residence. To be a legal resident, you need to obtain work/study/spousal visa. As for mortgage, no Japanese bank will lend to somebody without employment or proof of stable income. And most of the time, they would require Permanent Residency to offer a mortgage (in addition to a full health checkup and life insurance.) Honestly, I'd rather recommend Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia...for the same budget. You can survive in Tokyo with only English, but you will have a difficult time outside of touristy places. And a lot of the government paperwork will be in Japanese.
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