should i go to japan?

[hereyago]

well, i am thinkign of visiting my friend in japan...

but after reading the articles, i feel as if i shouldnt go... =(

[Invictus]

Why would you not go? Japan is no worse than any other country. It's just different.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Go. Stay 2 weeks, enjoy your time as millions have, enjoy the wonderful hospitality, easy and efficient transportation, the great food, and the wonderful people. Then leave. Because once they know you're staying, that's when things start to get worse.

[Moccona]

Go. Stay 2 weeks, enjoy your time as millions have, enjoy the wonderful hospitality, easy and efficient transportation, the great food, and the wonderful people. Then leave. Because once they know you're staying, that's when things start to get worse.

So true. Two weeks is perfect.. but more than that, and yeah..

Here is an example:

Have you ever heard foreigners saying they feel like superstars when they go to Japan? Everywhere they go, people are looking at them. One word of Japanese and immediately they are deemed 'fluent' and 'amazing'.

Believe me, you get sick of it.

Funny though, you said after reading the articles you feel as if you 'shouldn't go'. For me they actually inspire me to go back again! It is sites like Big Daikon which discourage me if anything.

Anyway, you said you want to visit your friend, right? Well that makes things even better! If he/she has some free time and is willing to help you out/show you around, well, you can't really ask for much more!

[Pierrot le Fou]

Big Daikon is splendid for residents. For visitors, it must be frustrating. We need a place to rant sometimes.

[Invictus]

Big Daikon is perpetually in "full rant" mode. I find that spending too much time there tends to infect one with the spirit thereof. I tend to avoid it, as it provides as negatively warped an image of Japan as most other sources have a positively warped image.

[Katiekoneko]

Ya
the editorials made me want to go more

[Puchu]

you should go. if it's just a visit, you won't get all bloaty-headed and stuff from all the compliments, and you won't see "the darkside" so much.

like shougakusei running after you, screaming "gaikokujiiiiii~n!" when you're biking to school. Or random people asking your japanese friends if you speak japanese, for then to start questionning you about whether you understand anything at school at all. (...I don't think there's much that's more confusing for japanese than to see a gaijin in a school uniform... *snicker*)

don't get me wrong, I love life in Japan so far (going on the 6th month), but I just can't get myself to like the shougakusei.... and being screamed "gaikokujin" at isn't all of it. it's like.... the biggest courage test among japanese (mostly male) shougakusei around here to say something to me. "haro" makes me laugh. "ohayou gozaimasu", or any other greeting makes me very happy. "gaikokujin, amerikajin" (I'm not american っつの！） or random gibberish that's supposed to be a parody of English or something like that just makes me sad/angry/on the verge of crying. but then again, I've never liked kids. and I AM one....

[Kustom]

Ranting about the country you're in is a favourite sport among residents... I used to rant so much about America and Japan when I was there... Now I just miss too many things to complain.

One funny time was when I hung out with foreigners in France and discovered they had so much to rant about on my own country... Ranting is part of the experience of living abroad, it relieves the tension.

[Scott]

Japan is overhyped. Sure, some of these things happen, but not all of them will happen to you while you're there, and not all of them will happen with the frequency/power that they happened to the people who wrote about them - after all, the reason that people write about these things is that they were out of the ordinary to begin with.

Just go, have a good vacation, don't stress. Don't go looking for stereotypes - just enjoy yourself.

[sakana]

I read the articles and I'm still really excited to go. I'm going with my school in the summer of 2007 and by then my Japanese will be a lot better. I'll be going into my senior year of highschool and some of my best friends are comming too. I know some people older than me who already went and they loved it. You should go, I can't wait until I do.

[Collapse]

Fuck, every country is different from your country, so why the heck people get paranoid over cultural and societal differences when they visit another country?

As for me, I'd like to go to Japan, as a tourist for yes, 2 weeks. Hell, I want to have a good time in there. As for staying? No, absolutely not. Nevermind the Kanchos or the random youth violence or the high prices or the deception or whatever, I don't think that I'd be comfortable there as a resident, given their attitudes to some foreigners.