Why You'll HATE Living In JAPAN Part 2

Hello everyone! Many of you said you wanted to see more cultural aspect of why living in Japan might be difficult! So today, we talk about some cultural aspect that many people hate when they live in Japan!

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[MrsEats]

Sorry everyone! I had to re-upload because of audio problems! Anyway, what do you think of these cultural issues? Do you think they will stop you from living in Japan? Let me know!!

[kenhelmick]

Some of this rang so true in my experience. I was a naval reservist who spent my annual training in Japan. The shipyard was operated by the US Navy and worked mostly, but not totally, on US ships. The workers in the shops were all Japanese (with a few small exceptions for very specialized jobs). I was extremely impressed how well Japanese teams worked together, more effectively than Americans. This might sound like a good thing, but it sometimes it backfired. For instance, there were some smaller jobs where one worker in a US shipyard would have just walked in and completed the job in the time the Japanese team was organizing. I also ran into a couple of instances where the shop supervisor was totally wrong in how the job should be done -- and nobody dared contradict him. They would have very efficiently done as told, even though the result would be wrong. In those cases, I had to step in and simply state that was not how things would be done. This was considered acceptable since I was representing the Navy and was considered to be the "customer". The funny thing was that some of the engineers later told me that they liked having Americans in the planning meetings because we had no problem with questioning authority. They believed that teams made up of American and Japanese workers was better than either one alone because their strengths complemented each other.

[explorermike]

The most difficult part of living in Japan for me was loneliness. Despite living in a city with millions of people and interacting with people through work or school, one can feel very disconnected from other people. I came to learn that this is a problem with a LOT of Japanese people too. Japan is a lonely place to live for both Japanese and foreign people.

[THiNK]

When I lived in Japan honne and tatemae really started to weigh heavily on me. I've read a couple of peoples comments and I agree that every country has something like this to a degree. However, in Japan, it's taken to the extreme. Someone could say they like your shirt and mean the exact opposite. Tatemae is also quite literally 95%+ of what you'll hear most of the time. While it does create harmony it also makes everyone the same and it felt like I couldn't get to know anyone. For both me and my partner, we came to the conclusion that it's better to visit Japan than to live there.

[OrientalPearl]

I’ve been living in Japan for years and am now working in a Japanese office. Still loving it. 10 years abroad.

[yasmeeneleanor]

that commercial with the smiling awkwardly in bad situations is me every day jjdkdjdh

[ThatBrunetteYouTube]

To be served leftover food at a friend's house is a great honor. It means that I am no longer considered a guest.

[Andrew-kops]

I guess something I dislike in any culture is this submission to authority and especially, never questioning it. Your example of people not taking vacation because it impacts their coworkers is crazy because it's management who doesn't bother to staff correctly. It just keeps workers hating each other and not the people in charge. I like many aspects of Japanese culture but I don't think I could accept the intense work culture. I can't even accept it in my home country lol. Love your down to earth description of Japan. No sugarcoating here

[capitalb]

European employer: "So that everyone on the team can take their holiday, I need to employ 11 people."
Japanese employer: "They will guilt trip each other into not taking holiday, so only I need to employ 10 people. They will blame each other, not me."

The culture of not taking time off because it will put extra work on co workers is one of the greatest tricks of the economic masters. The owners of the business benefit when people don't take their holiday. They don't need to employ the right number of people to do the work. Classic exploitation mixed with some cultural Stockholm effect. People look at the phenomenon purely as a cultural thing and not through an economic lens.

[thegamingprojects]

I think a home face and a public face is something that happens in a lot of places. I live in the United States and I behave differently between home and in public.

[SuperAndrey]

Oh, if you want to experience a true straightforward culture, try Russian or, I guess, any other Slavic culture. Straightforwardness almost at the level which is considered rude in western countries. It's not like you'll get insulted by strangers, but if they dislike you, you'll see it right away 😅

[steffimaier]

The "honne and tatemae" thing is especially difficult to people with Autism. We already struggle reading bodylanguage and reading between the lines.

[seanyouknowwho]

Americans like to know "why" something is done a certain way. Answers like "It's just that way" make it hard to understand. We don't necessarily judge by asking why, but it helps us understand when something is more appropriate than other situations. However locals can not always understand why something is part of their culture making it difficult to explain to foreigners.

I have this problem with my wife and her family and learning Mexican culture.

[bariscelik]

I live in Japan also. And I want to add another culture aspect to deal with it is that hierarchy. NO mather how much knowldge you have, or language or something what matter is your age. Unfortunaly they only care about your age not knowldge base. Your senpai always who knows better. Especcially who is working in Japan will have a hard time about this.

[DJSikosis]

That's interesting because when I was in Tokyo and it was raining, I was waiting at a crossing and a salaryman came over and put his umbrella over me and walked me across the crossway. I was blown away by that. Nothing but respect for Japanese people.

[Jordan-inJapan]

Great video! As for the point about expectations on women in society here, this is one area where I’ve really noticed change in the 20 years I’ve been here. For example, the ‘female staff serve tea to visitors’ idea was very much alive back when I first started working on public schools. About 10 years back it suddenly shifted though, and now the official policy is ‘the nearest staff member to the tea station does it’. Just a small thing, but I thing it’s an example of how cultural change is happening.

[ayumis]

As a Japan-born Japanese, I agree with you for so many parts you mentioned. What exhausts me the most in Japan is that so many people build human relationship only in a vertical form. meaning that if you regard someone higher position, you go with tons of politeness. sometimes too much. But if you regard someone lower, you would act as rude as you want to be.
And, young/female/non-national (in such case, especially non-white) / disabled / non-heterosexual people are the ones who are considered ‘low’. customers are ‘high’. This is why you feel amazing as a visitor. If you decided to be a part of the society and get a job, things are completely different.
This applies even between students or between couples. seniors are superior, males are superior. (look at the politicians - all are rich, second or third generation, older, male who’s running the government)
In Japan, all kinds of discrimination is built in into the the society, or even small communication. And people are so adjusting themselves to this custom, that many of them become violent (verbally, on the Internet) towards ‘lower’ class citizens who opposes to the custom and making a change.

Japan won’t change. It’s getting even backwards. I think this opinion of mine will be attacked as well.

[ThaAngelMary]

Besides learning the Japanese cultural aspects that people need to adhere to, the most important question is:
Did Mr. Eats get his snack that was promised? 🤔

[alccode_]

Living in Japan now for 3.5 years. Can't even begin to talk about the troubles you will experience as a foreigner. This video is just the tip of the iceberg. One thing I really want to emphasize is that Japanese people have a great way of NORMALIZING these things, like honne tatemae. But if you think about it, having a diametrically opposed inner world and outer world (thoughts, actions) is actually a personality problem and even mental disease. People who are really nice on the outside but secretly scheming and plotting, or saying things behind your back (happens in japan), doing bad things indirectly for you behind your back (happens in japan, especially at work!!), are called many things in the west, including "two-faced", "hypocrite", and even psychopath or sociopath. But in Japan... "this is Japanese culture... honne tatemae". Cultural relativism can only go so far. In the end we are all humans and have the SAME basic human emotions and communication needs, as many studies show regarding consistency of emotions and expressions across cultures. We need to stop normalizing these pathological aspects of Japanese mentality under the guise of "culture".

[potatokn]

Just want to point out that the Honne and Tatemae also varied depends on the region.
I have been to both Tokyo and Osaka and I was surprised that Osaka people are much likely to being more direct, frank and use Honne. (this is my experience from Job Hunting and Working).
Eventually I settled in Osaka and It is indeed more comfortable to talk with people here.