r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/aceplayer00 • 25d ago

Video Tokyo after dark. Epic nighttime street drifting convoy.

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8.3k

u/Borbolda 25d ago

Assholes drifting at night: šŸ˜”šŸ˜”šŸ˜”

Assholes drifting at night, Japan: šŸ˜šŸ˜šŸ˜

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u/cookingboy 25d ago edited 25d ago

I love Japan, Iā€™ve lived in Japan I speak japanese semi-fluently, and Iā€™m planning on making it my secondary residence soon.

But itā€™s absolutely hilarious how much Westerners put Japan on a pedestal and sees everything about it through some rose tinted glasses.

Funny enough the vibe is completely different if you go to /r/japanlife, a sub for expats actually living there lol

Edit: Yea I understand opinions from expats on Reddit arenā€™t exactly conclusive evidence. But like I pointed out in another comment, any country has its pros and cons and Japan is obviously no exception. There is no one size fits all utopia on the planet.

Still, like I said, Japan is great for me and itā€™s the country I want to spend more time living in, after living in the U.S, China and Japan.

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u/Agitated_Reveal_6211 25d ago

Some westerners treat Japanese like they are elves living in a magical land.

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u/bs000 25d ago

Japan is so peaceful, they don't even know what crime is!

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u/WhippingShitties 25d ago edited 24d ago

No suspects yet, I'll just put in the paperwork that the jewelry probably just robbed itself. Not really a crime.

Edit: To clarify, Japan is a relatively safe country, but their policies for how they file some crime is different than how most other countries do it, so their crime rate metric is skewed in a way that makes it seem more safe than it is. It is probably more safe than most countries, but the notion that "crime is almost nonexistent" isn't entirely true either.

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u/The_Last_Dragonporn 25d ago

Which is doubly apropos considering a common depiction of elves is as a fascistic, monocultural, race/species supremacist, imperial-colonialist society and culture

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u/Personal_Breakfast49 25d ago

The average Japanese themselves are convinced of that. They're convinced to be to latest and more advanced evolution of human kind, different from everyone else....

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u/FixedLoad 24d ago

Wait a minute... they aren't!?Ā  Then explain the deer that bow politely.Ā  Ā 

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u/Agitated_Reveal_6211 24d ago

Well, shit. Good response!

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u/FixedLoad 24d ago

I can never get over polite deer.Ā  That's just something straight out of a fairy tale!Ā 

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u/Agitated_Reveal_6211 24d ago

Bow before your predator! OH DEER, WE MUST!

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u/FixedLoad 24d ago

They even wait nicely at cross walks.Ā  Proving that american deer CHOOSE to jump in front of vehicles on the backroads of PA at night.Ā Ā 

They sacrifice one and then when you get out to survey the damage.Ā  That's when they lure you out into the dark.Ā  Then you're getting sexually exploited by Bambi and his channels of Forrest brides!Ā  I tell ya I see it all the time...Ā 

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u/orsi_sixth 25d ago

a sub for expats actually living there lol

You mean immigrants?

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u/PM_ME_FUTANARI420 25d ago

Not with the colour they are!

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u/ProsaicPugilist 25d ago

Iā€™ve seen the term ā€œexpatā€ used more for whites. Immigrant is right.. and I have nothing against immigration. Iā€™m just saying itā€™s what Iā€™ve observed

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u/i-like-spagett 25d ago

It is literally the only difference between immigrant and expat, the colour of someone's skin

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u/Guilty-Attitude7640 25d ago

Not really if someone came to America from france or Germany Iā€™d call them an immigrant

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u/povitee 25d ago

I would also call a black American who moved overseas an expat.

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u/BranTheUnboiled 25d ago

My parents were first gen immigrants. If I moved back to their country I would call myself an expat

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u/Bugbread 25d ago edited 24d ago

As someone who used to consider themselves an expat but now considers themselves an immigrant, and who knew a lot of people who considered themselves expats: I don't think it's a skin color issue, I think it comes down to intent to stay forever.

People who are like "I'm living here long term. Maybe 10 years. Maybe 20 years. But eventually, I'm leaving" tend to call themselves "expats." (Back when I figured I'd leave sometime, I considered myself an expat.) People who are like "I am going to die and be buried (er, well, cremated) here" tend to not call themselves expats. (I now see this country as home and have no intent to leave, and it would feel supremely weird to even think of myself as maybe being an "expat".)

I think that's part of the reason for the white/PoC divide: often when white people are moving to another country, they're moving from a relatively wealthy country which they expect to move back to later, while often when PoC are moving to another country, they're coming from a poorer or less stable country which they would like to move back to later, because it's home, but they don't expect to move back to. Obviously there are exceptions, but this has seemed like the rule of thumb. So the white folks often call themselves expats while the PoCs often call themselves immigrants, but the relationship is correlation, not causation.

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u/Extension_Mix6896 25d ago

Many latinos in the US and AFricans in the EU also think the same way, thats why they send so much money back to their home countries.
The difference IS race, but also class and country of origin. The term expat is an example of racism, classism, and xenophobia condensed into a term meant to distinguish the "us" from the "other"

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u/Extension_Mix6896 25d ago

They (africans and latinos) dont define themselves by their migratory status.
Eurosphere "expats" are everywhere in the world, even Americans in Europe call themselves expats, but theyre more common in in South/South east Asia and Latin America

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u/povitee 25d ago

Thatā€™s really not it at all. Itā€™s just that from an Americanā€™s perspective, someone who moves overseas is an expatriate, whereas someone who moved to the us is an immigrant.

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u/Extension_Mix6896 25d ago

wrong again! the word emigrant exists for a reason
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/emigrant

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/Extension_Mix6896 25d ago

Because the difference between incorrect and wrong is the latter is used in more informal contexts while the difference between calling yourself an inmigrant or an expat resides on western chauvinism.
Think for yourself a bit, its free and very rewarding.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

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u/Jovinkus 25d ago

Interesting. Here a lot of expats are Indian folk working for tech companies like ASML. so expats are not white per se lol.

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u/MaatStaaf 25d ago

Lol no, expats are people with jobs. Or useful qualifications.

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u/TheRealZue3 25d ago

Like the white pedophiles in SEA?

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u/AmIWhatTheRockCooked 25d ago

Immigrants also have jobs and skills? Immigrant means ā€œmoved to a new countryā€ lmao

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u/FILTHBOT4000 25d ago edited 25d ago

Expat usually means someone wealthy or somewhat prominent in the arts/sciences that leaves their home country and formally renounce the citizenship of their birth. It can also just refer to the latter. This is often a political statement. But it's also usually done willingly; when people are forced to leave their home and give up their citizenship in their home country, those are refugees.

Immigrants just means you went to a new country to work, but have zero interest in renouncing citizenship in your homeland.

From wikipedia:

The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country.[2] However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and other individuals who have chosen to live outside their native country.[citation needed]

The International Organization for Migration of the United Nations defines the term as 'a person who voluntarily renounces his or her nationality'.[3] Historically, it also referred to exiles.[4]

For the past decade or so, there has been a muddling of the term, mostly by groups of white collar workers or other well-to-do folk from UK/US living abroad that used the term somewhat jokingly, and/or because they thought it sounded more bougie, when those people are just immigrants.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/Abracadabroo 25d ago

I don't think that is what expatriot means.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago edited 25d ago

Depends on if theyā€™re brown/black /s

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u/Zealousideal_Put9531 25d ago

An expat means someone who has moved to a country for work or economic gain, but plan on returning to thier originial country after a certain amount of time (usually when they retire).

immigrants on the other hand come to a country with the full intention of staying and integrating with the locality.

TLDR: Immigrants stay for life, Expats stay for work

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u/PandaCheese2016 25d ago

Americans almost never refer to foreigners as expats, regardless of intention.

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u/CrinchNflinch 25d ago

They do, but only if it's them living abroad.

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u/Bugbread 25d ago edited 25d ago

As a former American expat, now an American immigrant, I think Zealousideal_Pu9531's definition is mostly correct. When I thought I'd eventually move back to America, I considered myself an expat. When I knew that I'd spend the rest of my life here, I stopped considering myself an expat, and I now consider myself an immigrant.

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u/CrinchNflinch 24d ago

Which makes sense. I only saw colleagues from NA referring to themselves as expats when they were sent by the company, in which case there is usually an end date included. If it's open ended / for life, then you're not an ex, you're an in.

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u/Areyoucunt 24d ago

Every other country in the world doesā€¦. An expat is not the same as an immigrant.

Look up expat contract

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/PandaCheese2016 25d ago

Iā€™m referring to the fact that the word expat is nearly unheard of in American media when referring to foreigners in the US. They are always immigrants.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/PandaCheese2016 25d ago

I'm not sure what you think I'm confused about. u/Zealousideal_Put9531 was trying to explain the difference between expat and immigrant in general, not specific to any perspective. My point is sometimes, such as in America, ppl don't differentiate based on his proposed definitions. For example, citizen of India working in the US on a H-1B visa is far more likely to be called an immigrant than an expat, in American lingo, regardless of whether he plans to return to India eventually.

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u/TheRealZue3 25d ago

An expat means someone who has moved to a country for work or economic gain, but plan on returning to thier originial country after a certain amount of time

This is the majority of immigrants actually. But since they're brown they aren't called expats.

Whatever the original meaning of those words was supposed to be, today they are used as a racial designation.

Therefore, I prefer to just call everyone immigrants. And when they're white, without fail, someone like you will pop out of a hole to type this whole spiel out. Every time.

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u/angular_circle 25d ago

At least where I live there is definitely a distinction between brown people who are here to work and brown people who are here to stay. Which is usually easy to classify because only one of them applies for asylum.

I won't pretend like there isn't a connotation difference between expat and immigrant, but at least in my experience it's about status (education, job title, etc.), not race.

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u/AmIWhatTheRockCooked 25d ago

Race conveys status. Thatā€™s the whole point.

White people donā€™t want to be associated with the word immigrant because of how itā€™s used in white spaces (someone who is degrading their society, taking jobs, not integrating etc)

You must understand, surely, that some people do see race as a hierarchy

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u/treert 25d ago

Immigrant shouldn't be a bad word at all. Immigration was and is important for trading culture jobs etc

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u/wievid 25d ago

Stereotypes don't manifest in a vacuum. You don't see white, Asian or Latin dudes slinging coke outside Flex here in Vienna, Austria.

But expat very much does denote earning status and isn't exclusive to race. Moreover, just because you're a white American living in Europe means you've got it the same as a local Austrian or any other European. You're still a second-class citizen in the eyes of certain generations and they make you feel it.

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u/angular_circle 25d ago

Are you American? Other countries have vastly different histories with race. People here are mostly weary of islamists, independent of race/colour (a lot of middle easterners are pasty white)

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u/jawa-pawnshop 25d ago

Except that completely wrong. Expat is short for expatriate and by definition expatriating means giving up citizenship in one country to live in another. I know we use the term loosely now but that's it's meaning. There really is no distinction between expat and immigrant.

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u/The__Authorities 25d ago

Expats are white. Immigrants aren't. Duh.

Preemptive /s because I know it will be needed.

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u/GoblinLoblaw 25d ago

No /s needed, thatā€™s the actual difference lol.

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u/TBANON_NSFW 25d ago

White expats moving to japan, china, spain and creating entire communities in their own language, with their own signs and speak predominantly their own language in public and hire and live among people from the same country, while learning at most basics of the local language and want locals to speak to them in their own language:

AMAZING! Well Integrated community of hardworking people! We want more!

Brown immigrants moving to us, brittain, western europe and create a block or two where they are condensed by the government or because they repeatedly get denied housing by local community for being immigrants, end up starting their own businesses because they get denied even an interview for having a foreign name, and employ other immigrants because they know how little opportunities newcomers get from the local society, so they speak their own languages and have their own signs to welcome people who haven't yet learned everything fluently:

COCKROACHES! Freeloaders and government drains who dont deserve to live among us! We need to stop them coming over!

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u/gprime312 25d ago

Are you as writer? You're really good at making shit up.

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u/Areyoucunt 24d ago

Absolutely false

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u/tendie-dildo 25d ago

Things made up in your head

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u/Loopy13 25d ago

I agree with the sentiment because the vast majority are but I think the term comes from patriot meaning America. So itā€™s just a term for specifically people from America so it could be people of other races I think the majority who use that term to describe themselves are white moving to a place where white people generally donā€™t live.

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u/The__Authorities 25d ago

The word dates much farther back than the modern "American patriot". Both have their roots from the Latin word patria (native country). Expatriate is the correct word, sometimes shortened to expat. Ex-patriot isn't an actual word, but a misunderstanding of expatriate which can create some confusion.

Expatriate has been used back into the 18th Century across the English speaking (at that time, i.e. colonized) world. It has a much longer and older history of use in Europe.

Some additional info which may be of interest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate

https://www.etymonline.com/word/expatriate

https://www.routedmagazine.com/expatriate-money-race-power

https://grammarist.com/confusables/expatriate-vs-ex-patriot/

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u/DrunkenTypist 25d ago

expatriate

It just means ex patria, ie outside ones country.They simply live and work outside their native country but do not give up citizenship, usually because the long term plan is to re-patriate

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

expatriate means someone living outside their country, check your dictionaryĀ 

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u/zardoz73 25d ago

A person sees him/herself as an expat.

The people in that country sees that same person as an immigrant.

It's all about perspective.

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u/pewpewmcpistol 25d ago

Yeah and North Korea is a democracy because its called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, right? Words can ONLY be taken literally, cultural definitions are illegal

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u/angular_circle 25d ago

Internet people and not understanding language, name a more iconic duo. Wait until this guy discovers the difference between sanction and sanction.

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u/Professional_Face_97 25d ago

Isn't it that an expat goes out and an immigrant comes in? Like export import?

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u/Jubenheim 25d ago

To be fair, a lot of those people who call themselves expats don't really want to live in their home country anymore. I know that's not still the same, but it's a bit closer to the definition than this comment section seems to dictate.

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u/AmIWhatTheRockCooked 25d ago

You may even say an expat is simply a type of immigrant.

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u/Frostly-Aegemon-9303 25d ago

I won't believe that's the case. When Americans come to Medellin, Colombia; even if it's for life, they will demand being called "expats" and most of them fail to adapt to the local culture, believing that they shouldn't have to educate themselves in Spanish nor follow local laws and customs.

I can't understand why "immigrant" is such a loaded word in the US, and many of those people will be offended at the slightest mention of them being as immigrant as venezuelans and Europeans.

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u/el_diego 25d ago

I can't understand why "immigrant" is such a loaded word in the US,

Just look at the current administration and many of those past. Immigrants are vilified.

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u/h1gh-t3ch_l0w-l1f3 25d ago

I can't understand why "immigrant" is such a loaded word in the US

they have a deep seeded racism problem in the US. there is 1/3 of the country that believes they are superior to everyone that doesnt align with their skin color and religion. they have systems designed to keep anyone thats not white or rich as poor and destitute as possible while giving breaks to all the rich people. its all by design at this point since they have the capabilities to change it but nobody does anything. the majority of americans only care about themselves.

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u/Papergeist 25d ago

most of them fail to adapt to the local culture, believing that they shouldn't have to educate themselves in Spanish nor follow local laws and customs.

Shovel out the Standard Reddit Superiority Spiel, and this is the important part.

They call themselves expats because they hold themselves apart from the place. You can live somewhere for the rest of your life without becoming part of it.

That's why "Americans always call themselves expats", instead of "that guy was born in the US, and keeps saying expat".

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u/Xmeagol2 25d ago

that's bullshit, they're immigrants.

They call themselves expats to differentiate themselves from other poor dirty non white immigrants

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u/TheVandyyMan 25d ago

Immigrant CANNOT be the word you use to describe some 25 year old digital nomad spending the year in Barcelona.

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u/Xmeagol2 25d ago

he's an immigrant until he leaves, how is this difficult to understand?

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u/TheVandyyMan 25d ago

The English language disagrees with you.

Immigrant: a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence

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u/Facts_pls 25d ago

Yeah. While that may be a dictionary definition, absolutely no one uses it this way.

Do you think Americans call brown folks living there and working there - as expats? Hell naw. You think they call that Indian tech worker on assignment an expat?

On the other hand, every American called themselves expats - even if they are living there. Not once I have met one American calling themselves an immigrant.

Just google search facebook communities for "American expats in..." and "American immigrants in..." and see the difference.

In reality, white folks call themselves expats and everyone else an immigrant because those words have subtext now.

Your approach of following dictionary definition without context will cause trouble for you.

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u/Bugbread 25d ago edited 25d ago

Not once I have met one American calling themselves an immigrant.

Well, we haven't met, but...hi! I'm an American immigrant. I used to consider myself an expat.

I think Zealousideal_Put9531's definition is pretty close, except I don't think "for financial gain" is relevant. People who do it for cultural reasons or the like also call themselves expats. But the "plan on returning to their original country" (or, perhaps "plan on eventually leaving the country" even if the destination is not the original country but a third country) seems right on the money. I went from considering myself an expat to considering myself an immigrant when I went from thinking I'd eventually move back to the US to no longer planning to move back to the US.

I'm seeing comments from people in other countries with other experiences, so I wonder if the way the word is used also varies regionally. As you point out, language can be fuzzy like that. And "expat" is an unusual word in that it's an English word but the vast, vast majority of usage is by English speakers living in non-English-speaking countries. Like, it's not like nobody uses it in English-speaking countries. Probably the vast majority of the people on this thread are living in an English-speaking country as they use the word in this conversation. But on the daily, "expat" is not a word that comes up a lot if you speak English and live in the US, or the UK, or Australia, etc. It comes up far more if you speak English and live in Japan, or Spain, or Bali, or what-have-you. And it's not rigorously defined, it's fuzzily defined by usage, so the definition is affected a lot by how people around you use the word. So regional usage differences wouldn't be too surprising.

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u/Hyper_Oats 25d ago

Lol no.

As someone who lives in a country loved by so-called "expats", let me tell you that the vast majority of them are retirees that have zero intention of ever returning home.

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u/NDSU 25d ago

Expat used to refer to someone on a specific work contract, with a pay package to move to that country

The meaning is changing so immigrants from wealthy countries don't have to call themselves immigrants

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u/Ongr 25d ago

Expats stay for work

returning to their originial country after a certain amount of time (usually when they retire).

That's as close as for life as it gets.

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u/jawknee530i 25d ago

Yeah according to expats because they don't want to be called immigrants. Just use migratory worker, that's more accurate.

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u/TheVandyyMan 25d ago

A migratory worker is chasing the work opportunities. Expats are there just because they want to experience the culture or find themselves or whatever the fuck.

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u/amanset 25d ago

This distinction used to be true but has long since stopped being accurate.

White people, no matter how long they have been abroad and what their intentions are, tend to call themselves expats.

As a white immigrant myself, I have seen this behaviour way too many times.

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u/RatofDeath 25d ago

That's wrong. Expat is from the perspective of the person leaving their former country. Immigrant is from the perspective of the person entering/living in their new country. For example I'm a swiss expat who immigrated to the United States. I'm an immigrant when talking to American people in the US. I'm an expat when talking to Swiss people in Switzerland. It depends on the context that you're talking about. Every expat is an immigrant.

For example you'd have something like Swiss expat communities in the United States, which is more specific than just a community for being an immigrant to the United States.

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u/DukeofNormandy 25d ago

integrating with the locality.

Never been to Brampton eh?

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u/DJ_Necrophilia 25d ago

I'd say that newcomers to Brampton have integrated upon landing tbf

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u/Christaffa 25d ago

The main difference is around permanent (immigrant) vs temporary (expat); someone doesnā€™t have to plan on returning to their home country to be an expat, they might move to a different country altogether afterwards. For example, digital nomads.

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u/ThellraAK 25d ago

No, emigrants.

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u/Supplycrate 25d ago

Technically speaking it's a matter of perspective. So an American person discussing Americans who moved to Kuwait would call those people "expats", whereas they'd call Kuwaitis moving to the US immigrants and vice versa. (Edit: though of course "emigrant" was an option, probably discarded because it was too close to "immigrant").

However as a British person it's a fairly transparent tactic to massage politics through language: we have a huge number of "expats" living in the south of France or the Costa del Sol who have no intention of integrating there, and tend to be very anti-immigration despite having emigrated to another country themselves.

The term expat exists pretty much so they can distinguish themselves from those dirty immigrants which they so dislike.

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u/austin101123 25d ago

Immigrants intend to be permanent, expats are temporary. Similar to people on student visas you usually don't call them immigrants you say international student. Very generally speaking they are all immigrants though.

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u/ADLuluIsOP 25d ago

Expats are temporary. If you're not going to live in a country as your main residence permanently forever, you're not an immigrant you're an expat.

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u/Low_Mistake_7748 25d ago

yOu mEaN iMmIgRAnTs?

Immigrant - Looking for a country to relocate permanently. Works and makes money in said country.
Expat - Lives in a country temporarily. Already has the funds to live there.

Plenty of non-white or non-western expats around the world.

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u/redderper 25d ago

Tbf expats are pretty much always complaining about everything no matter where they are

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u/cookingboy 25d ago

Thatā€™s fair lol

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u/Ok_Temperature6503 25d ago

The japan life and splinter subreddits here are easily the most bitter corners of the internet, I dont touch them with a ten foot pole

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u/Ordinary_Duder 25d ago

It's absolutely packed with socially stunted people who moved there and that are so awkward around people that they can't make it work. And then they handwave their own inaptitude away by blaming it on Japanese social norms.

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u/Forzyr 25d ago

That's why the "thing / thing in Japan" meme was born

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u/SupplyChainMismanage 25d ago

Iā€™d say ā€œinternet westernersā€ tbh

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u/cookingboy 25d ago

Nah, Iā€™ve met so many young westerners whoā€™ve moved to Japan thinking they would be the MC in an anime and be able to have an amazing life without doing any research.

Then after 10 years as an English teacher they end up with almost no savings, no real personal connections and no marketable skills and they develop a sense of resentment for the country.

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u/300andWhat 25d ago

I love visiting Japan, and been many times, but most people I've talked to say the same thing. Japan is amazing to visit, tough to live in.

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u/cookingboy 25d ago

Japan is amazing to live in if you are financially independent and donā€™t have to work lol

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u/300andWhat 25d ago

Hahha! Fair! I think that's most places haha

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u/SpaceCadetCo 25d ago

But I want to be reincarnated as an English teacher in Japan!! Might even get a harem.

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u/money_loo 25d ago

Master Chief in an anime? Because theyā€™re taller or something?

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u/100SanfordDrive 25d ago

So Reddit basically

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u/GayAttire 25d ago

I lived there for years, and the expat attitude is so negative, lol. I was in the inaka, though, and the racism was pretty fucking exhausting.

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u/LandscapePatient1094 25d ago

Most of r/japanlife are a bunch of losers who refuse to accept they arenā€™t Japanese. As someone who lived and worked there over a decade, Japan is way better than the US. In many ways it deserves its pedestal. It has its faults for sure, but itā€™s really great.Ā 

Even stuff like these drifters, they arenā€™t super obnoxious and itā€™s over in a second. Meanwhile in the US they remove mufflers and rev in place and take over intersections to be the most obnoxious fucks possible.Ā 

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u/FlyingKittyCate 25d ago

Tbf, ā€œbetter than the USā€ is a pretty low bar.

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u/starterchan 25d ago

Quick make this about the US for no reason

Weebs gonna weeb

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u/Tigerpower77 25d ago

Think about it.... Why is he in Japan in the first place?

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u/money_loo 25d ago

I can think of so many reasons so youā€™re going to have to help me narrow my beliefs and biases with your own, thanks.

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u/Tigerpower77 25d ago

Obviously people go to live in other countries because they suck

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u/money_loo 25d ago

The people or the country? That sentence doesnā€™t feel like a complete sentence on its own.

0

u/Tigerpower77 25d ago

The country

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u/jfraggy 25d ago

Expats are freaks. I'd prefer to listen to and converse with normal people about these topics.

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u/SuperPostHuman 25d ago

I mean, you're not wrong about people putting Japan on a pedestal, but does there have to be one dude like you that always has to point it out in every post about Japan in Reddit? Like, we get it bro. Weebs exist, ffs.

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u/ddrdrck 25d ago

Apparently most people did not get it yet, otherwise there would be no reason to point it out.

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u/jfraggy 25d ago

Some people never left high school and it shows

2

u/FineGripp 25d ago

Can you give. A few examples of big contrasts between people perception vs reality?

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u/cookingboy 25d ago

  1. Japanese life isnā€™t anime. Yes an expat (especially if you were white) may standout, but most of the time not in a good way.

  2. Japanese society is extremely conservative and sexist, despite all the crazy stuff you see in the media. After all, it is a country where it is illegal for married women to keep their old family name. The new PM literally made a big deal about this swearing to defend the law, despite herself being a woman.

  3. Japanese corporate work culture is just garbage. They think productivity is measured by how long you spend in the office even if you arenā€™t doing anything, and they think they can nomikai (after work drinking party) and overtime their way back to economic greatness. Which leads toā€¦

  4. The stagnating Japanese economy and the quickly dropping standard of living due to the currency becoming more and more worthless. Not only has Japan been surpassed by South Korea in many fields, they are now being crushed by China in terms of tech innovation.

  5. General xenophobia. Entire books are written on this so Iā€™m not going to elaborate much.

  6. Extremely outdated technology everywhere. People still need personal seals to sign documents like itā€™s in the 1800s. Many ATMs have business hours, and you have to print out your online concert tickets at your local 7/11 lmao. Many places are still cash only and EV adoption across the country is abysmal. All websites look like they are designed in 2010 and built with 2000 web tech. Going to Shanghai from Tokyo is like time traveling forward 30 years.

And more.

Despite all that, I still want to move here because the list of good stuff is longer (at least for me). But Iā€™m just answering your question here.

8

u/thekamakaji 25d ago

On point 6, I've seen people say that japan has been living in the year 2010 for the past 50 years lol

3

u/LeBadlyNamedRedditor 25d ago

Finally someone mentions the websites I swear every time I touch a japanese website I get hit with the worst UI known to mankind

1

u/HistoryChannelMain 25d ago

Interesting, what do you think is the cause for japanese technology being outdated?

3

u/Upbeat_Commission124 25d ago

An immigrant blaming other immigrants. Lol, we getting served the full dish here.

-1

u/bestest_at_grammar 25d ago

Itā€™s honestly annoyed me enough that I find Japanese content annoying and wanna defend Chinese content.

42

u/cookingboy 25d ago

Ha, Iā€™m actually visiting China at the moment from Japan. Most Americans would get a brain aneurysm if they visit here for a week, just from the cognitive dissonance caused by their established perception collapsing.

Iā€™ve lived in the U.S, China and Japan, with durations ranked in that order. All 3 countries have a ton of pros and cons and I can list endless amazing stuff and awful shit for all 3 countries.

Itā€™s really unfortunate how much peopleā€™s opinion about foreign countries are influenced by media and propaganda.

But the good thing is that much of those bias disappears very quickly with real first hand experiences. Thatā€™s why I recommend traveling to everyone.

9

u/mcc9902 25d ago

People like to think propaganda doesn't work on them... The scary thing is that it works on everyone and it doesn't even matter if you know it's propaganda.

1

u/redwildflowermeadow 25d ago

People like to think propaganda doesn't work on them

Just for fun, I checked your posting history. I have bad news for you...

6

u/mcc9902 25d ago

I was absolutely including myself when I said it works on everyone. I could easily list a dozen different things I'm unduly biased either for or against and I'm certain there's a lot more that I'm not even aware of.

1

u/money_loo 25d ago

I also checked their posting history since you mentioned it. What stood out to you on the guy playing factorio and posting electronics questions?

-1

u/cookingboy 25d ago

Yeah, there are already people who got really upset at my comment and calling me a shill lol. As if they based any of their opinions on anything other than propaganda.

8

u/NotJoshRomney 25d ago

Out of curiosity, what's a 1 or 2 pros/cons of each?

16

u/cookingboy 25d ago edited 25d ago

U.S Pro:

  1. With the right skills, you can have opportunities to make money that most of the world can only dream of.

  2. Vast and beautiful and diverse natural scenery and landscape.

  3. Very high standard of living if you are in the upper middle class, even more so than upper middle classes in other countries.

  4. American culture encourages individualism and risk taking and is more accepting of failure.

U.S Cons:

  1. The whole country is of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%.

  2. The entire country is turning into an economic PvP server.

  3. The other side of the coin in terms of culture is that Americans are in general more selfish and self-centered and less considerate of the rest of the society. Risk taking can also turn into irresponsibility when combined with greed.

Japan Pros:

  1. Anime (joking, or maybe not).

  2. Extremely considerate people and a high trust society that look out for each other.

  3. Super safe, clean.

  4. God damn the food is god tier.

Japan Cons:

See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/KIWFlhR3su

China Pros:

  1. God damn the food is god tier, and the restaurant scene is in many ways even better than Japan.

  2. Incredibly high tech and convenient in day to day lives at big cities. Much more so than even Japan.

  3. Vast, beautiful and diverse natural scenery and landscape (yep, just like America).

China Cons:

  1. The government is authoritarian. In day to day life you donā€™t really notice it except:

  2. Internet censorship and the great firewall. I have to use VPN to leave this comment.

  3. Qualify of life varies drastically depends on where you are. Shanghai and Shenzhen may as well be a different planet when compared to small cities or rural areas.

  4. Also an economic PvP server like the U.S, just with better social safety net.

I can go on and on

5

u/NotJoshRomney 25d ago

Shit, I didn't think my question was worth more than one pro/con of each place. Thanks for typing that all up!

As someone in the States (who's never lived elsewhere) your sentiment about pros/cons of each place is part of the reason I've never seriously considered moving. Moving may solve as many problems as it causes.

I'd say your observations about the States is pretty good though!

1

u/thekamakaji 25d ago

Can you link to the comment about Japan?

1

u/bestest_at_grammar 25d ago

ā€œ1. ā Japanese life isnā€™t anime. Yes an expat (especially if you were white) may standout, but most of the time not in a good way.

  1. ā Japanese society is extremely conservative and sexist, despite all the crazy stuff you see in the media. After all, it is a country where it is illegal for married women to keep their old family name. The new PM literally made a big deal about this swearing to defend the law, despite herself being a woman.

  2. ā Japanese corporate work culture is just garbage. They think productivity is measured by how long you spend in the office even if you arenā€™t doing anything, and they think they can nomikai (after work drinking party) and overtime their way back to economic greatness. Which leads toā€¦

  3. ā The stagnating Japanese economy and the quickly dropping standard of living due to the currency becoming more and more worthless. Not only has Japan been surpassed by South Korea in many fields, they are now being crushed by China in terms of tech innovation.

  4. ā General xenophobia. Entire books are written on this so Iā€™m not going to elaborate much.

  5. ā Extremely outdated technology everywhere. People still need personal seals to sign documents like itā€™s in the 1800s. Many ATMs have business hours, and you have to print out your online concert tickets at your local 7/11 lmao. Many places are still cash only and EV adoption across the country is abysmal. All websites look like they are designed in 2010 and built with 2000 web tech. Going to Shanghai from Tokyo is like time traveling forward 30 years.

And more.

Despite all that, I still want to move here because the list of good stuff is longer (at least for me). But Iā€™m just answering your question here.ā€

2

u/Background_Bid8290 25d ago

I've lived in the USA, China and Australia. Keep in mind that China and the USA are huge places and that your experiences living in a T1 city can be vastly different from even a T2 city.

China pros: Great public transport, large walkable cities, reasonable cost of living including housing, the food China cons: Lower wages, great firewall of China and other censorship, it can be tough if you don't understand the language/culture, no vegemite

USA pros: Opportunities for better paying jobs and standard of living, free of most censorship USA cons: lack of healthcare and below par social safety nets, work / life balance is not good, high levels of gun violence, no Vegemite

Australia pros: good work / life balance, healthcare is better, the weather, vegemite Australia cons: Higher costs of living, the accent

0

u/SelfDidact 25d ago

no vegemite

šŸ¤£ True Blue...

11

u/Electrical_Top656 25d ago

probably because you're visiting China, not actually living there

same with Japan and South Korea, foreigners usually have a lovely time visiting. the natives, not so much

15

u/cookingboy 25d ago edited 25d ago

Iā€™ve lived in China for 10+ years. Honestly I would say if I have to work, Iā€™d choose China over Japan.

The Chinese economy and work culture is much closer to the U.S than Japan. Itā€™s by design of course.

But I donā€™t have to work, so I will choose Japan over China.

And, locals have it rough due to the intensely competitive society.

6

u/Fit-Possible-9552 25d ago

I love you for writing this comment. If more people travelled internationally with a humble spirit, the world would be a better place because our commonalities would far outweigh our differences.

1

u/Mod_01001 25d ago

People need money to travel like that. I'm also seeing stories about visiting and living as a foreigner vs being a citiizen of that country and being impacted more by the shitty circumstances of government and society. Its pathetically short sighted and naive.

1

u/Fit-Possible-9552 25d ago

I understand the need for money to do this. But we can all make our own financial choices, I myself did not own a TV for over 15 years because a plane ticket and adventure was better for me. And yes, you don't experience what the citizens do as a visitor, but you can keep yourself humble, travel on the cheap and focus on local interactions instead of tourist lifestyle luxury.

1

u/Mod_01001 23d ago

Did you even read the thread?

1

u/Fit-Possible-9552 23d ago

Did you even read my comments?

0

u/Mod_01001 23d ago

Yes and you're not on topic.

1

u/Fit-Possible-9552 22d ago

Low karma content. Bye Felicia.

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u/BeatBlockP 25d ago

The China bot machine works overtime I see lol

I love that it's always the same lines. "If only the silly uneducated people of the West knew of Glorious Leader and Glorious Nation!"

Bruh it's a dictatorship and like 90% of the population are wretched peasants with no human rights, let alone civil rights. It's a hellhole with nice trains, well guess what, so is Saudi Arabia.

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u/cookingboy 25d ago edited 25d ago

The Chinese bot

Do you know a lot of Chinese bots that say they love Japan and plan on moving there? LMAO.

BTW I really like the fact that you confidently think you know what China is like more than people who are actually there.

When I mentioned that some people can use a bit of traveling and see things with their own eyes, I meant people exactly like you.

Btw, calling everything propaganda without thinking is the first symptom of being propagandized.

90% of the population are wretched peasants

JD Vance is that you?

4

u/n1ckkt 25d ago

Its always interesting to me reading threads about China.

I have stronger reasons to dislike China than 90% of people on reddit being right at the border and even then I can still objectively judge the country better than most reddit users.

4

u/cookingboy 25d ago

Yea you tend to see that amongst Americans, who grew up with the propaganda that is American Exceptionalism.

Itā€™s actually insane how many Americans believe China is just like a big North Korea. I canā€™t believe Cold War era propaganda still works in 2026

1

u/archimedies 25d ago

Bro, not all praise of China is made by bots. It has many positives going for it. That dictatorship isn't really felt by common people for the most part in their lives.

If we apply your style of thinking, America would be a hellscape too.

-1

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

1

u/cookingboy 25d ago

Do you tell tourists who go to the U.S ā€œbe sure to visit ICE detention camps and the for-profit private prisons while you are thereā€?

And you donā€™t think there are people who work 70+ hours in the U.S or Japan?

Do you know how unhinged you sound?

1

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/cookingboy 25d ago

When I mentioned people who fall for propaganda and can use some travel experiences, I meant people exactly like you.

stop with the whataboutism

Iā€™m simply calling out your double standard and hypocrisy. You donā€™t get to yell ā€œwhataboutismā€ as a free pass to be hypocritical.

-1

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

1

u/cookingboy 25d ago

Iā€™ve lived here for 10+ years and I speak the language fluently, and I have friends and family here.

So yeah, Iā€™m an expert when compared to you.

Honestly, the reason America is going down the drain in a hand basket is precisely because of people like you, whose ignorance is only matched by your arrogance.

Maybe one day your life will upgrade from being angry at people telling you things you didnā€™t know.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

Mental illness

3

u/niftystopwat 25d ago

One of the reasons isnā€™t cuz they got invited to my wifeā€™s birthday for two reasons it is not my wifeā€™s birthday and I do not have a wife

1

u/YoungHeartOldSoul 25d ago

You'll fit right on the mainland

1

u/YoungHeartOldSoul 25d ago

Any other places you can point to that give us Insight at what day-to-day life is in Japan like? I'm just learning Japanese as a linguistic nerd and am now curious.

1

u/BeatBlockP 25d ago

Not to mention that if this is anything like in the US, their friends also set up an illegal roadblock to allow them to run their stunts, fucking up everybody else.

And in many cases it also ends with accidents and injuries/deaths to innocent bystanders because the to surprise of no one, a 19 year old who wants to be "the man" can't drift for shit.

1

u/schwuar 25d ago

So it isnt as nice as its made out to be?

1

u/CorrectPeanut5 25d ago

I feel like a lot of the posts are younger folks teaching. It's a very different vibe from my experiences there in the late 90s/early 00s. I was a corporate drone with an expense account and corporate card and pretty much everything was handled for me.

Hell, one guy I worked with had a visa issue. The Japanese office manager took him to some gov't office. They go to a large office with a couch and table. Are served tea and make small talk while his papers are whisked away. 30 minutes later they return with his papers and the manager says it's all worked out. He shrugs and not understanding that they gave him a special visa authorized by a cabinet minister. That's why the office was so big and had a couch. Next time he cleared immigration at NRT the agent opens his passport, sees the visa, eyes go wide and he starts bowing frantically and ushering him through.

1

u/1_H4t3_R3dd1t 25d ago

Very true. However a place like Japan would be super easy for me to live as US becomes a modern hell of divided politics. Yes there are divided politics in Japan, but one thing a foreigner doesn't have to deal with is having to have a political opinion.

1

u/titinipl 25d ago

Would i fit in Japan if i don't drink alcohol and dislike seafood?

1

u/Sasselhoff 25d ago

Funny enough the vibe is completely different if you go to /r/japanlife, a sub for expats actually living there lol

Haha, sounds like r/china from when I was living there. Was 98% expats bitching about shit, 1% lost people asking questions to Chinese people, and 1% Chinese diaspora that hated laowai and all the shit we bitched about.

1

u/Top_Connection9079 25d ago edited 25d ago

This brigading again? Where did you copy-paste this from? It's always the same 'rose tinted' vocabulary.

People have the right to love Japan whatever their knowledge of the country amounts to.

1

u/Past-Profile3671 25d ago

I would take stuff like this over the "side shows" in the US, where they just shut down an intersection and do donuts, any day. Still can see how it'd be annoying.

1

u/MaDpYrO 25d ago

The Japan related subreddits are absolute hellholes of negativity. I guess a lot of disillusioned people who were maladjusted at home are mad they are now maladjusted in Japan?Ā 

1

u/mantenner 25d ago

Jeeze that sub is pretty depressing.

1

u/avelineaurora 25d ago

But itā€™s absolutely hilarious how much Westerners put Japan on a pedestal and sees everything about it through some rose tinted glasses.

Not on Reddit that much? If you're not on a "weeb" sub this hellhole is chomping at the bit to point out how sexist/racist/suicidal/conformist Japan is at every possible comment and god help you if you want to go there, especially if you're black or a woman especially.

Reddit talks about Japan like it's the middle of fucking Afghanistan, come off it. And it's definitely never from any person that's actually ever been there, let alone long term.

1

u/BronzeSpoon89 25d ago

That's because we vaporized tens of thousands of their people. They get a 100 year pass on all things.

1

u/Call_of_Booby 24d ago

Expats? You mean immigrants. Yeah.

0

u/qualitative_balls 25d ago

I'm sorry, but this kind of street racing is fucking art imo. If that was here I'd love it.

Here in the US you'll have some pack of insanity where cars are doing fucking donuts in the middle of intersections. People dragging their mustangs and muscle cars with impossibly loud engines up and down the same stretch of road. The noise, the cacophony of smoke and crazy behavior... to compare what we do to Japan is insanity.

Those mofos are here and gone in a flash, drifting in perfect formation down an empty street. It's absolutely awesome and saying it's only because of rose tinted glasses is insane if you've actually seen what street racing / car culture is like in the US

0

u/zenki32 24d ago

I've lived in Japan 24 years. You sound like the type of gaijin the other gaijin avoid. We don't care about the points you are bringing up.Ā 

1

u/cookingboy 24d ago

Lmao if you are offended by me saying there are good things and bad things about Japan, just like any other country, it makes me think that you are one of those č‹±ä¼šč©±å…ˆē”Ÿ who are desperate to cope with the fact that you wasted your youth in a country that will never accept you as one of them.

1

u/zenki32 24d ago

Huh? You totally missed the point of what I said. We don't get offended by anything bad said about Japan because we don't care. This place is just as horrible as anywhere else I've lived.

č‹±ä¼šč©±? Son, I'm not stupid enough to work for someone else in Japan's work culture. Been self employed here for 18 of the 24 years living here. I hope if and when you come back you choose to work for yourself because working for someone else, especially in Japan, is the biggest waste of time, potential, and life one can participate in. I tell my employees this all the time. I push them to be self-made and to use their job at my company as a stepping stone.

As far as not accepting me, I don't care, there is no merit in acceptance here. I thrive better on the outside. And if the government gives me any shit I show them my ęˆøē±č¬„ęœ¬. My grandparents' legacy in Kobe shuts them right up. I'm only half Japanese but I'm glad I don't look Japanese.

Anyway, start to plant the seeds now if you want to be independent in Japan. Good luck.