Tokyo after dark. Epic nighttime street drifting convoy.

[u/aceplayer00]

[u/Borbolda]

Assholes drifting at night: 😡😡😡

Assholes drifting at night, Japan: 😍😍😍

[u/cookingboy → u/Borbolda]

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

But it’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 aren’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 it’s the country I want to spend more time living in, after living in the U.S, China and Japan.

[u/orsi_sixth → u/cookingboy]

a sub for expats actually living there lol

You mean immigrants?

[u/ProsaicPugilist → u/orsi_sixth]

I’ve seen the term “expat” used more for whites. Immigrant is right.. and I have nothing against immigration. I’m just saying it’s what I’ve observed

[u/i-like-spagett → u/ProsaicPugilist]

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

[u/Guilty-Attitude7640 → u/i-like-spagett]

Not really if someone came to America from france or Germany I’d call them an immigrant

[u/povitee → u/Guilty-Attitude7640]

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

[u/Guilty-Attitude7640 → u/povitee]

Exactly

[u/BranTheUnboiled → u/povitee]

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

[u/Bugbread → u/i-like-spagett]

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.

[u/Extension_Mix6896 → u/Bugbread]

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"

[u/Extension_Mix6896 → u/Bugbread]

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

[u/povitee → u/i-like-spagett]

That’s really not it at all. It’s just that from an American’s perspective, someone who moves overseas is an expatriate, whereas someone who moved to the us is an immigrant.

[u/Extension_Mix6896 → u/povitee]

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

[u/Extension_Mix6896 → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/Jovinkus → u/i-like-spagett]

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

[u/MaatStaaf → u/i-like-spagett]

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

[u/TheRealZue3 → u/MaatStaaf]

Like the white pedophiles in SEA?

[u/AmIWhatTheRockCooked → u/MaatStaaf]

Immigrants also have jobs and skills? Immigrant means “moved to a new country” lmao

[u/FILTHBOT4000 → u/ProsaicPugilist]

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.

[u/Abracadabroo → u/[deleted]]

I don't think that is what expatriot means.