As someone who lived in Japan from 2016 to 2020, it doesn’t surprise me that the Japanese should have become so comfortable becoming so insular. I think these policies will last longer than you think they will. Case in point: how difficult it was even pre-COVID to try to work or immigrate as a foreigner.
I lived in Japan in the early 2000s. It’s extremely insular even in this day and age.
Alan Girling
1 year ago
Even at its most welcoming, Japan is always in a defensive posture against ‘foreigners’. Discrimination is the norm, whether positive or negative. The positive can be very pleasant if one’s visit is short-term, but staying longer, as in working or living there, one will soon encounter the negative, and it can be quite jarring. They are very hospitable, but the firm expectation is that you will be leaving soon.
Last edited 1 year ago by Alan Girling
R Wright
1 year ago
The xenophobia of the Japanese is a powerful thing. It has helped keep their country stable and peaceful for decades. They take only a few dozen refugees a year normally.
And they are allowed to adopt that strategy without being pilloried? How about such as happy Bhutan, a country that, I believe, proudly ejects its citizens on a regular basis and takes no refugees in order to remain ethnically pure. All whilst being lauded as an icon of cultural beautification…anyone else smell the hypocrisy?
The identitarian Left, critical theory and all that guff is overwhelmingly a western phenomenon, originating in German and French academia and then further toxified in the US’s political polarised condition. They actually only care about America, as you can see from the rhetoric and terminology, occasionally showing a slight interest in Britain in passing (‘terf island’ ‘hands up, don’t shoot’!) and have absolutely no interest let alone understanding of non-Western nations and cultures.
Last edited 1 year ago by Andrew Fisher
E. L. Herndon
1 year ago
An involuntary tribute to its oft-despised neighbour, the “Hermit Kingdom”?
Chris Neyt
1 year ago
We left our yacht in Japan on December 10, 2019 to spend wintermonths in the Philippines. Than came the pandemic and since then, we moved heaven and earth to be aurhorized to enter the country to take our property and sail away. The japanese authorities refused. Now 2 1/2 years later nothing in their attitude is changed and we are desperate. Our beautiful yacht who is our real home since 1994 is rotting in a small marina.
Do somebody have an idea how to handle this
Peter Spurrier
1 year ago
Isn’t the Japanese attitude to foreigners quite natural and normal? I sympathise with it.
Vijay Kant
1 year ago
Perhaps Japan is just trying to protect its ageing population susceptible to Covid!
ARNAUD ALMARIC
1 year ago
How truly dreadful , and thank you for alerting us to the pathetic state of Japan.
Odd that the fabled ‘land of the Samurai’ should be reduced to such a jibbering wreck by a mere two Nuclear bombs. I for one thought they had more resilience.
What happened to the Bushido spirit may I ask?
Last edited 1 year ago by ARNAUD ALMARIC
ARNAUD ALMARIC
1 year ago
Why would anyone really want go to Japan? Like China it is almost bereft of any buildings of real historical interest, thanks to a policy of building mainly in wood and brick. Unfortunately many such buildings that do remain, have been massively ‘reconstructed’.
The topography is hardly exceptional, and the people schizophrenic to say the least.
For naval buffs there is however the 1902 British built Pre-Dreadnought ‘Mikasa’ the only one of its kind to survive*.
Otherwise I would advise anyone heading east to try both Taiwan and South Korea where they will encounter a far friendlier reception.
(* Admiral Tojo’s flagship at the 1905 Battle of Tsushima, that saw the near total destruction of the Russian Imperial Fleet.)
Thanks for alternative take on Japan.
I always wanted to visit Japan (Kurosawa movies) and NZ (scenery of Lord of the Rings) but it looks like both are most unwelcoming countries on Earth.
I hated covid restrictions and definitely will not visit country with mask mandates, especially outdoor and only for visitors.
As someone who lived in Japan from 2016 to 2020, it doesn’t surprise me that the Japanese should have become so comfortable becoming so insular. I think these policies will last longer than you think they will. Case in point: how difficult it was even pre-COVID to try to work or immigrate as a foreigner.
I lived in Japan in the early 2000s. It’s extremely insular even in this day and age.
Even at its most welcoming, Japan is always in a defensive posture against ‘foreigners’. Discrimination is the norm, whether positive or negative. The positive can be very pleasant if one’s visit is short-term, but staying longer, as in working or living there, one will soon encounter the negative, and it can be quite jarring. They are very hospitable, but the firm expectation is that you will be leaving soon.
The xenophobia of the Japanese is a powerful thing. It has helped keep their country stable and peaceful for decades. They take only a few dozen refugees a year normally.
And they are allowed to adopt that strategy without being pilloried? How about such as happy Bhutan, a country that, I believe, proudly ejects its citizens on a regular basis and takes no refugees in order to remain ethnically pure. All whilst being lauded as an icon of cultural beautification…anyone else smell the hypocrisy?
The identitarian Left, critical theory and all that guff is overwhelmingly a western phenomenon, originating in German and French academia and then further toxified in the US’s political polarised condition. They actually only care about America, as you can see from the rhetoric and terminology, occasionally showing a slight interest in Britain in passing (‘terf island’ ‘hands up, don’t shoot’!) and have absolutely no interest let alone understanding of non-Western nations and cultures.
An involuntary tribute to its oft-despised neighbour, the “Hermit Kingdom”?
We left our yacht in Japan on December 10, 2019 to spend wintermonths in the Philippines. Than came the pandemic and since then, we moved heaven and earth to be aurhorized to enter the country to take our property and sail away. The japanese authorities refused. Now 2 1/2 years later nothing in their attitude is changed and we are desperate. Our beautiful yacht who is our real home since 1994 is rotting in a small marina.
Do somebody have an idea how to handle this
Isn’t the Japanese attitude to foreigners quite natural and normal? I sympathise with it.
Perhaps Japan is just trying to protect its ageing population susceptible to Covid!
How truly dreadful , and thank you for alerting us to the pathetic state of Japan.
Odd that the fabled ‘land of the Samurai’ should be reduced to such a jibbering wreck by a mere two Nuclear bombs. I for one thought they had more resilience.
What happened to the Bushido spirit may I ask?
Why would anyone really want go to Japan? Like China it is almost bereft of any buildings of real historical interest, thanks to a policy of building mainly in wood and brick. Unfortunately many such buildings that do remain, have been massively ‘reconstructed’.
The topography is hardly exceptional, and the people schizophrenic to say the least.
For naval buffs there is however the 1902 British built Pre-Dreadnought ‘Mikasa’ the only one of its kind to survive*.
Otherwise I would advise anyone heading east to try both Taiwan and South Korea where they will encounter a far friendlier reception.
(* Admiral Tojo’s flagship at the 1905 Battle of Tsushima, that saw the near total destruction of the Russian Imperial Fleet.)
Thanks for alternative take on Japan.
I always wanted to visit Japan (Kurosawa movies) and NZ (scenery of Lord of the Rings) but it looks like both are most unwelcoming countries on Earth.
I hated covid restrictions and definitely will not visit country with mask mandates, especially outdoor and only for visitors.
The most splendid things in NZ are the sheep….the real ones!