What Foreigners Dislike About Japan?

What Foreigners Dislike About Japan?

Today we’re gonna ask foreigners in Japan what they dislike about Japan let’s go nice to meet you my friend very nice to meet you how you doing today pretty cool where are you from uh originally from the United States I’ve been living in Indonesia now for about

Four years so so are you here on the Travel yeah yeah yeah of course we’ve been traveling in in uh Japan now for the past 5 days 5 days yeah where have you been so far Osaka and Soro kind of short time like five days but was there

Anything that you so far was disappointed or disliked about Japan oh was something that was annoying a few things that were annoying for sure uh this is first off this is not my first time to Japan it’s my second but the first time was a very short trip it was

Only a few days uh and I thought that more people would speak English here um oh I see but I feel like Japan is very very much like America is with English uh they they think their language is the best they don’t have no reason to learn

Another language and and it’s rare for me at least in my experiences that you see another Japanese at uh a bar or any location that speaks English did you try to talk to somebody and and it just didn’t work out or yeah yeah yeah so uh

A good example of it is uh we were at the train station completely lost had no clue what to do and we’ went up to a few different Japanese people and every time we tried to ask them where we were going they couldn’t understand us so we were

Stuck at that train station for over an hour uh so it kind of ruined the entire day because we were late to everything else afterwards now it’s not their fault right we’re in their country we should try to learn their language but at the same time it’s certainly frustrating did

You try to go to the this place where the people that can guide you uh so so in in in this situation we were in a hurry and so we we originally missed the first one and we’re like ah okay we’ll catch the next one and then the next one

We realized it didn’t say the same on the screen as it said on our phones and we’re like what the hell and then we started asking people and so never in our brain did say hey we need to go upstairs to go and check with the reception right and in Germany for

Instance when you go to a train station there’s there’s people everywhere you can ask a help someone to help you out but I didn’t find that was the case in this particular Subway do you find it very hard to travel in Japan without knowing Japanese language it’s not hard

To travel it’s not hard to travel and there’s certainly a nice nice group of people they uh seem like they care about I I’ll say this they’re very mindful of the people around them mhm uh I live in Indonesia right now and in Indonesia it’s the almost the complete opposite

For instance uh when you’re in a line somewhere uh people have no problem just stepping in front of you and going and taking the right away right let’s say I’m at a a grocery store it’s very common for Indonesian just to step in front of the line and take it whereas

Here in Japan everybody gets behind you like what the heck you’re kind of confused right so it was it was surprising for you very very surprising uh uh to be in a country in the same region will say but to have people complete opposite uh of the place I’ve

Been living in for the last four years so yeah very very very surprising uh Indonesians are one of the best people in the world but their mindfulness of other people around them is is where they they that would be if you did this interview in Indonesia this is what I’d

Be saying basically I see what what is the thing that surprised you in a good way about Japan just as much as I hate the fact that people don’t speak English here I love the fact that people are so helpful so in that same situation that I was telling you

About earlier where we were waiting for an hour eventually someone who did speak English noticed that we had missed a train twice and she had I don’t know if she had was just in no hurry or what but she had I see her Lum around maybe she

Wanted to help us and she was too afraid I don’t know but uh the second time the train came she eventually went on the train and then she came off the train and she got us she like where are you guys trying to go really like just like

That so it was so mind-blowing for me Japanese people for you guys yeah [ __ ] I mean in the like I said in the same way that we were blown away that uh uh we didn’t get any help getting in there finally someone K and they stepped off

The train to come find us and that’s crazy I know I know I agree and and so she came up and she did speak English and she asked us where you trying to go and you know we pointed on the phone we said hey we’re trying to go here and uh

She said yeah this train goes and so we got on the train with her and we’re sitting on the train completely oblivious on when to get off or what stop or anything like that you know uh traveling noobs if you will but regardless uh we got to a spot where we

Thought it was our stop and she said no no no no don’t don’t get off don’t get off right yeah uh and so she kept the entire time and then she finally said hey this is your stop please go wow so for me that’s a good representation of probably the

Uh personality and the people here thank you very much I appreciate that I’m not going to keep you uh freezing here my friend where are you from uh from Florida in the US so are you on a trip here no actually I’m over here working

For a little bit how long have you been working here uh been about a year now how do you find Japan so far I love it um I was here prior for about 9 years about 15 years ago um so I came back for another round and uh enjoying it very

Much my question is as a person that came from the us do you find something that is kind of like unusual I mean when I first came here yeah um many years ago I mean it was just difference in cultures and stuff but um you know do you have like an

Example um something that surprised you I I’ll tell you one thing the onzen you know first time onen okay I see that is different just something small about the public bath in Japan usually everybody’s butt naked so for a foreigner at first it might seem a little bit strange after having

Experience in Japan do you feel more comfortable with the onson right now oh yeah sure any time yeah it’s a great it’s a great thing to do and stuff there it was just first time you went in you’re like okay this is different but so first time that you came in everybody

Is naked obviously and uh it was like weird or were you told that that’s the thing that’s going to happen oh I I was uh informed up front what was going to happen um but then like actually going through it yeah the first time it’s like

Okay but then no one no one was caring about it so it’s like all right so I’ll go with the flow and I had a good time thank you very much how’s it going I’m very well very well you’re very well where are you from my friend uh I’m From

Italy are you traveling or are you living here I live here now I live in Osaka you live in Osa yeah I’m an exchange student how do you find Japan so far um I actually really love it um I’ve been traveling for most of my time

Here and um the like I spend most of my time in the countryside not in the large cities like I kind of avoided in the countryside yeah like how did you find the countryside I I really loved it I thought the the difference between the people themselves in Japan between the

The big cities and the countryside is it’s staggering the people in the countryside were very very friendly very welcoming and although like none of them spoke a single word of English so I’m living in Sao right and I feel like people here are very friendly so are you

Saying that people in the countryside are even more friendly than in the cities um well I mean I live in Osaka so there’s loads of international NOA and I think people kind of got used to them and they got used to not paying attention to them too much and I think

What I experienced Going to the Country Side was that people genuinely loved that someone from a very different place was coming to see their little town I see and they got overly excited about it and they would offer us like invite us to the homes give us the food and like

Just without speaking any English whatsoever try to share as much as they possibly could and I think that was sort of the very what I thought was was very wonderful since you moved her or since your first travel here ever is there anything that you dislike about Japan

Something that sucks about Japan um my first two weeks in Japan I was partaken in a conference between the Netherlands and Japan um cuz my home universities in the Netherlands and I was speaking a lot to my peers sort of my Japanese peers and almost all of them they’re very much

Against working in Japan cuz I know it’s a that Japanese working culture is a little bit too extreme um why were there against that because I think it’s it seems to me that many Japanese are sort of Trapped in the Japanese working culture as in they they go to university

They get any bachelor’s degree and then they go into the work um working culture and I think it’s it’s it’s often a limited level of English a very limited level of English um doesn’t allow them to look for jobs outside of Japan and then their forced to go through this

Process it’s quite um exhausting process of of applying for work going through the interviews and then um really working much many more hours for much less pay than someone would for example in Europe um so I I I am planning on coming back here um presumably for my

PhD studies but I genuinely don’t think I could work in Japan um cu the the work culture is it’s it is too much for too little well what if if you would have like a very good paid job in Japan would you come back and work here um it

Depends on the hours I think um this might be somewhat of a European bias or an Italian bias how many hours people in Italy work how many hours in a week I mean I think I think sort of on the surface you you work roughly the same

Right sort of eight hours a day that’s sort of standard across the world yeah um but what I what I think sort of the primary difference is that in Italy life comes first and then work and in Japan it’s the other way around you work primarily to sort of allow a little bit

Of life on the weekends I see um for example one of my friends she’s she’s Japanese she’s a very good friend of mine and she said that many of her family and Japanese friends go and travel for like Saturday to Sunday cuz they can’t get Monday off or they can

Maybe take it off like once or twice a year and whereas in Europe you can take a lot more holidays and you can also use that and it’s just I think it’s because you live here because most Japanese don’t necessarily travel outside of Japan they don’t necessarily speak

English they don’t really know what’s sort of happening in other places of the world they are stuck in this and they don’t think that there’s anything wrong with it um it’s all they’ve ever known it’s all that they’ve ever sort of gotten to know yeah um so and me

Obviously having experienced work in Europe as well I I don’t think I could do the long hours and putting work first like that how’s it guys going pretty good very good very good yes where are you from we are from Germany from Germany Germany Germany up are you guys traveling here

Yes for how long for one month we are here for one month that’s quite a while all over Japan so where where did you go so far we went to kagoshima right kagoshima Tokyo Tokyo and here now here back to Tokyo because it’s too cold here yeah was there anything that sucked

About Japan that was disappointing food because we are food really is good but we vegetarians so vegetarian it’s always with meat everywhere with me so wait before coming here you did not prepare for the fact that in Japan it’s like not vegetarian friendly we thought it’s a lot vegetarian we thought there’s

Almost no meat but then we realized oh everywhere it’s just meat how is it going how do you feel I’m feeling great here in Japan where are you from I’m from from Germany what are you doing here um I’m doing my exchange so studies abroad for half a year in Osaka is that

Your first time being in Japan uh yes it is yeah how do you find it so far really great I mean like Japan in itself I think it’s really great and such a nice and unique experience for me coming from like a Western Country like Germany um but like The Exchange in

Itself is a roller coaster like talking about emotions personally for for myself you know like just like being like thrown into like a new environment you know like just for like half a year being surrounded by new people away from your friends the first time I’m like for

Such a long period away from home you know what I mean before coming to Japan did you watch some videos of what to expect when you’re going to land here actually that’s quite interesting because I never watched any video about Japan like not at all because I have

This attitude of like just like throwing myself into like a new environment and kind of being like a toddler you know since you moved here do you feel like there is something that sucks about Japan do is there something that you dislike about Japan um definitely everything is wrapped in plastic you

Know I’m like I don’t know what the [ __ ] climate change 2K 23 guys what’s going on um you know everything is wrapped in plastic I hate that about Japan for sure um but also at some point I realized damn the people are like so distant you

Know like publicly you talk to them and it just feels like it’s not really authentic you know it’s just like another layer over a layer you know for example I’m from Netherlands to like explain myself there people are like direct you know they give you a comment

And be like yo this is [ __ ] what you do you know I don’t like that but they be like I don’t know maybe also because I’m like the guy Jin you know I’m like the The Foreigner and they you know cut some slack with you um but sometime I feel

Like okay they could be more honest and direct with you um at least in my opinion I would like that but I guess that’s also just different cultures I guess also for example like not being loud you know like I don’t know in trains you just don’t can talk about

Anything um you kind of feel like off when you just start talking because everyone’s just like you you have to be very quiet exactly everyone’s just like weird in a train like not talking to you like what the [ __ ] but yeah something like that you know what I

Mean this is just different yeah but like for me from coming from a different culture it’s just like seemingly weird but like yeah well thank you very much thank you guys for watching I promise you that I will stop with the negative content about Japan and bring you

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Japan is undeniably one of the most popular and beloved places around the world, but what about the downsides? In this video, I explore the less glamorous side of Japan by interviewing foreigners in Sapporo. Join me for some interesting and surprising insights into what sucks about Japan, things you might have never heard before!

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