A question about non-Japanese in Japan
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
I received an e-mail from a new reader asking about Japan, so I thought I'd answer it here to benefit everyone.
i read your blog about living in Japan, it must be awesome out there i want to go to japan myself one day. how does it compare to the western world? i could see on our blog that there is less crime (via the perfecty untouched drunken people). i'm curios, is there many white people out there? in the uk/us it's mostly mixed race but i've never seen pictures from japan with black or white people in it. and what's the pay like same more or less? i want to do forensics when i finish school but i was wonderig how the pay for that job varies round the world.
There's a lot of ideas here, compressed into one paragraph. I will try to break it down.
1. Japan IS awesome. The trains are clean, safe and run on-time. I love it!
Family restaurants are cheap, technology is always cutting edge and there is nothing good on TV ever.
2. You won't see pictures of Japan with Black, White, Hispanic or Indian people because there almost aren't any. Something like 98% of the population is ethnic Japanese and it's very easy to go a month or more and not see any other foreign people outside Tokyo.
The opposite word of multi-culture is monoculture. Japan is an example of ONE race, ONE society dominating EVERYTHING. Many people say that the Japanese need to change the way they do things, I say no. It's their country, let them do what they like.
3. Pay? What's the price of an apple in China versus the price of a pear in Canada? That's an impossible question to ask. Many people come here and teach English, however from your e-mail it's clear that your grasp of grammar and spelling needs to improve before you could try that.
Just being honest.
There are other careers, but all of them require a native / business level ability to speak Japanese. And the labour market has been pretty bad for about the last two years.
I hope that helps.
How about you? Do you have any advice about Japan to give our forensics hopeful?
5 comments:
I was thinking the same thing regarding the grammar/spelling. I thought maybe it was a joke email with how it was written.
Probably not many forensics jobs for foreigners in Japan.
Japan doesn't have to change because other people think it should, but it needs to change for its own sake. It no longer has the luxury of being rigidly monocultural, at least not if it wants to continue to prosper and remain relevant economically. With a diminishing population and limited political influence around the world, Japan has a choice to make. It can stay isolated and keep out foreigners or it can open the door and allow diversity.
Personally, I don't care what Japan chooses to do, but there's more to this than "it's their country and they can do what they want." I think Japan's politicians realize this on a practical level, but they're not ready on an emotional level to make the changes. They're still focusing on assimilation instead of integration. That's their choice, but they're delaying various inevitable conclusions to certain problems that the country is facing.
@Tornadoes
In all fairness, I'm sure she's young. Look back at things you wrote when you were at high school, how do they compare to what you write now.
I think her dream job is forensics and travel through Japan would be something to do for a year.
@Orchid
There's nothing more I need to say about your comment, other than I agree 100%. Thank you.
omg dnt complain about my gramma people its shorthand, i lil thing they hav the uk, i didnt know it was gunna get published on here wud hav typed it up properly...
anyway thnx loads for answering my mail!
@orchird64 i also agree with you, but does japans political influence need to be stronger? unlike the western world they have got into no wars like other countries all though politically and economicaly they havent had much, at least they havent had continues reports of dead troopers returning to the coutntry.
maybe staying isolated is best for everyone, the last time they got into battles with the western world it resulted in them being nuked' .
plus its a very original country, very monothingymugig... and maybe opening up to the world won't help any delayed issues. still i agree with you that it is their choice.
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