[random] 5 things nobody tells you about living in japan.

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

since there's nothing much going on, i thought i'd post this up. i know about some of these stuff already, from reading jamie's blog, but some of these really surprised me! O_O it's informative, but a fun read too... (i guess some things could be exagerrated. don't take it too seriously.) also, i thought i'd share jamie's post about their kind of strange trash rules. 

http://www.cracked.com/article_20118_5-things-nobody-tells-you-about-living-in-japan.html 

http://www.jamieism.com/896/japan/trash-day-in-japan

Comments

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

personally, i have never wanted to live in japan because there's too much pressure to conform and be nice/polite. also, it's a really patriarchal society. i guess those are the main reasons, but there are more, some of which are listed in this article. of course, there are a lot of awesome things about living in japan, too. but for me, i'd rather just go on vacation there and then leave after a short time.

what about you?

[musicfanmrc.livejournal.com]

>.< AWESOME! Both are very informative. Obviously trash where I live isn't that big a deal, partly because we'd have to go for a 40 minute drive to deliver recyclables to a facility to take them and pay to do so. So we just throw them in with the other trash. Which our trash guys who live at least 40 minutes away take away with them, just like we pay them to. I'm happy to participate in recycling if there's the possibility to do so.

As for the other article, I've had friends who lived in Japan before, and been told mostly similar stories. Not to mention, a discerning person can identify most of those things out of J-Dramas. To me it doesn't make the culture any less interesting.

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

where i live (california), we have 2 big trash bins, and 1 is for recyclables and the other, non-recyclables. each week, the garbage truck comes and dumps the trash into their truck and it gets taken away. that's it.

but we do save soda cans and plastic bottles to recycle and get some money for it, too. haha...

[musicfanmrc.livejournal.com]

We have to pay to recycle, we don't get paid for it. :-P So much for protecting the earth! Plus we live WAAAAAAY out in the country, so we don't get the same types of facilities and services that big cities do. We actually weren't even sure there would be trash pickup! When we lived in a city, we had recycling. And we did so whenever we could.

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

i see! i guess there are some disadvantages to living in rural areas, but the nice scenary and fresh clean air must be nice!

[musicfanmrc.livejournal.com]

Yes. I really enjoy the fresh are and the scenery. ^_^

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

also, if anyone is interested in reading more about japan, go to these blogs! =)

http://www.wordpress.tokyotimes.org/ (mostly pictures)
http://www.jamieism.com/
http://zoomingjapan.com/

[zolalupin.livejournal.com]

another really awesome one is This Japanese Life (http://www.thisjapaneselife.org).

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

thanks for the link! ^^

[raatkerani.livejournal.com]

i live in Japan

and all the 5 are true. especially no.2
sad but true, but alienation does not only happen to foreigners.
it happens to japanese who cannot fit in too.
japanese nationality who are half foreigner also find it hard to fit in.
nikei (japanese decendants) whose nationality is not japanese also find it hard to fit in.

but i cannot agree with no. 1
true those pornographic games are not real.... but the stories about random man ask you if you are going to sell your underwear is true (i have friends approached for that), in a country where if your wallet were forgotten, you can come back the next hour and find that it's still there with all the money and your credit cards, where you left your PC in a parking lot and it's still there after 2 hours ... but once in a while when it rains someone steal your umbrella or take your bicycle away... it is weird when you can drink together with some people and feel close and the next morning you are just another stranger.

if you are throwing away old stuffs such as fridge, sofa, or anything with big size, you have to contact the authority before you can put it out... and you have to pay. at least that's how it is in the area where i live.

but still, i love this country more than i don't like this country.

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

wow! i was wondering if someone who lives in japan might comment! i'm glad you did! ~_~

that's right, i thought of this too, when i was reading it. they even don't like biracial japanese, or japanese ppl that come back from brazil, so of course they won't accept foreigners... i remember learning about it in an asian studies class. something about how they even try to figure out the percentage of japanese blood you have to see if a girl can compete in the miss japan pageant or something like that. sad. =(

yes! i heard about how if you lose something, chances are, when you come back, it will still be there. that's amazing...

i heard about that too... that's really troublesome! where i live, if we're throwing away something big, we can either give it to the salvation army and they come and get it, or call the trash collectors and they will pick it up free, a few times a month. unless it's something that has to go to the hazardous waste place, then we have to take it there ourselves, but it's free to leave it there.

yeah, every country has its good and bad points. i am just used to living in the united states, but i'm sure a lot of people would rather not live here for many reasons. hahaha...

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

you're welcome! not sure why your comment was marked as spam. you're not a spambot, right? lol.