Nice thing is, we now have apps for that. Google Translate with the two-way speaking option is, frankly, amazeballs. As in, magic future tech that I’m actually surprised exists in as good a state as it does. Machine translation has gotten scary-good over the past 5 years.
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Yes, but even in a country as technologically advanced as Japan, getting a ojiisan or obaasan (old man or old woman) to use a translator on a smartphone- yeah. Probably not the way they are going to engage.
My experience is, older generations use smartphones, but only like our old folks. barely able to call. Old folks in japan are often very kind, or at least were to me, and will try really hard to speak broken english before using a translation app. Hand signals and single words in Japanese were normal responses, even when I spoke perfectly clear Japanese.
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I know the Japanese can’t be racist because I heard a 20 year-old girl screaming on a University campus that only white men can be racist. Must be a simple misunderstanding or something.
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Yeah only time I ever really had an issue was with some bars/nightclubs where they absolutely won’t let westerners in. Most places with “Japanese Only” signs will accommodate you if you speak Japanese or have someone with you that can translate.
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A lot of brothels are apparently also very strictly Japanese only, because, legal or not they tend to be run by the Yakuza, who tend to be super racist.
The first part of this is true, many soaplands do not admit foreigners. The second part, not so sure.
I had a friend who’s father was yakuza, but he disowned him if I remember right. I never spoke with yakuza in my time there, but they’ve made themselves less obvious than the past. The whole punch perm thing is history.
Considering the people I hung out with and the places I went when living in Osaka, I wouldnt be suprised if I met one but didn’t know it. I hung out with heavily tattooed local hiphop groups, lotsa shady stuff went on.
Your vapid and discourteous way of thinking probably isn’t pissing only me off.
Grow up.
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So how can you tell who is who?
Case in point: I’ve lived on the East Coast for several years, but was born and raised in what you lovingly call “flyover country”. I consider myself a relatively cosmopolitan person, not only because I’ve lived and worked all over the US but because I take in the local culture wherever I go, and don’t treat the area like a “goddamn Disneyland park”. If you want to eat somewhere where the other guests have class and don’t treat the restaurant (and surrounding neighborhoods) like their own personal trash can, I can totally sympathize. On the other hand, I’m not too keen on being thrown out on my ass simply for ordering a “vadka tanic”*.
*my Midwestern Tourette’s kicks in whenever I try to say “vodka tonic”. Sorey, eh.
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I do speak Japanese, and I lived in a pretty rural area of Japan for five years, and this never happened to me once out in the backwaters. It also never happened in Tokyo or Osaka.
In Kyoto, OTOH, it happened three times in five days. I never felt any inclination to go back there.
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Yeah I can see that, Kyoto considers itself to be the capital of traditional Japanese culture and they get tons of tourists who can’t/won’t even try to blend in with that. Not that it’s really an excuse but yeah.
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Yakuza groups tend to have pretty strong ties to far right political groups in Japan, obviously not every individual Yakuza is going to be racist or a far right ethno-nationalist but it’s definitely part of the culture.
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Interesting.
Im guessing everone has a slightly different experience, but I could see how you might get that in Kyoto but not Osaka or Tokyo.
The latter 2 are know for being accepting places for subcultures, the former is the seat of traditional culture despite the mobs of tourists.
On the flipside- I had no issues as a daytripper plenty of times to Kyoto, and plenty of rural places were very kind to me.
The only times I have had your experience were in more rural areas. I’ve also bathed in onsen full of heavily tattooed Japanese rappers. Let’s just say I’ve had some interesting experiences over there, sure you have too.
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whut? does your sarcasm match precisely what I said? Then you roll your eyes? SMH
So, you’re saying he’s actually Canadian, and just pretending to be Japanese?
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I will make sure to have you approve my way of thinking in the future. Can’t afford to upset the BBS echo chamber.
6 of 1. Half dozen the other.
Honestly that hasn’t been true for many years now.
OK lets qualify something here, the English word “brothel” doesn’t really work here because the law governing “adult services” very specifically prohibits paying directly for penis in vagina sex. As a result a variety of specialized but limited legal services exist for the purpose of extracting cash and orgasms from customers (both male and female). Since each of these classes of business are specialized and limited, if a shop has a no foreigners rule it is likely to be because
- Foreigners dont understand the limits of the business and will assume it is functionally a brothel and behave as such. Not only will this cause problems with the service provider but can also cause problems for the business as their license can be jeopardized if the shop gains a reputation as a functional brothel.
- The service providers probably dont speak any other languages but Japanese and may be uncomfortable or unwilling to deal with foreign customers limited communication skills, differences in hygiene, body hair, etc.
Turns out there’s lots written on this subject in English.
As for the supposed racism of the Yakuza, by my very limited experience with individuals over the years, that varies. What I can say is that every person involved I’ve dealt with is generally cautious of dealing with “outsiders”. If nothing else because they may have already had a bad experience with someone making foolish assumptions about them.
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I agree with you in this- sometimes, this place is an obnoxious, eye rolling echo chamber. Im very liberal, and some of the people even liking my post to you piss me off.
You are, however, not disrupting an echo chamber- you’re just an obnoxious ass, and I pointed it out. I’ve been one at times too. People point it out to me.
Don’t act suprised when people don’t always find you charming, if you intentionally post something that just makes you sound like an asshole. Remember, that’s still a thing, and you’re representing real well for those folks now, good job
Feel free to elaborate?
I’m guessing you’ve lived in Japan recently?
Like I said above, I lived there for 3 years, and have a degree in the language, but don’t claim to be the expert on Japan. I try not to dismiss the experiences of others though.
