The wretched mountains of paperwork. Like having to write with a pen your name and address on documents that already bear your name and address in print. Over and over again until your fingertips go numb.
Then having to go to a post office to mail it all and wait for a month or so for the bank, pension service, etc. to respond by post.
The lack of any real address system. The zone within a zone "chome/banchi" system just doesn't work. Street names and house numbers work for the rest of the planet, why not here?
For a country that loves to project an image of tranquility and contemplation to the outside world, the noise pollution.
Mastery of reverse kaizen: As crap as the TV is one year, they'll be doing their best to make it even worse next year. Hey, let's make an entirely new show based on the novel concept of tarento eating something and profusely complimenting it! It's hard to top creativity like that.
For a country that's the third wealthiest in the world by GDP, how shabby much of the country looks.
On the plus side, not so much that I haven't gotten used to it, but it still blows my mind in the 21st century: I can leave my laptop on the table at a cafe to reserve a seat or go to the toilet and have unwavering confidence that it'll be there when I get back.
The anachronistic system of calculating the year based on the number of years of the current emperor's reign. It's impossible to convert without a chart. Reiwa, Heisei, Showa, etc.
a) politics: when it comes to politics, the Japanese are in a perpetual state of shoulder shrugging… (the same party… the same mentality… the same (old) people… over and over again…); this directly affects our lives and the future of this country.
b) TV: … when everyone on TV laughs at those horrible jokes, knowing that, probably sixty percent of those laughs are just meant to show sympathy for the comedian(s)…; generallyspeaking, Japanese comedy isn’t very good and I find those Japanese comedy duos very annoying…;
all those tarentos aren’t talented…; also, all the oishiis, umais and sugois, food, food and more food…; it’s not easy to find something new, entertaining and interesting on Japanese TV.
Japan is a unique country… there are other things, but you can accept and/or avoid those.
The difference between は and が. And why they insist on making 4日 and 8日 almost the exact same. 8日 should be changed to ヤッカ in accordance with how they count. 8つ is やつ, so 8日 should be ヤッカ.
The lack of any real, informed, intellectual debate (politics, religion, philosophy, etc) and almost always viewing the world and everything through the tiny, opaque lens of Japan itself and its culture like there is no other explanation.
There was a thriving, popular intellectual culture in Japan until the late 1960s when it was deliberately destroyed by the LDP.
Sitting on the zabuton or ground for more than five minutes, which really hurts if one didn’t grow up with it and it makes the most delicious restaurant visit a torture, then of course those old style toilets which are really not always easy to handle, and then the famous changing of shoes every five minutes and even if one has a lot of baggage or there’s no real hygienic reason to save the ground or flooring from shoes.
The immediate assumption that, should a foreign resident notice and remark upon anything in their chosen home in anything less than elegiac praise, they are immediately slapped down as "Japan-bashing".
The LDP has presided over 35 years of failure and is knackers-deep in corruption and well-documented (outside Japan) Yakuza collaboration. I can't vote , but would if I could.
I remark upon the fact that most democracies occasionally vote an unpopular party out of power.
"Why do you hate Japan? Why don't you go home if you hate Japanese people?"
The lack of any real, informed, intellectual debate (politics, religion, philosophy, etc) and almost always viewing the world and everything through the tiny, opaque lens of Japan itself and its culture like there is no other explanation.
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cleo
Most TV programmes. There are exceptions, but for the most part the dramas are either underplayed or overplayed, and the comedy is infantile.
Mat
Cycles on sidewalks and on pedestrian crossings, and when they are on the road, riding the wrong way.
I'd love a Japanese cyclist to spend a day on their bike in the UK or US!
JeffLee
The wretched mountains of paperwork. Like having to write with a pen your name and address on documents that already bear your name and address in print. Over and over again until your fingertips go numb.
Then having to go to a post office to mail it all and wait for a month or so for the bank, pension service, etc. to respond by post.
InYourEye
Summer humidity.
BertieWooster
Japanese TV is ghastly! We dumped our TV about 20 years ago and haven't looked back.
Peter Neil
Foreigners griping about Japan all the time?
SDCA
Having that horrible comedy show blasted on high volume while trying to enjoy saunas at sentos.
Gorramcowboy
Having the old cleaning lady come into the men's washroom while I'm doing my business.
BertieWooster
The lack of any real address system. The zone within a zone "chome/banchi" system just doesn't work. Street names and house numbers work for the rest of the planet, why not here?
Algernon LaCroix
For a country that loves to project an image of tranquility and contemplation to the outside world, the noise pollution.
Mastery of reverse kaizen: As crap as the TV is one year, they'll be doing their best to make it even worse next year. Hey, let's make an entirely new show based on the novel concept of tarento eating something and profusely complimenting it! It's hard to top creativity like that.
For a country that's the third wealthiest in the world by GDP, how shabby much of the country looks.
On the plus side, not so much that I haven't gotten used to it, but it still blows my mind in the 21st century: I can leave my laptop on the table at a cafe to reserve a seat or go to the toilet and have unwavering confidence that it'll be there when I get back.
Jimizo
Being asked what ‘foreigners’ do as opposed to what Japanese do often got me.
I dunno what Bolivians, Ghanaians, Bandladeshis etc. do. Maybe I’m too narrow-minded and not well traveled enough.
BertieWooster
The anachronistic system of calculating the year based on the number of years of the current emperor's reign. It's impossible to convert without a chart. Reiwa, Heisei, Showa, etc.
bass4funk
TV, and lack of creative content.
Music, the focus is on the artist themselves rather than the actual quality of music.
Buildings, lack of insulation
Driving, you spend ¥300,000 to obtain a license and the vast majority of people still can't drive.
Wasting of packing whether paper or plastic is just beyond phenomenally atrocious.
Being overly sensitive about noise.
Out of control kids when you go out to eat In restaurants or in the shopping malls.
Waiting in long lines for the smallest insignificant free morsel they give away at Costco or supermarkets.
tooheysnew
When I talk in perfect Japanese to someone, & they respond / reply to my Japanese wife
wallace
Earthquakes.
blue in green
Earthquakes, and people who back themselves into a packed train (and somehow they’re not pushed back out, again...)
Elvis is here
The value of a house drops as it ages, unlike in my country of birth.
Moaning hearts-on-sleeves foreigners.
Spoilt man-babies.
rcch
a) politics: when it comes to politics, the Japanese are in a perpetual state of shoulder shrugging… (the same party… the same mentality… the same (old) people… over and over again…); this directly affects our lives and the future of this country.
b) TV: … when everyone on TV laughs at those horrible jokes, knowing that, probably sixty percent of those laughs are just meant to show sympathy for the comedian(s)…; generally speaking, Japanese comedy isn’t very good and I find those Japanese comedy duos very annoying…;
all those tarentos aren’t talented…; also, all the oishiis, umais and sugois, food, food and more food…; it’s not easy to find something new, entertaining and interesting on Japanese TV.
Japan is a unique country… there are other things, but you can accept and/or avoid those.
Seigi
The smell of armpit without deodorant during summertime.
YeahRight
The difference between は and が. And why they insist on making 4日 and 8日 almost the exact same. 8日 should be changed to ヤッカ in accordance with how they count. 8つ is やつ, so 8日 should be ヤッカ.
Alfie Noakes
There was a thriving, popular intellectual culture in Japan until the late 1960s when it was deliberately destroyed by the LDP.
Patricia Yarrow
Every two years I have to pay the legal bribe of one-month's rent to the rental agency. Starting to request a reduction starting after six years.
Garthgoyle
Packages of three slices of shoku pan and close to ZERO insulation in Japanese apartments.
Paustovsky
The dearth of sexy people and the fact that grown men actually have a thing for 12 year-old girls.
Sven Asai
Sitting on the zabuton or ground for more than five minutes, which really hurts if one didn’t grow up with it and it makes the most delicious restaurant visit a torture, then of course those old style toilets which are really not always easy to handle, and then the famous changing of shoes every five minutes and even if one has a lot of baggage or there’s no real hygienic reason to save the ground or flooring from shoes.
Derek Grebe
The immediate assumption that, should a foreign resident notice and remark upon anything in their chosen home in anything less than elegiac praise, they are immediately slapped down as "Japan-bashing".
The LDP has presided over 35 years of failure and is knackers-deep in corruption and well-documented (outside Japan) Yakuza collaboration. I can't vote , but would if I could.
I remark upon the fact that most democracies occasionally vote an unpopular party out of power.
"Why do you hate Japan? Why don't you go home if you hate Japanese people?"
BertieWooster
The corruption, ineptitude and lack of ethics of the LDP.
Moonraker
The lack of any real, informed, intellectual debate (politics, religion, philosophy, etc) and almost always viewing the world and everything through the tiny, opaque lens of Japan itself and its culture like there is no other explanation.
kurisupisu
The inability to confront issues and the inanity of many Japanese comedy shows.
THOMAS R MOUNTCASTLE
When I ask a question about Japanese culture, e.g. gender inequality, the answer is "This is Japan", with no further explanation.
Elvis is here
Yeah stick that on the list too.
Zizi
Is it?
Not as unique as people think.
Aly Rustom
Oh MAN!!! I hear you on that one!
Aly Rustom
Hear! Hear! BEST post on this thread!!
And what passes for humour here- which is nothing more than people shouting and scolding each other while smacking each other upside the head.
Aly Rustom
Oh and everything gintonic said!
I hear you loud and clear.
Aly Rustom
I hear you loud and clear!
Moonraker
Foreigners griping about foreigners griping about Japan, as if they are cool with everything.
Zizi
Social ineptitude, small men,bad breath, terrible fashion for men