Check out Victory Belles at https://victorybellesgame.com! There was a lot in my Japan trip that I loved. However… There was also a LOT in my Japan trip that I HATED! Time to shed the rose-colored classes and be real about the downsides of traveling to Japan!
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36 Comments
Take a shot every time I touch my forehead in dismay. You'll be dead by the 10 minute mark. Seriously though, I hope this video helps some of you with your future trips to Japan. Things to watch out for, things to expect, and things to avoid as a foreigner. Also CHECK OUT VICTORY BELLES if you enjoy pretty ladies, WWII history, and high management games! https://victorybellesgame.com
Lesson 1. All cyclist are terrible in every country. ALL CYCLIST. They can choose to use the bike path, but don't
I wasn't expecting a 45 minute rant with a jump scare thrown in there about issues with Japan, but it was very useful information.
Liminality in Japan sounds like such an interesting topic! I'm already excited to hear what you have to say
it's been so long time since i watched one of your videos, it's pretty nostalgic
I really feel like it is correct for them to start off using Keigo as that is just them trying to be respectful. If you are having a difficult time understanding them then you should have asked them to not use it, I find it very unlikely that they wouldn’t stop. Another thing, you say foreigners don’t care but some might and it’s not ridiculous for them to care as it is the standard.
I do understand most of what you're saying but "take off your hat" is more of a self thing. Wearing a hat is not disrespectful
I thought GaijinGoombah was gunna talk about Johnny Somali and other streamers/creators behaving badly while in Japan.
As someone who has been living in Japan for 8 years now I agree with most of your comments:
1. The bike situation: there is a giant sidewalk in the center of my city where there are signs that bikes stay on one side and pedestrians on the other side. So many bikes completely ignore the signs that I have just started walking in the center and just let either side pass. What is even worse are motor bikes. They think they own the road, sidewalk, and grass next to the road. I have been hit (while walking) 3 times by people riding bikes or motorbikes. (Both of us were not hurt)
2. About the shrines I don't agree about your anger. Most of my Japanese friends don't know all of the rules of shrines (native born Japanese people) so I doubt you when you say its "easy".
3. I agree with the not sure about something, wait, watch, then ask (in Japanese).
4. When trying to talk with people in Japanese I have the exact opposite problem. When I speak in Japanese everyone (in service situations) speaks in English. (granted I am a 6'5 pasty white guy). And their English is often so bad I have no idea what they are trying to say.
5. About the scalpers: I have several students (all middle aged men) who buy the gundam models just to resell them. They can talk for most of the class about how they wait in line for hours and research the best place to resell them and how they sometimes bring their kids to buy multiple copies if there is a 1 sale limit etc… 🙂
6. About the pets: There is a family with 2 dogs (they keep both of the dogs in a 1 meter by 2 meter cage outside) and they are always outside. I often feel bad for them.
Cyclists. That’s the word you’re looking for
I admire yours (and many other youtuber's) frankness when discussing Japan. Growing up, Japan was one of those nations that was presented to my generation as this exoticized utopia, in a similar vein to Canada, New Zealand, Iceland, etc. These were places that seemed so distant and so uncomplicatedly admirable that I couldn't help comparing what I imagined they were like, to the often miserable and self-loathing impression my own country – that being England – often left me with. I pretty much hated everything about my home country because I was infatuated with the idealized versions of the aforementioned "good examples".
Whilst I still have pretty complicated feelings towards England these days (I still detest many aspects of our culture, but I'm also mature enough to understand that I'm rather fortunate to have been born in the UK) I'm also glad to say that I no longer have this star-struck self-deluding image of Japan in my mind. Japan has many cultural exports and social mores I find appealing, but I'm also pretty clear-eyed about the certain values Japanese people very broadly possess that I disagree with, as well as the endemic challenges Japan faces. I owe a lot of that understanding to folk's like you Gaijin Goombah, so I reckon I ought to thank you for that! :3
(British and American who live in liberal states who deal with bicyclist):
"First time otaku boy?"
Bad tourists? You wouldn't be talking about that a-hole Johnny Somali (or something) are you?
I have to admit that while I do bow before entering a shrine, I often forget to take my hat off (especially at smaller shrines).
I take 'do as the natives do' quite seriously, which makes it more confusing as I often see Japanese people passing through Torii with their hats on.
The most annoying thing about tourist groups is that they never seem to shut up when riding trains. Completely silent at the platform but non-stop chattering on the train.
That and they never seem to mind their surroundings.
A reminder to any tourist: Check your surroundings before you take a picture, don't suddenly stop in the middle of the road/sidewalk, shut the hell up when you are using public transportation.
As a native of a touristy part of Southern California. Tourists are the absolute worst. People treat everything like a playground or amusement park, you kinda learn to hate them
can you do a vid on social norms and how to be polite in japan
Ngl, I kinda like Rant Gaijin. Kept me engaged.
I agree with you 1000% jet-senpai
About having too many tourists, they're actually raising the price supposedly to discourage overtourism, the problem is that the price hike is too much and if that does indeed decrease the number of tourists, many far away locations that rely on and want tourists won't be getting visited because people wouldn't have time travelling to get their "money's worth", which would backfire and places that aren't your Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, etc, will suffer again.
About the keigo, rule or not, it's annoying how people can't use common sense….
"Oh this foreigner doesn't understand my Japanese? Let me speak with more difficult Japanese."
Plastic is the tip of the iceberg
Japan is so adamant about their SDGs, I've even seen Doraemon MANGA about them, and yet, they let the kids waste their food, even the teachers don't eat all of theirs….
It pisses me off that I can't get some untouched and uneaten lefotvers (I know their reasons) and that's BS…
(how about we talk about Japan's MALE representative about women's benefits at the G7 summit… 🤣🤦♂)
It’s getting better for the puppy mills, pet acquisition. The amount of “put downs” are way, way down to the tenths of thousands. A bit if an uptick over COVID, but way less than used to be. Hundred of thousands, maybe a high as millions per year.
41:17 It is animal cruelty, I don't care what country it is that's animal cruelty.
I was cleaning while listening to this video in the background. Then the "Mumbling!" happened. Jumped scared and dropped things XD
thanks for adding this❤❤
On the bike thing… One thing you have to realize is that in any accident between bicyclist and car, the bicyclist is the most at risk of serious injury, which could even mean death. As such, the law is there to deliberately create an anti-car environment from a legal and social standpoint, so that only truly confident drivers are driving cars. They don't have a death wish, they just expect you to be far more careful than American drivers typically are. The more a cyclist has to be proactive in ensuring their own safety, the less people will ride bikes. Most people want to stay safe in the easiest way possible. And if the best way to stay safe on the road is to be in a car, then everyone has to drive cars, which is worse for everyone.
I think lots of tourists from English speaking countries assume everyone in the world SHOULD understand English, as if the world only revolves around them. They'd go on ranting how everything SHOULD happen (wait till they find out other people exists lol). On the other note, I believe JR hold high responsibility when it comes to customer service since they are one of the front line of Japan for tourism. But, I wonder if it's ok to tell them you do not understand Keigo.
Pretty sure Japan don't send out their waste to third world countries
Greece here….the bicycle problem is here as well
As someone who is living in Japan from abroad, I really want to thank you, Gaijin Goombah, for making this video.
It is IMPARATIVE that you realize that Japan is not perfect. The rose colored glasses need to come off VERY early, even if you are coming here for a trip.
I really, really cannot stress this enough. Even more so if you are thinking about living here. Every country has its problems, as Goombah said. You might think America, or Britain, or Germany or whatever has too many problems and you'd rather come here. Then you are greeted with certain rude people, no flying robots and not hadoukens. I am joking with the last two, but living here is just like living somewhere else in many ways. To be frank, you move here because you want to speak the language, and want to get to know the people and the places here. You don't move here to just live out a dream of living in a place where anime was created.
So yeah, even if you are visiting, be careful. It can happen to anyone; Japan can be not what you expected, and you can fall out of love with it. No one wants that. We just want to you enjoy Japan for what it is: A beautiful country with a rich and wonderful history, nice people, and yes, great geek culture. But also, its still a country. And it still has humans living in it. And even with many Japanese people being polite… they are not perfect. Neither are the laws and the rules.
Hope this helps someone out there!
Yeah white guy complains about stuff.
I have to drive almost everyday in Japan and it’s the worst. Japan is not made for driving from the narrow streets to lack of infrastructure for traffic control. I just want turn lanes please Japan. ALSO USE YOUR TURN SIGNALS PLEASE.
A lot of people are always shocked when they see food items individually wrapped in plastic, but at least from what I've seen in my country it's generally bioplastics. I'd imagine it's the same for Japan. I don't know how good it's for the nature anyway, but it's unlikely it's people wrapping things into proper plastic out of ignorance or hate of the earth.
As someone currently living in Japan, the Keigo bit hit HARD. There are SO many conversations I would be able to completely understand… in regular Japanese. But Keigo is a nightmare!! DX
I couldn't finish your video because of how biased you are. English is the universal language, if you own a place that receives tourists, of course you should expect some people to speak English. It's not that hard!
ok Japan, when we westeners say "you gotta wrap your banana" we aren't being literal
You should’ve said rain in the cherry blossom glasses
15:20 was the exact analogy I thought of. I'm a Baptist, and if some guy came in and started swishing his feet in the tub like a kid at the city pool, I'd be pretty angry. People need to find some empathy before going to sacred spaces…
It reminds me of a time when my family toured a Catholic cathedral in Savannah, GA and I stuck my finger in the little basin of water. I didn't know better because I was a little kid, and none of my family are Catholic, but I was scolded and taught respect right then and there.
How much do you bet that the people who talked at a shrine would talk loudly in a Church? Or spit in the Holy Water?
The last one I actually saw with my own eyes. Even as an Atheist I find that disrespectful.