I'm Japanese. When I see topics about Japan on English social media, almost always I encounter terribly exaggerated stereotypes or misinformation about Japan like, "average Japanese people work 12 hours a day", "Japanese people are torelant of cheating", "most Japanese people view foreigners as subhumans", "Japan has the lowest birth rate/ highest suicide rate on earth", "used panty vending machines are everywhere in Japan"… I'm tired of seeing these stuff. For foreign residents in Japan, what do you think about them? Do you think these are reflecting what Japan is like in reality???
by HARiMADARA
47 comments
We too are tired of it. Much of the social media is trying to get attention and even if it is extremely fringe and not the norm, someone will try to exploit it for views and interactions.
Of course they aren’t. But I’m Italian and I also see a lot of stereotypes about Italy in Japan (all men are cheating playboys, we chill around all day and don’t work, we don’t wear socks etc).
It’s sad but it is what it is, generalising is the easiest way to try and rationalise something different. There are also so many positive stereotypes about Japan (clean, people are polite, train system is amazing etc)
it’s either Japan is a wonderland where nothing bad happens, it’s only sunshine and rainbows here ( weebs love this propaganda and ready to die for it) or the absolutely dark side of Japan.
some just people refuse to believe that Japan is also a normal country with good and the bad.
#🇯🇵 Japan is turning footsteps into electricity!
People who create content on social media are a business. They do it for money. They get more money when more people watch, like, and comment on their videos.
“Japan is a normal country like every other.” is very boring and nobody will click or comment on that. There is no profit to be made in the truth. They make up sensationalized lies and misinformation because that gets them money. “Japan is such a terrible place!” “Japan is the most perfect place ever!” get lots of comments. “Japan is so CRAZY and WEIRD!” gets even more comments. Lies are profitable, the truth is boring.
Idk. Most of the things about japan on english social media are 70-80%glaze.
Thats why there’s this
Thing:😐
Thing in japan: 🤩🤩☀️🌈
Meme.
In the end, it’s all Orientalism. Different ethnic groups living in far-flung places can never understand each other.
“When a train is 10 seconds late the staff apologizes and you get your fare back!”
“used panty vending machines are everywhere in Japan”
Well ok this is not true.
I’m sick of it and it annoys the hell out of me.
In English media Asian countries have only two options: 1) exotic unspoiled Shangri-la paradise for jaded Westerners to come and Eat Pray Love, learn spiritual way of living from elderly Asian people, or 2) shithole of abject squalor and oppression under drab totalitarian hive mind, Asian people as repressed drones/unreadable robots
This kind of orientalism has been around since at least the 1800s if not earlier, the “Japan glazers” “Japan doomers” are just the current iteration of it
More people are getting into this rhetoric since liking Japanese food, culture, media etc has gone mainstream in those countries. Also became top trending destination for vaycays in the past 15 years or so. Make Japan content=get clicks and subscriptions
Extreme “exaggerations” are unfortunately **some** peoples sad realities.
But yes – it might not be true for the **average** Japanese; but that doesn’t mean the poor few isn’t in a horrible situation.
And while I agree with you that a more … Wholistic depiction of the **average** situation of a country should be the norm – to achieve that, the Government would need to play a big part in making such a thing happen.
Most “Average” people do not simply post about their everyday lives – simply for the sake of showing the “average life”.
Which means that the few people that do post a lot – often the people trying to provoke massive reactions to gather significant attention – **Mostly for personal gain** – skews the “average” towards the extreme.
Not much to do about that – except tell people it isn’t always true or by showing your own “average” life.
I’m a long term resident of Japan, now a permanent residency holder. I went back to my country for work for a few years back in the 2010s, and whenever I mentioned at work lunches that I’d lived in Japan and was planning to go back people would consistently bring up this shit.
It is indeed beyond annoying. It was even more annoying that they wouldn’t believe me when I tried to explain how exaggerated all that stuff is, saying “but everyone says Japan is like that” instead of listening to someone who had actually lived there for years.
Glad I came back to Japan. Life here is very, very good (in Kanagawa, anyway). And I’m from a Nordic country that ranks exceedingly well on those “happiest countries in the world” lists.
Though I do think the government does deserve a fair bit of criticism for how foreigners with valid visas were rejected re-entry during the coronavirus epidemic.
Japan (or Japanese) are X related posts are absurd.
Japan is not a single individual with a set personality. It’s a country made up of tens of millions of individuals.
I think most of the posts like this are bait, but most of the comments like that are not.
Would you feel better if those statements you heard about Japan were positive instead of negative? I am not a proponent of anyone exaggerating about anyone or any place, only relying on secondhand information or full-on prevaricating, but I am not opposed to people being forthright about their experiences and observations firsthand. Every country has its pros and cons, meaning sometimes people will notice the negative, especially if they’re living in a place long-term, and Japan is no exception. Just ignore the posters that you feel are trolling instead of just simply sharing their experiences and observations, whether positive or negative.
Just as tired of it. I get asked about it all the time.
Like another comment mentioned, people either ask about my life here as if it were an anime, or a horrific hellscape. No, Japanese women are not super submissive and dressed as maids. No, people don’t generally work 100 hours weeks of unpaid overtime. No, I don’t get issued a personal apology whenever the Yamanote line stops. No, Japan doesn’t have the highest suicide rate in the world.
It gets tiring whenever I talk to people back home.
People just seem to refuse to accept that life here is not all that different than life back home.
It’s annoying for sure and I do counter people who come to me with misinformation about Japan but also I am made to listen to misinformed Japanese takes on “gaikoku” like all the time so 🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️ it’s a two way street.
Everyone who lives here is equally annoyed by it. Some of us have to explain to family members and friends overseas that no grandma, not all human workers in old people’s homes have been replaced by robots. It’s tiring.
Corrected question: “What do you think about absurdly exaggerated misinformation on social media?”
As a fellow Japanese, I sympathize with your comment. Specifically people who don’t fall under stereotypes feel annoyed, like you and me…
I see other comments on stereotypes about other groups of people, including those said by Japanese.. I think it is true that ‘some’ Japanese people do the same by saying ‘French people are mean and cold’ or ‘Chinese people are rude and violent’ – again stereotypes.
I am not sure this is related but Japanese people seem to be overly annoyed when they see some Japanese people are discriminated in a foreign country – for the amount of discrimination that ‘THEY’ do.
Anyway, my point here is that every group of people has stereotypes against others, but we should not take it seriously. I personally don’t feel that I belong to Japanese people anyway, so I shrugg my shoulders and keep walking 🙂
I dont think about it. People will believe what they want to believe and I learned a long time that internet will always ‘win’.
Everything and everyone on social media is about influencing with content and engagement for views which = money in their pockets.
What I do do is change how I view/think about other countries I’ve never visited but media told me that and that is happening there.
The problem is, most people in the 英語圏 (including 99% of foreigners who live in Japan) are not proficient in Japanese and thus they have a warped image of Japan and Japanese people (and sadly many always will have) because you cannot get deep (or surface level even) cultural insights from an English perspective because Japanese culture and worldview does not exist in English for the most part.
Many, especially on this sub, also actively *want* to shit on Japan and Japanese people and life in Japan. Which isn’t to say Japan is a wonderland where everything is perfect and sunshine but it’s funny how I only see this thrown around by people shitting on “weebs” but I never see these “weebs” actually say this, this was maybe a thing 20 years ago but I never see anyone over fantasizing Japan these days so it’s always a bit jarring when people attack this strawman, I almost feel like it’s a counter movement by many to overly attack Japan because they feel a need to set the ones who over fantasize it right. Reality is of course somewhere in the middle, many things are (imo) great here, other things aren’t, for me at least the positives outweigh the negatives, else I wouldn’t be here.
>”average Japanese people work 12 hours a day”, “Japanese people are torelant of cheating”, “most Japanese people view foreigners as subhumans”, “Japan has the lowest birth rate/ highest suicide rate on earth”, “used panty vending machines are everywhere in Japan”… I’m tired of seeing these stuff.
A lot of these stereotypes are also sadly from really shitty videos in the 英語圏 that make street interviews where minority opinions get over portrayed and then everyone watching it jumps on the bandwagon with their baseless opinions and believes all Japan is like this. It’s ironic since the point of these interviews would be to portray Japan fairly but because they optimize clicks and scandals it has the opposite effect. It’s funny how often I see people who think cheating is normal and it’s something you can just do….
I am also a bit tired of people saying Japanese people are xenophobic or racist, while I am sure these exist, I can’t say I ever met one where I could say with 100% confidence they were racist or xenophobic, out of 100 situations I maybe have on or two negative ones but often it’s just because these people are idiots, which really exists anywhere in the world, but of course many foreigners like to use it to frame it as racism, because as I said before, they want to hate Japan they don’t really have an interest in getting a nuanced and real picture of the county, that’s boring, it’s much easier and interesting to find the bad everywhere and make a big deal out of it.
I’m tired of it too. There’s so much misinformation out there and the ones that don’t live here love arguing with us (the ones with a life and first hand experience here).
Like most stuff on social media, I don’t give too much attention to it. If anything, after living on a small city away from tourism’s eyes, I’ve come to the shocking conclusion that Japan is a regular country, with some stuff different and maybe even weird from my country but 90% of it is the usual.
You can lead an idiot to an idea but you can’t make them think (critically)
All the weird rules content creators made us.
Well, at least half the stuff you said is at least partially true.
Average Japanese people work more hours and are much less productive than the average developed western nation and the fact that the average working hours decreased has nothing to do with improvements in the working environment but with the increase of people working irregular / part time job. And that’s not counting the サービス残業 culture where these hours aren’t even registered.
Japanese companies ask you to stay 9 hours a day (8h or work + 1h break) unlike European countries such as France where the work week is shorter by law. Considering that 2 hours of overtime give you 40h a month, which is average in many of the major Japanese companies people call ホワイ (you can fact check this at the company website, openwork, etc), we are already looking at 11 hours taken out of your day by your job.
Japan is not as perfect as these social media says it is. Sure, there is low crime rate, it’s clean, people are generally well behaved but it has its downsides too.
While the Japanese are generally pleasant people, it’s more polite than nice actually. It’s hard to find meaningful, deep friendship with them. They are not blatantly racist but they keep foreigners at arm’s length.
I heard they have rental boyfriends though
It’s trash and as others have said, it’s just trying to garner views and engagement on social media for ad revenue.
Suicide high in Japan? Per inhabitant, USA and Japan are about the same.
Low fertility rate? Japan is what 1.2 or 1.3? Taiwan and south Korea are both is like 0.8 which is significantly worse.
“It means nothing to me. I have no opinion about it and I don’t care”
My favorite is Japan so clean Koi live in the gutters.
What really concerns me is how there is a trend to talk up Japan like some kind of wonderful unique paradise at every opportunity. Japan doesn’t need the over promotion..
I don’t like it and such misinformation makes it really hard for me to communicate with my family back home because they are also consuming some of that misinformation unknowingly. However, I kind of understand why there is so much of it and why it’s so easy to believe all that outrageous stuff.
Japan really is super different, both because it is an island country and because people are being raised *very differently* to most Western countries since childhood. Any actual true information about Japan is just as surprising as the misinformation. As an example, my mom fell for the “Japanese are tolerant about cheating” thing and asked me about it, and was way more surprised when I explained you can take someone to court for adultery, as it’s unheard of in my country. She also refused to believe that we still use FAX machines at work until I sent her a video of me using it.
So, to answer your question, the fake news may not reflect Japan in reality, but it does reflect the degree of how completely different Japanese society is to most Western societies, and that’s what makes it easy for the misinformation to spread.
Over 80% of the stuff I see on social media about Japan is a lie of grossly exaggerated.
I see a lot of Chinese stereotype stuff on Japanese TV and social media; many Japanese just believe Chinese are bad. I just stay away from these people.
Has anyone else noticed the recent influx of apparently native Japanese posting here?
piezoelectric tiles generating japan’s power.
It was a university project. It was a tiny part of Tokyo Station. About a decade ago.
It’s not widespread.
We still. Use nuclear and fossil fueled power.
Stop.
Nothing unique to Japan. All countries have stereotypes. Though the one comment about cheating. Maybe it’s more hidden in the west, buts its WAY more discussed openly in Japan. Many of my friends in Japan are in sexless marriages and some of their wives allow extramarital indulgences. Not a single couple from my home in the west would ever allow this. So yes there is some truth to that.
Unfortunately this happens in every country
I would watch your debunking video.
Often, it’s exaggeration of something that is niche or rare. Like the “mundane Halloween costumes” posts a few years ago — very funny costumes, but it’s not “in Japan they do this!” common practice. All the photos were from maybe two events (similar backgrounds in the photos).
Japan does have a stunning landscape. No one can take that fact away.
But the other “Japan is xxxx” screaming all over social media? Those are what content creators do for the eyeballs and money grab.
as a person living in a particular the smallest Southeast Asia country that’s relatively advanced, we don’t see Japan and Japanese as whatever the social media screams for sure.
I don’t know what ya’ll are talking about. Social media seems to be going out of its way to show how NOT GREAT Japan is.
What I find very interesting is that people from Europe seem to often reduce Japan to Tokyo (or at least to the big cities. When I have pictures in a story / status of volcanoes, meeting wild monkeys and nice winter scenery, people are often confused that it’s not only concrete, multi-layered highway intersections, conbinis, etc.
When I am out hiking somewhere in the mountains I am often the only obvious foreigner though, so that part of the country seems to be missed. Also I saw some vacation schedules of Japan recently and it’s basically always Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka in some order.
I have to admit, though, that my knowledge of the country was also very basic before I moved here.
I think it’s because the Japanese diaspora abroad is very small compared to Chinese or Korean so for most foreigners, there’s no one to tell them how dumb their stereotypes are.
Another reason is that East Asia in general does have extreme differences in some areas, like safety (治安) and reliable & clean public transit, that are very rare and unthinkable in most other countries.
Foreigners associate these East Asian traits with Japanese because Chinese and Koreans feel too “normal” from having already interacted with them in normal life, and because Japan has extreme differences of its own like 建前, it becomes natural for them to also associate these extreme differences to stereotypes that are out of wack.
You forgot to mention the breeding visa
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