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this post was submitted on 02 May 2024
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I lived there for four years. Nice and friendly people. Never felt unsafe.
I shared that experience. I also was actively excluded from all sorts of things (including essential services) because I was a foreigner. Whenever a group of expats got together, at some point in the night, the conversation would be about how everyone got discriminated against recently.
Did you put effort into learning Japanese? I didn't experience any exclusion.
Welcome, though? They pretty famously don't like foreigners around them, even if they're not going to say it directly to you.
Have you lived there? Not my experience. I felt like I was welcomed. I was welcomed into their cultural activities, I was welcomed into their homes. I did put effort into learning the language and the culture, and followed their norms to the best I can.
No, but a lot of other people have and you're a definite minority saying that, so, X to doubt basically.
It's not just people who don't bother trying, either. BBC's long term Japan correspondent wrote an article about it when he finally left, and I'm pretty sure he's fluent.
I wouldn'y be too sure about being fluent part. I am an Indian and I have seen bulk of so called indologists (professors in American and European academia) unable to pronounce common sanskrit words - despite writing bestsellers on the subject.
Never felt unsafe is a very low bar. Not feeling unsafe now