Japan Life

Dear cozy little Lemmy World Japan Life community,

I made a random small self-observation recently and would be curious about y'all's opinions. Where I'm from people casually talk about being super busy. A conversation can go like: "Hey, how are you doing?" "I'm fine, just drowning a bit in work. I have these 5 projects in parallel, 3 families to feed, and do some sports on top, but yeah, nothing exceptional".

I don't understand this as "bragging" in most cases, just a casual conversation item and most people really are super busy these days.

In Japan however, I noticed the dynamics around this are a bit different. I feel like I am quite busy here as well. But when I say something similar the conversation often becomes a bit awkward. For example, a friend recently asked me for a translation job as a favor. In a later conversation, I casually mentioned that I'm quite busy, so they felt bad for burdening me with even more work and directly addressed this ("I'm sorry that I asked for this, I can try to ask someone else" - "no, no, that's fine! That translation is not so much work actually! In fact I enjoy it even!". In my mind this was not really connected, but after saying it, there was this little awkward moment and I needed to do some conversational repair work. I had similar experiences with other friends, but now I thought that's an interesting small cultural difference. Here, I feel people would rather appreciate and talk about how much other people do (as manifested e.g. in お疲れ様).

I know, it sounds a bit cliche ("Japan is so awesome, wow!!!"), but I was actually more curious if you had similar experiences/thoughts about this?

Negative reaction to unfair comparison between ryokan and hotel experiences prompts video takedown.

I live in Aichi, and I'm planning on visiting Tokyo over the New Years holidays. I'll have a few days when I'm not meeting friends, and as I can't travel often due to my health, I'd like to make the most of Tokyo's wider variety of restaurants while I can. Nagoya doesn't have the variety of international cuisine you can find in Tokyo, and as I'll be going to plenty of Izakaya with friends, I'm more interested in non-Japanese food.

I'll be staying in Taito-ku, so any places nearby would be great, but anywhere in the special wards is fine. I like a wide variety of food, so any recommendations are fine. Especially for January 1st, as my friends normally need the day to recover. I found South Park, a decent South Indian restaurant in Asakusa last New Year's day, so I suspect there are other places like that open throughout the holidays.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The recent suicide of an actress from Japan's all-female musical theater company Takarazuka Revue was due to overworking and bullying

I thought the seemingly constant requests to update or verify your information was supposed to stop this!

Japan's real wages dropped 2.4% in September from a year earlier.

Hi all, I hope you are doing fine recently.

I need to go buy clothes and I was wondering if anyone knows of some second hand shops in Tokyo or nearby that have a bit taller sizes as well? I'm 183cm, male, so pretty standard in Europe but last time I checked (few years ago) that was way out the range and I gave up on it.

Buck-Tick vocalist Atsushi Sakurai died on Oct. 19 after he was rushed to the hospital following a brain hemorrhage

The rise in nuisance influencers comes as tourism numbers in Japan near their pre-pandemic levels

TOKYO -- Despite widespread approval of the Kishida government's move to request the breakup of the controversial Unification Church, Cabinet support

A Japanese court has said that a law requiring surgery to switch genders on a family registry is unconstitutional in a ruling on a case involving a transgender man in central Japan, according to his lawyers.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan on Wednesday compiled a policy package to tackle hay fever caused by pollen from cedar and cypress trees, with plans to accelerate their reduction and replace them with varieties that produce less pollen.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese households will see their budgets further squeezed by a new wave of price hikes scheduled for October on food and services,

TOKYO -- The Unification Church has published a protest against Japanese public broadcaster NHK, demanding that it stop airing and apologize for a program dealing with the religious group's recruitment methods.

FUKUSHIMA -- One of the three former Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) members who have been accused of indecently assaulting then colleague Rina Gonoi denied the allegations in a trial on Sept. 25 and insisted that Gonoi is "lying" about the damage.

KUMAMOTO -- Authorities are calling for caution as the first case of Japanese encephalitis in the country this year has been confirmed in Kumamoto Pre

FUKUOKA -- Police in Fukuoka Prefecture on Sept. 24 issued a prefecture-wide email warning regarding a group of suspicious men wearing a skimpy item of lingerie or nothing at all seen in the city of Koga the previous day.

OSAKA – An American man known for streaming provocative videos has been arrested on suspicion of breaking into a construction site in Osaka, police said Friday.

Ramsey Khalid Ismael, 23, known as "Johnny Somali" on YouTube, was arrested with another American, Jeremiah Dwane Branch, 24, who says he is a university student, according to police.

Ismael's videos include those in which he makes light of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and makes racist comments about Japanese people.

The two men allegedly made an unauthorized entry into a hotel construction site in Osaka's Chuo Ward on Aug. 30 with Branch filming a masked Ismael at the scene, according to the police.

They have told police they will not speak until they see lawyers, police said.

Did your wages go up? Mine didn't, neither my wife's.