Going to Japan

aquamarine

I Know Better Than You
Mar 19, 2007
4,556
127
Xandor: will you have a minimum three year degree or a diploma? That makes all the difference in the world if you want to live here. Trade and animation schoos don't count by the standards of Japanese immigration. Since you have no work experience, you might be a little fucked as you couldn't even use that in lieu of a university degree.
 

Xandor

Akiba Citizen
May 14, 2009
956
729
will you have a minimum three year degree or a diploma?
Not sure what three year degree and diploma is. But my education is a 3 year optional education after the 12(think its 12 years normally, is the last 3 years of these = minimum three year degree?) years in school that is a must.
It gotta be a diploma then "a document certifying the successful completion of a course of study".
 

guy

(;Θ_Θ)ゝ”
Feb 11, 2007
2,079
43
It should be a university degree or equivalent, ideally from an accredited institution (but whether Japanese companies or visa/immigration actually checks this or not is a different matter).

It's actually pretty easy to find job listings for programming positions in Japan, I've seen quite a few for coders and for graphic artists. However most of them require business-level Japanese, and will only conduct an interview in Japan.

Realistically speaking, unless you can find a new upstart, most companies probably aren't going to treat this as an entry-level job, so you will have a number of hurdles to face.
 

Axxoi

New Member
Jul 2, 2009
17
0
If you visit Japan how expensive or hard would it be to use a bike for traveling mixed with a ticket for trains? Or maybe renting a car/vespa, gas prices etc??
 

aquamarine

I Know Better Than You
Mar 19, 2007
4,556
127
How expensive or hard? Well that really depends on your own personal definition of those two words. Gotta be more specific there, buddy boy.

Are you from Canada, or are you from India? Reason I ask is there is a HUGE gap right there in what is considered to be expensive. I bought a very nice Japanese made mountain bike and spent 80,000 yen on it. To folks from India, I have a wee little feeling that my bike is more money than they make in half a year, yet to my Canadian fellows, that's a slightly inexpensive mountain bike.

You can travel around Japan with a bike and take the train, however if you expect to get on the regular municipal trains and subways, well... be prepared to piss off a LOT of people with your bike. On my home line, the Den En Toshi, there is one car that allows bikes and only during certain non-peak hours.

If you want to rent a car or a scooter, be advised that you'll need a valid drivers license from your home country to match the local licenses (ie: you need a motorcycle license if you want to rent a motorcycle), and also be potentially prepared for some high gas prices as compared to what you are used to. Right now in Yokohama, the price of gasoline is 126 yen which is $1.51 Canadian. I don't give a hell about the price in USA dollars though, so I'll let you do some of the math on your own as I don't feel like spoon-feeding you.

Prices of renting a car will also vary depending on where you rent from (which city), what kind of car and how many km you plan to put onto it. How far/where do you plan to go??
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
3
I don't think it would be very expensive if you provide the bike yourself, but it's going to be very hard -- especially if you provide the bike from your home country, lol. I can't say I've ever seen somebody bike their way out of the airport. ^_^;

I think it's mostly a question of "is it worth it or isn't it?" Paradoxically ...

- if you're doing it to cut costs, it probably isn't worth it! Sure, you might save a couple of hundred dollars in costs, but you're going to ruin your trip. You'll be miserable the entire time, biking when you could be driving or taking taxi cabs, etc.

- if you're doing it because you love to mountain bike and want to bike throughout Japan, then hell, of course it's "worth" it! You love biking! And it shouldn't be that hard to commute by bike so long as you don't do it during the winter or during the rainy season.

If I was going to be cheap, I'd much sooner walk (and take public transport like trains and buses and such) than go by bike. It's either car ($$$) or foot (convenience) for me, man. A bike costs money and it's a hassle to lock up, lug around, etc. But if you love biking, hey, don't listen to a non-biker like me.
 

aquamarine

I Know Better Than You
Mar 19, 2007
4,556
127
A bike costs money and it's a hassle to lock up, lug around, etc.

And if you're a foreigner, be prepared to be stopped by EVERY cop you see... just to make sure the bike isn't stolen... for fucks sake... (grumbles about the cops in Tama Plaza)
 

guy

(;Θ_Θ)ゝ”
Feb 11, 2007
2,079
43
I'm a foreigner and I've never been stopped while on my bike.

Actually a few months ago a couple of cops did show up at my door, but it was because they were returning my stolen bike. They did ask me to come to the station and fill out a report, so that if the thief were to be caught he could charged accordingly. But they were very polite and apologized profusely for taking time out of my day.

Contrary to popular belief, the police aren't that prejudiced against foreigners. It's just that you only hear about the bad stories, never any of the good stories or the never-happened-to-me stories, hence the impression that Japanese police are all racist. Some of them certainly are, but not all of them.
 

Axxoi

New Member
Jul 2, 2009
17
0
Oh I'm sorry I forgot to put more information in my post.
Well I live in Germany. 80,000 yen for a bike is pretty much for my standards,but seems like a reasonable price for a good one.
The gas prizes here are around 170-190 yen (1,30-1,40 euro) and 140 yen ( 1,05 euro) for diesel at the current exchange rate.
Car rental begins at about 30 euros per day I think, but if you want you can reach every point in Germany in a day. Dont know how thats in Japan.
Oh yeah do they drive mainly stick in Japan (I dont really like automatic)? And in what order are the pedals (clutch->brake->gas)? And what about the signsand signals etc?

About actually going to Japan, I think thats a year or two in the future. Need to raise the money first for that and I would like to have some basic grasp of the language by then.
 

guy

(;Θ_Θ)ゝ”
Feb 11, 2007
2,079
43
Most people drive automatic, but you can find stick-shift in Japan (and often for cheaper than automatic because they're harder to sell, since most people want automatic). Pedal order is the same, driver is on the right side of the car, traffic flows on the left side of the road, signs and signals are pretty much the same as anywhere else (although they call the green light "blue" in Japanese).
 

Rollyco

Team Tomoe
Oct 4, 2007
3,562
34
Clutch - left
Brake - middle
Accel - right

Is it the same in Japanese cars?
 

Rhinosaur

Outside Context Problem
Sep 23, 2007
2,008
614
I'm a foreigner and I've never been stopped while on my bike.

Actually a few months ago a couple of cops did show up at my door, but it was because they were returning my stolen bike. They did ask me to come to the station and fill out a report, so that if the thief were to be caught he could charged accordingly. But they were very polite and apologized profusely for taking time out of my day.

Contrary to popular belief, the police aren't that prejudiced against foreigners. It's just that you only hear about the bad stories, never any of the good stories or the never-happened-to-me stories, hence the impression that Japanese police are all racist. Some of them certainly are, but not all of them.

I agree with what guy said, I've never been stopped by the police whilst riding my bike around. In fact the only time I've been approached by the police, outside of an Airport checkpoint, was one night, stumbling home drunk after a beer and sake-laden birthday, a few blocks from my home! Then it was a quick check of my ID card, a please be careful and I was on my way again!
 

aquamarine

I Know Better Than You
Mar 19, 2007
4,556
127
I guess we just has shitty cops in Tama Plaza.

Well with that said, I've tried to rent a 5-speed vehicle on more than a few occasions both here in Yokohama, in Tokyo, in Chiba and in Okinawa and the VERY few that were available were not allowed by company police to be rented to foreigners. I'll see if I can dig up a little more info. Now that said, the two that were 5-speed were moving van style trucks, so that could also be one of the reasons, other than that I haven't found any other manual transmission vehicles to rent.
 

Axxoi

New Member
Jul 2, 2009
17
0
Well i have another question on Japan. Its about how Japanese percieve foreigners. Like here in Germany where I live now most people are nice to foreigners and in the bigger cities you dont even see whose a german or whose a tourist. In rural parts theyre sometimes prejudiced but still civil. In Poland where i was born you dont get to see many foreigners, at least not in the rural parts. But the polish are very good hosts, because they want to make a good impression. Most germans want to make a good impression too, but they dont try as hard as the polish. But the chance to be discriminated in Poland if you are of a different skin color is way bigger than in Germany.

Now how do the Japanese react to different foreigners? Do you have it easier being European or American, or are all white people looking the same to them? Do they treat you different when they know youre from Germany/Poland ? Well i hope you get what i want to know here.
 

guy

(;Θ_Θ)ゝ”
Feb 11, 2007
2,079
43
The vast majority of Japanese aren't racist. They just have xenophobic tendencies stemming from the fact that some 93% of the population is ethnic Japanese and they simply don't know anything about foreigners. In larger cities you will probably be ignored for the most part (except of course at restaurants/cafes where attention makes sense), since more people in cities are used to seeing foreigners. In smaller towns -- especially those that don't get tourists often -- you can expect to become sort of a spectacle. Whether that's good or bad depends on your perspective, but most of the time it's for the better. People will generally be friendly, offer to help (if you aren't too intimidating), etc.

Japanese don't tend to differentiate caucasian ethnicities. If you're white, you're white; they don't see much difference between Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc. Unless you're from America or Australia, I doubt too many Japanese could even find your home country on a map. On the other hand, if you're non-Japanese Asian (Chinese, Indian, Filipino, etc), you might experience some negative attention -- particularly if you can't speak the language. But much of that stems from associated illegal immigration, some stereotyping of crime, and so on.
 

Evil Kitten

Member
May 25, 2007
282
13
Whether that's good or bad depends on your perspective...
I must have missed the "positive" side of being asked to leave a restaurant for having the gall to be hungry outside of a major city.

People will generally be friendly, offer to help (if you aren't too intimidating), etc.
I can't deny that being a tourist in a major Japanese city is actually pretty easy. If you need help you'll probably get it. If you don't try to earn any money in Japan and don't try to venture outside of the larger cities and don't break any laws then you'll probably enjoy your stay. As with most of the world, it seems that it's the ignorant rural folk and the manipulative domestic media who continue to hold the country back. At least from my perspective.
 

guy

(;Θ_Θ)ゝ”
Feb 11, 2007
2,079
43
I must have missed the "positive" side of being asked to leave a restaurant for having the gall to be hungry outside of a major city.

Did that happen at every single restaurant you tried to go to?

There are bound to be uncomfortable situations for any foreigner, no matter which country you go to. But cases of intentional ostracism (for lack of a better word) are indeed rare; most unpleasentries are the result of some miscommunication or misunderstanding -- even at restaurants. (For lack of details, Japanese restaurants are incredibly punctual and will refuse service to anyone outside of service hours, despite appearing "open" for business, among other oddities.)

In my experience of meeting dozens (if not hundreds by now, I haven't kept count) of foreigners frequenting Japan, the few that think Japanese are rude/arrogant/racist are the ones that expect Japanese to lay out a red carpet for them everywhere they go.
:dunno:
 

Evil Kitten

Member
May 25, 2007
282
13
There are bound to be uncomfortable situations for any foreigner, no matter which country you go to.
True enough, but being denied service is still a new one on me that I've only encountered in Japan so far.

...most unpleasentries are the result of some miscommunication or misunderstanding -- even at restaurants.
We had a native Japanese speaker with us. He must have simply "misunderstood" the "miscommunicated" situation over and over again.

In my experience of meeting dozens (if not hundreds by now, I haven't kept count) of foreigners frequenting Japan, the few that think Japanese are rude/arrogant/racist are the ones that expect Japanese to lay out a red carpet for them everywhere they go.
I guess if a hundred people didn't go out of their way to mention it to you then it must not have happened. Or maybe it's your own bar that's set too high. I mean, is any foreign guest likely to claim that Japanese people are rude? Certainly not in my experience. Japanese people are about as nice as they come. Would they claim that Japanese people are arrogant? I would be rather surprised if they did since few Japanese would act arrogant to your face. Would they claim Japanese people are racist? In most cases I assume they wouldn't, either because they didn't get far enough out of the metro areas to experience it in the first place or because they'd rather focus on more positive aspects of their trip.

Many Caucasian guests probably wouldn't even realize they were the target of racism anyway. I mean, it's not something that they would likely experience often enough in their daily lives to be looking out for it when on holiday in Japan. Most of the vaguely racist undercurrents only come about when you travel off the beaten path. That's when some folks get their first taste of what it's like to be a second class citizen. And then there are the poor folks who try to make a living in Japan while conforming to a system that appears custom crafted to keep the numbers of productive foreigners as low as possible. The hoards of short-time guests following preset travel agent approved schedules probably won't ever come across any it.

I don't think Japan is unique in harboring racism. What I think is somewhat unique is that overt exclusion by racists is still tolerated by non-racist Japanese. That's quite unusual for an industrialized nation, in my experience anyway. Compare how Japan has dealt with their past to how Germany has dealt with theirs. One is almost bordering on over-analyzing their history while the other has barely even scratched the surface decades later. I don't think it's just random chance that has led to these two vastly different outcomes. One country chose to shine the light in as many corners as possible while the other continues to do their best to sweep everything under a massive rug woven out of nationalistic pride.
 

chrisfallout

Member
Jul 8, 2008
286
16
dude the french are most rudest people in this world go their as English speaking person. they treat you rude all time. only way around if in spot where tourist area are. if go off the side streets of pairs and do not speak the language they will not help you. i was in place to eat and was told by our waiter to be rude from his boss. even if take train from pairs to Brussels do not speak language good luck if have to speak to cop. i was i car of a train was told to leave by cops or else in french. if was not for help we would gotten lock up by them. since wanted the car to self. each car had 5 compartments for people to sit in. they want the whole compartment for self and would not tell us in English. that worst place for being rude.