Weekly Complaint Thread - 18 June 2015

Redditors seem to be enamored with Japan.

Japan is not a country of samurai, maid cafes, AKB48/idols, anime, mechas, buru sera (and definitely not 触手責め)...that's only Akihabara.

This also goes for those jaunty travel videos documenting Tokyo as well. Life in Tokyo is not something out of N.H.K ni yokoso.

If a westerner were to come to Tokyo or Japan in general, I wish they could do more of the the following:

  • Try to find a Japanese doctor who has strong English skills, and who does not harbour a stigma against mental health or pain medication.

  • Discuss how difficult it is to get ADHD medication in Japan.

  • Try to figure out the JR East surface line network, including Limited Express trains and through-services with the Tokyo Metro and private lines.

  • Discuss the traditional Japanese corporate culture in all its 和 and 難しい goodness, then try and find a Japanese company where the work culture is not stuck in the Taisho era. Extra points for references to shoganai and women in the workplace

  • Tour suburban wards such as Kita or Nerima ("Today's episode is all about Akabane, where the Tohoku Main Line splits from the Saikyo Line!")

  • Take a tour of luxury establishments in Tokyo: The exotic car dealerships of Minami-Aoyama; the boutiques and cafes of Gaien-nishi Dori in Shirokanedai; the high end antiques (and Edo Kiriko) at the Ebiya Art Shop in Muromachi

  • Discuss where to meet Japanese women that are not obsessed with being kawaii, speak English well, have worldly view of society, and take care of their teeth. (Personally, I've only found these kind of women on the Metropolis.co.jp classifieds.)

  • Talk about which universities have a western-style rigorous undergraduate education. (Sophia, Tokyo Tech and Tohoku-dai are freebies.)

  • Try to buy cannabis in Japan. I think that is impossible unless you get the help of the Yakuza.

  • Visit LGBT centres. Do they even exist outside of Tokyo? I only know akta and Tokyo Wrestling.

This would be far more entertaining, and informative, than sticking to Shinjuku or Shibuya, or spending all your time on kawaii/weird Japan.

/r/japanlife Thread