Reflections

[rach 1]

Well I'm back in Japan now and starting to get back used to it with tons to do over the next week.

 

The longer I am away from 'England Home' the more I notice and think about some of the differences. The silly things about England that English people don't realise are silly.

 

Like having carpets in bathrooms, and said bathrooms being generally very rubbish. What is it with that? I have a friend who has a new house and they have gone and got a really good new bathroom, but many that I see in England are almost totally useless.

 

What else was there.......

[soubriquet 0]

Agree about the bathrooms, rach. I almost never use the bath, and hate it when all the shower produces is a dribble of luke-warm water.

 

I loathe the litter, dogshit and graffiti too. Last time I was in Norwich I was shocked by the filth and grime in the city centre, and the footpaths were carpeted with chewing gum.

 

I will always be English, but I could never go back to live there.

[rach 1]

Forgot to mention - there's a lot of good things too! I was just picking up on the bathroom thing which is probably the most annoying for me when I'm back in England.

 

About those bathrooms. A carpet on the floor, a shower head that is fixed so you can't really clean yourself too good, a dribble of a shower, a sheet of glass (or old curtain type thing) that covers half of the shower area with a gallon of water spraying out of the side........ deary me!

 

I'm used to my bathroom 'room' here where I can splash about as much as I want to. I really like that.

 

I could and most likely will live in England again, but I will need a place with a good modern bathroom!!!!

[bobby12 0]

I can imagine the graffiti thing coming to Japan in a big way, I really hope it doesnt though - I really despise it. Grafitti as an art is great, but tagging is just pathetic and looks so ugly. Its been going for about 30 years with little impact on Japan but recently I saw some tags while on the train passing through the osaka area which got me worried.

[damian 0]

Whilst I raised my eyebrows with a bit of WTF at the self contained plastic box type of Japanese bathrooms, I soon found them to be very functional and easy to maintain. It didn't take long to forget the superficial benefit of a nice white tile and porcelain type of western bathroom (keep in mind, I would probably live in a collection of shipping containers welded together so long as it allowed me to live where I wanted to).

 

The thing about English bathrooms that peeved me was the need to stand in a bath whilst showering. Even worse was when the bath itself was installed back to front, ie, the 45 degree angle bath end was incorrectly put under the shower head, rather than the 90 degree end with the plug hole. This makes it difficult to stand under the warm water dribble and also dangerous. But the biggest peeve of all was the archaic law in the UK prohibiting electrical sockets in the bathroom (whilst allowing them in the kitchen).

 

Both Rach and Soub echo thoughts that run in my head. Although my home country is exactly that (home), it isn't half as good as I thought it was when I left and although I am sure I will live there again, I have no intention of going back (although NZ looks good). The days of needing to live in the UK, Australia or America to have a good free democratic life are over, along with WWII and the Cold War. Europe and some nations in Asia are becoming very attractive places to live. In fact, many mid-century migrants to Australia (Italian, Greek) are now returning to their nation of origin as the quality of life has improved so much at the same time as Australia losing comparative appeal. This is not universal, but there clear instances.

 

Soub - the lack of violence, antisocial behaviour and respect for public property in Japan should be the envy of the western world. In fact, we should be ashamed when we see what goes on at home. No one in Australia has ever been able to answer this simple question when encountering such behaviour: why do that to your own home, or your neighbours? They get all shitty when I let them know that the Japanese are above such ridiculous antisocial shortcomings. Obviously, Japanese short comings from the past are then quickly remembered.

 

Brits, Americans and Australians to varying degrees live in isolated pockets of self admiration. We think home is so effing awesome without knowing diddly about the rest of the world. It took me years and a lot of writhing in complaining discomfort (including posts on this forum) to face that fact that so much of the rest of the world is incredible and in most instances, better than home. It was hard to admit but very productive to do so.

 

Even though I've had way better BBQ and much better weather outside of Australia than inside, Australians still tell me how, with an air of exclusivity, that "in Australia we eat BBQ all the time and the weather is really good", which is about as ignorant as the 'four seasons in Japan' line.

 

Rach - don't just stop at the bathroom.

[misorano 1]

How about the refreshing lack of reality TV over here?

[soubriquet 0]

Nice post The antisocial behavior is a killer for me. We live right in the middle of town, less than 100m from the station, yet we never hear drunks, or fighting or arguments in the street. Last week was obon, and the singing and dancing went on outside our front door for six hours. There was plenty of public drinking but no-one was drunk. At 9 p.m. everyone went home. We, the local community were out at 6 the next morning, and by 6.30 what little litter had been dropped was gone.

 

I find it ironic that a common perception of Japan is that of a country of mindless automata in a rigidly controlled society. What I find instead is that because people police themselves, there is no need for higher authority. Here, as long as you respect the Wa, no-one give a flying fck what you do. It is the free-est society I have found, and I`ve experienced quite a few.

[rach 1]

Yes, the "I'm really hard" behaviour that there's a lot of is very curious (and annoying).

[jgraves 0]

Californians could shut up about water shortages if they just passed a law requiring Japanese style tank-sinks.

 

Ok, maybe a bit overgeneralized, but Spud's point about self-righteousness is spot on. Japan "caught up to" the West way back when by importing all the best that other nations had to offer. I can think of about fifty simple things that Westerners could import from Japan alone now (like toilet tank-sinks) that would vastly improve it in terms of environmental conservation, convenience, efficiency, etc.

[nzlegend 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by misorano:
How about the refreshing lack of reality TV over here?

to make up for the plethora of utter garbage (variety TV) that plagues all channels except NHK??

 Quote:

Originally posted by soubriquet:
The antisocial behavior (back home) is a killer for me. What I find instead is that because people police themselves, there is no need for higher authority. Here, as long as you respect the Wa, no-one give a flying fck what you do. .

very true Soub, but there is one small group of antisocial little f#$%kers that I really despise.
Bozozoku - worthless prats with loud, ugly Mad max looking motorbikes minus their mufflers revving incessantly. They are the stains on the toilet floor of life. I would experience a healthy dose of schadenfraude if I were to see one of those cretants come to grief.

[thursday 1]

whatabout some harmful random violence like happy slapping?

[scouser 4]

Another I have just posted

 

http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/8/6063.html

 

Pay And Display car parks. Very annoying.

 

(Having said that, better than the lets-rip-you-off-1000yen ones)

[charlotte 0]

When I go back to visit family, the thing I notice the most and almost instantly is just notice how big and fat so many people are. I almost get embarrassed thinking about it.

[scouser 4]

A sad truth. It was on the news today actually something like 1 in 5 adults in the UK will be officially obese within a few years.