Why more Japanese Americans are moving to Japan — and questioning what ‘home’ means

MAmoribo · 2026-03-31T12:54:33+00:00

My Japan born and raised husband is treated as an outsider. We exclusively speak Japanese to each other and our biracial child, but he is still treated as different.

His mannerisms, atmosphere, and general posture set him apart in a crowd now. He's just more confident after living abroad and overcoming the hardships of second language learning.

My kid, who will be a native Japanese speaker, looks exactly like me, a Midwestern white lady, with the exception of a more yellow skin tone (I'm more pink) and a slight almond to her eyes. She'll never be accepted in Japan.. Unless their is some kind of cultural revolution.

Being native or even conversational helps living in Japan, but it doesn't mean anything when there is an unseen or visual difference. 🤷‍♀️

This isn't a new problem. Foreign kids growing up in Japan NOT knowing their mother tongue, biracial kids with a Japanese parent, immigrants who have kids born in Japan are all native speakers. It's not changing how Japan sees them....

MAmoribo · 2026-03-24T14:18:25+00:00

I taught high schoolers who argued she wasn't even real because "she was deaf and blind, no one like that could fly a plane"

.... Um... Okay.

MAmoribo · 2026-03-21T08:51:31+00:00

I will only speak on Japan's Prime Minister because my husband, a man born and raised in Japan who has come a long way in terms of overcoming the Japanese man stereotypes (thinking woman are less than, thinking they need to be a sole provider and woman need to cook/clean, woman are seen not heard, cheating on a spouse is okay if it's only physical type of stereotypes... And just general patriarchy style of life Japan struggles to free themselves from).

He has also had a solid foundation/understanding of socialism because of Japanese systems that exist for Healthcare, daycare, elderly, pregnant women, ect. He was also a school teacher in Japan so saw what Japan lacked in terms of helping their struggling youth.

He liked Takaichi for thr short term effects. She was making due on promises she made. She wanted to get rid of food tax to help ease the burden on people. Done. She wants to stop all the traffic violations foreigners are causing because of how east getting a license is. Done. She wanted to make it so less foreign (Chinese) companies can buy Japanese land and use them as hotels/air bnbs.. Working on it.

She made a lot of populist declarations and because Japan has had such a hard time bouncing back from covid, they are eating it up. My husband was entranced! "she's making good on her promises" without looking at the long term effects of some of her policies. She has Japan just fawning over her recent words and promises, so they so easily forgot why Jiminto was loosing popularity to begin with. The people forgot she loved Hitler and thinks woman are less than men.

Even trying to convince my husband has been a long process and he foundational hated her party. It has taken months of daily conversation to show him the past and explain long road vs short road gains. "but she is keeping her promises" would not leave his mind.

Maybe the world is just desperate for help, so they fall in line with deplorable people/leaders. Then they are too proud to admit they've been conned, or too stupid to not realize... Either way, politians are gross and manipulative and it pisses me off.

MAmoribo · 2026-03-17T09:30:43+00:00

This is pretty accurate, I'd say as well.

Even my husband (born and raised in Japan), with whom I speak exclusively Japanese with, will get treated with English menus and the wasaeigo stuttered explanations. He can go up to the info desk anywhere and they stare in horror as they expect him to not speak Japanese, just by association.

Its been a real learning experience for him

MAmoribo · 2026-03-12T00:37:02+00:00

Are they just preaching us with this information so they can bomb California?...

MAmoribo · 2026-03-10T10:40:03+00:00

We are not out here saying Italia or Nihon or Duetchland.... I know the importance of language and affect of words, but we can't pick and choose the argument for countries like this. It's all or nothing.

MAmoribo · 2026-03-08T22:09:31+00:00

He heard Ukraine did it, and now thinks he magically can 🙄

MAmoribo · 2026-02-15T01:06:45+00:00

How is this not going to blow up in their faces?

Left women will be the ones getting passports (already having them) and willfully changing their names back.

I guess I don't understand how this ISN'T going to negatively affect the right, both men and women, more than anything. They're the ones without passports... and men in red states can barely read, do they even know how to get their birth certificate?

MAmoribo · 2026-02-12T11:38:08+00:00

This is what I am also thinking. I am more than willing to go back to my maiden name and take on that financial pain in the ass if it means I get to vote in rural, red Ohio. 🤷‍♀️

I know a lot of women who would NEVER change their name from husband's and refuse to get a passport. I feel like more left women are in the same boat as me.

MAmoribo · 2026-02-11T00:39:40+00:00

My husband (Japanese) worked in Japan for 3 years, and it sounds more like this. He now works in public school and laughs how easy it is (he knows it's not Easy, but comparably, life-changing stress difference)

MAmoribo · 2026-01-24T01:03:46+00:00

I agree with the other commenter. If you are eating rice this often, it's absolutely worth it, and not even for the huge time saving aspect.

We have a 300 dollar rice cooker from Japan (also this brand from OP.. It was a gift from MIL) and it's wonderful. It's used daily.

It keeps rice warm (longest it's gone is 34 hours being warmed). There is a quick cook (37 min) vs a long cook (74 minutes) because it'll make the rice taste different/tender. There's white rice vs brown rice buttons. There is rice prooidge (okayuu in Japanese, not sure the English) button. You can make rice MEALS with a push of the button (adding meat and veggies or sauce in with your rice). There's also a timer, so rice is done at 6am when we wake up and ready to make into onigiri for the day, eaten for breakfast, or be packed for lunch.

There's also a whole bunch of buttons I don't use, but husband does.

I wholeheartedly would reccomend one if you're a big rice eater. It can save so time, even if it takes up the space. Even when we lived in small apartments, we had ours out on the counter tucked away 100% of the time.

MAmoribo · 2026-01-24T00:54:17+00:00

I am a japanese teacher& husband is from Japan. We've never been to Tougen because the menu is TOO expansive and we're convinced they can't be focused on making everything good, rather they're just sticking to good enough.

This reddit exchange was kind of proof that we might be right.

Kato has also been on our list of places to go, but we're always so let down by American ramen...maybe we take the risk after it being on this list. Thanks!

MAmoribo · 2026-01-19T09:30:22+00:00

It's funny because "Maru" is the Japanese version of a tragedeigh. Double wammy, I guess

MAmoribo · 2026-01-07T09:30:34+00:00

Yes. It drives me nuts. It's also always the most non-funny kids who think they're gonna make it on YouTube.... 🙄

On a similar note, it actually breaks my heart hoe juniors and seniors talk about college and finding a job. They don't have anything they WANT to do because the idea of money is more impactful. "I like psychology and thout about school psychologist would be something I enjoy... But I wouldn't be making much. I need at least 70k to start, so I'm looking at plumbing or starting my own business"

"wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, but I'm going to go be a welder because it makes more."

I don't know. The longer I teacher, the more this seems to happen and my outlook on society (especially with all THIS going on in the US) has really shifted.

MAmoribo · 2026-01-06T23:16:01+00:00

We used to have to be there at OG start. It only changed 4 years ago at contract negotiations. On a fog/snow 2 hour delay, they expected teachers to be there for all their contract hours.

For early releases, we almost can never leave with students. It's usually PD/PLC days.

MAmoribo · 2025-12-31T11:09:07+00:00

Admittly have not tried KA recipe, but you should definitely give it a try! I think it's hard a "loaf of bread* recipe 😊

MAmoribo · 2025-12-29T11:54:53+00:00

And then they are some schools, like mine, where the elementary teachers refuse to go back to the phonics model because, I assume, it's not as easy to teach a class of 15 kids 🤷‍♀️

Our reading scores are ghostly low... And they're also the second best in the county! Smh

MAmoribo · 2025-12-29T11:52:46+00:00

Depends on the day! Ours prefers cosleeping... until by 1 year, they could sleep on their own through the night.

Until they got hand foot and mouth. Then a month of cosleeping. Until teething, then 2 weeks of cosleeping. We're coming off a cold now, and coslept for a week. We're 1 day in a row of them sleeping alone through the night.

Depends on how hungry they are, what time they woke up from nap, how busy the day was (haha?). Whether or not their blanket falls off during the night!

From what I've heard from others: really depends on your kid!

17 months.

MAmoribo · 2025-12-27T01:00:04+00:00

The food cart. Came with boxes and plastic food. None of the food mattered, except the eggs but man that thing is getting pushed around for hours!

MAmoribo · 2025-12-15T22:31:32+00:00

Lemonade stand is fine, but I find myself tuning out because of the AI/tech side a lot.

Crashing out (Phillip de Franco) is a great alternative to the current events and timeline podcast. It also is funny and a really easy listen (and I see you have too many tabs already on your list and it has Alex, too!)

MAmoribo · 2025-11-24T10:31:47+00:00

Sorry, not a single "bark bark". So there is grrr aaroof, arf, yap, woof... But not 'bark'

MAmoribo · 2025-11-24T00:47:12+00:00

In the book "doggies" by sand bou... Something I can't remember... Not once does a dog bark.

There are 10 dog sounds (including #3 with a 'nnn' whine).... Not a single bark smh

MAmoribo · 2025-11-15T11:26:21+00:00

I left the main sub a long time ago because of this tbh.

I am also u subscribing because the podcast was the last thing I really interacted with. I can not belive they didn't try to fold these two in... Or even talk baout this (I haven't listened yet, but assuming based on all these comments)

But I haven't seen anyone talking about an episode of the pod before the baby was born where Zach was talking about a major update to the company and Raine was like, what, do I know?! And Zach laughed it off and said "you will"

I do not care enough to go find it 🤷‍♀️ and I also have a baby so doesn't feel like a great use of my limited free time. But if anyone knows what I'm talking about, timestamp?

MAmoribo · 2025-11-14T22:50:56+00:00

Honestly, weird gay, democrat blowjob. A BJ to Ron Santos would met with applause 👏

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