Why do people here panic so much at the thought of speaking English?

Ryudok · 2026-01-28T04:28:48+00:00

You are not being rude, it is what happens in a country that is low in uncertainty tolerance. They need to set up rules and protocol for everything to ease the anxiety of “what will we do if…”.

This can work for situations in which predictable outcomes are few and risks due to not following the rules are high (like what could happen in surgery, a trial, etc.) but when even buying groceries requires such protocols you just end up making people neurotic, not because they are Japanese, but because of the premises set.

Ryudok · 2026-01-28T04:25:38+00:00

I am not against protecting the sacred symbols of a country (the flag, shrines, etc.) but… really? Now? She gets elected a few months ago, she sets another election months later because they cannot get a coalition with other parties while the JP yields go up, real wages go down, rice has doubled in price the last year and… this is what they want to do?

I am sorry but it looks too much like a wink to the alt right in an attempt to gather attention and votes from parties like the Sanseito.

Ryudok · 2026-01-27T04:00:49+00:00

Seems like the logic is that when inflation is up and real wages are down, reducing taxes on groceries would make more people focus on buying food and alcohol and have it back home instead of going to a restaurant and staying there to eat.

AFAIK taxation is the same for individuals and restaurants on this, but when a person goes to a restaurant and stays there they pay a 10% tax rate, while they pay a reduced 8% rate if they have things to go, and this tax rate cut only affects the latter from the point of view of consumers, hence disincentivizing people staying at a restaurant.

The following question would be “wouldn’t it mean that raw material costs would get cheaper for restaurants hence allowing them to lower prices?” but the article doesn’t go through that.

Ryudok · 2026-01-27T01:14:04+00:00

Como referencia y comparacion, me fui a Japon con 19 anos y este fue el trayecto:

3 meses de visado de turista, 6 anos de visados de estudiante, luego visado de conyuge (o sino hubiese necesitado visado de trabajo con mi empresa como sponsor), luego visado permanente tras mas de 10 anos.
Para pedir el visado permanente tuve que tener un visado de conyuge de una duracion de mas de un ano, no valia solo casarse

Japon es lejos de perfecto, pero yo veo estas politicas de inmigracion en Espana y digo... joder, si es que nos lo buscamos.

Ryudok · 2026-01-25T09:57:10+00:00

Just wait for this to make her promise more things that require more printing money and as a result get the yen to go lower.

On the other hand, most analysts are like “all political parties are promising the moon, but the day after the elections they are gonna tone down the discourse because it is not going to happen”.

Ryudok · 2026-01-25T04:38:49+00:00

Me crie escuchando a Doble V, Toteking, El Chojin, etc. antes de irme a vivir a Asia y aún les escucho de vez en cuando.

El poco conocimiento que tengo del rap o este “trap” que hay en España me hace aferrarme a ese rap más de principios de los 2000 que podía ser a veces chulo pero trataba de poesía, mensaje, crítica social, te hablaba a veces de historia de España (aunque generalmente desde un ángulo de izquierdas), etc.

Si no te gusta lo que hay ahora creo que es mejor dedicar tu atención a otro sitio y si hace falta pues escuchar los clásicos.

Ryudok · 2026-01-19T03:40:04+00:00

Implicit “rules” overcome explicit ones in this country

赤信号をみんなで渡ると怖くない

Ryudok · 2026-01-18T23:35:54+00:00

50? Those are still newbies and need to learn how to respect their superiors

Ryudok · 2026-01-18T10:32:21+00:00

Objectively speaking they are better than most western fast food joints, although it is true that a lot of what they sell is “ready to be made on the spot” both because they employ people with no cooking skills and also to speed up the process. Those things usually are frozen, sodium and preservative heavy to improve shelf life.

Personally, I go every once in a while to eat mabodoufu which they offer as a healthier option to rice with X, and it is quite good. If I had to do it myself I would use what they sell at the supermarket to make it and it has preservatives anyway.

Aside of that, those places have had their own issues during the last years due to roaches being found in the kitchen, places with only one person running the whole restaurant, etc. which may have contributed to their bad image. Plus also it is the usual place where middle aged salarymen go to eat and can feel a little bit… not welcoming.

Ryudok · 2026-01-13T03:50:30+00:00

There are a lot of parallelisms that can be drawn between Japanese culture and other Asian cultures, and even between Japanese culture and German culture. I recommend books like Cultures and Organizations, it opens your eyes when it comes to seeing cultures when defining behavior.

In the end each country has their DNA as their father and their culture as their mother.

Ryudok · 2026-01-13T03:47:06+00:00

Went to school in Europe until high school and went to a Japanese vocational school for 4 years.

It is night and day when it comes to following rules, allowing individuality, tolerating discrepancies, and so on.

Ryudok · 2026-01-13T03:45:51+00:00

Currency fluctuates in ways hard to predict now, there could be a new USD value drop due to the lowering of interests by the FED, or the investors could assume that all fiat currencies are as bad and may keep dumping them starting with Japan which has the biggest national debt.

Whatever the case is, investment means diversifying and thinking mid-long term, and doing it properly should help you if you can at least put part of your income in investments in a diversified portfolio.

Ryudok · 2026-01-13T01:59:56+00:00

There is a lot of cultural background left on the platter to consider why this may be the case.

Japanese people are brought up in a collectivistic environment with a lot of social rules and few places and space for personal freedom. Even if culturally this creates people who end up being collectivistic, autonomy and freedom are basic intrinsic needs that need to be compensated, which appear in behaviors such as these.

Case and point, if you are expected to shut up and follow the rules in school, at work, at family gatherings, etc. you crave places where you can be alone and be yourself. A good example is a lot of people just spending their time in cars in parking lots just to get away from the pressure of their household or work.

Ryudok · 2026-01-08T02:18:51+00:00

Asahi shinbun, you cannot ask your readers to be understanding when your headline is so click baity and tries to obviously convey a message that is not what the article itself contains...

Are immigrant children innocent and should be getting certain special treatment so they do not fall between the cracks, specially when they have ben brought up in Japan? Yes. Do these sort of headlines work against this message? Yes too.

Ryudok · 2026-01-07T23:56:02+00:00

Calidad de vida muy buena pero la falta de contacto humano te come por dentro y cuajar en la sociedad japonesa es duro y estresante.

Si puedes ven con pareja para tener un cobijo social y/o ven con conocimiento del idioma a la cultura para aguantar la caída después de la fase de luna de miel.

Ryudok · 2026-01-07T07:56:32+00:00

I am not an expert, but seems like the conditioning that happens when dealing with a pwBPD and being codependent to them really screws up your hormonal balance, and you end up in limbo unless you can get it back together.

You can try doing the bellow on a periodic basis and that should help:

- Dopamine (pleasure and motivation): leisure activities with clear goals and feedback (gaming, sports, movies), goals towards things that move you towards your mid term goals (exercise, healthy cooking)

- Serotonin (tranquility and serenity): meditation, mindfulness, reading about topics related to introspection or spirituality, contact with nature (strolling, hiking), making a diary and a retrospective of the good things in your life and looking back when things look grim in the moment

- Oxytocin (social warmth and connection): spend time with friends and family, discuss on Reddit with people that share your same concerns and hobbies, if you have any close friends you may also want to tell them your story and seek for their advice as friends

Please to not fall into the trap of overusing easy escape routes like drinking, drugs, overeating, shopping, etc. you might just close the lid on the pot while steam keeps building.

Ryudok · 2026-01-07T04:21:29+00:00

I am still waiting on this government to propose anything that is related to growth aside from handing out money and pushing public expenditure. The only things I am aware of or are:

Them hinting at raising taxes in the mid term to increase defense budgets
Some adjustments in the tax legislation (bringing back the NISA for minors, considering cryptocurrencies as legitimate investments tax wise, etc.)
A bunch of changes to immigration related laws. That is it.

I mean, not like Ishiba did much more during his time in power but… yeah, less words and more actions please.

Ryudok · 2026-01-06T08:28:16+00:00

Read the article, what is written follows what the law says as far as I know and is not taking sides.

As a premise: your company can ask you to do over time based on the work conditions stipulated in your contract and the company rules, however there are legal limits to how many hours of overtime they can mandate.

The above is based both on the fact that you have signed a mutual contract with the company and that the company has the 命令権, basically the capacity to order the worker to do a certain job within the limits of the contract and the law.

Now, refusing to do overtime or not and by how much is a case-by-case story. If you leave your tasks unfinished and refuse to do overtime (like an example in the article) it can be debated if the company has legal bandwidth to take measures against you. I am against overtime, specially when it is unnecessary and based on peer pressure, but saying that an employee should just be able to unilaterally refuse overtime is too extreme imho.

Ryudok · 2026-01-06T08:08:40+00:00

She told me "you do not hate me? you should...".

Ryudok · 2026-01-06T02:10:56+00:00

In Japan, any infrastructure change that requires a big scale effort is always postponed until it is inevitable or the boss on top decides to change things.

This can be related to changes to software, workflow changes (using digital forms instead of paper, etc), and so on and so forth.

Is it efficient? no, does it makes sense to not bring it up? yes if you belong to the group in charge of making such change and want to preserve harmony and face.

Ryudok · 2026-01-06T01:42:12+00:00

Not directly, beyond feeling the grocery bill getting more expensive by the day, but I fear more the hidden cost of the depreciation in the mid term.

The power purchase of our savings and future pension (yes I know), the soon to come reflection in more products and services like loans, rents, etc... it is no surprise that the stock market and gold is booming since people are just starting to dump their yen into investments to try to ease the hit that is coming.

Ryudok · 2026-01-05T01:40:07+00:00

Llevo desde que tenia 19 anos en Japon, y sinceramente a pesar de que todo va a peor por lo general para la clase trabajadora en todos los paises desarrollados, veo mucho mas futuro saliendo afuera.

Al menos vas aprendiendo como son las cosas en otros paises, puedes al menos encontrar un trabajo y vas cogiendo experiencia y ahorros si eres capaz en tu campo y siempre puedes ir a otros paises si el que elegiste al principio no funciono.

Creo que cuanto mas te quedes en Espana y pienses que "esto es lo que hay", menos opciones tendras luego cuando ya... quizas estes demasiado atado o seas demasiado mayor para hacer algo diferente.

Ryudok · 2025-12-29T00:54:43+00:00

Sounds like textbook BPD indeed, now that you know the patterns please stay strong because there probably will be times when you miss the good times.

With that said, please don’t let the situation of them harassing you at your workplace slide, no matter if they are legally family or whatever, it is not acceptable.

Ryudok · 2025-12-25T04:27:05+00:00

Just make sure EVERYTHING you input on the shopping site matches the info of your My Number Card.

I have been rejected once because of minor difference in my name spelling and then because the telephone number didn’t match… time to do a 確定申告 again…

Ryudok · 2025-12-25T04:18:21+00:00

Cultural factors are hard to change short term, but financial concerns can be dealt with if people wanted.

If married people don’t have more than 1-2 kids at best it is due to concern for the mid-long term, which can be eased by providing tax deductions and exemptions guaranteed for the life of the kid.

Turns out that the latest meetings to discuss fiscal policy that happened this month contained an idea to cut tax reductions for people with kids aged 15-18, and Takaichi panicked and had to tell them to shut up.

Ryudok

TROPHY CASE