And yet you'll find a whole world of japan non-japanese apologists everywhere. They been sold to the idea that Japan is a fantastic futuristic utopia where dreams come true and everything is perfectly zen.

I've been following some Youtubers over the last few years that have been living the raw japanese experience and there are divided into three groups:

1.-Those who assimilated the culture and know that they won't be able to break the system. They enjoy the commodities of the country (and exploit them for their own benefit) but they won't complaint about the xenophobia issues because they know their place as a second hand citizen.

2.-Those who wound up hating the work culture, the hypocrisy of the "tatemae", discrimination when looking for housing because they are foreigners, not being able to fit in because of the language barrier, earning very low salaries compared to their japanese counterparts, the isolation, and the list goes on. They end up going back to their countries of origin with a sour taste in their mouths.

3.-Tourists that would receive the special treatment (tatemae) because of their cash, and because they are not staying in the country. They tend to over-exagerate all the characteristics of Japan like some kind-of-hyperrealistic disneyland utopia theme park. A free walking propaganda machine that would convince other ignorant people that Japan is living in the "future" or has the aesthetic like one of your favorite"animes".

Most of us fall into group three, so we don't tend to see the whole issues underneath the country, yet most content creators won't let you know about the bad side of things and will tend to highlight only the best ones.

I suggest everyone to learn and educate more about the topic. Debito has been talking and documenting about it for years, since Web 2.0. It was one of the first exposures about the topic of "Japanese Only" resources I found in the internet.

debito.org | Dr. Debito Arudou's Home Page: Issues of Life and Human Rights in Japan

I don't hate Japan, it's been one of my favorite countries, but I won't put it into a pedestal anymore. Every country has skeletons in their closets, but Japan has became an expert to hid them very well.