If you’re a Japanese person (that is, real Japanese, not just like some Korean guy born in Japan), then you know how frustrating it is. Every day, you’re surrounded by crowds of people, in stores, elevators, and that small ramen shack behind the station. And everywhere you go, with every person you see, you have to constantly wonder “Is that person really Japanese?” Because, let’s face it—sometimes it’s hard to tell, even for you. And you’re, you know, Japanese.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a surefire way to quickly tell whether someone was Japanese, Chinese, Korean, gaijin, or one of those “half” people? Well, now there is! Introducing…
Nihonjin?!
Nihonjin? is a free app for your Android or Apple iOS device that uses state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to conclusively determine whether someone is pure Japanese or not. Simply point your smartphone camera at any face and Nihonjin?’s patent-pending “Nihonjinalyzer” instantly compares eye, nose, and lip shape, along with skin and hair color, against its proprietary database of ideal Japanese faces to provide you with a binary Yes or No. Of course, if it’s Yes, the screen will display the Japanese word はい, and if it’s No, it will display English.
Imagine all the time you’ll save. You’ll no longer need to ask subtle probing questions like “Where’re you from? Sorry, I mean, where were you born?” and “Is one of your parents Japanese? No? Asian? Maybe a grandparent?” Now that’s a thing of the past! Nihonjin? immediately identifies Filipinos, Mongolians, North and South Koreans, and even hard-to-spot hafu with 99.6% accuracy. In the case of Western gaijin, the “No” even spins and flashes in big white letters. Helpful!
Zainichi and Ainu and Burakumin, Oh My!
Do you find yourself wondering about your friends and potential marriage partners? How can you be sure they’re entirely descended from the ethnically pure Yamato and Jomon peoples? Surely you’ve noticed how Hiroshi’s eyelids are slightly different from yours. Isn’t Ami’s skin a little too dark? And what’s up with Risa’s name? Isn’t that just “Lisa” with an “R”? How do you know they aren’t mixed with Zainichi Koreans, Burakumin, or even indigenous Ainu? Well, put those worries to rest. Because Nihonjin? also supports blood analysis! Simply obtain a drop of blood from the person in question, place it on a sterile test strip, and sit back while Nihonjin? performs a DNA-level test to ensure it’s 100% pure Japanese blood. In fact, Nihonjin?’s so sophisticated, it can even identify Japanese people who were born overseas. You’ll rest easy once Nihonjin? reports back that はい, your fiance is pure 純日本人 Japanese. Of course, should the result be No, the app lightly informs you that “Houston, we have a problem.” Hilarious!
Kickstarter Campaign to Raise 8,000,000 Yen
Nihonjin? is currently available to a select number of beta testers. Funding for the initial roll-out is being raised through a Kickstarter campaign, with a target of 8 million yen. Excess funds will be used to benefit underprivileged members of the Zaitokukai.
Nihonjin? includes language support for both Japanese and English, and accesses your device’s front-facing camera to determine which language you’re greeted with. Supplies are limited and experts predict high demand for Nihonjin?, so don’t wait! Pre-order yours today!
This is great, a facial recognition program that doesn’t need DNA to determine ancestry. A lot of Japanese are going to be pissed off that they’re not full blooded. Well didn’t the Japanese come from China originally? I’ll have to find an app to find out how much German, Scotch and Irish I am…. well I bet no one writes up that app. I wonder if they have an app to see if people have alien facial characteristics, I swear I’ve seen a few Klingons at football games (or maybe it was just a neanderthal I saw)… LOL!
“Didn’t the Japanese come from China originally?”
China? Korea? Southeast Asia? Perish the thought. That would make Japan a nation of immigrants—a melting pot like the U.S., only composed of various Asian peoples. That’s crazy talk.
Everyone knows the Japanese are a people who sprung up fully formed on a chain of several thousand Pacific islands, descendents in an unbroken line from the sun god Amaterasu. Those are simply facts, and there’s no arguing with facts.
Have you considered JRo7 App?
Transfers the answers to everyone in the bar automatically via the App?
More time for drinking, eating and drinking!
I think the process I really need to automate is the one where I write my phone number on a stack of cocktail napkins and distribute them to every girl in the bar. That’s very time consuming and for some odd reason yields poor results. If there were an app that could do that, it would indeed be a huge time saver.
Personalised cocktail napkins with your name and number printed on, distribute to every local bar. They save money, you save time, sit back and wait for the calls to come in haha.
This is genius. If I show them the app on my phone they’ll believe I’m a 純日本人 for sure! A 10,000JPY donation gets my face added to the database right?
What sort of unprincipled individual do you take me for? I could never do something so dishonest for 10,000 yen. That would cost at least 15,000. So fax me that much and I’ll put you, your German shepherd, your French poodle, anybody you like in there.
Ken, very funny and creative article ideed, I’m in love with your writting style, and… I predict that people like you are the ones who are going to change Japan eventually, into a more… global like comunity. It will take time though, but Japanese people are smart, so it will happen relatively fast; probably in your lifetime. It takes time for a community to mature.
Still, let me remind you that while what you are facing there is quite anoying, it is for the most part harmless. Like, Japan isn’t like parts of the middle east where being a muslim christian can get you and your family in shot and left in a ditch, or for example, if in eastern europe the wrong person finds out or just suspects you are a jew can get you a nice beat up (Jews are part of the “World zionist banker dominator criminals and country infiltrators and robbers”, or such. Talk about arbitrary judgement) So in Japan the topic of discrimination for the most part can be an anoyance rather than a threat to your life.
If you are intrested in the subject, I recommend you read the history of the Jewish people as they adapted in different societies through out their history. They had the problem you are facing for a long ass time.
“…probably in your lifetime.”
I think you’re right. Of course, I’m assuming I’ll live to be 250 years old. Come on Okinawa diet!
I’m pretty sure thats not how Awamori works.
This old lady apparently thinks otherwise:
Villager Ushi Okushima, 100, has been known to outdrink the young journalists who come to interview her about the village’s health secrets. She recently left an inebriated TV film crew sleeping in her living room. Okushima believes the secret to her longevity is awamori, the local rice wine she seasons with mugwort and drinks every night at bedtime. “It helps my sleep,” she says. “I sleep well after I drink.”
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2002-01-03-usat-okinawa.htm
I’m not one to shy away from a challenge, especially if it involves alcohol. Researching flights now.
When you turn 100, don’t forget to thank me.
While I completely agree with your comment, I just need to point out that you can’t actually be a muslim christian. You can be an Arab christian, or a caucasian muslim. What I am saying is ‘muslim’ isn’t a race 🙂
Can we get racist stretch goals if we go over the goal? Like using 外人 for white people, 黒人 for black people and チョン for Koreans among others?
“Of course, if it’s Yes, the screen will display the Japanese word はい, and if it’s No, it will produce English.”
So it is following the footsteps of those signs found in international airports like Narita where different people get different messages, eh? 😉
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hEzLgVb6cI0/UXtd6CEE8QI/AAAAAAAAA94/y6GVaxdND_g/s1600/IMG_3928.JPG
What I like is when I fly domestically in Japan, and the flight attendant addresses Asian passengers in Japanese, and me in English. I feel very welcome in this country at those times.
Considering that most of the foreigners that travel in Japan don’t speak the language, it seems like they’re just rolling with the averages and trying to be polite.
When you respond to them in Japanese, do they switch to Japanese?
Not always. Sometimes they just look annoyed.
I certainly get the part about averages, but I’m not sure I buy the politeness. I mean, often there are passengers who are identifiably Chinese or Korean. Nobody greets them in those languages. And would it be polite to do so? I’m guessing they wouldn’t be thrilled either.
It’s probably just an attempt to make life easier on both sides, not saying it works or it’s right. When you’re in the US and you go into a Japanese restaurant, what language do you use?
For all the amazing people like you and other fluent Japanese speaking foreigners in Japan, you have many, many more of people like me that quickly spit out eiga hanasemaska (typo deliberate). I actually appreciate their English effort and if makes me more comfortable to attempt Japanese and meet somewhere in between in our interaction.
When my wife and I visit China and Korea, everyone approaches her, and I think she’s clearly Japanese looking, and speak the local language even though she says she’s Japanese. She’s switched to saying she’s American but they still persist with Chinese/Korean to endless frustration on both sides.
“When you’re in the US and you go into a Japanese restaurant, what language do you use?”
English, for sure. The vast majority of people working in “Japanese” restaurants in the U.S. are not Japanese. (Don’t get me started on the food.) If I do meet someone who’s Japanese, I’ll mention that I live in Japan, and sometimes ask if we can speak Japanese. But usually, they’re far happier to speak English, and I can understand why.
>Not always. Sometimes they just look annoyed.
There was a recent discussion on Reddit regarding this. This guy was trying to order a Subway sandwich in Japanese but the cashier was having none of it.
Some were commenting the cashier was anticipating English so the Japanese that came out of the guy’s mouth must have sounded unintelligible like some sort of Klingon-inspired madness. They even suggested starting with ええと to alert the cashier of the fact that Japanese is going to be spoken. Others were commenting that the cashier was used to hearing specific patterns in Japanese so any spoken Japanese that doesn’t follow those patterns would sound foreign and annoying.
The fact that the flight attendants know and are professionally expected to use the English language probably has a lot to do with it. They may not know Chinese or Korean, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be trained by the airline to use it in a business setting unless they were specifically working Seoul-Tokyo or whatever.
Oh yeah, I get that on Air Asia flying in or out. “konnichiwa”, “konnichiwa”, “konnichiwa”, “konnichiwa”, … “hello sir”.
I also like the ATMs at 711s. If you put a foreign credit card into the machine, your language choices are…
Korean, Chinese, or English. There is literally no Japanese option.
If I ever start another blog, I’m gonna use that as the title. nojapaneseoption.com
which was very funny when my (japanese) wife, now living overeas, first used our credit card in japan.
Apparently, when you’re Japanese and live outside of Japan, you must learn English, Chinese or Korean. Unfortunately, my wife spoke none of them.
That is fascinating about the ATM. I guess Korean is more widely spoken outside Korea than Japanese is outside Japan? Or maybe their population is just growing. I think I saw Japanese adopted more dogs last year then children being born.
Korean, Chinese and English are the languages most likely to be spoken by visiting foreigners, hence whenever you have multiple language signage (like in airports etc.) these are the three you get.
The most annoying to my ears is the okkei desu! When someone was checking our tickets for boarding a bus, the line went something like “hai, hai, hai, okkei desu, okkeidesu, hai hai”.
Ugh, I know. No need to say oooh-kaaay-. Just go ahead and say, “Oh, and here’s a white guy.” It means about the same thing.
@danchan.
At the ATM near my house their are two options: Japanese bank card or international bank card. If you push the “International bank card” option, it says, “unavailable” and spits out your card to end the transaction. No opportunity to start over and try again.
At this point you have to conclude they are just trying to piss you off.
This feels like a twilight zone episode after reading all the responses. In America today, we are being inundated with foreigners from Central and South America. Principles of schools are being fired when they ask students to speak English. They just announced that minorities are now the majority in America and not a day goes by where you don’t hear locally about illegals committing crimes. Mexican Gangs are terrorizing even small cities out in boondocks of rural America. They are even using illegals to vote illegally to manipulate primaries (to kill the Tea party); all fostered by Obama’s liberal progressive agenda.
Yes, I’ve always enjoyed the melting pot that is America, but it only works if the people coming to America buy into the American dream (and many have), but nowadays they talk about open civil war and government overreach, so My opinion of America is changing and I wouldn’t mind having a protective society like Japan now, here in America instead of the shit that is called government. Seems like the grass is always greener on the other side after all! BTW, that facial recognition program is being used by the NSA here in the United States to track the movement of people around the country using all of the thousands of surveillance cameras and I’m getting a wee bit paranoid about Big Brother being able to know and track my location around the clock.
Just in case you think the police should protect you in America, there are now 8 (at least) different law enforcement agencies that can send SWAT type units to your home and break down your door: ATF, DEA, FBI, Department of the Interior, EPA, IRS, FDA, Homeland security and the regular police departments (Local, County and State makes 3 more actually) and they all have armored vehicles and use stun grenades and come to your house at any hour of the night. There is one SWAT raid every 4 hours in the US. Just the other day the Environmental Protection Agency raided a home for purchasing a Range Rover without a catalytic converter thru e-bay. Seems like they are deliberately fomenting civil disorder to have an excuse for implementing a police state here. With our open borders, it won’t be long till the militant Muslims like ISIS start sending over their terrorists to pay us back for Iraq. I think Japan is a real safe bet now compared to what we’re looking at here in the US!!
You are joking right? Government overreach in the US? Giving people basic free health care… Whereas here, they employ people just to concrete the river beds for something to do.
Stop watching Fox (News) and maybe you’ll stop being so frightened of change. Hate to mention, but America has always been a bunch of ethnic minorities.
Yo Pear-shaped,
Nope, not joking and there is no free health care here!! Are you joking? Stop watching whatever you’re news your not paying attention too and look at any news over here, even CNN and ABC or NBC. Yes, I am frightened of change that comes from somebody trying to destroy our constitutional rights and that includes both the democrats and republicans frankly. It started under Bush/Shrub with the Patriot Act and Obama is doing the same things in attacking our freedoms and rights to privacy (basically ignoring the constitution and our laws) and ruling by executive order. They ARE changing America into a socialist country, I agree, but I don’t like socialism or the destruction of the middle class while the wealthiest keep getting richer from the unfair manipulation of finances and business around the globe under the so called “Globalist” agenda. All the while Obama claims transparency and still refuses to answer questions about all the abuses of power and use of Federal agencies to attack and intimidate political opponents.
Just a while ago, Putin was the first world leader to call out the Rothschild family (the New World Order) and George Soros for illegally conspiring to manipulate financial markets and has issued an international arrest warrant for him and all of the Rothschild family members. Now I don’t like Putin as he’s nothing more than a dictator, but I think he may be right and Soros is one of the Bilderberg steering committee members, just like Rupert Murdock (owner of FOX) and some of the Rockefellers. Type in Google and search for “Rockefellers and Rothschilds merge”; that happened in 2012. Stay ignorant about the reality of what is happening in the US; after all, that is what the majority here does already.
I’m very glad the app comes with blood analysis, you can never be too careful. Perhaps they should also include a sweat-gland test in later releases; it’s good to cross verify and we all know gaijin smell bad. (Er wait, didn’t it turn out there is a nugget of truth to that?)
You know, I know a girl here whose entire reason for wanting to date “gaijin” is because “I like how they smell.” She claims to be able to identify gaijin walking down the street simply by their scent.
I’d really love to do a t-shirt smell test with her.
Hahahaha. Oh this had me cracking up! I spent 40 days in Japan last winter and loved it, and enjoy very much reading blogs like yours based in Japan to keep me up to date with all things Japanese. Cheers mate!
Thanks man. Yeah, it’s a great country. Hurry back!
One simple question.
Does a nation have a right to preserve itself when faced with mass emigration and general globalism?
The Japanese people and culture you enjoy enough to leave your own, what would happen to it all if X Zimbabweans were permitted to immigrate to Japan? Hell, why not entire west Africa.
Eventually no more Japanese people, and barely any Japanese culture.
Apps like these are just a reaction. A reaction that might grow a lot more severe.
Now there’s a complicated question for a Sunday morning.
The current situation is that many of the Japanese people you see in Japan aren’t actually “Japanese.” There’s a lot of mixed blood here, as people go to great lengths to disguise the fact that they or their parents are from somewhere else.
A friend of mine is fighting to death with her parents to let her marry a “Korean” guy. Of course, he was born in Japan, but to the parents, he’s not “Japanese.” And actually, I think they have a point. If they have a child, that child’s future will be infinitely more difficult than if she married another guy who was “really” Japanese.
It’s a shame to see Westerners invest their lives in learning Japanese and Japanese customs, only to be ostracized, and eventually leave. Meanwhile, Asian immigrants, who want only a better life (but aren’t necessarily enamored with the culture) are coming here in large numbers.
So it’d pay to consider who will best preserve the culture. I’m not sure that’s going to come down to simply who looks the most “Japanese.”
“It’s a shame to see Westerners invest their lives in learning Japanese and Japanese customs, only to be ostracized, and eventually leave.”
Powerful comment Ken but I’ve seen it as well. Not sure what it will take to convince the general population/press that culture is just a sum of the people regardless of what they look like. I’ve found that some of the foreigners here know more about history and current affairs than the natives (access to non-Japanese information is helpful!).
Ironically, the national sport, sumo, seems to be dominated with foreigners that know the sumo culture as well, if not better than some of the Japanese.
I agree. If Japan faces a threat to its traditional culture, it’s almost certainly from inside rather than out. Young people are interested in almost anything not Japanese. They line up for Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas, exchange Swiss chocolate on Valentine’s Day, and meet their friends at Starbucks. But you can still buy a plastic bottle of green tea at 7-11, so I guess the ancient ways are being preserved. At least that’s something.
It’s as Andrew said in a different posting, it really comes down to who you meet in this crazy country I guess. Your Japan is very different than my Japan (so far) as you seem to have this incredible power to attract fascinating people and situations. Which makes your blog a must read!
Simple answer Awkward… ABSOLUTELY YES; they have the right to preserve their way of life. Immigrating to another country should be a privilege not a right. The policy of that nation to regulate immigration should be decided by that country’s people through laws and enacted through government enforcement. In America immigration laws are being ignored by dictate (executive order) of our President OBAMA (contrary to law) and he should be impeached for these violations among many others. He is not enforcing laws voted on legally by our elected congress according to our constitution. Impeachment of a President requires the vote of a majority of the U.S. Senate and the Democrats (Obama’s political party) control the senate, so they know he can’t be impeached. That’s why they are currently trying to sue him through the courts for exceeding his Presidential authority.
Do I resent Japan’s immigration policy, yes, but I also admire them for trying to keep their country safe and secure from the problems that huge numbers of immigrants present to the social structure of a country. America is the land of immigrants and it is fine to allow some numbers of new people into the country, but we are already 17 trillion dollars in debt and they want to bring in tens of thousands of immigrants a month and give them welfare and pay for their schooling and food costs and “We the People” have to pay for their decision to act kind when the reason they are doing this is politically motivated. They know that a majority of immigrants will be able to vote illegally again because President OBAMA has used executive order to prevent poll workers in immigrant heavy states from checking citizenship status and they are planning to make their “Democratic” party the majority to remain in power and change the demographics of this nation. They also know that a conservative America is currently majority white for the most part and they are making minorities the majority by allowing in huge numbers of non-whites, so this is also a racial issue and a cultural issue since the new immigrants don’t want to speak English either!
All Americans are getting crushed by the economic situation and real income is down 23% since 2008. Medical costs are rising, food costs are skyrocketing and nothing is cheaper because we are getting taxed by a government that is spending out of control. A full third of our population is unemployed and not looking for work, while they pay a bloated bureaucracy to work at harassing everyday Americans with too many laws that invade our private lives and many government workers who don’t do anything but get a paycheck. Since Obama has been in office our government has almost doubled in size and the military has gone down by 25%, while the welfare rolls have gone up to 50 million Americans, from 26 million in 2007 before he was elected – meaning our 75 year war on poverty is being lost at a phenomenal rate since he became President… and the numbers of poor will continue to grow with the incoming immigrants (even though it is against the law for them to receive such free aid).
You won’t see a lot of news coverage on this since the press in America is controlled completely. Obama has also disallowed our officials from checking on citizenship status before they award welfare (again by executive action) and those on welfare no longer are required to be looking for employment. There is much speculation that OBAMA (the secret socialist) is trying to Bankrupt the US economy to change our country into a quasi-socialist (maybe even communist China type) government. He may succeed if no Americans are ready to stand up to this lawless administration but soon there may be a militia ready to fight for what is right. Once fighting starts I have no idea what will happen, but I hope those people behind this deliberate destruction of the American economy are the first on the hit parade.
Japan and it’s (perceived?/not) mistreatment of its immigrants along with its racially motivated inferiority complex are another issue entirely.
Japan’s got quite a challenge in front of them but I think it’s starting to register; more companies are focused on getting business out of Japan and the number of non-Japanese filling entry level roles in restaurants, conbini’s and industry is raising quickly.
The culture is so strong here but it would benefit to see some non-Japanese participating on some of the events. Like have Ken advocate natto or something.
Hey Bud,
I’ve always enjoyed your light hearted comments. I completely disagree with a lot of what you said and totally again with a bunch other stuff, But one thing is for sure, I do miss Americans rantin’ and ravin’ in my daily life. Strange, I know, but living abroad does strange things to you. Something that I think is lost on most people under 30 don’t understand is how radically different America used to be. I’m not talkin it was all better back in the day or that uphill both ways garbage, but that it was a different kind of living and a different kind of freedom. It’s hard to explain unless you lived it.
And one thing you got right is not to trust the American media at all. AT ALL. I’ve only been to Japan for a day but I trust everything Ken says about Japanese culture and the like infinitely more than anything I watch or read in the media. I live in China and 99% of everything I read about this place is just rubbish and fear mongering – even what the government is like here.
And Ken, keep crushin’ it. Are you going to add this feature to your comments section?
That’s cool Zhou,
It wouldn’t be an interesting world if everyone agreed on these things. I just really think there’s a chance that my country is ripe for civil war or at least a guerrilla war of terrorism in the near future. I have never trusted my government LESS than I do now. I am a very patriotic American and was in the military and was in D.C. for several years, which gave me a close up view on how the process of American government works and I’ve never seen such a breakdown in our political process. Our Congress is gridlocked and literally worthless and is definitely not working as intended by our founding fathers; our last several Presidents have been abusing power through executive orders and are disregarding our constitution and the rules of law on a scale inside the US that has never been seen since FDR enacted far reaching powers during WWII. The Bush and Obama Presidency years have scared the heck out of me and I just don’t know if the American spirit can survive the fundamental changes they have made in the body politic. Since you didn’t mention specific details you don’t agree with, I can’t address the reasons why I feel that way, but in summary: I really do feel that the Japanese (justifiably) feel much safer than Americans do in their homes and lives and that is why I feel like there is some unreal quality to this situation. The USA, WHO is supposed to protect Japan as a world super power – according to our defense treaty, has such horrible racial problems that it threatens to turn into race riots in the streets, is nearly bankrupt and is the enemy of much of the world. Maybe Japan should protect us instead… LOL!
Hi Bud
I totally believe all your posts and all this is for power and control (maybe money). I hope for a decent future as I am still not middle aged. I just can’t understand why they want humanity to suffer
You said it SadWorld,
Think of all the human potential that is lost to those that lie, cheat and steal from others to get ahead in the game of life. Worst of all are those lives left un-lived because of ignorance, brutality, warfare and gross incompetence. How many times has genius been squandered? I often hope for a world one day that can allow each and every human being to live the best life that they can… (ya I’m really an idealist at heart), but all of this EVIL (for lack of a better word) that exists in this world has taken so much away from us all and smothers so much optimism.
I feel that one day soon, humanity could have a chance to obtain unlimited cheap energy (with “Fusion Power” tied to “Solar Roadways”) and that could lead to unlimited free water (using the new “Graphene” desalinization process), and there could be crops enough to feed all the people on the planet produced in the deserts around the planet. It would also be possible for everyone to link in to the internet so that we could share all of this incredibly valuable knowledge.
A new major break-through in technology is supposed to turn all carbon (including waste oil and plastics) into a chemically renewable energy source; THAT’s a game changer in the energy industry. And this technology is safer and cleaner than any current energy utilization system we now use, so the Earth would be a greener place to live if this was used. Cheap energy means we could develop Carbon Fiber nano-tubes to build a space elevator on the Earth and the Moon… to allow mankind to move out and explore/colonize the Moon and Mars cheaply. This could make it possible to terraform Mars so that large populations could move there (in areas at least equal to the size of all livable land here on the Earth) and therefore spread out humanity to the farthest reaches of the Solar System or even to other stars.
All that’s holding us back is the lack of TRUTH and the GREED of a small percentage of human beings. Those despicable people help to perpetuate LIES, HATE and WAR as they control the media, manipulate the finances of the world and steal resources from the rest of us, while preventing us from feeding and educating the masses or developing resources in the most profitable manner for all of civilization. They deliberately keep us from solving the problems that hold us back and ultimately threaten us with extinction from disease, plague and even nuclear war/disasters as these oligarchs revel in their excessive wealth and power.
Ken and his Blog is a ray of hope in this world because he commits his time and considerable intellectual capital to wisely helping others understand a small percentage of the Human existence. That is why I really enjoy participating in this exchange here. The fact that I get a good laugh out of much that Ken writes in his satirical and funny way is a really added BONUS to the things I learn here!! Plus, there are a lot of really nice intelligent people that contribute to the questions and answers after each article. So, thanks again Sad (I really appreciate your words), as it helps to know that there are still more kindred spirits out there questioning the status quo; looking for that silver lining in life and the answers to the game of life. Ganbaritai.
P.S. Check out a new upcoming book called “The Great Game: The Coming Face Off for Global Supremacy” by Dr. Kent Moors. It might not be for sale yet, as its being tied into a new investment strategy and is still limited to investors only. Great book on the energy game being played around the world and how its linked to all the major players on the world scene. This guy is really dialed in to the developing technologies and the Big Picture of energy politics and power on a global scale; as well as the Oligarchs trying to control and influence energy resources.
Hello there, I have a question and hope you don’t mind answering but if you do have the time can you please explain how can you send U.S money to Tokyo, Japan, It seems kinda confusing to me.
-Thanks.
Yeah, I’ve very limited experience transferring money. All I’ve ever done is to deposit money into a U.S. bank account, and then withdraw it through an ATM in Tokyo. If you have a credit or debit card with a major bank, it may be supported here. I’ve had good success with a Citibank card on the Cirrus network.
Now, that’s also a very expensive way to send funds, because you don’t necessarily get the best exchange rate, and you pay some horrible service fee, but if you do it one time, eh, maybe it’s not a huge deal. On the other hand, you probably shouldn’t run out of yen every Saturday night and dash to the 7-11 ATM for 200 dollars from the U.S. just so you can keep on drinking. When Sunday morning rolls around, you might feel a slight twinge of regret, in addition to a crushing hangover. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Probably an International Money Order is a smarter way to go, but I haven’t personally done it. The US Postal service makes it sound pretty easy.
Hey ken! I have a question that I would really love if you answered!
In the future, I wan’t to move to japan for good, But sadly that future is quite a ways away for at least lets say… 10 years..
In what order should I do things? In these 10 or so years, I have already planned to at least learn a decent bit of Japanese in my free time so when I do get over there I will be able to have decent conversations, But I don’t know if there is anything else important I should do in this time.
I also don’t know what I should do first when I DO get over there, What should be my highest priority and what should I focus on less?
I’d also like it if you told me at what age you moved to japan.
Thanks a lot!
P.S I never thought that out of everybody I would ask a random person i don’t know anything about except his name and the fact he likes beer to direct my life, hehe.
Well, at the risk of sounding interminably practical, how about saving a ton of money and getting the highest level of education possible? Too realistic? Eh, maybe just read a bunch of manga then. Probably just as good.
Nah really, I’d suggest doing a tour of several countries before finally settling on the one you like the best, rather than just picking Japan because they’ve got this massive PR campaign that makes the whole country look like it’s full of sliding paper doors and women with itty-bitty feet. Though I did once see a woman with like size 3 feet, and I gotta say, damn, that was pretty amazing.
Priority wise, I’d put employment first, social connections second, and the Japanese language somewhere down around sixth place. Not sure what goes in slots 3, 4, and 5, but I have a feeling it’s something to do with izakayas, beer, and the opposite sex, but that might reflect a slight personal bias.
So yeah, what to “do” first is do get a job. Once you’ve got cash flow, you can sort everything else out. That’s where I’d start.
Hm, the Zaitokukai are like the Japanese alt-right – only 6 years before their American counterparts. Wow, Japan is so advanced.
I can understand frustrations with immigration to some extent. There are reasonable questions to propose in terms of how many immigrants, particularly low-skilled immigrants, a given country should take in, particularly when the native population is already struggling economically.
But, as a nation that is hardly inundated with immigrants, the immigrant seems an unusual (albeit, familiar) scapegoat in Japan. The immigration rate is negligible, especially when compared to that of the US, where such an issue is arguably a more pressing concern.
Also, I don’t understand how harassing Korean children, most of whom likely represent the umpteenth generation of Koreans living in Japan, makes for a strong public debate. But, then again, I’m not Japanese, so I don’t think my opinion really carries much weight among Zaitokukai circles.
Oh, Japan. Keep being your weird, racist self.