[kawaiineko]

No I'm not looking for sympathy with the crap that's going on in my life from people I don't know. If I wanted sympathy I could have gone into great detail with my problems, yet I was extremely vague about it. If you read my previous post, it implied that getting a visa is tied in with alien registration. I said quite clearly that if I have a passport, which is one part of the process of applying for a visa, it would make said process easier. If you don't have a passport it's twice as much work with acquiring a visa, because you have to apply for a visa and for a passport. Also, I never said "Oh, I'm not aware that western culture has influenced Japanese culture" because I'm well aware of this. Essentially what I was trying to say (imply rather) was that Japanese culture is currently a blend of two cultures. Western culture (primarily American culture) has influenced Japanese culture, so the blending
of the Japanese and western culture is the end result. Yes I know Japanese have their own philosophies and way of thinking; they have their own traditions because these were developed through the country's history. However, if you're going to deny that Japan isn't a blend of western and Japanese culture, you're wrong. Even the Japanese will acknowledge that western culture has influenced their culture. When you compare Japanese culture sixty years-seventy years ago to what Japanese refer to as "modern" Japan (current Japan) there are tremendous differences in the culture (because at that point and time Japanese culture was for the most part closed off to Western culture). I never said applying for a visa and an alien registration to Japan would be easy. What I said was, that if you have passport already, that will be less work regarding the process of acquiring a visa in general. Japan is probably as bias as the United States is with allowing foreigners to enter their country, since it is a homogeneous country (one language, primarily one nationality). Even today, the United States is a melting pot; it has been since the 1920's and people immigrated from all over the globe. One more thing regarding the visa, I corrected myself regarding what I thought with the definition I put with a visa because to an extent it was unclear and inaccurate.

Many people have come off with this attitude that all foreigners want to move to Japan (primarily Americans) and live in Japan but via an American lifestyle. Do you know how hypocritical of me that would be? If you're going to Japan but hesitant, reluctant, and/or too set in your own ways to adjust to their culture, you might as well continue living a lifestyle you're comfortable with and stay where you're currently living (your homeland essentially). However, I'm learning Japanese. I don't have to; nobody is forcing me too. Yet it would be the polite and respectful thing to do to communicate in their language so they understand what I'm saying and I understand what they're saying. Also people tend to warm up to you more if you at least attempt communication with them in their native language. Example, I don't know that much kanji but I do recognize your kanji. The romaji for it is "hachi"; the hiragana for it is はち. No I'm not doing this to come off as a know-it-all because I've only been studying the language ten months. What I'm doing is giving you proof to prove to you what I say is true. If I had no knowledge of the Japanese language, I would not have been able to translate that kanji to romaji, and I wouldn't have been able to give you the English translation of the romaji. Bottom line is, I haven't even left for Japan yet, and I'm already trying to prepare myself BEFORE I go by learning and studying as much as I can with their language, so that when I go, I'll be at least semi-fluent with reading, speaking, and writing Japanese. I know in any language the most heavily used part is speaking; but if you want to be fully fluent in a language you have to know how to read, write, and speak it. This is my goal with Japanese. To assume all foreigners will act like this when they move to Japan is rude and ignorant. I'm a foreigner and I have no intention of acting like an American in a Japanese culture; just as Japanese have been influenced by western culture because they have become semi-immersed in it the same principal can apply for me. Japanese culture will influence my lifestyle and how I think because I will be immersed in it. However, if you're saying western culture isn't going to influence me at all you're wrong. I believe the foreigner's culture will influence them to an extent because it's how they were raised, and how you were raised tends to mold you as a person to an extent.