It sounds like I'm not that far from the reality. Yeah, British are famous for their dark humor, not just your teacher :p I think Japanese people share some of that quality albeit they aren't as openly challenging to other people. I sometimes find Chinese people possess a quality that is similar to the people in the states. They like to talk, talk loud, and talk straight in your face. But their intensions are usually to settle the issue logically. Japanese people are, mmm, more subtle, and they don't raise their voices. But when things go really bad, it can create serious and long lasting rancor in the hearts of the people who are involved.

There certainly appears to be, at least from my observations, a growing expectation by younger people in Australia that life should be easy. Or more to the point that they should be able to have it all right away. There's little recognition or understanding of the years and years of hard work it usually takes to get where you want to be in life. They don't want to start small and work their way up to living in their preferred suburb or dream home with their dream car. They seem to almost expect all that from their mid 20's and complain like hell when they can't actually afford it! As though they have some right to expect all that from a young age after barely a few years full time work. Older generations are certainly not like that.

After seeing this YouTube - BAKA Y2K8 Cosplay - Vocaloid
They know they must come to Japan to see the original.

Well memories of the war still linger-----------about the cruelty to so many Prisoners of War.


whereabouts were you in UK Cranks-- were you here working or studying?

I think we all know one of the main motivations to come to Japan for the younger guys out there is Japanese girls. The charisma man phenomena is certainly still alive and well in Japan... :mtongue:

Maybe students live a totally different existence compared to those out working, raising families etc.


Quite a few of the views on here seems to be from a students POV.

Obviously different generations have different experiences and aspects.

Hopefully the young can look forward---Times have changed so much.

Now with the internet-- communication is global---------- we are learning so much more than would have happened in the past.


from what I have read, school children in Japan work long hours. everything seems geared to studying--- do they have time to Play and relax, have fun.

my friend worked for the same company all her working life--------- so often working till midnight- isn't that crazy? No overtime paid.

Love that Gonative.

Our women fell for the GI's that came over during the war-- they offered nylons and bubble gum-- plus leaving their babies behind.


I think we like some one who is different from ourselves. I once was in a cafe in a small village where many americans visit--------- A Huge western man came in with a beautiful asian girl on his arm.


She was diminutive-- really exquisite in form-- I wondered if she was Taiwanese-- I just wondered how she could be with this giant of a man who. seemed almost unable to keep his hands off her.

In my area dogsbody it's pretty rare to see school age children ever out playing around their home or hanging out down the shops or wherever. Sometimes a bit on weekends but almost never on a week night. Besides seeing them all walking to school in the morning and coming back in the evening you'd almost think there weren't any kids in this town.

Considering some of the things I've heard old people say about Japan, I'm not surprised if some people get the impression that Britain is anti-Japanese. Amongst the younger generations I guess there can be derision towards anime and japanese pop-culture, which might be taken as anti.

*laughs* Well they've got a point about the food to a degree. Some of it is truly terrible. Then again, I used to live in Oxford, and looking at what a lot of tourists i saw eating there were tucking into; cheap pub grub, chain cafe sandwiches and hotel breakfasts. No wonder they come away thinking British food is awful.

As Alan Bennet once wrote, it's probably because the English are "conceived in irony... joking but not joking, caring but not caring, serious but not serious." Generally we just like to sit back and declare as the bad stuff rolls by "bah, well that's just typical, isn't it!"

HI GONative--------- Actually we don't see so many kids out-- because many are indoors on their computers.

The playparks are not so full of kids playing as there used to be.

We do now have a decent skateboard park and its great to see mostly boys practising. I strongly feel that all children need some other interests or hobbies in lives apart from constant studying.


Are music lessons available do you know-- at school? here we seem to have dropped Music in manyof our schools which is detrimental.

lol @ watashi wa ..charisma man desu and how suddenly he has chiseled features.

Hilarious!

Along with what was being said on "things handed to the younger generations" (paraphrased of course):

It's funny to hear some college kids talk about their 6 figure jobs and/or corner office complete-with-desk-to-use-as-foot-rest that are, apparently, on the way. All that's left is graduating and applying for tha job.

It's true that SOME of the younger generations are a bit naive as to what it takes to actually "make it" (financially I suppose we're talking about). Ah well, I was the same way...and I'm sure a lot of others were and eventually you'll figure it out or......you'll die. (okay maybe a little dramatic there)

A quote from the owner of a micro-brewery that stuck with me: " You know the old saying...It took me 20 years to become an overnight success."

It's the age old saying of the older generations:
"back in the day..music was better" "back when I was growing up kids were more respectful" "when I was younger people had values" "when i was younger when milk was a quarter and bread a nickle..."

Oh, don't get me started on the abuse of Prisoners of War. Wars are cruel. I don't believe westerners were completely fair and humane to Japanese either. But in any case, I don't think Britain in general is an anti Japanese country today. I lived in a city 30 minutes from London studying, and was mostly in Japanese bubble so my knowledge on the UK is not as comprehensive as the one on the US. I don't have a hint of British accent which I really should have picked up when I was there :)

Yeah, there actually were a lot of things that I found better than the ones in Japan like wine and cheese and bread and malt vinegar on fries, I mean chips, some pies in local pubs, etc, and places like Conran restaurant were very good. It's just there weren't many "English" restaurant where they serve cheap but good meal.

I guess 'English' food is kind of hard to pin down to a clear idea of what it is. I mean, a lot of people abroad think it's a roast beef dinner or fish and chips, which it is, but it's like sushi is to Japan, you only really eat it rarely. But then what's really popular tends to not really be British at all, like pasta and pizza, or curry. And the rest of our usual fare is really too hum-drum or too similar to other western countries to really point out as being specially british. :/ Maybe the cornish pasty. That's pretty banging. I did joke once about going to Japan and setting up パスティ屋。Featuring ダイエットパスティ and 和風パスティ for those who find a full on British meat pie just too much to handle.

But yes. Cheese. I sorely missed proper cheese in Japan. and sausages. I never noticed about the vinegar myself, but one of my Japanese friends said she found it too strong, because in Japan normally the table vinegar was for putting on salads?

hmm, actually, パスティー屋さん or パイ屋さん may be a good idea. Never seen one in Tokyo before where there are all the kinds of restaurants from Greek to Burmese so that's definitely new, and baking is one area Japanese aren't very good at. Many people don't use or have an oven at home.

Table vinegar is usually for dumplings=餃子 or for Ramen noodles I think. Never used it on salad myself. But it is white vinegar and you never see malt vinegar. Even here in the states, I don't see it that often. mmm now I feel like fresh chips with a lot of malt vinegar on :drool:

WHAT??!!?? There are bakeries and bread shops all over Japan that are miles ahead of the breads you buy in N. America. Baking is one of the best things Japanese chefs do.

Really? That's a great compliment, and yeah, at the professional level, it's probably true, although I like sourdough and rye bread and all other variety of breads here in the states almost better than the Japanese bread (singular on purpose), but that's just personal taste. But at home though. We use oven rarely if at all. My mom used to teach western culinary art so she uses it a lot, but majority of people don't really use it so I thought there may be a business opportunity there. Even my mom doesn't bake pies. The price of pizza, another dish that is cooked by an oven, in Japan is outrageous right?

Is it easy to find regular bread in Japan (i.e. not sweet bread). Throughout Asia (Korea, China, Philippines) I've found pretty much every bread I bought is sweet. The only time I had unsweetened bread was at a very high-class hotel where the owner was European and catered specifically to European diets (hearty soups, thick gravies and unsweetened bread!)

If any country in Asia is the exception, I'd imagine it would be Japan :p If I was there for any extended period of time without regular bread I think I'd begin to miss it despite my love for exotic and new foods.

Of course, we are Japanese, we have everything :haughty face: :mtongue:
I've heard Vietnam has good western style bread though.
And judging from our local Vietnamese restaurant, that may be true.

Yeah I find the bakeries in my area to be excellent. Some of the cakes are truly spectacular.
The range of breads generally on offer up here though are pretty limited. And something as simple as a whole grain, wholemeal bread is considered a bit of a luxury item and generally costs a fair amount. It's almost impossible to find such breads in supermarkets or convenience stores. The local convenience store at the ski resort I work at does sell wholemeal bread twice a week but it's really only found here because of the large foreign population. Couldn't find it in other towns in the area.

People selling wholemeal bread in Hokkaido and I don't understand a word of 津軽弁.
http://www.japanforum.com/forum/japa...ct-french.html

Is there a cultural invasion going on in the north?

I don't think many Americans bake their own bread any more, either.

People don't bake bread at home, for sure. But they still bake, wait, roast, turkeys and stuff. And people still bake pie. Actually, Japanese don't really differentiate roast and bake. They both are 焼く. I was mixing them up until this point too.

I really enjoyed reading this. Well I am a Nigerian but love Japan and currently studing her language.
While majoring in Electrical engineering here in my country, I'd like to get a masters in Japan.

How credible is that, in the sense that.Is it expensive, considering factors like where to stay, fees and all?

Vietnam and Lao; both have a strong french influence in some parts, so lots of good baguettes.

:P We're just obsessed with malt. And beer-related products, and generally lots of things that horrify other nations. *marmite toast!nomnomnom*. Hmm, never put vinegar in ramen. Will have to try it whenever i make it to Japan next.

I used to find excellent cake in Osaka too, and again, limited bread, although I never found a proper panya. Occasionally the bakery in Top World had fresh bread of the size and sort I'm used to in the UK. Once there was packaged whole-meal bread available, the poor cashiers were totally shocked when there was suddenly this mob of foreign students all in at once, buying the whole lot up! I didn't see much savory baking on sale in japan, although there was a lot of excellent patisserie goods. Curry pan, but that's not quite the same thing. Just not quite the eccentric range of pie and things like in the UK. Cold pie~ mmmm~

good luck to you-- you deserve to do well.

That's another thing I'd start to miss in Asia, Marmite! Love the stuff!

Grill some marmite on toast till it's bubbling, spread some cheese over it to melt and voila you have a melt-in-your-mouth, absolutely delicious snack!

Yet another fine post that deserves a thread of its own.
I`ll move this over to another thread!