LogFAQs > #969466339

Faster trains? Yes. More interesting places to eat though? Im from California, so thats a no. Theres certainly a lot of *good* food, as its important to most people here that things taste good, but its almost all Japanese food (or other Asian cuisines). Its not like California where I had excellent food from all around the world. There is non-Japanese food here, but nowhere near the variety and quality Im used to back home.

I think the bigotry in this thread is a bit overblown. Not denying its existence, but to say they really hate foreigners or its openly accepted is a one-dimensional viewpoint informed by racist Internet forums and not actual experience. Like any country, its going to vary from area to area and person to person. The prefecture I live in is pretty welcoming to foreigners, probably in part thanks to a heavy Brazilian population due to a factory that hires them; increased exposure to leads to decreased bigotry. I also think its much more common to find that bigotry in older generations and its less common among the youth, almost all of whom have regular exposure to a native English-speaking teacher throughout their entire school career thanks to their ALT. I think the racism youll find in parts of the United States, such as, say, the Deep South is a lot more overt and aggressive than what youll find in Japan. Its much more of a passive thing here. And theres less of a deep rooted history of systemic violence towards other races or nationalities here (but that still exists, particularly their treatment of Korean immigrants pre- and post-WWII; recommend the book and series Pachinko for a good fictional adaptation exploring this). Bigotry exists here, like it does all places, but this is a safer country for people of all races than almost any other country.

Lastly, who care if people think youre a weeb? Why does their opinion matter to you? Id say about half the foreigners I meet here arent even into anime, manga, JRPGs, or whatever else constitutes weeb culture.