Job Discussion Forums

[JimDunlop2]

[Eva Pilot]

[maya.the.bee]

since i'm a newbie, i can't give any generalizations...but i did find these to be amusing

[Apsara]

[Deicide]

[kdynamic]

[Squire22]

I can't even make general categorisations about my home country and its native people, let alone a group of multinationals in a foreign country.

Like most people have said, there are lots of different people from lots of different countries all hanging out here for different reasons and different jobs. I try to bear in mind that these people are not "representin'" as it were, their people, just themselves...

[sushi]

I might also mention the Philipinos and the newbie chinese who have come to latch onto the almighty Yen to support their families at home. The Philipinos are employed in the hostess bars along with a lot of other westerners from eastern europe. I don't know about the newbie chinese that much, but I met a few hanging out around the entertainment part of Fukuhoka. They were offering cheap massages. Indonesian beauties and Philipino beauties were out trying to entice bodies in off the street to sing in Karaoke bars there as well.

Seems to be a lot of Africans here in Japan too. In Sendai there a few or sometimes a couple of big doods standing in the same locations in the mall every minute of every day of the week.

[TokyoLiz]

Dude, I just realized...

I don't know that many people who teach English. I know two JET participants, one American, the other Irish...After that, I know a few high school solo OC teachers, one British, one Australian and one Canadian. All of them are lovely guys with good humour. I know one British guy who works at a Shane eikaiwa, but no other eikaiwaites. High school and eikaiwa schedules don't coincide - me M-F 8-4, them working weekends and holidays 12-9 - so I don't meet many of them.

After that, my foreign friends are in IT and cellular tech, headhunting, banking, and consulting. A few students, too. Almost all European. All happy, thoughtful, fun people to hang with.

The foreign people in my chome are from China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. I talk to them in passing. All of them work in the local restaurants or at research labs (there are a few big unis nearby).

[Ai]

[canuck]

[sushi]

OK. Yes but, I think you'd be hard put to find an African welder in Japan.

[Mark]

Deicide,

I think I understand what you're getting at. A friend of mine used to live in Seoul and I visited her for a week.

We went out in a couple of the party areas and, basically, you won't see that sort of thing in Japan. Frankly, I was pretty disgusted by what I saw in the foreigner bars/pubs in Seoul.

Your description of the foreigners in Korea pretty much matched what I saw. Not to say that everyone there is a drunken moron, or that everyone here is cool, but they are two different playing fields.

Don't worry, it's much better here.

[harmonious]

This thread has been hilarious

But I must say that many of you have been giving the original poster a bit a of a hard time. Yes, your attitude and what you look for can dramatically change your experience. Yes, people can't be easily stereotyped and do not fit into derogatory boxes.

But after all has been said and done, there are a large number of people who spend too much time in bars and have trouble fitting into their own worlds and everyone knows -however a-politically expressed- what he/she is talking about.

To assume that someone who expresses these ideas can't find friends and is a hopeless and shallow person is just as silly as the idea of his stereotyping. You are stereotyping stereotypists! Is that a word ?

[Like a Rolling Stone]