akaifox

joined 1 year ago
 

Cross post from reddit that just got locked:

/r/japanlife/comments/18ycbqu/returning_back_to_europe_after_45_months_in_japan/

I have been on on exchange living in Japan and I must say I have been impressed and felt very very very welcome here. Have never felt this way in any country (maybe not even my own). I am heading back now unfortunatly.

Apart from all the good food, nature etc. The things that I have noticed and really appreciated was:

  • Never had a conflict with anyone here. Not a single one (yes, it is obvious I am not Japanese, so I guess locals will be more accepting, but still).
  • Everyone seems to be very mindful of others and things are so clean and orderly. No one is loud, take up space etc. And no one minds you (people dont stare at you or comment on what your doing).
  • Japanese people would ask if I needed help on train stations etc. * Very kind people ! It has been very easy to meet locals and I have made good friends (maybe not on tatemae level?).
  • Overall, sitting in the airport, I already feel the European/western loudness, taking up space, clumsiness etc. ... Very uncharming to observe actually comming straight from Japanese living.

I know I probably have some of the traits myself (as I grew up in it) but I am almost a bit affraid to return to all the random people creating conflicts, loud and obnoxious people etc.

Anyone who can comment on things that might help ? I have already tried to find Tonkotsu ramen places (hahah!) in my city and other Japanese things that might make me feel more at ease. Non the less, thank you Japan for an absolutely amazing experince here !

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Reminds me of my first weeks in Japan....

I took my Kona Private Jake with me (nowhere near that bike, but $2-3k) which I would expect to be gone in an instant in the UK. I kept placed my bike on the balcony of the monthly apartment in Roppongi, which was only on the 2nd floor, and would check it at night as I thought someone would nick it

This shortly progressed to leaving it outside when going to the conbini, etc

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

a native RAR app

It better come with a "Trial Expired" pop-up or I am not using it

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

From the generation before this, I always thought the "mobile generation"'s computer savviness had been overrated. Mobile phones (especially iOS) are like a walled garden compared to using a PC and Windows. It was easy to shoot yourself in the foot on Windows 98, etc so you learnt to be careful very quickly. Likewise, there's no jumping into the registry or terminal, no built in zip/rar handling, warnings from the OS, built in Malware protection, etc

The internet was a wild place in the 90s and this generation never really experienced that. Forums had lax moderation and could be full of troll links to "I am an idiot", goatse, etc. Files could be hosted on random webpages and the downloads could contain anything: often a virus alongside the actual file, etc

I remember not using an antivirus as Norton and co would crush your machine, so you just had to tread extremely carefully

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I expect the same outcome, similar to Smalling he'll thrive under a different system

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It will be like where I was working. On that project there were ~12 people. You could've cut in in half easily:

  • AFAIK the project manager did nothing but create meetings (tbh they had no clue what they were doing)
  • The QA was incompetent and instead I wrote all their tests and taught the junior dev so he could too
  • 2 User Researchers set up various sessions -- but the business told them all their findings were wrong (turns out the researchers were right)
  • Architect went to some meetings and never spoke to the devs about anything (turns out they were responsible for multiple projects at once, which obviously makes things hard)
  • The Lead Developer seemed to be on holiday every other day, dealing with some personal issue, or in meetings
  • One Dev was fresh out of a scheme (for non comp sci students, so was slow but that's understandable)

I ended up working overtime into burn out to get the project through the door (and hit issues due the architect should've informed us of). It would've honestly been easier as just me, one other developer, and a BA