What is it like for foreigners in Japan?

It is of course enjoyable and profitable to learn about Japanese culture and language.

Understand that it will take a substantial investment of your time and energy for you to master the Japanese language. Few foreigners speak it fluently. The Japanese people that you meet in New Zealand are likely to speak English better than you will speak Japanese even after a few years of intensive study on your part.

It is difficult to make friends here. It is a different culture. A culture where even Japanese people do not speak more than a sentence or two to fellow Japanese they are not familiar with and comfortable with. Striking up a conversation with a stranger and making fast friends is very rare.

Also know that foreigners do not enjoy the exalted status some people think they are afforded. In fact, foreigners in Japan are viewed sort of as failed Japanese. We lack language skills, we do not behave, nor can we behave in the Japanese way, we do not have long-term connections through school and work that are so very important to them. We do not have any family history here nor are we seen to have any future here.

We are a curiosity to most, a foreign invader to a few.

After the curiosity wears off we are tolerated, individual by individual.

But in the end, if we really do hope to be accepted as an equal we will fall short and find ourselves at the very bottom of the social strata.

Can you convincingly apologize to someone who has wronged you?

Can you smile when you feel justified anger?

Can you work hard for years and see others get the credit?

Do you agree that there is a single correct way to do things?

Can you accept that doing things differently is synonymous with doing them incorrectly?

Can you accept that your opinions and preferences are likely to be deemed unimportant unless you are wealthy and socially connected (and Japanese)?

Can you live each day knowing that people around you believe you to be inferior and quite probably criminal regardless of what you do to convince them otherwise?

You may find that it easier and more pleasurable to learn Japanese as a hobby and enjoy the culture on occasional trips. Living here may be more trouble than it is actually worth.

Before someone comes on here and fills you full of negative BS, I just want add my agreement with the first two replies. I'm on my eighth year, and while I may not live here forever, I certainly could. And I would be reluctant to leave Japan for a lot of reasons. Good for you, starting you Japanese beforehand. Many foreigners who come out to the provinces (outside Tokyo) are amazed at how few people speak English. Japanese are like Americans that way. Japan, like the USA, is a world unto itself. They have their own music, movie industry, comics, comedians, and sports, so the average person living in rural or small town Japan has no use for English, or very little, if he is a construction worker or a farmer.

There is racism, and occasionally you may get a bit angry or feel like its just not worth it. There are people on Yahoo as well who seem to get their kicks by telling foreign people they are not good enough for Japan or something. These people are just handling their insecurities in an immature way, and they are all over the world, even in the USA. You will meet normal people more often. That is to say: generally kind people who don't blame their complete failure in life on those damn gaijin.

Come on. use your brain. Japan is 99.9% Yamato japanese. The language used in Japan is Japanese with no exception. The culture and language are totally different from what you had in new zealand. If you keep living in Japan, you would grow up to think that being a foreigner and rejected by the landlord of an apartment to rent a room is "subtle racism." If you don't sense something so horrible about living in Japan for a long term by these basic information you don't have any brain at all.

And much worse, 99% of white people in Japan are teachers that have jobs that don't pay so well. If I were one of them, I wouldn't consider living in a foreign country like Japan unless I get paid very well.

But you are saying you'll be on working holiday visa which is good because 1 year is short enough not to start to accept all these craps so as to maintain yourself esteem. Longer than that, why? You should build your own carrier in new zealand.

I'm not sure why you want to cost time and effort in learning Japanese to live in Japan...I'm sure other Japanese people think the same way...as a matter of fact we're surprised to see there're people that say they want to live in Japan. A little small island we live in is sure fixated by the eyes of outsiders. You don't know how it is like to be japanese and to be on retarded yahoo and called my life is a complete fvcking failure by a stranger just because I don't live in Japan. I'm like WTF, that may be your life because living in Japan as a foreigner is nothing comparable to living in America as an Asian or something. My life can be a failure for many reasons but one reason that isn't applicable is that I am a Japanese in a foreign country. Japanese in a foreign country generally enjoy their lives. So do I.

People are generally friendly, but you will always be an outsider, no matter how hard you try.

You will run into subtle racism. The biggest one is that you'll find people who will not rent apartments to foreign people (some landlords feel there will be communication problems, that foreigners throw too many parties or are generally noisy, and that they may leave the country suddenly without paying the rent due). I myself find that I usually get a seat on the train to myself a lot (no one wants to sit next to the foreign guy).

HOWEVER, I've been here for close to 6 years, and really don't want to live anywhere else. If you can adjust yourself to life in Japan, it's rewarding.

It's really easy to make friends because almost everyone is nice and friendly

however, you might get stared at and a few people even have taken pictures of me (although this is unlikely if you live in a more populated area)

And like the guy above said, a lot of times people won't sit next to you on trains.

But after people realize you're just a person too, and not so different, they'll really open up to you.

I in no way noticed a "Japanese most effective" situation whilst I was once residing in Japan, and was once in no way refused front to or provider at any eating place, motel, keep, or bar I attempted to go into. It will have been specific ago, however the one "Japanese most effective" firms I've heard of in Japan now have been locations that have been hooked up to geared up crime, and as a rule concerned prostitution. Foreigners are regularly bigger off staying some distance clear of those locations. There are landlords who won't hire to non-Japanese, however this turns out particularly on the grounds that they do not desire the trouble of handling any individual who does not talk Japanese. I've heard there are individual golf equipment that exclude Japanese, however I've in no way obvious or been to at least one myself. (It's style of a dull suggestion besides. Why pass the entire solution to Japan if you happen to cannot stand being round Japanese humans?) There are bars and nightclubs that cater especially to non-Japanese citizens, however they do not quite often ban Japanese from coming into. American navy bases can of path refuse front to any one who does not have a navy ID, however Japanese can input the bottom as visitors.