Don't listen to what they say, watch what they do

 

Image Source PAKUTASO

When a country says that they want skilled migrants to assist with a labour shortage and then increases visa fees by up to 200x, pay attention to the action not the rhetoric.

Visitors to Japan will often encounter the following questions by Japanese people:

• Where are you from?
• When did you come to Japan?
• Can you use chopsticks?
• Can you eat Sashimi/Nattou?
• When are you returning to your home country?

Even if you have previously made it clear that you have built a home, life or career in Japan, the unwritten expectation is that you are meant to return to your home country because you don't really belong. At least, that's my impression. And honestly, I don't feel that I am alone with this assessment.

Anecdotally, when teams within a corporation ask for only Japanese communications or where foreigners are targeted for not following social norms yet native Japanese are routinely ignored. And the  denial of non-Japanese residents from returning "home" to Japan during Covid are just a few examples of now foreigners are made to feel unwelcome, even if they have made a serious commitment to this country.

Japanese businesses regularly state how they can't find enough workers and are eager to bring in those who are willing to put up with the low wages on offer in return for life in such a safe and stable country. But the society appears to do it's best to make sure these same vital workers are made to understand just how unwelcome they truly are.

It's just my two yen, for what that's worth. Have you felt that you were expected to leave Japan? Share your thoughts below.

Here we go again

 

Image Source Pakutaso

So, I've re-started blogging. Again....

How did we get here? Simply put I have caught myself Doom Scrolling far too often on various sites. Superficially reading headlines, up or down voting and then scrolling on. Flicking to the next short form video, quickly deciding to watch the whole thing or flick to the next. Following the next piece of media that has been suggested to me by an algorithm, not something I've chosen to consume but something that has been served to me. And I am sick of it.

Too much time spent mindlessly scrolling. Minutes and hours used to consume media that I will have little to no recollection of. Videos and articles streaming past my eyeballs with little taken in. And it all has been a one way street with an algorithm choosing what to show me next, working out how to keep me engaged for longer and certainly not for my benefit.

Why blogging? Simply because not everyone I meet day to day shares the same interest and values as myself. I want to surround myself with likeminded people who write about topics I am interested in as well as to take time to articulate things that are on my mind that may be of interest to you.

It's just my two yen, for what that's worth. Hope you find value in it and share your thoughts in return. 

Christmas? Sorted

 

Well, I’m pleased to say my Christmas Cards are now sorted. 

Personally? I don’t celebrate Christmas. Sure I observe it like everyone else around me, but I don’t actually celebrate it.

Gathering the family for a “special” meal together? Why? We can do that any other time, with a lot less pressure.

Giving gifts and sharing the joy? Why? Presents should be for children who appreciate things as they don’t have the same autonomy that an adult would have. A five year old appreciates a Lego set far more than a fifteen year old would.

And don’t get me started about celebrating a “White Christmas” while living in Australia and enjoying 35 degree (or higher) weather. 

Over all I find Christmas to be an overrated, hyper commercialised shopping event where people are pressured into buying manufactured goods, with money they don’t have, to impress people who generally don’t care.

BUT! It is a socially accepted time to reach out to family and friends with a simple card, just to let them know that you still have a place in your heart for them. Besides, it’s a nice analogue for Japanese New Year’s Day greeting cards.

Either way, it is in my calendar to organise with plenty of time to allow for international post. And that feels good.

Hello World

Hello World.

Looks like I still have a few things on my mind that I want to share, social media doesn't feel like where I want to publish, so back to blogging it is for me.

Hope to see you around and I look forward to your comments.