White guy hates how he is treated in Japan

[Lucas88]

I remember Ryan Boundless. I used to watch his YouTube videos since I myself lived in Japan for a while in the early 2010s and many of the topics that he spoke about reminded me of my own experiences. I actually like Ryan Boundless. Some people accuse him of being excessively negative about his life in Japan but I always found his honesty quite refreshing and certainly way better than the pollyanna content of any weabo channel that only talks positively about Japan or makes out that it's the best place on Earth. Ryan always struck me as a relatable and down-to-earth dude.

Some people wonder why Ryan doesn't just go back to the US if he dislikes Japan so much but what you have to understand is that some Westerners in Japan are also misfits in their own country too and so for them Japan may be the lesser of two evils. I get the impression that Ryan might fall into this category. He obviously has a lot of dissatisfaction with many aspects of Japan but at the same time he has already spent so much time there and invested so much and therefore could see his life in Japan as preferable to the uncertainties of another life in America. What would he do in the US anyway? So for him Japan might be the most logical option despite its many shortcomings.

@ladislav made some of the best points in this discussion. Not everybody's experiences of a country are the same. Just because one person had positive experiences of Japan doesn't necessarily mean that others will have positive experiences too. There are just so many factors to consider just as ladislav so succinctly explained.

Whenever I read anything about the experiences of Westerners in Japan I find so much contradictory information depending on the source of the testimony. No two experiences are the same. What is interesting to me is that I myself have often witnessed both versions of the story and so I know that in many cases the total opposite experiences of two different expats in the country can both be true at the same time. As ladislav explained, it all depends on who you are, what you look like, whereabouts in Japan you are and what subset of Japanese people you interact with the most.

The language issue is an example of this. Generally among regular Japanese people the more you learn the language the easier it will be to integrate into Japanese society. Some people will be more than happy to talk to you if your Japanese is good enough. They might even invite you to social events where you'll be the only gaijin. But there are some Japanese people who won't take too kindly to a gaijin speaking their language. They think that the Japanese language is only for Japanese people and certainly not for a White gaijin and will therefore be dismissive of your Japanese ability. Then there are also the "gaijin hunter" types who will likewise dislike you if you have a high level of Japanese since they idolize everything "Western", want you to act like a caricature of how a gaijin is supposed to be and view you as merely an English practice machine. When I was in Japan I always made a point of avoiding this type and would refuse to entertain their "advances".

I lived in Japan in the early 2010s and was originally going to stay there for a long time but I just fell out of love with the culture and never went back. My time in Japan wasn't horrible by any stretch of the imagination and I had some good experiences here and there but I just became weary of the loneliness, the repressed vibe, the lack of individual expression and the overall feeling of melancholy as well as the whole gaijin outsider experience and eventually decided that it just wasn't for me anymore. Fortunately, unlike Ryan, I had no reason to stay, nothing to tie me to Japan, so I left the country for good and then went to Spain shortly thereafter. Spain and Latin America were my first love and I already spoke Spanish. I judged that I could be much happier there and no longer saw any use for Japan. I won't say that Japan sucks completely but it certainly isn't as good as many people make it out to be (for this reason I commend Ryan's honesty) and it doesn't jive with my own unique soul energy either.

[NPCslammer]

I remember Ryan Boundless. I used to watch his YouTube videos since I myself lived in Japan for a while in the early 2010s and many of the topics that he spoke about reminded me of my own experiences. I actually like Ryan Boundless. Some people accuse him of being excessively negative about his life in Japan but I always found his honesty quite refreshing and certainly way better than the pollyanna content of any weabo channel that only talks positively about Japan or makes out that it's the best place on Earth. Ryan always struck me as a relatable and down-to-earth dude.

Some people wonder why Ryan doesn't just go back to the US if he dislikes Japan so much but what you have to understand is that some Westerners in Japan are also misfits in their own country too and so for them Japan may be the lesser of two evils. I get the impression that Ryan might fall into this category. He obviously has a lot of dissatisfaction with many aspects of Japan but at the same time he has already spent so much time there and invested so much and therefore could see his life in Japan as preferable to the uncertainties of another life in America. What would he do in the US anyway? So for him Japan might be the most logical option despite its many shortcomings.

@ladislav made some of the best points in this discussion. Not everybody's experiences of a country are the same. Just because one person had positive experiences of Japan doesn't necessarily mean that others will have positive experiences too. There are just so many factors to consider just as ladislav so succinctly explained.

Whenever I read anything about the experiences of Westerners in Japan I find so much contradictory information depending on the source of the testimony. No two experiences are the same. What is interesting to me is that I myself have often witnessed both versions of the story and so I know that in many cases the total opposite experiences of two different expats in the country can both be true at the same time. As ladislav explained, it all depends on who you are, what you look like, whereabouts in Japan you are and what subset of Japanese people you interact with the most.

The language issue is an example of this. Generally among regular Japanese people the more you learn the language the easier it will be to integrate into Japanese society. Some people will be more than happy to talk to you if your Japanese is good enough. They might even invite you to social events where you'll be the only gaijin. But there are some Japanese people who won't take too kindly to a gaijin speaking their language. They think that the Japanese language is only for Japanese people and certainly not for a White gaijin and will therefore be dismissive of your Japanese ability. Then there are also the "gaijin hunter" types who will likewise dislike you if you have a high level of Japanese since they idolize everything "Western", want you to act like a caricature of how a gaijin is supposed to be and view you as merely an English practice machine. When I was in Japan I always made a point of avoiding this type and would refuse to entertain their "advances".

I lived in Japan in the early 2010s and was originally going to stay there for a long time but I just fell out of love with the culture and never went back. My time in Japan wasn't horrible by any stretch of the imagination and I had some good experiences here and there but I just became weary of the loneliness, the repressed vibe, the lack of individual expression and the overall feeling of melancholy as well as the whole gaijin outsider experience and eventually decided that it just wasn't for me anymore. Fortunately, unlike Ryan, I had no reason to stay, nothing to tie me to Japan, so I left the country for good and then went to Spain shortly thereafter. Spain and Latin America were my first love and I already spoke Spanish. I judged that I could be much happier there and no longer saw any use for Japan. I won't say that Japan sucks completely but it certainly isn't as good as many people make it out to be (for this reason I commend Ryan's honesty) and it doesn't jive with my own unique soul energy either.

I also enjoyed Ryan Boundless videos on Japan. Looks like his youtube channel got mostly wiped out for some reason, either the youtube commies or he took it down himself? I think his haters are a bunch of Western weebs that borderline worship Japan. Somehow these idiots forget that Japan has an extremely brutal history, and yet can’t seem to even grasp that it’s far from perfect. They also seemed to think his girlfriend was an angel, when he clearly pointed out that she went into violent fits of rage. Not uncommon for some Japanese women. Most weebs probably realize that Japan isn’t the perfect anime, video game paradise once they actually live there long term, but a lot of the guys are probably just idolizing Japan without ever setting foot there.