Have any of you anons ever been over to the Japanese side of the internet? Certain elements of the old internet do seem to still be around in the Japanese part of the web many websites are very colorful simple looking have unique designs and the Japanese do seem a lot more creative with their memes unlike in the English speaking part of the internet where internet culture has been dead for about 10 years. The old internet may for the most part be gone now but it is good to see that it still to a certain extent lives on in Japanese internet culture.

Dear 13-year old weeaboo that wants to move to Japan,

No. The "Japanese internet", as you call it, is exactly like the "English speaking web". Average Japanese denizens use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, niconico, 5ch & otakus use Futaba. And as far as memes go, just look at the front page of niconico and you'll see nothing but JoJo and video game reference memes. The internet has never been used for one thing, and websites come and go. The oldgeeks that produced the decade+ videos you are probably experiencing for the first time as I'm writing this, got too busy with a boring dayjob or they're perhaps working in the video game industry or TV right now. Also seeing how Flash has been dead for years and in the process of rotting away into a pile of dusty old memes full of green dust explains why funny internet content got even staler.

>>2

Average Japanese denizens use [...] Facebook

I vaguely remember reading an article about Facebook having issues entering the Japanese market simply because they didn't like it. Is that different now?

And, I think OP just likes japanese netiquette more than western, regardless of average joes or not.

>>2
>>3

I am not a weeaboo and i dont want to live in Japan and you clearly dont know what you're talking about. That may be however i am talking in more website design their websites like Yahoo Japan look like they were pulled straight out of the mid 2000s. Despite what you think Japanese people still use Nico Nico and still make MAD videos. My entire point was that sure the average Japanese person may use Facebook Twitter Line but certain elements of the Japanese internet are stuck in the mid 2000s and feel like the old internet.

>>4
Cool story, bro; why don't you tell it to a goat

Hearing a non-ironic cool story bro made me both wistful and happy at the same time.

>>5

Grow up kid we adults are talking and we are tired of dealing with trolls like you.

>>3

You are right about that i have Japanese friends and i hangout in Japanese online communities all the time Every country has pros and cons but in terms of basic social interaction IRL and online basing it off of my experiences interacting with them the Japanese are a lot more polite compared to most westerners and their type of politeness is something i honestly truly value.

>>4

Despite what you think Japanese people still use Nico Nico and still make MAD videos

And people still make YTPs in the west

>>9

Those IMO are the only actually good content on modern Youtube everything else is pretty much trash for the most part.

>>10
I think your problem is you're not looking hard enough. Saying YouTube is the biggest content sharing website in the world is not an understatement. Every country that has internet access uses YouTube every day. It's insane how much content is uploaded on YT everyday. And if you're still too stubborn to look, make your own videos and you'll eventually inspire other people to make the same stuff

>>12

Fair point but as a Youtube original who saw the rise and fall and has been on the site since 2005 I can confirm it absolutely isn't what it once was. Also videos get filtered nowadays too which make them hard to find.

>>8
I wouldn't call it politeness. Japanese users are adhering to a social contract about communicating e.g. "excuse me" when messaging strangers, etc. If you don't follow those informal rules you'll get dunked on.
>>4
MAD/blog culture is dying especially with niconico getting overshadowed by Youtube and Yahoo blogs getting abruptly shut down like geocities. New sakura.ne sites are dwindling and ameblo is only held up by celebrities. As I see it accessible mobile-friendly apps like Twitter are still at the top. Yahoo answers is also surprisingly active.

>>14

Even if it is fake politeness it is still better compared to how most native English speakers act. I see it as a form of common courtesy. Also yes the MAD/blog/text board culture of the 90s and 2000s era Japanese internet is dying and most Nico Nico users did leave the site for Youtube however despite the culture dying sites like Nico Nico and 2channel/5channel are still pretty semi-active just like this board.

I think you're having a very grass is greener situation about this. The japanese internet is facing similar issues to the western net. Aside from maybe futaba (which is having its own issues with userbase and behaviour), there is nothing on the japanese internet you can't find on the western one. I will admit that the smaller, slower-paced 2ch boards like the ones for unemployed people or unpopular women are interesting but for the same reason as western textboards and other chit-chatty online communities.
I think you will have to accept that the old net is dead and gone for the most part and look to the future or find something else to do.
I also find it funny that it's always japan that people want to explore and envy. The only other region people seem curious about is African internet.

>>15
Japan advertises itself in the opposite way of the West. Western culture has different values by which exposing issues and putting them on the front page is desirable. East Asian culture will put that stuff under the rug. The weeaboo cluster bought into this propaganda hook line and sinker and thinks Japan is this perfect country where people are all wonderful even when they're rude, and when things are shitty they're still sort of pretty. But the truth is that the culture is completely alien and built on completely different values. I'm amazed when people think the Japanese are this sort of spiritual folk, Westernized Asian countries are so vapid and soulless they would drive a Western anti-capitalist insane. Even the hikkis get romanticized as people in spiritual retreat while they're just cringy hyperconsumerist losers with anime body pillows.

Nobody romanticizes hikkis. Have you ever seen how hard they are abused outside of spaces specifically for them? Nobody conflates that lifestyle with asceticism. You're also conflating anime otaku with people who have severe mental illness that makes them withdraw from society.

>>15

Even if it is fake politeness it is still better compared to how most native English speakers act
text board culture of the 90s and 2000s era Japanese internet

I don't see what excessive trolling and CP trading has to do with politeness

>>17
We get it. Japan bad, America good. I've still been to their country before, and I still plan on moving there and attempting to become a legal resident, but we'll see.

>>20

Good luck anon i wish you all the best me personally i wouldn't wanna live in Japan i just like the culture and the language.

>>18

Actually there are people who do romanticize hikikomori. Go on places like reddit r/hikikomori r/NEET discord or /r9k/ and you will find plenty of people proudly calling themselves hikikomori even though they technically are not. These are the types of people who want to feel special and say stuff like i am such a hikikomori i have a job and work from home or i am such a hikikomori that i stay at home but i only leave for work or school even though that isn't a hikikomori.

>>19

I wasn't referring to chan culture like futaba 2channel or Ayashii Warudo i was referring to how the average Japanese normie acts online and IRL as well not the neckbeard otaku hikikomori NEETs.

>>22

/r9k/
technically are not

There's no "technically" there, the current demographic of /r9k/ is emphatically not hikki in any sense of the word. Not even by a stretched definition of "socially reclusive" considering that the current demographic is split between people in their late-teens (i.e. college demographic) complaining about a lack of love-life and a second (not disjoint) subset of people (roleplaying?) as transexual.

>>20

We get it. Japan bad, America good.

Do you really think someone complaining about consumerism, capitalism, westernization, etc likes America?

I've still been to their country before, and I still plan on moving there and attempting to become a legal resident, but we'll see.

Before you do that, just go to their expat communities online to see what you're dealing with. I never understood why people want to move country to begin with except maybe to retire in a place with a warmer climate. Even if you don't like them, it is your homeland and your people, and forgetting even that you would be leaving all your friends and family behind for a culture that you could very easily feel very alone and ostracized. And i'm not just talking about Asia, even though there are jaded expats all over there. It's a very grass is greener situation I think.
>>22
I believe it, but like I said it is rare outside of their spaces. It is mostly them trying to cope with their lifestyle because very few are happy with it long-term and feeling a sense of solidarity with fellow society-withdrawers is a way to do it. It also has a lot do with that sort of lifestyle being common in jokes and music so it appeals to people trying to be edgy.

>>23
Again, that is due to the rules of communication. They are passive aggressive as fuck sometimes.

The only thing I will say about the whole moving to Japan thing is that I really like pictures of East Asia (not just japan) for some reason, I don't know why but it just comes off as very beautiful to me. Even ethnic enclaves in western countries can strike me.

>>25
This is gonna be a long one lol

Before you do that, just go to their expat communities online to see what you're dealing with. I never understood why people want to move country to begin with except maybe to retire in a place with a warmer climate. Even if you don't like them, it is your homeland and your people, and forgetting even that you would be leaving all your friends and family behind for a culture that you could very easily feel very alone and ostracized.

I am not interested in what people that are not me (expats) have to say about living there. They are not me, I am not them, and I have no idea what mentality they had/have when living in a different culture. Yes, I would be an outsider and of course I will never be one of them, but to me, that's okay. As long as I can absorb their culture and get as close as I can manage, I will be happy.

I do not like my homeland (USA for anyone not following). I do not like the citizens here, I do not like the infrastructure, and I am tired of dealing with it all. These are not my people, and I do not have friends or family here that are so far emotionally from me that I can't talk or visit them anymore after the move. I already live across the country from my Father (for the last 10 years but I still try to visit him once a year) who is my only family member. My only friend, is someone I've known for at least 14 years (that I met on the internet) and he wants me to chase this dream. He is also willing to keep a spare room for me in the house that he plans on building on some property he just bought, in the event that things don't work out or if I just want to visit for a week or two. We would have no issues going back to communicating online since that is how we met.

I am already very alone and ostracized so it would hardly be different in that regard. In the absolute worst case scenario, I end up living in the same situation I'm currently in which isn't the worst thing ever because of the bonus of being able to explore a new land/culture. During my extended time here, I enjoyed how compact my 6 tatami room was, I enjoyed the communal bathrooms, I enjoyed the public baths, how close everything was in the city, how clean/fresh everything was in the rural areas, the scenery, the history, the people. I am 99% certain that I will feel like my life has improved once I move there.

Finally, in addition to all of the above, I live only to work and to relax when I'm not working. The perfect match for their work ethic, since I never have anything urgent to do after work anyway. Their work ethic is not a concern to me. I'm aware of a lot of the conditions that people report that they work in and that is a potential sacrifice I'm willing to make. I really believe moving there will only be an improvement to my life, but as I said before, I've got nothing to lose.

If you're so insistent on moving to Japan, I hope you're learning Japanese, and have been for a bit. That is usually why most people cannot last over there.

Yes, I've been studying Japanese at my own pace for the last 5-6 years. Even with the little bit that I knew when I visited, it helped me immensely. Only reason it's taking me so long to feel like I'm in a good spot is because I'm not drilling it every day since I have to obtain a skill that they would allow an expat for anyway I'll sometimes skip weeks or even a month because sometimes I just don't feel up to it but I can always jump right back in where I left off without feeling lost.

. I plan on going to college to get a teaching degree so that I can then apply for that JET program. During that time at college, I will still be padding my vocabulary and hopefully by the time the JET is over, I'll either have found a permanent job to keep me located there or will have gotten my fill and return home. And if I have to return home but still want to live there, I"ll just have to figure something out at that time but that's like 10 years out from start to finish.

>>28

JET

I wish the best for you but I don't think you know what you're in.

>>29
Surely it's better than going to one of those unofficial English teaching classes. I hear those people are treated even worse. From what I read, JET has you going into the rural areas where other people don't exactly want to be in because it's far from everything but that's all fine by me. And like I said before, if things really shit the bed and absolutely everything goes wrong, I still have a place to go back to.

>>30
From what I've read, you're not really an english teacher. You're an assistant who is supposed to give students a perspective on English from a native speaker's point of view but most of the time you're doing very degrading things like dancing to nursery rhymes.

>>31
https://jetprogramusa.org/positions/
I would quote the important stuff but I think it look messy. Though it does say I may be involved in elementary school (along with other levels), so you might not be wrong. Sounds interesting though regardless.

>>26

their work ethic

See you are romanticizing the shitty aspects of Japan like a typical weeaboo. It's not "work ethic", one-up sucking-up to your bosses and squeezing people dry and fake ass bonding over drinks because your colleagues have to be your family is not "work ethic", that you give your life to a company because all that matters is the corporate climb is not "work ethic" it's garbage. Best of luck, you probably won't enjoy the worst of this disintegrated darwinian society because you'll never be considered Japanese to begin with. You guys are like transexuals but with national identity instead of what you have in your pants.

>>26
Surely instead of moving to Japan you could just move to a different state within the US? There's more than enough variation between states, and you wouldn't have to deal with the downsides of being a foreigner *living* in Japan. Note that your perspective as a temporary tourist is very different from what situations are supposedly like as a permanent resident. Read up on how difficult it is to rent apartments, for instance. Also in terms of job prospects, it's almost strictly going to be a downgrade: you'll be a second-tier choice for any salaryman jobs, so unless you have something lined up with a large multinational beforehand (at which point you're basically dependent on the company and out of luck if they ever restructure), you'll be left with the odd scrap of jobs. Not to mention that in terms of economy Japan hasn't really been doing too well for the past decade (maybe it was the place to be in the 90s, but not anymore); like it or not, the US still controls the majority of international dominance and from a purely pragmatic perspective it's probably a safe-bet in the long-term since if it goes down then the entire world economy is probably crashing as well.

They have their heart set on trying it. You're talking to a wall.

I'll take a stab at this as someone who lives here.
>>28

hopefully by the time the JET is over, I'll either have found a permanent job to keep me located there

JET forums are filled with miserable posts. JET teachers have been persistently considered as expendable labor to the government and long-term contracts are becoming increasingly rare. Teachers are notorious for being overworked to the point of essentially living at their schools so securing an English position isn't very alluring. They're more overworked than nurses and definitely more than your average salaryman.

They are not me, I am not them, and I have no idea what mentality they had/have when living in a different culture.

Who you think you are does not matter to Japanese society.

Housing

Most renting agencies won't talk to you if you're not fluent, nor would many renters consider giving a room to a demographic notorious for making noise, throwing trash away incorrectly, and constantly inviting people over. Prepare to be turned down often. All the paperwork is in Japanese. Downpayments alone will reach $3000~6000.

Police

If you look like a foreigner you will be regularly stopped by police. If you don't have your resident card or passport it's off to the station. If you don't have a visa you'll be deported. They have the right to pat you down and go through your belongings without any justification.

Working

Japanese employers look for new hires seasonally on a very rigid schedule: New uni grads for top-tier companies, those switching jobs, then the rest. The majority get hired right away after graduating and if you're not within this demographic you're already considered second-tier. The system does not make concessions for foreigners. The applications, interviews, and contracts are in Japanese. If you're not fluent you're useless to any company worth working under. Second-rate companies don't offer commuting/housing stipends, visa assistance, your income will be less than $25k a year, and they will have no problems giving you 60+ hours of overtime. Even normal salarymen regard their apartments as little more than hotels to sleep in. Come home at 11pm, wake up at 7am.

>>36
Good post, I appreciate this. Your first and last sections are the more informative, as I wouldn't expect any sort of special treatment for any foreigners in any country, let alone Japan. I would expect myself to be able to read/speak at a good enough level to ask myself "Would I hire me" and have that answer be yes. I wouldn't hire someone that couldn't communicate either so until I feel I'm 200% ready, I wouldn't start making any official plans like finding an apartment. Besides, if I can't even read the rental agreement, that's a good enough indication that I'm not ready.

I will take some time reconsider the JET if things are truly that bad in that program, so I will need to think of something else to get me there. I have a feeling having some sort of non-useless college degree will still be beneficial in getting hired overseas though so I think I should still pursue that.

I have no idea what I'm going to do about the seasonal hiring though. That, I will have to sit on for a while. All I can say is thank you for letting me know that that's a thing, and that I'm thankful that I'm not anywhere near internally prepared to move forward with my plans.

>>33
>>34
I read your replies but I have nothing to say that wouldn't derail the thread even further than I already have.

Speaking of the japanese internet, it kind of freaks me out that people still use gikopoi.

>>38
Dude, I kind of remember that place.
Give me the link and I'll start using it right now.

>>39
Enjoy, junior.
http://l4cs.jpn.org/gikopoi/

>>37
If you want to be fluent in Japanese you need to stay in Japan with a visa for a while, or find someone who is willing to speak to you in current Japanese. You will not become fluent in anything with just courses.

>>36

I feel like you're generalizing based off of your on personal experiences everyone's experiences are going to be different.

>>42
Wish I could disagree but it's Japan, everything is set in stone and that manifests in employment to an extreme degree. Labor shortages are an incessant topic on the news but nothing has changed in the recruitment cycle for the last 30 years. I "pass" as Japanese and my language skills are fine but there's so many layers of unspoken rules that even I struggled after moving here. Can't imagine what the transition would be like for someone who isn't fluent.

There's a reason why all the Japanese-Americans go back and the nerdy white expats congregate in Japan.

I have to wonder, do western expats in korea have an easier time integrating because of how much easier Hangul is to learn?
>>43

There's a reason why all the Japanese-Americans go back and the nerdy white expats congregate in Japan.

Even the most Roppongi DJ daily aki trip charisma men can't seem to last more than 5 years.

>>43
Shit like this is why I wonder why people want to live in japan so much. Pretty sure westerners fetishize it and don't realize that it's actually a kind of shitty country for non-japanese, and hard on native japanese too. They keep to themselves too. It's not that they're openly racist as much, but come on, it's obvious that they are at the very least in a supremacist mind space. Easy way to illustrate is the fact that japanese is one of the few widely spoken languages that never stemmed from another and has no transitional languages, only a straight line of japanese. That kind of culture hasn't left. Just because they sell shit to the west doesn't mean they are really friendly to us.

>>45
No, it's obviously because of the video games and anime. There are plenty of other cultures that have this attitude and don't have westerners flocking to it because it's either accompanied with religion or they don't have cool video games to buy.

>>45

Easy way to illustrate is the fact that japanese is one of the few widely spoken languages that never stemmed from another and has no transitional languages, only a straight line of japanese. That kind of culture hasn't left

You're forgetting the large influence that Chinese has had on Japanese in terms of vocabulary. As much as they tout contempt for Chinese, their own vocabulary is comprised of a large fraction of kango.

>>47
Sure but compared to other languages, it's absolutely minuscule. Also, a lot of the Chinese influence came from wars and not genuine culture mixing.

>>48
Actually I take that back partially, a lot of the Chinese came from Buddhism as well, so that's something at least, but wars still did play a big role

>>48
How did you come to this conclusion?
What languages are you making this comparison to?

>>48

it's absolutely minuscule

Supposedly around 50-60% of Japanese vocab is kango. I wouldn't call that miniscule.

>>49
Japan and China didn't even fight each other until the 16th century, unless you count the Mongols. China and Korea had huge cultural and linguistic influence on Japan starting a thousand years earlier than that, because they were the advanced and powerful societies and Japan wanted to emulate their culture and religion.

>>52
Japan is and always has been just a korean bastard; the japanese national identity had been the product of korean-origin schools of thought starting from the notorious little-china-thesis and the superposition-of-the-world-axis-thesis, developed by korean thinkers after the disaster of the Ming dynasty.
It was only with the introduction of Yangming's thought and the fusion with these new korean ideas that the idea of JAPAN emerged within intellectual circles, until then there was no idea of Japan, there was no unity.
The japanese national identity was artificially created.

It is the first historically recognized case of social engineering manipulation at this level; some say that Portugal was the first nation in the world, but Japan was the first non-organically-created nation.

>>53
Pls keep your obscure nationalist seethe/cope in the kpop /gen/ on halfchan, thanks

>>54
No fuck, I hate koreans, soulless catholic-killers.
It is just an interesting subject.

>>55
I can assure you it is not.

>>53
I came here after after a long absence to see what's going on, but I see it has turned into just another interchangeable schizo shithole like 4chan.

Yeah OP I suggest trying your luck on the Japanese internet. It can't be any worse than this fucking shit.

>>57
Seems like a harsh judgement after seeing literally one shitty post

>>58
>>57-san Is bait and probably the one who made the shitty post, how do you frens keep falling for this?