CAN NOT SPEAK UP, CAN NOT DEFENSE !

[Thanh Binh]

I have been living in Japan for 2 years and most complaints I heard from my friend are they CAN NOT SPEAK UP, CAN NOT DEFENSE for themselves in many cases.

I still remember that train, when I and my friend were on the way back home and it was in rush hour. After the train opened the door, we tried as fast as possible to take the sit and yes, we did have sits. But the young man in front of me took the book from his bag and start to hit on knee !!! OMG >.< I was shocked and scared at the same time... I did not understand what was happening and why he was so angry at us....he spoke by Japanese and asked where we come from.

We used Google translate with him He shouted at our face that we PRETENDED NOT TO UNDERSTAND JAPANESE and not apologize to him! He asked us to go out of the train to talk or go to Koban. I was really scared but my friend is perfectly calm. While my friend tried to type on Google translate and explain the situation, the young man kept blaming that we took his sit:"<< I really did not mean to, so I decided to stand up and say sorry.

But he not gave up, the result was we went out of the train, in front of hundreds of Japanese people looking in a very antipathy way!

After this story had a hard lesson that I need to learn Japanese. At lease to defense for myself!

How about you guys? Have you ever in a similar situation before? And what would you do??

[Yuriyuri]

I don't think I ever had an experience like that and I'm sorry that you had to go though that.
I feel like Japanese are very intolerant to foreigners some times. I see a lot of Japanese (including friends) being selfish and thinking they are superior to foreigners.
For example, when you ask Japanese what they think about accepting immigration in Japan, a few might like the idea but a lot of people will still say " I don't want foreigners to take my job" (I actually did a questionaire as a college assignment and saw lots of people answering this) when super-aged society and labor shortage is quite severe in Japan right now.
Another example is that, I was in line for breaks-fast at a hotel restaurant and a Japanese man behind me was telling his family in Japanese "Japanese people are fine because they eat little (therefore fast) but foreigners eat way too much and that's why we have to wait for so long in line." and he mentioned something similar to this two more times.
I understand Japanese think Japan is Japanese' land and therefore they are the boss of it but sometimes their ego disappoint me.
It is indeed hard to speak up in Japan a lot of the times especially it is a group oriented country. But I hope one day Japan becomes more foreigner friendly.

[travelmonkey]

I didn't have that extreme experience. But I have heard of someone asking for some cool Japanese tattoo but got a tattoo that says "can't speak the language, don't visit" instead. Which is horrible. And I did experience some difficulties with talking to some of them when they can't understand English. But I think that's normal.