[2020-01-12] Why you shouldn’t come to Japan [HsrIgVx0G7A]

Hi, I'm Daniel and I live in Japan. I'm

from England and I wanted to make a video

talking about why Japan really doesn't

need any more foreigners coming here to

live here. I see more and more YouTube

channels making videos promoting Japan,

talking about how much of a great paradise

it is and why you need to come and live

here or else you're wasting your life.

And these YouTube channels are making

videos trying to teach people how to move

to Japan, how to get a visa, how to get a

job teaching English, because what else

are you gonna do? How to get a girlfriend

in Japan, how to make friends, how to tie

your shoe. One of the reasons why I love

Japan so much is because it's full of

Japanese people, and out of all the people

in the world, Japanese people are my

favourite because number one, they're not

very loud or rowdy, they're not violent or

aggressive, they're very, you know, they

keep themselves to themselves and they're

very polite and reserved, and they're not

very tall, so they make me feel less

insecure about my own shortness. Japanese

people are by far the least annoying of

the people in the entire world, and I feel

like I'm seeing more and more of these

news articles and more and more of these

YouTube channels that are trying to get

more foreigners to come here, trying to

promote how Japan needs more foreigners

when it really doesn't. Something that I

hear quite often about Japan and why it

needs more foreigners is the whole myth

around the aging population, and I think

this is just a load of rubbish. It's

propaganda created by the government

Because they want more foreigners in the

country, not because Japanese people

aren't making enough babies. They're

trying to make us think that Japanese

people aren't making enough babies, and in

20 years' time there's going to be too

many old people and not enough young

people to support the old people. That is—

that's not true. There's no evidence to

support this claim. The real reason why

the Japanese government wants more

foreigners in the country is because they

will provide cheap labor. On average,

foreigners earn less money than the

average Japanese person, and companies

think that they can cut costs and create

more profits for themselves if they have

more foreigners in the company, because

then they can pay the foreigners less

money. The whole thing about aging

population is complete bollocks and

doesn't make any sense, and it's just like

an excuse to make the Japanese people

think, oh yeah, maybe we do need more

foreigners. Otherwise we're going to be

old and no one's going to be young enough

to support us when we need help walking up

the staircases. I think that if aging

population is really such a big problem,

then the Japanese government should—

instead of trying to get more foreigners

to come and live here, they should be

trying to get more Japanese people to have

more babies. Maybe they can give some kind

of money reward, monetary reward,

to couples who have more kids,

or maybe give— make couples

who don't have any kids, make them pay

more tax. I'm not saying that you should

never come to Japan ever. I'm just saying

that it really isn't necessary for you to

come and live here. If you love Japan,

then that's fine. Just come here for a few

weeks, enjoy the sights, try the food,

buy your Pokémon cards and your Game Boy

Nintendo games, and then go back home.

And continue living your life there. And

then you can come back to Japan maybe half

a year later for another vacation, and I

don't have any problems with that. So at

this point of the video, you might be

thinking, Daniel, shut up. I really want

to live in Japan. I'm gonna go and live

there anyway, whether you like it or not.

And that's fine. That's completely your

decision. I have no authority or power.

But before you come and decide to live

here, let me warn you, living in Japan

kind of sucks. So number 1, the food here

is just not very good. Even though lots of

people keep saying Japanese food is the

best food in the whole world, they have

the most Michelin stars in any country

that exists in the world, the food just

isn't that great. Sure, Japanese people

love it because they grew up eating it,

and some people like it because, I don't

know, something went wrong with their

taste buds development and they, they like

the taste of food that tastes of

absolutely nothing. But in general,

Japanese food just doesn't really taste

very good, and I feel extremely depressed

all the time because I just cannot find

any food that I really enjoy. All of the

comfort foods that I enjoyed eating back

home in England, I can't find them

anywhere. You can't get pot noodle, you

can't get Cornish pasty, any kind of meat

pie, pork pies, sausage rolls, cheese and

onion crisps— none of those exists in this

country. So if you like good flavorsome

wholesome food, then you're not really

going to find it here in Japan. Last

Friday I went to a fugu restaurant with my

dearly beloved wife, and fugu— you know,

the famous fish that nearly ended the life

of Homer J. Simpson— is a delicacy in

Japan. Japanese people love it, and they

only have it once or twice a year on

special occasions. And I've never tried it

before. I thought, wow, fugu, this must be

a really good fish considering it's

dangerous and it's full of toxic glands

that could paralyze you and prevent you

from breathing and needs to be prepared by

a professional chef that has a license to

prepare fugu. I thought, wow, this fish

must taste bloody amazing. I went there,

went to the restaurant, tried it. Guess

what it tastes like? Absolutely nothing.

They served us strips of the skin which

taste like elastic bands. They served us

little slices, thinly sliced circles of

sashimi, tastes like microwaved bubble

wrap, no flavor. And then they gave us

chunks of the fugu's carcass boiled in

water, which tastes again like nothing.

So if you're a food lover, you're going to

hate it here. Also, it's very difficult

living here. Day-to-day life is very

tricky when you don't really speak the

language that well and you're too lazy to

learn it or to speak it even if you do

know it. If you're expecting to be able to

use English in Japan, then you're going to

find it very difficult. Also, dating is

kind of annoying. How are you going to get

a girlfriend? You can go on Tinder, but

half the girls on there use a cat as their

profile picture and you don't even know

what they look like, and the other half

won't even reply to you even if they match

with you. So if you come to Japan as a

foreigner, number 1, you're going to be

stuck with bland, boring food. Number 2,

you're not even going to be able to speak

your native language and you're going to

have to invest a lot of time in learning

Japanese. And number 3, you won't be able

to find a girlfriend and you'll just be

alone and miserable all of the time. I'm

really sorry to say this, but I just don't

really want to go outside onto the streets

and then be surrounded by non-Japanese

people. If I wanted that, I would have

just gone and lived in London. I came to

Japan to experience the uniqueness of

Japanese culture and Japanese people and

Japanese women. Now, I'm not saying that

there's anything fundamentally wrong with

having a multicultural society. They're

fine for some people, and they're great to

have in some places depending on the

place. I just have this feeling that Japan

just isn't really one of those countries

that desperately needs to become a

multicultural place. It already has its

own strong, vibrant culture of its own,

and I'm thinking, would Japan really be

such a great place if we diluted that

amazing, rich culture? Something else that

makes me feel kind of sad when I see so

many more foreigners coming to Japan is

when I'm walking down the street and I see

another foreigner and it just makes me

feel less special about being a foreigner

when I realize that I'm not the only

foreigner here anymore. There's actually

plenty of people from Britain and other

countries here. The only thing that makes

me stand out in this country is the fact

that I am a foreigner, and as the

population of foreigners increases, my

value as a foreigner decreases, and I'm

just not very happy about all of this

propaganda all over YouTube and the

internet promoting people to come here and

give me more competition as a foreigner.

If you're really that desperate to move to

a different country in Asia, why don't you

go to South Korea instead? It's pretty

much the same as Japan, plus it's cheaper,

it has great women and great food, and

it's home of K-pop. So I hope this video

has persuaded you to rethink and

reconsider your ideas of moving to Japan,

and I wish you a farewell and a good day.

This is something new that they've started

selling in convenience stores— little

plastic pots of fried things. And they

even started selling fish and chips, and I

tried it before and it's pretty good. But

this time I decided to get this. It's some

kind of vegetable. Something fried.

I'm not sure what it is. It says on the

label, sasami fry.

I don't know what a sasami is. I'm

guessing it's chicken. Put that

in the microwave. 10 seconds

maybe? 1, 2,

3, 4, 5, 6.

Oh, and I got a new plant for my fish

tank. You see this vibrant green one,

got it today. Already one of the shrimp

has attached itself to it.

My other plants started to go black and

they started to die, so I decided to get a

new plant. And I also got a bunch of new

things. I got Flora Pride,

which is some kind of liquid fertilizer

for plants, aquatic plants. And I got some

CO2, liquid CO2, which is for plants.

And I got another bottle of Flora Pride.

I also got some Tetra Stix, which is kind

of like fertilizer. I think it's supposed

to fertilize the

gravel or whatever is in the tank. I just

placed some down there. You can see— I

don't know what it's going to do.

Hopefully it will keep the plants alive.

Whoops, I think I microwaved it too much.

Steam is coming out and the lid has

melted.

Damn, I melted the lid! Look at this.

Whoa, it's really hot.

Yeah, I think— I think it's cooked.

Hopefully I didn't melt the plastic into

the food. That would be very cancerous.

Give it a quick smell. Doesn't smell

like plastic, so I think it's fine. So

first I'll try one of these vegetable

things. I'm not sure if it's supposed to

be soft. And it's all stuck together.

Okay, so I'll try one of

these potato-looking things.

No, it's not good.

Tastes like a crunchy, half-cooked piece

of potato with no flavor.

And next I'll try one of these fried

things.

I think it's chicken.

Yeah, just a piece of fried chicken.

It's not bad.