why I miss living in Japan [21wY1VSYLLI]

Today I want to talk about things I miss

about living in Japan. So it's been quite

a long time since I left Japan. I left

Japan in January at the beginning of this

year, and now it's nearly November. So

yeah, it's nearly been a whole year that I

haven't been in Japan, and after living

there for 2 years, it feels kind of weird

to not be living there anymore. And even

though I complained a lot about living

there, I still think it's the best country

I have ever lived in. And if I had to

choose any country to live in, it would

probably still be Japan. And the main

reasons why I choose Japan as my favorite

country to live in would be because I

think the most important thing is it's

safe. It feels safe. I just don't feel

very safe in the place I'm living in right

now. I'm living on the outskirts of

Rotterdam, and, and on my first day moving

into this area, I got attacked on the

street in broad daylight. 6 PM, I got

attacked by some random psycho because he

thought I was throwing stones at his

stupid little car. And that just

really scared me. And now I've lost a lot

of confidence. I don't feel comfortable

going outside by myself, and there's no

way I would ever go outside in the dark or

in the evening or at nighttime by myself.

But when I was in Japan, I felt so

comfortable just walking around even in

the middle of the night. I used to do

livestreams where I just walk around

during the night, and I did this for half

a year, and there was not a single time

when I felt like I was in danger or I felt

threatened by someone. In Japan, I feel

like society has evolved to a point where

people are just civilized and they're

considerate and they're polite and

friendly. And I feel like other parts of

the world, society hasn't quite evolved to

the level that Japanese society has

evolved to. And I think all countries in

the world should aim to become a

civilized, polite society like Japan has

become. I really think that when it comes

to feeling happy in the place that you're

living, you really have to feel safe. And

living in a place where you get attacked

on the street and everyone seems

intimidating and violent and aggressive,

it just doesn't really make you feel like

you want to live in this place. It doesn't

make you want to go outside. It doesn't

fill you with confidence. So yeah, I think

the number one thing I loved about living

in Japan was just the feeling of safety

and the feeling that you're not going to

get attacked by some random weirdo and

that people are nice to each other and

they're considerate of people around them.

They keep to themselves. They don't make a

lot of noise. They don't speak on the

phone on public transport. They definitely

don't play music really loudly in their

cars with the windows down. If you're

going to live in a big city or in a place

with lots of people, then people need to

learn how to be considerate of other

people so they can get on so that people

can just live their lives without getting

on each other's nerves. And I feel as if

Japanese people just have it built into

their society that you should be kind to

strangers and you should be considerate

and you should think about not being noisy

and not being intrusive and just being a

civilized, mature person. But I guess for

some people and for some societies,

that's too much to ask for. I think one of

the reasons that societies around the

world are different and some societies are

less civilized than others is because of

male aggressiveness and maybe too much

testosterone. I think a lot of the

problems and conflicts in the world were

caused by too much testosterone and male

aggressiveness, male assertiveness, and

wanting to dominate other people. And one

of the reasons Japanese men have this

stereotype of being not very assertive,

kind of beta, a bit wimpish, not very

physically assertive or aggressive is

because maybe their testosterone levels

just aren't as high as males in other

societies around the world. And maybe this

is because they eat a lot of soy products

like edamame beans, which is where soy

comes from. Tofu, miso soup,

soy milk. They drink and consume a lot of

soy products. And everyone knows that the

increase of soy consumption reduces your

testosterone level. And I actually think

this is a good thing. I think a lowered

level of testosterone in the male

population of a country results in a more

civilized, civilized society where they're

not always getting in each other's faces,

where they're not trying to pick a fight

every 10 minutes just because someone

threw a stone or they thought they threw a

stone at their car. And they know how to

get on well with their neighbors and they

know how to be considerate and act

politely, maturely in public. And I think

really the consumption of soy products

should be promoted around the world so

that more civilizations— I mean, more

societies around the world can become

civilized like Japan. Okay. The next thing

I really miss about Japan is the cheap,

cheap rent. Another stereotype Japan

seems to have, which is completely false

and wrong, is that it's really expensive

to live in Japan. Everyone seems to think

that Japan is such an expensive country to

live in when actually it's probably one of

the cheapest countries I have ever lived

in. Just looking at Airbnb or Booking for

an apartment to live in would be— would

cost you about $600. Between $500

and $900, you can get a reasonably sized

apartment to live in that's comfortable,

in a good neighborhood, looks great,

doesn't look like a dump that's falling

apart. And that's so cheap. Yeah, sure,

there's going to be other countries like

the Philippines or Thailand where you

could get a place for half or a third of

that price. But why would you want to live

in Thailand or the Philippines when you

could live in Japan. In comparison, I've

been living in Europe for about 5 months

now, and the rents, the Airbnb rents and

the apartments I found in Germany and the

Netherlands were just so much more

expensive than what I could find in Japan.

For example, my current apartment is

costing $1,400 a month,

and that's, that's nearly double the price

I would have to pay for a similar place in

Japan, and this place isn't huge. It's not

in a good neighborhood. It's nothing

special. And it's the cheapest thing I

could find. Okay, there were cheaper

places, but they didn't want to rent to me

because I'm not living here as a permanent

resident with a permanent visa. And not

many of these apartment places want to

rent out to foreigners who are only

staying here for a few months. So that's

the reason why I couldn't get a cheaper

place. Yeah, there are places that you can

get for maybe €800 or €900 a month.

But they, they want the person to actually

be living here for at least a year or at

least half a year. I bet I could find a

really nice place to live in the central

area of Osaka or another big city in Japan

for just about $500 or $600 a month. And

it would be, you know, it won't be

anything special, won't be massive, won't

be huge, but it'll be good enough. It'll

be big enough for me. It'll be modern and

clean looking and the neighborhood would

be safe and nice to live in. And it would

only be about a third of what I'm paying

here. My third reason why I miss Japan is

the cities in Japan are just much nicer

and more interesting. There's a larger

variety of things to do in the cities for

entertainment. So for example, if you walk

around Rotterdam or some European city,

you know, you have your typical stuff.

You have shops for food, clothing shops,

supermarkets, shopping malls, McDonald's.

But in Japan you have all that, plus you

have fun things to do like karaoke

everywhere. You have arcade game centers,

really big game centers which have loads

of different games, not just some crappy

looking old arcade that you might find in

European cities. Another thing I miss

about living in Japan would be the amazing

customer service. I'm pretty sure everyone

knows Japan is famous for having the best

customer service in the entire world, and

this isn't an exaggeration. They really do

have the best customer service. Compared

to any other country I've been to. They

just really know how to serve a customer

well and make you feel welcomed. And they

know how to do their job properly and they

take their job seriously. They don't just

sit there at the cash register with their

phones out like in Korea. I usually get

some anxiety when I go into shops and

stores, and that's because I feel

sometimes I feel a bit intimidated by the

staff working there. If they look

unfriendly or rude or they're just

completely ignoring you, I feel a bit

like, oh, maybe I'm not supposed to be

here. Maybe they don't want me in their

shop. Maybe I'm upsetting them. Maybe I

shouldn't shop here and I should leave.

But in Japan, I never felt that way. The

staff in every shop or store I went to

were always very professional, very

welcoming, and I just, I just felt

comfortable shopping in Japan. And the

last reason why I really miss living in

Japan would be the food. Now, as you may

know, I really, really love Japanese food.

I think Japanese food is the best food in

the entire world. And sure, you can get

Japanese food anywhere in the world, but

it's not really the same as real authentic

Japanese food that's made in Japan. And

usually it costs a lot more than what

you'd have to pay for the same thing if

you were in Japan. Japan has just mastered

the art of offering different ways of

eating raw fish. You could have raw fish

on a rectangle of rice, you could have raw

fish on top of a bowl of rice, and you

could have raw fish without any rice and

just have the fish on its own. So if you

love raw fish as much as I do, then Japan

is really the place to be. I also really

miss the fried chicken you can get at the

convenience stores. Convenience stores in

Japan are just so amazing, and there's

lots of food that I used to really love

eating at 7-Eleven, like the egg and ham

muffin. That was one of my favorites. I

also really love fugu, Japanese blowfish.

It's so delicious. They cut it into strips

of little white transparent layers

of tasteless, poisonous fish. I really

miss paying $60 for a meal that tastes of

absolutely nothing, has no fish flavor,

and also has a very small chance of

sending you to the hospital. Oh, and I

really miss when you go into a restaurant

and then all of the staff turn to face you

and all scream irasshaimase at you

as loud as they possibly can, all in

unison. Yeah, that was really fantastic.

I love being deafened before I'm about to

eat my tasteless, possibly poisonous,

overpriced fish. Yeah, I'm kind of annoyed

right now because some stupid man just

knocked on my door with a package when it

was supposed to be a package for my

neighbor. Can't you read the sign? It

clearly says the house number. In front of

the door. This has happened so many times

now. They either deliver my parcels to my

neighbor or they deliver my neighbor's

parcels to me when it clearly says the

house number on the wall. How difficult is

it? How difficult can it possibly be to

check the house number that's clearly on

the wall of the house before you knock on

the door and deliver the parcel to the

wrong person?