みなさん、こんにちは！帰国子女、海外経験者コミュニティーのBeyond Borderです！
『競争力を持った国際日本人になる！』、『日本の良さを再発見し、世界中に広めよう！』をスローガンに始まった、現在唯一の英文記事<Introducing Japan>第８弾！

How do you think about Japanese people’s lifestyle? (Student, Worker, Housewife etc)

Lifestyle of Japanese people is quite regular that everyone has similar daily routine if they are participating in same career. Students wake up early for standard schools. After that, they go for practices of school societies or tutorial schools until the sky gets dark. Businessmen go to work early in the morning and go for ‘Nomikai’ (Japanese drinking party) before going back home at midnight. People’s life looks alike in Japanese society.

I guess it is somehow stressful to live in Japan. The social expectations in Japan are too hard to follow that people can hardly be themselves and to choose their own way to go on in their life. Living in Japan, people have to care about others’ feeling and thoughts that people used to hide their emotions. Sometimes I wondered will they give up their dreams or life goals as they used to fulfill the expectations of people around them. Every coin has two sides. Social relationships in Japan are usually harmonious that embarrassing moments seldom happen.

Do you feel comfortable to live in Japan?

For me, I usually feel comfortable to live in Japan. People are always nice to foreigners in Japan that I never face difficulty due to my identity. The two things I have to overcome are the language problem and culture of sempai-kouhai relations (upperclassmen and freshmen relationships) which is different from my own culture. Although getting into Japanese society is not that easy, I feel that Japan has become more willing to accept foreigners in recent years.