45 % der im Ausland lebenden Japaner fühlen sich einsam: Regierungsstudie

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/06/b99f004eb8d7-45-of-japanese-living-abroad-feel-lonely-govt-study.html

31 comments

  2. They feel alone at home, they feel alone abroad.

    Maybe the problem is that their extremely polite society makes it hard to try to socialize and meet people because they dont want to be seen as rude.

  3. It’s their own choice, they ain’t tied down. Maybe a bit more interaction wouldn’t hurt though

  4. If you’re one of these people feel free to message me! I’m currently trying to learn Japanese and would love to have a friend from Japan!

  5. My japanese roomate would never socialize. Hated even small gatherings at our place. I have no idea what she did with her time and the left without saying anything, I wonder if it was just her or a cultural thing.

  6. Been worked for Japanese MNC, most of them are introverts and don’t socialise with other nationalities. Don’t talk about beyond their work but except one guy whom spend almost all his salary within week to drink and prostitute.

  7. When I studied abroad in the US, I was the only Japanese student who went out and made friends. Everyone reported depression and isolation. That confused me.

  8. How does this compare to their domestic loneliness? Don’t they have an epidemic of shut ins/ loners?

  10. Don’t forget Japan’s culture has quickly changed in a short time. Same shyness as a whole in society. Things are changing so we’ll see less people having many kids and marrying just to marry since arranged marriages aren’t a thing there anymore which if you think about it wasn’t so long ago. More people need to normalize socializing with others and less hate and bullying!

  12. I work with 3 Japanese people literally on work visas from Japan.

    They don’t want to go back and live in Japan due to the work ethic and love the USA

    But they also feel very much like a fish-out-of-water in the USA because of how different it is compared to Japan.

    SO you are effectively in limbo and only other Japanese can relate.

  13. LMAO compare that to the resident population then get back to us!

  14. >According to the survey, a total of 44.9 percent either felt lonely “often or always,” “sometimes” or “once in a while.” The figure was 5.6 percentage points higher than seen in a similar survey conducted by the Cabinet Secretariat domestically

    How is this news worthy? I am more surprised that 55.1% never feels lonely. Also it’s not even significantly higher than Japanese people living in Japan.

  15. Been living in Nevada for 20 years now and I’ve only made a single other Japanese friend. Ever.

    We’re such a fucking unicorn here and I can imagine teenagers or adults that didn’t ~~go through trial by fire of getting bullied by American kids and~~ learn English quickly would have a very hard time adjusting.

    Doesn’t help that pretty much every “sushi” place isn’t Japanese owned, and it’s VERY difficult finding food that reminds me of home until relatively recently.

  16. I struggled with this when I first moved to the US. Actually the whole struggling lasted for a decade before I sort of figured it out.

    Many Japanese people I know that moved here alone (not with a spouse or family) find that interacting with non-Japanese to be very stressful and frustrating. Our culture has very strong ritualistic practices and lots and lots of subtext that everybody kinda understands. For the first decade of my move.. I would burn myself out of socializing within the first two or three interactions of the year. I’d rather spend time alone after that.

    I realized I needed to be more casual and be less.. well… polite with people. Say yes I’d love to meet up with you and just don’t follow up because it was all just polite conversation. Assume plans are cancelled if not confirm two days before the event and the day of. If you get ask why you didn’t show up, just say you double booked or forgot. Just expect people not to follow through or flake. And expect casual friends to not give a shit if you do same.

    It is refreshing to interact with other Japanese people. Normally, we make plans ahead of time and maybe don’t even talk and we have some confidence that we both will be there.

    I also found that Americans prefer doing things outside of their homes. Close friends in Japan tend to invite each other to either your own place or another intimate place. It’s also common just to ask someone if they wanted to go do normal stuff like grocery and what not.

    My mom used to invite her friend over to do laundry at her place. Gives the moms something productive with their time and the kids get to play.

  17. Sounds like they’re acclimating to the culture well.

  18. I’d be happy to hang out with them if I could find any.

  19. I think the figures would be much higher. If I live abroad I’d feel lonely too

  20. Even as a white, English speaking person moving to a North America from the UK felt lonely for a long time. This isn’t news about immigration.

  22. Only 45%? What’s their secret? That has to be lower than the average group metric.

  23. Japanese people are going to feel lonely their whole lives no matter where they live if they went through the Japanese school system.

  25. Breaking News! Moving thousands of miles from family and friends makes people feel lonely. 

  26. People from other countries, feel the same while living in Japan.

    No hate, but Japanese people don’t associate that easily.

  27. Well, in the end, there is no difference between Japan and other countries. It is an illusion to think that if you go abroad, everyone will be friendly and your friendships will change. There are foreigners in Japan who do not interact well with others, and there are plenty of foreigners in the U.S. who do not interact well with others.

  28. Joey Bizinger just recapped a report by the UN or something from a Japanese outlet and that said Japanese people in Japan were some of the saddest and loneliest people on Earth as a society. So maybe it’s just a Japanese thing right now.

  29. Not very concerned about this considering what they did to us in WW2 

  31. Unreleased statistic: 90% of Japanese living in Japan feel lonely

Leave a Reply