Is there a better place than Japan?

[Jack]

Where else do they clean the interior of the train everytime it reaches its terminus?

Where else can you adjust your watch by following the train schedule?

Where else can you walk on the streets at night and not worry about crime?

Where else will the store clerks yell "irasshaimase" when you go in?

Where else are restaurants as fun and good as in Tokyo?

Where else are taxis so clean (don't give me London) and the meter runs on high octane after the first 2 km?

Is there a more exciting city than Tokyo for a single gaijin anywhere in this solar system?

[Steve Bildermann]

[Blah Pete]

I have to say Singapore has better restaurants than Japan. A good selection and cheaper then Japan.

[American Oyaji]

No there isnt that I can think of.

I traveled from Narita to LAX.

Ive got to see LAX is the dirtiest damn airport I've EVER seen. And I've seen quite a few.

Narita was Beverly Hills and LAX was the South Central ghetto of airports.

[kamome]

[Jack]

Singapore may have nice restaurants but except for the Raffles hotel I have not seen them. In Japan close your eyes and go to any restaurant in the mid-price range and you are amazed at how good it is.

[stuckinkysuhu]

Singapore is also controlled by a bunch of people with sticks up their asses. It is like if the puritans from the old days in England ran a country today. Remember, in Tokyo if you do something bad the cops will probably not give a shit because its too much work to take you in. In singapore youll get lashed and told not to chew gum in the future.

[Blah Pete]

Tokyo and maybe some of the other larger cities have good restaurants. But if you are stuck out in the country it is a different story.

Singapore, by the way is not as strict as it sounds. You can get away with quite alot there.

[ismetony]

I would have to say that Thailand is where I would rather be.
Phuket to be exact.
Go into any pharmacy and come out on a vacation of a life time.
I am tired of Japan.
Stop staring at me you freak!!!
Get me the hell out of this country.

[American Oyaji]

If you're tired of the country.

All you have to do is leave.

[devicenull]

[American Oyaji]

I know its not easy.

I've been in that position. I had to leave Japan first and leave my family behind. I am now trying to get them stateside.

[American Oyaji]

If you want greenery, get out of the city.

In Aomori prefecture, there is no lack of greenery at all.

Yeah, most of it is farms and wilderness and what not, but the fishing is pretty good.

I lived in Aomori the whole time I was in Japan. Went to Tokyo and I think its a nice place to visit, but would not want to live there any length of time.

Every country has its bad points, but if you focus on the negative, you'll never find the positive.

Go North of Tokyo and South of Osaka. You'll start finding open spaces.

Well, GREEN spaces. Not to many open spaces. Japan isn't an island by the way.

It's a moutain chain sitting in the water.

[Jack]

You are right that I do not live in Japan but surely for a gaijin to live there it is a choice, and obviously you have made that choice. Anyone who has been to Australia raves about it and have only nice things to say. I am sure it is a beautiful place and when I give the reasons why I think Japan is the best place, it is "on balance" the best place in my opinion.

Yes, I do like when I hear "irasshaimase" everytime I go to a store even if it is mechanical. Yes, I do like it when people say I am sorry whenever a customer is not happy. It beats the arguing that goes on in my countgry because no one wants to say I am sorry even when they are at fault.

I live in a big city and we do not have that much green space either. We don't have Yoyogi park, we don't have Hibiya Park. The architecture in many modern cities is nothing to look at either so despute all the reasons you give, Japan is still my favourite place in the world. I have never been to your country but I can magine that Tokyo's nightlife scene exists nowhere else in the world. Not even in Sydney.

[cliffy]

SCaddet,

Will you do me and the entire male foreign community in Japan a big giant favor and take Gomi Girl back to Australia?

Thanks!

Is this the same poster TWO LINES only not 5000???

BTW Gomi Girl you are welcome anywhere in my opinion

[GomiGirl]

BTW Gomi Girl you are welcome anywhere in my opinion

Thank you Cliffy and back at you.

There is so much warmth on the board today.. it is making me all gooey.

[American Oyaji]

Gai, why are you against GomiGirl?

Cuz she is cool and gets much love and you don't?

SCadett, you have a point.
Even though I spent my whole 8 years in Aomori,
I never lived as a salaryman in one of the large cities.

I dont think I could have. I would have gone bonkers. I grew up in South-Western Pennsylvania among the moutains and trees. Aomori felt like I belonged there. Not only moutains and trees, but lakes and ocean.

I miss the smell of the ocean.