Yo, I don’t know who they interviewed in the US, but 70% of the US allegedly being happy while over half are behind on rent according to US Census is wild.
In my experience people from the US are hesitant to admit things are wrong with their country in a country vs country context. That’s based on a very small sample size though.
@@leastselfawarepotassium As someone who lives in the US, it's also kinda forced in our culture to be confident in yourself, which isn't bad, but people are more than ever celebrating confidence in themselves which drives people to 'fake it' and just pretend like they are. which is a little ironic.
While I know there are problems, I feel like most of the people around me are generally happy and doing well. A part of me wonders how much of the negativity is media/doomscrolling/foreign propaganda.
@@ashermack2543that’s interesting. Definitely something I envy about the US. In my country we are pressured to be humble so I was wondering where we were on the list (NZ). We call it Tall Poppy Syndrome.
@@DeusaRem mirrored in places like UK, Australia and USA, where mental health issues taken so seriously they stopped being issues and are now virtues for some reason.
@@rRekkoIt’s still an issue in the US. Even though we have ways to get help for it (unless you’re low income with no state insurance which is hard to obtain these days depending on what state you live in) you can’t just not go into work or maintain decent relationships if your mental health is in the gutter, you’ll still face consequences for it. People will still believe it’s an excuse or that you’re lying because everyone’s claiming they have mental health issues so you don’t know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t, therefore people will just write you off as incompetent and you still have to go out in the world and operate day to day like normal even if you’re losing your mind in the process. There’s nothing good that comes out of it regardless. The US is no exception
I grew up in Japan and spent half my life there and loved it but there’s definitely a shame culture that put me down so much. Im still working through regaining my confidence from that because there was just so many social rules that in hindsight took away a lot of my ability to be myself and be confident in who I am and I feel like that’s the same for many people out there.
I get the sense you are a good person. Always be yourself and the right people will love you for who you really are. Confidence is about not being afraid to show the world the real you, which I’m sure is amazing! ✨
If you look at it from a certain angle, Companies making their employees stay after hours to do unpaid overwork, is kinda opposing the citizen's right to a good, healthy life. Some might say it's antipatriotic. There's an easy and expensive way to circumvent this. Just hire more people and have a good work-life balance.
I'd imagine the reason they won't do that is because hiring more workers to work on the clock will cost more money. Quite a bit, depending on how many people are literally not being paid to do overtime. I honestly can't believe a culture can be this... Idk... Desperate to prove themselves? If I heard "you're gonna do unpaid overtime" I'd either leave immediately or be extremely lazy whenever I'm forced to work for free.
Just ban unpaid overtime and dish out 100 million dollar equivalent penalties. Easy. Shit's gotta be changed soon, no point in talking about solutions when the solutions need to be implemented now.
@@urphakeandgey6308 did say expensive there, and I'd not say desperate, more like carrying on the traditions of hazing the new guy and letting that cycle move forward cuz it lets someone off the hook to have fun while drowning someone other in work and stress.
It was alarming when i asked my elementary school students what they thought of the western countries and their response was 自由(Jiyu) which means freedom. That was sad to hear. The rigidity of the Japanese society is depressing Japanese ppl.
And people in first world countries are depressed because of the lack of hardship, leading them to being extremely vulnerable to problem and adversities. Why does it matter? because since they didn't have any adversities, the moment they crash into the crude nature of reality, they crumble into pieces. Some of them don't crumble, but they invent bigger problems out of thin air, the so called 1st world problems like gender identity, as a method to cope with reality after growing up being fed lies since they were a kid. "You can be whoever you want to be, you can do whatever you want to do, so go for your dream, oh but don't ever compete or try to win over others, that would be toxic". Grass is always greener on the other side, no matter how many fences you jump over.
Even more sad how misguided they are. The west is full of censorship, punishment for not having the correct opinions, and we even have stuff like credit cards declining purchases that they deem offensive especially from japan.
As someone who lives in japan, I think 2 of the biggest reasons are the work life balance and the difficulty making friends. It is SOOO difficult to make deep connections here. Back home in america I have so many people I could call up, and take a walk with to talk about life and struggles and all that. Everything feels so surface level here, which is part of the culture as its all about "keeping the peace". But it really just ends up with people wasting their time because you cant tell how someone truly feels about you.
After my careful analyzation, Japan were only good for retirement country. Or only the the very upper class social circle, as they have a lot of leisure time to socialize. Same goes with korea. And From what I can see it does applies to any ultra developed big cities, Such as New York that one is the only city in america that got same rapid paced lifestyle equivalent to east
@@lunashade1 huh? 90% of my circle said it was the most laidback culture compared to usa.. strange.. even when they heard of I'm moving to usa for a job they said australia culture "better for us" it matches the indonesian laidback ones. No rush, no hush.. but nah.. those circle I'm talking about, they doesn't know how ingrained my taste on a country since young
@@MaseraSteve australia is very laid back, but I am certain for those who have experienced life in sydney would agree with me. lots of people are friendly but not really committed for deep relationships. they stick to who they know. ofcourse everyones experience is different though!
@@lunashade1 Huh.. Interesting experience. So in your version, despite living in Sydney, a big city known for it's laidback lifestyle, It does not guarantee a good social life? Hmm damn.. Hope the smaller town will have the different outtake. I heard doesn't matter which country as long as the smaller the city (town) , the higher probabillity of their friendliness to accept you as their close friendship in their circle. I got quite fortunate to me someone from usa online right here on youtube. Turns out, she was born and now living in rural southern area. What shocked me is we're still talking after couple years later. 99% of online chat so called from big city ghosted me out or the account went vanished. But not this one fella from small town Doesn't!
It is sad that so many viewers are more concerned about the well-being of the Japanese than the Uyghurs' life in the camps. These people care more about next year's animation than about Uyghurs being erased by the Communist.
@@Im-fq1mnI’ve been to China and everything they tell us in the news is either a wild distortion or an outright lie. US instigated terrorism in Xinjiang same way we do in every country we don’t like and instead of kicking down doors and mass horrors like the US did in West Asia, China developed Xinjiang’s infrastructures and economy. It wasn’t perfect and its true mistakes were made but nothing like what we’ve been propagandized to believe The same media that lied to us about WMDs to instigate war is suddenly telling the truth about China when US politicians have been very open about wanting war with China? China lifted over 800 million people out of poverty and our billionaire owners don’t want us to know that poverty alleviation programs work or that it even exists
They probably ask the governments in some countries for lack of official unhappiness statistics. No way in hell will the likes of Putin or Xi greenlight such a study.
yes, the Expectations and Judgement is Overwhelming, but if you're willing to be a loser, then you got nothing to lose but, on the other hand, if you live in a Very bad Neighborhood with constant gangfight, gunshot, and fights at any time in the US i think it'll be much more stressful because you don't know when you'll get attacked, you can get killed from accidentally having an Eye Contact with a random stranger
This is such a good topic! I went to Japan with MEXT scholarship to study mental health and depression. It was in 2020 and we were the last foreigners that were let into Japan before it closed its borders completely for the next couple of years. I lived there for 1.5 years, and chose to leave, because my own mental health started to deteriorate (plus the war in Ukraine started, which potentially could affect my home country as well). I am not a professor, but I thought I would share some thoughts and observations, since this concerns my field of research, and I still keep thinking about this question, even after I left. First, I believe it is a VERY complex issue, and thus looking for "the one main" reason is counterproductive. Like my sensei, who believed that if only we could find this one biomarker for depression, or this one faulty brain circuitry, the puzzle would be solved and the problem of depression fixed (meanwhile, in the lab people were logging 19h of work, per day!). I think it is important to look at it in a complex, systemic way, instead of putting all the blame to either social media, collectivism or brutal work culture. To me, Japan felt extremely suffocating and lonely. Or, I guess, isolating would be an even better word. It is stiffening with rules, control, social policing and perfectionism. I was once reading a short overview for Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder in my lab in Hiroshima, and found it amusing how 90% of the points could be applied to Japanese society as a whole! There must be something in their current psycho-socio-economical environment that formed over the centuries and into the modern age which caused this mental shift towards a dis-order. But tell me, how someone can NOT be miserable, if they are chronically sleep deprived and living under a constant stress from all the rules and social control? First of all they feel miserable purely out of physiological reasons. But then, they also have no sense of agency in their life - due to the endless rules, and also hierarchy. Everything is decided for you. Damn, they even have instruction on how to use an f-ing PEN!!! or! you cannot even take out onions from a burger upon your customer's request, without asking your superior for approval! My point is, in such a rigid and stifling environment one must feel like they have almost no locus of control (plus all the conditioning of the school/education system). Social isolation. Local communities and human social bonds have eroded due to urbanization and centralization in Tokyo. Now the majority, coming even from the deepest inaka will leave their home town to move to Tokyo, or at least some other big cities (Oosaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Fukuoka, Nagoya). In the result there are millions of people who have cut their ties with extended families, relatives, local communities, and moved to the bigger cities for work, but then, feel isolated. And loneliness is very disruptive and harmful for health. Plus, it is pretty normal for kaisha to relocate their workers from city to city every couple of years. They either move with their spouse (if they have one), leave the spouse and children in a different city and relocate alone, or just probably, remain single, with little to no social support. It is very difficult when you manage to build some social connections only to have them all cut after a couple of years and you have to start all over again. Very bad for human attachment and relationships all together. There was a lady I knew, in her late 30ies, very beautiful, neatly dressed, kind lady. She wanted to find a husband and start a family so badly (we even went to jinja to prey for that)! At the same time, she was working overtime so much that she often would fall asleep right in the genkan of her apartment after returning home, and in the morning get up and go back to work... You take Maslow's pyramid of human needs, apply it to Japanese case, and all you are left with is.. what? Tasty food? (which is btw very high in salt, sugar and processed produce...). This was my interpretation, as person who comes from a different culture and with a medical background. But when I asked Japanese, many of them mention this profound pessimism about future. Probably due to the growing older population and economical challenges associated with that. There is no hope that someone competent will come and save them (and being so risk averse they probably wouldn't vote for something radically different), but they also lack agency and unity to change things themselves.... it IS very sad to live there. Japan to me is full of short term pleasure and escapism - manga, video games, porn, tasty food, consumerism. But there is very little about long term joy, happiness and sense of fulfillment. Lack of sense of meaning. Perhaps somewhere in inaka it is different?.. These were some points that came into my mind right away. But to summarize, the whole system that they have built there felt dehumanizing to me. They are exhausted, alone, with no attachment, no power and no hope. People are nothing but expendable tools, like cogs - prepared for the system and then used by it. Maybe this is how they managed to grow their economy so rapidly back in the 80ies-90ies, but now it all just decompensated? Maybe this is the cost of the economical growth in capitalism? Afterall cyberpunk dystopia - a genre which appeared as a critique of capitalism - was heavily inspired by Japan.... Anyways. To me it is actually a miracle that they are keeping themselves together so well in the environment like that! :)
Thank you for your long explanation, I wish more people would see this comment. Even though I've never been in Japan, I always thought that even though Japan is probably one of the best countries for tourism, it would suck for me if I decided to actually live there. I love Japan's entertainment very much (otaku stuff, traditional foods, festivals, etc.) and I do really want to go visit Japan more than any other country, but when I imagine myself having to live and work there by myself I'm sure it'd be a living hell for me. And when you said that Japan is full of short term pleasure and escapism - it finally clicked to me. It's probably why they have some of the best entertainment in the world - because it is extremely essential for them to keep living (especially those who live in the cities), to be able to avert their eyes from their life and escape from all that stress albeit just for a moment.
@@syfx1485 Thank you for reading through my comment and sharing your thoughts! My opinion after living in Japan and also having experience visiting it before, just as a tourist - you will have an amazing time there if you are visiting short-term, with no responsibilities attached. It might be one of the best places in the world for tourism. The attitude to the customer, the quality of services you get for the price, and their omotenashi will make it for a magical experience. Living there -working, studying - might be a totally different experience though. I wouldn't advise 100% against it, after all it depends on a person - their resilience to stress, social support and skills, character traits, the background they are coming from. I have plenty of friends who chose to stay in Japan. Some have a decent time working and living there (perhaps they put less weight on the social issues around them, like I did). Others choose Japan because it is still better than their home country and they find ways to live there, being a foreigner. I believe it poses more difficulties for foreigners, as they might not be aware of some social context, or they are even more prone to have issues finding a good job.. We have to adapt to an environment that Japanese grow up in, so there is some frustration, confusion, resistance and all the stress that comes with it. Actually quite a lot of different challenges :) On the other hand, you get to experience the benefits of the so called "gaijin pass" :) So, if you really REALLY want to try it, if this is your life dream, the gestalt you want to fulfill, then I would say - try it! You are now armed with some insights about reality and will be prepared more that many of us were :) Perhaps, you can establish some bonds with the country and go for some cultural exchange, or short term education program, to visit the country without having to experience it's drawbacks too much. Good luck to you, sincerely!
I am Japanese, living in an inaka place and going to university in a metropolitan city. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on my country. All of your explanations were the exact things that I have felt for my entire life. I couldn't properly describe my feelings in my native language, but your explanations describe what I feel incredibly well. I was lucky to find this video and your comment. (I assume that inaka, or rural areas have more or less the same situations.)
@@Ayaka-2945 Dear Ayaka-san! Thank you for your response and for your feedback! I am glad that you could find this video which helped you formulate and express your feelings about these issues better. May I ask, what you find similar about the situations in inaka? I find it very interesting to hear from you, as you are living there! I would assume that social pressure might be more stronger in inaka, where the number of residents is smaller and everyone knows each other, so there is a pressure not to stick out. But maybe I am wrong. What do you think about inaka?
I'm living in Japan for five years now, and I've noticed some very interesting things. Everyone dresses more or less the same, and they all laugh in a similar way-the pitch and frequency of their laughs, the tone of their voices, and their manner of expression are all very, very similar. There are days when I can even predict what will happen based on people's daily movements and gestures. It's like when you put a finger in the path of ants; they stop and search for a new path, but you already know what will happen and where they will go. This predictability is quite remarkable in Japan. It feels like the Japanese are in a kind of mental prison, deeply rooted in traditional values that limit free expression. They're completely obsessed with fitting in and not being noticed, but at the same time, this leads to an overwhelming loneliness that they often cover up with large amounts of alcohol. Sometimes, in rare moments, you see people with a certain "light" who stand out from the rest, or you get to see them as they truly are in more private settings. In general, they are a very loving people, although it might be hard to believe. I respect them a lot, but it saddens me to be aware of these details I've mentioned.
As someone who is considering moving to Japan in the next 2 years, I greatly admire and value this honest review. I know this country is not perfect, similarly to most countries in the world. But it is nice to see the issues before going in from a local's perspective. So thank you sir for your insight.
As an immigrant to an Anglo country - been here 30 years - I can tell you that that's not only true for Japan. People learn mannerisms from each other. They have similar pitches too.
@@spaceowl5957 They do, from people I've talked to at least.. Especially after going out for drinks or other if they trust you. That's when their true personality comes out. But I suppose I can also see how they can be a bit more reserved considering how their culture is. That's what I've been told at least..
I am Japanese, and these surveys are not very helpful, because Japanese people tend to give low scores when they rate something. These surveys are like saying that Japanese food is miserable because the average restaurant score is low in Japan.
Psychology student here. What you just said has significance to the cross-cultural reliability of the tests conducted, I am curious as to why Japanese people score low on surveys and how this could be factored into research to remove this issue within the research. For such a well known body of research I am curious as to how to navigated this issue. Do you have some insight as to why people score low?
@@JM-wt4bf A social media influencer explained that scoring a 3 star review is goals to JP restaurants because of the acceptance that JP culture favors reviews that give critiques. An american scored a JP restaurant with 5 stars and she got in big trouble from the culinary establishment. She explained it like it was giving them a 1 star review...idk how surveys are done in jp culture
@@JM-wt4bf As a Japanese person, my personal opinion is that Japan still retains a form of social collectivism (at least in the sense that individuals strive not to negatively impact society). Consequently, people tend to express their individuality within the "comfort zone" of being "ordinary." This is why, when presented with five options, there's a tendency to choose the middle option without much thought. Freedom is ensured as long as individuals do not cause trouble or negatively affect others or the community.
Blaming social media for Japanese people's unhappiness is a cop out. Look no further than an extremely weak yen, low wages, inflation, a relatively high cost of living, an incredible amount of social rules and norms, loneliness, toxic work culture, just to name a few.
Add to it as Joey sees it is the fact that the Japanese are seeing other places and may be sad that Americans and Aussies and Canadians don't just up and conform to rules. Thing is we do but they are not super restrictive.
LOL the rate of suicide was higher without social media. People are pretty blind to stats. They don't want to make Japan look bad because now it looks like they are worst than China.
In university i remember when i got my graduation thesis stamped and i was celebrating like crazy while my other japanese collogues were just sitting there with no reaction what so ever, i asked one of my friends if they failed he told me no but they dont want to graduate because of how extremely tough the work life is.
I'm Japanese. I think the biggest problem is lack of respect for individuals. Although Japanese people care others on the surface, we don't sincerely respect each other and just be afraid of being left out. Potentially we are forced to go on the same way, and if someone goes on own way, we would dislike the person. This also includes jealous, because we have something we want to do, but we are afraid of doing it due to the above reason. So we feel constricted and unhappy and we live like NPC.
Speaking as another Japanese individual, I'd say it's perhaps largely subjective, isn't it? While it's true that there's social pressure to conform in Japanese society, similar dynamics manifest differently in Western countries as well, as English-speaking RUclipsrs living in Japan have also pointed out. (So, there's a different kind of societal pressure than what Japan experiences.) If you desire, you do have the option to live abroad, don't you? Just as there are people from overseas who want to live in Japan, that's one of the choices available to you.
@@gotakazawa408 To live in a foreign country is easier said than done. For many people, it is unrealistic. Besides the visa issues, you would have to know the language and have internationally marketable skills to find a job in a foreign country.
@@luna498-h5z Of course, I'm aware of that. However, there are also options like studying abroad, and fortunately, there are countries relatively easy to obtain Working Holiday visas from Japan. I'm just pointing out that there are other options available if he feels disheartened about Japan. It's ultimately up to him to decide how to judge and act.
I mean, even though there are some options to change their environment, people are not willing to choose them, regardless of domestic or abroad options. Personally, I don't like the mind, so I have chosen my own way I want. As a result, sometimes I feel people look down me, though. However, I love Japanese cultures and people. I hope people can take their own way!
@@nittarou I hope people see that finding your own way in life is not necessarily a bad thing and will be understanding of your life choices. They may even secretly envy you for doing something different from the crowd! Good luck :)
There has been a japanese RUclipsr getting some traction here in the states. I was just scrolling through recommended and a video popped up that said "lonely 50 year old man eats" or something along those lines. Pretty interesting dude. Literally just sharing his life and interacting with his community
I've lived and worked in 8 different countries (including Japan) - most of what we think we know about what makes us "happy" (and about what gets published in a "happiness index") is wrong. Of course, safety and financial stability are important, but free time and social relations are WAY more relevant with regard to happiness. An immaculate country full of overworked, awkward shut-ins is NOT going to be a happy place.
It surprises me to hear that the Netherlands is in the top. I live in the Netherlands and we have a culture here of complaining about everything. We complain about the weather, about immigration, about public transport, traffic, work etc.
Weirdly, although I do not think venting really improves happiness, openness about how stuff is, means people are more comfortable socially and trust each other more, Japan has developed a very conformist, keep problems under the cover type society, like mental health is still not taken very serious among a lot of older Japanese. Its more complex but the Netherlands has a lot of things that Japan lacks.
Sounds like NZ. We live in one of the most beautiful places on earth but you’d think it was hell by talking to some people. We do have problems like any other country but the grass isn’t always greener.
Not just that, literally no one can get a house here. Like, the amount of late 20s people still living at their parents' home here is very high, at least in my circle.
I just came back from Japan, I was there with a large group of people from Mexico. We were all amazed and even kind of jealous. Really seems like a perfect country in so many senses. This is really a surprise, especially children, they looked so happy. On the other hand, Mexico is chaos, we have crime, insecurity, pollution, bad economy and the government is a mess and yet we are quite happy all the time.
Hi Joey! super interesting video! I feel like these kinds of surveys are always to be taken with a grain of salt. Depending on how the data pool is taken it can change the result a lot so I don't know how accurate this survey can be. My hypothesis on why Japanese people rate their confidence so low, is probably because they have been taught to 謙遜する when they receive praise. I think having to be (from a western perspective) overly humble in day to day life might lead you to believe that you're actually not good at something or not beautiful enough etc. I just hope everyone can find happiness in life and that we can keep improving our countries.
An interesting recent trend is that over 50% of Japanese people who have lived abroad for more than 20 years are considering returning to Japan after retirement.
Let me guess, is it the cultural shock? You are suffering the point of view of an inmigrante issues, same as a foreigner in your home country, yes it’s a miserable process, it happens to everyone moving to a new, you adapt and move on… seek happiness in your way now that you’re in a different country, live the experience of “no body cares, what you do” it’s your life.
@@ericx6969Certainly not. A RUclipsr in South Australia who exposed the corruption in the governing body of the area was threatened, a home near his was set aflame and he had to take the video down and stop going after them. I can't remember his name right now but that just goes to show that things aren't as peachy as they appear to be
@@ericx6969 Australia is mad corrupted. They also just got exposed for pocketing $6 trillion dollars in military funs (3x more then the entire GDP of the country) politicians are disgusting there. But honestly they hold so much power and have publicly killed people that opposed them that people can't do anything. It's insane the country still runs
I really like how at approximately minute 13:00 Joey goes deeper than usual, talking about the basic human nature of comparing with each others especially if other people are more successful than you. I like how he's even real honest admitting that even for a quite famous RUclipsr like Joey himself still sometimes feels like other people are more successful above than him, and therefore the social comparison can makes us feel shitty. I've even experienced this myself too constantly, and to be honest, it can even be frustrating & depressing. Thank you Joey for going a lot much deeper than usual. Respect from Indonesia.
After watching Paolo from Tokyo videos about how people actually work and live (both private small restaurants and big corporate jobs) it's no wonder people are unhappy. It's pretty much work 12 or more hours a day, get home, eat and go to bed. They have very little life outside of work. On top of that it's the mindset Joey mentioned, where they don't want to complain or standout and just quietly suffer.
I would say that overall, Japanese people don't look at or value "happiness" the same way as other countries. We are a humble country that looks at life as studying, working, and supporting family, while finding things to enjoy here and there. Overall, we rarely go on vacations or have expensive hobbies and value financial responsibility and savings over personal excess and socialization.
@@kayakfishinghokkaido9884 no wonder u depressed, and among highest of suicide, and low birth rates. Good job, wont last long very much if ya keep up... now rice shortage, japan would change
It’s also been revealed a lot of the happiness surveys are kind of skewed b/c Northern European societies have this “be happy with what you have” culture, so that’s automatically going to inflate their numbers.
I don't believe any of these, true in The Netherlands we had the mentality of be happy with what you have but don't kide yourself, hyperconsumerism is rampent.
They don't have it too bad in Northern Europe, they have free education, free healthcare, a safe environment and well-paying jobs. It's not difficult to be happy with what you have, if you have that.
In the Nordics social inequality is really low (between genders, too), they have social security (including free quality healthcare and education), and they have a culture that appreciates each person as they are. In these circumstances, happiness is not that hard to find 🤷
As someone that also lives in Japan and grew up here a long time ago before moving back, to me it really boils down to one aspect and it's the double edged sword of Japanese culture. It's beautifully respectful, but also disgustingly so as they've abused the idea of respect by shifting what it means to be respectful for selfish benefits. The easiest example is work hours. After COVID, it's become increasingly more noticeable that people really are wasting their time working as long as they do at the places they work. Many MANY jobs are just sitting at work, doing 4 hours worth of work, and the rest of the time just stretching that work over the course of your work hours. People do not need to work not nearly as long as they need to to get their work done or be efficient. In Japan, the expectation is unpaid overtime, to stay several hours after work hours to keep working even if you're not working. The simple existence of you at your workplace to display how hardworking you are rather than actually being. It becomes "respectful" to stay 1-2+ hours after your shift, and furthermore to interact with your colleagues or boss after the fact, continuing this angle of respectfully sucking up to them. It's a poison that seeps into every aspect of Japanese life, leaving little room for breathing or really feeling liberated in your own life. The country, if you're coming here on your own, can be ruthlessly depressing because you can very easily tell that everyone is stuck in this monotonous cycle and they can't find any way to break out. Imagine knowing no matter how hard you work, you don't have any time for your own life. Compounded by the fact that the economy is in the shitter and the city is expensive and the dreams of having a nice home is just a dream since you'll more than likely be relegated to a very small and tight studio or apartment. It's hard living in this country, even harder if you're a foreigner thanks to the severe xenophobia. You're playing on veteran difficulty if you think it's in any way reasonable to accomplish something as simple as getting a bank account or renting an apartment since your status as a foreigner automatically disqualifies you. Japan does not suck, but it's a tough country to imagine having a life in without any severe trials versus SO so many countries around the world. Great to visit, hard to live.
"Visiting is wonderful, but living is challenging." That's a truth I agree with. As a fellow Japanese individual, I personally wonder: Are you working in what's often referred to as an "old-style Japanese company"? I'm not aware of your specific situation, but if you desire, I believe there are now options beyond companies with such a culture...
@@gotakazawa408 I mention these working conditions because whether we like it or not, that's the painful reality for many Japanese people. Of course there are companies today that have adopted a more "modern" work culture, but there are still too many companies stuck in the past. There's little incentive to give their workers a better work-life balance because they managed to abuse culture for profit. Until the government comes through to apply a nationwide shift in work culture to benefit all workers, those companies will continue to reap the benefits of their abuse. That being said, many of them don't really notice they are abusing since they were raised in a time where this is the standard. But after what's been accomplished around the world with better work hours and less "respect", it begs the question the viability and applicability of their extensive working conditions. Once again, it's a part of Japan that is great at looking forward thinking, but once you get a look at its internals, you realise just how stuck in the past they are.
@@guitarsaremyfriendzzz7077 Yeah I may have oversimplified and identified the issue of expensiveness in Tokyo specifically. It is most definitely not expensive to get a place, it is expensive by the metric of value to square metres. As someone who grew up in several countries around Asia with most of them in Japan, I was shocked to learn that in Tokyo, it's very standard to believe that how much they're paying for rent only gets you such a small place. It reminds me of New York City. Not to mention how over the past few years, we're feeling the squeeze with our yen having less and less value while the prices of everything goes up. I'm just voicing a frustration and my sadness whenever I look at people during my commutes. I lived in Singapore and with the lack of culture-bound respectfulness, there can be much louder people and a lot more talking in public. They are ruder by comparison, but at least they're happy and you can tell. Hell even the housing there is incredibly expensive, but again, at least they're allowed to live their life and be happy.
@@RaeneYT It seems like we're not seeing eye to eye on this. At least for now, we have enough immigrants from overseas, so if you have time to criticize, please use that valuable time for yourself.
7:41 as an American born and raised in America, typically when you were looking to make new friends with someone you’ll walk up to them and maybe start small talk maybe buy them a coffee or something, like they’re strangers so you start up a conversation. Something I’ve noticed about Japanese culture is that they find it weird and creepy to start a conversation with someone you don’t know. And also compliments, compliments are very bizarre in a lot of Asian countries I’ve noticed. Giving compliments is almost like a “I’m looking down on you” type gesture. And a lot of the times instead of appreciating the compliment that somebody gave to you by saying “thank you”, you are forced to reject the compliment, or else you’ll be looked at as a narcissist and overly confident. I always found rejecting a compliment from someone to almost be like a “pick me”, I also find it very impolite to not appreciate something that somebody went out of their way to tell you to make you feel good about yourself or make you feel happy. There’s just a lot of social stigma that you don’t see really anywhere else in the world and it makes making friends and building relationships very hard and very complicated. Especially mental health because mental health is very taboo in Japan. They don’t really talk about it much but everyone goes through some type of mental health crisis at least once in their life. It’s normal, feeling emotions is normal. We’re not robots. We are people. We are humans. We are animals. But showing emotion like that in Asian countries is also very very taboo.
That's why I often feel Japan needs to change. But if the people don't want that, then Elon is right to be concerned about Japan going extinct because of suicide. Change starts with them but if they won't do it because they've been conditioned to think this way, then it looks like brainwashing to me, or to use a formal term, indoctrination.
I always found it amusing that this hugely collectivist society loves telling stories about people who do their own thing, people who stand out, people who refuse to accept that they have to be what people tell them they are. It's such a mainstay of manga and anime that it -has- to have a root somewhere
As a Dutch person, who has lived in Japan and moved back home, I really did discover a new-found appreciation for my home country. While it is by no means perfect, an importance is placed on individuality and a “you work to live” rather than a “live to work” mentality. I will always love Japan, but seeing people having to put their work first and themselves second, felt very toxic. In many cases if you try to break away from this tradition, there is a chance you get ostracized. Of course this is not the case everywhere and I think things are slowly changing, but it’s definitely not a great environment to work in.
Anyone who can just move to a country as far away as Japan and live there for a while is rich. So you are already privileged. Not to hate on you but you're way above the global average. I can understand someone going to Japan for say two weeks on a tour but to live for an extended period of time and to pay for that, is quite remarkable. Many Western kids are still able to do that. 96% of the world's population could not afford to do that. You are better off than 96% of the people, so be happy.
As a Japanese person, I often wonder about something, so I'd like to share my personal opinion. From a Western perspective, is working considered synonymous with making sacrifices? I've already commented on labor culture in this video, so I'll skip that here. However, it's worth noting that many Japanese people view work as a way to contribute to society. Of course, it's true that working to the point of personal exhaustion is excessive. However, the exceptional service in Japanese restaurants and the intricate beauty seen in traditional Japanese architecture can't be achieved with the mindset that work is merely a means to earn income.
@@gotakazawa408 Good comment. It is varied in the West. For example these days people are told to follow their dreams. Part of that leads people to enjoying their work, i.e. their work can be more rewarding. They may stay long in the office if they like what they do. Then there are some professions were some of us have a certain calling. For example health care providers, some of us enjoy rendering a service, helping people, not necessarily the society but helping THAT particular patient, making someone's life better. Some people of course value working for society too. But many people don't like what they do. They would rather do something else. They see their job as merely earning money to pay for expenses, retirement etc. When it comes to art, in the past, art in Europe was religious mostly. People did art out of love of God, they would put in the hours. Simple people and educated people would work this way, hence intricate and beautiful European religious art - eg the Notre Dame. They would do it out of inspiration. Now most people may do it out of creativity or to make money or to make ends meet. The thing is that the West is very varied. Some people will work and want to contribute to society, some will want to help the individual, maybe work for some other goal - eg help the animals or help the environment, while others will want to work to earn money to survive. This also varies as to whether you are from a former communist country or not. I think if you're from a former communist country you tend to be more practical, and parents would tell their kids - study hard to get a good job to be able to earn good money - eg try to become a doctor, engineer or lawyer. In the more capitalist societies, parents would tell the kids to self actualise, to discover what they want to do, eg be an artist and not a nurse or become an archeologist and not a pharmacist. I think this may be failing now to some extent as the West has been living a long time off the fat of colonialism and a differential in terms of the industrial world vs the poor world out there. As the rest of the world industrialises and also achieves high tech the former rich countries will become more poor as they will no longer be able to offer anything. In the past the British would get cheap cotton from the Indians, spin in into cloth it steam powered looms in Manchester and resell at huge profit to the same Indians. Now the Indians send rockets into space and soon will be doing everything the West can offer. Life will become worse in the West and in Japan as Japan will face the same problems. But to summarise, the West is more varied. Some people are like your typical Japanese, others are different.
I always knew Japan is not heaven on Earth. There are people that suffer one way or the other over there. Behind all those sceneries, and food and anime, people withholding their depression like they are holding a fart
@T4Bfan444 if that's what Japan does to you, then I'm concerned that some other countries will not be good for your stomach. It's not about the country being good or bad, it's just that they are obviously less shitty than other ones, and how unsurprisingly that does not always mean people are happier there as shown in this video, So just stop shitting on a country that's obviously better than most.🌚
I felt this when I lived in Japan for a few months. It didn't feel that they were actually happy since they can't seem to express their true selves. Discipline and respect always comes first, or else you'll be judged and looked down on by others. It feels that being different and anything unexpected may threaten the peace or something. Everyone is too conscious of their neighbor's/family's/peer's expectations and opinions of them. Note: my pure japanese step dad and step sis found me very interesting just being my happy self. They were shocked (in a positive way) when I hugged them to greet them instead of just doing the usual polite introduction that Japanese do.
I think it's a double-edged sword. The collectivism is part of what gives them such a nice and peaceful society. But at the same time, I think people can feel trapped and repressed. I also wonder how much is just "the grass is always greener" and if they'd really like a society like America. I have a feeling that once the novelty wore off, they'd rather have what they have now. As with most things, it needs balance. There's got to be a way to maintain some of Japan's societal structure and norms while allowing a bit more individual freedom. Numerous times in my trip there I thought "while I appreciate this or that, I think they take it a bit too far." Like not making noise on trains or eating while walking. I understand and greatly appreciate being considerate, but there needs to be some wiggle room otherwise it'll drive you crazy with worry.
It's grass is always greener. Perpetual motion does not exist. Japan is G7, it's a rich country. Japanese can be proud of their country. They are No 3 or 4 (depending on stats) economy and have beaten the British who pride themselves as the creators of the modern world. Japanese people work hard but then they have a clean, safe, well run society to live in.
You can have a safe and orderly society without being restrictive. It comes down to individual self-discipline and ethics. aka doing the right thing because of logic and reasoning. Get the majority of people to learn reason and be right about their reasoning and doing the right thing (the thing leads to a better existence for self and others) - crime stays low, but people are individually free to express themselves and be happy.
@@EndoftheBeginning17 The lack of open self-expression in Japan is not a choice by the individuals, it’s due to the rules on the individuals that are imposed by Japanese society. It’s easy to say, “Get the majority of people to understand reason.” The majority of people already have reasoning skills. But the societal rules won’t allow for open self-expression. These rules are, by nature, restrictive (and the cause of a lot of personal unhappiness for the individuals), but it helps society to function better as a whole (with being clean, organized, and safe). No society is perfect.
It’s interesting because I have lived in both Japan and America. Americans think that life in Japan is like an anime, and Japanese people think that life in America is like a Hollywood movie or TV show. It is based purely on the entertainment industry from both countries. Entertainment = fantasy =\= reality
As a Japanese person, I find that "not making noise on the train" or "not eating while walking" are habits that are easier than washing my face in the morning. These practices don't feel restrictive at all; rather, they make life more comfortable. I guess this is exactly what we mean by cultural differences.
Well, we kind of are tho. Japan has society/family expectations oppressing them. In the west, it's not society but people oppressing themselves, creating new problems out of thin air and teachers brainwashing them into this ideologies of feeling oppressed or hating yourself depending on your skin color and gender (which is one of the reasons for all the gender chaos and confusion)
I cant help but notice similarities to the Japanese unwritten rule of being courteous to those around you, to some very extreme situations. To those suffering with depression, I survived my demons and have seen the same smiles hiding true feelings. You compound those feeling being masked with a crazy work/life balance with not much in a way to vent or seek help. That is when things can go south real fast and in some situations, permanently. Anyone who's reading this, Japanese or not. Who is needing help, talk to someone. Talk to me.
Today my daughter was scared that I won't come back Trying my hardest to live day by day enduring but it's not easy hope becomes toxic some days are just this dark and even trying hard doesn't help trying to put a smile as joker 24/7 as a single mom ain't working too being a hamster with a low income salary in this broken record of life Lately started asking myself why I'm alive tho and it's ain't Japan only I live in Morocco And to be honest sharing it with others doesn't bring a change everything seems pointless
@@LbLoujokerSobranie Thank you for sharing friend. keep on stepping. try to feel comfort knowing you are not alone. we are all being smashed by the same waves.
@@LbLoujokerSobranie You should try to find what makes you happy. All of the responsibilities' shows you are an amazing person but it's not enough to really make a difference for your own mental health. We get caught up trying to do what's right for everyone around because that's what you are taught to do. It is the right thing but they are just forcing you to be unhappy for the rest of your life too. Think about what you need to do to be a little happier. One of your responsibilities is to yourself too. Never forget that. You deserve to be happy. You don't need money to find what makes you happy but you do need it to survive. Try out some hobbies.
When I was in middle school here (中学), I got punished for standing out and being way too different from the other people. This caused me to develop social anxiety. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't say Japan's social culture is 100% at fault here because I also had a difficult childhood and family issues. The pandemic really made my mental health worse too. But I'm doing okay now. It's a great country, but living here with the pressures to conform can feel like a nightmare at times. to be honest…. i hate living here i wish i could go to another country it feels way too lonely in here lol
@@Kutsushita_yukino Thank you for sharing. There are pressures all over the world to be "normal". The problem is what that word means in each city, country etc. There are far worse countries to live in, I have spent a good chunk of my life living in different places in the world. I have seen the good, and horrific where i called home. Finding a place to make you less lonely is difficult, some might say you have to be comfortable in loneliness, before you can find a place. Keep on stepping, friend :)
I've been living in Japan for 2 years now (leaving soon) and it's been one of the most depressing times of my life. The work life balance is awful, the base pay for most companies is awful, it's very hard to make friends despite having no issues with the language, and being around so many people who look like they're dying from burnout is mentally exhausting. Not to mention that being two faced is practically built into the culture itself... It gets to the point where some interactions don't even feel human because I can tell they're only acting a certain way due to societal pressures. It breaks my heart because living in Japan has been my dream for as long as I can remember but I sadly don't have any hope left for this country.
It sounds like you had a rough experience. While Japan is seeing an increase in immigrants from abroad, I wish you the best of luck upon your return home.
@@missplainjane3905 The first one was English teaching at a chain company in Tokyo. By far the worst job I've ever had, I've been teaching for years prior in and some of the stuff going on at that job would've been breaking so many laws if it was back in America. I gave up after 5 months. I then moved to Osaka because I heard that the people there were generally more friendly and welcoming (never really felt different to me) and got a job at a privately owned school that was much smaller in size. At first it was decent but it ended up being hell because if any of my coworkers ever had an issue or problem they'd go right to the boss instead of having a 3 minute conversation with me. This fucked me up and my anxiety spiked because I knew people were just talking behind my back. That on top of a few of the students having some very difficult learning deficiencies and our school being nowhere near equipped to handle those types of students and it turned into a downward spiral fast. I had high hopes for the second job too since it seemed more "international" in a sense but it was still operated by a Japanese boss so that culture never really went away ig.
I remember visiting Japan and telling my hosts we get four weeks of holidays every year in Australia. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads at this information. They just found it unbelievable to have so many holidays and time to relax. I really like Japan and like visiting, but honestly I would not like to live there and have a normal job. Being a RUclipsr would be awesome fun, but not an office worker grinding away 12 hours a day.
@@anthonynelson6671 The USA is just lagging behind East Asian countries. We'll get there soon enough if we don't change soon. Too much nonsense in politics. Too much focus on money, not enough value placed on family by the government, educational institutions, or culture in general.
In reality, the working environment isn't as bad as the stereotypical portrayal of "karoshi" (death by overwork) that shook things up decades ago. However, it seems that many people still don't understand (or don't want to understand) the reality. That being said, it's a fact that there are very few political parties actually proposing effective policies, with many initiatives being led by exemplary private companies.
@@anthonynelson6671yea, but for different reasons. Over here, most if not all people who work multiple jobs do so out of NECESSITY to keep living. While over there, social pressure to be "productive" leads to extensive UNPAID extra work. Both are bad, but one of them is far more arbitrary.
I ended up doing voluntary guidance counselling at a private chartered Japanese high school in 2009 and became quite popular in this role despite somewhat limited Japanese ability. Kids were requesting my help ahead of the school’s trained psychologist so I was curious as to why I was so popular and the general answer was that to them, my world view was a window to the freedom available of the outside world and that by being non Japanese, my judgment of their problems would be more objective than a native Japanese, and that while they were still just high school kids, they felt like prisoners of being Japanese citizens without the leeway to ever become anything else and that over time that realisation was soul crushing for them. I was impressed with the depth and scope of consideration among so many Japanese young people, their baseline level of respect and courtesy for people is also higher I found, which arguably makes them more sensitive to negative happenings in the world.
When individuality is being muffled by the harmony of the collective, it breeds a lack of fulfillment. Thus, no matter how good the outside circumstances may be (money, health, cleanness etc), you are unable to truly savour and appreciate any of that because of the disconnect you have with Self (which is a natural fallout of prioritizing the collective over yourself). All this ripples into all kind of habits that encourage this low self esteem, like actively not wanting to stand out in any way, comparison, being too serious with tendency towards perfectionism (which is also why they apparently give low reviews generally), taking things personally etc.
I went to japan 3 times, tokyo being 2 times. The first time I went, I get the standard culture shock and how everyone was so kind, place is clean, service is godlike... everything was amazing. The second time I went, I started to realize how much shadow looms over the people, a contrast from the brightness I experience during my first visit. People here are always looking at their phones, looking down, walking fast and rushing to work. The smiles from service workers felt robotic, the greetings felt very npc scripted, just alot of sad feelings. But of course not everyone or every place is like that
Wasn't much of a culture shock for me except for how people avoid eye-contact at all costs, pretty much. I've been to many continents and countries, and it's exclusively a Japanese I noticed. People actively avoid interacting unless it's absolutely needed.
@@missplainjane3905 Either Japan or Singapore. The rest are lagging behind (including SK). But even Japan is behind the west, I'd say. There's no non-white country so far that has the same living standards as in the west. Even Japan would rank amongst the lowest of European living standards.
@@missplainjane3905 first of, this isn't just "my perspective" - I work in finance, analyzing economies is part of my job. There are no economies in the world - including Asian - that have the same amount of wealth as western ones. Even Japan - they're not just as affluent as us. This year, JPY/USD fell to 160 from normal levels of about 100. The Japanese literally became 40% poorer in a short time. Japanese people immigrate to western countries to improve their financial situation. Westerners don't immigrate to Japan for that - it's to experience the culture. Only other Asians immigrate to Japan and SK for their economies. Same things apply to SK.
TBF in anime the BEST time in a Japanese life is apparently high school as depicted in anime. (I know most if not all anime are for kids to young adults but I still watch them gosh darn it!)
Having a child itself is somewhat covered by various subsidies. The issue lies in the fact that the costs of childcare, preschool, and university education are generally higher compared to average income.
Not really, look at Africa, not that much money but lots of children, it is decadence that japan and the rest of the developed world are afflicted with, same problem rome had before they collapsed.
@@oxvendivil442 and what quality of life are those children experiencing? those children are going to be used as child labors for fancy western products. also, let the rome thing go, you don't really grasp history properly man
The thing is that having should not be subsidized. It should be possible (easy, even) to win enough money to live comfortably and have kids whose expenses you can cover without asking "for permission" to the government (without really knowing if that subsidy is going to continue years down the line, when you actually need it).
I find it strange how mexico's pretty high in the happiness ranking when they also have an awful work culture, being one of the countries with most work hours a week and bad pay, also the crime rate, lack of clean water in some areas, etc...
I think that's a mistake a lot of people make: mistaking material prosperity for "happiness". Because what makes one "happy" can be somewhat subjective, as it depends on what you value.
@@somethingcraft3148 Disagree, there is definitely 2 Mexico state of being and I know this my parents being from Mexico. There is the wealthier parts in the cities which Mexican native people have a decent quality of life then you have the very simple "classic rancho" lifestyle. My hypothesis as to why people are so happy there from everyone I've talked to and when I visited is because in the rancho lifestyle you think a lot less of how shitty life is but more how wonderful life is. Mexico in or out of the city is also way more family orientated and friendly as hell it is VERY VERY VERYYYY hard to be lonely in Mexico you would have to try.
Im mexican, we lie alot in resumes and stuff, so i donr believe that mexico is happy, we ide it but the people here doesnt want us ti know we are stru struggking
I’m currently on my flight back to the states from Japan and I definitely think Japan seems sadder on the inside. Visiting Tokyo was rough a lot more people were pushy and super animated. As for areas like Osaka and Kyoto it felt as though they were much more quiet but they enjoyed little things. Some of my favorite interactions were due to effort to try to connect with them. I think it helps them to speak to foreigners. For example I was at a small pastry shop in Osaka and I called her cake “kawaii” and she called me cute right back and I left with her smiling so brightly and just slightly shocked. I also just had another interaction with a super sad kid. I ended up giving him a little sticker and both him and his mom thanked me for it. He left very very happy.
I’m Mexican and Nigerian American. Growing up I would spend summers in Mexico with my family. One of the things that surprised me the most was how happy everyone was. It shocked me because we were poor in the US but they were so poor compared to us, as we would shower with a bucket. Despite all this people seemed to have a really positive outlook and really relished taking time with their family. My uncle would get a few hours break during the day called a siesta to eat with his family and would go back to work. People also party hard lol. I lived in Japan on and off doing research there and man were the people miserable. Similarly, people didn’t have such warm relationships with their family and the expectations of work were so harsh I would wanna stay away with a 10 foot pole. I think the comparison thing is right and I saw that there and it doesn’t have to be from social media. Japanese culture seemed similar to Nigerian culture in this aspect where you are compared to say this other kid in school who is doing better than you are and you are looked down upon if not in that high ranking career or school etc.
I'm Indonesian and it's similar here. We're still behind a lot of countries. Although it gets better, and we definitely have tons of problems from the homeless, natural disasters, corruption, etc etc. But one thing that Indonesian is known for is that being able to somehow turn a sad/depressing situation into a funny one. People here just love to make jokes. All of that because of this common mindset where Indonesians believe that _life is already hard so don't make it harder._ There's a famous song here called Laskar Pelangi. The song is from a movie of the same name about poor kids who want to go to school. Anyway, it's a happy song and it's really good, but the chorus is what hit people. "Dance and keep laughing Although the world is not as beautiful as heaven Be grateful to the powerful Our love in the world Forever" That pretty much describes Indonesian. Yes, we're not going to be forever here, but that's why we should live our life as best as possible and be grateful for every good thing that happened to us. Speaking of not going to be here forever, there are two ethnicities from Indonesia that are known for their after-death party. Instead of being sad all the time, the Batak and Torajan people would celebrate their loved ones who just passed away with a really big party where there'd be tons of food, songs, and talk about the good old times. Well, it's more than that but yes they do that. They're not even closely related. The Batak is from Sumatra island while the Torajan is from Sulawesi island. It's more than 3000 km. But yeah, Japan is such a different world. They definitely need to learn how to be less tense. And they don't even need to leave their old cultures. My teacher probably said it the best, "I do love the high level of discipline of the Japanese and wish that more people could learn from them, but they're just way too robotic."
People really don't understand how important the family aspect is. My husband is Japanese so I've witnessed it in his family - People calling their own kids ugly, stupid, putting tons of pressure onto them to succeed. One of his cousins is a college aged girl - she was getting gray hairs from stress. If you can't relax around your own family, you're gonna be miserable.
My country (The Netherlands) at the top is the biggest shocker. Maybe like the national polls they only ask in the 4 big cities, but everyone i know, me included isn't that happy. Many of my friends and me included suffer from chronic depression and have attempted suicide and my friend group isn't an exception. Suicide is the main reason for death for us for people below 40. Our workhours are short, compared to countries like Asia. But the pressure in work is usually very high, we show little empathy to others and expect to be helped right away, which creates massive pressure. We are also expected to do alot next to work, if you don't make alot of money, are athletic and have a big social circle you'll be an outcast and seen as a bit sad. We also have massive crisises in the country. Our goverment stopped the economy in some ways to save the climate, creating discomfort, money issues and most off all a massive housing crises. We have the same housing crises we had right after ww2, and we aren't allowed to build houses because it would pollute the envirement. We also close farms so our food gets more and more expensive. Meanwhile mass immigration is ongoing, but when people arrive here we don't help them so they turn to crime. I'd agree with the 90% in 1995, now my country is falling apart, has veen since 2015
I wholeheartedly agree, and I am kind of relieved to see other Dutch people in the comments being as surprised as I am that we are in the top. I am wondering which demographic they are asking. I grew up in the 90s, and while my teenage years were a struggle because of different things, I remember how I could go out and feel safe, people were more friendly and our economy was organised much better as it is today. Now I feel really unsafe, everything is depressingly expensive and there is no end in sight with higher prices for food, taxes, healthcare and housing. Our country is bursting at the seams with people and I hear my own language less and less while out and about. Our culture is slowly dying. There barely is nature, I can't go anywhere and not run into people and if you want to go anywhere, there is pretty much always a traffic jam. We work shorter hours but like you said, what is expected is a lot. I effectively do three jobs in one, but I am barely paid enough for the one I was hired for. No raise even though inflation the last 2 years was 15+%. Toxic managers making the workplace miserable by allowing zero flexibility, pushing many people around me (including myself almost at times) into severe burnout and anxiety. There is a lot that went wrong in the last 10 years, and I am honestly not sure if we can ever fix it at this point. My partner and I are actually looking to leave this country within the next 8-10 years.
The Netherlands will fall apart more. Much of the capital built up in Europe was on the back of the colonies and associated trade. It was also on the back of the industrial advantage industrialisation gave rise to. I remember all my kit was either Dutch or Japanese (some Italian). Now everything is Chinese and Korean. Japan boomed in the 70s/80s taking jobs from Europeans, now Chinese and Koreans are taking jobs from them. This will worsen as time goes on because the tech/science genie is out of the bag. Countries like Indonesia will in the future manufacture their own integrated circuits and CPUs. What will the Netherlands produce then? Europe and the UK are on their last breath I think. They won't collapse but if the world is buying your products because of your added value to their raw resources, what's stopping them from doing this themselves. And what will Netherlands then offer? Same for Europe. Same for Japan.
All of those things can be true AND you can still be the happiest country. Your friend circle is almost certainly on the more depressed spectrum. Seen as "a little bit sad" because you don't work out or hace hobbies isn't really all that bad when you consider other places like Japan where laughing too loud makes you a social pariah. Immigration and housing and living costs are worldwide crises. It's just much worse elsewhere. That's the secret.
100% . I’ve been here 28 years and one of the reasons I love going back to my hometown near Vancouver is for the friendly strangers and to be with people who are happier and more spontaneous. I feel that the majority of Japanese around me are miserable.
I guess dead can't take a part in gallup but don't be stupid. We aren't even that high in the list.. middle-middle high in EU. Me as finn I definitely understand why we are "happy"
@@takomakone3234 Aren't we nominated how many years as "happiest country" and none understand why? (and say then: well i don't want even know how bad it need be in other countries) I am not factually check where we are at self exit list nowadays, but i understood compared to population it is always been high.
@@junrenshi per capita we are pretty much in the middle. Even if we were higher the biggest factor would be SAD depression which we can't affect without installing artificial sun for winters. What makes me happy is the fact that no matter how badly I f up in my life, I can still be sure that I have a chance to live normally
Things about Japanese work culture that doesn't get talked about enough: ageism and the difficulty in finding a new job after quitting one. Truthfully, if you're over the age of 30-35 and you quit your job, you're unlikely to find another job with equal or greater pay unless you are a highly skilled and sought after individual. What this means is that if you are in your 30s and you hate your job, you are forced to stay (despite workplace bullying, power harassment, or just discovering your true passion). If you are a woman, it's even more difficult as many employers assume you will quit around your 30s to start a family, or you have family obligations (sick kids, picking up from school, etc) and employers will be reluctant to hire you.
It's a fact that there are some progressive companies addressing these issues. However, government initiatives often lack a comprehensive understanding of these problems from the perspective of workers. In Japan, full-time work is often required for important positions, leading to interruptions in women's careers due to childbirth, particularly affecting their ability to pursue continuous career advancement. As a result, women face a dilemma when aiming for ongoing career development, as childbirth becomes challenging. Nonetheless, there is now the potential for good career transitions even in middle age, provided one has the skills, and the job market for such transitions is gradually becoming more active.
As a half Dutch half Japanese person, I can completely understand the massive difference in happiness between these two countries. My mental health sucks so I feel miserable in the Netherlands as well and so do a lot of people who live here, but I know that if I want to, I can get all the help, understanding and support. I consider Dutch people to be selfish and egoistic sometimes and our service is not always great, but you can let your heart out here.
In Switzerland, it is common for us to start working at the age of 15 or 16. I had an amazing opportunity to visit a Japanese company and something interesting happened there. The employees were hesitant to express their concerns about the boss's inefficiency. However, I gathered the courage to speak up, and it caused quite a commotion. Surprisingly, on my very first day, they decided to "fire" me and even paid for my flight back home. It was astonishing to see how the entire crew was afraid of just one person. A year later, I had another chance to work in the United States. On my first day, I was given the task of bringing coffee to the boss. I politely declined, stating that I was there to work. Unfortunately, this led to me being fired once again. It seems that people find it difficult to take a 15-year-old seriously in the workplace. However, it's interesting how everyone seems to excel at pretending to be busy all day long. No one is truly happy if they get ordered around.
There is a breaking in period where the new guy gets the crap work. Plus, both in Japan and some places in the US, it is not uncommon for everyone to start at the bottom. So even if you graduate college with a degree in engineering, you may spend your first few months packing boxes and shipping product or sweeping floors. And the idea is that you learn every element of the business until you hit the position you are intended for. So you know the capabilities down the line and you also get some ego ground off.
LoL this is BS. You cannot get jobs that easily in either country especially with no degree. I would know as I have a foreign sister in law with an education and it was a pain to get her working. Also, having immigrated to Japan they do not hand out work visas to children with 0 education. F off.
Hi Joey! This was such and interesting video! Oddly, my husband and I have discussed this many times. Neither of us has been to Japan (and we are both in our mid to late 50s, so we may never make it to Japan), but I am (not a weeb) very much in love with the culture. I know that they work a lot of hours, and that there is a lot of pressure to excel, whether it's at school or at work, or just in life in general. I can imagine the stress is overwhelming. It's odd that many of us envy their low crime rate, clean streets, public transportation system, respect/honor, and many other things (food!!!!!), but never fully realize that there are things we don't see that we all take for granted. Thank you for sharing this video. Although I may still wish that the US was more like Japan in many ways, it's a good reminder that we need to be grateful for what we do have.
Here in Brazil we learn from a very young age that the most important thing in life is to be yourself & not let others judge you, so to learn that in Japan people have to sacrifice what they want in order to favor what the majority wants was such a cultural shock to me.
As Someone who has multiple Japanese friends and one of my ex's being Japanese, the thing they usually say whenever we talk about it is that Japan, even being one of the world's best countries, still has pretty bad societal and cultural issues rooted in it. Let's say we even forget the xenophobia for a second, the problems are still kinda bad, like the old people have too much say or power in any issues or just culture.
Japan is a very well run and extremely rich country. It's in G7. The height of human achievement. Japanese should be happy with that. The problem is that many people, you and your ex and others, haven't seen much of the world. Visit a developing nation and see how people live. See what sort of life expectancy they can expect to have. See how much disease there is. HIV, TB, malaria, lifestyle diseases, etc. I'm an MD with EU and South African citizenships. I mostly work in SA. Patients here struggle with depression and resources are limited, even in private. Crime is a terrible burden on society. Women and kids can expect to be assaulted indecently. People in G7 countries should be happy with what they have. If they need medical care, Japan has a good public health system and psychiatry is available. So people should use that. Japan still has one of the highest life expectancy figures in the world.
Surveys like that can be finicky and get different results, a survey I saw recently showed Japan to have a similar rating to France and showed the Scandinavian countries to be the happiest. I think the issue lies in language and also what the population itself perceives as happiness. Different words can have different meanings in different languages and there can also be multiple different words for the same idea that could get different results even if they are similar. Just using English as an example, in a survey you could ask 'are you happy with your life?' or ''Are you happy'' and you would get different results but also you could ask ''are you happy'' or ''are you content'' and you would again get different results even though in all cases the question is very similar. Now imagine doing that across numerous different languages. To some it up, the issue with surveys like this is that they are subjective and not objective.
There's also: the toxic work culture, massive societal pressure to be perfect, the oppressive culture of conformity, and the xenophobia and misogyny. It's just a super conservative country that is extremely resistant to change of any kind which makes it suffocating to live there.
I think Shogo (Let's Ask Shogo | Your Japanese friend in Kyoto) does a great job of explaining this in his video "Why Bushido is the Root of All Social Problems in Japan"
The biggest key to creating happiness in a society/culture is the answer to one single question. "To what degree does this society/culture enable a person to do/pursue a job/interest they love/care about, while receiving respect and appreciation for what they do, and while having sufficient resources/salary/compensation/etc. that they don't need to worry about basic necessities like rent/food/clothing/etc." Whenever any of these things break down, it doesn't matter how nice/orderly the society/culture seems, the happiness of the people within it will go down. If someone is unable to pursue a career or interest that they love, and is forced to work a job that they hate, happiness will go down. If people aren't respected/appreciated for what they do, and are surrounded by people who look down on them, happiness will go down. If people are constantly stressed and worrying about bills, and how they're even going to make it/survive, happiness will go down. If you can fulfill all three of those basic criteria, however, most people will be satisfactorily happy, even if other aspects of their life are unfulfilled at the moment. Maybe they're single, and they feel lonely, but if those three basic things are fulfilled for them, they'll usually take the perspective of "My life is otherwise pretty good, and I can work on finding someone". Maybe they're not rich and have always wanted to be, but so long as those three basic things are fulfilled, they'll usually take the perspective of "I might not have all the luxuries I've dreamed of, but I'm living a pretty good life, a life I can be satisfied with, and I can work on my ideas to strike it big on the side". But the moment a society/culture begins to take away those three basic things, the more all those other unfulfilled desires are brought into stark relief for them as well, and they all seem to stack up and build on top of each other until it cascades into unhappiness. And then that unhappiness becomes even more likely to go unaddressed if it exists in a culture where not inconveniencing others (say by sharing your problems with them) is the standard of social politeness.
To give some context, economic power is often measured by the GDP and has to be seen critical, but it shows for sure some economic capacities a country has or developed. I am currently living in Japan in a Student Exchange Programm, I am german and the work culture and some other rules as well as the konservative goverment, style of life (for the most part consumerism) lined up with my perspective on life. To give some context, I study Japanology and Sociology, I see a variety of problems both countries face and also I can see some parallels to my homecountry as well. A big difference is here the work culture, overall culturally there are other major differences but from the perspective of feeling happy. While I can go shopping in Japan on Sundays, when I am in germany my homecountry I am forced to stop and slow down my pace of living. We only work our select time most of the week days, and have in most jobs saturdays and fridays free. Shops close on Sundays, which can be annoying but you learn to plan around it and deal with not beeing able to be so spontaneous. Not sure, couldnt see from the rankings, but I am pretty sure german ranked higher in happiness and if you go by GDP we also lead as third strongest economy in the world. I think there is an connection between "work culture - economy - happiness" but there is also the fact that the contribution of that created wealth plays a big role. In very capitalistic countries, the people who have the most money, stay beeing wealthy because systems like Japan have such high cost for higher education compared to germany for example. The ability to not step outside of there social/ social-economic group can create the feeling that the goverment in fact only care about the people who want to keep them in power. Making decisions in favor of the common people a rarity. At last, an interesting book had been released from a japanese sociologist about the Bushido and how it still influences the work culture of japan, and that this should be changed. I was very amazed when I heard this book existed, because I had the same thought before hearing about this book. It stays the question if Japan is change anytime soon with it konservative goverment, which seems to see their biggest task at hand to stay in power, considering the long history of Japan probably understandable. It feels like Edo Jidai 2.0 with the inclusion of more western influences and foreign policies. So, finally to the point about the children, comparrison hyposis. It is infact also something I expierenced in my social environment here in Japan, I am talking about young adults here, they seem unconciously compare each other a lot, whitout vocalising it. I feel something about the way of communication and expiereces of comparision (school rankings also exists more dominantly presented in Japan), people rather play thereselves down. As soon they start seeing something that puts them in an inferior position in comparision, they start picking up more on things that they are better that or change the topic. It seems they want to protect themselves or rather their ego from competition, because thats how it feels like to them. That also would explain why critisism is hardly seen displayed openly and in confrontation, communication is not as direct, a big differences to germany as well. I have to add, I am on average between 3-7 years older, so that might create a bias. This is just my personal feeling and expierecing and I hope people wont feel hurt, but it seems to me that what ever is out there causing that, peoples people feel on average more narcisstic too me than other people from other nations that I so far met in Germany or Japan. To fully understand this problem I dont want to play my full theory, firstly it needs to be looked into Narcissism as a whole and when tendencies become unhealthy.
I think a lot of it comes down to work/life and school/life balance. I've worked a few jobs that demanded a lot of unpaid overtime or just excessive amounts of overtime and not only does it leave less free time for you after work, it drains you to the point you can't really utilize the free time for leisure, you need most of it just to rest and recharge. When you can see your life ticking away day by day like this you begin to fear you may never actually get to LIVE it. At that point you have no dream or goal to work toward, you're exhausted and the only thing holding it all together is survival instinct because you know you need food and shelter. If kids are spending all their time after school doing more school so they can get into the best post-secondary schools so they can prove themselves by studying the hardest to keep up with the fierce competition in those schools, when do they have time to make friends or enjoy the world? It's just like the work culture of proving yourself by sacrificing the most extra time, the only currency you can never earn back.
I live very far from Japan, and I'm very miserable, because I'm very lonely and insecure. The problem is that no one seems to have a practical solution for people like me
There is a practical solution. You need to get out your comfort zone. You need to practice being uncomfortable, doing things out of your norm. Only then can you even have the chance of changing your life. You can't expect change, if you're not doing anything different from yesterday
@@ivanthaboi I also had this bad habit of asking myself "why even bother?" everytime I wanted to do something that's mildly exhausting or unpleasent at first, but probably beneficial, fun and exciting in the long run. What got me going was this mindest: - If nothing out of the ordinary happens I'll be here on this earth for another 50-60 years. Doing the same boring shit all day everyday makes life feel like a blur, it's meaningless. Might as well yell "LETS F*KIN GO" and give it everything I got, what's the worst that could happen? Not being bored? Get slapped by life once in a while, which happens anyways? So might as well try to have fun while at it.
i have heard that due to the insane competition in a lot of asian countries when it comes to work and studies, friend groups are often toxic as well. because you also see those friends as competition or are being compared to them constantly.. which sounds awful to me
I already work 16 hrs a day in Australia as a trucker. been doing it for 25 years, and my last day off was in 2013... Maybe I should move to Japan for a working holiday 12hours a day or less at work would be amazing.. I'm single and no real friend group - because I've worked so much and also I've never married, and have no kids... So yea I'm still pretty happy with my life regardless of all that. It's really about mindset. I socialise on MMO's, i watch a shitload of anime (it's what you do when sleeping in a truck 5/6 nights a week... But if I was over there with all their incredible places to see and traditions and festivals and culture, then I'd be so content with my life.
I feel that many people are looking at Japan through very specific lenses and rose tinted glasses. Many of them focus only on the cool stuff - the sushi conveyor belt restaurants, tourist destinations, pokemon center and other shops, etc - instead of the country at large.
No one is happy. We live in a cultural society today that encourages isolation, and extreme measures of workplace efficiency. Money has become a god that is slowly sacrificing all of us.
There are a ton of reasons. 1. Tatemae and Honne aka being fake just so you don't make a disturbance. 2. Hierarchy where if you are seen at low status or seniority, you can be treated as less than human. 3. With hard to make friends. Most japanese stick with their family and/or groups. And this starts as toddlers. I know this from experience in Japan as my daughter is extremely friendly (well, that slowly seems to be going away) and want to play with random kids but those same kids just either stare or shoo her away. Again, this continues as adults. Having very close friends is very rare from what I've seen. 4. Especially recently, people are financially struggling. Wages are stagnant and will probably stay there by corporations and government as long as possible. And to add, yen is constantly going down, and prices of everything are going up. There is about to be another raise in electricity and several foods soon. 5. A lot of crime is ignored or isn't properly enforced. That especially goes for SA, and that includes children being victims. There is no sex offenders list on Japan, so there are counts of scum being teachers SA'ing 2-4 year olds, being arrested, being released only to join another school to rinse and repeat 5-7 times. And staying on young children, this is all while hearing several cases of daycare women abusing toddlers. 6. Many japanese families don't have that close-knit connection like many Western families do. A lot of kids are just left by their parents for japanese society to raise them as opposed to the parents doing the raising. That's especially goes for a lot of the father's who spend most of their time at work away from families. Some japanese fathers even allow their job to send them working in other countries for months or even years. With that being said, marriages aren't good either, and there is often infidelity. I can go on and on why Japanese are miserable, but at the end of the day, it mostly comes to the mindset of Japanese people. Foreigners (at least Westerners) don't have that same depression and for those that do, it's often because too much of society rubbed off on them, and they end up going back home. If Japanese can finally collectively decide to change up a little bit, I think things can still turn great in the country.
@@missplainjane3905 No, my country (The U.S) has it's own set of problems which most of it has greed being the root cause. But despite all my country's issues (even though quite a bit of it is poverty and violence) we aren't at the lowest of those statistics because our values are different especially when concerning emotional/mental support. Japan doesn't really have that. Often enough times not even amongst their immediate family.
@missplainjane3905 Suffer from what? Unhappiness? I hope you aren't in the mindset that the U.S. is just as unhappy as Japan despite this video reading out the statistics for you.
@missplainjane3905 You must be trolling me because there is no way you can be this slow to not understand that we are talking about percentages of people within the country and not how many specific incidents. Also, Japan has been very high on the self unaliving list for quite a while.
@missplainjane3905 So you really aren't understanding what I'm saying? I'll give you the short reply first. I'm not answering that question because it doesn't align with what I'm saying. Long version. When did I say anything about America having all the resources? I didn't even mention resources, but instead, a different way of thinking. Nor I don't understand where you are getting me saying American having all/fully/100%/perfect or anything of that matter. Of course, the U.S. has its instances. The number 1 country of all and any happiness would still have some instances. All I'm saying is that most countries, including the U.S., handle happiness/ mental health/etc. better than Japan. Or Japan handles them worse than most countries. Take whichever makes you feel most comfortable.
@missplainjane3905 And I gave you a short answer just so you would understand yet you're still repeating. Again, I'm not moving my goal post. Try that on someone else.
I don't know why, but in my whole life I've never compared myself to anyone on social media because those people feel like people from another reality.
Here in the U.S most people view a good life on how successful they are individually compared to others. So yes it applies to us here to. But a “average” life is not what most people strive for here. The American dream is what most people want (owning a house, car, good retirement plan that sort of thing) The idea of individualism in most people here in the U.S is different from place to place since it’s a big country so don’t take my word for it as someone on the internet.
Not as much in the United States. Individuals here are very stubborn. アメリカではそうではありません。私は中国人ですが、ここの人たちはとても頑固なことに気付きました。彼らは自分が正しくて、他の人は間違っていると思い込んでしまうことが多いのです。😂
Yes it does. Everyone looks at others. It's called 'reality testing'. And the British have a saying, "keeping up with the Joneses". The video creator is a youtuber and gets easy money I presume, but work is hard everywhere and most people struggle.
Which is pretty crazy when you have cartels literally creating chaos constantly. I wonder if they got rid of cartels and got a better government, would that lead to unhappiness like in first world countries? America is full of cultures where family is important but Americans are not very happy.
@@1stHalf I think the fact that their lives are hard and they tend to see so much violence that they appreciate the little things more often. Where as in America, people may value community, but many don't have community to connect to because of our hyper individualism
As a Mexican, I can confirm that people rarely feel alone. No matter your background, odds are you have tons of cousins, uncles and other relatives who care for you and you meet frequently (normally at your grandparents’s house, and in cases like mine you’ll be there at least once a week, always meeting new relatives which at age 20 you still didn’t even know about). Not to mention how stupidly easy it is to make friends. I’ve met some of my closest friends by mere accident. Therefore it is extremely hard for me to grasp how would it feel like to have to make friends in Japan.
@@1stHalfIm mexican and ill say the thing with carteles Is just like whatever because its usually beef between them and corrupt gov officials they kinda have their own honor code and leave civilians out of it (not saying they dont get caught in the middle from time to time)
@@Shivertruco Since I've moved to Cancun, Ive been adopted in a family, met my future wife, been helped by dozens of people with food/finance/help and have a true desire to build my future here. Standards and exceptionalism may sometimes lack, but they are replaced by the primordialness of community
Nice commentary, this reminds me of a possible Freud concept at that time about how a person's normal state is ".... not happy, but at the same time not truly bitter...".
Man ngl I very much struggle to take that children in Chile are having a harder time to make friends than children in Japan Besides that, shit do be rough for the young ones 😔 One can only hope shit will improve for future generations but man its looking bleak
Making friends in chile in general is hard. Most "friends" only talk to you to "borrow" money (which they'll absolutely not return) or ask for a favor, and making friends as a child depends on the children's parents or some other connection between them, like their siblings being friends or something of the sort.
@@Tchy While I do ge that this can vary from person to person, what makes me think that children in Chile wouldn't struggle to make friends as much is the culture itself compared to Japan. While bullying and segregation exists everywhere, I'd say it could more often be found in a culture that definitely despises people who stick up, like in Japan.
I don’t have anything to comment on about the census. I want to say how refreshing it is to see such respectfully comments. Everyone states their opinions and feel like I learned something. So thank you everyone who left a comment.
Japan has been ruled by basically the same political party since 1955, the LDP (Jiminto) except for five years (1993-4, 2009-12) and I think this is the biggest underlying issue. Things are so slow to change, nepotism goes unpunished and the population's confidence in government is low or apathetic. That's the survey that I'd like to see.
As a Japanese person, I personally agree with your insight. In fact, the largest group in Japanese public opinion polls is the non-partisan segment. This might be interpreted as a lack of interest in politics, but it's more likely due to the absence of opposition parties with substantial policies, leading people to choose the Liberal Democratic Party as a passive choice. It's commonly believed that the real driving force behind Japan is the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Finance.
I lived in japan for a few years (keep in mind this is just my opinion) You could write a whole book on this topic, but in the end, I think it lies in their collectivist mindset and sense of sacrifice The problem is that it's to such a degree that they confuse suffering itself for legitimate sacrifice (ie they don't see the difference between meaningful suffering and pointless suffering very well) Sometimes you suffer and no good comes out of it, you're just making yourself miserable (it's the difference between working on an interesting project/boring but useful task for hours and standing in the rain for hours) But they think "oh I suffer, so I'm a good person/it benefits society, suffering is an indicator that I'm doing something right" So they don't try to change it, and they stay miserable (also speaking up and complaining, no matter how legitimate, is frowned upon, changing things is hard even when they are obviously backwards and harmful). Even if they do wish it was different (and know how precisely), fighting the whole tribe is just too damn hard, so they kinda "accept their fate" (and they find some honor in that, weirdly enough).
Your opinion, based on your experience, certainly reflects the "old-style Japanese work culture," and it is true that such companies still exist. However, it's also true that these companies are becoming increasingly unpopular and are finding it more difficult to attract new employees. Choosing between the stability of companies that maintain the old lifetime employment system and the challenge of new-style jobs can significantly impact one's life.
@@gotakazawa408 That toxic mentality of Collectivism and self- sacrifice goes beyond the working culture of some companies and extend to the entire society of Japan . You say those companies are few in numbers but the root of the cause is still prevalent .
@@piyushraj8109 I'm saying things are changing. Furthermore, it seems like you're assuming that Collectivism is inherently harmful. Is that your absolute belief? If you're assuming that Collectivism is harmful, then I believe a structured world wouldn't exist. Effective problem-solving requires finding the right balance between collectivism and individualism.
As a Mexican immigrant raised in the US it’s weird to hear that Mexico is one of the top ranking countries for happiness, I haven’t gone to Mexico, but my parents make a trip every other weekend to Juarez for a prayer group and family they have down there, and everytme they come back they give me the same story “you guys have it so easy, you should see how it is in Mexico, if only you could meet your cousins and see, the only get paid %10 of what you do for the same job, you’re so ungrateful” blah blah blah, but depite the hardship, corruption and poor economy in Mexico people are still fairly happy, I wonder why
While I can't speak for all Mexicans, based on my experience (Living in Mazatlán), life in Mexico is fairly easy, i have my family, a roof over my head, 3 meals per day, I'm studying something I really enjoy and have friends I hang up with from time to time, Idk what else do you need? Education and healthcare is also pretty affordable (I'm not rich, but I do have all the essentials covered) Culture here is also not focused on materialism and making friends is really easy, the only rule is to be kind and friendly, if you ask nicely majority of people is going to be actually happy of lending you a hand, it just feels genuine, not that much pressure from society and delicious food If you ever have the chance I suggest you come visit, It's a pretty relaxed culture with nice people (as in any place there are exceptions, but as long as you take precautions and listen to the locals the risk is reaaaally low). It's not perfect, some streets are dirty and corruption is a big problem, but still overall people enjoy their lives here
Germany is also quite low on the "make new friends" index, it's below great Britian and the US, which is not surprising for me. I'm born in Germany and I'm now 35 and still here. It is quite a struggle to find new friends or even a partner. Everyone is quite busy or already have their own group of friends. Some people are also very superficial, they will tell you they would like to meet you, but they don't really want it. So everyone stays in his own personal bubble. The elbow mentality is also a part of this. They will check you if you already have a good job, a relationship or interesting hobbies, if not and you're more the unlucky one in life, they will spare you after a while, because they don't want to spend energy to someone, who is new in their circle. The existing circle of friends and relatives is very important among Germans. So it's very hard to make any new friends here, even for a native German like me.
I've noticed this directly with one of my Japanese friends. He came to the US recently for the first time and said he thinks it's really cool that I'm pursuing a job in an art field. He likes product design but because both of his parents are in sales, he's doing marketing. I think coming to the US was both helpful but also hurtful since he seems to feel trapped not knowing what to do that would make him happy but also fulfill his parent's expectations for him. I grew up in a family of artists on my dad's side so the pressure from them to pursue a more profitable career wasn't there as much. I don't really know how to help him feel better... It feels like the type of thing that can't really be helped, sadly...
He's heading to the U.S. and meeting you, marking a significant crossroads. With the current economic situation, studying abroad in the U.S. from Japan requires a substantial amount of funding, and perhaps his parents are affluent and are covering most of the expenses. Consequently, he might be feeling financial pressure. I believe someone as kind as you should encourage him to contemplate what he truly aims for, offer advice if needed, and then suggest having a constructive conversation with his parents about it, maintaining a good relationship.
I find it surprising that Mexico is so high up considering Japan has everything we wish we had: good economy, low crime rate, clean cities, etc. But I guess if you take into account social media and capitalism getting worse pretty much everywhere, we may not be doing that bad actually. There is always the dread of violence and financial insecurity hanging over every mexican, but I think we’ve collectively grown to be cautious and assimilated a “it is what it is” mentality while still determined to make it to greener pastures. We've grown not to take things too seriously and we make jokes out of everything. I think it’s the balance between community and individualism that helps. Most mexicans are very open, family is a very big deal and it’s very easy to make friends (and this coming from an introvert). We’re told to stand out to be successful and encouraged to follow our dreams, but also to make friends and have a good time.
I stated the same thing!! It's pretty ironic, good economy leading to unhappiness, and bad economies leading to happiness. I guess it makes sense, if you spend more time working than with family, you will in the end feel like you're missing something, same with the other side.
about the survey part. I think a lot of people are not really honest or really conscious about how they feel when filling in a survey like that. it might be my filter but I see people all over Europe on events and it's rare to see some one really being conferrable in there own skin. and are just numbing them self out or over compensation to be able to numb out those feelings. but on the points you make on japan I think you got a point there, but keep in mind a lot of countries or cultures got there own thing that you could see as dysfunctional and is also kinda copied in collective way and is normalized to behave that way from child hood. it's by reflecting back on those things and ask why and by doing shadow work that you can let go more and more of programs that don't serve you. but yeah I do really Appreciate that you talk about this topic Joey. since it's a important one not just for japan.
Joey, first of all, I want to say, thank you so much for making content like this. I have lived in Japan since 2020 and this was, for obvious reasons, unfortunately the worst time for me to move to the country I'd been completely enamored with for 20 years. I have worked in Japanese business and I've also taught all grades formally from 1 to college in the short time I've lived here. You only need eyes to see how unhappy people are. I would end up writing an essay if I spoke about my experiences and what I've seen that made me come to this conclusion. I won't do that, but I just wanted to confer with you. I also notice it in myself. I am unhappy. If I evaluate myself and try to understand why, I find it easy. It's because my work and therefore financial situation is the worst that it's been since I was 24, and socially, I find it difficult to make real connections here. I don't know what can be done about this as a society because when I speak to people about it, they have this sort of doom mentally like, "This is Japan, I should move to the US and everything will be different." It's a really frustrating point of view because it feels that people here refuse to take responsibility for their own country and speak up or try to change anything, the answer is to run away. This means that the people who could actually make Japan a better country (while still maintaining its culture!), just tend to leave instead. I hate that. This is a wonderful country that needs some improvements but could be improved if the modern citizens of it would decide to just try to evoke change. Anyhow, just like you, I'm a teacher, not a doctor--a conversation teacher at that, so what do I know? However this is certainly my opinion on the topic.
A lot of the top countries in happiness... Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, India... are not wealthy countries. The crime rates are higher than Japan, and they use just as much internet & social media. So I don't think happiness is necessarily tied to wealth or social media and societal conformity. It is notable that these are all very religious countries, although the Netherlands is not. It would be interesting to overlay a chart that shows average hours of sleep by country next to the happiness chart. My guess is a good deal of sleep deprivation in these countries that are 'unhappy'
Indonesian here. Indonesia is known for its many things, from homelessness, corruption, trash, and more. But one thing that Indonesian is good at is turning a sad/depressing situation into a funny one. People here love to make jokes. Like a lot. We try our best to brighten the mood. The biggest reason for that is the people here know that we're only living in this world for a short amount of time, that's why we should try to use it as best as possible and to always be grateful. There's a song that pretty much describes Indonesian. It's called Laskar Pelangi, originally made for a movie of the same name. The song is a happy song about living our lives and the chorus is the part that hit most people. "Dance and keep laughing Although the world is not as beautiful as heaven Be grateful to the powerful Our love in the world Forever" Another point that might be tied to the high level of happiness is the strong community. We got this thing called Gotong Royong, where in short it means to help those who are in need even if we don't get anything from it. Gotong Royong has been part of the people here since way before the country's independence. People here just really love doing things together, to be connected with other people. Compared to Japan, a country where introverts are seen as the norm.
A video about a guy who lives in Japan talks about the child homelessness, where the comments section has different kind of people, The conservative Japanese that copes by saying anywhere is an unhappy place and kept the so called "asians need to cope and keep silent about the wrongdoings of their government" attitude, the progressive Japanese that hates the living standards in Japan and seeks individuality but doesn't realise what's the bad part of individuality is if not taken care of, and the multitude amount of foreigners trying to understand what REALLY Japan is.
14:13 - I think we do see this, it just takes other forms. People may report that they're happy but if they have higher rates of mental illness, don't date, don't get married, etc. then they are still measurably less happy than they would otherwise be, and a large part of this we already know is due to social media. It's a real problem everywhere.
So last summer I took an summer course and went abroad to Japan. I got to know the dean and other teachers and students there. They recently came to my University in SoCal and the Dean with their own students to experience the USA and the Dean had *so* much to vent to me about in regards to one of the students. This student had chosen to study English and wanted to go abroad but failed the last test she needed to pass to be allowed to go abroad. The Dean told her its fine, she can retake it. Failed again. That's okay, she can retake it again. She said 'Nah actually I'm busy that day'. Doing what? What could be more important than this test and getting to go to the USA for her English studies? The student won't say, but she expresses that she's getting tired or bored of university and she can just get a job at the 7/11 to sustain her life, what's the point of learning anything? The Dean insists that she can do this, says the next retake for the test it won't even be a new test, it'll be the same test with the same questions and answers. She doesn't even show up. THE NIGHT BEFORE DEPARTURE The Dean tries to contact her again, says that the dean will be in their office at 8am, their flight doesn't leave till the afternoon. PLEASE come to the dean's office and take the test. Ultimately the girl ended up passing and coming to SoCal. We had a 'buddy' system and I was assigned to that girl to be her buddy, and the Dean was very worried and asked me how she was doing which led to this venting of how much effort it took the Dean to convince this girl to just give a single iota of a crap about getting to experience something new. The listless and resigned feeling of defeat and unhappiness from this student who wasn't even 20 years old yet was really shocking to me. I get maybe not wanting to go to school but there was no ambition or interest for anything. I think she mentioned she liked Disney? No other hobbies or interest I can remember, just Disney and keychains.
It sounds like that student is suffering from depression. Obviously a diagnosis cannot be made from the information in this post alone, but if she is suffering from depression, it’s best to seek help and reconnect with others.
the disney people as i call them... the only interest that have been "forced" upon them in their childhood. It was simple, popular and easily accesible... so they kept going with it. and now they are disney adults with no other passion or care for anything else. (she sound depressed like another comment said, i understand how it feels to give up completly sometimes)
Paradoxically, it seems akin to when people from overseas define Japan as the "land of anime". Undoubtedly, these perceptions are fantastical and differ from reality. I speculate that she did not suffer from depression but rather came to realize the distinction between fantasy and reality.
@@gotakazawa408 not having the will to do anything to actually experience life is a sign of depression. Life isnt always good but everyone know that. And those who are mentally stable enough still decide to challenge themselves everyday and take the risk in order to live throught some good times hopefully.
Yo, I don’t know who they interviewed in the US, but 70% of the US allegedly being happy while over half are behind on rent according to US Census is wild.
In my experience people from the US are hesitant to admit things are wrong with their country in a country vs country context. That’s based on a very small sample size though.
@@leastselfawarepotassium As someone who lives in the US, it's also kinda forced in our culture to be confident in yourself, which isn't bad, but people are more than ever celebrating confidence in themselves which drives people to 'fake it' and just pretend like they are. which is a little ironic.
While I know there are problems, I feel like most of the people around me are generally happy and doing well. A part of me wonders how much of the negativity is media/doomscrolling/foreign propaganda.
@@ashermack2543that’s interesting. Definitely something I envy about the US. In my country we are pressured to be humble so I was wondering where we were on the list (NZ). We call it Tall Poppy Syndrome.
The descriptions of Japanese people here sound not to far off from people here in the USA. A ton of us in the USA aren't happy at all.
Living in Japan must be like working in customer service but being unable to take your mask off at the end of your shift.
And no one taking your mental issues seriously?
@@DeusaRem mirrored in places like UK, Australia and USA, where mental health issues taken so seriously they stopped being issues and are now virtues for some reason.
Omg, this is the perfect example!!
@@rRekkoIt’s still an issue in the US. Even though we have ways to get help for it (unless you’re low income with no state insurance which is hard to obtain these days depending on what state you live in) you can’t just not go into work or maintain decent relationships if your mental health is in the gutter, you’ll still face consequences for it. People will still believe it’s an excuse or that you’re lying because everyone’s claiming they have mental health issues so you don’t know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t, therefore people will just write you off as incompetent and you still have to go out in the world and operate day to day like normal even if you’re losing your mind in the process. There’s nothing good that comes out of it regardless. The US is no exception
Welcome to my world of working in the pharmacy...
Plus, everybody has herpes...
I grew up in Japan and spent half my life there and loved it but there’s definitely a shame culture that put me down so much. Im still working through regaining my confidence from that because there was just so many social rules that in hindsight took away a lot of my ability to be myself and be confident in who I am and I feel like that’s the same for many people out there.
truee !
I get the sense you are a good person. Always be yourself and the right people will love you for who you really are. Confidence is about not being afraid to show the world the real you, which I’m sure is amazing! ✨
Where did you spend the other half of your life? Curious for comparison sake.
@@cynderdragon100 america
@@kokonut222 gotcha
If you look at it from a certain angle, Companies making their employees stay after hours to do unpaid overwork, is kinda opposing the citizen's right to a good, healthy life.
Some might say it's antipatriotic.
There's an easy and expensive way to circumvent this. Just hire more people and have a good work-life balance.
I'd imagine the reason they won't do that is because hiring more workers to work on the clock will cost more money. Quite a bit, depending on how many people are literally not being paid to do overtime.
I honestly can't believe a culture can be this... Idk... Desperate to prove themselves? If I heard "you're gonna do unpaid overtime" I'd either leave immediately or be extremely lazy whenever I'm forced to work for free.
its not a costs thing is a culture thing
"kinda" lmfao
Just ban unpaid overtime and dish out 100 million dollar equivalent penalties.
Easy. Shit's gotta be changed soon, no point in talking about solutions when the solutions need to be implemented now.
@@urphakeandgey6308 did say expensive there, and I'd not say desperate, more like carrying on the traditions of hazing the new guy and letting that cycle move forward cuz it lets someone off the hook to have fun while drowning someone other in work and stress.
It was alarming when i asked my elementary school students what they thought of the western countries and their response was 自由(Jiyu) which means freedom. That was sad to hear. The rigidity of the Japanese society is depressing Japanese ppl.
And people in first world countries are depressed because of the lack of hardship, leading them to being extremely vulnerable to problem and adversities. Why does it matter? because since they didn't have any adversities, the moment they crash into the crude nature of reality, they crumble into pieces. Some of them don't crumble, but they invent bigger problems out of thin air, the so called 1st world problems like gender identity, as a method to cope with reality after growing up being fed lies since they were a kid. "You can be whoever you want to be, you can do whatever you want to do, so go for your dream, oh but don't ever compete or try to win over others, that would be toxic".
Grass is always greener on the other side, no matter how many fences you jump over.
Didn't 'merica created an image of liberty and stuff?
And sadly they are misguided. The west is rife with censorship and being punished for not having the right politics.
Yup. It's no wonder a lot of anime have themes about breaking free to live how you wanna live instead of worrying about others
Even more sad how misguided they are. The west is full of censorship, punishment for not having the correct opinions, and we even have stuff like credit cards declining purchases that they deem offensive especially from japan.
As someone who lives in japan, I think 2 of the biggest reasons are the work life balance and the difficulty making friends. It is SOOO difficult to make deep connections here. Back home in america I have so many people I could call up, and take a walk with to talk about life and struggles and all that. Everything feels so surface level here, which is part of the culture as its all about "keeping the peace". But it really just ends up with people wasting their time because you cant tell how someone truly feels about you.
After my careful analyzation, Japan were only good for retirement country. Or only the the very upper class social circle, as they have a lot of leisure time to socialize. Same goes with korea. And From what I can see it does applies to any ultra developed big cities, Such as New York that one is the only city in america that got same rapid paced lifestyle equivalent to east
tbh i feel that in australia, specifically Sydney more than in japan
@@lunashade1 huh? 90% of my circle said it was the most laidback culture compared to usa.. strange.. even when they heard of I'm moving to usa for a job they said australia culture "better for us" it matches the indonesian laidback ones. No rush, no hush.. but nah.. those circle I'm talking about, they doesn't know how ingrained my taste on a country since young
@@MaseraSteve australia is very laid back, but I am certain for those who have experienced life in sydney would agree with me. lots of people are friendly but not really committed for deep relationships. they stick to who they know. ofcourse everyones experience is different though!
@@lunashade1 Huh.. Interesting experience. So in your version, despite living in Sydney, a big city known for it's laidback lifestyle, It does not guarantee a good social life? Hmm damn.. Hope the smaller town will have the different outtake. I heard doesn't matter which country as long as the smaller the city (town) , the higher probabillity of their friendliness to accept you as their close friendship in their circle. I got quite fortunate to me someone from usa online right here on youtube. Turns out, she was born and now living in rural southern area. What shocked me is we're still talking after couple years later. 99% of online chat so called from big city ghosted me out or the account went vanished. But not this one fella from small town Doesn't!
Bro I'm Indian & there's no way 80% of adults are happy in India! This survey seems a bit fishy
Bro our adults are delusional, so it is a possibility
@@abishaekjs7777 so u are a kid ?. Or u r also delusional. Gen z chomu ko lagta hai ki yahi sab se jai ho shiyar hai .
It is sad that so many viewers are more concerned about the well-being of the Japanese than the Uyghurs' life in the camps.
These people care more about next year's animation than about Uyghurs being erased by the Communist.
@@Im-fq1mnI’ve been to China and everything they tell us in the news is either a wild distortion or an outright lie. US instigated terrorism in Xinjiang same way we do in every country we don’t like and instead of kicking down doors and mass horrors like the US did in West Asia, China developed Xinjiang’s infrastructures and economy. It wasn’t perfect and its true mistakes were made but nothing like what we’ve been propagandized to believe
The same media that lied to us about WMDs to instigate war is suddenly telling the truth about China when US politicians have been very open about wanting war with China?
China lifted over 800 million people out of poverty and our billionaire owners don’t want us to know that poverty alleviation programs work or that it even exists
They probably ask the governments in some countries for lack of official unhappiness statistics. No way in hell will the likes of Putin or Xi greenlight such a study.
I feel not pushing kids so hard for school and stuff and having healthier work-life balance for adults would definitely help
but...but...then the GDP number go down...GDP down = bad, right?
the government be parenting the kids in the west since most households have both parents working to keep the lights on
most people push their kids in school and themselves in work to get out of poverty
@@bushy9780 there is no direct correlation like that, especially considering they usually slacking this time off
yes, the Expectations and Judgement is Overwhelming,
but if you're willing to be a loser, then you got nothing to lose
but, on the other hand, if you live in a Very bad Neighborhood with constant gangfight, gunshot, and fights at any time in the US
i think it'll be much more stressful because you don't know when you'll get attacked,
you can get killed from accidentally having an Eye Contact with a random stranger
This is such a good topic! I went to Japan with MEXT scholarship to study mental health and depression. It was in 2020 and we were the last foreigners that were let into Japan before it closed its borders completely for the next couple of years. I lived there for 1.5 years, and chose to leave, because my own mental health started to deteriorate (plus the war in Ukraine started, which potentially could affect my home country as well). I am not a professor, but I thought I would share some thoughts and observations, since this concerns my field of research, and I still keep thinking about this question, even after I left.
First, I believe it is a VERY complex issue, and thus looking for "the one main" reason is counterproductive. Like my sensei, who believed that if only we could find this one biomarker for depression, or this one faulty brain circuitry, the puzzle would be solved and the problem of depression fixed (meanwhile, in the lab people were logging 19h of work, per day!). I think it is important to look at it in a complex, systemic way, instead of putting all the blame to either social media, collectivism or brutal work culture.
To me, Japan felt extremely suffocating and lonely. Or, I guess, isolating would be an even better word. It is stiffening with rules, control, social policing and perfectionism. I was once reading a short overview for Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder in my lab in Hiroshima, and found it amusing how 90% of the points could be applied to Japanese society as a whole! There must be something in their current psycho-socio-economical environment that formed over the centuries and into the modern age which caused this mental shift towards a dis-order.
But tell me, how someone can NOT be miserable, if they are chronically sleep deprived and living under a constant stress from all the rules and social control? First of all they feel miserable purely out of physiological reasons. But then, they also have no sense of agency in their life - due to the endless rules, and also hierarchy. Everything is decided for you. Damn, they even have instruction on how to use an f-ing PEN!!! or! you cannot even take out onions from a burger upon your customer's request, without asking your superior for approval! My point is, in such a rigid and stifling environment one must feel like they have almost no locus of control (plus all the conditioning of the school/education system).
Social isolation. Local communities and human social bonds have eroded due to urbanization and centralization in Tokyo. Now the majority, coming even from the deepest inaka will leave their home town to move to Tokyo, or at least some other big cities (Oosaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Fukuoka, Nagoya). In the result there are millions of people who have cut their ties with extended families, relatives, local communities, and moved to the bigger cities for work, but then, feel isolated. And loneliness is very disruptive and harmful for health. Plus, it is pretty normal for kaisha to relocate their workers from city to city every couple of years. They either move with their spouse (if they have one), leave the spouse and children in a different city and relocate alone, or just probably, remain single, with little to no social support. It is very difficult when you manage to build some social connections only to have them all cut after a couple of years and you have to start all over again. Very bad for human attachment and relationships all together.
There was a lady I knew, in her late 30ies, very beautiful, neatly dressed, kind lady. She wanted to find a husband and start a family so badly (we even went to jinja to prey for that)! At the same time, she was working overtime so much that she often would fall asleep right in the genkan of her apartment after returning home, and in the morning get up and go back to work...
You take Maslow's pyramid of human needs, apply it to Japanese case, and all you are left with is.. what? Tasty food? (which is btw very high in salt, sugar and processed produce...).
This was my interpretation, as person who comes from a different culture and with a medical background. But when I asked Japanese, many of them mention this profound pessimism about future. Probably due to the growing older population and economical challenges associated with that. There is no hope that someone competent will come and save them (and being so risk averse they probably wouldn't vote for something radically different), but they also lack agency and unity to change things themselves.... it IS very sad to live there. Japan to me is full of short term pleasure and escapism - manga, video games, porn, tasty food, consumerism. But there is very little about long term joy, happiness and sense of fulfillment. Lack of sense of meaning. Perhaps somewhere in inaka it is different?..
These were some points that came into my mind right away. But to summarize, the whole system that they have built there felt dehumanizing to me. They are exhausted, alone, with no attachment, no power and no hope. People are nothing but expendable tools, like cogs - prepared for the system and then used by it. Maybe this is how they managed to grow their economy so rapidly back in the 80ies-90ies, but now it all just decompensated? Maybe this is the cost of the economical growth in capitalism? Afterall cyberpunk dystopia - a genre which appeared as a critique of capitalism - was heavily inspired by Japan....
Anyways. To me it is actually a miracle that they are keeping themselves together so well in the environment like that! :)
Thank you for your long explanation, I wish more people would see this comment. Even though I've never been in Japan, I always thought that even though Japan is probably one of the best countries for tourism, it would suck for me if I decided to actually live there. I love Japan's entertainment very much (otaku stuff, traditional foods, festivals, etc.) and I do really want to go visit Japan more than any other country, but when I imagine myself having to live and work there by myself I'm sure it'd be a living hell for me. And when you said that Japan is full of short term pleasure and escapism - it finally clicked to me. It's probably why they have some of the best entertainment in the world - because it is extremely essential for them to keep living (especially those who live in the cities), to be able to avert their eyes from their life and escape from all that stress albeit just for a moment.
@@syfx1485 Thank you for reading through my comment and sharing your thoughts! My opinion after living in Japan and also having experience visiting it before, just as a tourist - you will have an amazing time there if you are visiting short-term, with no responsibilities attached. It might be one of the best places in the world for tourism. The attitude to the customer, the quality of services you get for the price, and their omotenashi will make it for a magical experience. Living there -working, studying - might be a totally different experience though. I wouldn't advise 100% against it, after all it depends on a person - their resilience to stress, social support and skills, character traits, the background they are coming from. I have plenty of friends who chose to stay in Japan. Some have a decent time working and living there (perhaps they put less weight on the social issues around them, like I did). Others choose Japan because it is still better than their home country and they find ways to live there, being a foreigner.
I believe it poses more difficulties for foreigners, as they might not be aware of some social context, or they are even more prone to have issues finding a good job.. We have to adapt to an environment that Japanese grow up in, so there is some frustration, confusion, resistance and all the stress that comes with it. Actually quite a lot of different challenges :) On the other hand, you get to experience the benefits of the so called "gaijin pass" :) So, if you really REALLY want to try it, if this is your life dream, the gestalt you want to fulfill, then I would say - try it! You are now armed with some insights about reality and will be prepared more that many of us were :) Perhaps, you can establish some bonds with the country and go for some cultural exchange, or short term education program, to visit the country without having to experience it's drawbacks too much. Good luck to you, sincerely!
I am Japanese, living in an inaka place and going to university in a metropolitan city. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on my country. All of your explanations were the exact things that I have felt for my entire life. I couldn't properly describe my feelings in my native language, but your explanations describe what I feel incredibly well. I was lucky to find this video and your comment. (I assume that inaka, or rural areas have more or less the same situations.)
@@Ayaka-2945 Dear Ayaka-san! Thank you for your response and for your feedback! I am glad that you could find this video which helped you formulate and express your feelings about these issues better. May I ask, what you find similar about the situations in inaka? I find it very interesting to hear from you, as you are living there! I would assume that social pressure might be more stronger in inaka, where the number of residents is smaller and everyone knows each other, so there is a pressure not to stick out. But maybe I am wrong. What do you think about inaka?
Excellent explanation👍👍👍
I'm living in Japan for five years now, and I've noticed some very interesting things. Everyone dresses more or less the same, and they all laugh in a similar way-the pitch and frequency of their laughs, the tone of their voices, and their manner of expression are all very, very similar. There are days when I can even predict what will happen based on people's daily movements and gestures. It's like when you put a finger in the path of ants; they stop and search for a new path, but you already know what will happen and where they will go. This predictability is quite remarkable in Japan. It feels like the Japanese are in a kind of mental prison, deeply rooted in traditional values that limit free expression. They're completely obsessed with fitting in and not being noticed, but at the same time, this leads to an overwhelming loneliness that they often cover up with large amounts of alcohol.
Sometimes, in rare moments, you see people with a certain "light" who stand out from the rest, or you get to see them as they truly are in more private settings. In general, they are a very loving people, although it might be hard to believe. I respect them a lot, but it saddens me to be aware of these details I've mentioned.
As someone who is considering moving to Japan in the next 2 years, I greatly admire and value this honest review.
I know this country is not perfect, similarly to most countries in the world. But it is nice to see the issues before going in from a local's perspective. So thank you sir for your insight.
As an immigrant to an Anglo country - been here 30 years - I can tell you that that's not only true for Japan. People learn mannerisms from each other. They have similar pitches too.
I would assume that japanese peoples personality comes out more with close people no?
@@spaceowl5957 They do, from people I've talked to at least..
Especially after going out for drinks or other if they trust you. That's when their true personality comes out. But I suppose I can also see how they can be a bit more reserved considering how their culture is.
That's what I've been told at least..
Imagine the stress that comes with being known as an effective Japanese laborer.
No wonder they don't want to stand out...
4:05 Italian here, can confirm we are 1% happier than Japanese people
Italy is awesome
that guy at the petrol station was 2% happier than Japan
Maybe its a world wide phenomenon.
Yall make yourself miserable on purpose
What olive oil does to a mf.
I am happy but maybe it is because I am not adult yet
don't worry about it.
I love this comment
You'll get there.
大人の世界は冷たいもの…
It's funny that you say that because it's 100% true lol
Listen to me, never grow up. Never betray your child self. Adult life is miserable and cruel.
I am Japanese, and these surveys are not very helpful, because Japanese people tend to give low scores when they rate something.
These surveys are like saying that Japanese food is miserable because the average restaurant score is low in Japan.
This. All Google reviews here are 3 stars on average, even for fantastic places. They rate differently.
Psychology student here. What you just said has significance to the cross-cultural reliability of the tests conducted, I am curious as to why Japanese people score low on surveys and how this could be factored into research to remove this issue within the research.
For such a well known body of research I am curious as to how to navigated this issue.
Do you have some insight as to why people score low?
@@JM-wt4bf A social media influencer explained that scoring a 3 star review is goals to JP restaurants because of the acceptance that JP culture favors reviews that give critiques. An american scored a JP restaurant with 5 stars and she got in big trouble from the culinary establishment. She explained it like it was giving them a 1 star review...idk how surveys are done in jp culture
@@JM-wt4bf As a Japanese person, my personal opinion is that Japan still retains a form of social collectivism (at least in the sense that individuals strive not to negatively impact society). Consequently, people tend to express their individuality within the "comfort zone" of being "ordinary." This is why, when presented with five options, there's a tendency to choose the middle option without much thought. Freedom is ensured as long as individuals do not cause trouble or negatively affect others or the community.
Given Japans suicide rate though, there is likely some truth in the data.
Blaming social media for Japanese people's unhappiness is a cop out. Look no further than an extremely weak yen, low wages, inflation, a relatively high cost of living, an incredible amount of social rules and norms, loneliness, toxic work culture, just to name a few.
Add to it as Joey sees it is the fact that the Japanese are seeing other places and may be sad that Americans and Aussies and Canadians don't just up and conform to rules. Thing is we do but they are not super restrictive.
I also believe social media does not help on top of this.
LOL the rate of suicide was higher without social media. People are pretty blind to stats. They don't want to make Japan look bad because now it looks like they are worst than China.
円安は日本に住み、日本で稼いでいる限り全く問題にならない
@@YOSSHI_MK2 Then why are the Japanese so unhappy?
In university i remember when i got my graduation thesis stamped and i was celebrating like crazy while my other japanese collogues were just sitting there with no reaction what so ever, i asked one of my friends if they failed he told me no but they dont want to graduate because of how extremely tough the work life is.
Its not work, its corporate slavery, to the point of people committing suicide
Lmao that's crazy
I'm Japanese. I think the biggest problem is lack of respect for individuals. Although Japanese people care others on the surface, we don't sincerely respect each other and just be afraid of being left out.
Potentially we are forced to go on the same way, and if someone goes on own way, we would dislike the person. This also includes jealous, because we have something we want to do, but we are afraid of doing it due to the above reason.
So we feel constricted and unhappy and we live like NPC.
Speaking as another Japanese individual, I'd say it's perhaps largely subjective, isn't it? While it's true that there's social pressure to conform in Japanese society, similar dynamics manifest differently in Western countries as well, as English-speaking RUclipsrs living in Japan have also pointed out. (So, there's a different kind of societal pressure than what Japan experiences.) If you desire, you do have the option to live abroad, don't you? Just as there are people from overseas who want to live in Japan, that's one of the choices available to you.
@@gotakazawa408 To live in a foreign country is easier said than done. For many people, it is unrealistic. Besides the visa issues, you would have to know the language and have internationally marketable skills to find a job in a foreign country.
@@luna498-h5z Of course, I'm aware of that.
However, there are also options like studying abroad, and fortunately, there are countries relatively easy to obtain Working Holiday visas from Japan.
I'm just pointing out that there are other options available if he feels disheartened about Japan.
It's ultimately up to him to decide how to judge and act.
I mean, even though there are some options to change their environment, people are not willing to choose them, regardless of domestic or abroad options.
Personally, I don't like the mind, so I have chosen my own way I want. As a result, sometimes I feel people look down me, though.
However, I love Japanese cultures and people. I hope people can take their own way!
@@nittarou I hope people see that finding your own way in life is not necessarily a bad thing and will be understanding of your life choices. They may even secretly envy you for doing something different from the crowd! Good luck :)
There has been a japanese RUclipsr getting some traction here in the states. I was just scrolling through recommended and a video popped up that said "lonely 50 year old man eats" or something along those lines. Pretty interesting dude. Literally just sharing his life and interacting with his community
Drop the name fam
@@shakachoarroyo Nomad Push
@@shakachoarroyoI think they are talking about @askjapan9669. It came across my feed as well and I've been watching his videos. Oddly captivating.
Isn't that anagurashi? I love his detailed cooking videos as I make Japanese food at home to cure my husband's homesickness
@@shakachoarroyo I think they are talking about @askjapan9669. It came across my feed as well and I've been watching his videos. Oddly captivating.
I've lived and worked in 8 different countries (including Japan) - most of what we think we know about what makes us "happy" (and about what gets published in a "happiness index") is wrong. Of course, safety and financial stability are important, but free time and social relations are WAY more relevant with regard to happiness. An immaculate country full of overworked, awkward shut-ins is NOT going to be a happy place.
@@Interlocutor_ so I guess you haven't been to Japan then (or South Korea, or Latin America, which is the definition of "unsafe but happy")
It surprises me to hear that the Netherlands is in the top. I live in the Netherlands and we have a culture here of complaining about everything. We complain about the weather, about immigration, about public transport, traffic, work etc.
I am dutch too and I can definitely confirm this that I was genuinely confused
Weirdly, although I do not think venting really improves happiness, openness about how stuff is, means people are more comfortable socially and trust each other more, Japan has developed a very conformist, keep problems under the cover type society, like mental health is still not taken very serious among a lot of older Japanese. Its more complex but the Netherlands has a lot of things that Japan lacks.
Sounds like NZ. We live in one of the most beautiful places on earth but you’d think it was hell by talking to some people. We do have problems like any other country but the grass isn’t always greener.
Kankeren over alles
Not just that, literally no one can get a house here. Like, the amount of late 20s people still living at their parents' home here is very high, at least in my circle.
I just came back from Japan, I was there with a large group of people from Mexico. We were all amazed and even kind of jealous. Really seems like a perfect country in so many senses. This is really a surprise, especially children, they looked so happy. On the other hand, Mexico is chaos, we have crime, insecurity, pollution, bad economy and the government is a mess and yet we are quite happy all the time.
Japan is by no means a utopia, but if your trip was a positive experience, I'm personally glad as a Japanese person.
Mexico is pretty bad in all standards. It’s probably better than Iraq and Afghanistan but that’s telling something
Mexico is like Germany 😅 but at least we have beer and football
@@6Kubik with a hint of rising racism added
I love Japan but I would always prefer living in Mexico, we have more freedom and the societal norms aren't constantly trying to kill us
Hi Joey! super interesting video! I feel like these kinds of surveys are always to be taken with a grain of salt. Depending on how the data pool is taken it can change the result a lot so I don't know how accurate this survey can be.
My hypothesis on why Japanese people rate their confidence so low, is probably because they have been taught to 謙遜する when they receive praise. I think having to be (from a western perspective) overly humble in day to day life might lead you to believe that you're actually not good at something or not beautiful enough etc.
I just hope everyone can find happiness in life and that we can keep improving our countries.
as a japanese person born in japan who lived shortly in japan and moved to another country I can certify that Im still miserable
lmaooo
i think most of the world is rn. thanks for the laughs
@@Archchill we truly need to support each others more... we're all so sad it's crazy.
An interesting recent trend is that over 50% of Japanese people who have lived abroad for more than 20 years are considering returning to Japan after retirement.
If you say so
Let me guess, is it the cultural shock? You are suffering the point of view of an inmigrante issues, same as a foreigner in your home country, yes it’s a miserable process, it happens to everyone moving to a new, you adapt and move on… seek happiness in your way now that you’re in a different country, live the experience of “no body cares, what you do” it’s your life.
Your country running well does not equal your country being happy. This is for every country
I don't know a single country running well lmfao maybe Australia not entirely sure
@@ericx6969Certainly not. A RUclipsr in South Australia who exposed the corruption in the governing body of the area was threatened, a home near his was set aflame and he had to take the video down and stop going after them. I can't remember his name right now but that just goes to show that things aren't as peachy as they appear to be
@@ericx6969 Australia is mad corrupted. They also just got exposed for pocketing $6 trillion dollars in military funs (3x more then the entire GDP of the country) politicians are disgusting there. But honestly they hold so much power and have publicly killed people that opposed them that people can't do anything. It's insane the country still runs
Being happy doesn't equate to running your life well either. Reality is crazy.
I really like how at approximately minute 13:00 Joey goes deeper than usual, talking about the basic human nature of comparing with each others especially if other people are more successful than you. I like how he's even real honest admitting that even for a quite famous RUclipsr like Joey himself still sometimes feels like other people are more successful above than him, and therefore the social comparison can makes us feel shitty. I've even experienced this myself too constantly, and to be honest, it can even be frustrating & depressing. Thank you Joey for going a lot much deeper than usual. Respect from Indonesia.
幼少のころから言われてきたよ。人並みに努力して、人並みにいい大学に行って、人並みに社会貢献して、人並みに恥ずかしくない人生を生きなさいってね。そんな「人並み」な人間なんて見たことないけどな
この秘訣を完璧に守る人なんて存在していません。もちろん頑張っては正しいですけど、完璧に行う事ができないと思います。頑張る事から生じる力は具体的な利益となりますね。
西洋の個人主義もメリットが有ります。ただし、個人は自分で決めた行為の責任を取るのは必要ですし、結局それぞれの個人は相互協力を元にして動作する社会の中で暮らしている事を気づかないといけません。日本でも、アメリカやオーストラリアでも秩序に障る反社会的行動は駄目ですね。
このコメントはお役立ちになりますように。
SMOKECANDY DANKKKKK GOTH MONEY
😂😂 man
Best post, you're exactly right.
Ganbarou = Suck it up buttercup ガマンしろよ People think it means "Do your best!", too innocent, Japan has a suck it up buttercup culture.
After watching Paolo from Tokyo videos about how people actually work and live (both private small restaurants and big corporate jobs) it's no wonder people are unhappy. It's pretty much work 12 or more hours a day, get home, eat and go to bed. They have very little life outside of work. On top of that it's the mindset Joey mentioned, where they don't want to complain or standout and just quietly suffer.
Or they complain online.
このコメントに言われたほぼの日本人の日常生活は刑務所の囚人らしい暮らしみたいですね。
I would say that overall, Japanese people don't look at or value "happiness" the same way as other countries. We are a humble country that looks at life as studying, working, and supporting family, while finding things to enjoy here and there. Overall, we rarely go on vacations or have expensive hobbies and value financial responsibility and savings over personal excess and socialization.
@@kayakfishinghokkaido9884 no wonder u depressed, and among highest of suicide, and low birth rates. Good job, wont last long very much if ya keep up... now rice shortage, japan would change
@@kayakfishinghokkaido9884 not true. Most japanese i know have at least vacation in europe and many other countries. They are well travelled.
It’s also been revealed a lot of the happiness surveys are kind of skewed b/c Northern European societies have this “be happy with what you have” culture, so that’s automatically going to inflate their numbers.
I don't believe any of these, true in The Netherlands we had the mentality of be happy with what you have but don't kide yourself, hyperconsumerism is rampent.
They don't have it too bad in Northern Europe, they have free education, free healthcare, a safe environment and well-paying jobs. It's not difficult to be happy with what you have, if you have that.
In the Nordics social inequality is really low (between genders, too), they have social security (including free quality healthcare and education), and they have a culture that appreciates each person as they are. In these circumstances, happiness is not that hard to find 🤷
As someone that also lives in Japan and grew up here a long time ago before moving back, to me it really boils down to one aspect and it's the double edged sword of Japanese culture. It's beautifully respectful, but also disgustingly so as they've abused the idea of respect by shifting what it means to be respectful for selfish benefits. The easiest example is work hours. After COVID, it's become increasingly more noticeable that people really are wasting their time working as long as they do at the places they work. Many MANY jobs are just sitting at work, doing 4 hours worth of work, and the rest of the time just stretching that work over the course of your work hours. People do not need to work not nearly as long as they need to to get their work done or be efficient. In Japan, the expectation is unpaid overtime, to stay several hours after work hours to keep working even if you're not working. The simple existence of you at your workplace to display how hardworking you are rather than actually being. It becomes "respectful" to stay 1-2+ hours after your shift, and furthermore to interact with your colleagues or boss after the fact, continuing this angle of respectfully sucking up to them. It's a poison that seeps into every aspect of Japanese life, leaving little room for breathing or really feeling liberated in your own life.
The country, if you're coming here on your own, can be ruthlessly depressing because you can very easily tell that everyone is stuck in this monotonous cycle and they can't find any way to break out. Imagine knowing no matter how hard you work, you don't have any time for your own life. Compounded by the fact that the economy is in the shitter and the city is expensive and the dreams of having a nice home is just a dream since you'll more than likely be relegated to a very small and tight studio or apartment. It's hard living in this country, even harder if you're a foreigner thanks to the severe xenophobia. You're playing on veteran difficulty if you think it's in any way reasonable to accomplish something as simple as getting a bank account or renting an apartment since your status as a foreigner automatically disqualifies you.
Japan does not suck, but it's a tough country to imagine having a life in without any severe trials versus SO so many countries around the world. Great to visit, hard to live.
"Visiting is wonderful, but living is challenging." That's a truth I agree with. As a fellow Japanese individual, I personally wonder: Are you working in what's often referred to as an "old-style Japanese company"? I'm not aware of your specific situation, but if you desire, I believe there are now options beyond companies with such a culture...
I agree with the top but housing is not terribly expensive in most places.
@@gotakazawa408 I mention these working conditions because whether we like it or not, that's the painful reality for many Japanese people. Of course there are companies today that have adopted a more "modern" work culture, but there are still too many companies stuck in the past. There's little incentive to give their workers a better work-life balance because they managed to abuse culture for profit. Until the government comes through to apply a nationwide shift in work culture to benefit all workers, those companies will continue to reap the benefits of their abuse.
That being said, many of them don't really notice they are abusing since they were raised in a time where this is the standard. But after what's been accomplished around the world with better work hours and less "respect", it begs the question the viability and applicability of their extensive working conditions. Once again, it's a part of Japan that is great at looking forward thinking, but once you get a look at its internals, you realise just how stuck in the past they are.
@@guitarsaremyfriendzzz7077 Yeah I may have oversimplified and identified the issue of expensiveness in Tokyo specifically. It is most definitely not expensive to get a place, it is expensive by the metric of value to square metres. As someone who grew up in several countries around Asia with most of them in Japan, I was shocked to learn that in Tokyo, it's very standard to believe that how much they're paying for rent only gets you such a small place. It reminds me of New York City. Not to mention how over the past few years, we're feeling the squeeze with our yen having less and less value while the prices of everything goes up.
I'm just voicing a frustration and my sadness whenever I look at people during my commutes. I lived in Singapore and with the lack of culture-bound respectfulness, there can be much louder people and a lot more talking in public. They are ruder by comparison, but at least they're happy and you can tell. Hell even the housing there is incredibly expensive, but again, at least they're allowed to live their life and be happy.
@@RaeneYT It seems like we're not seeing eye to eye on this. At least for now, we have enough immigrants from overseas, so if you have time to criticize, please use that valuable time for yourself.
7:41 as an American born and raised in America, typically when you were looking to make new friends with someone you’ll walk up to them and maybe start small talk maybe buy them a coffee or something, like they’re strangers so you start up a conversation.
Something I’ve noticed about Japanese culture is that they find it weird and creepy to start a conversation with someone you don’t know. And also compliments, compliments are very bizarre in a lot of Asian countries I’ve noticed. Giving compliments is almost like a “I’m looking down on you” type gesture. And a lot of the times instead of appreciating the compliment that somebody gave to you by saying “thank you”, you are forced to reject the compliment, or else you’ll be looked at as a narcissist and overly confident. I always found rejecting a compliment from someone to almost be like a “pick me”, I also find it very impolite to not appreciate something that somebody went out of their way to tell you to make you feel good about yourself or make you feel happy. There’s just a lot of social stigma that you don’t see really anywhere else in the world and it makes making friends and building relationships very hard and very complicated.
Especially mental health because mental health is very taboo in Japan. They don’t really talk about it much but everyone goes through some type of mental health crisis at least once in their life. It’s normal, feeling emotions is normal. We’re not robots. We are people. We are humans. We are animals. But showing emotion like that in Asian countries is also very very taboo.
Peace and happiness is within.
Mental health is taboo outwest too tbh
@@Dragoncam13Not everywhere in the west and even in the bad cases, it is not as bad as in jpn.
@@Wargrown in most areas it is,tell a person that you’re bipolar and have them witness you trip out once and they’ll avoid you like the plague
That's why I often feel Japan needs to change. But if the people don't want that, then Elon is right to be concerned about Japan going extinct because of suicide. Change starts with them but if they won't do it because they've been conditioned to think this way, then it looks like brainwashing to me, or to use a formal term, indoctrination.
I always found it amusing that this hugely collectivist society loves telling stories about people who do their own thing, people who stand out, people who refuse to accept that they have to be what people tell them they are. It's such a mainstay of manga and anime that it -has- to have a root somewhere
As a Dutch person, who has lived in Japan and moved back home, I really did discover a new-found appreciation for my home country. While it is by no means perfect, an importance is placed on individuality and a “you work to live” rather than a “live to work” mentality.
I will always love Japan, but seeing people having to put their work first and themselves second, felt very toxic. In many cases if you try to break away from this tradition, there is a chance you get ostracized. Of course this is not the case everywhere and I think things are slowly changing, but it’s definitely not a great environment to work in.
Anyone who can just move to a country as far away as Japan and live there for a while is rich. So you are already privileged. Not to hate on you but you're way above the global average. I can understand someone going to Japan for say two weeks on a tour but to live for an extended period of time and to pay for that, is quite remarkable. Many Western kids are still able to do that. 96% of the world's population could not afford to do that. You are better off than 96% of the people, so be happy.
Definitely happy so no complaints there :)
@@peterc4082 It doesn`t cancel out his experience bro
As a Japanese person, I often wonder about something, so I'd like to share my personal opinion. From a Western perspective, is working considered synonymous with making sacrifices?
I've already commented on labor culture in this video, so I'll skip that here. However, it's worth noting that many Japanese people view work as a way to contribute to society.
Of course, it's true that working to the point of personal exhaustion is excessive. However, the exceptional service in Japanese restaurants and the intricate beauty seen in traditional Japanese architecture can't be achieved with the mindset that work is merely a means to earn income.
@@gotakazawa408 Good comment. It is varied in the West. For example these days people are told to follow their dreams. Part of that leads people to enjoying their work, i.e. their work can be more rewarding. They may stay long in the office if they like what they do. Then there are some professions were some of us have a certain calling. For example health care providers, some of us enjoy rendering a service, helping people, not necessarily the society but helping THAT particular patient, making someone's life better. Some people of course value working for society too. But many people don't like what they do. They would rather do something else. They see their job as merely earning money to pay for expenses, retirement etc. When it comes to art, in the past, art in Europe was religious mostly. People did art out of love of God, they would put in the hours. Simple people and educated people would work this way, hence intricate and beautiful European religious art - eg the Notre Dame. They would do it out of inspiration. Now most people may do it out of creativity or to make money or to make ends meet. The thing is that the West is very varied. Some people will work and want to contribute to society, some will want to help the individual, maybe work for some other goal - eg help the animals or help the environment, while others will want to work to earn money to survive. This also varies as to whether you are from a former communist country or not. I think if you're from a former communist country you tend to be more practical, and parents would tell their kids - study hard to get a good job to be able to earn good money - eg try to become a doctor, engineer or lawyer. In the more capitalist societies, parents would tell the kids to self actualise, to discover what they want to do, eg be an artist and not a nurse or become an archeologist and not a pharmacist. I think this may be failing now to some extent as the West has been living a long time off the fat of colonialism and a differential in terms of the industrial world vs the poor world out there. As the rest of the world industrialises and also achieves high tech the former rich countries will become more poor as they will no longer be able to offer anything. In the past the British would get cheap cotton from the Indians, spin in into cloth it steam powered looms in Manchester and resell at huge profit to the same Indians. Now the Indians send rockets into space and soon will be doing everything the West can offer. Life will become worse in the West and in Japan as Japan will face the same problems. But to summarise, the West is more varied. Some people are like your typical Japanese, others are different.
I always knew Japan is not heaven on Earth. There are people that suffer one way or the other over there. Behind all those sceneries, and food and anime, people withholding their depression like they are holding a fart
It's skies are usually dirty and polluted (most times I see Japanese skies). It's air pollution and extreme societal conformintiry makes me puke 🤢 🤮
Theres not a single country out there that is heaven. Its just a matter of "which is less shit"
Living in a country is more about what you're willing to put up with more than anything
They gotta let that fart out man, is all I'm saying
@T4Bfan444 if that's what Japan does to you, then I'm concerned that some other countries will not be good for your stomach.
It's not about the country being good or bad, it's just that they are obviously less shitty than other ones, and how unsurprisingly that does not always mean people are happier there as shown in this video, So just stop shitting on a country that's obviously better than most.🌚
I felt this when I lived in Japan for a few months. It didn't feel that they were actually happy since they can't seem to express their true selves. Discipline and respect always comes first, or else you'll be judged and looked down on by others. It feels that being different and anything unexpected may threaten the peace or something. Everyone is too conscious of their neighbor's/family's/peer's expectations and opinions of them.
Note: my pure japanese step dad and step sis found me very interesting just being my happy self. They were shocked (in a positive way) when I hugged them to greet them instead of just doing the usual polite introduction that Japanese do.
I think it's a double-edged sword. The collectivism is part of what gives them such a nice and peaceful society. But at the same time, I think people can feel trapped and repressed. I also wonder how much is just "the grass is always greener" and if they'd really like a society like America. I have a feeling that once the novelty wore off, they'd rather have what they have now.
As with most things, it needs balance. There's got to be a way to maintain some of Japan's societal structure and norms while allowing a bit more individual freedom. Numerous times in my trip there I thought "while I appreciate this or that, I think they take it a bit too far." Like not making noise on trains or eating while walking. I understand and greatly appreciate being considerate, but there needs to be some wiggle room otherwise it'll drive you crazy with worry.
It's grass is always greener. Perpetual motion does not exist. Japan is G7, it's a rich country. Japanese can be proud of their country. They are No 3 or 4 (depending on stats) economy and have beaten the British who pride themselves as the creators of the modern world. Japanese people work hard but then they have a clean, safe, well run society to live in.
You can have a safe and orderly society without being restrictive. It comes down to individual self-discipline and ethics. aka doing the right thing because of logic and reasoning. Get the majority of people to learn reason and be right about their reasoning and doing the right thing (the thing leads to a better existence for self and others) - crime stays low, but people are individually free to express themselves and be happy.
@@EndoftheBeginning17 The lack of open self-expression in Japan is not a choice by the individuals, it’s due to the rules on the individuals that are imposed by Japanese society.
It’s easy to say, “Get the majority of people to understand reason.” The majority of people already have reasoning skills. But the societal rules won’t allow for open self-expression.
These rules are, by nature, restrictive (and the cause of a lot of personal unhappiness for the individuals), but it helps society to function better as a whole (with being clean, organized, and safe). No society is perfect.
It’s interesting because I have lived in both Japan and America.
Americans think that life in Japan is like an anime, and Japanese people think that life in America is like a Hollywood movie or TV show. It is based purely on the entertainment industry from both countries.
Entertainment = fantasy =\= reality
As a Japanese person, I find that "not making noise on the train" or "not eating while walking" are habits that are easier than washing my face in the morning. These practices don't feel restrictive at all; rather, they make life more comfortable. I guess this is exactly what we mean by cultural differences.
We're not so different after all.
Well, we kind of are tho. Japan has society/family expectations oppressing them. In the west, it's not society but people oppressing themselves, creating new problems out of thin air and teachers brainwashing them into this ideologies of feeling oppressed or hating yourself depending on your skin color and gender (which is one of the reasons for all the gender chaos and confusion)
Indeed
They just like me fr
Humans are the same
I guess I found a country I can emphasize with.
Covid def still having a lasting vibe globally, honestly I was way happier up until mid-2020! Life hasn't felt the same ever since oddly.
I cant help but notice similarities to the Japanese unwritten rule of being courteous to those around you, to some very extreme situations. To those suffering with depression, I survived my demons and have seen the same smiles hiding true feelings. You compound those feeling being masked with a crazy work/life balance with not much in a way to vent or seek help. That is when things can go south real fast and in some situations, permanently.
Anyone who's reading this, Japanese or not. Who is needing help, talk to someone. Talk to me.
Today my daughter was scared that I won't come back
Trying my hardest to live day by day enduring but it's not easy hope becomes toxic some days are just this dark and even trying hard doesn't help trying to put a smile as joker 24/7 as a single mom ain't working too being a hamster with a low income salary in this broken record of life
Lately started asking myself why I'm alive tho and it's ain't Japan only I live in Morocco
And to be honest sharing it with others doesn't bring a change everything seems pointless
@@LbLoujokerSobranie Thank you for sharing friend. keep on stepping. try to feel comfort knowing you are not alone. we are all being smashed by the same waves.
@@LbLoujokerSobranie You should try to find what makes you happy. All of the responsibilities' shows you are an amazing person but it's not enough to really make a difference for your own mental health. We get caught up trying to do what's right for everyone around because that's what you are taught to do. It is the right thing but they are just forcing you to be unhappy for the rest of your life too. Think about what you need to do to be a little happier. One of your responsibilities is to yourself too. Never forget that. You deserve to be happy. You don't need money to find what makes you happy but you do need it to survive. Try out some hobbies.
When I was in middle school here (中学), I got punished for standing out and being way too different from the other people. This caused me to develop social anxiety. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't say Japan's social culture is 100% at fault here because I also had a difficult childhood and family issues. The pandemic really made my mental health worse too. But I'm doing okay now. It's a great country, but living here with the pressures to conform can feel like a nightmare at times. to be honest…. i hate living here i wish i could go to another country it feels way too lonely in here lol
@@Kutsushita_yukino Thank you for sharing. There are pressures all over the world to be "normal". The problem is what that word means in each city, country etc. There are far worse countries to live in, I have spent a good chunk of my life living in different places in the world. I have seen the good, and horrific where i called home. Finding a place to make you less lonely is difficult, some might say you have to be comfortable in loneliness, before you can find a place.
Keep on stepping, friend :)
I've been living in Japan for 2 years now (leaving soon) and it's been one of the most depressing times of my life. The work life balance is awful, the base pay for most companies is awful, it's very hard to make friends despite having no issues with the language, and being around so many people who look like they're dying from burnout is mentally exhausting. Not to mention that being two faced is practically built into the culture itself... It gets to the point where some interactions don't even feel human because I can tell they're only acting a certain way due to societal pressures. It breaks my heart because living in Japan has been my dream for as long as I can remember but I sadly don't have any hope left for this country.
It sounds like you had a rough experience. While Japan is seeing an increase in immigrants from abroad, I wish you the best of luck upon your return home.
@@gotakazawa408 thank you 🙏
@@missplainjane3905 The first one was English teaching at a chain company in Tokyo. By far the worst job I've ever had, I've been teaching for years prior in and some of the stuff going on at that job would've been breaking so many laws if it was back in America. I gave up after 5 months. I then moved to Osaka because I heard that the people there were generally more friendly and welcoming (never really felt different to me) and got a job at a privately owned school that was much smaller in size. At first it was decent but it ended up being hell because if any of my coworkers ever had an issue or problem they'd go right to the boss instead of having a 3 minute conversation with me. This fucked me up and my anxiety spiked because I knew people were just talking behind my back. That on top of a few of the students having some very difficult learning deficiencies and our school being nowhere near equipped to handle those types of students and it turned into a downward spiral fast. I had high hopes for the second job too since it seemed more "international" in a sense but it was still operated by a Japanese boss so that culture never really went away ig.
日本に慣れてるから何とも思わんがやっぱり外国人からすると日本の労働文化はしんどいんだなぁ〜。今後のご多幸をお祈りします。
@@はにわまる-m9b そうだよなー、凄く頑張って、日本の事本当に好きになりたかったけど結局僕の性格に合わなかったんですよな、日本語話せるのに日本人のコミュニケーションの仕方とか、あと労働文化がきつすぎたですかね
thank you for the kind words tho 🙏
I remember visiting Japan and telling my hosts we get four weeks of holidays every year in Australia. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads at this information. They just found it unbelievable to have so many holidays and time to relax.
I really like Japan and like visiting, but honestly I would not like to live there and have a normal job. Being a RUclipsr would be awesome fun, but not an office worker grinding away 12 hours a day.
I wish the Japanese government would make things better for their citizens. Having to work all day and night sounds like a nightmare.
Doesn't this sound a lot like the USA?
@@anthonynelson6671 The USA is just lagging behind East Asian countries. We'll get there soon enough if we don't change soon.
Too much nonsense in politics. Too much focus on money, not enough value placed on family by the government, educational institutions, or culture in general.
they treat seniors and prisoners nice
In reality, the working environment isn't as bad as the stereotypical portrayal of "karoshi" (death by overwork) that shook things up decades ago. However, it seems that many people still don't understand (or don't want to understand) the reality. That being said, it's a fact that there are very few political parties actually proposing effective policies, with many initiatives being led by exemplary private companies.
@@anthonynelson6671yea, but for different reasons. Over here, most if not all people who work multiple jobs do so out of NECESSITY to keep living. While over there, social pressure to be "productive" leads to extensive UNPAID extra work. Both are bad, but one of them is far more arbitrary.
I ended up doing voluntary guidance counselling at a private chartered Japanese high school in 2009 and became quite popular in this role despite somewhat limited Japanese ability. Kids were requesting my help ahead of the school’s trained psychologist so I was curious as to why I was so popular and the general answer was that to them, my world view was a window to the freedom available of the outside world and that by being non Japanese, my judgment of their problems would be more objective than a native Japanese, and that while they were still just high school kids, they felt like prisoners of being Japanese citizens without the leeway to ever become anything else and that over time that realisation was soul crushing for them. I was impressed with the depth and scope of consideration among so many Japanese young people, their baseline level of respect and courtesy for people is also higher I found, which arguably makes them more sensitive to negative happenings in the world.
When individuality is being muffled by the harmony of the collective, it breeds a lack of fulfillment. Thus, no matter how good the outside circumstances may be (money, health, cleanness etc), you are unable to truly savour and appreciate any of that because of the disconnect you have with Self (which is a natural fallout of prioritizing the collective over yourself). All this ripples into all kind of habits that encourage this low self esteem, like actively not wanting to stand out in any way, comparison, being too serious with tendency towards perfectionism (which is also why they apparently give low reviews generally), taking things personally etc.
Almost everyone is miserable nowadays. Moral has reached the lowest point within the past several decades.
Indeed.
that is true
its all about work and money no fun
@@robier the rich people* not the regular people
@@robierthe majority are lying, people are generally kind of unhappy
I went to japan 3 times, tokyo being 2 times. The first time I went, I get the standard culture shock and how everyone was so kind, place is clean, service is godlike... everything was amazing. The second time I went, I started to realize how much shadow looms over the people, a contrast from the brightness I experience during my first visit. People here are always looking at their phones, looking down, walking fast and rushing to work. The smiles from service workers felt robotic, the greetings felt very npc scripted, just alot of sad feelings. But of course not everyone or every place is like that
The looking at phones is universal.
That is how I felt going to a Mormon temple one time, it felt so manufactured it was almost creepy. Even the children acted like robots.
Wasn't much of a culture shock for me except for how people avoid eye-contact at all costs, pretty much. I've been to many continents and countries, and it's exclusively a Japanese I noticed. People actively avoid interacting unless it's absolutely needed.
@@missplainjane3905 Either Japan or Singapore. The rest are lagging behind (including SK).
But even Japan is behind the west, I'd say. There's no non-white country so far that has the same living standards as in the west. Even Japan would rank amongst the lowest of European living standards.
@@missplainjane3905 first of, this isn't just "my perspective" - I work in finance, analyzing economies is part of my job.
There are no economies in the world - including Asian - that have the same amount of wealth as western ones. Even Japan - they're not just as affluent as us. This year, JPY/USD fell to 160 from normal levels of about 100. The Japanese literally became 40% poorer in a short time.
Japanese people immigrate to western countries to improve their financial situation. Westerners don't immigrate to Japan for that - it's to experience the culture. Only other Asians immigrate to Japan and SK for their economies.
Same things apply to SK.
TBF in anime the BEST time in a Japanese life is apparently high school as depicted in anime. (I know most if not all anime are for kids to young adults but I still watch them gosh darn it!)
Everything’s too expensive to realistically have children
Having a child itself is somewhat covered by various subsidies. The issue lies in the fact that the costs of childcare, preschool, and university education are generally higher compared to average income.
Not really, look at Africa, not that much money but lots of children, it is decadence that japan and the rest of the developed world are afflicted with, same problem rome had before they collapsed.
@@oxvendivil442 and what quality of life are those children experiencing? those children are going to be used as child labors for fancy western products. also, let the rome thing go, you don't really grasp history properly man
@@oxvendivil442 They still live more agrarian lives. That is where you see many children. It was the same in most places.
The thing is that having should not be subsidized. It should be possible (easy, even) to win enough money to live comfortably and have kids whose expenses you can cover without asking "for permission" to the government (without really knowing if that subsidy is going to continue years down the line, when you actually need it).
I find it strange how mexico's pretty high in the happiness ranking when they also have an awful work culture, being one of the countries with most work hours a week and bad pay, also the crime rate, lack of clean water in some areas, etc...
Literally the same thing with Brazil.
I think that's a mistake a lot of people make: mistaking material prosperity for "happiness".
Because what makes one "happy" can be somewhat subjective, as it depends on what you value.
They probably just went to a wealthy area to have a survey.
@@somethingcraft3148 Disagree, there is definitely 2 Mexico state of being and I know this my parents being from Mexico. There is the wealthier parts in the cities which Mexican native people have a decent quality of life then you have the very simple "classic rancho" lifestyle. My hypothesis as to why people are so happy there from everyone I've talked to and when I visited is because in the rancho lifestyle you think a lot less of how shitty life is but more how wonderful life is. Mexico in or out of the city is also way more family orientated and friendly as hell it is VERY VERY VERYYYY hard to be lonely in Mexico you would have to try.
Im mexican, we lie alot in resumes and stuff, so i donr believe that mexico is happy, we ide it but the people here doesnt want us ti know we are stru struggking
I’m currently on my flight back to the states from Japan and I definitely think Japan seems sadder on the inside. Visiting Tokyo was rough a lot more people were pushy and super animated. As for areas like Osaka and Kyoto it felt as though they were much more quiet but they enjoyed little things. Some of my favorite interactions were due to effort to try to connect with them. I think it helps them to speak to foreigners. For example I was at a small pastry shop in Osaka and I called her cake “kawaii” and she called me cute right back and I left with her smiling so brightly and just slightly shocked. I also just had another interaction with a super sad kid. I ended up giving him a little sticker and both him and his mom thanked me for it. He left very very happy.
Exact same experience as a foreigner. Seems like the little acts of outsider kindness go very far with them.
I’m Mexican and Nigerian American. Growing up I would spend summers in Mexico with my family. One of the things that surprised me the most was how happy everyone was. It shocked me because we were poor in the US but they were so poor compared to us, as we would shower with a bucket. Despite all this people seemed to have a really positive outlook and really relished taking time with their family. My uncle would get a few hours break during the day called a siesta to eat with his family and would go back to work. People also party hard lol. I lived in Japan on and off doing research there and man were the people miserable. Similarly, people didn’t have such warm relationships with their family and the expectations of work were so harsh I would wanna stay away with a 10 foot pole. I think the comparison thing is right and I saw that there and it doesn’t have to be from social media. Japanese culture seemed similar to Nigerian culture in this aspect where you are compared to say this other kid in school who is doing better than you are and you are looked down upon if not in that high ranking career or school etc.
I'm Indonesian and it's similar here. We're still behind a lot of countries. Although it gets better, and we definitely have tons of problems from the homeless, natural disasters, corruption, etc etc. But one thing that Indonesian is known for is that being able to somehow turn a sad/depressing situation into a funny one. People here just love to make jokes. All of that because of this common mindset where Indonesians believe that _life is already hard so don't make it harder._
There's a famous song here called Laskar Pelangi. The song is from a movie of the same name about poor kids who want to go to school. Anyway, it's a happy song and it's really good, but the chorus is what hit people.
"Dance and keep laughing
Although the world is not as beautiful as heaven
Be grateful to the powerful
Our love in the world
Forever"
That pretty much describes Indonesian. Yes, we're not going to be forever here, but that's why we should live our life as best as possible and be grateful for every good thing that happened to us.
Speaking of not going to be here forever, there are two ethnicities from Indonesia that are known for their after-death party. Instead of being sad all the time, the Batak and Torajan people would celebrate their loved ones who just passed away with a really big party where there'd be tons of food, songs, and talk about the good old times. Well, it's more than that but yes they do that. They're not even closely related. The Batak is from Sumatra island while the Torajan is from Sulawesi island. It's more than 3000 km.
But yeah, Japan is such a different world. They definitely need to learn how to be less tense. And they don't even need to leave their old cultures. My teacher probably said it the best, "I do love the high level of discipline of the Japanese and wish that more people could learn from them, but they're just way too robotic."
Agree. I'm a UK expat in Mexico. Mexican ppl in general figure out how to have a great time regardless of the circumstances. Love living here.
People really don't understand how important the family aspect is. My husband is Japanese so I've witnessed it in his family - People calling their own kids ugly, stupid, putting tons of pressure onto them to succeed. One of his cousins is a college aged girl - she was getting gray hairs from stress. If you can't relax around your own family, you're gonna be miserable.
My country (The Netherlands) at the top is the biggest shocker. Maybe like the national polls they only ask in the 4 big cities, but everyone i know, me included isn't that happy. Many of my friends and me included suffer from chronic depression and have attempted suicide and my friend group isn't an exception. Suicide is the main reason for death for us for people below 40.
Our workhours are short, compared to countries like Asia. But the pressure in work is usually very high, we show little empathy to others and expect to be helped right away, which creates massive pressure. We are also expected to do alot next to work, if you don't make alot of money, are athletic and have a big social circle you'll be an outcast and seen as a bit sad.
We also have massive crisises in the country. Our goverment stopped the economy in some ways to save the climate, creating discomfort, money issues and most off all a massive housing crises. We have the same housing crises we had right after ww2, and we aren't allowed to build houses because it would pollute the envirement. We also close farms so our food gets more and more expensive. Meanwhile mass immigration is ongoing, but when people arrive here we don't help them so they turn to crime.
I'd agree with the 90% in 1995, now my country is falling apart, has veen since 2015
I wholeheartedly agree, and I am kind of relieved to see other Dutch people in the comments being as surprised as I am that we are in the top. I am wondering which demographic they are asking.
I grew up in the 90s, and while my teenage years were a struggle because of different things, I remember how I could go out and feel safe, people were more friendly and our economy was organised much better as it is today.
Now I feel really unsafe, everything is depressingly expensive and there is no end in sight with higher prices for food, taxes, healthcare and housing. Our country is bursting at the seams with people and I hear my own language less and less while out and about. Our culture is slowly dying. There barely is nature, I can't go anywhere and not run into people and if you want to go anywhere, there is pretty much always a traffic jam.
We work shorter hours but like you said, what is expected is a lot. I effectively do three jobs in one, but I am barely paid enough for the one I was hired for. No raise even though inflation the last 2 years was 15+%. Toxic managers making the workplace miserable by allowing zero flexibility, pushing many people around me (including myself almost at times) into severe burnout and anxiety.
There is a lot that went wrong in the last 10 years, and I am honestly not sure if we can ever fix it at this point. My partner and I are actually looking to leave this country within the next 8-10 years.
Ik snap de drama niet zo echt, ik ben best gelukkig in dit land.
Ik moest daarnaast wel zeggen dat de huizencrisis echt een drama is
The Netherlands will fall apart more. Much of the capital built up in Europe was on the back of the colonies and associated trade. It was also on the back of the industrial advantage industrialisation gave rise to. I remember all my kit was either Dutch or Japanese (some Italian). Now everything is Chinese and Korean. Japan boomed in the 70s/80s taking jobs from Europeans, now Chinese and Koreans are taking jobs from them. This will worsen as time goes on because the tech/science genie is out of the bag. Countries like Indonesia will in the future manufacture their own integrated circuits and CPUs. What will the Netherlands produce then? Europe and the UK are on their last breath I think. They won't collapse but if the world is buying your products because of your added value to their raw resources, what's stopping them from doing this themselves. And what will Netherlands then offer? Same for Europe. Same for Japan.
All of those things can be true AND you can still be the happiest country. Your friend circle is almost certainly on the more depressed spectrum.
Seen as "a little bit sad" because you don't work out or hace hobbies isn't really all that bad when you consider other places like Japan where laughing too loud makes you a social pariah.
Immigration and housing and living costs are worldwide crises. It's just much worse elsewhere. That's the secret.
I had a friend from Netherlands and she said almost the same thing.
100% . I’ve been here 28 years and one of the reasons I love going back to my hometown near Vancouver is for the friendly strangers and to be with people who are happier and more spontaneous.
I feel that the majority of Japanese around me are miserable.
As finnish we never understand why we rank so high in happiness, but as we have europeans highest self exit numbers, i guess it effects it....
I guess dead can't take a part in gallup but don't be stupid. We aren't even that high in the list.. middle-middle high in EU. Me as finn I definitely understand why we are "happy"
@@takomakone3234 Aren't we nominated how many years as "happiest country" and none understand why? (and say then: well i don't want even know how bad it need be in other countries) I am not factually check where we are at self exit list nowadays, but i understood compared to population it is always been high.
@@junrenshi per capita we are pretty much in the middle. Even if we were higher the biggest factor would be SAD depression which we can't affect without installing artificial sun for winters. What makes me happy is the fact that no matter how badly I f up in my life, I can still be sure that I have a chance to live normally
Things about Japanese work culture that doesn't get talked about enough: ageism and the difficulty in finding a new job after quitting one. Truthfully, if you're over the age of 30-35 and you quit your job, you're unlikely to find another job with equal or greater pay unless you are a highly skilled and sought after individual. What this means is that if you are in your 30s and you hate your job, you are forced to stay (despite workplace bullying, power harassment, or just discovering your true passion). If you are a woman, it's even more difficult as many employers assume you will quit around your 30s to start a family, or you have family obligations (sick kids, picking up from school, etc) and employers will be reluctant to hire you.
Yeah, that's what I've heard as well. It's not necessarily about merit or skill, it's "how long have you stayed in [insert company here]".
@@sbatou87 The worst question isn't even that
"Why did you leave this company"
I've never seen a worse pick your poison moment
That's so fucked up
It's a fact that there are some progressive companies addressing these issues. However, government initiatives often lack a comprehensive understanding of these problems from the perspective of workers. In Japan, full-time work is often required for important positions, leading to interruptions in women's careers due to childbirth, particularly affecting their ability to pursue continuous career advancement. As a result, women face a dilemma when aiming for ongoing career development, as childbirth becomes challenging. Nonetheless, there is now the potential for good career transitions even in middle age, provided one has the skills, and the job market for such transitions is gradually becoming more active.
As a half Dutch half Japanese person, I can completely understand the massive difference in happiness between these two countries. My mental health sucks so I feel miserable in the Netherlands as well and so do a lot of people who live here, but I know that if I want to, I can get all the help, understanding and support. I consider Dutch people to be selfish and egoistic sometimes and our service is not always great, but you can let your heart out here.
In Switzerland, it is common for us to start working at the age of 15 or 16. I had an amazing opportunity to visit a Japanese company and something interesting happened there. The employees were hesitant to express their concerns about the boss's inefficiency. However, I gathered the courage to speak up, and it caused quite a commotion. Surprisingly, on my very first day, they decided to "fire" me and even paid for my flight back home.
It was astonishing to see how the entire crew was afraid of just one person.
A year later, I had another chance to work in the United States. On my first day, I was given the task of bringing coffee to the boss. I politely declined, stating that I was there to work. Unfortunately, this led to me being fired once again. It seems that people find it difficult to take a 15-year-old seriously in the workplace. However, it's interesting how everyone seems to excel at pretending to be busy all day long.
No one is truly happy if they get ordered around.
There is a breaking in period where the new guy gets the crap work. Plus, both in Japan and some places in the US, it is not uncommon for everyone to start at the bottom. So even if you graduate college with a degree in engineering, you may spend your first few months packing boxes and shipping product or sweeping floors. And the idea is that you learn every element of the business until you hit the position you are intended for. So you know the capabilities down the line and you also get some ego ground off.
Most people never learn this lesson. They will kneel on command and then wonder why they get run over when the herd gets spooked.
普通に働き始めて何も知らないガキに文句言われても一緒にやっていけないだろww
What work if you aren't doing it
LoL this is BS. You cannot get jobs that easily in either country especially with no degree. I would know as I have a foreign sister in law with an education and it was a pain to get her working. Also, having immigrated to Japan they do not hand out work visas to children with 0 education. F off.
Hi Joey! This was such and interesting video! Oddly, my husband and I have discussed this many times. Neither of us has been to Japan (and we are both in our mid to late 50s, so we may never make it to Japan), but I am (not a weeb) very much in love with the culture.
I know that they work a lot of hours, and that there is a lot of pressure to excel, whether it's at school or at work, or just in life in general. I can imagine the stress is overwhelming. It's odd that many of us envy their low crime rate, clean streets, public transportation system, respect/honor, and many other things (food!!!!!), but never fully realize that there are things we don't see that we all take for granted.
Thank you for sharing this video. Although I may still wish that the US was more like Japan in many ways, it's a good reminder that we need to be grateful for what we do have.
Here in Brazil we learn from a very young age that the most important thing in life is to be yourself & not let others judge you, so to learn that in Japan people have to sacrifice what they want in order to favor what the majority wants was such a cultural shock to me.
that's why our country is terrible.
"hihi levei vantagi"
As Someone who has multiple Japanese friends and one of my ex's being Japanese, the thing they usually say whenever we talk about it is that Japan, even being one of the world's best countries, still has pretty bad societal and cultural issues rooted in it.
Let's say we even forget the xenophobia for a second, the problems are still kinda bad, like the old people have too much say or power in any issues or just culture.
Old people outnumbers young people are you that surprised.
@@shiki325 that has nothing to do with it
Xenophobia is what has kept crime and stupidity in japan low.
Japan is a very well run and extremely rich country. It's in G7. The height of human achievement. Japanese should be happy with that. The problem is that many people, you and your ex and others, haven't seen much of the world. Visit a developing nation and see how people live. See what sort of life expectancy they can expect to have. See how much disease there is. HIV, TB, malaria, lifestyle diseases, etc. I'm an MD with EU and South African citizenships. I mostly work in SA. Patients here struggle with depression and resources are limited, even in private. Crime is a terrible burden on society. Women and kids can expect to be assaulted indecently. People in G7 countries should be happy with what they have. If they need medical care, Japan has a good public health system and psychiatry is available. So people should use that. Japan still has one of the highest life expectancy figures in the world.
@@peterc4082 ah the old others have it worst than you so that automatically invalidates your problems.
Surveys like that can be finicky and get different results, a survey I saw recently showed Japan to have a similar rating to France and showed the Scandinavian countries to be the happiest.
I think the issue lies in language and also what the population itself perceives as happiness. Different words can have different meanings in different languages and there can also be multiple different words for the same idea that could get different results even if they are similar. Just using English as an example, in a survey you could ask 'are you happy with your life?' or ''Are you happy'' and you would get different results but also you could ask ''are you happy'' or ''are you content'' and you would again get different results even though in all cases the question is very similar. Now imagine doing that across numerous different languages. To some it up, the issue with surveys like this is that they are subjective and not objective.
1:07 no not surprised, after the bubble burst in 91 the country and people weren’t as energetic as they were between 86-90.
There's also: the toxic work culture, massive societal pressure to be perfect, the oppressive culture of conformity, and the xenophobia and misogyny. It's just a super conservative country that is extremely resistant to change of any kind which makes it suffocating to live there.
I think Shogo (Let's Ask Shogo | Your Japanese friend in Kyoto) does a great job of explaining this in his video "Why Bushido is the Root of All Social Problems in Japan"
I watched this too!
Bump this up
Shogo and his channel are amazing. He shares a lot of very interesting information about Japan and he’s not afraid to be critical, either.
Didn't he say he was leaving Japan?
is he still living in Japan?
@@ALLKASDLLS-mg4luI don’t know why but I have a feeling that even he did leave Japan, he will move back to Japan eventually.
The biggest key to creating happiness in a society/culture is the answer to one single question. "To what degree does this society/culture enable a person to do/pursue a job/interest they love/care about, while receiving respect and appreciation for what they do, and while having sufficient resources/salary/compensation/etc. that they don't need to worry about basic necessities like rent/food/clothing/etc." Whenever any of these things break down, it doesn't matter how nice/orderly the society/culture seems, the happiness of the people within it will go down. If someone is unable to pursue a career or interest that they love, and is forced to work a job that they hate, happiness will go down. If people aren't respected/appreciated for what they do, and are surrounded by people who look down on them, happiness will go down. If people are constantly stressed and worrying about bills, and how they're even going to make it/survive, happiness will go down. If you can fulfill all three of those basic criteria, however, most people will be satisfactorily happy, even if other aspects of their life are unfulfilled at the moment. Maybe they're single, and they feel lonely, but if those three basic things are fulfilled for them, they'll usually take the perspective of "My life is otherwise pretty good, and I can work on finding someone". Maybe they're not rich and have always wanted to be, but so long as those three basic things are fulfilled, they'll usually take the perspective of "I might not have all the luxuries I've dreamed of, but I'm living a pretty good life, a life I can be satisfied with, and I can work on my ideas to strike it big on the side". But the moment a society/culture begins to take away those three basic things, the more all those other unfulfilled desires are brought into stark relief for them as well, and they all seem to stack up and build on top of each other until it cascades into unhappiness. And then that unhappiness becomes even more likely to go unaddressed if it exists in a culture where not inconveniencing others (say by sharing your problems with them) is the standard of social politeness.
Very true.
To give some context, economic power is often measured by the GDP and has to be seen critical, but it shows for sure some economic capacities a country has or developed.
I am currently living in Japan in a Student Exchange Programm, I am german and the work culture and some other rules as well as the konservative goverment, style of life (for the most part consumerism) lined up with my perspective on life.
To give some context, I study Japanology and Sociology, I see a variety of problems both countries face and also I can see some parallels to my homecountry as well.
A big difference is here the work culture, overall culturally there are other major differences but from the perspective of feeling happy. While I can go shopping in Japan on Sundays, when I am in germany my homecountry I am forced to stop and slow down my pace of living. We only work our select time most of the week days, and have in most jobs saturdays and fridays free. Shops close on Sundays, which can be annoying but you learn to plan around it and deal with not beeing able to be so spontaneous.
Not sure, couldnt see from the rankings, but I am pretty sure german ranked higher in happiness and if you go by GDP we also lead as third strongest economy in the world.
I think there is an connection between "work culture - economy - happiness" but there is also the fact that the contribution of that created wealth plays a big role. In very capitalistic countries, the people who have the most money, stay beeing wealthy because systems like Japan have such high cost for higher education compared to germany for example.
The ability to not step outside of there social/ social-economic group can create the feeling that the goverment in fact only care about the people who want to keep them in power. Making decisions in favor of the common people a rarity.
At last, an interesting book had been released from a japanese sociologist about the Bushido and how it still influences the work culture of japan, and that this should be changed. I was very amazed when I heard this book existed, because I had the same thought before hearing about this book. It stays the question if Japan is change anytime soon with it konservative goverment, which seems to see their biggest task at hand to stay in power, considering the long history of Japan probably understandable. It feels like Edo Jidai 2.0 with the inclusion of more western influences and foreign policies.
So, finally to the point about the children, comparrison hyposis.
It is infact also something I expierenced in my social environment here in Japan, I am talking about young adults here, they seem unconciously compare each other a lot, whitout vocalising it. I feel something about the way of communication and expiereces of comparision (school rankings also exists more dominantly presented in Japan), people rather play thereselves down. As soon they start seeing something that puts them in an inferior position in comparision, they start picking up more on things that they are better that or change the topic. It seems they want to protect themselves or rather their ego from competition, because thats how it feels like to them. That also would explain why critisism is hardly seen displayed openly and in confrontation, communication is not as direct, a big differences to germany as well.
I have to add, I am on average between 3-7 years older, so that might create a bias.
This is just my personal feeling and expierecing and I hope people wont feel hurt, but it seems to me that what ever is out there causing that, peoples people feel on average more narcisstic too me than other people from other nations that I so far met in Germany or Japan.
To fully understand this problem I dont want to play my full theory, firstly it needs to be looked into Narcissism as a whole and when tendencies become unhealthy.
I think a lot of it comes down to work/life and school/life balance. I've worked a few jobs that demanded a lot of unpaid overtime or just excessive amounts of overtime and not only does it leave less free time for you after work, it drains you to the point you can't really utilize the free time for leisure, you need most of it just to rest and recharge. When you can see your life ticking away day by day like this you begin to fear you may never actually get to LIVE it. At that point you have no dream or goal to work toward, you're exhausted and the only thing holding it all together is survival instinct because you know you need food and shelter. If kids are spending all their time after school doing more school so they can get into the best post-secondary schools so they can prove themselves by studying the hardest to keep up with the fierce competition in those schools, when do they have time to make friends or enjoy the world? It's just like the work culture of proving yourself by sacrificing the most extra time, the only currency you can never earn back.
I live very far from Japan, and I'm very miserable, because I'm very lonely and insecure. The problem is that no one seems to have a practical solution for people like me
Canadian here. Lockdown made a bad situation worse. Hang in there. You're not alone in feeling this way.
There is a practical solution. You need to get out your comfort zone. You need to practice being uncomfortable, doing things out of your norm. Only then can you even have the chance of changing your life.
You can't expect change, if you're not doing anything different from yesterday
@@vegetoaveryi mean yeah you're right but i know my ass isn't doing any of that
@@ivanthaboi that's too bad
@@ivanthaboi I also had this bad habit of asking myself "why even bother?" everytime I wanted to do something that's mildly exhausting or unpleasent at first, but probably beneficial, fun and exciting in the long run.
What got me going was this mindest:
- If nothing out of the ordinary happens I'll be here on this earth for another 50-60 years. Doing the same boring shit all day everyday makes life feel like a blur, it's meaningless. Might as well yell "LETS F*KIN GO" and give it everything I got, what's the worst that could happen? Not being bored? Get slapped by life once in a while, which happens anyways? So might as well try to have fun while at it.
i have heard that due to the insane competition in a lot of asian countries when it comes to work and studies, friend groups are often toxic as well. because you also see those friends as competition or are being compared to them constantly.. which sounds awful to me
I already work 16 hrs a day in Australia as a trucker. been doing it for 25 years, and my last day off was in 2013... Maybe I should move to Japan for a working holiday 12hours a day or less at work would be amazing.. I'm single and no real friend group - because I've worked so much and also I've never married, and have no kids... So yea I'm still pretty happy with my life regardless of all that. It's really about mindset. I socialise on MMO's, i watch a shitload of anime (it's what you do when sleeping in a truck 5/6 nights a week... But if I was over there with all their incredible places to see and traditions and festivals and culture, then I'd be so content with my life.
How would you work in Japan? If you don't speak Japanese, it'd be very hard to even get a work visa. I don't think you're thinking this through.
I feel that many people are looking at Japan through very specific lenses and rose tinted glasses. Many of them focus only on the cool stuff - the sushi conveyor belt restaurants, tourist destinations, pokemon center and other shops, etc - instead of the country at large.
Correct
that's a cope, weebs
Would say thats limited to kids/teenagers.
No one is happy. We live in a cultural society today that encourages isolation, and extreme measures of workplace efficiency. Money has become a god that is slowly sacrificing all of us.
There are a ton of reasons.
1. Tatemae and Honne aka being fake just so you don't make a disturbance.
2. Hierarchy where if you are seen at low status or seniority, you can be treated as less than human.
3. With hard to make friends. Most japanese stick with their family and/or groups. And this starts as toddlers. I know this from experience in Japan as my daughter is extremely friendly (well, that slowly seems to be going away) and want to play with random kids but those same kids just either stare or shoo her away. Again, this continues as adults. Having very close friends is very rare from what I've seen.
4. Especially recently, people are financially struggling. Wages are stagnant and will probably stay there by corporations and government as long as possible. And to add, yen is constantly going down, and prices of everything are going up. There is about to be another raise in electricity and several foods soon.
5. A lot of crime is ignored or isn't properly enforced. That especially goes for SA, and that includes children being victims. There is no sex offenders list on Japan, so there are counts of scum being teachers SA'ing 2-4 year olds, being arrested, being released only to join another school to rinse and repeat 5-7 times. And staying on young children, this is all while hearing several cases of daycare women abusing toddlers.
6. Many japanese families don't have that close-knit connection like many Western families do. A lot of kids are just left by their parents for japanese society to raise them as opposed to the parents doing the raising. That's especially goes for a lot of the father's who spend most of their time at work away from families. Some japanese fathers even allow their job to send them working in other countries for months or even years. With that being said, marriages aren't good either, and there is often infidelity.
I can go on and on why Japanese are miserable, but at the end of the day, it mostly comes to the mindset of Japanese people. Foreigners (at least Westerners) don't have that same depression and for those that do, it's often because too much of society rubbed off on them, and they end up going back home. If Japanese can finally collectively decide to change up a little bit, I think things can still turn great in the country.
@@missplainjane3905 No, my country (The U.S) has it's own set of problems which most of it has greed being the root cause. But despite all my country's issues (even though quite a bit of it is poverty and violence) we aren't at the lowest of those statistics because our values are different especially when concerning emotional/mental support. Japan doesn't really have that. Often enough times not even amongst their immediate family.
@missplainjane3905 Suffer from what? Unhappiness? I hope you aren't in the mindset that the U.S. is just as unhappy as Japan despite this video reading out the statistics for you.
@missplainjane3905 You must be trolling me because there is no way you can be this slow to not understand that we are talking about percentages of people within the country and not how many specific incidents. Also, Japan has been very high on the self unaliving list for quite a while.
@missplainjane3905 So you really aren't understanding what I'm saying? I'll give you the short reply first. I'm not answering that question because it doesn't align with what I'm saying.
Long version. When did I say anything about America having all the resources? I didn't even mention resources, but instead, a different way of thinking.
Nor I don't understand where you are getting me saying American having all/fully/100%/perfect or anything of that matter. Of course, the U.S. has its instances. The number 1 country of all and any happiness would still have some instances.
All I'm saying is that most countries, including the U.S., handle happiness/ mental health/etc. better than Japan. Or Japan handles them worse than most countries. Take whichever makes you feel most comfortable.
@missplainjane3905 And I gave you a short answer just so you would understand yet you're still repeating. Again, I'm not moving my goal post. Try that on someone else.
Knowing Japanese people, a large percentage of them polled probably just said they weren't content because they didn't want to appear arrogant. 😛
Indeed unlike usa 🇺🇸
@@MrWescottXLOL! Americans biggest complainers known to men.
Which sounds sad, in and of itself, that "contentment = arrogance" in some people's opinions...
I don't know why, but in my whole life I've never compared myself to anyone on social media because those people feel like people from another reality.
12:00 “日本人は、他者と比較して「人並み」の人生を歩めているかどうかを基準とする傾向があるため、自分の幸福度評価が高くなりにくいと考えられる”
これは海外でも少なからず当てはまりますよね？
Here in the U.S most people view a good life on how successful they are individually compared to others. So yes it applies to us here to. But a “average” life is not what most people strive for here. The American dream is what most people want (owning a house, car, good retirement plan that sort of thing) The idea of individualism in most people here in the U.S is different from place to place since it’s a big country so don’t take my word for it as someone on the internet.
Not as much in the United States. Individuals here are very stubborn.
アメリカではそうではありません。私は中国人ですが、ここの人たちはとても頑固なことに気付きました。彼らは自分が正しくて、他の人は間違っていると思い込んでしまうことが多いのです。😂
返信ありがとうございます
なるほど、確かに理解出来ました
アメリカと比較すると典型的な日本人の足並みを揃えたがる思考は生きづらいですね笑
イギリスに引っ越したルーマニア人です。正直言って「人並み」の人生は送りたくないです。多くのイギリス人を見れば不幸だったり不満だったりするのに酒や薬物を使って繕いますから。その原因はみんなと一緒がいいと思って満足してない人生を歩んでしまったからだと思います。イギリス人ならともかく日本人はみんなそうしてる気もします。会社の飲み会とかも基本的に自分の理不尽な仕事や課題について不満を何とか繕うためです。俺から見れば何とか自分を貫きたいと思います。他人の行動を押してる動機を聞いたら、一番いやな返事は「みんなそうしてるから」何です。理由にならないと思もいますので。
Yes it does. Everyone looks at others. It's called 'reality testing'. And the British have a saying, "keeping up with the Joneses". The video creator is a youtuber and gets easy money I presume, but work is hard everywhere and most people struggle.
Living in Mexico for 3 years. Main reason people are happy is because of the focus on family and on community
Which is pretty crazy when you have cartels literally creating chaos constantly. I wonder if they got rid of cartels and got a better government, would that lead to unhappiness like in first world countries? America is full of cultures where family is important but Americans are not very happy.
@@1stHalf I think the fact that their lives are hard and they tend to see so much violence that they appreciate the little things more often.
Where as in America, people may value community, but many don't have community to connect to because of our hyper individualism
As a Mexican, I can confirm that people rarely feel alone. No matter your background, odds are you have tons of cousins, uncles and other relatives who care for you and you meet frequently (normally at your grandparents’s house, and in cases like mine you’ll be there at least once a week, always meeting new relatives which at age 20 you still didn’t even know about).
Not to mention how stupidly easy it is to make friends. I’ve met some of my closest friends by mere accident. Therefore it is extremely hard for me to grasp how would it feel like to have to make friends in Japan.
@@1stHalfIm mexican and ill say the thing with carteles Is just like whatever because its usually beef between them and corrupt gov officials they kinda have their own honor code and leave civilians out of it (not saying they dont get caught in the middle from time to time)
@@Shivertruco Since I've moved to Cancun, Ive been adopted in a family, met my future wife, been helped by dozens of people with food/finance/help and have a true desire to build my future here.
Standards and exceptionalism may sometimes lack, but they are replaced by the primordialness of community
Nice commentary, this reminds me of a possible Freud concept at that time about how a person's normal state is ".... not happy, but at the same time not truly bitter...".
Man ngl I very much struggle to take that children in Chile are having a harder time to make friends than children in Japan
Besides that, shit do be rough for the young ones 😔 One can only hope shit will improve for future generations but man its looking bleak
Good luck friend! People from Chile are so wonderful, I wish you and your country the best!
Making friends in chile in general is hard. Most "friends" only talk to you to "borrow" money (which they'll absolutely not return) or ask for a favor, and making friends as a child depends on the children's parents or some other connection between them, like their siblings being friends or something of the sort.
@@Tchy While I do ge that this can vary from person to person, what makes me think that children in Chile wouldn't struggle to make friends as much is the culture itself compared to Japan. While bullying and segregation exists everywhere, I'd say it could more often be found in a culture that definitely despises people who stick up, like in Japan.
I freaking love japan my heart goes out to the people. I hope things grow and change for the better. japan stay awesome love 100000%
I don’t have anything to comment on about the census. I want to say how refreshing it is to see such respectfully comments. Everyone states their opinions and feel like I learned something. So thank you everyone who left a comment.
Japan has been ruled by basically the same political party since 1955, the LDP (Jiminto) except for five years (1993-4, 2009-12) and I think this is the biggest underlying issue. Things are so slow to change, nepotism goes unpunished and the population's confidence in government is low or apathetic. That's the survey that I'd like to see.
As a Japanese person, I personally agree with your insight. In fact, the largest group in Japanese public opinion polls is the non-partisan segment. This might be interpreted as a lack of interest in politics, but it's more likely due to the absence of opposition parties with substantial policies, leading people to choose the Liberal Democratic Party as a passive choice. It's commonly believed that the real driving force behind Japan is the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Finance.
Well, it's a common japanese citizen day then....
Excellent point sir I often tell people that there is a difference between regular society and tourist Society
I lived in japan for a few years (keep in mind this is just my opinion)
You could write a whole book on this topic, but in the end, I think it lies in their collectivist mindset and sense of sacrifice
The problem is that it's to such a degree that they confuse suffering itself for legitimate sacrifice (ie they don't see the difference between meaningful suffering and pointless suffering very well)
Sometimes you suffer and no good comes out of it, you're just making yourself miserable (it's the difference between working on an interesting project/boring but useful task for hours and standing in the rain for hours)
But they think "oh I suffer, so I'm a good person/it benefits society, suffering is an indicator that I'm doing something right"
So they don't try to change it, and they stay miserable (also speaking up and complaining, no matter how legitimate, is frowned upon, changing things is hard even when they are obviously backwards and harmful). Even if they do wish it was different (and know how precisely), fighting the whole tribe is just too damn hard, so they kinda "accept their fate" (and they find some honor in that, weirdly enough).
Your opinion, based on your experience, certainly reflects the "old-style Japanese work culture," and it is true that such companies still exist. However, it's also true that these companies are becoming increasingly unpopular and are finding it more difficult to attract new employees. Choosing between the stability of companies that maintain the old lifetime employment system and the challenge of new-style jobs can significantly impact one's life.
@@gotakazawa408 It is just not about the companies but the entire society of Japan itself
@@piyushraj8109 Why? Can you explain in more detail?
@@gotakazawa408 That toxic mentality of Collectivism and self- sacrifice goes beyond the working culture of some companies and extend to the entire society of Japan . You say those companies are few in numbers but the root of the cause is still prevalent .
@@piyushraj8109 I'm saying things are changing. Furthermore, it seems like you're assuming that Collectivism is inherently harmful. Is that your absolute belief? If you're assuming that Collectivism is harmful, then I believe a structured world wouldn't exist. Effective problem-solving requires finding the right balance between collectivism and individualism.
As a Mexican immigrant raised in the US it’s weird to hear that Mexico is one of the top ranking countries for happiness, I haven’t gone to Mexico, but my parents make a trip every other weekend to Juarez for a prayer group and family they have down there, and everytme they come back they give me the same story “you guys have it so easy, you should see how it is in Mexico, if only you could meet your cousins and see, the only get paid %10 of what you do for the same job, you’re so ungrateful” blah blah blah, but depite the hardship, corruption and poor economy in Mexico people are still fairly happy, I wonder why
While I can't speak for all Mexicans, based on my experience (Living in Mazatlán), life in Mexico is fairly easy, i have my family, a roof over my head, 3 meals per day, I'm studying something I really enjoy and have friends I hang up with from time to time, Idk what else do you need? Education and healthcare is also pretty affordable (I'm not rich, but I do have all the essentials covered)
Culture here is also not focused on materialism and making friends is really easy, the only rule is to be kind and friendly, if you ask nicely majority of people is going to be actually happy of lending you a hand, it just feels genuine, not that much pressure from society and delicious food
If you ever have the chance I suggest you come visit, It's a pretty relaxed culture with nice people (as in any place there are exceptions, but as long as you take precautions and listen to the locals the risk is reaaaally low). It's not perfect, some streets are dirty and corruption is a big problem, but still overall people enjoy their lives here
@@Lawuz23 couldn't have said it better myself, pretty much striked the nail in the head 👌
Imo undeveloped/ developing countries have a happiness that the world cannot see, and developed countries have a sadness that the world cannot see
Germany is also quite low on the "make new friends" index, it's below great Britian and the US, which is not surprising for me.
I'm born in Germany and I'm now 35 and still here. It is quite a struggle to find new friends or even a partner.
Everyone is quite busy or already have their own group of friends. Some people are also very superficial, they will tell you they would like to meet you, but they don't really want it. So everyone stays in his own personal bubble. The elbow mentality is also a part of this. They will check you if you already have a good job, a relationship or interesting hobbies, if not and you're more the unlucky one in life, they will spare you after a while, because they don't want to spend energy to someone, who is new in their circle. The existing circle of friends and relatives is very important among Germans. So it's very hard to make any new friends here, even for a native German like me.
I can't take that poll seriously 4:35 England at 75% not a chance in hell. It's probably like 30% 😂😂
They were drunk
It was the UK. Not England (they aren't the same thing)
I've noticed this directly with one of my Japanese friends. He came to the US recently for the first time and said he thinks it's really cool that I'm pursuing a job in an art field. He likes product design but because both of his parents are in sales, he's doing marketing. I think coming to the US was both helpful but also hurtful since he seems to feel trapped not knowing what to do that would make him happy but also fulfill his parent's expectations for him. I grew up in a family of artists on my dad's side so the pressure from them to pursue a more profitable career wasn't there as much.
I don't really know how to help him feel better... It feels like the type of thing that can't really be helped, sadly...
He's heading to the U.S. and meeting you, marking a significant crossroads. With the current economic situation, studying abroad in the U.S. from Japan requires a substantial amount of funding, and perhaps his parents are affluent and are covering most of the expenses. Consequently, he might be feeling financial pressure. I believe someone as kind as you should encourage him to contemplate what he truly aims for, offer advice if needed, and then suggest having a constructive conversation with his parents about it, maintaining a good relationship.
Going to Japan for the first time in October! Excited to finally visit my dream destination (:
85% seems a bit high for us
Indeed
called having a good mind state and not complaining about everything
I find it surprising that Mexico is so high up considering Japan has everything we wish we had: good economy, low crime rate, clean cities, etc. But I guess if you take into account social media and capitalism getting worse pretty much everywhere, we may not be doing that bad actually.
There is always the dread of violence and financial insecurity hanging over every mexican, but I think we’ve collectively grown to be cautious and assimilated a “it is what it is” mentality while still determined to make it to greener pastures. We've grown not to take things too seriously and we make jokes out of everything.
I think it’s the balance between community and individualism that helps. Most mexicans are very open, family is a very big deal and it’s very easy to make friends (and this coming from an introvert). We’re told to stand out to be successful and encouraged to follow our dreams, but also to make friends and have a good time.
I stated the same thing!! It's pretty ironic, good economy leading to unhappiness, and bad economies leading to happiness. I guess it makes sense, if you spend more time working than with family, you will in the end feel like you're missing something, same with the other side.
about the survey part. I think a lot of people are not really honest or really conscious about how they feel when filling in a survey like that. it might be my filter but I see people all over Europe on events and it's rare to see some one really being conferrable in there own skin. and are just numbing them self out or over compensation to be able to numb out those feelings.
but on the points you make on japan I think you got a point there, but keep in mind a lot of countries or cultures got there own thing that you could see as dysfunctional and is also kinda copied in collective way and is normalized to behave that way from child hood. it's by reflecting back on those things and ask why and by doing shadow work that you can let go more and more of programs that don't serve you.
but yeah I do really Appreciate that you talk about this topic Joey. since it's a important one not just for japan.
You guys haven't even finished watching the video!
I have douche bag so bam take that
I’m waiting for the adds to finish 😭
just saying hi 07 seconds in.
Okay?
@@MooffyonoSOO TRUE😭😭😭
Joey, first of all, I want to say, thank you so much for making content like this. I have lived in Japan since 2020 and this was, for obvious reasons, unfortunately the worst time for me to move to the country I'd been completely enamored with for 20 years. I have worked in Japanese business and I've also taught all grades formally from 1 to college in the short time I've lived here.
You only need eyes to see how unhappy people are.
I would end up writing an essay if I spoke about my experiences and what I've seen that made me come to this conclusion. I won't do that, but I just wanted to confer with you. I also notice it in myself. I am unhappy. If I evaluate myself and try to understand why, I find it easy. It's because my work and therefore financial situation is the worst that it's been since I was 24, and socially, I find it difficult to make real connections here.
I don't know what can be done about this as a society because when I speak to people about it, they have this sort of doom mentally like, "This is Japan, I should move to the US and everything will be different." It's a really frustrating point of view because it feels that people here refuse to take responsibility for their own country and speak up or try to change anything, the answer is to run away. This means that the people who could actually make Japan a better country (while still maintaining its culture!), just tend to leave instead. I hate that. This is a wonderful country that needs some improvements but could be improved if the modern citizens of it would decide to just try to evoke change.
Anyhow, just like you, I'm a teacher, not a doctor--a conversation teacher at that, so what do I know? However this is certainly my opinion on the topic.
very interesting topic, thanks for bringing it up!
Welcome to the club
A lot of the top countries in happiness... Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, India... are not wealthy countries. The crime rates are higher than Japan, and they use just as much internet & social media. So I don't think happiness is necessarily tied to wealth or social media and societal conformity.
It is notable that these are all very religious countries, although the Netherlands is not.
It would be interesting to overlay a chart that shows average hours of sleep by country next to the happiness chart. My guess is a good deal of sleep deprivation in these countries that are 'unhappy'
Indonesian here. Indonesia is known for its many things, from homelessness, corruption, trash, and more. But one thing that Indonesian is good at is turning a sad/depressing situation into a funny one. People here love to make jokes. Like a lot. We try our best to brighten the mood. The biggest reason for that is the people here know that we're only living in this world for a short amount of time, that's why we should try to use it as best as possible and to always be grateful.
There's a song that pretty much describes Indonesian. It's called Laskar Pelangi, originally made for a movie of the same name. The song is a happy song about living our lives and the chorus is the part that hit most people.
"Dance and keep laughing
Although the world is not as beautiful as heaven
Be grateful to the powerful
Our love in the world
Forever"
Another point that might be tied to the high level of happiness is the strong community. We got this thing called Gotong Royong, where in short it means to help those who are in need even if we don't get anything from it. Gotong Royong has been part of the people here since way before the country's independence. People here just really love doing things together, to be connected with other people. Compared to Japan, a country where introverts are seen as the norm.
A video about a guy who lives in Japan talks about the child homelessness, where the comments section has different kind of people,
The conservative Japanese that copes by saying anywhere is an unhappy place and kept the so called "asians need to cope and keep silent about the wrongdoings of their government" attitude,
the progressive Japanese that hates the living standards in Japan and seeks individuality but doesn't realise what's the bad part of individuality is if not taken care of,
and the multitude amount of foreigners trying to understand what REALLY Japan is.
Wow, i guess i AM japanese.
people form the nether realm are winning
14:13 - I think we do see this, it just takes other forms. People may report that they're happy but if they have higher rates of mental illness, don't date, don't get married, etc. then they are still measurably less happy than they would otherwise be, and a large part of this we already know is due to social media. It's a real problem everywhere.
So last summer I took an summer course and went abroad to Japan. I got to know the dean and other teachers and students there.
They recently came to my University in SoCal and the Dean with their own students to experience the USA and the Dean had *so* much to vent to me about in regards to one of the students. This student had chosen to study English and wanted to go abroad but failed the last test she needed to pass to be allowed to go abroad. The Dean told her its fine, she can retake it. Failed again. That's okay, she can retake it again. She said 'Nah actually I'm busy that day'. Doing what? What could be more important than this test and getting to go to the USA for her English studies? The student won't say, but she expresses that she's getting tired or bored of university and she can just get a job at the 7/11 to sustain her life, what's the point of learning anything? The Dean insists that she can do this, says the next retake for the test it won't even be a new test, it'll be the same test with the same questions and answers. She doesn't even show up.
THE NIGHT BEFORE DEPARTURE
The Dean tries to contact her again, says that the dean will be in their office at 8am, their flight doesn't leave till the afternoon. PLEASE come to the dean's office and take the test.
Ultimately the girl ended up passing and coming to SoCal. We had a 'buddy' system and I was assigned to that girl to be her buddy, and the Dean was very worried and asked me how she was doing which led to this venting of how much effort it took the Dean to convince this girl to just give a single iota of a crap about getting to experience something new.
The listless and resigned feeling of defeat and unhappiness from this student who wasn't even 20 years old yet was really shocking to me. I get maybe not wanting to go to school but there was no ambition or interest for anything. I think she mentioned she liked Disney? No other hobbies or interest I can remember, just Disney and keychains.
It sounds like that student is suffering from depression. Obviously a diagnosis cannot be made from the information in this post alone, but if she is suffering from depression, it’s best to seek help and reconnect with others.
Was living in Tokyo for some years and came across many people who just had restaurant and café visits as interest :)
the disney people as i call them... the only interest that have been "forced" upon them in their childhood. It was simple, popular and easily accesible... so they kept going with it. and now they are disney adults with no other passion or care for anything else. (she sound depressed like another comment said, i understand how it feels to give up completly sometimes)
Paradoxically, it seems akin to when people from overseas define Japan as the "land of anime". Undoubtedly, these perceptions are fantastical and differ from reality. I speculate that she did not suffer from depression but rather came to realize the distinction between fantasy and reality.
@@gotakazawa408 not having the will to do anything to actually experience life is a sign of depression. Life isnt always good but everyone know that. And those who are mentally stable enough still decide to challenge themselves everyday and take the risk in order to live throught some good times hopefully.