> but Japanese people will go extremely out of their way to help you
> I got the world moved for me
I'm somewhat uncomfortable with these characterisations of Japan and the Japanese people. Yes, Japanese people can be helpful to (obvious) visitors but with more and more people visiting Japan visitors shouldn't expect this to keep being the case, nor do visitors necessarily deserve this treatment. It probably will hold true but I don't think we should encourage an entitled attitude of "I'm a visitor, therefore the always helpful Japanese people will help me out of any tricky situations I get into while visiting their country".
Sorry that the Japanese people are generally far more courteous than anyone else I’ve met when tourists are in need of help and make an effort to get help in their language. Apparently, pointing out that every person I’ve encountered has been great to visitors is a bad thing or something.
If someone is going to be a tourist in a foreign place, would you prefer they have a breakdown in the middle of the city because they should expect the locals to be assholes that never help people who don’t speak Japanese out? God forbid someone try and interact with a local, that’s apparently entitled behavior now. What even is this take?
No, visitors should not rely on locals to help them out, but you also have no proof that the kindness shown will go away anytime soon. It’s not like tourism hasn’t been booming for the past few decades and nothing has happened. What makes you think something will suddenly change?
By this reasoning, if anyone asks you how you feel about someone you love/respect/admire/etc, you should refuse to speak of any significant qualities they posses.
“Hey, I haven’t met your wife/husband yet, but if they’re anything like you, they must be a quality person, and can’t wait for you to introduce me to them!” — “Oh, yeah. I mean, they’re definitely a human being, just like me, if that’s what you mean. And they, like… eat, drink, sleep — all the usual human being things, you know.”
Sounds like a bleak way to relate to others, downplaying your feelings out of fear that someone will irrationally believe they are entitled to similar experiences with said person.
Maybe we should expect people to not feel entitled, instead of desiring that people would bottle up how they feel.
I am anecdotally pointing out my experiences, which explicitly go against the comment I replied to which makes it seem like you will die on the streets in Japan if you wander too much.
Sorry not sorry that my experiences irritate you so much.
And, once again: What, exactly, would you prefer? A gaijin in the middle of Kyoto wailing about not being able to get back to their hostel because they’re too scared to approach a local? That person never even experiencing Japan because they’re too scared they’re going to get lost and be beaten to death by the horrible locals?
> I got the world moved for me
I'm somewhat uncomfortable with these characterisations of Japan and the Japanese people. Yes, Japanese people can be helpful to (obvious) visitors but with more and more people visiting Japan visitors shouldn't expect this to keep being the case, nor do visitors necessarily deserve this treatment. It probably will hold true but I don't think we should encourage an entitled attitude of "I'm a visitor, therefore the always helpful Japanese people will help me out of any tricky situations I get into while visiting their country".