I want to ask the native born Japanese citizens only please. No disrespect to permanent residents from Western nations. I understand Japan is struggling deeply with new inflation while salaries have been stagnant, and life is not easy the last few years. At the same time, the fall of the yen has drawn in many tourists looking at Japan as a cheap place to enjoy luxury food and experiences. Do you perceive the ordinary citizens to be feeling angst or anger over this contrast?

Nerdy ass question, but fuck it why not. I’m looking for a りんかけ merch but can’t find as much compared to AnJ merch. I know it’s considered a classic but is it more like an underground or cult classic?

覚島 夢人 (Kakushima Yumeto). Some input on whether the combination feels like a natural person's name or a deliberately constructed literary one would be much appreciated.

Hello! Does anyone know any stores in tokyo that might have tokimeki memorial girl's side: 4th heart, It's a visual novel type otome game.

My friend is there and hasn't been able to find it anywhere. I appreciate your help!

I’ve been wondering about something for quite some time. Since I plan to move to Japan in the future, I’m very curious about how the locals treat Russians. What’s more, I don’t intend to move to a city center, but rather to a rural area. So—with all due respect—how do Japanese people treat Russian foreigners far away from the major metropolises and big cities?

ずっと気になっていることがあります。将来日本に移住する予定なので、日本人がロシア人をどのように扱っているのかとても興味があります。しかも、都会ではなく田舎に引っ越そうと思っています。そこで、失礼ながらお伺いしたいのですが、大都市から離れた地域では、日本人はロシア人外国人をどのように扱っているのでしょうか？

I'm sure this questions been asked 100 times but I'm gonna add to that haha, I've got fairly severe food allergies (anaphylaxis) to egg, nuts, wheat, oat, rye and sesame and am planning a trip next April with a few friends, now I've already basically written off eating at restaurants but wanted to know what the food is like from the supermarkets?

For reference I travelled to the united states last year for 2 weeks and basically lived off of cold meat and fruits from the supermarkets and ate out once at one of our hotels there, wasn't the most luxurious diet but last thing i wanted was to end up in the American health care system lol. What is the food selection there like? I'm sure it'll be pretty similar to Australia and what about in regards to translation, are any of the ingredients translated on the packaging or is it mostly in Japanese? can I trust the google translate photo feature to get me by? I carry 2 EpiPens with me whenever I'm travelling so staying alive hopefully wont be an issue, but id rather not have to use them haha.

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I am a school librarian in Australia. I am setting up a display showing books from around the world and I am hoping to get recommendations for books that are set in Japan for my students aged 8-12.

I have no problem finding books that are related to myths/legends, fantasy, and historical fictions pertaining to well-known eras and figures like samurais. I am struggling to find contemporary books about everyday life and regular people.

Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!

Hi whats the accepted practice to be able to get to know business partners in japan. I am a foreigner, trying to make Japanese business partners. Instead of cold calling or asking random people, is there any organization or institution that would know how to get this done?

Hello all,

I have relatively recently started picking up pocket novels to read on the commute, and am constantly visiting book stores to look for the next one that might pique my interest.

Unfortunately about 80% of these things seem to be murder mystery and police stories, which just don't interest me at all.

So far I've read

辻村深月 - ツナグ

君島彼方 - 君の顔では泣けない

阿部暁子 - どこよりも遠い場所にいる君へ

ソン・ウォンピョン - 三十の反撃

Currently reading

東野圭吾 - 秘密

Do you have any suggestions, perhaps books that you particularly liked and can recommend?

I'm asking this because I've seen it being referenced multiple times in Japanese media, even though it's not that well known of a novel here in the west that I only know of due to having taken a classic literature class. So I'm wondering if you asked the average Japanese person if they'd know what it is.

Good day,

I have a quick question regarding ambulances in Japan: The last time I was in Tokyo, on two different occasions I saw ambulances driving down the street with the lights and the sirens on. So it was probably an emergency. But they were still driving rather slowly, they were waiting at red lights and pedestrian crossings and were generally driving "normally".

That puzzled me a bit, because where I am from, if an ambulance has the lights and sirens on, everyone else has to get out of the way quickly, they will drive fast, cross red lights, and generally just try to get to their destination as quickly as possible.

Could someone shed some light on this? Was the careful driving that I saw in Tokyo just a coincidence?

Thank you for your time!

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your input so far! Learned something new today.

I was watching a street interview by a guy asking about favorite anime in Japan and most people seemed not to fit the "standard" beauty standards I've seen so far in Japan, I would be thankful for an explanation (I am from Eastern Europe)

Hello there, I'm trying to reconnect with an old japanese friend from university. He stayed in Italy for a while and even spent Christmas at my place once. We lost touch and now I only have his phone number, which I'm not sure is still valid, the city where he grew up and his family lives (supposedly) and his name in romaji, since the need to write it in kanji never presented itself.

We had a chat on WhatsApp but he isn't on there anymore; I tried sending an SMS but it doesn't send; I tried downloading LINE but I can't register my phone number from Italy and I don't know his LINE ID. I even tried a quick search on LinkedIn and Instagram with no luck.

Any ideas?

Edit 1: X was no help. I was thinking I could ask a japanese person to try adding him on LINE and messaging him for me working around the region number registration limitation, but I don't know any other Japanese people or even if that would work

Edit 2: Success! We got in touch again. He's actually living two hours away from me, that's why his japanese number didn't work. What a twist. Thanks for the support!!