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I have seen a lot of American students studying Japanese though.
Only 10~20 years ago, Japanese language was more popular than Chinese language in American colleges.
Ah, keep in mind though that for every American studying an Asian language, there's 20 studying a European language. There's a super huge amount of Japanese and Chinese materials available, but the majority of learners don't make it past the A2 stage. Known a lot of people who burn out and can't handle the Chinese characters. The least successful are the Japanese learners, who often come back from Japan after a year and don't go back when they realize the girls they want aren't into them (let's face it, a huge, if not majority, of Westerners learning Japanese are anime and maid cafe addicts who find out Japanese girls are nothing like their anime counterparts). I don't have a scientific basis for my anecdotes, but I know a good deal of "gringos" in my area that have gone down this path. I find the Chinese learners are a bit more serious and more grounded in reality, but it's a mixed bag. My stepfather was Chinese from China and I had a Chinese brother-in-law too, so naturally half the interactions I had were with other Chinese.
Ah, keep in mind though that for every American studying an Asian language, there's 20 studying a European language. There's a super huge amount of Japanese and Chinese materials available, but the majority of learners don't make it past the A2 stage. Known a lot of people who burn out and can't handle the Chinese characters. The least successful are the Japanese learners, who often come back from Japan after a year and don't go back when they realize the girls they want aren't into them (let's face it, a huge, if not majority, of Westerners learning Japanese are anime and maid cafe addicts who find out Japanese girls are nothing like their anime counterparts). I don't have a scientific basis for my anecdotes, but I know a good deal of "gringos" in my area that have gone down this path. I find the Chinese learners are a bit more serious and more grounded in reality, but it's a mixed bag. My stepfather was Chinese from China and I had a Chinese brother-in-law too, so naturally half the interactions I had were with other Chinese.
I enjoy anime quite a bit but i don't expect real people in Japan to be like that. So far I have memorized the hiragana and Katagana and I can write 500 kanji characters.
I enjoy anime quite a bit but i don't expect real people in Japan to be like that. So far I have memorized the hiragana and Katagana and I can write 500 kanji characters.
Don't give up too early. There are some Japanese girls just like that
Don't give up too early. There are some Japanese girls just like that
Japan is probably the one country in the world where the stereotype is that there are more female nerds than male ones. A true stereotype in my experience, being in two "otaku"-related circles, where one circle (mostly devoted to female seiyu) is 55% male and 45% female, and the other (a general otaku circle) is around 70% female and 30% male.
Japan is probably the one country in the world where the stereotype is that there are more female nerds than male ones. A true stereotype in my experience, being in two "otaku"-related circles, where one circle (mostly devoted to female seiyu) is 55% male and 45% female, and the other (a general otaku circle) is around 70% female and 30% male.
Keep in mind that hobbies here in Japan are a lot more sharply divided between genders than probably in most countries. Although there are probably more females interested in male hobbies than vice versa, a lot of the female otaku in Japan are specifically interested in female hobbies, what you would call fujoshi.
You do not need to know Japanese. but for the most part only specialized jobs are available to foreigners, such as investment banking or working at an internet startup. Alteratively you could maybe start a shop or restaurant, like an american BBQ place or something like that. A lot of Austrailians have mini ski lodges in Niseko which cater to other australians. However that requires a lot of capital. In fact, no non-japanese is ever just going to get a 'regular' job in Japan, regardless of how good their Japanese language skills are.
Dennis, thanks for the info. If I want to work at an internet startup, how can I find those places? Do I need a degree in IT field to be hired?(i.e. I will be graduating with a Ph.D in chemistry around early 2018. Will this hinder my chances?)
And do you know any other types or fields of specialized jobs available to foreigners other than you mentioned above?
You can work in IT but look to investment banks. Or companies that are planning to expand to the U.S. as they will more likely hire foreigners who speak English and you won't need to know a lot of Japanese.
Some have English speaking policy.
I've known English teachers that got office work to help translate English documents and write English documents for businesses. Your Japanese has to be pretty good though. Wanted to add it's usually piece work.
Last edited by PoppySead; 08-25-2015 at 08:28 AM..
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