Why did you go to Japan?

[HikkiPanda]

now you make me feel embarassed for posting that lol

[Samu-kun]

...I thought it'd make a pretty good story. ._.;

[redeyesblackpanda]

If that's the case then, I'd agree that business trips are pretty common. Even my father's been there a couple times on business trips.

[lepapillonrouge]

As for me, I went to Japan...well because I've wanted to go since I was a kid because of teh animes!
But as I grew up I learned bits about their culture, and then when I was studying Japanese in college my teacher hosted a trip to go to Sendai that was for *FREE* (mostly, through scholarship money) and the main qualifications were
1. You were taking a Japanese class (I was)
2. You were a Business or Econ major (I am, though I'd love to switch to Creative Writing ;w;)
3. Your GPA was high (And since I was in honors, it kind of had to be)

;w; I had a great time. (Although hilariously, even though most of the group who went were Asian-American and sort of blended in look-wise, there was time when we walking and some people walking were like "Gaijin!" haha)

Other reasons to go to Japan...
1. Um, to teach of course.
2. International students! And not just from Euro-America. When I went to the university in Japan that was hosting us, there were a lot of people from China and Indonesia.

3. I'd laugh if there was a total weaboo in Japan story, expecting this land of animu and seeing all these fashion-conscious people instead ahaha. Bonus points if this person grows out of their weaboo phase and learns the language and stuff.
4. To become an idol. I mean, it worked for someone haha.

[TrickWithAKnife]

I do have plans to have a weaboo in the game. Not as the main character, but I think they could make the story more interesting. Plus A LOT of people become interested in Japan through anime and manga, so it makes sense.

I'm also planning to make one of those wannabe romeos who can't get a girlfriend in their own country, but heard they can get a smoking hot girlfriend in Japan because Japanese girls love foreigners.
But the plan is to show it how most Japanese people view these people: as a kind of fool, a joke.
But the may be opportunities for personal growth.

I definitely don't want to encourage those people who come to Japan just to have one-night stands.
They give us other foreigners a really bad reputation.

[PyTom]

I'd always like to go to Japan to promote Ren'Py. Maybe at comic market or something like that, now that there are a bunch of Ren'Py games being sold there. Money isn't even really a problem for that plan, it's that in actuality, the conversation would go something like this:

相手: だから、私はあなたがRen'Pyのと呼ばれるビジュアルノベルエンジンを作る聞こえる。あなたはそれについて私に何を伝えることができますか？

PyTom: Huh?

[TrickWithAKnife]

If you do ever come to Japan to promote Ren'Py, let me know. I would love to attend, plus I might be able to send a nice bottle of sake your direction.

[HikkiPanda]

3. I'd laugh if there was a total weaboo in Japan story, expecting this land of animu and seeing all these fashion-conscious people instead ahaha. Bonus points if this person grows out of their weaboo phase and learns the language and stuff.

what makes you think they will care about other people's fashion lol? they will go straight to Akihabara, Bandai Museum, Good Smile Cafe, Comiket, and stuff. No time to waste on mundane stuff!!

I do have plans to have a weaboo in the game. Not as the main character, but I think they could make the story more interesting. Plus A LOT of people become interested in Japan through anime and manga, so it makes sense.

I'm also planning to make one of those wannabe romeos who can't get a girlfriend in their own country, but heard they can get a smoking hot girlfriend in Japan because Japanese girls love foreigners.
But the plan is to show it how most Japanese people view these people: as a kind of fool, a joke.
But the may be opportunities for personal growth.

I wonder if you can pull this off without sounding like you're mocking/preaching these people ...

[TrickWithAKnife]

Not planning on preaching. A bit of mocking might be fun though.
Although Japan is slowly becoming more accepting of foreigners, it's a slow process.
We do get judged by the behaviour of other foreigners, and people tend to remember the negative things more than the positive.
Case in point: there was a Russian sumo wrestler who got caught smoking weed. The Japanese press made a big deal about it. Him and another Russian wrestler were in the newspapers and TV news for months, and they made sure to stress that he was not Japanese...

I guess I'm a bit bitter about this topic. You would be surprised how many Japanese people asked me about how often I cheat on my wife, or am I planning to. Those questions are extremely offensive, because they automatically presume I would do something terrible like that. Usually their response is "I thought all foreign guys who come to Japan do that."

[sake-bento]

I went to try the food and study how it's done. I'm planning another trip to do the same thing in another region. If I could spend a dedicated amount of time there, I'd also go to study kendo.

[Chu-3]

LMAO LMAO
I just came back from Japan last week LOL!
I went there this time to attend comitia and some my internet friends, and the japanese voice actors I knew through tweeter. We went to karaoke, voice actor cafe etc and it's fun lol. Well it's quite chaos since we didn't know each other face, and we met like...8 persons or more in a day haha...

Well I've been there for more than 7 years before, for school and work.

I don't know if it's new but... yeah I guess I went there to meet my internet friend? SWT

[LVUER]

I just want to know for all people who seemingly very easy to go abroad that far away (like Japan), is it that cheap to go abroad? Here, even the airplane ticket cost more than my entire 3 months wage (the expensive airliner could even cost up to 6 months of wage). That's still not counting money that I have to spent to make visa and passport. Of course I will need to spend even more money there. And to go home... Really, I can't begin to imagine to go abroad other than for work...

Now if I want to go to somewhere closer (like Singapore, Malaysia, etc), I think I could still manage... but the problem is that I don't want to go there.

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

I think it's more of an income than an expense problem. You know, we ASEAN folks don't have that much disposable income compared to, say, the average OECD folks.

[TrickWithAKnife]

I just want to know for all people who seemingly very easy to go abroad that far away (like Japan), is it that cheap to go abroad? Here, even the airplane ticket cost more than my entire 3 months wage (the expensive airliner could even cost up to 6 months of wage). That's still not counting money that I have to spent to make visa and passport. Of course I will need to spend even more money there. And to go home... Really, I can't begin to imagine to go abroad other than for work...

Now if I want to go to somewhere closer (like Singapore, Malaysia, etc), I think I could still manage... but the problem is that I don't want to go there.

From New Zealand, I ate nothing but miso soup with rice for lunch and dinner, and cheap cereal for 6 months, so I could (barely) afford to move to London.
In London, I easily saved the money to come to Japan, even though I went out most nights.
So yeah, it depends on your income and the exchange rate.
If you shop around, sometimes you can get good deals on flights.

If you want something bad enough, and can be patient, you can find a way.

[Sapphi]

3. I'd laugh if there was a total weaboo in Japan story, expecting this land of animu and seeing all these fashion-conscious people instead ahaha. Bonus points if this person grows out of their weaboo phase and learns the language and stuff.

what makes you think they will care about other people's fashion lol? they will go straight to Akihabara, Bandai Museum, Good Smile Cafe, Comiket, and stuff. No time to waste on mundane stuff!!

I would really laugh if they got over-stimulated and had to go to the hospital where the Japanese doctor tried to ask them what was the matter and all they could say was "Nani?"

I guess I'm a bit bitter about this topic. You would be surprised how many Japanese people asked me about how often I cheat on my wife, or am I planning to. Those questions are extremely offensive, because they automatically presume I would do something terrible like that. Usually their response is "I thought all foreign guys who come to Japan do that."

Well, that's... depressing...
I wonder what they think of foreign girls?

As for me, I would love to go to Japan. I would collect all the old school anime merch that seldom gets imported because everyone on Ebay just has to sell the newest Haruhi figure... ahh my mouth is watering just thinking about it (or maybe it's these carrots I'm eating)... but also, because I think the immersion would really help me learn the language, and in general it just seems like a lovely place.

The downside is that I'm so shy I even trip up on my words in English, so there's little to no chance I could communicate with people very well... ;_; They might get offended that I looked down while speaking or something... But maybe there's a niche for shy foreign girls and I could work at a maid cafe and get mad tips just by blushing and stammering a lot.