That makes so much sense now...

I live in Ohio. I'll be looking in to study abroad programs for the colleges I visit. Could you throw a couple of those recommendations for schools in Japan so I can listen for which schools they have a partnership with or w/e? I'll try to write down and get info. Thanks for your willingness for advice, dood Also do you have any particular Japanese - English dictionaries to recommend or books to help w/ the learning process. I have this kanji book checked out from the library called "A Guide to Writing Kanji and Kana" by Wolfgang Hadamitzky and Mark Spahn. It has a lot of kanji in it and seems pretty cool I am writing kanji out of that for now and I have like a English - Japanese dictionary that I found lying around only it's published in like 1991 and the kanji one is like 90s too xD

I actually do have some questions, purely curious.
Do most people in Japan actually just sleep on the bare floor with nothing but a simple sheet and pillow? I can never imagine myself doing that, I'm happy with my double think comfy mattress.
Also, do most homes actually not have tables and everyone just sits on mats? Pardon me if I'm being stereotypical, but that's why I'm asking such questions so I may know better. It must be because I've been watching anime a lot lately, but I've suddenly been wanting to know more about Japanese culture.

@WingedFish: It's not actually just a sheet and pillow, it's called a 'futon' — and it's nothing like the 'futon' we have here in the US. Japanese homes and apartments generally have a much smaller footprint than homes and apartments in the West, so space is at a premium; there's normally not enough space to have multiple beds set up and lying out all the time. a common futon in Japan is a very thick, padded mat that is rolled up and stored away during the day in a closet or a separate compartment in the room, thus that one room can serve as bedroom at night and normal living space during the day. They're quite comfortable, really. the Wikipedia article has more information if you're interested :3

I could not sleep on one of those, unfortunately. I'd definitely feel the ground underneath, no matter how thick it is, and just ache all over in the morning.

idk what it is, but sleeping on a proper futon was probably the most refreshing sleep I've ever had — i wouldn't discount it entirely until you've had the chance to give it a shot, Mac. I'd love to have an authentic one here in the US.

I'd still be pretty hesitant. I've very physically sensitive - I need two matresses and a thick Matress Cover (cushion? I forget exactly what you call it), and two thick pillows when I sleep, and I have difficulty getting a restful sleep in other places. I'm mean, sure, I can techically sleep anywhere (I was infamous in school for falling asleep in weird places), but I usually regret it when I wake up, and I'll still feel just as tired.

I'd probably try it if I ever visit Japan, I'm just saying, there's a high likeliness that it wouldn't work out well for me.

I guess that makes sense seeing as how small Japan is and how many people live there. I actually recall watching something on TV several years back about these "capsule hotels" in Japan that were around during the 70s-80s (somewhere around that time) and they were literally a tiny space just big enough for small a bed.

I don't think you're really paying attention to what I'm saying, but oh well. I've tried to give you honest, real advice but you're ignoring what I'm saying.

If the job market here is in serious decline and Japanese people have a hard time finding a job even with Bachelor's degree's or higher, what does someone who has no qualifications, language skills or degrees have to offer?

I've told you everything I possibly can and you're basically telling me you're throwing my advice away because you don't like it.

@SMEXIZELDAMAN There's too many universities to name. Let's go about it the opposite way. Look up what nearby universities or those you're interested in have as far as partnerships with Japanese universities first.

@Wingedfish @Jon_Talbain Japanese people haven't slept on bare floors in centuries. The futons that we use sometimes are very comfortable, and many western people think that they're be uncomfortable, but never think about the coils and springs an all the hardness that lies in their mattresses.

Anyway, many Japanese houses have beds these days, and all western style hotels do. If you don't want to sleep in one, nobody is going to force you.

I haven't heard much about the capsule hotels these days. I know they still exist, but I've never seen one in person, and I've never heard of one of my friends going to stay in one.

He has always been like this.

Though reading this you have me very interested in what you do? Unless you're bound by some contract that you can't tell, what do you do Tsuchinoko? (apart from writing on here).

Honestly, I am somewhat bound by a contract, but lets just say it is related to language instruction, which is...not the best industry to be working in. I have little to no interest in it, and its incredibly limiting and hard to become integrated into the society when you basically have a huge list of things you cannot say at work and...in what is the most painful for me, I am limited to how much Japanese I can use in certain situations. But that's the thing, if you have a Bachelor's degree in business or computers or marketing, and couple that with just even a small bit of Japanese skill, it can be somewhat easy to get a job here, but if you are someone like me where my main obsession all through school was learning and speaking Japanese, my language skills have to be near native level in order to get a regular job here. Its very hard, which is why I'm telling Harmoknight you can't just get off the plane and thing you can start a life. When I started school people were telling me it was going to be hard even for the easiest way, and 5 years later here I am, just starting out.

I was never into the anime and manga like a lot of other people in my Japanese classes. I think for them, they were a bit blinded by their interests and didn't see Japan as a real country almost, but this place that only produces leisure entertainments that they like, and nothing else. To me, that is not a good enough reason to want to uproot yourself and move to a totally different country.

Japanese people are having a hard time too (really, there is hardly a place in the world where people aren't), which is why so many of them study abroad or get multiple degrees or learn multiple languages to give themselves an advantage.

And yeah, I can speak Japanese for hours on end, I make mistakes now and then, but I speak the same as a Japanese middle schooler. I can read smaller novels, debate some things like politics and society and all of that (lightly), and speak in hypotheticals and similes and metaphors, but I'm maybe a year, a year and a half away from really serious job hunting.

What I'd really like to do is work at a hotel or travel agency.

Couldn't help but notice the irony of a non-native speaker working with language instruction.
_{(I'm sure it's more than that but as you said you're limited to what you can say.)}

It's really cool all that's you done to get to where you are now. That's some serious dedication.

Also, if you ever were to move to Australia I have some hotel connections.

Japan for me has always been this magical place that I'd love to see. I'm not really that engulfed by the culture, the anime and whatnot, but I love the cuisine and to be able to walk in some of its history, and through some of its landscapes would be awesome. Tokyo would be great to check out too, but there is nothing that really interests me there, plus I would probably think I just walked into a scene out of Blade Runner . It's definitely on my list of places I'd like to visit.

=pretty

Hmm, I've never seen Blade Runner.

That picture looks like it was taken pretty close to Fuji, That's in Yamanashi prefecture. I live in Kanagawa, which it just south of Tokyo pref. From me Yamanashi is one prefecture west and then one north. I can actually see Fuji from my street, and the fact that its two prefectures away shows how much bigger it is than everything else.

My biggest piece of advice is, don't romanticize a country too much, which is clearly what certain people here are doing. Its filled with people with real lives and interests, unlike what many people think. Anyway, please come to Japan and see it for yourself. Its a really nice place with some amazing people. I think you'd like it.

I just wish it wasn't misunderstood so much. Harmoknight means well, I think, but from what I gather, his image of Japan and what it really is are two very different things.

To give some perspective, every single person I know of foreign birth that lives here had many years of Japanese instruction and had a degree (or two) before starting out here. Don't you think if it were possible to just go straight to Japan without all of that money and time and stress and waiting, I would have done it? But, just like one of my favorite songs says, non je ne regrette rien (no, I regret nothing). I worked hard to get here, and and one of my friends (or was it my ex) said, finishing college and getting this job was not the goal, but the beginning. The work and progression of this process never stops, at least not for a long time.

Watch Blade Runner when you get a chance. It's a really big film to get your head around, but especially when it was released in the 80s it addressed many of the growing economical and commercial concerns of its time.

And if you read Frankenstein as well, you'll notice the similarities. Blade Runner is an appropriation of Frankenstein. All that changes is the context.

I know what you mean. Japan is always idolised by society as the future of everything and anything, but a lot of the times some of the people living in the country are doing it just as tough, if not more, as anyone else.

And take a picture of Mount Fuji for me if you can. I'd heard stories of a few friends who climbed it at night so they could see the sunrise on the top of the mountain. That would be an awesome vista to experience.

@Aviator I've never climbed it. The thing a lot of people don't know is, there's only like, a certain time frame in the year when people are allowed to climb it. I was under the impression that it ends in late August. My view is kind of interesting, but I'll try and take a picture in the next few days or so, maybe wednesday is the best day for that, since I'm off from work a little early.

And yeah, living in Japan is a bit like going ahead a decade as far as technology. Things are much more convenient here, but its not like people just sit around and read manga all day. They work like mad to maintain the lives that they have. Its hard, but you don't get where you are as a country without the work. Japanese people expect foreigners living here to do the same.

@Tsuchinoko I'm not ignoring it I plan to learn the language more for sure, I just think there's always more ways then one to do stuff, also did Japan change there foreign policies recently? Since a friend on WiiWareWave also thought the same as me about this

Hey @Tsuchinoko are most commercials in Japan all crazy and weird, or is that just a stereotype the we Americans bought into and the commercials aren't all that strange usually?

I'd just like to mention that the stragest comercials I've ever seen usually come from France or Germany. The Japanese commercials I've seen are tame in comparison, at least to the weirdest stuff.

Pardon me for jumping into the discussion like this, I am an relatively inactive user that pretty much only lurked around the site these 2 years I've been registered.
But I couldn't stop myself from entering this topic, as I've been interested in this country pretty much my whole life (It's rich culture, lovely nature, music, and of course the food!) and gotten myself more and more fascinated about it every year.
I've quite recently started to learn the language in my spare-time (the Kanji is tough), and I'm looking heavily into studying in a Japanese university (After my current Art course here in Sweden) to really see what it's like over there.
I also want to thank RR529 for mentioning the NHK World app, as I've found it very interesting so far.