TranscendentalEmpire

disagree here. Learn the language and hang out where Japanese hang out.

I have friends who have learned the language and studied at the university of Tokyo and still have a rough time. Loneliness and isolation is a very common complaint of foreigners staying in Japan for prolonged stays.

You may have a different experience, as you married into the culture, and thus have a family there to help break the ice.

Certainly, a number of people are anti-immigration as they see an erosion of their tradition and some, the I suspect it an ever-shrinking minority, Others are mostly fine with immigration if it's "the right kind/race of immigrants".

How is this not conservative and insular?

I have a loving family here in my in-laws with whom I am often involved (grandpa loves writing letters). As for immigration itself, in the ~10 years I've been here, they've added new visas with quicker paths to permanent resident status. One can apply for citizenship after 5 years (though it requires renouncing all others which is why I don't do it -- I do wish they'd change that).

Again.... This doesn't really seem to be helping your assertion.

don't know exactly what you're referencing here. There are zainichi Koreans who are in a weird spot.

Zainichi Koreans make up the vast majority of Koreans living in Japan, with a current population of a little over a million people. And by "weird spot" you mean decades of intense discrimination, including denying them access to basic healthcare.

lot of Koreans that are here because their homes/families were in the north don't take Japanese citizenship and, often, don't really feel Japanese either; they feel their identity is north korean, but don't move their either for obvious reasons. As such, they don't take Japanese citizenship and are basically waiting to "go home".

North Koreans make up a small minority of Koreans living in Japan. All Korean nationals were stripped of there citizenship in the 50's, and only regained the option of applying for citizenship in the 90's. With the predication that they would be assimilated into Japanese nationality of course.

Framing Japanese culture as conservative and insular was the polite way of saying they're still a fascist country, run by the children of war criminals. The only difference big difference is they got their guns taken away. But, they're still denying well documented war crimes, and funding temples built to honor people who weaponized rape on a massive scale.

Eh.... Unless you are actually Japanese, you're probably going to be hanging out with other ex-pats, or just very lonely.

Japan is an extremely conservative and insular country. They don't really mind people visiting for the most part, but they don't really think highly of people actually immigrating there.

There are ethnic Koreans who have lived in communities in Japan for hundreds of years who are still considered outsiders and are treated like second class citizens.

Growth doesn't mean revenue over cost anymore, it just means number go up. The easiest way to create growth from nothing is marketing tulips to venture capital and retail investors.

I think you mean to say, my "feels" are based on justification!

Is English your second language?

Btw abortions rock, I'm responsible for my fair share,

I dont think that's the brag you seem to think it is?

but I think using clickbaiting as a weapon is bad, even when it's for good causes

You haven't explained how you think this is click bait........ Something doesn't automatically become click bait, just because you think it's over an excitable topic. That would make all headlines click bait, based on the subjectivity of the observer.

"something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest"

There's a reason we have the Jenova Convention, after all

Lol, it's like I'm talking to an AI that's done way too many whippits.

The geneva convention, is an agreement pertaining to how soldiers interact with civilians during times of conflict. It has nothing to do with what we're talking about.

But your "justification" is based on feels......

The article goes into great detail supporting the substance of the title, meaning it's not click bait or manipulation.

You are the one attempting to manipulate people by claiming that the title is something it's not.

Lol, you can't confirm it's click bait unless you read the article.....

None of your critiques are valid, as the substance of the article is congruent with the messaging in the title.

You're just being lazy.

Yeah, I could, but it's a perfectly valid line of conversation to critique a post's title.

I don't think laziness is a valid line of criticism. I also find it strange to critique a title separate from its intended context.

we have the saying, "Always judge a book by its cover, and judge a response by it's grammar"

I don't think that's a very common idiom. It seems to imply that pedantry is more important than substance.

You could always read the article......

My dude, nothing in that blog supports your claim.

First of all, it's talking about the metallurgy of the 16th century and after, which is after Japan had imported blast furnaces. Secondly, it ignores the amount of labour needed to actually produce refined steel from iron sands, which ultimately dictates the quality of the finished product.

This isnt a debatable topic, any steel made from iron sands before modern electromagnetic sorting contains a large amount of impurities when compared to steel made from rock ore.

Even during WW2 the Japanese had a hard time producing high quality steel even with the use of blast furnaces, because the iron sands contains a large amount of titanium.

This blog which falls over itself trying to engage in revisionist history, can only claim that the quality was "perfectly fine"....not good.

That's not true, no matter how many times you make that unsupported claim.

You are conflating the elemental molecule of iron with the finished product of an alloy of carbonized iron aka as steel.

Yes, there isn't a molecular difference between the iron found in sand vs the iron found in rock ore. However, the medium in which you harvest your iron and how you're able to heat that iron, dictates the quality not your final product.

Lol, my dude. No one is claiming that modern japanese steel is of poor quality.

Im speaking of the time period contemporary with the accusation. You know, how arguments typically work......

Do you think the guns Japanese Samurai used were made from steel refined from sand?

Just pointing out this one because it's funny. Yes, a lot of the early firearms made in Japan were still made from iron sand (Satetsu). Which was the main source of iron in Japan until the 16th century.