為什么很多外國人在5-6年后離開日本?如果這是一個這么好的國家,人們?yōu)槭裁床涣粝聛砟?
Why do many foreigners leave Japan after 5-6 years? If it is such good a country, why don''t people stay?譯文簡介
網(wǎng)友:我有一個表親,自青少年時期起就對日本充滿熱情。他學(xué)習(xí)了日本文化和語言,并獲得了大學(xué)學(xué)位,之后決定移居日本,成為東方的一部分。然而,我的表親習(xí)慣了西歐勃艮第的生活方式——他更傾向于享受生活而非沉迷于工作,并在其中取得成功......
正文翻譯
Why do many foreigners leave Japan after 5-6 years? If it is such good a country, why don't people stay?
為什么很多外國人在5-6年后離開日本?如果這是一個這么好的國家,人們?yōu)槭裁床涣粝聛砟?
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I have a cousin who was passioned by Japan since he was a teenager. He subsequently studied Japanese culture and language and obtained a university degree, and then decided he would be moving to Japan and become a part of the Orient.
But my cousin was used to Western European Burgundian life — he preferred to enjoy life far above enjoying work, and succeeding in it.
His life philosophy was spit out and on by his Japanese company right away, because he simply could not follow the extraordinary pace by which Japanese people were living and working. If you could call it “l(fā)iving” at all.
Subsequently, he was treated as an outcast, and nobody would help him nor even socialize with him — as if he was infected by some contagious Western disease.
In the end, my cousin suffered from a deep depression, and his dad and younger brother had to travel to Japan to get him out of there. By then, he was living in an almost depraved way in an apartment the size of a closet, all alone and finally understanding one thing —
That he would never be part of the Orient.
我有一個表親,自青少年時期起就對日本充滿熱情。他學(xué)習(xí)了日本文化和語言,并獲得了大學(xué)學(xué)位,之后決定移居日本,成為東方的一部分。
然而,我的表親習(xí)慣了西歐勃艮第的生活方式——他更傾向于享受生活而非沉迷于工作,并在其中取得成功。
他的人生觀在他的日本公司立刻遭到了排斥,因為他無法適應(yīng)日本人快節(jié)奏的生活與工作方式。有時甚至讓人懷疑,這是否能稱之為“生活”。
不久,他被視為異類,無人愿意幫助他或與他交往,仿佛他感染了某種傳染性的西方疾病。
最終,我的表親陷入了深深的抑郁,不得不由他的父親和弟弟前往日本將他帶回家。那時,他孤獨地生活在一個狹小的公寓里,生活幾近墮落,終于明白了一件事——
他永遠(yuǎn)無法成為東方的一部分。
I was stationed in Japan for 7.5 years in the US Navy, so I lived a very charmed existence in Japan for several years.
I had the privilege of experiencing only the good aspects of my culture and Japanese culture.
I essentially worked in America: on an American base, could eat American food everyday, could buy American clothes on base at a discount, etc.
Then I stepped off base and lived in Japan…h(huán)ad a big, beautiful apartment off of Mikasa Park in Yokosuka, Japan, I could run alongside the harbor everyday. It was all paid for by the Navy.
Japanese women would seek out Navy guys outside of the base so I barely even had to learn Japanese (only conversationally fluent after the better part of a decade) and never had to worry about being lonely.
I lived in a comfortable expat/military community where I was constantly surrounded by friends.
我在日本的經(jīng)歷:
我曾在美國海軍服役7.5年,因此在日本享受了幾年非常優(yōu)越的生活。
我有幸只體驗了我的文化和日本文化的優(yōu)點。
我基本上在美國工作:在美軍基地,每天吃美國食物,以折扣價購買美國衣服等。
離開基地后,我在日本生活得很愜意……在橫須賀的三笠公園附近有一套寬敞美麗的公寓,每天可以沿著海港跑步,這一切費用都由海軍支付。
日本女性會主動接觸基地外的海軍士兵,所以我?guī)缀醪恍枰獙W(xué)習(xí)日語(即使在近十年后,我的日語也僅達(dá)到了會話流利的水平),并且從未擔(dān)心過孤獨。
我生活在一個舒適的外籍人士/軍事社區(qū),總是被朋友圍繞。
The problem is, that all changed after I separated from the Navy and started university in Tokyo
Suddenly I lived in a tiny apartment in the middle of nowhere that was overpriced because I was a foreigner.
I was questioned by the police because my neighbors found me suspicious - I would often go on long, solitary walks at night and always carried a back pack - people thought I was selling drugs.
I was questioned by the police at least 5 times in my first six months…searched and everything…in front of crowds of people.
In reality I was dealing with severe anxiety from social isolation…I was completely alone and barely had enough money to survive on…let alone have a social life.
I started having daily panic attacks and Japanese hospitals would release me (three times) without giving a diagnosis and told me to come back during normal working hours.
I lost interest in Japanese culture and gave up learning the language.
我有很多錢可以花,沒有負(fù)擔(dān)。
然而,當(dāng)我從海軍退役并開始在東京上大學(xué)時,一切都變了。
突然間,我住在一個偏僻地方的一個小而昂貴的公寓里,而這僅僅因為我是個外國人。
我因為鄰居的懷疑而被警察詢問——我經(jīng)常在夜晚獨自長時間散步,總是背著背包,人們以為我在販毒。
在最初的六個月里,我至少被警察詢問了五次……在眾人面前被搜查……卻什么都沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)。
實際上,我當(dāng)時正遭受嚴(yán)重的社交隔離焦慮……我完全孤獨,幾乎沒有足夠的錢維持生計……更別提擁有社交生活了。
我開始每天遭受恐慌發(fā)作的折磨,日本醫(yī)院三次將我拒之門外,沒有給出診斷,只讓我在正常工作時間再來。
我對日本文化失去了興趣,放棄了學(xué)習(xí)語言。
When it comes down to it…people leave because Japan…
…isn’t perfect…it’s just another country.
In fact, the only reason people stay is because they get married. Of course it’s fun at first, everything is, that’s where the term “honeymoon phase” comes from.
Once I lived in the “real” Japan I simply discovered that it wasn’t for me…now I live in the Philippines with my wife ??
我唯一的工作機會是教英語……但我連面試的機會都沒有。
歸根結(jié)底……人們離開是因為日本……
……并不完美……它只是另一個國家。
實際上,唯一讓人們留下的原因是結(jié)婚。當(dāng)然,起初總是有趣的,這就是“蜜月期”的由來。
一旦我體驗到了“真實”的日本生活,我就發(fā)現(xiàn)它并不適合我……現(xiàn)在我和我的妻子生活在菲律賓。
The first two times I thought I was having a heart attack or aneurysm.
They held me until my heart rate went down and told me to come back during normal working hours…no diagnosis…no nothing…and I had insurance through my school.
I didn’t even receive any paperwork that I could turn into Veterans Affairs for support, which slowed down my process.
I only mentioned it as another reason why Japan wasn’t the right place for me, and is another reason why Japan isn’t the best place for everyone.
編輯: 針對我收到的一些嚴(yán)厲評論,為了避免進一步的誤解,我提到的醫(yī)院拒絕接收我,是指在我遭受嚴(yán)重恐慌發(fā)作/非癲癇性發(fā)作時,我去了急診室的三次不同經(jīng)歷。
前兩次,我以為我心臟病發(fā)作或腦動脈瘤破裂。
他們讓我等到心率降下來,然后告訴我在正常工作時間再來……沒有給出任何診斷……什么都沒有……盡管我通過學(xué)校有購買保險。
我甚至沒有收到任何可以用來向退伍軍人事務(wù)尋求幫助的文件,這拖慢了我的進程。
我提到這一點,只是作為日本不適合我的另一個原因,也是日本并不適合每個人的另一個原因。
I'm a Pakistani with red hair, pale skin and freckles.
I have visited Japan and South Korea as well. I currently live in the UK and what I can safely say is that Japan and Korea are not places for dark skin people. Its also not places for people who have their own independent style of thought.
In Japan, the obsession for white skin and Caucasian features is so pervasive that the other qualities of a human being are not even recognized. This means Japanese people have very low interpersonal relationship skills. Almost all Japanese and Korean people I have met in Japan and Korea were emotionless robots. The people wore the same make up. The women look like they were manufactured from the same doll factory. The same eyelid surgery, the same nose surgery, the same skin bleach products. You will not find people with individual personalities at all there. Overall Japanese people are a smart ethnic group. They value community effort and you can see that they would rather put plastic trash into their purses than tossing it on the ground. However if one Japanese person says something negative about you. Prepare for all Japanese people to follow suit in a subconscious manner. If a Japanese person compliments you. The rest follow suit. My cousin has brown skin and she did not like Japan at all. Another thing is that many Japanese people are very blunt with their opinions about you. I remember who has olive brown skin, green eyes and aqualine nose was told “You pretty nose, but ugly skin”. They will compliment you and put you down in the open regardless of not realizing social cues. Overall black people aren't liked in Japan either but since African American music and movies have been trending in Japan for years. There seems to be a sub culture of Japanese people who like African American culture like rap and hip hop. Generally speaking, white people are treated the best in Japan especially whites from America, Canada and Western Europe. The associate white skin with beauty and white countries as well developed lands. They associate dark skin with criminal tendencies, poverty and backwardness. My Indian friend who works in IT in Japan receives minor amounts of direct racism from them. He has really dark skin, almost black in tone. India is associated with dark skin and poverty.
Overall dark skin people are not liked unless they prove themselves through music and sports like African americans.
But why should you care what some plastic dolls think?
一位紅發(fā)、膚色蒼白、有雀斑的巴基斯坦人的自述:
我曾游覽過日本和韓國,目前居住在英國??梢钥隙ǖ卣f,日本和韓國并不適合膚色較深的人,也不適合那些有獨立思考風(fēng)格的人。
在日本,對白皮膚和高加索特征的追求如此普遍,以至于人們幾乎不會注意到一個人的其他品質(zhì)。這反映出日本人在人際關(guān)系方面的技巧相當(dāng)有限。我在日本和韓國遇到的幾乎所有日本人和韓國人,都像沒有情感的機器人。他們化妝千篇一律,女性看起來像是從一個娃娃工廠批量生產(chǎn)的,經(jīng)過相同的眼瞼手術(shù)、鼻子整形,使用相同的皮膚漂白產(chǎn)品。在那里,你幾乎找不到有獨立個性的人。盡管如此,日本人是一個聰明的族群,他們重視集體努力,寧愿把塑料垃圾放進自己的包里,也不會亂扔。但如果一個日本人對你有負(fù)面評價,其他日本人往往會無意識地效仿。如果一個日本人表揚了你,其他人也會跟著稱贊你。我的表親膚色較深,她一點也不喜歡日本。許多日本人對他人的看法非常直白,例如,一個皮膚橄欖棕色、綠眼睛、鷹鉤鼻的人被說“鼻子漂亮,但皮膚很丑”。他們公開地既表揚你、也公開貶低你,而不自知。總的來說,盡管非裔美國人的音樂和電影在日本流行多年,有些日本人喜歡非裔美國文化,如說唱和嘻哈,黑人在日本也不受歡迎??偟膩碚f,白人在日本受到的待遇最好,尤其是來自美國、加拿大和西歐的白人。他們將白皮膚與美麗、發(fā)達(dá)國家聯(lián)系在一起,而將深色皮膚與犯罪傾向、貧窮和落后聯(lián)系在一起。我的印度朋友在日本從事IT工作,遭遇了輕微而直接的種族歧視。印度常被與深色皮膚和貧窮聯(lián)系在一起。
總的來說,除非通過音樂和體育證明自己,否則深色皮膚的人在日本并不受歡迎。但你為什么要在乎一些只追求外表的人的看法呢?
Why do many foreigners leave Japan after 5-6 years? If it is so good a country, why don't people stay?
I spent five years of my adult life in Japan. Around January of my last year, I formed an escape plan and moved back to the US. There were two big reasons for me. One was that I found I had celiac, and the food culture in Japan made things difficult. “Gluten free” was almost unheard of, and most food had gluten in it even when it didn’t make sense. My tiny apartment had a tiny fridge and tinier freezer, which meant I couldn’t cook a lot at one time. My schedule and general health made cooking even more of a chore. Importing GF convenience foods from the US like mac and cheese was expensive. I’m sure this reason for leaving is not a common one, but it played a big role for me. Reading labels got tiring, and soon I was living off of Starbucks, McDonald's french fries, and raw fish.
為什么許多外國人在日本待了5-6年后選擇離開?如果日本真那么好,為什么人們不留在那里?
我成年后在日本生活了五年。在我的最后一年的一月份,我制定了一個逃離計劃,回到了美國。有兩個主要原因促使我離開。一個是我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己患有麩質(zhì)不耐癥,而日本的飲食習(xí)慣使得生活變得困難。在日本,“無麩質(zhì)”飲食幾乎不為人知,即使在不必要的情況下,大多數(shù)食物中也含有麩質(zhì)。我的小公寓配備了一個小冰箱和一個更小的冰柜,這意味著我不能一次性烹飪很多食物。我的時間表和健康狀況使得烹飪變得更加困難。從美國進口無麩質(zhì)的便利食品,如奶酪通心粉,成本很高。我認(rèn)為這個離開的原因并不常見,但它在我決定離開時起到了重要作用。閱讀食品標(biāo)簽變得令人疲憊,很快我就只能靠星巴克、麥當(dāng)勞的薯條和生魚片維持生活。
I have a feeling that common reason why people stay is that they have family connections because they get married or they have kids. I wasn’t married and I wasn’t dating anyone. I figured that the longer I stayed, the harder it would be to leave even without those kinds of connections.
另一個原因是我在日本的時候,一些大型英語學(xué)校開始倒閉。我原本計劃在那里轉(zhuǎn)行做其他工作,但在我居住的第一年,非英語教學(xué)市場就變得飽和了。我一直在尋找比我當(dāng)時的工作更好的機會,但發(fā)現(xiàn)這很困難。我們每年的工資增長微不足道,到了某個時候我意識到,我永遠(yuǎn)不會賺更多的錢或獲得任何有意義的晉升了。我工作的公司實際上告訴我們,他們不想激勵員工留下,因為他們希望教師在一年后離開。他們認(rèn)為讓學(xué)生定期接觸新老師比有經(jīng)驗的老師更好。
我認(rèn)為人們留在日本的普遍原因是家庭聯(lián)系,比如結(jié)婚或有孩子。我既沒有結(jié)婚,也沒有和任何人約會。我認(rèn)為我若在那里待得越久,即使沒有這些聯(lián)系,離開也會變得更加困難。
I also don’t miss being stared at on the train or followed home. I don’t miss guys exposing themselves or trying to touch me in public. I don’t miss clothes not fitting right because I have a different body shape/bone structure than the average Japanese woman. I don’t miss freezing in winter because they don’t use insulation in buildings, or having to strip down at home in summer because the air conditioning is so expensive to use.
And I don’t miss starving.
I actually think I could have overlooked the starving, however, if I had been treated better as an employee. If I had found a better job I might still be there.
我選擇離開,回到學(xué)校繼續(xù)深造,現(xiàn)在我的薪水是我之前當(dāng)老師時的兩倍。我對日本的某些方面(比如火車、卡拉OK、易拉罐裝的熱皇家奶茶)還心存懷念,但我不再懷念為那家似乎并不真心歡迎我的日本公司工作的日子。我不再懷念那里特殊的工作環(huán)境,在那里,他們既希望我扮演外來者的角色,又期待我能融入其中,我有時還被當(dāng)作女招待一樣對待,盡管沒有涉及酒精或性暗示。
我也不懷念在火車上被人盯著看或被跟蹤回家的時刻。我不再懷念那些在公共場合暴露自己或試圖觸摸我的男人。我不再懷念因為和日本女性不同的身材/骨架而穿不上合適的衣服。我不再懷念冬天因為沒有建筑絕緣而受凍,或夏天因為空調(diào)使用成本高昂而不得不在家里脫衣服。
我更不懷念饑餓的感覺。
實際上,如果我作為員工受到更好的對待,我可能會忽略饑餓。如果我找到了更好的工作,我可能還會留在那里。
Why do many foreigners leave Japan after 5-6 years? If it is so good a country, why don't people stay?
I left after living there for five years. It was a very difficult decision.
I loved my life in Japan. I had a good job, and a great girlfriend who, if I’d asked her to marry me, she probably would have said yes. I seriously considered it.
But I left. Because I was still young (28), I had more things I wanted to do in my life, more experiences I wanted to have. And a career outside teaching English language.
許多外國人在日本居住五六年后選擇離開,如果日本真有那么好,為何人們不選擇留下呢?
我在那里生活了五年后,也做出了離開的決定,這是一個不容易下的決定。
我喜歡我在日本的生活。我有一份好工作,還有一個很棒的女朋友,如果我向她求婚,她可能會答應(yīng)我,對此我確實認(rèn)真考慮過求婚。
但我還是選擇了離開,因為我還年輕,只有28歲,我在我的人生清單上還有很多未完成的愿望,還有很多想體驗的事物。我希望我的職業(yè)道路不僅限于教授英語。
So that’s around when you have to make the choice. I don’t regret my decision - but, make no mistake, it wasn’t because I was sick of Japan. It was because there remained a lot of world to see, and live. I could have been very comfortable staying - but, at that point in life, I wasn’t chasing comfort. I was chasing experience. Still am.
因此,我沒有選擇成為長期定居在日本的人。五年的時間足以讓你建立起深厚的根基,獲得豐富的知識和生活安排,很容易就會讓你決定永遠(yuǎn)留下。如果你待得更久,你就更可能永遠(yuǎn)留下——你在日本的根基會越來越深,而你在其他地方的聯(lián)系則會逐漸減少。
所以,那就是你必須做出選擇的時候。我對我的決定并不后悔——但是,毫無疑問,這并不是因為我厭倦了日本。而是因為我還想要探索這個世界,體驗更多類型的生活。我本可以在日本過上非常舒適的生活,但在那個人生階段,我追求的不是安逸,而是經(jīng)歷和成長。我依然在追尋。