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More like a reintroduction


Fidel

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Hello all!

 

My last login was Feb 6. 2004. and today , tried the site and it is not blocked by the corp firewall.

 

Glad to see many known nicks here. Unbelivable, my old login and password have worked. Good job, Khun Sanuk, after all the changes and upgrades.

 

In short: the family (my Thai wife, our 7.5 years old daughter and myself) live and prosper in Japan.

 

Will be joining you more often from now.

 

Cheers!

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Welcome back TTM! wave.gif

 

I still remember your adventure with your now wife while still staying in Thailand.

 

 

 

I wonder of if it is even more complicated having a binational marriage and living in country alien to both partners?

 

Thanks, mate.

 

No, it appears to be easier on her - the people look familiar, the food is not that strange, total personal and general safety, kindness from people overflowing at every step. Her brain is wired like Asian, she picked the alphabet in days (not kanjis) and lingo is much easier to her to adopt than to westerners.

 

With my good job (unless some company buys mine and cut my throat) life is milk and honey here. Problem free.

It is so good that I decided to cease any efforts to move to Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong or back to Australia.

Probably here until I retire.

At times, I wish I was born here, small wonder that Japanese are not very eager migrants.

 

Back in 2008. at JP Embassy in BKK, I was watching action and visas being issued. My guess was that 3-4 thousand visas for Japan are granted every week. Not sure if that many Thais go to America in a whole year.

In the papers the other day it said : 157,000 JP visas for Thais last year.

 

Probably 70% are engineers and professionals going for training in Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Denso. 59 flights per week by Thai Airways only, probably 350 altogether between Thai in Japan every week. Wherever you go, you can hear someone speaking Thai, mostly young and bright youngsters on 1 year training by their JP employers.

 

Unbelievable, at kids parks, Japanese women would approach my wife and speak Thai to her - considerable number, 10s of thousands spent 5-6 years with their husbands in Thai, company paid to learn the language. Especially in Nagoya where most of the manufacturing companies are based.

 

(We are in Nagoya now, moved from Tokyo in 2006.)

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Thanks, mate.

 

No, it appears to be easier on her - the people look familiar, the food is not that strange, total personal and general safety, kindness from people overflowing at every step. Her brain is wired like Asian, she picked the alphabet in days (not kanjis) and lingo is much easier to her to adopt than to westerners.

 

With my good job (unless some company buys mine and cut my throat) life is milk and honey here. Problem free.

It is so good that I decided to cease any efforts to move to Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong or back to Australia.

Probably here until I retire.

At times, I wish I was born here, small wonder that Japanese are not very eager migrants.

 

Back in 2008. at JP Embassy in BKK, I was watching action and visas being issued. My guess was that 3-4 thousand visas for Japan are granted every week. Not sure if that many Thais go to America in a whole year.

In the papers the other day it said : 157,000 JP visas for Thais last year.

 

Probably 70% are engineers and professionals going for training in Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Denso. 59 flights per week by Thai Airways only, probably 350 altogether between Thai in Japan every week. Wherever you go, you can hear someone speaking Thai, mostly young and bright youngsters on 1 year training by their JP employers.

 

Unbelievable, at kids parks, Japanese women would approach my wife and speak Thai to her - considerable number, 10s of thousands spent 5-6 years with their husbands in Thai, company paid to learn the language. Especially in Nagoya where most of the manufacturing companies are based.

 

(We are in Nagoya now, moved from Tokyo in 2006.)

 

Great to hear that life is so good for you and your wife in JP.

I guess you are in privileged situation.

 

Doing business withe Japanese daily and having lived there as well I never wanted to settle down in Japan - even though I really like the people and I am scholar of their arts (20th century and contemporary) . The society is just too controlling, too hierarchical, and expects too much submission by the individual.

 

And I am very positively surprised how the Japanese embrace your wife and your daughter. I have heard so many bad things about Japanese xenophobia and mistreatment of Asians from nearby countries.

 

Even government officials sometime express their hatred for Asian foreigners, like when in 2000 the governor of Tokyo spoke out against Asian living in Japan. See his infamous remarks on "Sangokujin" (people from Japanese ex-colonies Taiwan, Korea and China). More in the NY Times.

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Great to hear that life is so good for you and your wife in JP.

I guess you are in privileged situation.

 

Doing business withe Japanese daily and having lived there as well I never wanted to settle down in Japan - even though I really like the people and I am scholar of their arts (20th century and contemporary) . The society is just too controlling, too hierarchical, and expects too much submission by the individual.

 

And I am very positively surprised how the Japanese embrace your wife and your daughter. I have heard so many bad things about Japanese xenophobia and mistreatment of Asians from nearby countries.

 

Even government officials sometime express their hatred for Asian foreigners, like when in 2000 the governor of Tokyo spoke out against Asian living in Japan. See his infamous remarks on "Sangokujin" (people from Japanese ex-colonies Taiwan, Korea and China). More in the NY Times.

 

 

I still have to see or experience any of what you are saying. Although you are not alone, I could hear that many times.

 

What you call "rigid" here is understood as social cohesion.

 

I must admit, before I took my family to Japan, my life was much like as on an oil rig, with frequent trips to Thai. That almost cost me my job - it was understood as a lack of commitment. Once I had everything in one place, the life has changed. Still, prior to that, it was me running myself aground, socially unaware, not Japanese against me.

 

Being a local hire in a world class company, a manager of Japanese nationals, employed under the same rules and laws as them, that could be what you may call "a privilege". Then I started to use it the way everyone else does.

 

I can see even in the finest press (The Economist) catastrofic fundamental lack of understanding by their correspondents. Who have never actually worked here on their own merit (someone had dipatched them to Japan, on their own merit they would not be able to find any work), let alone deal with daily business, complex technical issues and HR situations with local staff.

 

Likewise, you may see people perfectly happy in Thai that most of the world understands as a 3rld world country. Understanding the finest of Asia (Japan) has twisted my opinion about Thais, in a positive way. That constelation was already there, just had to understand it and brush aside a popular thinking that Thais are being westernized.

 

Rather, they may have been "efectualized" by Asian (Japan, Korea, before all) influences.

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