At any rate, you must know for every disgruntled person who spent time in Japan for whatever reason(s), you could at least find one person (to cancel the proposition out) that absolutely enjoyed it and had great experiences. Soliders, sailors, missionaries, business people, artists, foreign students, backpackers, English teachers, architects, diplomats, translators, musicians.
I often wonder why if Japan is such an evil place and 'the japs' are such devils, why approximately 38,000 Americans in August 2002 who live and work in Japan (not held against their will) do not immediately head to Narita Airport to evacuate this rotten place.
The 38,000 do not even include the nearly 40,000 US military in Japan....
One, the term gaijin. It is applied to all non-Japanese people. It is a negative word, as much so as most of the common racist terms we use in America. Although we have a huge amount of terms to represent our various racial prejudices here in America, I can't seem to remember one all-encompassing slur for everyone but us.
Two, the Japanese are the most sexist civilized nation on the planet. This was first noticed by me wandering Tokyo. There were no women walking around. It was astounding. Then, approximately 2-3 weeks into my stay, Tokyo was FLOODED with them. Naturally I asked what was going on to some Europeans I met that had spent many years there. Apparently the married women only go out after paydays, shop like mad, and lock themselves back home for the rest of the month. Ok, not conclusive evidence, but strange. Then I wander into a video store. Have you been into a video store in Japan? Seen what passes for animated adult entertainment? It's mostly comprised of child-like female characters being raped bloody and then murdered by demonic males. Now, this was back in 1992, but I haven't seen a drought of anime coming in to the U.S. recently, so I am guessing it still goes on. After reading up on some history of Japan, I came to the conclusion that Japanese males bear HUGE HUGE HUGE hostility towards their women. Women also play a very minor part in their politics, etc. Thus my sexist claim. Any cursory history lessons regarding Japan will demonstrate their cunning (all Japanese have three hearts?).
I will repeat, I enjoyed my visit to Nippon, enjoyed their hospitality, and do not hate them. I would not label them "nice". Instead, I would say they are extremely "polite".