1: anon（スレ主）

日本に来てもう9年。すげぇ気に入ってる。本当にアニメで見たまんまだ（常識的な範囲でな）。ただ、これは全員に勧められる生き方じゃない。古い文化、母国の人間関係、文字通り全部捨てる覚悟が必要だ。日本人として生き、日本企業で働き、周りと同じやり方をやる――じゃないとここでの生活は地獄になる。日本語の流暢さは絶対条件。

でも俺にとっては全部やる価値があった。数年前にハンバーガー国籍を捨てて日本国籍を取った。だから今は日本名もある。ネット上では外国人に揶揄されるが、リアルでは名前を変えてから受け入れられてる感覚が違う。説明しづらいが、態度が違うんだよ。

ただ残念ながら、アキバはもうダメだ。昔好きだったオタクのアレコレは死んだか、ネットや別の場所に移った。新しいハブはアキバ全盛期には敵わない。

あと――コロナ以降、海外のアニメファンが何か変わったよな？　昔は気にならなかったのに、最近はあいつらに対して嫌な感じが残る。何があったんだ？

It’s been 9 years now and I like it a lot. It really is just like anime (within reason, of course). But I think it’s not for most people. You really do have to give up everything to make it work. Your old culture and way of doing things, ties in your old country, literally everything. You have to live like a Japanese person, work at a Japanese company, and do things the same way as everyone else or else life here would become hell. And fluency in Japanese is an absolute must.

But it’s all worth it, at least to me it was anyway. A few years back I gave up my hamburger citizenship and became a Japanese citizen so I even have a Japanese name now. I get teased online by foreigners for it, but irl I feel more accepted after changing my name. It’s hard to explain but attitudes are different.

Unfortunately Akiba sucks now though, so some of the otaku stuff I used to like in the old days is dead now and everything either went online or moved elsewhere, but the newer hubs don’t hit the same level as Akiba used to 🙁

And I don’t know what happened but it seems like overseas anime fans changed a lot during covid or something? I didn’t used to, but I get a bad taste in my mouth from them these days. What happened?

hamburger citizenship = アメリカ国籍を揶揄した呼び方。

2: anon >>1

俺は東京に1年いる。来週帰る。
ここに来ても何も変わらなかった。相変わらず価値のないニートだ。アニメだけは見なくなったけどな。
彼女と離れるのは寂しい。

秋葉原はマジでクソだった。

hey I’ve been living in Tokyo for a year now.
about to leave next week.
nothing really changed since coming here, still a worthless neet. except I stopped watching anime once I moved here.
sad to part from my gf though.

akihabara really does suck.

3: anon >>1

仕事してる業界の求人状況どう？　非ネイティブってだけで仕事のチャンスってかなり減るもん？
＞コロナ以降、海外のアニメファンが変わった気がする
添付画像（コロナ前のアニメ界の状況図）参照。コロナ前から悪かったけど、ノーマル層を1年間家に閉じ込めてNetflix漬けにしたのが全部悪化させた

How’s the job market for whatever you’re doing? Do you find that being a non-native significantly reduces professional opportunities?
>it seems like overseas anime fans changed a lot during covid or something? I didn’t used to, but I get a bad taste in my mouth from them these days
See attached pic. It was bad before covid but forcing the normalfags inside where they had nothing to do but binge netflix for a year made everything a lot worse

normalfag = ネット文化に馴染まない一般人。

4: anon（スレ主） >>3

俺の業界は人材不足だから仕事は見つけやすい。22歳から同じ会社で正社員やってる。他社からスカウトの連絡もたまに来るが今の場所が好きだ。
＞非ネイティブだとチャンスが減る？
流暢に話せるなら、特殊なニュアンスが必要な仕事じゃない限り問題ない。

＞ノーマル層を家に閉じ込めた
なるほど、スタジオが世界向けに作るだけじゃなく、観光客向けにも作ってるってことか…これが原因か。どうやってこの連中を追い払えばいい？
＞嫌いなものでアイデンティティを定義するヤツが多い
これは西洋の文化だと思う。多くの人が「何が好きか」じゃなく「何が嫌いか」で自分を語る。

In my industry there’s a shortage of talent so it’s easy to find work. I’ve been working at the same place as a seishain since I was 22, but I often get contacted with offers to go elsewhere but I like where I’m at now.
>Do you find that being a non-native significantly reduces professional opportunities?
As long as your fluent, there’s no reason why this would be the case unless you’re doing something extremely specific that relies on some kind of nuance that L2 speakers probably lack.
>It was bad before covid but forcing the normalfags inside where they had nothing to do but binge netflix for a year made everything a lot worse
I see, so we picked up tourists. Studios aren’t just catering to global audiences, they’re catering to tourists… I think I get it now… How do we get rid of them?
>A lot of people seem to define their personality by what they hate instead of what they like.
I think this is just western culture.

seishain（正社員）= 日本の雇用区分。
L2 speaker = 第二言語話者（ネイティブではない）。

5: anon >>1

俺は東京に2.5年住んだ。
同化なんて一切しなかった。
日本人女とたくさんヤッた。
パーティしまくって楽しんだ。

10/10、おすすめ。20代の最高のハイライトだった。

I lived in Tokyo for 2.5yrs
Didn’t integrate at all
Fucked lots of Japanese women
Had lots of fun partying

10/10 Would recommend, big highlight of my 20s

6: anon >>1

お前は燃え尽きると思うぞ。お前は絶対に日本人になれない。
燃え尽きるのは「めちゃくちゃいい子でいて、平均的な日本人の110%日本人らしく振る舞えば完全に受け入れられる」って思い込むタイプだ。でも絶対そうはならない。そして全部の努力が報われない現実に直面した時、認知的不協和が来る。

日本で長期的に成功してるのは「最初から自分は二級市民扱いで上等」って覚悟で来た連中だ。市民権を取っても、自分は永遠に二級だと。最初からそう割り切ってる人、もしくはJETで数年やった後にそれが唯一の選択肢だと悟った人――こいつらは多分ずっとここに住む。

日本人がお前のために用意したニッチに収まるか、そのニッチが望み通りじゃないことに苦しむか、どっちかだ。

I think you’re going to burn out. You’ll never be Japanese. The people that burn out are the ones that really think if they’re extra goodie two shoes and 110% the Japaneseness of the average Japanese they’ll be fully accepted. But you never are. And when faced with all your effort being rebuffed eventually the cognitive dissonance will get to you.
The people I’ve seen succeed in Japan long term are people that came with the expectation that they’d be Dhimmi at best. That even if they got their citizenship they’d always be second class. People who were content with that from the get go, or at least arrived at that understanding after doing the JET shit for a few years and realizing it was their only real option, those are the people I know that will probably live their forever.

Exist in the niche the Nips are willing to carve out for you or resent that niche never being what you want it to be.

JET = JETプログラム（語学指導等を行う外国青年招致事業）。
Dhimmi = イスラム圏の被保護民。比喩的に「二級市民」の意。

7: anon（スレ主）

＞元の国でも馴染めなかったんだろ
＞日本でも馴染めてないだろ

いや、母国でも普通に馴染んでた。学校でも教会でも友達いたし、バスケ部でもそれなりだったし、いじめられたこともない。

日本でも馴染んでる。職場の友達もいるし、学生時代の友達とも連絡取ってる。近所の人もよく雑談しに来る。図書館の読書会の友達もいる。子供を学校に送る時に他の親と話す。社交的には全く問題ない。仕事も、22歳からエンジニアで今はプロジェクトマネージャーだ。正社員で福利厚生もいいし、給料は同年代・同業界の平均を上回ってる。

恋愛も、素晴らしい妻と3人の子供がいる。妻と一緒に借金なしで家も持ってる。俺の人生に「負け組」「馴染めてない」と定義できる要素はゼロだ。

お前は怒ってる。誰かがネット上で、お前が望む人生を生きてるから自分のコンプレックスを投影してる。そんなに欲しいなら、ケツを上げて自分で実現しろよ。この板を荒らす代わりに。

>i went to study or medical treatments
My first visa was literally a student visa. I came here to study after graduating high school and then transitioned into the workforce and got married.
>you didn’t fit in your country
I fit in fine in my old country. I had friends at school and church, did pretty alright on the basketball team, never got bullied or anything.
>you don’t fit in japan
I literally do though. I have friends from work, I have friends I still talk to from school, my neighbors around my house like to chat with me, I have friends at the book club at the library, the other parents often talk with me when I take my kids to school. Socially I’m doing just fine. And as for work, I started as an engineer when I was 22 and now I’m a project manager, so I’d say things are going great there as well. I’m a permanent employee (seishain) with good benefits and a salary that beats the average for mg age and industry. And as for love life, I’ve got a wonderful wife and 3 kids. Together with my wife I also own my own home without debt or loans. There is nothing about my life that could be defined as a loser or someone who doesn’t fit in. You’re angry and are projecting your own insecurities because someone on the internet is living the life you want to live. Well if you want it so bad than get off your ass and make it happen instead of shitting up this board.

8: anon（スレ主） >>6

＞110%日本人らしく振る舞えば受け入れられると思い込むタイプは燃え尽きる

俺はそんな生き方をしたことがない。

日本に来た時、俺は「郷に入っては郷に従え」の姿勢で、目立たないように、社会と調和して生きようとした。これでうまくいって、ライフスタイルを新天地に適応させて、人生を続けた。これは「同化」って呼ぶんだと思う。日本人になろうとしたんじゃない、迷惑をかけたくなかっただけだ。

国籍を取って名前が変わったのは、俺の先祖がアメリカに移住した時に名前を変えたのと同じ感覚だ。「ここが俺の家だ」って印みたいなもの。それ以上の意味はない。でも名前が変わってから周りの態度が少し変わって、急に受け入れられた感覚が出てきた。驚いたことに、俺を知らない人は「ハーフだろう」と思い始めたらしい。外国人が国籍を取るのは珍しいから、片親が日本人だと推測される。実際ハーフ芸能人で白人にしか見えない人もいるから、まあ理解できる。

俺はただ、普通に生活したかった。四角い棒を丸い穴に押し込むようなことはしたくなかった。だから同化した。そしたら国籍取得後に、名前のせいで人々の態度が変わった。それだけだ。日本人は外国人でも文化に従おうとする人なら気にしない。態度の違いは、相手が「流暢に意思疎通できる」「外国人向けに気を遣わなくていい」と感じてリラックスする違いだ。俺が何かをしたわけじゃない。

I have never lived my life that way.

When I arrived, I lived my life with the attitude of “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” and I tried my best not to stand out and live harmoniously in society. This worked fine, and I adapted my lifestyle to my new home and continued on with my life. As I understand it, I would call this assimilation. I wasn’t trying to be Japanese, I just didn’t want to be a burden. And then after I got citizenship my name changed, I did it because my ancestors changed their names when they went to America so it felt like the right thing to do. Like a stamp to say “this is my home” and nothing more. But after that the way people treated my changed a little and suddenly I felt more accepted. To my surprise, people who had not known me prior started assuming I was hafu since it’s rare for foreigners to get citizenship. And I guess the reason people were treating my different was because they assumed I had a Japanese parent or something, not that I was a temporary guest (it sounds weird, but there’s a lot of hafu celebrities who just look white, so I can understand).

I just wanted to live a normal life here and not cause problems by forcing a square peg through a round hole and doing everything the American way, so I assimilated. But then after becoming a citizen people changed their attitudes because of my name. That’s all. But people here don’t mind foreigners if they try to follow the culture, so I think that difference in attitude is that they assume you can communicate fluently and understand cultural nuances, and I’m fluent so I can and do. It’s more like the other person seems more relaxed than anything. It’s not something that I did.

9: anon

JKの制服はマジで本当に何かある。
「アニメが女子高生の制服に異常にこだわるのは孤独な変態が作ってるからだろ」って思ってたが、実際こっちに来ると周り中で見ることになって「待てよ、これに固執しちゃダメだ、俺が変態なのか？」ってなる。

制服自体が良い服装ってのもあるし、厳しい制服ルールでみんなちゃんとしてる。あと――母国（カトリックスクール、制服アリ）と違って、こっちは「学校帰り」「週末」「夜10時の渋谷」「夏休み」――どこでもJKがJK制服で出てくる。みんな電車通学だから街中で常に視界に入る。

ただ俺は東京のトレンドエリアに住んでて、JKがよく遊びに来る街だから、過剰代表されてるか、俺がフィックスしすぎなだけかもしれん。

well yeah they look great (and there are strict uniforms rules that everyone follows and everyone takes care of their appearance to try to fit in)
but it’s more about how omnipresent they are.
I went to a catholic school with uniforms in the west and no one really though about them, and took them off as soon as soon as school was over.
here?
girls wear the jk uniform everywhere.
after school, weekends, 10pm in shibuya, summer vacation. somehow it doesn’t matter.
also they’re super visible and everyone uses the trains to get to school so you always see them in city centres.
but I live in a trendy city in Tokyo that they love to visit to shop/hang out in so maybe they’re over-represented or I’m just too fixated.

10: anon >>1

日本歴20年だが、アニメはマジでクソだと思ってる。
他にも在留外国人はここにいるんだろうが、日本名を取るってのはちょっと痛い。お前のこと疑うわ。

俺も結婚した時に妻の姓を取ろうかと一瞬考えたが、妻自身がその姓を嫌ってて絶やしたがってる。妻の実家がその町の昔の大物で、歴史にドラマと厄介な事情が山積みなんだ。

＞コロナでアニメファンが変わった件
アメリカ郊外の引きこもりエリアから一歩も出たことない発達障害が、自分こそが「日本の守護者」みたいに振る舞って「日本人はこう思ってる」って語る現象は、社会学的にずっと興味深い。感情的に未発達なのに、自分の意見が重要だと思い込めるってのが本当に不思議。

20 year japanfag here and i think anime is pretty shit
i’m sure there are other expats here but taking on a japanese name is pretty faggoty and kinda makes me doubt
i briefly thought it might be interesting to take on my wife’s family name when we got married but she actually hates it and wants it to die out because her family is the old boss hog of her town and there’s a lot of drama and bullshit in its history.

it’s always fascinating on a sociological level to see stunted retards who’ve never left their murkan suburban hideyhole thinking they’re somehow the “guardians” of japan and know what japanese people think. like it’s just so weird that a person can be this emotionally undeveloped yet still think they have any opinions that matter

faggoty = 「ホモっぽい・痛い」を意味する蔑称的スラング。
japanfag = 日本好きの外国人を指す自虐ミーム。