Have you ever been to East Asia?

[Ryujin]

Have you ever visited, worked or lived in an East Asian country such as China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan etc.?

If so; how was your experience?

[michal3141]

Not yet but such trip is definitely on my radar.

[Blondie]

Never but once Japan or S. Korea would be great :)

[Celestia]

No, Japan is on my list though

[Alexandro]

Yes, I have been to South Korea and Japan.

It was pretty fun, just went there as a tourist and met some chill people and saw a lot of cool things, I would like to go back after the pandemic has settled down.

[Ryujin]

Yes, I have been to South Korea and Japan.

It was pretty fun, just went there as a tourist and met some chill people and saw a lot of cool things, I would like to go back after the pandemic has settled down.

Did you have trouble finding people who can speak English?

[Alexandro]

Did you have trouble finding people who can speak English?

In SK the English proficiency is very good, especially for East Asia. in most situations if you were pressed you'd be able to find someone who could help you out in a problem/question you couldn't explain, you know. Although, it depends on who you are speaking to and where you're at, obviously most English speakers will be in the bigger cities (Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daegu, etc). The older generation doesn't speak English at all though, but generally SK has more of an American influence and a lot of people go overseas for uni and you can tell.

Japan is a different story, there just isn't really a reason to learn English for a majority of Japanese people. English ability is more of a prestige mark or an occasionally useful oddity but 95% unnecessary for regular joes, you should be fine with popular tourism sites and some planning. Most large cities have signage in Japanese and English/Romaji, and tourist sites will have signage in English as well. All train stations (I think) have English/Romaji signage at least to say what station it is, and many have English translations on ticket machines and trains that announce stops in English.

I wouldn't count on people being able to speak English, but many service industry people, especially in places that foreigners hang around and are pretty helpful with hand signals, etc. If you go some place like Sensoji in Tokyo, there's probably a few dozen restaurants in that area that have signage saying "We have English menus", for example.

There's some more out of the way tourist places or bars/restaurants that don't have outward English signage where I wouldn't expect people to be able to speak English or to help you out a lot, and that could be a problem. Of course, knowing some Japanese beforehand will make transactions easier, and might lead to a more interesting cultural experience!

[Ryujin]

In SK the English proficiency is very good, especially for East Asia. in most situations if you were pressed you'd be able to find someone who could help you out in a problem/question you couldn't explain, you know. Although, it depends on who you are speaking to and where you're at, obviously most English speakers will be in the bigger cities (Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daegu, etc). The older generation doesn't speak English at all though, but generally SK has more of an American influence and a lot of people go overseas for uni and you can tell.

Japan is a different story, there just isn't really a reason to learn English for a majority of Japanese people. English ability is more of a prestige mark or an occasionally useful oddity but 95% unnecessary for regular joes, you should be fine with popular tourism sites and some planning. Most large cities have signage in Japanese and English/Romaji, and tourist sites will have signage in English as well. All train stations (I think) have English/Romaji signage at least to say what station it is, and many have English translations on ticket machines and trains that announce stops in English.

I wouldn't count on people being able to speak English, but many service industry people, especially in places that foreigners hang around and are pretty helpful with hand signals, etc. If you go some place like Sensoji in Tokyo, there's probably a few dozen restaurants in that area that have signage saying "We have English menus", for example.

There's some more out of the way tourist places or bars/restaurants that don't have outward English signage where I wouldn't expect people to be able to speak English or to help you out a lot, and that could be a problem. Of course, knowing some Japanese beforehand will make transactions easier, and might lead to a more interesting cultural experience!

I'd definitely like to hang around less touristic areas for a more quality experience :) I opened this thread because I'm planning to work in one of those countries. (most probably Hong Kong)

[Chaos One]

Yes, lived in Japan.

Nice country, almost everything works. However the social rules are a pain in the ass overall.

[Alexandro]

I'd definitely like to hang around less touristic areas for a more quality experience :) I opened this thread because I'm planning to work in one of those countries.

Hmm, well. For me I vastly prefer South Korea and wouldn't mind living there, Japan is cool to visit but from the people I know who tried living there it isn't the greatest for a westerner.

(Incoming wall of text, but you're interested in moving there so I guess you want to read this, no)

The public transportation is vastly more expensive in Japan, do not be shocked to spend $20 on trains to go around Tokyo on a given day, buses are twice as expensive as in SK, taxis are significantly more expensive than in Korea. Literally everyone raves about Japan's public transportation, but I can only assume that they've never been anywhere else in their lives, lmao. The trains in Japan are perpetually late, and on top of that, I never experienced the kinds of daily commuter traffic in Seoul that I experienced in Tokyo. Every day is misery on those fucking trains, Christ.

The people in Japan are incredibly polite, but not in a necessarily likable way. A robot can be polite too, if you catch my drift. In SK, someone may be having an awful day and you'll know it, but most people are incredibly friendly! If you visit the same places every day, Korean staff will warm up to and remember you.. In Japan, this will never happen and when you visit a place it will always feel like the first time unless it's a locally owned business where the only person is the owner and they will not speak to you like a human.

South Korea is truly the land which never sleeps while Japan is the land of the 8pm sleepy time, hahahaha. Unless you're in Shibuya or some shit you are going to get bored. But, Tokyo obviously has way more to do than you could ever dream of. Finding out about everything is a challenge, as with any city

The cost of living is about the same for most things, but according to some of my friends who lived in both countries, in SK, you give a huge deposit and you pay less rent and you get your deposit back. In Japan, you pay a huge deposit and you pay almost double the rent and you don't get the deposit back. On top of that, if you're not Japanese, your housing options are limited, since people often discriminate against foreigners.

Japan is a much more beautiful place than SK though, because there really is not a lot of respect for nature in SK. When you see a beautiful valley, it is probably accompanied by some shitty high rise apartments. Also, there is fucking garbage everywhere in Korea while Japan is generally spotless, air quality is better in Japan, too. The weather is more temperate in Tokyo, I think Seoul is generally more extreme. Japan is very peaceful while SK is much more chaotic/frenetic, especially in Seoul. There are just more young people in Seoul, while Japan feels like a nursing home sometimes. South Korea seems like a great place to actually live, Japan's very polished, SK is very rough around the edges. To me SK is like a mixture of the worst parts of China (from how I've heard it described) and the best parts of Japan.

[Chaos One]

Hmm, well. For me I vastly prefer South Korea and wouldn't mind living there, Japan is cool to visit but from the people I know who tried living there it isn't the greatest for a westerner.

(Incoming wall of text, but you're interested in moving there so I guess you want to read this, no)

The public transportation is vastly more expensive in Japan, do not be shocked to spend $20 on trains to go around Tokyo on a given day, buses are twice as expensive as in SK, taxis are significantly more expensive than in Korea. Literally everyone raves about Japan's public transportation, but I can only assume that they've never been anywhere else in their lives, lmao. The trains in Japan are perpetually late, and on top of that, I never experienced the kinds of daily commuter traffic in Seoul that I experienced in Tokyo. Every day is misery on those fucking trains, Christ.

The people in Japan are incredibly polite, but not in a necessarily likable way. A robot can be polite too, if you catch my drift. In SK, someone may be having an awful day and you'll know it, but most people are incredibly friendly! If you visit the same places every day, Korean staff will warm up to and remember you.. In Japan, this will never happen and when you visit a place it will always feel like the first time unless it's a locally owned business where the only person is the owner and they will not speak to you like a human.

South Korea is truly the land which never sleeps while Japan is the land of the 8pm sleepy time, hahahaha. Unless you're in Shibuya or some shit you are going to get bored. But, Tokyo obviously has way more to do than you could ever dream of. Finding out about everything is a challenge, as with any city

The cost of living is about the same for most things, but according to some of my friends who lived in both countries, in SK, you give a huge deposit and you pay less rent and you get your deposit back. In Japan, you pay a huge deposit and you pay almost double the rent and you don't get the deposit back. On top of that, if you're not Japanese, your housing options are limited, since people often discriminate against foreigners.

Japan is a much more beautiful place than SK though, because there really is not a lot of respect for nature in SK. When you see a beautiful valley, it is probably accompanied by some shitty high rise apartments. Also, there is fucking garbage everywhere in Korea while Japan is generally spotless, air quality is better in Japan, too. The weather is more temperate in Tokyo, I think Seoul is generally more extreme. Japan is very peaceful while SK is much more chaotic/frenetic, especially in Seoul. There are just more young people in Seoul, while Japan feels like a nursing home sometimes. South Korea is a great place to actually live, Japan's very polished, SK is very rough around the edges. To me SK is like a mixture of the worst parts of China (from how I've heard it described) and the best parts of Japan.

If fact what makes me like Japan is exactly that I can avoid most social interactions at all. Just go to my fucking Game Center, eat out etc and don't have to deal with people trying to be friendly all the time. Plus, being a foreigner on those situations is good if you just use a "wild card" that even japanese allow - since you're not japanese you cannot learn all their customs, therefore just don't follow it except being an annoying person.

[Alexandro]

If fact what makes me like Japan is exactly that I can avoid most social interactions at all. Just go to my fucking Game Center, eat out etc and don't have to deal with people trying to be friendly all the time. Plus, being a foreigner on those situations is good if you just use a "wild card" that even japanese allow - since you're not japanese you cannot learn all their customs, therefore just don't follow it except being an annoying person.

Yeah, I get that. I'm more of an extrovert though, so the vibe of South Korea suits me more, you know.

[Tsuin]

No but it's on my bucket list to visit Japan,South Korea, Taiwan,Hong Kong and Mongolia