• rustyfish@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    A population that old and conservative loves shit like that. Also, the government urging young people to instead drink more alcohol sounds like something straight out of the Soviet Unions playbook.

    • systemglitch@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Alcohol leads to fucking and they need more babies. From a logic perspective it makes perfect sense.

      No one smokes weed then gets overly horny.

      • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Man, high sex is so good though. For me, it’s like I get tunnel vision around the sensuality, enveloped by sexual desire, where the only thing that exists is my partner, and for that time we are purely sexual beings. Every touch elicits goosebumps, every nerve at attention, like my entire body is a sexual organ in the throes of hedonistic pleasure. I never feel more connected to my partner, and for some reason it also lends itself really well to aftercare; like, once we’ve cleaned up and/or caught our breath, I just want to cuddle and continue to feel the safety and comfort of their warmth.

        Truly the best kind of sex imo

      • rustyfish@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I can only talk for myself but never in my life did I have sex more crazy, borderline fucked up, as that one time me and my partner smoked weed before jumping in the sheets.

        Alcohol on the other hand turns me into a useless sack of meat. Literally the end times for any boner of mine.

        • griD@feddit.org
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          3 months ago

          Indeed, especially for women in my limited experience. Hmm, do I want to really commit SuicideByWords by mentioning a small sample size?

        • Frog@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          Yes.

          Also alcohol is a depressant. That’s how “whiskey dick” happens.

          Also alcohol is leading cause of overdose. How are more dead people going to make babies?

          • HandBash@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            It would be hard to quantify the effect but you also have the alcohol induces risky behavior aspect that would lead to more births though. Somewhat balancing your impotence and toxicology effects at least. Overall probably still a net negative.

      • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        The original propaganda against weed, called Reefer Madness, was all about how black men would smoke weed and then literally couldn’t stop themselves from raping white women because they got so horny.

        (I guess I have to point out that of course that isn’t true)

      • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 months ago

        I wouldn’t be so sure about that… Sex on psychedelic substances is quite an experience, compared to alcohol which numbs.

          • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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            3 months ago

            Ok, I was not precise in my wording – but THC clearly is a psychoactive substance through which people can observe profound experiences and have intense physical and emotional perceptions.

      • limonfiesta@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        If alcohol consumption fixed declining birth rates, Japan wouldn’t have an aging population and Russia wouldn’t have been facing a demographic collapse even before the Ukraine invasion.

        This isn’t about boosting sex, it’s about being a conservative policy counterweight to opening the door to legalizing medicines derived from cannabis.

        My guess is that it’s a result of an internal NJP compromise between center right and hard right factions: only agreeing to allow liberalized medical cannabis policy, if the law also increased the scope of, and penalties for, recreational uses.

        But that’s just my assumption based on my limited understanding of Japan’s post-war uniparty government.

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      3 months ago

      We definitely have issues with alcoholism here. I think part of it is that a ton of small businesses (as well as larger ones) are ones that survive on alcohol revenue. I remember when I lived in the US, a lot of bars and breweries would fight legalization claiming it would hurt their business. I think they are stuck in the mindset that no one will leave the house or something, but that’s just speculation on my part.

    • gencha@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Drunk people might accidentally get pregnant and help with the population. Really an obvious move

    • Maeve@kbin.earth
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      3 months ago

      This is to close off profit to anyone but those selected. They know they are going to incarcerate more people, too.

    • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      I actually think it would be detrimental to Japanese demographics.

      They are already having a hard time trying to convince young people to give up their freedom and pop out more babies. Weed would only make them think more clearly, not blindly.

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        3 months ago

        You realize that birth control, plan B, and abortions are very much a thing here, right? These “we need them to drink so we can impregnate them” posts always creep me out a bit.

        • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          I don’t think the youth of Japan should pop out kids. That’s what the leaders want. The youth want a better life, which if provided, would probably make them want to procreate more (not that they have to).

          My point was that cannabis is not gonna have positive effects (my guess) given how things are and how little chance there is for young people to have financial stability and comfort.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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        3 months ago

        I know you’re joking but… People say that about cannabis, but there are plenty of right-wing people who love getting high. Doesn’t make them think more clearly.

        • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          I am very, very pro cannabis and I was not joking.

          In my experience, cannabis does make you question authority and being told what to do (to be fair, that might just be how it affects me).

          I’ve been to Japan, there is a huge culture of respect and following authority and just trusting the authority has honour. Psychoactive substances encourage you to think twice instead of trusting authority based on tradition.

          Just my two cents.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            3 months ago

            Again- lots of right-wing people love using cannabis. I can tell you from living right by the Illinois border but nowhere near a big city that I see Trump bumper stickers on big trucks at the dispensary constantly.

            • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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              3 months ago

              Right and left wing are not the same as authority and lack of authority, it’s actually a different dimension (as shown on political compasses).

              Japan’s issue is their hierarchy and authority, them being right wing is not really what makes cannabis incompatible.

              Idk where the right wing connection came from

                • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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                  3 months ago

                  Yes, which is what differentiates them from the old country club conservatives, they don’t just have right wing views of the economy, they want a leader with absolute power.

                  Which is why it’s so dangerous and we shouldn’t be taking about left or right wing but authority vs freedom.

              • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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                3 months ago

                The terms right and left wing originated as a shorthand due describing monarchists and anti-monarchists. Authoritarianism is THE defining characteristic of the right. Things like economic policies only come into it because authoritarians prefer economic policies that give more power to economic elites.

                • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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                  3 months ago

                  I mean, you can define it differently for sure, but modern politics basically use left and right wing as whether you want more hierarchy vs equality. Once you established that, the question becomes, do you force that by authority or do you do systems thinking to get the environment to encourage that.

                  There are right wing people who believe in small government. They want hierarchy and “better” people to be on top, they just either want the market to decide (old school cons) or by taking it by force (GQP).

                  But I do agree with you, right wing politics will always end up with a minority having most of the power, the how is what separates Trump vs Cheney.

          • Maeve@kbin.earth
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            3 months ago

            Maybe different people are affected differently. You may be adversely affected by penicillin, I may not be. Metformin may work for you, I may require insulin?

          • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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            3 months ago

            cannabis does make you question authority and being told what to do

            only when its illegal, because you start asking yourself what else they lied to you about.

            i dont think this is an effect from the drug itself. the ‘creativity’ you get can go either way tbh.

          • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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            3 months ago

            It’s not the plant, it’s what it reveals about the people using scare tactics. Cannabis makes you question authority when it’s illegal and you see how people in power have been lying to you about how dangerous it is. Legal, socially acceptable cannabis just makes you goofy.

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    amid increasing concerns that the lack of a ban on use is promoting drug abuse by young people.

    This fucking backwards ass notion of weed as a “gateway drug” needs to die. Their reasoning for calling it that shows their idiocy, in that it’s called that because it’s cheap and harmless, so they think it will lead to people believing other drugs are similar. Imagine branding something as dangerous because it’s (Checks Notes) cheap and harmless.

    Although from personal experience, I’d say that weed is a gateway drug of sorts, in that if you’re addicted to something far more dangerous (like alcohol), using weed can act like a “gateway” to sobriety.

    • krashmo@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      In my experience weed can be a gateway drug when you have to buy it from a drug dealer. As an analogy, lots of people end up buying something other than what they went into Target to buy.

      • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Also a criminal record can fuck your life in a myriad of ways, if like me you fall in love with someone from another country and you both have weed charges neither country will let you live together even decades later destroying what’s probably your only chance at happiness.

        These rules are needlessly cruel and absurd.

    • Maeve@kbin.earth
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      3 months ago

      It’s not entirely harmless, but more harmless than a lot of OTC medicines.

    • Shard@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Welcome to Japan, where everything, especially their mentality is fatally stuck in the glory days of the 1970/1980s.

      Even today they still use fax and computer usage is the office middling and general computer literacy is abyssal.

    • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      And yet alcohol shall not be banned.

      What are they thinking?

    • boonhet@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      It’s Japan. If anything is promoting drug abuse, it’s the work culture.

    • tatterdemalion@programming.dev
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      It’s not harmless. It’s linked to mental illness and increased stress. People need to stop spreading this myth.

      EDIT: I know that people are down voting because weed is incredibly popular and rarely does harm, but that doesn’t mean you should propagate the myth that it’s harmless. Your personal experience should not speak for everyone.

      Weed can easily cause intense anxiety and paranoia if the user takes more than they can handle. This is just as true for someone who is trying it for the first time as it is for someone with a long history of use.

      If you have ever had panic attacks or heart palpitations, the combined increase in heart rate and anxiety may trigger a panic attack. It’s also habit-forming enough that people who’ve had panic attacks will keep using it despite knowing they are risking a really stressful experience.

      • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        You’ll need to cite your sources on that, though the APA style guide doesn’t have a citation format for “conservative grandparents with dementia.”

          • Dasus@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            “Someone’s asking for sources on wild claims, quick, let me google some correlations!”

            If you look at the link between alcohol and mental health disorders, cannabis is way safer, and there’s not even a direct causal link to what would cause these correlated issues with cannabis use, unlike with alcohol, where there’s a clear causality.

            • tatterdemalion@programming.dev
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              Someone’s asking for sources on wild claims, quick, let me google some correlations

              You say that like it’s a bad thing. What else am I to do when someone asks for sources? I’ve read similar research in the past and went to find it again.

              If you look at the link between alcohol and mental health disorders

              That’s whataboutism.

              • Dasus@lemmy.world
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                I’ve read similar research in the past and went to find it again.

                Correction, you’ve googled similar studies before. I’m pretty sure you haven’t read them. There’s literally nothing there except sampling bias and weak correlations.

                You can do that for literally anything

                That’s whataboutism

                No, it isn’t. It’s not “what about alcohol” as in “let’s not talk about cannabis, but talk about alcohol instead”.

                It’s a “you don’t understand the actual risks involved, you don’t understand that you’re linking things you think they prove something (even without reading them) that confirms the bias that has been programmed into you, so here’s some context to make it more understandable”

                The context being objective science not having found any causality with mental health disorders and cannabis, and honestly, not even proper correlations.

                If this was about the dangers to mental health, then those dangers would be objectified, and alcohol would be considered more dangerous and prohibited. If for some reason the prohibition of cannabis doesn’t come from objective science, but pure political shitcanery, then it wouldn’t care at all about the objective facts of any of the risks, but it would pretend toeven going so far as to completely make shit up

                Which is exactly what is happening here, and you’re perpetuating it. Probably without realising it, but you are.

                • tatterdemalion@programming.dev
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                  3 months ago

                  There’s clearly no convincing you. By all means, continue to spread the myth that cannabis can do no harm to anyone, and eventually the wrong person will believe you.

      • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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        if you’re into that, just wait till you hear about alcohol and cigarettes! Anxiety, paranoia and panic attacks seem fine compared to Cirrhosis, COPD, Emphysema, Cancer, Stroke, Renal Failure, Kidney Failure, and Fatty Liver Disease. All of them painful, all of them deadly.

        But god forbid people smoke some weed 🙄 They might in very rare occasions get a temporary increase in anxiety!

        • tatterdemalion@programming.dev
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          More whataboutism. We’re talking about weed. And I’m not making the blanket statement that no one should smoke weed. I’m saying it does have health risks that should not be ignored.

          Also it’s offensive that you would trivialize the suffering that people go through in a panic attack.

  • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    While the possession and cultivation of marijuana are already banned in Japan, the country will prohibit its use as well, setting a prison sentence of up to seven years for violation.

    Ok, so that clears that up.

  • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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    I don’t like weed. I’ve tried it throughout my teens, but left it there.

    With that said, it’s amazing to me that we’re still having the same conversations around drugs. Decriminalise EVERYTHING! Ensure what is on the market is clean, drive the costs down to remove criminals from the market, and dedicate every police force to protecting those on the bottom rung of the drug ladder.

    I read a book from a former officer a while back, where he’d spent two years working on infiltrating a drug network. It was successful, and they not only shut down a major network of drugs, but arrested around 100 people, and removed tons of illegal weapons from the market, and arrested several people in the network known to police for being involved in several murders. They believed that the drug market in the UK during this time had been disrupted “for three hours”. That was all it took for another gang to take over, and apparently it’s those successes that cause a lot of people to leave drug enforcement - after all, what’s the point?

    There almost seems to be zero benefit to drug criminalisation, other than “old conservatives hate it”.

    • Maeve@kbin.earth
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      3 months ago

      Rich corporations and people profit, everyone else is criminalized for reasons.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The police love drug criminalization because it gives them widespread latitude to hassle pretty much anybody they feel like whenever they feel like, because “drugs could be involved.” Marijuana especially, since stoners are generally fairly nonthreatening folks but “I smelled marijuana” is a zero-effort way to instantly manufacture a fictitious probable cause for anything.

  • 11111one11111@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    What a wierd fucking reason to not currently punish weed consumption and then to use such an antiquated reason to criminalize it. The whole article read like something out of 1920’s-1950’s America. So dumb.

  • DMCMNFIBFFF@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    1a. It’s a relatively small incentive to get people to emigrate, particularly the young.

    2b. wp:Cannabis in China

    (my bold)

    In 1985, the People’s Republic of China joined the Convention on Psychotropic Substances and identified marijuana as a dangerous narcotic drug, and illegal to possess or use it. The penalty for marijuana possession in China is disputed from various sources, but according to the Law on Public Security Administration Punishments, marijuana smokers shall be detained for 10 to 15 days and fined a maximum of 2,000 yuan.[16][17] However, the cultivation of cannabis for industrial purposes (hemp) has never been prohibited in China.[1]

    On another hand, cannabis seeds have been continuously listed in the Chinese Pharmacopeia[18] and hemp has never been prohibited in the history of the country.[19]

  • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I always figured the stories about Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Germany etc being liberal paradises were simplistic and overblown, but it’s still surprising to see such a backwards position here.

    • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Japan? Liberal Paradise? Since when???

      Japan has been highly patriarchal, hating of foreigners, especially gaijin, and fairly conservative overall if only from a Shinto/Tao/Buddhist perspective than a Christian perspecitve like the rest of the west.

      The weabos who dream of living in Japan would be fairly ostracized unless they spoke perfect Japanese.

      There are growing trends in the youth, but their conservative patriarchy is still holding strong for now.

      On a side note, the massive amount of US debt Japan owns combined with the Yen carry trade means there could be a dramatic economic/societal shift in a short period of time, were anything volatile to happen.

      • atocci@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        This is the first time I’ve even heard the idea of Japan being a “liberal paradise”. I thought it was widely know Japan was super conservative.

      • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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        3 months ago

        Japan? Liberal Paradise? Since when???

        My thoughts exactly. It is left of the US on a few things like social safety net and healthcare, but mostly the same (which, compared to much of the western world is still quite far to the right).

        hating of foreigners, especially gaijin

        Wat? What do you think that word means?

        would be fairly ostracized unless they spoke perfect Japanese.

        Source?

        There are growing trends in the youth, but their conservative patriarchy is still holding strong for now.

        Getting them to vote would help. Obviously anecdotal, but a lot of young adults I knew didn’t vote.


        I’m from the US and have been living in Japan almost a decade. I don’t speak perfect Japanese by any stretch, but I can generally handle myself unless we get into certain medical jargon or legalese. I own a house and a small farm. Your premise on being ostracized is false, however; racists gonna racist so policies or people that exclude others aren’t generally going to give a shit if the person speaks flawless Japanese. On the other hand, I think the internet has a kinda warped view of what living here is like and how foreigners are treated. There is racism, particularly in trying to get an apartment. I’ve also been treated like a normal person more than I’ve ever been treated like some outside or zoo exhibition.

        • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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          3 months ago

          Maybe excitement I get when I speak Japanese even just OK is a beautiful thing compared to France and Quebec trying to speak French.

          But I will say South Korea is racist as fuck and being white and talking to a girl will get you and the girl attacked but worse of all mostly the girl.

          And yeah clubs, dating, and housing in Japan are not great but it’s definitely as with always a nuanced gray that is hard to explain to people who like a simple answer.

              • nefonous@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Well, context definitely matters. We don’t know what you did, how you did it, if she was with her bf, how sane was her bf etc etc. I don’t want to negate your personal experience but I doubt it was just normally casually “talking to a girl” that got you in trouble in a normal situation.

                Also 2015 is almost 10 years ago, it’s not really accurate to define it as the current situation.

                As for my source, I’m white, my wife is Korean, my ex was Korean, and I hang out alone with female Korean friends a lot. Some very old grandpa may be not very happy about skinship in public, but that’s all. Never to the extent of being attacked or harassed, it’s usually just looking at us a bit with a grumpy face.

                This being said, it’s not all perfect. Some families may be less open than others in accepting a marriage with a foreigner (old generations, young people just think it’s cool usually). And not only about white people. The mom of a friend was grumpy about her son marrying a Japanese girl, for example (even if he lives in Japan) But even so, nowdays is rarely open hostility.

                Of course idiots are everywhere. So I’m pretty sure there are young guys saying “white guys steal our women!1!!” and getting angry.

                Also, an important note is that these days the fight between “feminist” Korean women and men against them is getting bigger. This can influence especially the mind of young men. I was approached by a Korean boy asking me about how women are in my country because all Korean women sucks and are terrible. In that context, I’m sure some guy will use dating a foreigner as an excuse to say how shit and easy Korean girls are.

                Anyway, exceptions aside the average population is pretty much fine with it, especially in big cities. It’s not like Korean men don’t like white women too, after all.

                Sorry if this is too long, but we’re all here to share knowledge about those countries anyway

      • frank@sopuli.xyz
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        3 months ago

        I find this to be largely true, especially of older people, for foreigners who live there. But not to discourage a visit: you are very welcomed as a tourist in most places in Japan, and any Japanese you speak will be appreciated.

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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        3 months ago

        In fairness, “gaijin” is any foreigner. And a lot of laws in Japan are very much based on warped Christian values (can’t imagine who they got that from…).

        But yeah. One of my best friends is Japanese American and the way she sums it up is: You know you truly understand the culture of Japan if you realize why you only want to visit for a few weeks at a time.

        With bonus points for anyone who can read quickly realizing why the general stance toward APA is “Only if you get a REALLY good deal”

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      Where do you hear those stories?

      You may need to re-evaluate where you’re getting your information from

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        Their cities do look clean af. The people there seem to have a higher baseline level of mutual respect than most Western nations. Unless you’re a foreigner.