Problems in my country, Japan.

Whenever I'm outing, I can't help sighing by seeing the situation in Japan. For example, when I go to a restroom, it sometimes has two big buttons to push. The one is for flushing the water, and another one is for emergency, like when you feel bad, push the button and clerks would rush to come. The problem is that people from abroad can't tell which is which because there are only Japanese cautionary statement on it. Sure, they sometimes have English one next to it though, there are few.

So, what do foreigners do? They could push the emergency button or leave without flushing involuntarily. Whichever they do, Japanese clerks think "This is foreigners.". I have to say, I detest this way of thinking. Without enough explanation and just say "Foreigners are all rude."??

Since I spent some time in abroad like Middle East, East Africa and so on, I could see how inconvenient foreigners would feel in Japan. When I was in Middle East, I was always helped by people around me. On streets, in buses, at stations. They even asked me before I called help: "Hey, what's up?" "I just....got lost."
They warmly tried to understand what I said, because basically they didn't speak English, and I barely speak Arabic. Within a few minutes, I was surrounded by a dozen of people, talking loudly about what they should do with gestures. Sometimes they brought me to the destination without kickback or anything. "Good luck, have a nice trip." they left.

This kind of thing hardly happens in Japan. I saw foreigners seems to be lost yet people just ignored them. Those Japanese might too busy to help them, or they could ignore due to their lack of skill for English. However, I won't be a such person.

It's difficult to define myself, you know, whether I'm a patriot or not. I always try to tell myself I'm neither patriot nor Japan hater. Truth be told, I'm not a patriot at all. Of course there are many things worth seeing in this country. Old local temples makes me feel I'm happy to be born, Autumn makes me sentimental yet I consider red leaves in the season as the gift to encourage me. And, I can't go without quality of sushi, once you eat fresh ones, you will never ever forget it. These are, like, unforgettable experiences.

There could be many reasons why Japan is so inconvenient for foreigners. Isolated islands, kept closing the country over 200 years... But they are not the problem anymore. You can fly easily to come, it's time to change.
I want my country to be a good one, at least better than now. If any Japanese will not try to make it, well, I will do it by myself.

:)