Threads (Meta) and some topics I found on it

Murasama1 Comment on Threads (Meta) and some topics I found on it

First off (and as mentioned mostly on my other blogs), I’ve been off most social media (my original accounts are mostly deactivated) for years.  The only exceptions are a recreated Twitter (which I did to make that initial sarcastic posting to Gameforge) and a new Instagram account (mainly to follow Twitch and YouTube content creators + as an alternative contact method).

I didn’t sign up for Threads when it initially became available since one of the main reasons for why I deactivated my original Twitter account (which gets automatically deleted if it isn’t reactivated after 30 days), was the way it would make you just scroll endlessly (the algorithm is designed to just keep feeding whatever it can pull into your feed).  Twitters purchase by Elon Musk (whom I have never been a fan of) resulted in a scramble for an alternative.  That is when Meta themselves threw together Threads (basing it off of Instagram).  I’m also no fan of Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Threads).  I’ve written about that on my old blog (I was an early investor in Facebook).

Recently though, I decided to activate Threads.  The algorithm there is wickedly good (unsurprising since it was that way on Facebook) with eventually giving you exactly what you want based on whatever (post, follows, likes, etc) you’ve engaged with.  The end result is that I came across a few interesting posts that were perfect subject matter for me to delve into.

The first one is the following (I didn’t screenshot the replies) which I see a lot of along with this view that Japan is this perfect country (having been knee deep in Twitch Japan IRL streams since January).  Yes, “yellow fever” is real while Japan is like any place else; it has its own issues and is not even 80% like anime/J-dorama.

Original

The term I used before when it comes to this is “objectifying”.  This same objectifying of East Asian women also ties into this misguided notion that living in Japan is better than their own country where many don’t realize maybe it is something they need to fix with themselves first.

Original

The English language teacher route is of course the most prevalent way; one that can be a trap that a good percentage often times find themselves unhappy with.  The JET program pays the best but that is limited (I believe 3 years maximum including an upper age limit of 40).  After that, it’s the private eikaiwas.
I went a different route (opportunity in tech even though I had left/early retired from Silicon Valley because I had wanted to leave that world behind).  Fortunately, it wasn’t the same “breakneck pace” plus I also went into it being fully versed in the social/cultural nuances of the country (and knew Japan was not a panacea; I viewed it as the opportunity that it was and one that would also allow me to travel around the country).  I eventually “retired early” from that position as well and lived out the remainder of my engineering visa (money wasn’t an issue since my primary income source has long been dividend income from equities).
But yes, I saw those disgruntled types who came to Japan with this completely misguided notion that it was this perfect place that would solve whatever issues that had made them unhappy in their own native country.  They ended up being the same ones who would spend hours bitching and complaining about things, eventually leaving unhappy a year or so later.  There are also those ex-pats that have been in the country for decades with the jaded views bitching and whining about things (you see them on Japan Today or Gaijin Pot) but are unfortunately career dead ended because many have no real skill sets should they go back to their home country.
Likewise, not all are this way since there are many who have bettered themselves (especially the ones who put the effort into better integrating into society/not just hanging out with the “gaijin circle” which in places like Tokyo, is far too easy to do).  After reading just these two Thread postings, a whole bunch of other posts popped up in my feed with people writing things like “don’t want to leave Japan, looking for job opportunities outside of teaching English” and my internal response is “what kind of skill sets do you bring to the table?”  This is the English language teaching trap that I mentioned earlier.
Anyone who comes to Japan via the JET program route, needs to take advantage of their being usually placed in a rural area.  That means getting into the immersion part so that 3 years later, there is a language advantage (where one isn’t trapped into going the private English language conversation school route and being stuck in that).
On a slight tangent, there are many who try the content creation part on the side and struggle to gain any traction.  Years ago, there was an explosion of “what to do in Tokyo”, “my life in Japan”, etc type of YouTube content creators (some of whom are really big now).  Replicating that now isn’t as easy though (no shit sherlock on my part for even having to write that).  I personally do not watch/follow most of those earlier folks anymore either.  Part of that is my own personality; I dislike big/fame; I like the “little guy/gal”.  Being involved in Silicon Valley, I despised clout chasers and the tech “rock star” environment (never enjoyed that social circle or that kind of attention).  Thus, I’m adverse to larger content creators and social media influencers (this is also a topic that could span its own post which I will probably do in the future).
Digressing back to the original thread posting at the top as it relates to East Asian women being objectified (and the amount of “yellow fever” I see on many Twitch Japanese streamers chat), I’m not going to sit here and say it doesn’t drive me crazy because it does.  Relationships are already complex when language and culture aren’t extremely different.  It’s a whole lot more challenging when the cultural and language gaps are wider.  You then have this group who are viewing Asian women through these different lens/stereotypes and expect to have a relationship based on those skewed views.  The worst are the ones who come into a chat and start writing the dumbest things (like “how old are you?”, “are you married?”, “do you like black/white guys?”, etc).  I’m like good luck trying to even be on the same wavelength with having any sort of meaningful conversation and by a much greater extension, having an actual long-term relationship that will last.

Related Posts