> ... so you all might as well socialize together and be "friends" even if you don't really actually like each other all that much.
Learning to get along with other people, not just the people you like, and not just the people in your "in-group", is a massively important social skill.
American urbanites tend stick out here in Japan precisely for this reason. They only associate with each other and complain constantly about how Japan is "so backwards" compared to back home. There's no olive bar at the supermarket, there's no vegan meat, etc.
Folks from non-Anglosphere countries -- urban or rural -- usually integrate far better, at least as much as one can in Japan.
> ... but gossip runs rampant and even your best friend might be cruel to you when out of earshot.
This happens all the time in cities. San Francisco was full of the most empty-smiling, gossip-spreading, stab-you-in-the-back people I've encountered in my life.
Learning to get along with other people, not just the people you like, and not just the people in your "in-group", is a massively important social skill.
American urbanites tend stick out here in Japan precisely for this reason. They only associate with each other and complain constantly about how Japan is "so backwards" compared to back home. There's no olive bar at the supermarket, there's no vegan meat, etc.
Folks from non-Anglosphere countries -- urban or rural -- usually integrate far better, at least as much as one can in Japan.
> ... but gossip runs rampant and even your best friend might be cruel to you when out of earshot.
This happens all the time in cities. San Francisco was full of the most empty-smiling, gossip-spreading, stab-you-in-the-back people I've encountered in my life.