Japan Trip Report

[brett]

Hi guys,

Greetings from Japan!

Its nice to be back in Asia, like China the whole place smells of cooking!

Sorry no photos till I get back to the UK. My new Canon EOS is fantastic and Ive got some spectacular cherry blossom photos plus Ive found 2 new skyscrapers to get panorama pictures from the top of.

I visited a marriage agency here this morning. Very interesting. The guy I met has travelled all over the world and speaks 7 languages. Yet he also tells me not to trust the Chinese! Guys who have found honest Chinese ladies - consider yourself very lucky indeed!

His top tip is to find a Chinese lady through a Chinese contact. Maybe Willy and Teds wives can find ladies for us all?

I do like the Japanese wife idea. Theyre not quite as beautiful on the outside compared to the Chinese ladies, but theyre very nice on the inside!

Tokyo would be cheaper to live than I thought it would be, and my otaku skills would land me some pretty highly paid database development or translation work. The businesses I started in Feb. are also making some decent passive income, and Ive been shooting stock photos here which will make more cash back home. I could see myself living in Japan. Im much less sure about China.

Anyway I hope you guys can visit here some day, its fantastic. Come here in 2012 and the skytree will be built - I think Japan has had enough of Dubai and Shanghai so its building a monster skyscraper of its own!

Im pleased with the amount of Kanji I can read - that Chinese course was useful after all!

Ill write more when I get back to the UK. This has been a very useful trip indeed!

P.S Sorry for lack of apostrophes, Japanese keyboards are a nightmare!

[JimB]

Brett, glad you are having a good trip. Remember one thing, some Japanese hate the Chinese and Vice Versa.  It is a holdover from WWII, so take what they say against the Chinese with a grain of salt.
Plus he is in competition with them.  I am not saying ignore him but just be aware.

[David5o]

Brett,

Sometimes i just can't make you out at all, here you are listening and believing a guy you only just met in Japan telling you not to trust the Chinese!! Yet simply trying to convince you not to take a suite to China was like ...''pulling teeth!!!''

As for Japanese ladies, i've known many over the years and they are just as beautiful as any other Asian lady, inside and out...  What i will say to you though, is that the Japanese ladies have far more knowledge of western men, and know how, and what strings to pull of those western men, ....Far more than the Chinese!!!

Brett, are you keeping a straight face there or laughing when you tell us that Japan (especially Tokyo) is going to be a cheaper place to live?? ....I'm just wondering what your base line was, to come out with being ''cheaper than you thought''???

Continue to Enjoy your vacation Brett, Try and get outside of Tokyo, there's a hell of a lot more to see and do outside of the cities, especially in photographic terms and subject material....

David....

[ttwjr32]

i have noticed that also Jimb since living here when the topic of
 Japan comes up. not so much with the younger generation but
 more so with the older generation which is in direct meaning to
 what had happened here in www2.

i noticed when there and my feelings on this is Japan is very expensive
in most parts unlike China. but that is from my direct dealings there as to
why i feel that.

but its good that maybe you Brett have might have found the niche you
were looking for and we will all wait and like to see the pics you took

[Willy The Londoner]

On the occasions when I get control of the  TV remote I can guarantee that every night I can find at least three channels showing films or series that depict atrocities against the Chinese committed by Japanese soldiers.  Of course in the end the China always come out victorious having given those Japanese a good thrashing as they did in real life.

Those of us in UK who are old enough to remember the years following WW2 can picture the same feeling they have for each other as us British had against all Germans.

Willy

Better get back on thread - Have a nice time in Japan Brett - keep out of the downtown Geisha houses.  And definately keep of the Saki.  You might end up with the Nagaski back shuffler!

[JimB]

On the occasions when I get control of the TV remote I can guarantee that every night I can find at least three channels showing films or series that depict atrocities against the Chinese committed by Japanese soldiers. Of course in the end the China always come out victorious having given those Japanese a good thrashing as they did in real life.

You are exactly right Willy.   Plus on my Mother in laws side one part of her family was totally wiped out.

So Brett, I hope you are on the track that you really want and find the one that will fulfill all your needs.  As I remember from your posts, you really like japan better than China anyway.  So good luck.

[brett]

Thanks to that volcano it looks like I`ll be here for months! Blimey, the Icelanders stole our money now they`ve ruined our airspace. Looks like my dream of living here might be forced upon me. Is anyone stranded in China?

Anyway, back to my trip. The weather has been very erratic and I am really glad I brought my winter clothes, it`s freezing. It even snowed in Hakone near mount Fuji-san.

The light was good today and I got some great photos of the Shinkansens crossing the river near Kawasaki, plus a load of great photos in Shibuya. This year`s fashion is... outlandish lol :icon_cheesygrin:. I think I have a few years worth of stock photos now.

I think I have been everywhere in Tokyo now, although the place changes so quickly that there`s always something to see.

There does seem to be a warming of relations between Japan and China - there are whole stores devoted to selling stuff to rich Chinese people! CNN is calling China as being in a bubble - or is it different this time ha ha ha. We`ll see. I also caught an NHK program teaching Mandarin to Japanese people. That was a sort of rosetta stone TV show for me, and I appreciate how difficult Japanese is compared to Mandarin.

Actually Japanese TV is pretty bad, but at least they don`t have those awful period soap operas that Mrs Wu watched all day long!!!

[Willy The Londoner]

From what I hear you could be in Japan for some time to come.  They are saying now that the volcano could be spewing out the rubbish for months.  Apparantly the glas and other rubbish can cause serious damage to a planes engines.

I understand that you can possible fly back to norway then hitch rides back to France then catch the ferry back to UK!!!

Willy

[brett]

According to CNN, when it last erupted in 18something it lasted 2 years! I`m not in a hurry back to the UK, I`ve heard they`re running out of food!

I`m just glad I`m not stuck in Spain with 3 screaming kids, a nagging sunburnt wife, a boss who wants me back and no Euros, now that would be a nightmare.

As to Japan, it`s nice and sunny again today. I`m registering for a Japan marriage agency, man there is a lot of red tape. It`s a good thing though - they reject most of the ladies who apply - if only Chinese agencies were that thorough :icon_cheesygrin:. Apparently there aren`t huge numbers of Japanese ladies looking for Western men. I guess they don`t need the money. Despite the "recession" here, the place is awash with cash and there is decent money if you`re prepared to get off the futon and do some work.

Yesterday I had the obligatory Japanese guy trying to help me at a train station - actually he was quite interesting and I found out a lot. He also insisted that I had to go to Shibuya, which actually turned out to be the place to be yesterday!

I still find it amazing that even obscure train branch lines in obscure suburbs are packed with people.

I`m off to Akihabara in a bit to see if anything wacky is going on :icon_cheesygrin:.

[ttwjr32]

sounds like its going well there for you Brett. like you said maybe you
 will end up staying now?  what is the red tape that they made you go thru
 when you registered? just interested in what they had you do?

[brett]

Hi all,

Well I am back from Japan and whatever you think of me you have to admire my incredible luck in choosing travel dates that completely avoided travel chaos from the dreaded Hu?sh?n
 ?? . Heathrow airport was a bit grim yesterday afternoon though. I'm also lucky I didn't opt for going to Thailand - that place could be heading for civil war and my mum tells me that UK travel companies were dumping British travellers in what was practically a war zone!

Anyway, my love for Japan is undiminished and I could see myself living there. It's by far the safest place I've ever been. Everyone seems so happy, regardless of how rubbish their jobs are. There is practically no crime. In the back streets of Asakusa folk don't even lock their bicycles. So little happened in Tokyo that the evening news main story was the weather.

Yes the weather. One day it was 26C, the next it was 8C. That was really stretching my clothes packing plans to the extreme!!!

I have registered with a Japanese introduction agency. It's a similar setup to the Chinese agencies we deal with. However, business practices are much stricter. Members get interviewed, most are rejected. Ladies all speak English. Ladies all have pretty good jobs and are well educated. Members have to be HIV tested, and all initial meetings with a lady are at the agency. Once a lady gets involved with a man she is hidden from the site. The lady profiles are full of sensible information about the lady, not some crappy poem like a lot of the chnlove profiles. It's free to talk to ladies (but I did pay a modest joining fee). I would love to find a Chinese agency with this kind of setup. There are some in Thailand that are this well managed, but I don't know about China.

The owner of the agency was very knowledgeable and I guess the take home message is that women are fickle creatures and finding a good honest lady from any country is a huge challenge for a man.

He was complimentary about filapina ladies. However, finding an honest one on the Internet is a major challenge for a man!

He told me the best way of finding a Chinese lady is through someone you trust. Actually, that's probably the best way of finding an honest lady in any country.

I didn't meet any ladies this trip - I left things a bit late and I'd rather email them a bit first before meeting them.

Japanese ladies are lovely. I do stand by my observation that generally they're not as beautiful on the outside as Chinese ladies. The ladies from Western Hubei Province are the most beautiful I have ever seen. Mrs Wu was astonishingly beautiful for someone of her age. Is it the clean air and mountains like Miss Wu said? Is it the lack of American junk food? Is it the use of sun umbrellas? I'm not sure, but from the number of brothers who have been in the Hubei/Hebei (Wuhan, Changsha) region of China to visit ladies I guess there's something to my theory!!!

Anyway, it's what's on the inside that counts, and Japanese ladies score highly on that scale. I also think they are a better fit for my personality.

The good thing about Japanese ladies from my perspective is that they won't be marrying me for my money (I'm sure as hell not wealthy by Japanese standards!)

As to my plans, I might spend a couple of years looking for a Japanese lady. If that comes to nothing then I'd probably be the perfect age in which to find a Chinese lady in the 35-40 age group.

I would love to move to Japan, so I will certainly investigate whether it's feasible. My feeling is that if you want to marry an Asian lady, you're much better off moving to Asia.

I don't like the idea of living in China, although I think a visit to Shanghai might change my mind. I watched a lot of Taiwanese TV in my hotel room and I have to admit that after 6 months of studying Mandarin I'm sorry to report that I haven't got a clue what people are talking about! Has anyone picked up Mandarin with any confidence? People speak so quickly! Spoken Japanese is much easier to understand. Written Japanese is a total nightmare but I do seem to have activated the part of the brain that is used to store Asian characters, so I think I could gradually learn to read. I can now appreciate that although Japanese and Chinese use a lot of the same characters, the Japanese pronunciation is completely different. Confusingly, the Japanese also pronounce the same character in many different ways depending on what word it's being used in. What a nightmare.

Anyway, here are some photos! They are from left to right:

Massive boozy party under the Cherry Blossoms.
Central Tokyo.
Akihabara maids.
Proof that women really do wear stockings and suspenders in the street!
One of the cutest things I saw in Japan.
The famous Cherry Blossoms.
Cute Gundam promo girl, wow was she lovely!

I hope you guys can visit Japan for yourselves one day, just don't take your lady anywhere near the clothes shops in Shibuya :s!!!

[Arnold]

Thanks Brett for the Photo's .
My Wife was five years in Tokyo at the Uni. and I will show her those Pic's . Sure she will remember all this very well . She also speaks , reads and writes Japanese , which she say's is half from the chinese anyway .
Hope this route will find you the Woman you seek finally .

[brett]

Hi guys,

Wow new forum. I really hate it when my fave forums change their look and feel. Oh well...

Anyway, I mostly post elsewhere now and man I've heard some bad things about chnlove. Why anyone still uses it is anyone's guess. I suppose chnlove makes most of its cash from newbies, like when I got involved in the CLB agency at the start and they wasted my credits pulling stunts like sending 2 emails from the same lady.

The cupid media sites are nice, I've tried the Japan one, there's also a China one which looks interesting. It's dumb that you have to sign up separately to each one though.

I'm currently looking for a lady in my own country. The UK is so multicultural you really do have to ask yourself if it's worth the hassle of looking for a Chinese lady in China, when there are nearly a million Chinese over here! At least they will speak some English and have a clue as to what Western men are like.

For UK users I have actually found a UK based introduction agency. Again I don't know what it is with Chinese related businesses, but this one doesn't look legitimate either. At least we have places to look in this country to see if a company is legitimate though.

As to my plans, well I'll see if I find anyone in the London area, if not then in a couple of years I will have enough Internet income to be able to live in China, or Japan if I exceed my objectives.

[Arnold]

Well Brett , you did go through a lot .. some that could have been avoided and some not . I do hope you'll find "Theee One" that suits you best soon . One thing you'll sacrifice though , is a really true oriental traditional Woman that some of us including myself have found through this Chn Co. . Please keep in touch and let us know from time to time how's it going .

[brett]

Hi all,

Thought I'd report in again. If anyone's looking for a lady I can recommend the cupid media sites. I don't know what the China one is called but the Japan one is JapanCupid. They have loads of niche sites.

The nice thing about these sites is there's a flat rate fee (£100 a year?) and there are people looking for friends as well, so it might be a good place to pick up a language partner in your home town. I don't know if the chnlove ladies are on there, but there's a much better chance of finding someone who knows some English. There are also an increasing number of Chinese mainlanders in Western countries, the best friends girls hold hands and they have all kinds of other Chinese customs so they haven't been that Westernised yet. There are over 800 Chinese students in work, and quite a few have boyfriends from other countries  .

The crazy money making schemes I started in Feb with the intention of allowing Miss Wu to leave her job are doing very well now, and having reached a Miss Wu income I am now moving the goal posts to allow me to move to Asia with a Western income. I love it when a plan comes together  !

I'm shortlisting Japanese ladies, they are all alpha females so hopefully I won't need to work much anyway. They also speak English which helps as Japanese is incredibly tough to learn.

Actually my favourite lady is South Korean, there are some very exceptionally beautiful ladies in Korea but it's well off the Asian wife hunting trail so to speak. It's worth considering as an alternative to China, especially if you like hot food!