Citizen from third world country in Japan

How I felt.

As a person who lives in a “third world country” and has visited Japan many times I can tell the difference between people from the bureaucracy point of view. From my travels I learned one main thing - we all need the same necessities. I mean food, roof, other people, love etc… Yes, the path to them can be different. In the cultural aspect. And this is cool because that’s why people love to travel - to feel the cultural shock. Not for the touristy stuff. 

I don't like the term of a third world country in relation to my homeland. This is nothing more than a shortcut. Russia has given “a lot” to the world (not only rockets and Putin) and its merits cannot be belittled. But the bureaucracy is not concerned with history.

Once in a regular small Japanese bar we drank in a very international company. There were Japanese, Thai, Brazilians, Americans and British. Many of those people became my friends which I met again and again. In a conversation with each other, we talked about what we forgot in this country. The American, a handsome and tall young man with an expensive camera, said that he won a grant from a university and had been here for three month and was taking a photo project. The Brazilian said that he was making a trip to Southeast Asia and that he was in Japan for a week. The man from Great Britain said that a year ago he began a new life in Japan, lives in hostels, dreams of becoming a music producer, and earns by teaching private English lessons. We were all the same age, it was clear that our life was just beginning, that our goals were the same and there were no people with tight wallets.

I paid for the beer. 

Tokyo, like any other city, attracts young people with different goals. In a big city, any freak can find a place for himself, find a way to earn a piece of bread doing what he likes. I like Moscow less than Tokyo. Precisely as a city, how it works. Tokyo is a huge metropolis that you can explore endlessly. For a visual man, this is a goldmine. Its streets can be explored on foot or by bicycle, no one cares what and how you shoot. People in Japan do not know the fear in their eyes, they are not afraid of the camera, they are not afraid to show things they are proud of. This all sets up a creative atmosphere. In Moscow, when you walk with a camera around your neck, the presumption of guilt comes into play. People perceive you as a reporter who wants to expose their fears, wants to expose bad deeds. Russia controls its people with fear. It is because of the fear of being convicted of their actions, that I am sure, that nothing is really developing or happening in Russia. 

Let's go back to our conversation at the bar. An Englishman told me how the visa system between Great Britain and Japan works. Very simple. If you want to work, you pay for a working visa and work whoever you want. That would be perfect for me. I know many crafts, I can work not only with my head, but also with my hands. I can fix everything with duct tape, lol. It is not without reason that the more I stay in Japan, the more opportunities I see for professional growth. However, bureaucracy invades this beautiful world in my head.

There are different rules for working visas between Russia and Japan. Russians easily can only get a tourist visa, but not a work visa. To get a different type of visa, you need to be hired by a Japanese company, they must prove to their government why their country should hire you and not a Japanese. I am proud of the Japanese system and hate it. It protects the interests of her own nation and attracts only the best from abroad. The best brains and the best capital. Just think. A person who can fix something himself with a piece of duct tape will not call specialists to his house. This means that specialists will be left without work. Less work, less money. Who needs this? Who needs a more fit for life, more motivated young man who has come to TAKE from the country and not GIVE to it? 

The answer is... Russia. People from the countries of the former Soviet Union come in droves to work in Russia. Often illegal. They are not paying taxes and do the work that we do not want to take on. They do it at a low quality level, but our business is happy with it because they pay less. And countries are also becoming dependent. Double win! But what should I do to work in Japan? Firstly, know the language, university degree. Secondly, to be an expert in something. This is a double work, the conscious path from which you will hardly turn off. For a person who was just looking for an opportunity to stay in the country for more than a month, but no more than three, this is not the way. 

During my third visit for a tourist visa, the consul hinted that next time I should apply with an inviting party from Japan. In their opinion, I became suspicious, since I began to travel to their country too often. A young single man, a predator.

And here I am again transferred mentally to the bar. To be there the Englishman paid for a work visa to his government. The American student received a grant from the US government and lives freely in Japan. As for me ... I worked for 11 months to save up money and break free for one month to live in the cheapest hostel and eat the cheapest food in an expensive country. But at the bar we're all equal.