Haven't spent more than a month there however I always got the sense that it's 'harder' to be Japanese (same goes for Korean) than it is to be a Westerner.
Complex social hierarchies, deference to the boss, deference to family and elders, suppressing individualism and the overbearing pressure to conform.
Especially though, having to stop at every single pedestrian crossing even though the road is one metre wide and there's not a car or a cop for kilometres.
More than a few months of that and - bam - seppuku for me.
I was nearly tackled for jaywalking across an empty traffic light intersection at 3am in Shinjuku. It ended up being a 3 hour ordeal that involved 15 cops and a quick police car ride to my train locker.
Worth noting were the 10 obvious foreigners (my friends) that jaywalked ahead of me, which made me think I was singled out because I looked Japanese.
I've had similar impressions. One gets the feeling that it's glorious to be a rich old dude in Japan, but that does leave lots of other people with the short end...
I'm sure that's true, but I'm not saying that e.g. in comparison to my home country, but rather to other foreign countries where I've lived and worked. Japan just seems more like that.
Complex social hierarchies, deference to the boss, deference to family and elders, suppressing individualism and the overbearing pressure to conform.
Especially though, having to stop at every single pedestrian crossing even though the road is one metre wide and there's not a car or a cop for kilometres.
More than a few months of that and - bam - seppuku for me.