Occassionally on this blog I like to feature specific videos that made me lauhgh or think, and this is the case today. I watched a video from Abroad in Japan titled, “What is Happening to Japan?”, and here are my thoughts.
Given the thumbnail image, I thought the video was going to be about graffiti and abandoned buildings in Japan (which was not my experience at all during my trip there last year across 4 different cities, but I figure any city in the world is going to have some areas that are doing a little worse than other areas).
But the video is actually a response to another video that sensationalizes a very specific area of Tokyo as if it’s representative of the entire country. Abroad in Japan is trying to clear the air about what is actually happening in Japan (short answer: Nothing. Japan is fine, particularly its cities–if anything, it’s the rural and remote areas that are struggling, just like in many other countries).
If you’re curious about Japan and want to know what’s really happening there, I recommend watching this video. I watched a few Abroad in Japan videos before traveling there last year, and I’ve now subscribed–this is great journalism.