When I think of the on-line forum for foreign folks in Japan, Gaijinpot, I think of the line delivered by Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars about Mos Eisley space port: "there has never been a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Okay, it's not quite that bad, but this place which is supposed to function as a support area and a place to find jobs is a water cooler for the angriest, most judgmental, and bitter of the foreign community. Posting even the most innocuous of questions can generate a barrage of personal attacks. One blogger once asked where one might procure ricotta cheese in the Osaka area and the response to this were venomous accusations of desiring to live in a "gaijin bubble" rather than to assimilate like a good foreigner should do.
I won't miss the cesspool of anger and willful misunderstanding that is Gaijinpot.
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