I'm interested in learning and hearing from people with good and hell-like experiences that has been in Japan for a while or so and want to know how life is there. I'm hearing several sides of this issue like discrimination, language barriers, hardships, stress, survival, political-social-economic issues, and many more. Other proffesions too but more specifically, nursing. I understand that culture and language can be a problem sometimes but am really wanting to know what "real" life in Japan is as a foreign worker from experiences. Thanks.

I guess the best place would be to start at the beginning. My wife and I met while I was stationed overseas. She lived in the Philippines while I was still in Japan. We got pregnant after marriage and she wanted to have her family with her when she gave birth so the baby was born in the Philippines. She was living with her family in one place as typical for filipinos so the baby had constant attention, especially from her mom. Due to some difficulties with immigration and missing paperwork, it wasnt until this year that we were able to bring the child home with us. He is now 4. I was able to visit quite a few times while he was in the Philippines. My wife's immigration was already completed so she had been working here in the US with me to save money to send home for her family. In any event, our son understood he needed to come home with his parents so we brought him back here and hes now been here with us for 3 days. It was a big change for me especially since Ive not had any time with him really so Im learning to be a dad for the first time. The other issue is that he speaks mostly Tagalog which is native language over there. He speaks a little English but I worry about what will happen when preschool times comes, which is right around the corner. Ive never trained anyone to speak, Im not sure if flash cards will work or how Im supposed to go about this? I dont want him falling behind because hes not a native English speaker. So far hes been pretty good. He plays and Ive had a day or two where mommy can sleep and Ill take him to the park with me. He doesnt ask for her and as long as I keep him entertained, seems fine. Oh yeah, with this all in mind, I shouldnt be expecting much sleep during these years correct? I just want to be sure I know what to expect. Seems like hes super active really late into the night. People have told me I should sleep as much as I can when he sleeps. Seems like hell wake up for 8 hours, take a nap and then up for another 8 hours. Its been hard cuz my wife and I are kind of on different schedules that way. She stays up with him at night for the last 4 hours or so because she can get him to sleep by coddling him. Doesnt do that with me so I usually crash a few hours before her. Then when he wakes up, Ill send her to the bedroom so that she can sleep and I try and take him out of the house somewhere to play so he can use up some energy. Its tough in WA, the weather is always so bad its hard to find places outside to take him...ideas? I guess Im just wondering if this is all normal, if the sleep thing will be something the wife and I will have to make the best of while hes this age and also if anyone is filipino reading this, if you have any suggestions for teaching him English now that hes here? He likes watching backyardigans on tv and whatnot, and knows some songs totally in English but still talks to my wife and I in Tagalog. Again, Im just worried about school and him learning a new language and how best to teach him. If anybody lives in WA area and knows of any resources I could consult about Filipino schools that teach English or something similar, that would be great. I just want the best for him and to get a good dad. As good a dad as my wife is a mother. I feel like shes having to hold up so much right now and I just want to do everthing I can to make this doable for her too. Hope I didnt write too much. I appreciate any inputs or advice, this is scary starting off. Thanks

In other words, their relationship is cordial. Also, Japan has invested heavily in the Philippines and the Philippine government sent people to Japan to help during the tsunami emergency. Filipinos also travel to Japan to work. My question is how does the average Japanese see Filipinos? I've read conflicting stories about the issue.

First of all I'm an 14 year old girl, so here it goes while I was studying social study here in japan my teacher is trying to pissed me by saying that my country is so low and how disgusting we are i'm not japanese anyway I'm a pilipino and my japanese teacher said that they are so amazing thatn us I already knew that he don't have to repeat that all over again everyday! I was blushing in front of my japanese classmates the reason why filipino is being bulied here is that because of the filipina women who work in strips club here in japan and my teacher said I'll be one of them when I grew up?! seriously I want to punch him in the face I even made a fuck sign to him but I was hiding it covering it with my finger and when I came home all I found is bill problems and all of the things that my father should since my dad doesn't know how to speak japanese I handle all the things in here I always interpret whenever we go out and there is just many things I handle I CLEAN THE HOUSE,I STUDY,BEING BULIED AT SCHOOL,AND INTERPRET HIM,CALCULATE ALL THE BILLS Sometimes and sometimes me and my dad fight at small things gosh my dad when we fight small things he tries to get it bigger which is annoying....sometimes I really feel exhausted and tired of it and sometimes I just want to end my life to finish all of this problems I don't even have friends at school my bestfriends are in the philippines and I miss them so much:( I can't be friends with japanese girls they are so fake! and wants sex all the time well I can't do that I'm catholic I tried to be friends with them somehow but just doesn't work! is it normal for a 14 year old to feel this way? or experience this? sometimes I'm so jealous of people having many friends then I'm jealous everytime I log in to facebook and see my friends in philippines go to field trips!

I'm thinking of doing Japanese, Korean, or Filipino. I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE TO DO?!

Filipino: 'Cause I'm a Filipina and Filipino is my first language.

Japanese: Wanted to learn this because I really liked watching Anime. I would like to live in Japan.

Korean: Because most of my favorite songs and artists are Korean.

BTW, this is a How-To Speech. I'm just teaching my classmates how to say some basic greetings on one of these languages...But which language should I choose, though!!!!!?????!!!!???

Im a Filipino living abroad. Its wierd to discover that different people call each country and each people differently. Example:We Filipinos call
Philippines- Pilipinas(Pilipino,Pinoy)
USA - Estados Unidos(Amerikano)
UK - Britania(Inglis)
Spain - Espania(Espanyol)
Japan - Hapon(Hapones)
China - Tsina(Intsik)

And as for Koreans:
Philippines -Pilipin(Pilipin saram)
USA -Miguk(Miguk saram)
UK -Yungguk(Yungguk saram)
Germany - Tuggil (Tuggil saram)
Japan - Ilbon(Ilbon saram)
China -Chungguk(Chungguk saram)

Can you name some like what I did above?

I'm a Japanese man currently going to UC San Diego. And I have a very pretty girlfriend back home in Japan. Many filipino girls at school are trying to date me and I do not find them attractive but I don't know what to do?

Does anyone know how to say "I'm interested. Sorry!" in filipino language so I will seem more sincere?
Ah! Yes I meant to say "I'm not interested. Sorry!". Thanks Mr.Los that's very useful!

Because in countries like Japan, people can surely speak Japanese because it is their language and most can speak English because it is an international language but some people can only speak Japanese especially the one who didn't go to international school....how about in the Philipines? Are there some people who can't speak English or is Tagalog ..their first language ?

I've looked at the Official Olympic Reports and while Japan's torch bearer's name was written in it, the rest of the torch bearers in the Olympic Torch Relay from other countries weren't. Would anyone know who the Filipino torch bearer was? Or could anyone point me to a site that has a list of the torch relay members?

In taiwan, if you can't/don't speak mandarin, more or less you're looked down upon...
In Japan, if you can't/don't speak japanese, more or less you're looked down upon...
but how come in the Philippines...If you can't/don't speak tagalog(and other filipino languages)...you're looked up upon?