Rei 玲 🇯🇵

Japanese guy in Shikoku 🇯🇵
I write about Japan from the inside, including what I'm still trying to understand about myself. ⛩

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

Hi, I'm Rei, a Japanese guy living in Shikoku.

I write about Japan from the inside: everyday life, culture, traditions, and the parts of myself I'm still trying to understand.

Why do Japanese people sometimes stay silent when they have something to say?
Why can a small gesture carry so much meaning?
What shapes the choices we make when no one is watching?

I go deeper than what you can see on the surface: the emotions behind our actions, the unspoken expectations in relationships, and the values that shape how we think.

Sometimes I'll give you two options, then share which one I'd choose as a Japanese person, and why.

I don't speak for every Japanese person. Just for me.

If you're curious about what Japan feels like beneath the surface, welcome.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@michaelnick00 @Zayyad_Yazeed Haha, I can't help with that, sorry!

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@kingsport247 @Zayyad_Yazeed 😂 You've already mastered Japanese.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@Ronson_12 @Zayyad_Yazeed 😂 Different country, different rules.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@Onye_Game @Zayyad_Yazeed Japan's low birth rate has a lot of reasons, but I don't think okozukai is the main one 😂

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@leodanielux @Zayyad_Yazeed I don't fully get the joke, but I can feel it 😂

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@TheUsualTrades @Zayyad_Yazeed Ha, some definitely complain about their okozukai 😂 It's a classic salaryman joke here.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@naval I kept thinking about this, so I wrote a little more:

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

When I hear "Ishi no ue nimo sannen," I don't really picture a cold stone. I picture craftsmen. Carpenters, cooks, people who learned by staying in one place for years.

Back then, some knowledge was only available if you stayed. Now you can learn a lot of it online.

People say if something doesn't fit you, quit and find what does. Maybe that's right.

But I wonder if we're trading something for that freedom. The kind of patience you only build by staying.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@naval We have a saying in Japan for this: "Ishi no ue nimo sannen."

It means "even on a cold stone, three years will warm it." Stay long enough and even the coldest place becomes yours.

I grew up hearing it. I'm only now starting to understand it.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

When I hear "Ishi no ue nimo sannen," I don't really picture a cold stone. I picture craftsmen. Carpenters, cooks, people who learned by staying in one place for years.

Back then, some knowledge was only available if you stayed. Now you can learn a lot of it online.

People say if something doesn't fit you, quit and find what does. Maybe that's right.

But I wonder if we're trading something for that freedom. The kind of patience you only build by staying.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@paularambles In Japan, at 10pm the cities are full of drunk people. In the countryside where I live, some roads don't even have streetlights, and the only other ones out there are wild boars and tanuki.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

Japan really did start from ashes. Growing up, I was taught again and again that we must never repeat the same mistake. Fewer and fewer people who lived through the war are still with us. So now it's on us to pass that lesson down to the next generation, and for them to pass it down to theirs.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@gsurfer_saas @naval I love that. The off-season is when a place shows who really belongs there.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@UIUXAmeer @naval True. Maybe that's why these sayings get passed down. They wait for us to catch up.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@Rainmaker1973 Watching this, it feels like the end of an era. Places like this were part of people's everyday lives for decades, and now that's just gone.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@fabuliciouso @naval Glad it showed up at the right time. Honestly, it's hard for me too. Good luck 🙏

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

Honestly, it depends a lot on the town. Many towns here have their own "akiya bank" (a list of empty houses), and some offer support for repairs or moving in. The rules are different everywhere, so it's worth checking each town's website.

As for ghosts, I can't promise anything 😂

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@robodadg @naval That's a good way to put it. If everyone can get the same answers, maybe what's left is the time you actually put in.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@SquirrelParty @amelia_tweetz True. Some old houses in the countryside here are really beautiful. It's sad that so many of them are just left empty.

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

Honestly, I've been wondering the same thing.

In the past, you had to learn on the job, because there was no other way. Now information is one search or one AI question away. So sometimes I ask myself if this saying is outdated.

I don't have an answer yet. What do you think three years gives you now?

[Rei 玲 🇯🇵 @ReiOfJapan7]

@S_Wong17 Thank you! Glad it resonated 😊