Does Japan suit Aspie sufferers?

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I have been wondering about this,my asperger's is officially diagnosed,my question is does Japan suit people who have aspergers?

I expect it would suit quite a few, but only based on the fact it appeals to me personally and there's a big gaming/nerd community and I associate it with stuff like Pokemon. I guess I don't really know.

I suspect that the cities, especially Tokyo, would be rather overwhelming.

Out in the countryside might be kind of nice, though.

I would say: yes.

A nice thing about being a westerner in Japan is that one is always perceived as an outsider - a gaijin. This beats hell out of being perceived as an outsider in NT society.

And Japan has linguistic and social constructs that can be learnt, which is a further advantage.

This spoken from a mere 6 weeks in Tokyo 25 yrs ago, and i have no idea how Japan treats their own aspies...

I'm a little too old to be thinking about relocating, still, the prospect that Japan may be more conducive to the mental health of aspies is a welcome development.

I for one could probably survive Tokyo. I like small spaces, bleeding edge gadgets and fast cars.

You can't get better obsessions than these

I wouldn't be able to deal with the population density or the excess of seafood.
I not only dislike eating seafood, I can't stand the smell either.
I find the smell of seafood as repulsive as some find the smell of cigarettes.

I suspect this would also apply for us Asperger's sufferers as well in Japan:

http://inclusion-international.org/act- ... -in-japan/

While I'd love to visit Japan I don't think I could handle public transportation there. They literally pack people on to the trains, you are pressed up against strangers on every side. The very thought terrifies me. I am one of the aspies that can't be touched by strangers.

Ever been to Shinjuku Station in Rush Hour,its fun

This sounds fairly promising, but it also brings to mind the question for autistics who might consider settling down in Japan permanently: how they would deal with the hierarchic structures and the subtleties of non-verbal communication in Japan?

I know it's not the same thing, but I'm Eurasian having grown up with the Asian side of my family in which I function fine and I'm familiar with the general code... but I've been among some Asian crowds where the whole 'be subtle and indirect' thing was valued so highly that I was like a bull in a porcelain store.

I bring up the hierarchy because many WP members (me included) have expressed that they have issues with authority, even when living in Western countries.

I have severe issues with authority figures. I don't despise them. I do, however, try my best to avoid them as much as possible.

I also couldn't do the congested, pack 'em all in, type of commute. I'm claustrophobic and I always need to have some escape route around me.

I didn't act up while I was in the psych hospital because the thought of being straight-jacketed repelled me.

Always looks too busy when I see pictures/videos of it. Doubt there's much in the way of owning lots of rural land either (bigger property = people are further away).

Not usually, unless the Aspie has done something really bad.

Based on what I know I doubt it, but I suppose it would depend on the Aspie and what they're expecting to find. Just going there for video games, anime, etc, or to get away seems like a bad idea, because any social difficulties are probably only going to be magnified.

East Asian cultures tend to be less direct in speech than the US and rely more on interpretation and nonverbal communication. Japan also has a collectivist culture, which is the opposite of places like the US, and there are things which are innocent elsewhere but rude in Japan.

Last edited by coffeebean on 26 Dec 2013, 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

Japan has a upside,Aspergers sufferers are also pretty much protected