This is exaggerated but more or less correct. Depends on the country. You can live in an expat bubble but the downside is that people leave all the time. And you will never be national local but after long enough you can be city local if that makes sense to you. Requires actually acclimating, learning the language and implicit norms etc. I'm not even remotely there yet but living in Shanghai beats living in Ireland.
It was in a sense a generalization to shed light on a larger point in that acclimating to cultures isn't about you, it's about the people who are a part of the culture accepting you.
I also don't want to discourage anyone from leaving their culture to try something new. It's an amazing truly eye opening experience.
I truly don't get the hype about that movie. They definitely got the visuals right, but a lot of it felt "off". Quite a few of the cultural stereotypes were awkwardly over-played too.
Also, Japan is really a different bird when it comes to integration. Not all countries have the same jarring and visceral division between foreigners and local society.
It feels "off" because it's strange for Americans, who grow up in a culture that is made up of immigrants to understand that cultures with centuries of history aren't very accepting of people who are different.
Don't get me wrong, the international community is very accepting, even loving. But when you get to actual nationals, other than a few exceptions, you'll never be truly accepted.
> It feels "off" because it's strange for Americans, who grow up in a culture that is made up of immigrants to understand that cultures with centuries of history aren't very accepting of people who are different.
I lived there for a few years as a teenager, and didn't really have an experience that jived with the general atmosphere depicted in the movie. YMMV, I suppose.
Come now, Japan is by some distance the most xenophobic first world country. If you look Asian, learn to speak Japanese very well, adopt a Japanese name and citizenship you can integrate but those are all necessary conditions.
On the overplaying the foreignness people on their first sojourn in a really foreign country do the tourist goggling all the time. One needs a lot of foreign travel experience to start treating it as just some more different shit.
That's not always true, or maybe I'm just weird. I admit, there's a lot of feeling out of the loop with friends in a different country, speaking a different language, but it's not forever. (And no, I'm not living in one of those American colonies that always seem to form either ;)
Watch the move "Lost in Translation"
If you can deal with forever being isolated, even with friends, then by all means live overseas.
You will always be an outsider, no matter how acclimated you become. If you're ok with that, then you'll be fine.
Otherwise, stick to America, it really is an awesome country to live in.