I've lived in tokyo for ~1 year now and have been coming here since early 2015, I have to say the tech community isn't that bad. Granted, one person's experience/ancecdata etc, but I've found it easier to associate with locals.
Usually going to meetups and the like can help quite a bit. There's quite a bit of social context that tends to stem from that.
Like you said, breaking the ice helps a lot. I can imagine it's worse in other industries but tech has by far been the most forgiving.
> Usually going to meetups and the like can help quite a bit.
Selection bias -- you meet people who want to go to meetups. Usually those kinds of meetups are quite small, too; I don't know many Japanese people who'd actually like to go to something like that.
One weird thing is that I have many online Japanese friends who have absolutely ZERO interest in meeting in real life; the gap between virtual and real can be surprisingly strong here.
Yep, covered that right in my reply. I'm aware I have anecdata, not saying otherwise.
I was actually saying tech is a nice bubble, not denying it exists.
I know enough that go that I've formed a nice community. Whether meeting IRL or not, it probably depends on the "kind" of friend you're considered. Japanese folks tend to put their friends in groups.
Usually going to meetups and the like can help quite a bit. There's quite a bit of social context that tends to stem from that.
Like you said, breaking the ice helps a lot. I can imagine it's worse in other industries but tech has by far been the most forgiving.