Working in Japan

I watched this movie yesterday.
The story is about a young Belgian lady who starts work as a translator on a one-year-contract in a large Japanese company. Unfortunately, she quickly starts making "mistakes" with her bosses, and, as a punishment, her bosses then decide to humiliate her. [She eventually spent the last 7 months of her contract cleaning the toilets in her department].
It is a quite extraordinary story - it suggests that Japanese people and European/American people are *so* different, that we cannot (a) understand each other, and (b) cannot work with each other.
I find these ideas quite shocking.
I thought that "people were, well ..., *people*".

The film was based on a *true* story.
The main character in the movie lived in Japan until the age of 5 ( - she was the daughter of a diplomat), and she really loved Japan. This was why she desperately wanted to return to Japan and work there.
Unfortunately, her Japanese colleagues did not love *her*.
After her experiences, she never returned to Japan.


I'll have to spend some time trying to understand just what this means for my own situation.
- Am I wasting my time trying to understand Japan/Japanese people ?
Are Japanese people really *so* different that (a) Europeans cannot understand them, and (b) Japanese people cannot understand Europeans ? [And I'm *not* talking here about a *language problem - this is a *cultural* problem].




***

Last week I went to the Physiotherapist for my "last" visit.
Unfortunately during one of the stretching exercises, I injured my lower-back **again**.
I have now now taken several steps 'backwards", and I will have to continue my visits.
I am quite angry with "the world" about this situation.

***

The Mother of one of my close friends is (slowly) dying of leukaemia - she probably only has several weeks/a few months to live.
My friend has taken 6 months leave from her job in order to be with her Mother in the last months of her life, and she will also try to stop her Father from dying of a "broken heart" after the death of his wife (and his best friend).

Death makes me very, very sad.
i know that *everyone* dies "sometime" ( = eventually), but there is still such an *enormous* amount of PAIN when someone dies.

***
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