Much of the view of foreigners here can be attributed not just to social media, but also to the main news media. When you here ○×国籍の… (a … of XYZ nationality), because of being preconditioned by the frequency of such news in the major media, it is safe to think that you are going to hear a report of a crime. Where are the stories about the more common foreigners not doing things to get them in such news stories?
My experience with recent foreign workers here has been different.
The young woman who helped us change our smartphone plans recently was from Nepal. She handled the rather complex transaction in very good Japanese, as efficiently and competent as Japanese staff member could have been. The only clue that she was not 100% culturally native was when she referred to us as お父さん and お母さん. We thought that was cute and didn’t have a problem with it, even though she was a bit young to be even our daughter.
Language is a major problem for the majority of foreign workers. If your daily environment is mostly dealing with a compatriot intermediary or you don’t otherwise need Japanese to work—this is apparently the case with many foreign workers here—you will be less incentivized to learn Japanese.
Just some thoughts from this very non-recent arrival—50 years ago is not very recent, and cannot lay claim to being a “real” expat.
