Why Are Japanese People Drawn to Filipinos Who “Wing It Through Life”?—Disgust as the Flip Side of Envy

I sometimes watch videos by a Japanese YouTuber who lives in the Philippines.

The videos humorously present the local people’s casual attitude toward rules and lack of planning.

They do not arrive at the agreed time. They show no gratitude even when someone else picks up the bill. They spend money as soon as they receive it. Even if they have nothing left for tomorrow’s living expenses, they prioritize enjoying today.

Stories like these match the image many Japanese people have of Filipinos, and they have become popular content.

As I watch, I cannot help thinking:

“If they dislike it so much, why don’t they just go back to Japan?”

And yet, even as I think that, I keep watching the videos myself.

Why?

Am I simply looking down on Filipinos and enjoying a sense of superiority?

I suspect another emotion is hidden beneath the surface.

Envy.

Japanese People Are Tired of Having to Live “Properly”

In Japan, people are expected to do everything properly.

Be on time. Keep your promises. Do not inconvenience others. Plan your work carefully and save for the future.

All of these are admirable habits.

They help make Japanese society orderly, convenient, and safe.

But behind them lies intense pressure to be responsible at all times.

Make a mistake at work and you will be blamed. Arrive late and you must apologize. Hear that you do not have enough money for retirement and you immediately start worrying that you need to save more now.

It is as if we are constantly managing the present for the sake of the future.

To Japanese viewers living under that pressure, the lives of the Filipinos in these videos seem like another world.

When money comes in, spend it. When there is fun to be had, enjoy it. Think about tomorrow when tomorrow arrives.

By Japanese standards, this is hardly a commendable way to live.

And yet, there is something enviable about it.

They casually step over the rules that we are desperately trying to obey.

Japanese People Have Always Loved “Irresponsible” Characters

Come to think of it, Japan has a long tradition of treating carefree, irresponsible characters as beloved sources of comedy.

The classic example is Hitoshi Ueki, a Japanese comedian and actor.

As epitomized by the line “I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stop” from his comic song Sudara-bushi, he played an irresponsible, smooth-talking salaryman and delighted audiences during Japan’s era of rapid economic growth.

Japanese people were working ferociously at the time.

Perhaps that was precisely why Ueki’s cheerful ability to dodge both work and responsibility felt so exhilarating.

Another example is Junji Takada, a Japanese comedian and television personality.

Known as the “irresponsible man,” he makes careless remarks and gets laughs by going along with whatever feels right in the moment.

In reality, however, both Hitoshi Ueki and Junji Takada are entertainers with a highly professional approach to their work.

In other words, their irresponsibility is a performance created with great skill by fundamentally serious people.

That is what makes it interesting.

Japanese people become angry when a genuinely irresponsible person is close to them, yet they are delighted by irresponsible characters on television.

We would never want them as coworkers, but we want them on our screens.

Are We Looking Down on Them, or Do We Envy Them?

I think videos about the loose attitudes of Filipinos have a similar structure.

Viewers laugh and say, “How irresponsible can they be?”

There is probably a sense of Japanese superiority in that laughter too.

We are punctual. We plan our lives. We respect society’s rules.

That is why Japan became a wealthy country—or so the thinking goes.

At the same time, however, another feeling arises.

“How much easier would life be if I could live like that?”

For Japanese people who spend every day worrying about the future, carrying responsibility at work, and even calculating how much they will need for retirement, someone who can laugh without worrying about tomorrow represents the ultimate freedom.

Whether we would actually want to live that way ourselves is another matter.

Running out of savings would be a problem, and we would be angry if someone broke a promise to us.

In the end, we do not want to give up the order and comfort of Japanese society.

But we do want to escape the price we personally pay to maintain that order.

Consuming Other People’s Irresponsibility as Entertainment

That is precisely why these videos are entertaining.

If we ourselves lived irresponsibly, our lives might fall apart. The people around us would criticize us too.

But if we merely watch someone else live that way, we do not have to bear any responsibility.

We can laugh and say, “What can you do with people like that?”

And somewhere in our minds, we are vicariously experiencing a way of life that we could never choose ourselves.

Perhaps the psychology is not so different from laughing at Hitoshi Ueki or Junji Takada.

The more serious the society people live in, the more they are drawn to those who refuse to be serious.

They would be a problem if they were close to us, however.

From a distance, they are perfect.

In the End, Irresponsible People Belong on the Screen

When you think about it, this is remarkably convenient for us.

Japanese people laugh at the freewheeling lives of Filipinos while secretly envying them.

But if such a person became our subordinate or business partner, we would immediately become furious.

We admire irresponsible people, but we absolutely refuse to clean up the mess their irresponsibility leaves behind.

In the end, what Japanese people want is a conveniently irresponsible person who never inconveniences them in any way.