Hi guys, I'm in Japan

[Thoth 0]

No, I'm not Asian, zero Asian blood, in fact. I'm mixed with a whole bunch of stuff, but basically half white/black. I've gotten people in Japan and LA asking if I'm Egyptian, European, Mexican, Morrocan...people are all over the place when they guess.

 

About Koreans, one of my teachers here is actually full-blooded Korean, but was born in Japan. She had to go through years of hardship to be able to be considered a real citizen here. She speaks no Korean, and doesn't consider herself tied to that country at all, but because of what she says was discrimination in trying to become a citizen, she really dislikes this country and wants to leave. It was a pretty strong way to start off a seminar class here, with only 2 foreign students besides myself. The Japanese students in general don't say much in their classes; they're trained to just sit and listen, so they don't get the ability to speak their mind. I don't think they really get the ability to gather their thoughts enough to put themselves in a position to speak their mind, either.

 

With that, there's an actual Japanese term that I forgot, which describes the action of thinking one way, but acting another. I know that's basically hypocrisy, but this term relates to tolerating foreigners, pretending to welcome them, but inside resenting them. I'm sure that relates to the not speaking their mind thing, and overall just avoiding causing trouble. But I can't say that I've really had bad experiences here. There are the looks and stares that any non-Asian foreigner would get, but not all of them are out of dislike. I've had a group of strangers on the train, from a different school, start talking to me in English and complimenting me out of nowhere. I think it's otherwise very rare for a Japanese to approach a complete stranger; the fact that they get to speak English almost puts them in another world.

 

For the most part, the Japanese here who have studied abroad, and learned other languages, English or not, are the ones that will reach out and welcome different people to their country. They're the ones that. when they see foreigners on the street, are more likely to ignore them like they would any other passerby, as opposed to blankly staring or whispering to their friends. I guess it's easier to have a good experience here; the welcoming people will let you know it, organizing all of the parties and free tours for foreigners that are so common, and the rest will just keep to themselves. Then, of course there are those that are attracted to foreigners, and have no real problem with them.

 

In closing, my banter about the Ducks in the hockey threads is no more annoying than giving yourself the name "Cock Ring Warehouse."

 

The terms you're looking for might be "honne" and "tatemae". The thing you say vs the thing you do.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Yeah, those are exactly right, thanks. One website says tatemae is "face; official stance; public position or attitude (as opposed to private thoughts)," and honne is "real intention; motive."

[Star Ocean 3 0]

You know that are some people that just stayed locked in their room/apartment? Or if you just have a lazy day, and do nothing all day. Since you're just vegetating in your room, if someone opens your door, the first thing that will happen to them is a wall of YOU swarming their senses. All of your collected odors will just unleash on that person.

 

That's what it's like in Kyoto in warm weather. The difference is that when you leave your room, and go outside, it's just like entering a capsule of all the sweat and fungus everyone else in the city has collected that day. Los Angeles is hot, but dry heat, and the worst you'll get is heat stroke or skin cancer from the sun ruthlessly beating down on you all day. Yes, L.A. heat could kill you, but Kyoto makes you want to kill yourself. Kyoto suffocates you with its humidity and makes you tap out.

 

I learned this last summer, as when I first got here I was greeted with what I thought would just be regular heat. After all, I live in the San Fernando Valley, and Kyoto is also a valley. But I found out, with the warm rain three times a week, and the incessant crops of mosquitoes, that this was a different animal. The weather is just warming up now, after being freezing for the past five months. I was actually looking forward to it, too, because I had had an assfull of the cold, already. Now, just looking at my winter clothes makes me ill.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Kyoto: The Anagram Lover's Tokyo

[AnnieEclectic 0]

... I need to be over there. Not for any specific reason other than I might fit in there.

 

Might.

 

Thoth, you can start laughing at me now.

[Guest College Party]

I might fit in there.

It's Japan. Nobody that isn't ethnically and culturally Japanese fits in over there.

 

[AnnieEclectic 0]

I might fit in there.

It's Japan. Nobody that isn't ethnically and culturally Japanese fits in over there.

 

that just fueled a few more inside jokes, thanks!

 

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Yeah, there are quite a few perverts here. Well, there are perverts in any country, it's the difference with Japanese ones that makes it interesting.

In America, you'd just get a hooker or go to a normal strip club. Japan has no-panties cafes with mirrors on the floor, and the porn displays in convenience stores are not discreet at all. I found a DVD of the no panties cafes that I mentioned, but I haven't found an actual cafe. The cover was pretty sickening, though...a maid with a really short skirt, and no panties, of course, pretending to fix a lightbuld while every single man in the cafe leaned over to look up. At least a normal strip club is dark so you only see the women, and not all of the other low-lifes in there with you. These cafes are all lit up; I don't want to look in a mirror while I look at girls.

 

Plus, it's surprising how easy it is to find the stuff. Any normal bookstore will have them on the shelves, and sometimes on display, with no covering or anything. They're not always hidden from the other genres, either. But this is a country that still finds it normal for people to bathe together, even as adults (Onsen). Nudity isn't quite as evil in Japan as it is in America.

 

And, in Japanese fashion, I apologize for the sudden and late response to this thread.

[Broward83 0]

And, in Japanese fashion, I apologize for the sudden and late response to this thread.

 

 

No excuse. Ritual sepuku.

 

 

Edit: Oh.. and have you asked a random girl if you could bang her like a Taiko drum?

[At Home 0]

Did you get jaded after living there for a bit? I was there for a week and saw all that I needed to see, culturally weird wise. Harajuku and Shinjuku really didn't phase me all that much.

 

I think I might move over there next year. It's a pretty cool place, and I don't think it would be that difficult for me to do shit there, considering how fluent I am in Japanese. How's your Japanese doing? Picking up a lot? I found that when I went over there, I got choked up when I tried to speak, because asking for directions would pretty much be the equivalent of going up to someone in America and saying "Why, hello, Mr. Older Gentleman, could you please kindly point me in the nearest direction of the ramen store, please? Thank you so very much, I appreciate your help in these matters." I was taught really formal Japanese. It made it awkward.

 

Why did you choose Kyoto over Tokyo? Was it even a choice?

 

[Star Ocean 3 0]

The only option for me to go to Tokyo was Waseda University, which is way above my level, so I went to Kyoto. I really enjoy Kyoto and the Kansai weather, though, so it's not really a loss. The combination of Osaka and Kobe being close by kinda evens it out. I'm leaving for Tokyo today, and GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!...actually, Disney Sea, which is the sister park to Disneyland here. I think Tokyo Disneyland is really the same as the Anaheim one, so there wouldn't be much point in going there.

 

I don't think I can get jaded. Or maybe I'm so jaded I don't realize it. All I know is that I still get confused when people talk about LA being a city of fake people with no comraderie, though I've never noticed that myself despite living there forever. I love big crowds, and the absolute swarm you get at Shibuya is great for me. Japan is a country of extremes, almost in a paradoxical way. You get the weirdest fashions, usually warped visions of Western styles, and that's right aside the subtlest tastes and flavors probably more than any other human society has acheived.

 

But yeah, I think just half a year here improved my Japanese more than a year of lessons in the US. Though with approaching people cold, it's the opposite for me. I'd be a lot shyer talking to strangers in English, but with the novelty of speaking a different langauge, I'll say anything. I don't like all the layers of formal speech, though. You go from just conjucating a word differently, to an entire different vocabulary when you're speaking really politely. I can complain about that later, though.