Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

I was wondering how people here have been influenced by Japan. Obviously we're all into video games. What else about Japan has touched you in some way?

Japanese culture has been in my life from an early age. My dad bought me an NES when I was maybe five, and that's also around the time I first started taking Karate. Also, though I didn't know it at the time, a lot of the cartoons I watched (Voltron, Transformers) were actually Japanese.

When I got to college I started taking classes on Japan. Even though I love modern Japan, college really increased my appreciation for the depth of the country's past. I learned a lot about the ancient history, early works of cultural significance like Tale of Genji and No Theatre, and the religious mixture of Shinto/Buddhism. I also took a year of the language, but it was during my senior year so we barely got into Kanji. I hope to continue it at some point.

As far as I know, I don't have a drop of Japanese blood in me. But I've always felt a very strong affinity towards the country and in some way connected to its culture. I'm sure that makes sense to people other than me.

This post has been edited by KefkaLives on 25th March 2005 23:02

They make cool video games. Aside from that, I don't have any particularly compelling reason to feel an affinity towards them.

--------------------

Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Considering I'm half Japanese, I'd say the culture of Japan has influenced not only me, but my entire family, quite a bit.

Not all console games are japanese.

I think japanese culture is horribly, horribly overrated. It's just another culture, like german culture or french. The only thing it has going for itself is a very technologically-oriented economy and anime, the latter of which has become so terribly overrated once it hit the west that one can only weep at it. Watch: "Anime is nothing more than crappy animated cartoons." Give it ~5 posts and a fanboy will get all worked up over the statement, even if it's merely an out of context thing, and will post a rebuttal of sorts (most likely defensive but not impolite, knowing these boards.)

It's hard to be an active part of the internet without running into severe japanophiliacs.

To avoid straying off-topic, I'd say many of the imported material that has become mainstream here in america are things from Japan I've been in contact with. I used to play console games very actively, many of which were developped in Japan. This has brought about an acute interest in game developement at a very, very early age (4!), which led to my learning how to program a few years later, and down the road, ended up making a full-time professional programmer out of me. That's quite a stretch, however.

Personally, I feel more attracted to german culture, mainly because most of my time is spent listening to german rock (rammstein, eisbrecher, e nomine...) and the language as a whole has caught my interest. Very little else. I know about as much about german history as I do about making meth, and it remains a mere curio to me.

--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

I liked always japanese culture, principally through videogames, when I was kid I had the Ninja Ryukenden series (Ninja gaiden) and I saw the cool letters and want to know what they say..oh and most of the "cartoons" I saw when I was kid was actually anime, like Mazinger,Robotech , G-force , Heidi, Samurai Pizza Cats, blah blah...well as a kid, I obviously was influenced by anime and videogames (sadly..today is the same story )..and now I like most of the animes out there and I got some japanese videogames.,with the hope someday I can fully understand them....I´m learning japanese on my own since kid, so Japan culture has it influences on me, as you can see, and they are not like other cultures!

--------------------

"Its no cheating if you don't get caught"

I like swords, and Eastern weaponary has always fascinated me more than Western; I prefer katanas and naginatas to broadswords and axes. Plus, some of their mythology is pretty neat, as is some of their martial arts.

I would not call myself an anime fan, but rather a fan of animation; it just so happens that I like more Japanese cartoons than I do American, mainly because they take the industry much more seriously and delve into things American cartoons still won't touch with a 10-foot pole. I am dismayed, however, that many American cartoons are trying to be anime-like; those, in my opinion, tend to be the worst of both cultures. Though American cartoons are fewer and less varied, I have to say the true gems of Amercian cartoons usually outshine the true gems of anime: Kino's Journey, Dragon Half, Inu-Yasha, Trigun, Tenchi, Love Hina, etc. are all very entertaining, but none of them will ever top Futurama in my opinion. On the other hand, I rank Cowboy Bebeop as the best show ever made, and I'm a fan of Utena largely because of how crazy it is: no American animation studio would even try to do something as outright tripped out as Utena. Either way, I like anime, but I'm definitely not a fan boy.

Also, I consider sequential art (comic books) to be the ultimate form of storytelling; I enjoy many good American comics, but I can say comics will never dominate the market like they do in Japan.

Speaking of comics, my own artwork has been adopting a Manga style to it; this was never my actual intent, and for a while I heavily resisted using the style; however, I find its a style I can work with much easier than trying to adapt the heavier, bolder styles of American artwork. Both are great, and both influence my art, but I'm finding manga style to be much less of a headache to use as a base.

While I suppose Japanese culture interests me more in general than any other culture, that's not actually saying much; I'm not much interested in other cultures beyond their mythologies and ancient folklore, and I guess the main reason Japanese mythology interests me more now, is cuz I grew up on Greek/Roman and Asgardian myth, so I already know plenty about those. It might be nice to visit Japan, but I think I'd be more interested in visiting Ireland first (cuz I'm Irish).

So I guess mythology and artwork/comic styles are the most influence Japan has on me personally.

--------------------

And behold, I saw a Pale Gaming System, and the name of he who rode it was Squaresoft, and Enix followed him.

There are many unique and intriguing things about Japan. It's remarkable how far the country has come towards becoming a modern economical powerhouse since World War II. The quality of their product has definately caught our attention in a major way, which is what makes us wonder how they do things over there. I don't think US culture has ever had much exposure to Japanese culture until recent times, whereas cultures from European nations have always been well known. Now that Japan has announced it's presense throughout the modern world we have taken notice. With animated entertainment Japan has a very effective way of displaying elements of their culture to western audiences. It has caught on and now many young people have great interest and respect for Japan.

For me I just pay attention to their video games and their cars... not much else.

--------------------

FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I'm a fan of all cultures. I consider myself a bit of an amateur historian and like to learn as much about everything in every country as I can.

I do like anime.
I HAVE read the occasional Magna. Just one or two though.
Japanese video games have a tendency to out class american ones.

Beyond that I tend to classify people too in depth with the culture, or as Silverlance so bluntly put it "fan boys" as Japanophiles. People who attempt to be assimilate themselves with being japanese and have no roots in the culture ancestor wise bother me. And I tell them. There's nothing wrong with looking at a culture and saying'- Hey, thats a cool aspect- but when you try to take on an entirely new culture than your own it bothers me. You were raised american. Nobody says you have to go mainstream american- Personally I don't care for that culture either- but don't try to go Japanese either in an effort to be unique.

There's a kid at my school that wants to be japanese. He even has Japanese for Dummies books and asks people if they wanna hear their name in japanese and other lame stuff. It bugs me.

I'm a bigger fan of my heritage. Irish culture is quite fascinating. And yes there's more to it than drinking

--------------------

If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

I've always been interested in the warrior society aspect of Japan's past, even long before I joined the military. But aside from the obsession with honor comes the other fascinating part of Japanese culture: the obsession with perfection, and not just in war. The aforementioned electronics, education, business, even the fishers aspire to excel and perform the best job they can, to the level of fanaticism. The biggest problem with that is one America suffers from as well: a HUGE ego. Also, it makes the society easier to manipulate, as in the case of the military governemnt prior to and during WWII.
In any case, I've always enjoyed video games and anime, but I wouldn't label myself a fanboy (well, maybe at one point for FFVII, but that's it). My artistic method (such as it is) draws heavily from Japanese comics; such as the sweatdrop and the exclamation mark getting heavy use in my comic series (titled Cpl Kurtz and the Tweakish Gentleman). Martial arts is also now a larger part of my life, and the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program takes a lot from Asian fighting styles.

But I could give you a list of how every other nation on the planet has influenced me (except maybe France, the only thing I get from them are bad jokes and wine). I could rant and rave for an hour on my Slavic (Russian) roots.

--------------------

M777: lightweight 155mm howitzer
3/11 rules over all artillery!

Modern and traditional Japan are fascinating in their own ways, much as any other culture. As displayed in this topic, when people think of traditional Japan they think of katanas, samurais, honor, etc. etc., while today a lot of us associate Japan (of course) with video games and anime. What's more fascinating to me, though, is how quickly pop culture has risen in Japan. Seemingly overnight, Japan has created its own Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, even Beatles, and let's not forget J-Pop! (on second thought, let's forget it)

I've also been following the J-League over the past couple of years (Japan's soccer league). While their national team doesn't even rank in the middle tier by world standards, they're improving. Hopefully this means that soccer will pick up more in all of Asia, thus enabling Asia to put out high-caliber teams on the world stage (although I must say South Korea put on quite a show in '02)

--------------------

SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

How Japan affects me
-I love video games, from Japanese, US, and French developers alike
-I love cartoons and I like some anime (namely Bebop, Trigun, Kenshin, Inu-Yasha, and Outlaw Star series plus Ghibli movies). Nine times out of ten I prefer US-produced cartoons (ie Pixar, Dreamworks, Disney, Bluth, DC/Marvel action 'toons).
-I like some Japanese music (J-rock/pop in small doses, game tunes in medium doses)

How it doesn't
-I don't like sushi
-I don't read manga
-I'm a mix of Irish, Eastern European, and South American, so no direct cultural connection

--------------------

this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

[begin rant]

First, I'm not a fanboy. Not that I ever was. Not sure why I'm starting with this piece of information, but I've gotta start somewhere.

I've been playing videogames ever since, at around age four, I received the gift of Nintendo and Super Mario Bros. from my parents. Of course, I knew nothing about what Japan was back then. And nothing about videogames ever got me too interested either (I had SMB1/Duck Hunt, Metroid, and SMB3). I sampled some other games through cheap rental, including Looney Tunes, Paperboy 2, Duck Tales, Mega Man 4 and 5, and Adventure Island 2.

Of course, then, I moved onto the Super Nintendo, and got games like Super Mario World, Mega Man X, Super Mario All-Stars, SMW2, SMRPG, Donkey Kong Country.... A game like SMRPG got me really into it, and my mom, when criticizing my excessive interest in a game, sometimes referred (half-jokingly) to the Japanese controlling my brain through videogames.

Me being ethnically Chinese, my mom dislikes Japan. She doesn't hate them, of course; she has no problem with me watching Japanese cartoons or playing Japanese games or with eating at Japanese restaurants or buying/driving Japanese cars. (Actually, my dad used to complain that Japanese cars were of quality inferior to that of American cars, but purely by their design.) The way she dislikes Japan is more historical--being born right after World War II, she kinda holds a small grudge against them for doing crap to and taking advantage of the Chinese, 'back in the day'.

One day, of course, I discovered anime. Whether or not Voltron actually counted is still up to debate, in my opinion, since the animation style isn't quite typical of anime (or at least modern anime, as I've heard), but it formally started with Pokemon. Of course, I'd seen anime before that, I just didn't care much for it. However, I liked the Pokemon TV show (it has, sadly, since then become lame). And to be honest, I'd never had much of a problem with the anime style, up to a certain extent. And I had heard that various interesting shows, such as Eagle Riders, were also anime.

So come high school, I actually wondered if I'd like to join the Anime Club (officially known as the Japanese Cultural Club). I actually stopped by a few times, but noticed something else, which I hadn't discovered before (since I had been homeschooled before then): 'mystics'. By this I mean people involved in non-mainstream-culture and counter-culture interests. Goths were a part of this group, of course, but anime fangroups more likely produced brightly-colored dyed hair, strange choices of clothing, and of course, fanboys and fangirls. Basically, a bunch of people I felt I had some connection to, but whom I also felt unable to understand. (To this day, I still don't get them.) This includes those strange-personality people like one of my floormates in my dorm, who is a huge anime fan, and sports a sarcastic, nasty, and somewhat elitist attitude to just about everyone. (Plus e-mails describing herself as an "angry demon-girl" if someone didn't vote on the t-shirt design poll.)

Of course, over time, I discovered more of what anime (which I originally pronounced 'a-NEEM') really was. I realized that I wasn't really interested in it, and that my liking of certain anime shows was pretty much limited to those certain shows. I might like the drawing style in some instances (I've long since gotten sick of it), but it doesn't really compel me to liking it.

As for manga, I was never a comic book reader anyways, so I don't care.

As for superdeformed characters and weird cutesy characters (think Sailor Moon, humongous eyes in the shape of hearts, mouth wide open in mad joy, hands held together, the entire person moving upwards in the direction of her line of site, and thinking about Tuxedo Mask), I was never a fan of them. I liked some degree of realism in cartoons (ironically), and this kind of exaggeration just couldn't be farther from that. Which is partially why I preferred a show like the New Adventures of Voltron over a show like Pokemon (no, not the Pokemon, but stuff like Brock's love-intoxicated expressions...). Conclusion: No, I can't stand things cuter than they shoudl be. I'm fine with tonberries, moogles, lizards, and young children. But this kind of art style just goes way out of my taste.

I most recently realized that it was simply true that, given my interests (think science, politics, philosophy, and fantasy, as opposed to sports, love stories and sex in general, James Bond, reality TV, and soap operas), I was more likely to find a randomly-chosen anime interesting than I was to find a randomly-chosen American cartoon interesting. The reason why I might like more anime-like cartoons than American cartoons (I especially dislike Family Guy, plus some characters from The Simpsons and Futurama) is because my interests are more likely to match, not because I prefer the art style. Of course, this is all icing when considering that I usually don't watch much TV anyways.

Of course, being a 'sane mystic', so to speak, I never became obsessed with Japanese culture (I know some people who are, trust me), or with pretty much any other culture. I eat some sushi (but I refuse to eat raw meat), and I have my favorites among Japanese dishes just as I do among other cultures' dishes. I like miso soup, but that goes along with liking other soups such as New England clam chowder. I have no intention at all to learn Japanese in the near future, and I don't think that Japan or Japanese culture is especially cool. To me, it's...just another interesting foreign culture. (And my favorite brand of vehicle is Volkswagen, for the sheer reason of how un-'cool' the Jetta looks.) And Yamato Man of Mega Man 6 is a pretty cool robot master, but so are Wind Man, and Tomahawk Man, and Charge Man (MM5), etc..

Speaking of language, I thoroughly refuse to play through any videogame with extensive text (such as an RPG) which has its text in Japanese. I will only play it if I have it on rom and can patch a translation, or if a translated version exists. Of course, if the text isn't important, I just kinda...don't care.

About 'fanpersons': Personally, I can tolerate these people, but I generally strongly dislike this attitude. You can probably get a sense of how much I'm like them when I tell you that my favorite character from FFVII is the oft-forgotten Barret Wallace. And I'm not just referring to those extreme cases where I've heard of girls who're convinced that they are pregnant with Inuyasha's babies. There's a whole community of "OMG, sephy is HOT!" out there, and I'm not too friendly to that sentiment. (And I can't think of much else of value to say right here.)

And about hentai (and all other forms of anime-style pornography, whose names I don't quite understand and don't want to understand): just like all other forms of pornography, it goes straight out my door. (This is one reason why I hate rom sites.)

And I'm much more interested in American history than in the history of any other country. Not that I'm narcissistic or self-aggrandizing, but more so that my country's history is more relevant to my life and my surroundings and my peers than is a (literally) more distant history.

So, in conclusion: Japan and Japanese culture aren't really that special to me in any way; I just happen to be interested in some small parts of it.

[end rant]

Note: Will edit if necessary.

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Well,Japan isn't much of an influence upon me. The only thing I get from Japan is videogames and electrical goods: not a fan of Anime, not a fan of Mangas, not a big fan of thier music,not a fan of thier cuisine, and I'm Scottish.

What I am interested in is world politics and history, and Japan is at a major flashpoint: China still has sevre resentment of it over the 2nd World War, as do the Koreas. Coupled with Taiwan and the N. Korean nuclear crisis, Japan is sitting in a tinderbox. but it's not Japan I'm interested in there. It's just next door. It's also not very important to the UK really.

And mostly, my hobbies are from the UK. 40k is made by a Nottingham-based company, freed radical, developers of TimeSplitters (my favourite FPS since Doom) are also Nottingham based, my favourite football team is naturally Scottish, so basically, Japan has not much influence on me.

--------------------

"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

I don't condiser this to be influential on me, but the most interesting period and culture in history to me is the Dark Ages. Medieval society is almost entirely what I read about and wrote about through high school, and still has the most interest to me today. While I watched The Last Samurai, I idly wondered if a company of mounted knights complimented by archers could have took those japanese nancy-boys. *j/k on the nancy boy part, y'all*

--------------------

Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

My interest in Japanese culture definately started with video games and anime. I do enjoy anime a lot but I'm not fanboy. I do find, being almost a soley console-RPG player, that I enjoy the Japanese RPGs better than the American ones. I am interested in the language and would someday like to learn to speak, read, and write it. This is mostly because of importing games and anime that we tend to miss out on. I'm also greatly drawn to cute things and a lot of Japanese culture includes cute little drawings or items.

I'm not obsessed with Japanese culture but sometimes I do wish I could either go there or be Japanese because it is a culture I feel that I identify better with than our melting-pot American culture.

--------------------

Elena Indurain

Currently Playing: Suikoden II

The grass is always greener...



--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Ya my parents also bought me a nes at an early age then up from there you know snes, N64 PSX, PS2 and GC. Still havnt got a X-Box yet but I plan on selling my GC to do so cause I dont play it that much but the only reasoning behind this is that Thief 3 Deadly Shadows and Doom 3 and Halo/Halo2 and Fable ya I think thats the only reason. Oh ya Forgot the handhelds Jus start from the first made cause I've had them all cept DS and PSP and I dont plan on gettin a PSP my friend just brought somthin to my attention cause your just gonna have to restock all of your PS2 games for the PSP.

--------------------

Money is no good unspent.
There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity.

I love Japan. I love the Japanese language. Just about everything about it. While I have never been there, it is on my "To Do (in my lifetime) List". Anyways, Eastern Cultures have always interested me far more than western cultures. Eastern cultures focus much more on spiritualistic aspects than do their western counterparts.

I'd better start before I ramble too much, got homework

Pocky!


My dad's been there tons of times, and always brings back cool stuff.

--------------------

The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

I also saw a lot of stuff from Japan when I was little, but had no idea it was from Japan. Such as video games, Transformers, and the like. I got hooked on this stuff but at the time I had no real interest in Japan or its culture.

Then I saw some anime in its original japanese language. I thought it sounded pretty cool. I just like how spoken Japanese sounds. Just like some people think French, or whatever, sounds romantic, I think Japanese sounds cool. So I wanted to learn some Japanese.

While studying Japanese and watching anime I've gotten exposed to some japanese culture and mythology and spirituality. And I thought this stuff was pretty cool too.

So I guess I'm a japanophile, or whatever. I just love Japan stuff. *shrugs*

--------------------

-- You're Gonna Carry That Weight --

The military past of Japan piques my interest. I'd rather be a Samurai than a U.S. soldier or Marine any day. Japanese art, in my opinion, is one of the best, true art forms outside of the Renaissance or Romantic era.

--------------------

"Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!"
Seifer Almasy


"The most important part of the story is the ending."
Secret Window


"Peace is but a shadow of death."
Kuja

Quote (FabulousFreebird @ 27th March 2005 18:55)

Japanese art, in my opinion, is one of the best, true art forms outside of the Renaissance or Romantic era.

I love Ukiyo-e Woodcut prints, especially Hiroshige. Link

I first learned of this art form in a book I read in SF. Then, when I came back to New York, it so happened they had some of the originals on display in the MET. I was sold.

First off, I would like to say that I will gladly slap anyone who thinks playing video games since they were five means they've had exposure to Japanese culture.

Quote (Silverlance @ 25th March 2005 16:34)

I think japanese culture is horribly, horribly overrated.

Agreed.

I used to be interested in the Samurai aspect because it seemed to parallel Knights, which I already loved. I love noble and honorable virtues, but a closer look at the Samurai code got me running away very quickly. The west has had its share of hypocritical or dishonorable knights, but the Samurai code itself is hypocritical and prejudiced.

Animes are, for the most part, completely stupid. There is the occasional gem, but most of it is unwatchable.

I have recently become a big comic book fan. I reccomend people checking it out, now that what is sometimes called "The Dark Age of Comics" (the '90s) is over. Marvel has been pulling some weird gimmicks, but DC is really fired up, putting out so many phenomenal stories (almost too many at once). There are two comic book stores in my town. One is primarily Comics, with a little (almost none, really) anime, and the other is primarily Anime with a few (but plenty of) comics. I don't go to the anime one. I've probably only bought Inu Yasha toys from there.
And from what I've seen, manga doesn't even compare to comic books (technical and story-wise)

I can't tell the difference between Japanese and American video games, so no biggie for me there.

Quote (MogMaster @ 25th March 2005 21:50)

People who attempt to be  assimilate themselves with being japanese and have no roots in the culture ancestor wise bother me.

And not just Japanese. I see people who've spent their entire lives in Tillman, Florida act like big city "gangstas." There are no gangs within three cities of here.
Something I see that trumps both of the above - New Yorkers (we have alot of those in Florida, for some reason) trying to act Southern. Wearing a Confederate flag and listening to country music isn't going to make you any more Southern than sodomizing yourself with a pinecone will make you Canadian. And for the love of God, STOP WITH THE FREAKING COWBOY HATS.

--------------------

"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Quote (Dark Paladin @ 29th March 2005 02:15)

First off, I would like to say that I will gladly slap anyone who thinks playing video games since they were five means they've had exposure to Japanese culture.

Indeed. Because we all know that playing a game where your karate master who shoots fireballs and does leaping uppercuts is going to teach you what japanese people do in their day-to-day lives, how their beliefs work, and which kind of history they've experienced.

Really, people will go to great lenghts to attempt to associate with something others perceive as cool. Even if there's absolutely no link.

My headphones were made in china; it's a great culture.

--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Aside from the anime and video games, I am really intrigued by their history and art. I love the way some of the old works are done, especially with ink, and also fascinated by Samurai. I mean these warriors took oath on their masters and even killed themselves if ever commanded to do so, now if that isn't loyalty I don't know what is. I myself have a Bokken at my disposal, so if I ever need to defend my room from the evil warlords of Texas I'll be ready. And let's not forget their modern merchandise, which at sometimes is wierd, they have this gum called Black Jack (If I remember correctly) which has Caffeine in it, I guess for that workaholic on the go. Plus you gotta love a culture which has Hello Kitty Toilet Paper and Pocky (IT'S A DELICIOUS DECORATION CAKE ON A STICK!)

This post has been edited by Bum's Rush on 29th March 2005 14:10

--------------------

The Cait Sith Avatar has Returned!

Check out my DeviantArt profile! ....If you don't mind that is

Quote (Silverlance @ 25th March 2005 16:34)

I think japanese culture is horribly, horribly overrated. It's just another culture, like german culture or french. The only thing it has going for itself is a very technologically-oriented economy and anime, the latter of which has become so terribly overrated once it hit the west that one can only weep at it. Watch: "Anime is nothing more than crappy animated cartoons." Give it ~5 posts and a fanboy will get all worked up over the statement, even if it's merely an out of context thing, and will post a rebuttal of sorts (most likely defensive but not impolite, knowing these boards.)

Yeah, there are some people who are too into the culture. There are some Americans who are too into British culture, too. Maybe not as many. There are some who will tell you that the only way to travel is on a Harley, that the only way to play games is on a Sony console, that the only real sport is American Football. There are zealots for every fandom, and while you may be exposed to more Japanfans on a daily basis, I think you still overestimate the number of drooling idiots relative to those who have a legitimate respect for the country.

Anyway, I do have a lot of respect for Japan. I think their attention to detail is obscenely sharp, which I love. Their history is pretty interesting, at the very least as an analogue to the history of the western world. Their aesthetic is and has been wonderful - I too am a big fan of ukiyo-e, particularly Ando Hiroshige and to a lesser extent Hokusai. (I wasn't that impressed by the Met's collection, though - maybe KefkaLives got to see a temporary exhibition or I just didn't find it all). Their architecture, both feudal and modern, is unique and beautiful; additionally, their post-modern architects are a brilliant blend of minimalist and technological. And if Isamu Noguchi wasn't awesome, you wouldn't see his bloody coffee table in every commercial and TV show. Nobody really BUYS it any more. It's just EVERYWHERE already.

OK, enough ranting about Noguchi. The point is, there's a lot to respect about Japan, both in tradition and in modernity. I'm sure the fanboys you hate so will either come to acknowledge this as they mature or will move on to something else later. There's no point in complaining, because a) it's nothing so terrible as it's been made out to be and judging based upon the most vocal and most partisan of any particular group is just as much a hackjob as *being* one of the partisans.

Oh. And I've watched one anime series in my life, never imported anything directly from Japan (except for work-related stuff), and have never tasted Pocky. Take that into account as you (the impersonal you) analyze my opinions.


--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Dark Paladin @ 29th March 2005 02:15)

I used to be interested in the Samurai aspect because it seemed to parallel Knights, which I already loved. I love noble and honorable virtues, but a closer look at the Samurai code got me running away very quickly. The west has had its share of hypocritical or dishonorable knights, but the Samurai code itself is hypocritical and prejudiced.

foolishness. you might be interested in knowing that many, many samurai, with the advent of mêzi, dropped their swords and turned to what they believed to be the next closest thing to the busido -- Christianity (in fact, even before the restoration, quite a few samurai, esp those from kyûsyû, were Christian converts). with their ways of life stripped of them and their swords confiscated, samurai found the same honour and compassion in the worldview of the Christ that they saw in their own. in fact, many of the post-mêzi japanese ex-samurai Christians who came to the us were disillusioned with the type of "Christianity" they would often encounter here -- a self-serving, hypocritical Christianity that is still characteristic of contemporary american Christians today (mostly due to observed instances of racism). not to say there weren't/aren't just as many japanese Christians in the same vein, as i'm sure there are. nor to say that all samurai were good -- there was no dearth of hypocritical girl-rapers and peasant-abusers. but it is foolish of you to dismiss the samurai as dishonourable or prejudiced.

all being said, japanese history is really the only thing that draws me to japan, and to the study of the language. i like some anime, but it's rather the study of the language that keeps me watching those, because i've probably seen more bad anime than good anime, and there is a lot of REALLY bad ULTRApopular stuff out there i can't even go near (eggs naruto).

Take a moment to imagine a world without Kareoke. Now go get yourself a tissue and dry your eyes.

But seriously Japanese culture is cool I guess. We all like ninjas and samurai, and we all like Final Fantasy video games. And quite a few of us like anime.

But hopefully none of us like Super Milk-Chan...cause that show is just messed up.

--------------------

"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

What's not to love about Super Milk Chan? Super Deformed Ultra Crazy Anime goodness at it's best.

--------------------

The Cait Sith Avatar has Returned!

Check out my DeviantArt profile! ....If you don't mind that is

There's a blog-type thing here (not viewable now, but hopefully soon) about an American man who is teaching in Japan. It gives a humourous portrayal of what it's like to be a teacher over there. Posting it here because I thought people might be interested in seeing what schools are like there. At least, from the experience of this one teacher.

I think that people are able to draw little bits and pieces of "Japanese culture" from anime, manga and video games, and are attracted to that. Things like going to a shrine on New Year's Day (or Eve, whichever it is) and putting money in a well for good luck, the perceived extreme politeness in speech, all the myths and legends, the clothing (from kimonos to lolita style, though I'm sure most of the young population wears clothing not too different from North America), all the people with incredible martial arts/magical girl abilities (oh, wait...). However, if someone was to look at Canadian/American culture from Japanese, Korean or Chinese eyes, they would probably see all the bits that we don't see, and think it's a novel and cute culture, too.

I don't see anything wrong with liking myths and legends from other cultures, or liking the romantic view of the Samurai that the Western culture sees, but people need to realize that what they're seeing is coloured, missing information, or completely made up. You can take a European knight and make him out to be Lancelot, but that doesn't mean he existed or that all knights are noble, beautiful, brave and strong like he was supposed to be.

That said, I'd love to visit Japan someday. I've heard great things from people I know who have had the opportunity to visit, and who were born and raised there.

--------------------

I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.