Tofugu.com – Wonky Japanese Language and Culture

I know this is coming kind of late, but I sort of forgot to post this earlier D:

Apparently, somewhere in Nagoya, 外人さん (Mr. Foreigner) “costumes” consisting only of a nose and a pair of eyes are being sold. Not the most politically incorrect costume I’ve ever seen, but I thought it might be good for a chuckle (hopefully). Which makes me wonder, what do you perceive as the attitude Japanese people have toward foreigners? Here’s a little blurb from Wikipedia (the source of nearly all hastily gotten knowledge):

By global standards, Japan is highly homogenous ethnically. Thus, there are some issues which many non-Japanese find insensitive. The debate over these issues parallel the debate over political correctness in the West.

Anyway, you guys, have a good night, whatever you may be doing. We (the Tofugu team) probably won’t be doing much in the way of tricking or treating, so maybe we’ll finish up those other articles we’ve got waiting in the wings.

Source: merefflorescence

** 11/2 Edit: It’s not that Japanese don’t like foreigners. In my opinion, I would say that (generally speaking, of course) they merely find non-Japanese people to be intrinsically different from them. Not that foreigners aren’t human or anything, they’re just different. I think, perhaps, that it has something to do with the idea of uchi (内 or “inside”) and soto (外 or “outside”), too. Maybe we’ll explain this concept further in a different article, if anyone’s interested. Also, I feel that Japanese have a better sense of racial humor in general. They’re not too sensitive about that kind of thing. **

There are way too many people out there with utopian views of the Japanese nation, and we aren’t here to perpetuate anyone’s fantasy. Although Japan is pretty freakin’ sweet (I think we all pretty much agree), it’s still a country full of problems, just like anywhere else. And now, without further adieu…

This is my first article written for this blog, and it’s both depressing and late. But nevertheless, here it is. I’m a friend of Koichi from his college, but as you probably have haven’t noticed by now, I obscured my face; there’s a kind of virtue in being Anonymous, in that you can speak with confidence, yet never be too conceited about your work. Or it could be that I’m just shy and I don’t like showing my face on the net, but think up your own explanation. Maybe I’m ugly, on a Lovecraftian scale, and am trying to protect your sanity in a blessed act of mercy. Enough with the introductions, let’s start the article. Read more…

The title’s not so clever, I know, but there’s really no need to be witty, here—the picture says it all. Now, I know everyone and their mother has seen this, but I just have to say, this may be the absolute worse placement of an opening/entrance in inflatable bouncer history:

How could anyone have thought that this was a good idea? Couldn’t they have made a regular-looking doorway instead of a flap that needs to be held open by two people? I’m really not trying to be crude, here, but I’m just so mind-boggled by this decision. What do you guys think?

Source: おはようwwwお前らwww

**10/27: Edited out some of the questions that where more or less redundant**

If you’ve browsed Tofugu Flickr at all, you’ve probably seen this picture of Nissan’s 2005 concept car, the Pivo. It’s stout, round body makes it incredibly cute, like something a young Tokyo-ite would slap a Hello Kitty decal on and carry around in her over-sized purse. The car runs off of a lithium-ion batter (like many electronics now days), which makes this a more environmentally-friendly vehicle, as well. The most awesome thing about this car, though is the fact its body pivots (get it?) on the spot—a full 360 degrees—effectively eliminating the need for pesky reversing, as it allows you to face/drive in any direction you like. If you can’t quite envision this, please check out this video. It’s quite cool to see the Pivo in action… but now that I watch this again, it also seems incredibly lazy. All that work just to save yourself the hassle of driving backward?

Fortunately, in its newest reincarnation (creatively named the Pivo 2), the car’s usefulness, and perhaps even its cuddly-factor, have been significantly increased. Read more…

Learning to speak Japanese doesn’t get any easier. Right when you think honorifics make sense (which will never happen), you suddenly realize you’re not speaking like your own gender, which is usually a big surprise because nobody tells you about this for a really long time. So here I am, telling you that you need to think about your gender when you are speaking Japanese. It’s really not that tough at all, and yet, since 90% of Japanese teachers in America are women, 90% of students end up learning women’s Japanese. By clicking through you’ll be able to see a video, some of the history behind this, and a chart that plainly lays out women’s/men’s language for you. Here’s to making things easy (clink!). Read more…