Comments on: The Biggest Traps of Talking About Japan http://www.tofugu.com/2013/05/02/the-biggest-traps-of-talking-about-japan/ A Japanese Language & Culture Blog Sun, 13 Apr 2014 10:14:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.2 By: Guest http://www.tofugu.com/2013/05/02/the-biggest-traps-of-talking-about-japan/comment-page-1/#comment-201745 Sun, 29 Sep 2013 20:34:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=30448#comment-201745 If you pick some random B-level Japanese movie like Robo-Geisha it isn’t gonna be a masterpiece, stay away from that stuff and watch normal movies and they’re the same as anything else….

]]> By: Guest http://www.tofugu.com/2013/05/02/the-biggest-traps-of-talking-about-japan/comment-page-1/#comment-201739 Sun, 29 Sep 2013 20:28:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=30448#comment-201739 If you go in expecting 僕の彼女はサイボーグ to be a good movie then I don’t know what to say….

I don’t have to go out of my way to find good Japanese movies, all you have to do is avoid their b-movie horror genre, monster films, ultraman films, anime live-action stuff and you’ll find normal good movies like anything else, with good production values.

]]> By: Helen Kirifides http://www.tofugu.com/2013/05/02/the-biggest-traps-of-talking-about-japan/comment-page-1/#comment-110250 Mon, 03 Jun 2013 22:11:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=30448#comment-110250 Oh, and i found this list of Japan likes and dislikes, which was a great read (the writer’s opinion of course, but a bit more balanced than the one most talked about on this thread. :)) from the blog Surviving in Japan.

http://www.survivingnjapan.com/2013/05/what-i-miss-and-dont-miss-about-living.html

]]> By: Helen Kirifides http://www.tofugu.com/2013/05/02/the-biggest-traps-of-talking-about-japan/comment-page-1/#comment-109745 Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:12:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=30448#comment-109745 Yeah, don’t read it (the linked article, i’m talking about guys, not Hashi’s article :)). It’s just… really stupid, on so many levels, haha.

]]> By: Helen Kirifides http://www.tofugu.com/2013/05/02/the-biggest-traps-of-talking-about-japan/comment-page-1/#comment-109744 Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:08:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=30448#comment-109744 Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the vegetarian thing in my own rant above. Lol. I don’t eat red meat or chicken, and although I have heard (on TheJapanChannelDcom on YouTube) that even if you order something without meat, it often will have meat based broth or seasoning or whatever, which i’m sure can be really annoying, I think this guy is just ridiculous. It’s not like they don’t sell vegetables in Japan. If he lives there, he should learn to make his own food (it’s not that hard to cook a vegetable, even on a single stove top burner, i promise) and bring it with him to work or wherever. I hope he’s not American, cause then I’d be even more embarrassed by his obnoxiousness. *sigh*.

]]> By: Helen Kirifides http://www.tofugu.com/2013/05/02/the-biggest-traps-of-talking-about-japan/comment-page-1/#comment-109736 Mon, 03 Jun 2013 05:50:00 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=30448#comment-109736 I just read the 15,000 word rant that
was linked, and first of all, I have to agree, that i’m blown away that any
blog would let such a crazy, wordy, poorly written rant by such an obvious
total as*hole go up on their page. If I ever cared to check out the rest of the
blog before that, I definitely am not interested now. Also i’m blown away that
such a crap person with such a jaded crap attitude could get, and keep a job in
Japan. *Note to all; if THAT guy can get and keep a job in Japan, so can ALMOST
ANYONE ELSE who has even the SLIGHTEST inkling to do so. So, hop too it guys!
Time’s-a-wastin’! Maybe one of us can get HIS job, since not only can he not
even be bothered to say Good Morning to his co-worker when he shows up and
they’re the only ones there (completely rude even in western cultures, and even
kind of mean), he assumes that his co-worker was being condescending to tell
him he should say Good Morning, because if other people were there and didn’t
hear him say it, they would think he wasn’t part of the team. Of course of course,
sometimes people are being passive-aggressive, but in this case it really just
sounded like his co-worker was looking out for him, and didn’t even realize
that the way he said it might have sounded condensing. I think he was wrong
about his interpretation of いらっしゃいませ too, and really d*ck of him to say that the girl
behind the counter at Starbucks, immediately put herself “beneath” him by
saying that rather than Konnichiwa. Actually I think that he’s just bitter that
more Japanese chicks don’t like him, because he also mentioned how it’s hard to
date for this reason or that reason (Maybe it’s his d*ck attitude. Smart girls
don’t often like guys with sh*tty attitudes and a negative, condescending demeanor). And that his “drummer”
(puh-leeeese. *gag*) couldn’t work out at his gym with him because he has a
tattoo *cry*? Poor baby! (as one
commenter also echoed my feelings exactly) Thems
the rules! It’s not your country where you can vote on the rules. And it’s not
a life or death rule, just inconvenient for you. Order P90X or something, and get over it!
This is exactly the kind of guy I’d be arguing with, apologizing for, and
completely ashamed to be in the “foreigner” category with if I worked
with him. Again, I really wonder how he ever managed to get a job there in the
first place. He did make a few points (but really not “points”, more like,
stated truths that everyone already knows, even if you’ve never stepped foot in
Japan. Like that it seems that sarcasm isn’t a commonly understood thing, that
Japanese game shows are hokey and super old skool like a more old skool version
of Laugh In even, but with all the 派手
of a game show on Telemundo, The whole “conformation
conversation” thing; he called it something else, but I see a lot of that
in interviews on YouTube, (Do you like playing solo, or with a band? Well, I
like being with a band, but I really like playing solo right now. So, you like
playing solo then? Yes, solo. So, solo? Yes.) and it is super weird, but it’s a
different culture, and a different way of communication, so why whine about
it?? In any case, it’s FAR better than his way of communication which is just
to be JUST AS STEREOTYPICAL by being the “ain’t nobody gonna hold me down-I’m
a rebel cause i’m in a band, and i’m from the west-so FU, I can say and do what
I want” foreigner. God, this guy really annoyed me. I’ll leave my own
15,000 word rant, with links to these two great videos on YouTube about the cultural
differences in Japan.

This rant from Gimmieaflakeman in a
response to a YouTube commenter who put up videos about prejudice he felt in
Japan. http://youtu.be/bUMoHv4Ac-8

and this entire playlist from TheJapanChannelDcom on
whatever subject you’re most interested in within the subject of cultural
differences. The first vid listed is a good intro to the rest of the playlist. :)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL54734B4601A97FC7

Oh and, great article, Hashi! Thanks! :)

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