Another gasbag movie-nerd is gonna talk about the American version of The Ring and how it pales in comparison next to its seminal Japanese horror inspiration Ringu (or vice-versa). Maybe he’ll talk about how one of the ghost kids was spookier than the other, or address the physical differences between the corpses of the poor hapless teenagers. I can’t waaaaaaiiiit…

Please change the channel.

Wrong, pal.

Rather than join the ranks of those who prefer to get hung up on the surface-level differences between the Japanese film and its American counterpart, I believe each movie is necessarily different to serve its own unique purpose. These differences help us to better understand which aspects of Japanese culture bleed (hehe) into Western culture, and what just doesn’t translate. And that’s why we’re all here, right? To not only celebrate Japanese culture, but to figure out why it draws us in?

Disclaimer: if you’ve never seen Ringu or The Ring and don’t want the experience of watching either ruined for you forever, I would recommend not reading this. I would also recommend immediately watching one or both of these movies because what the heck are you doing man?

Ringu (1998)

Stop looking for the ring dude, you’re IN it.

Hideo Nakata’s Ringu is a horror story that is universally enjoyable and terrifying, while its roots are uniquely Japanese. The movie is an adaptation of Koji Suzuki’s novel of the same name, which was inspired in part by the ghost story Banchou Sarayashiki, or the story of Lady Okiku (lots of inspiration going on here). There are several versions of Okiku’s story, but they all involve her being thrown down a well after losing one of ten valuable plates belonging to an important samurai family. Legend says that her ghostly voice can be heard deep within the well counting up from one as she rechecks the plates. Stopping short at nine, she lets loose a heart-stopping shriek before her specter rises from the well in search of the missing tenth plate.

In Ringu, several young people are mysteriously dying after watching a strange videotape. A reporter, Reiko Asakawa, discovers the tape and learns that it is cursed by the vengeful spirit of a young girl who died after being thrown into a well. After watching the tape, Asakawa comes to find that in seven days the girl will rise from the well and kill her. Counting the days…counting plates…rising from the well…wait a minute, this is starting to sound familiar!

The Ring (2002)

Someone’s ears were burnin’.

Now for the American version. After several teenagers are mysteriously killed, a reporter, Rachel Keller, discovers that an eerie videotape contains the culprit. Within the tape is the vengeful spirit of a young girl who…yeah you get the point.

Gore Verbinski’s The Ring was wholly inspired by the international success of Ringu. This is a story that has played out many times in cinema history: one country hits a goldmine, so it’s only natural that other countries want to emulate their success. The thing that separates The Ring from these thousands of other remakes that came before and after is that it was was remade incredibly well. Love it or hate it, The Ring affected people the world over just like Ringu had done before. What was miraculous about the American Ring however was that it was also effective and popular for different reasons than its predecessor, even though the plot is more or less exactly the same. Many scenes and situations were altered so that they would translate better for American movie-goers, while some remain exactly the same. Within these changes and similarities are the keys we need for understanding how Ringu and The Ring jointly channel / filter the Japanese and Western cultures.

Youth Culture

After the opening of both films, the protagonist goes to the wake of her niece whom we just watched die. Within these scenes, the protagonist talks to a group of schoolgirls who are mumbling something or other about a video, about other kids who have died, that kind of cheerful stuff. But these groups of schoolgirls are much different from each other in the American and Japanese versions.

In Ringu, the girls are dressed in school uniforms, representing the all-girls’ school the deceased girl went to. They are quiet, timid, and seem a bit embarrassed when Asakawa approaches to ask them what they know about her niece’s death. With some regret, they tell her about the cursed video and other deaths they’ve heard about.

In The Ring, these same girls are not exactly in uniform, nor in appropriate funeral garb to boot. They are on the porch of their deceased friend’s house smoking cigarettes and gabbing amongst themselves. When Rachel approaches the girls to gather info, they act coldly and all but ignore her (buncha real jerks, they were). Rachel feels some need to prove that she’s not some old fuddy duddy to these teens, so she pulls out a cigarette herself and starts to talk about how she and an old friend used to get high together. The girls still offer up little to no information.

What does this say about Western youth culture, and the level of respect that is normally shown to our elders? Of course there are disrespectful young people everywhere, even in Japan. But doesn’t this drastic change to the film make sense in the context of our differing cultures (which is ding ding ding what we’re talkin’ about here)?

In Japanese culture, it is important to be respectful to people in a higher position, especially those who are older than you (even by a couple years, senpai!). So even though the girls obviously don’t wish to tell Asakawa about the tape, they seem to feel it’s necessary based solely on the fact that she is an older woman who has asked something of them. So respectful…bad kids everywhere take note!

A Father’s Responsibility

We are introduced to the fathers of the protagonist’s children in exactly the same way in both films: while walking to school in the rain, a boy nearly walks into a shady looking man on the sidewalk. For a brief moment their eyes meet, then they part ways and walk in opposite directions. There is no father-son connection in either movie.

The father in The Ring, young Noah, is an immature airhead. There are moments where we are able to see that he wants to be around for his son, but strong self-doubt and a shaky past with his own father keeps him from being around. Strong family ties are not exactly the pinnacle of Western culture. Is it possible Noah’s character might represent a vicious cycle of broken fathers begetting broken sons?

The father in Ringu, Ryuji Takayama, is an accomplished professor at a local university. We are never given too much history into their romantic past, but Takayama and Asakawa’s marriage obviously didn’t work out too well. Mr. Big Shot Professor seems to live only for his work, publishing essays and constantly scribbling mathematical equations down. His son is of little concern to him. Takayama has a different set of priorities. It’s work before family – you saw this recently in our What It’s Like Dating A Japanese Guy post.

In Japan, careers are drilled into the minds of almost everyone at a young age as being vitally important. It is not uncommon to hear about people overworking themselves for coveted positions in the workforce. A father who values his work over his family is a common trope that resonates deeply in Japan, where work ethic is so heavily cemented in the culture. Professor Takayama is a harrowing example of valuing work over family.

While both fathers have the same character arc, act in similar fashion, and endure the same fate, the reasoning behind their actions are surprisingly different, given where they come from.

A Mother’s Love

Awwwwww-er I mean-Ewwwwww

Unlike everything I’ve talked about so far, the mothers in both films are the only characters that are perfectly in sync: no matter where you are in the world, a mother’s love is universal and enduring.

Asakawa and Rachel are both called to action when they realize the validity of the cursed tape, but are only one hundred percent spurred on when their children watch it too. Given, motherly instinct is nothing new…unless it’s also directed at a child that is not biologically your own.

As the mothers race against the clock to uncover the mysteries of Sadako (Ringu) and Samara (The Ring), a growing sense of sympathy begins to emerge behind their actions. In the corpses of these children, the women see young girls who died just wanting to be loved. Embracing a skeleton dripping with goo is no small feat. I imagine it would take a whole lotta love and understanding to hug a corpse.

Don’t think that I’ve forgotten that Sadako and Samara were killed by their father and mother (respectively). The reason I haven’t included them at all is because they are not representative of parenthood, they are simply used as devices in the narrative. When effort was put into showing that they were not biological parents in both films, I think I can say this with some certainty.

Sadako and Samara end up being completely nuts and evil, but before they go off the deep end, at least they unwittingly show us something beautiful about parental instinct and motherly love.

Hopefully, without getting too spooked, you learned something about love or vicious cycles. Or cigarettes. The lessons in Ringu and The Ring are seemingly endless, right? (Hint: don’t watch TV ever again.)

Japanese films that are remade for Western audiences are rarely as good as Verbinski’s The Ring, but they all present opportunities to compare and contrast our cultures. What other Japanese film remakes have you seen that caused you to notice how different or similar our cultural differences are? What did I leave out in The Ring or Ringu that also bears mentioning in this regard? Let me know in the comments!

However, things are quite different in Japan. Everything starts from the act of 告白 (kokuhaku), which is confessing your love and asking them to go out with you. Now, let’s learn more about kokuhaku!

The Art Of Kokuhaku

告白(こくはく/kokuhaku), literally means “confession”, and it is done when a man or a woman declares their love to another, and hopes to begin dating that person. The most basic way of confessing this is to say:

好きです。付き合ってください。
すきです。つきあってください。
Sukidesu.Tsukiattekudasai.

This translates to “I love you, can we start seeing each other? The 付き合う(つきあう/tsukiau) part means “dating”, “seeing each other”, or “having a relationship” in English. This is a very common phrase used for this kind of confession and you may have heard it, or a phrase similar to it, once or twice in Japanese movies or anime. If accepted, it marks the beginning of a “serious” boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Like real grown-up stuff.

You may go out with the person a few times or go out on a group date, but your relationship hasn’t technically started until this love confession, aka kokuhaku, occurs. The prospect of entering into this kind of relationship is sometimes so overwhelming that people even “confess their love” before the first date, followed by a sheepish invitation to an event with just the two of you. As you might guess, professing your love to someone as a precursor to saying hello for the first time might not be the most logical way of getting hitched, but as you’ll see, it often appears to some men as be the best overall option.

And after this confession, if you go out with another woman or man, it may be called “cheating” because after the kokuhaku you two have officially started being exclusive. At this point, it’s the same as any serious boyfriend/girlfriend relationship in Western culture. So, when I started seeing my Canadian husband, I met some other girls who were also dating foreigners. One of them warned me that I should be aware of their cheating. She even told me ‘Mami, you know, they are all cheaters!’. Maybe some of them are but I doubt that all of them are cheating. I believe that she thought so because she misunderstood the differences in the initial stages of dating between the two cultures.

Speaking of misunderstanding foreigners often say that they don’t understand what Japanese girls or boys are thinking because when they go out on dates they aren’t even allowed to touch their hands. But, when the foreigner asks about the possibility of another date and they answer: “Sure! What is it?” … in that case they may be waiting for your kokuhaku. The love confession is like a switch. Once the switch is flipped, they can get into relationship mode. In other words, they usually don’t act like a boyfriend or a girlfriend when they are not officially dating, although it is not very common to touch, hug, or kiss in public in Japan anyway.

Is It Like Or Is It Love?

The concept of “like” and “love” in Japanese may be a little difficult for you to gauge because the word “suki” could mean both/either “like” or “love.”

Although we have a word for “to love” or “I love you” (愛している／あいしてる／aishiteru), we barely use it. Granted, if you throw enough beer into the stomachs of two dudes who have been friends since childhood, you’ll inevitably hear the “I love you man!” “No way, I love you!” argument. But, aishiteru is just the equivalent of the words we reserve for those truly special in our lives. This is when the words aren’t just said, but felt as well.

More simply, aishiteru has a completely different weight to it than than the words suki or even daisuki (really like). In many ways, it holds more gravity than when English speakers say “I love you” because people can “love” donuts or movies or even use it the hashtag #love to describe a picture of something they took on their phones. Aishiteru, however, is used for only one purpose.

So, I think the confusion comes from the translation and how the words are perceived in the various cultures. You might say “I love you” in English and we might say “suki” in Japanese. To us, suki can mean “love” but it isn’t the same kind of love as aishiteru, which is when you’re actually feeling love for another person. That’s why when you’re confessing your “love” for someone in Japanese, it isn’t as big of a deal because you’re saying you love them, but in the same way you might say you love a donut. So, you know, you say “love” and we say “suki” and you say “love” and we say “aishiteru.” Keep that in mind while we talk about kokuhaku so you don’t get the wrong impression.

Anyways, a Japanese man and woman’s relationship usually starts from this big “confession” event. If you were in Japan, your Japanese friends would probably ask you whether person X has confessed to you yet, even after a couple of dates. You may be wondering why Japanese people let their love interests known and that they intend to date them, in a committed way, even before the first date. Sometimes adults make their love confessions in this way:

結婚を前提にお付き合いさせてください
けっこんをぜんていにおつきあいさせてください
kekkon o zentei ni otsukiai sasetekudasai

This means “I would like to have a relationship with you with the objective of an eventual marriage.” Some people think it’s a waste of time to date someone who doesn’t plan on getting married at any point in the near future, if at all. Actually, it’s a rather practical way of starting a relationship if you are looking to tie the knot.

You Need Courage To Kokuhaku

Now, if you really like a Japanese person and want to start a serious relationship with them, then the next step is to confess your love. Although you may not be afraid of telling the one you love that you love them, things are quite different in Japan. According to research about “love confessions” conducted by Unilever Japan in 2011, out of 300 Japanese women and men (high school students, university students and another group of people in their 20’s), 79% of them answered that they can’t perform the act of confessing. The top two reasons for it were:

1. Because I don’t know what he/she thinks of me.
2. Because I don’t have enough confidence in myself.

25% of them also answered that they would confess if they were more than 90% certain that their kokuhaku would be accepted, 43% of them said they would take a shot with 70% odds, and 22% of them would try if the possibility is 50-50.

However, in the same journal, people who regretted confessing was only 21% whereas people who regretted not confessing was a much larger 52%. Moreover, 55% of people answered that they may start liking someone if they were confessed to, even though they had never thought of the confessor as a girlfriend or boyfriend. So, why don’t you head out there and profess how you truly feel! No regrets! 告白しよう!

Lame Ways Men Confess Their Love To Women

So now you’ve heard basically all there is to know about Japanese “love” confession culture… that is, except for its failures. According to research conducted by My-navi-woman from July 27, 2013 to August 2, 2013, 124 out of 476 women have actually turned the confessor down because of how lame, or even scary, their confession came off as. So, what kind of confessions turned them away? Let’s have a look so you won’t make the same mistake that these men made.

メールで告白された。しかも朝の5時に。（33歳／女性）
He confessed that he loved me via text. On top of that, it was 5am. (33 year-old female)

Maybe there was a time difference he didn’t account for? If not, it was kind of rude to send a text to people while they are probably sleeping. Although the number of people that confess their love (or even break up) by texting is increasing, I personally don’t like it either. It’s like you are telling them that you aren’t serious about the relationship.

「俺、ヒモになりたい」と言ってきた人がいた。あり得ない。（32歳／女性）
One guy told me, “I wanna be your string.” Unbelievable! (32 year-old female)

You may be wondering why saying “I wanna be your string” is so bad. String, aka 紐 (ひも/himo) in Japaneseis used for guys that are like pimps, mostly in that they depend on their wife or girlfriend’s income. They also are often associated with abusive relationships. It’s really strange and doesn’t sound like a love confession at all. At least he’s being honest-ish?

「俺と両親を養ってくれ」と言われた。ドン引きした。（28歳／女性）
I was asked, “Can you financially support me and my parents?” I was totally turned off. (28 years-old female)

Now, I have a little more faith in men than this, so I prefer to believe that this was actually a marriage proposal. Let me explain. I imagine a situation in which the woman really wanted to get married, but the guy didn’t. He contemplated a nice way to break up with her for a long time and realized that this proposal would end the relationship and make her not feel so badly about splitting… And he succeeded! Yay! Good for them. I don’t know, it’s all just a part of my imagination, but I can’t imagine anything else going on here.

同じ職場の人から、長い手紙で告白された。何となく見かけたことがある程度なのに長々と文章が書かれていた。あまりにもいろんなことが書かれていて怖かった。（26歳／女性）
I was confessed to in a long letter from my co-worker. Although I’d never talked to him before and only knew his face, the letter was so long and mentioned so many things. It actually creeped me out. (26-years-old female)

It’s pretty scary that somebody who you don’t know at all actually knows you quite well. Although you may fall in love with a girl at first sight and follow her around for a while, long enough to learn a lot about her, you would be much better off not disclosing all the things you’ve learned while stalking her when you talk to her (or write to her) for the first time. I’m sorry I have to state the obvious here because apparently some people need to know.

電車内で見知らぬ男性から「ずっと片思いしてました、友達からでいいのでお付き合いしてください！」と、車両中に響く声で告白された。怖くて、結婚しているとうそをついて断ってしまったが、当分その電車に一人で乗れなかった。（31歳／女性）
On the train, I was confessed to by a stranger who very loudly said, “I’ve unrequitedly loved you for a long time. It’s okay for me to start being friends, but could we start our relationship, instead?” I was scared and lied to him that I was married. I stopped riding the train for a while. (31-year-old female)

This isn’t the only public blunder as it seems that many other public confessions fail in their attempts as well.

告白と同時にいきなり後ろから抱きつかれた。告白だと理解する前に恐怖を感じてしまった。（29歳／女性）
He hugged me from behind my back and then confessed his love. Before realizing that it was his confession, I felt really threatened. (29-year-old female)

Maybe he couldn’t restrain his feelings, but it’s seriously scary, especially for Japanese people who don’t have a hugging culture. He definitely jumped the gun.

漫画のキャラクターの名前を挙げて、それよりもかわいいから付き合ってと言われた。（25歳／女性）
He listed off some female anime characters names and told me that I’m cuter than they are and that’s why he wanted to date me. (25-year-old female)

Although he probably just thought it was an adorable way to tell her that she was attractive, it sounds kind of nerdy and I assume most women would be turned off from hearing a confession of that sort.

相手の人が履歴書を持参して、延々と説明をして、すでに結婚モードになっていたことが昔あります。（40歳／女性）
He gave me his resume and explained what kind of person he is and that he was thinking about marrying me. This happened a long time ago though.(40-year-old female)

Like I mentioned above, some Japanese people want to start a relationship when marriage is the goal. He may have done it this way just to show that he is serious about marriage and would be faithful, but I think it was a bit too much.

高校生のとき、朝学校にいったら黒板に私宛てに愛の告白文が書かれていた。他の友達にもバレて、恥ずかしかった。（29歳／女性）
When I was a high school student, there was a confession written on the blackboard when I arrived at school one morning. It was embarrassing because it was revealed to all my friends. (29-year-old woman)

This happens sometimes when you’re young. Your feelings overcome reason and you don’t realize that this potentially embarrassing event will be known to everyone in school. I think this also happened once when I was in junior high, although I was just an onlooker wearing a huge grin.

年賀状で告白された。親にも見られて恥ずかしかった。（31歳／女性）
I was confessed to on a New Years card. It was embarrassing because my parents saw it. (31-year-old woman)

One tradition in Japan is to exchange Happy New Year cards, but those postcards are not enclosed in envelopes like Western Christmas cards, so his confession was right there for anyone to see.

いきなり小さなバラの花束を持ってきての告白。同じ学校の人でしたが、話したことはなく、一度目が合っただけだそうです。（32歳／女性）
He suddenly approached me with a bouquet of roses and confessed his love for me. He went to the same school as me, but I’d never talked to him before. In fact, I had only ever seen him one time before this. (32-year-old woman)

Women like flowers but not from strangers. Although, this might be different if you are a foreigner. If a foreigner approached me with flowers, I’d accept it as it his culture.

いきなり給与明細を見せてきた。（26歳／女性）
He suddenly showed me his pay slip. (26 years old woman)

Whether his payment was a little or a lot, this would definitely turn most women away, not just Japanese women.

–

All in all, you may have found this system of “love confessions” to be a bit weird compared to your culture, but I personally think that this system helps to make relationships clear from the beginning and also makes it easier to start dating. Because of this, we don’t usually need to have that awkward moment of asking “Are we serious about each other?” or “Are we exclusive?” or even “Do you love me?” Men know what is to be expected of them upon doing their kokuhaku and women know what is expected of them upon accepting.

So, confession time! What’s the lamest confession you’ve ever been given, seen, or heard about? Or, what do you think was the worst kokuhaku from the list above? Confess that information to me in the comments down below.

(My Ideal Guy: (Johnny Depp + Orlando Bloom)/2 drawn by Mami)

This sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? I wish this was true, but unfortunately not…

“Tell me about your greatest moment as a student.” That was my homework from the ESL school that I used to go to. As you can probably tell, I wasn’t particularly ‘diligent’ and that is why I made up a silly short story for my homework. Getting a high grade or making a great presentation could be thought of as a “great moment” for most students, but honestly I couldn’t come up with any good examples at the time no matter how much I thought about it.

Education is often analyzed in terms of outcomes, results, or as a process. But here I would like to put this assumption aside, and just concentrate on the experience itself, specifically in Japan. Wouldn’t you like to know what it is like?

Educational system in Japan

In Japan, the educational system in is the same as it is where I am now (Canada).

6 years of elementary school
3 years of junior high school
3 years of high school
4 years of university

This was actually reformed after WWII from the old 6-5-3-3 system to what you see above. Of these years of education, high school and university are not mandatory, though high school enrollment is over 96% nationwide in nearly all cities of Japan. Around 46% of Japanese high school graduates go on to college or university.

Most schools operate on a three-term system with the academic year starting in April when the cherry blossom bloom, and end in March of the following year. So in March there is a graduation ceremony, and I remember a lot of students were crying because of hay fever creating a very grave atmosphere.

There are some people who claim that Japan should change the school-year system to be the same as North America, because this difference sometimes causes inconveniences to students who wish to study abroad in places such as the US, Canada, and so on. The same problem would happen to foreigners who wish to study in Japan as well. They graduate from their school in June or July, but have to wait until April to go to a Japanese school.

Personally I would be a little sad if the Japanese school-year system was changed. It’s such a beautiful moment to say goodbye to your friends underneath the cherry blossoms in full bloom.There are so many good songs about graduation and cherry blossoms, too, and they would all be ruined! Although I understand the student side of perspective, I’d like them to leave that system as a Japanese culture.

「さくら（独唱）」／森山直太朗

卒園式の歌(さよなら僕たちの幼稚園) 号泣

Too Many Study Hours

Other than the lower grades of elementary school, an average school day on weekdays in Japan is seven to eight hours depending on the school and what grade you’re in. That’s one of the longest school days in the world! Despite this, a student’s studying doesn’t usually finish even after school lets out. Not only do they have drills and other homework after school, but there’s also extra classes to attend at their public schools or at private “cram schools” known as 塾 (じゅく/juku). Especially with junior high and high school students, much extra time outside of regular school is spent studying and preparing for their entrance examinations. Even during vacations (six weeks in the summer and two weeks for both winter and spring) there is often homework to be done and jukus to attend. Hours outside of school hours are spent at juku.

If my memory serves me correctly, I started going to a cram school in my third grade of elementary school. I still remember when we had a “New Year’s Eve all-night studying (年越し徹夜勉強会：としこしてつやべんきょうかい/toshikoshi-testuya-benkyoukai)” event in my fifth grade. Teachers encouraged us not to fall asleep but to keep studying until the morning. It would have been very fun to stay up later with friends, if only we weren’t studying. However, 初日の出 (hatsu-hinode), which means “the new year sunrise,” was quite memorable and made everyone’s new year resolution the same: achieve better grades and study hard. I found it pretty fun at first, because teachers actually prepared a little games for us, too. However, maybe around one o’clock, my eyelids started getting more and more heavy. I tried to study but couldn’t concentrate on it anymore and I doubt that it was only me. It wasn’t a efficient way to study at all. It was all about discipline.

Although studying itself is good for everyone, studying too much can make people stressed out. Therefore, if I could change the Japanese school system, I would remove the big entrance examinations and cut down the amount of private school education, because I think that is an overload of work for children. Second only to bullying, the number of children committing suicide due to “anxiety for the future” is increasing. Most of this is due to worry about how one will perform on examinations.

Japanese Classroom System

I was surprised that many schools in Canada don’t seem to have fixed classrooms because in Japan every class has its own fixed classroom. In most cases in Japan, the students take all the courses in the same classroom with the same classmates, except for practical trainings and laboratory works. In my case, grades 3-4 and grades 5-6 were 2-year fixed classrooms, though it’s usually just a 1-year fixed classroom system.

In elementary school, one teacher teaches all the subjects in each class, whereas the teacher changes depending on a subject in junior high and high school. Instead of the students moving around to the teachers, the teachers move around to the student (besides the exceptions I mentioned earlier).

Another thing that’s different about the Japanese classroom system is that most elementary and/or junior high schools provide lunches on a standardized menus known as the 給食 (きゅうしょく / kyuushoku). The students are all divided into groups called 班 (はん / han). With lunch, this is important because one han is the 給食当番 (きゅうしょくとうばん / kyuushoku-touban). This particular han’s job is to take responsibility for the 給食. They pick up their classmates’ lunches in the school kitchen / lunch delivery area, carry the lunches to the classroom, serve their fellow classmates, makes sure that the food settles down into each kids’ stomachs, and then carries everything back. There is usually about a week rotation for which each han is the 給食当番.

If you’re not on the lunch duty han, your han could be doing something else that’s helpful. For example, students in a Japanese school are responsible for doing the cleaning of their own school. Sometimes there is a han that takes on the duty of cleaning (掃除/そうじ/souji), and they are known as the 掃除当番 (そうじとうばん / soujitouban). I think this is a great system because it is a good way for kids to learn how to socialize and be responsible. It also makes them more aware about causing a mess, since either they or a friend will have to clean it up!

School Uniforms

Some elementary schools and nearly all junior and high schools require their students to wear school uniforms. In my case, I wore school uniforms from kindergarten to high school.

Although some people believe that students, or at least high school students, should be able to choose the clothes they want to wear in school, I’d say that the best policy is that they wear uniforms because it’s more affordable and convenient.

Students tend to be very concerned about fashion and fitting in, so if they can choose the clothes they want to wear at school, they will prefer to wear brand-name clothing. For example, I remember that girls put a lot of money into brand-name socks or loose socks, which are a style of baggy socks. A pair of socks are sometimes 1,000-2,000yen. What a rip off! Thank goodness socks are the only brand-name thing for us to put on due to the uniform. If we were allowed to wear whatever we wanted, people would have certainly added hundreds of thousands of yen in clothing costs in a single year.

Also, uniforms are very convenient. Students do not need to worry about what they will wear to school. For instance, they do not need to consider what colors match with what, which style looks best, and what their classmate will think of their clothing. If everyone wears the same uniform, all of these choices are made in advance , so you don’t have to feel self conscious about your clothes. It saves more time for students and they can concentrate on studying more, though it just gave me longer sleep in the morning.

Furthermore, uniforms tend to be made of strong materials and they are easy to clean. I wore uniforms from kindergarten to high school and I had two uniforms for each warm season and cold season. When one was dirty I would wash it and wear the other one. This way my school clothes were always clean and ready to be worn. Uniforms are very practical!

They are not good all the time, though. As in many countries, uniform policy is strictly adhered to. There is a set length for skirts and teachers would take out tape measures to check. Japan has four seasons and its weather and temperature can vary greatly. However, uniforms usually only come in two varieties: winter and summer. Anything in-between can be a bit uncomfortable.

I also remember that my teacher wouldn’t allow me to put pants on because of the uniform policy, even though it was a freaking cold day. It might become less practical and ununified, but I think it would be good for students’ health to wear warmer clothes on cold days and lighter clothes on warmer days. Heck, let the boys wear skirts in the summer if they want to! I still believe that I have bad circulation because of the school uniforms.

A Great Difference

A great difference between the Japanese school system and the North American School system is that the North American people respect and encourage independence whereas the Japanese people control individual responsibility by maintaining group rules. This explains one characteristic of Japanese social behavior (or maybe even Asian social behavior).

I realized this fact in ESL school in Canada. There were students from all over in the classroom: Saudis, Brazilians, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and me, Japanese. While the teacher was talking, myself, the Chinese, and the Korean students never butted in to ask questions or to announce our opinions. We waited until the teacher was completely finished, whereas students from other countries spoke out anytime.

We talked about this in the classroom once and figured out that this difference was caused by each country’s school system: in Asia, we mostly have lecture style lessons and in other countries, they spend a lot of time doing discussion style lessons.

A Joke

To finish this article, I wanted to end with a famous joke called “A Brilliant Japanese Student In An American Classroom.” I wonder if you find an odd bit in this joke… you got it? Yeah, the Japanese guy named Hideo speaks out too actively, doesn’t he? Which is pretty different from what you’ve learned about Japanese students from this article today. I don’t think the average Japanese student puts his/her hand up as much as this guy, either.

A BRILLIANT JAPANESE STUDENT IN AN AMERICAN CLASSROOM

It was the first day of school and a new student named Hideo, the son of a
Japanese businessman, entered the fourth grade. The teacher said, “Let’s
begin by reviewing some American history.”

Who said “Give me Liberty, or give me Death?” She saw a sea of blank faces,
except for Hideo, who had his hand up.

“Patrick Henry, 1775.” he said.

“Very good! Who said ‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth’”? Again, no response except from Hideo:

“Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”, said Hideo

The teacher snapped at the class, “Class, you should be ashamed. Hideo, who is
new to our country, knows more about its history than you do.”

She heard a loud whisper: “F-k the Japanese.”

“Who said that?” she demanded.

Hideo put his hand up. “Lee Iacocca, 1982.”

At that point, a student in the back said, “I’m gonna puke.”

The teacher glares and asks “All right! Now, who said that?”

Again, Hideo says, “George Bush, to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.”

Furious, another student yells, “Oh yeah? Suck this!”

Hideo jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to the teacher, “Bill
Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”

Now, with almost a mob hysteria, someone said, “You little sh*t, if you ever
say anything else, I will have you killed.”

Hideo yells at the top of his voice, “Gary Condit, to Chandra Levy, 2001.”

The teacher fainted

Hope you enjoyed the joke! For me, the Japanese education system is weak because it makes Japanese students get more and more conservative as time goes by. I think Japanese students should be more vocal and participate in a conversation like Hideo. Well, maybe Hideo is too much, but at least a little more. Many of them don’t have curiosity about the world or ambition to study overseas, either.

I think that this problem has been caused by the big examination system because they are forced to be in a competition to get into the better school from very early in their life. Their end goal is often set up to get into the best university by their parents and/or teachers. Hence, many of them don’t gain curiosity about anything other than getting a good mark and they become like drones.

I’m pretty sure that you all probably have such interesting personal stories about your own educational experience. Tell me about your country’s education system. How is it different? How is it the same? What do you like / dislike? I think all educational systems in the world have good parts and bad parts, so maybe if we learn from each other we can make education better around the world! Arigatou.

Bonus Wallpapers!

[2560x1600] • [1280x800] • [1280x800 Animation] • [700x438 Animation]

It turned out we should have listened to our instincts. This restaurant violated practically every laws of finding a “real” Japanese restaurant, and was one of the worst Japanese restaurants I’d been to in a while.

Fast forward about a month or so later. We’re in Tokyo, hanging out with the Gakuranman. It’s early afternoon, and we’re hungry for lunch. We eventually settle on a Mexican restaurant, and it’s promising: the decor looks right, the menu doesn’t look too bad, and they’re playing Tequila.

The food was bad. I’d been really craving Mexican food during the month we were in Japan, but this didn’t help at all.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about those two lunches, and what they have in common. Even though they were weeks apart and thousands of miles away from each other, the similarities between the two got me thinking about authenticity.

Why Is It So Hard to Get Authentic Food?

Both of those lunches were a disappointment because neither of them seemed to have really authentic food, whether it was Japanese nor Mexican. I started to wonder why it’s so hard to get authentic food in the first place.

There are lots of reasons it can be so hard to get authentic ethnic food. Even though you can get a Big Mac served identically anywhere across the globe, it’s not always easy for food to be copied so perfectly.

There are lots of barrier between you and authentic food. What local tastes are like, availability of ingredients, and all that. Believe it or not, it’s hard to find a bodega in Japan.

I’m not completely astonished that Mexican food isn’t great in Japan. There’s no Latino population to speak of in Japan, and most Japanese people haven’t ever had Mexican food. Given that, how can Japanese people really know what Mexican food is supposed to taste like?

What Is Authentic?

As I thought more and more, the word “authentic” kept coming up and coming up and I began to wonder what it even meant. It was a word that was so critical to what I was trying to figure out that it was hard to ignore.

At the Mexican restaurant in Tokyo, I told the Gakuranman that he’d never had a real, authentic burrito, even though I’d literally seen him eat a burrito minutes before.

It wasn’t as if the burrito were fake or imaginary or something like that. It’s just that it hadn’t met my standards of authenticity, whatever those were.

Unfortunately, the standards of authenticity are very subjective and malleable. There’s no objective checklist for you to cross reference if you wonder whether or not some food is “authentically” Japanese.

Sure, there are signs that point you in the right direction, but the finer details of what, say, constitutes as authentic Japanese or Mexican foods is up to interpretation.

As one Supreme Court Justice said, “I know it when I see it.”

Copy of a Copy

As I kept thinking about it, I realized that most of the Mexican food I’ve had in my life has actually been more Tex-Mex than proper Mexican food. More a localized copy than the real M^cCoy.

And when I think about it, a lot of the Japanese food I know and love isn’t really “Japanese” anyway. Tempura is from Portugal, ramen is from China, and sushi is from southeast Asia. But Japan has managed to absorb these foods into its culture and make them its own.

We like to think that there are clean, distinct lines between cultures, but they all sort of mush together after a while, even a culture as supposedly homogenous as Japan’s.

Bucking Authenticity

I’m not going to claim that you can get authentic, Japanese sushi in some landlocked place in the US like Iowa (sorry Iowans). If anything, I’m saying that you shouldn’t expect food to be the same in Japan as it is abroad.

But as much as we like to joke about sushi abominations, that doesn’t mean that Japanese food abroad has to be bad, or that different interpretations of Japanese food is wrong. Earlier this month, a Danish chef won first place in the World Sushi Cup in Japan. Instead of being penalized for going against tradition, judges were impressed that the chef embraced ingredients and techniques from Scandinavia.

I’d like to think of eating ethnic food a bit like watching a horror movie. You might be able to see the zipper on the monster’s costume, but if you suspend your disbelief, you might actually enjoy yourself!

But why am I telling you all this? By mid-2005, the name-calling was getting out of control. The 4chan moderators intervened by using a word filter that replaced every instance of “Wapanese” with “Weeaboo” – a completely made up word that eventually subsumed the meaning of the word it was meant to censor.

Nicholas Gurewitch coined the word “Weeaboo” in his Perry Bible Fellowship comic strip.

So What’s a Weeaboo?

The meaning of Weeaboo is admittedly pretty loose – although it is always used in an overwhelmingly negative sense.

Weeaboo also has many interpretations as there are supposedly defining features. I say supposedly because many of these overlap with the features of otakus, cosplayers, and just plain vanilla anime fans. Plus some of them are just too silly (cough racist cough) to be taken seriously: a white person who is obsessed with Japanese culture? A white person, really?

Just to give you guys some idea of the variety of “defining features” of Weeaboos.

So how do you identify a Weeaboo? Because you know, if the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one, the zeroth step must surely be to realize you have a problem in the first place.

To keep things simple for all of us, here are what I think are the top three telltale signs of a Weeaboo:

#1. Anything Japanese is immediately the BEST THING EVAR

You’re probably a Weeaboo if you believe that just because something is Japanese in origin, it automatically trumps anything and everything from anywhere else. In fact, you believe this so strongly that you begin to hate and even reject your own culture, cuisine, language, and what-have-you.

You also probably have a highly romanticized view of everything Japanese  – so highly romanticized that you cannot even imagine that Japan, like any other country, has negative aspects too. So highly romanticized, that the fact that much of the Japanese culture you so admire is in fact of American influence is unthinkable. Osamu “the Father of Manga” Tezuka, inspired and influenced by Disney? Blasphemy.

Take-home message: It’s entirely possible to have an interest in Japan and Japanese without being a Weeaboo. Just don’t automatically like something just because it has a “Made in Japan” sticker on it.

#2. Kyaa! That’s So Kawaii Desu!

Weeaboos have such a highly romanticized view of everything Japanese because they refuse to look past the shiny surface. This means that attempts to learn the language are half-hearted at best.

If you’re a Weeaboo, what Japanese you know has been gleaned almost exclusively from a near constant stream of anime. But that doesn’t stop you from using what little you know whenever you get the chance, so you pepper your sentences with random Japanese words and -chan and -kun everyone. Omg Rosie-chan is such a baka! Yeah, I’m practically fluent. Um, no. You’re just butchering the language.

By the way, intentionally using Japanglish for comic effect or sarcasm is not a true mark of a Weeaboo, so exercise caution and commonsense with this one.

Take-home message: When you’re learning and you don’t know the Japanese equivalent for some word or expression – go ahead with what you do know. But don’t just bastardize the language because you’re too lazy to learn it properly.

#3. Anime, Anime and more Anime (Plus Manga for Good Measure)

As I mentioned previously, Weeaboos watch anime near-constantly. But that’s not all. If you’re a Weeaboo, anime is your life. You want to be anime. So you start, for example, dressing like your anime character – not just at Comic Con, but everyday. Cosplaying becomes your normal way of dress.

If you’re a Weeaboo, you probably also think that when it comes to your beloved anime, you’re surrounded by morons. Morons who watch dubbed versions your beloved anime. Morons that don’t understand how superior anime is compared to that Adventure Time rubbish. To drive home just how ridiculous this is, here’s a reverse-Weeaboo gem:

You may have a perfectly good reason for preferring, say, Studio Ghibli to Disney. Disney characters always seem to be entirely good or bad, whereas many moral shades of gray are handled with deft and ease in Ghibli films. But if you think non-Japanese cartoons and comics are inferior, by mere virtue of not being Japanese – well, you’re probably a Weeaboo. That also brings us full circle back to tell-tale sign #1.

Take-home message: Love anime and manga? Good for you. Bite someone’s head off for daring to call anime cartoon? Yeah, better rein in that obsession.

Hang On. You’re Talking About Otakus, Not Weeaboos!

I did mention earlier that the defining features of a Weeaboo overlaps those of an otaku – or at least, the popular interpretation for otaku. The reason why is simple: every Weeaboo is an otaku, but not every otaku is a Weeaboo. Mind = blown yet?

An otaku, strictly speaking, is someone who has an obsessive interest in something. That “something” could be anything from planes, trains, and automobiles (google itasha, guys), to, most commonly, anime and manga. So I guess its fair to say that Weeaboos are simply the more fanatic otakus of the anime-loving variety. Still, it’s not exactly easy to tell them apart, I reckon. Check out the following video, for example:

Otaku or Weeaboo? I could be swayed either side.

So, what do you think are the tell-tale signs of a Weeaboo? How would you define a Weeaboo? Have you got any foolproof tips for telling otakus and Weeaboos apart? Let us know in the comments!

DISCLAIMER:
Don’t take this post too seriously – it is meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

Header image by Brittney Le Blanc

But for countries like Japan that aren’t quite as diverse as the US, holding on to that cultural identity is crucial. It’s always important to remember where you came from and acknowledge your cultural history.

That’s why the Japanese government keeps a registry of National Treasures – people, places, and things that are so crucial to Japanese culture that they’re recognized and preserved for future generations.

Don’t make the same mistake I made when I first saw the words “National Treasure” and assume it was about the Jerry Bruckheimer movies. Although it is cool thinking about Nic Cage working for the Japanese government, and it hasn’t stopped me from adding every Nic Cage movie on Netflix to my queue

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) decides what is and is not a National Treasure. For the most part, National Treasures are about what you would expect: incredible, ancient temples; beautiful, complex tapestries; hand-forged swords.

Oh, and this scroll of a bunch of frogs kickin’ it with a rabbit. There’s that, too.

(Sadly though, the illustrious fart scrolls have yet to be added as a National Treasure.)

There are also Living National Treasures; people who are so awesome at what they do, the government says that they’re treasures. These people are masters of traditional Japanese crafts who have spent decades perfecting their craft and are usually the latest in a long line of masters.

If you’ve been following the Ukiyo-E Heroes project that’s been turning old-school video game characters into even-older-school Japanese woodblock prints, then you actually might be familiar with a Living National Treasure. (No, not Mario.)

All of the woodblock prints made by Ukiyo-E Heroes were printed on special washi paper made by Ichibei Iwano, a living national treasure.

It’s interesting to think about what kind of places and people will become National Treasures in the future. Right now, the requirements are very traditional, but that could change in the future.

What places and things will be National Treasure in the future? Right now, National Treasures are limited to specific time periods (mostly pre-Meiji), but obviously as time goes by, more modern things and landmarks should be added to the registry. (Imagine some place in Akihabara being proclaimed a National Treasure . . .)

Same goes for Living National Treasures. Why couldn’t somebody like Miyazaki one day be honored by the government in the same way that other master craftspeople are?

And who knows, maybe one day — Koichi for Living National Treasure?