Japan craze

[two_heads_talking]

for that money, you are going to a soapland, not an onsen.. lol

[marquis]

I feel bad for posting. Maybe it's just the pictures (a bunch of friends who get to go to Japan bring me pictures) from scenic places. It just looks like a beautiful place.

Maybe it's media. I don't have the money to go, so I have to google earth stuff or read articles or about people's travels to japan since I don't know many people who have lived in japan for a long time and can tell me about the not-so-scenic places.

I apologize for my ignorance, but it really is ignorance in its truest form: lack of a full body of information.

Gomen....

[Kagemaru]

two_heads_talking wrote:
for that money, you are going to a soapland....

Now we're on to Japanese crazes

[keatonatron]

two_heads_talking wrote:
you are going to a soapland

You mean that warehouse-sized cleaning-supply store? I love that place!

[two_heads_talking]

keatonatron wrote:

two_heads_talking wrote:
you are going to a soapland

You mean that warehouse-sized cleaning-supply store? I love that place!

I have no idea what you and your friends refer to it as.. (rofl)

[lemonaid]

I think I have the answer to at least parts of the craze. Western guys believe japanese guys are inconsiderate immature pricks or effimate girlyboys which makes it both necessary and easy for them to save all the pretty subordinate promiscious japanese girls from eternal misery or loneliness. The only problem is the language and cultural barrier but this can easily be overcomed by studying japanese in university.

I paraphrased, but this was someone's reason for studying japanese that I read on a forum a while back.

On a more serious note, perhaps some of the people who have an apparant borderline obsessive interest in Japan and wants to move there more than anything before even seeing the place have problems that can't easily be dealt with at home. Maybe some experience bullying, emotional problems, feel extremely out of place, have family problems, and think of Japan as an escape or a free zone -- a country where they will be accepted, or as someone here said, "it's where my life will begin".

I should never have taken those psychology classes in university.

Anyway, when I was young(er) I used Narnia as an escape if and when things got tough, but now that we've moved away from printed media to more visual media it's only natural that the younger generations build their dream worlds around the pictures they see rather than the words they read in a book. As I've gathered Japan is the country or world where the setting of many (most?) anime is, no? I've seen as many anime as I have eyes, so please pardon my ignorance. Well, the point is you can dream about living in Narnia, but you know it's not real and that you'll never see it. That's not the case when it comes to Japan. I think a lot of people have built up a dream world based on a fictional portrayal of the country which they believe to be quite accurate and want to move to this world to live out their dreams.

I understand if none of this makes any sense.

[AJBryant]

I apologize for my ignorance, but it really is ignorance in its truest form: lack of a full body of information.

No need to apologize -- it's very true.

A great number of imagined enthusiasms -- not just Japan -- don't quite survive or live up to the reality once experienced. (Some day I may tell you about my short stay at the Citadel -- think "Dixie's West Point".)

You just have to be ready for reality to be different than expectation, and you'll be fine. Most of the angriest gaijin I knew in Japan never got over Japan "tricking them" and not turning out to be exactly what they thought it would be. Why didn't they leave? I don't know. For some <cough DebitoArudo cough> the antagonism becomes a raison d'etre and a focus for their lives. For others, it's just something they have to get over.


Tony

[two_heads_talking]

lemonaid wrote:


I understand if none of this makes any sense.

good.

[hyperconjugated]

They should hint North Korea about that
Arudo guy since he's now naturalized.
拉致問題

[two_heads_talking]

AJBryant wrote:


You just have to be ready for reality to be different than expectation, and you'll be fine. Most of the angriest gaijin I knew in Japan never got over Japan "tricking them" and not turning out to be exactly what they thought it would be. Why didn't they leave? I don't know. For some <cough DebitoArudo cough> the antagonism becomes a raison d'etre and a focus for their lives. For others, it's just something they have to get over.


Tony

A man, with preconceived notions is usually disappointed when things aren't what he thought they should be. A man, with an open mind is usually pleasantly surprised with all the new things he finds.

[Infidel]

marquis,

I love your sig. ああ、女神様 is my favorite series, and has been for a long time. But your sig is a little tall and someone is bound to complain about it sooner or later. You might want to bring the height down to 100px.

I admit, I'm also feeling a bit jealous.