any history buffs?

[Hatori]

hello. i was wondering if i'm the only person that's not really into history. i would like to learn some japanese history, but i just can't get myself into it.
are you big into japanese history or any history, unlike me?

[flammable hippo]

I find Japanese history to be pretty interesting. In my whap (world history ap) class we have to learn about the jomon and heian periods, various shogunates (kamakura, ashikaga, tokugawa), Japan's isolation and relationship with Europe, some guy who I think his name is Hideyoshi something...(I didn't really pay attention that day...) and I think in a while we'll be discussing how Japan, with influence from the west, grew into an economic world power and the meiji restoration.

But yeah, I like it. But I think I'm the only one in my class interested in Japan's history and doesn't consider it to be exactly the same place as China... History is interesting, until next year when I'm gonna be taking apush (ap united state's history). That's a boring class considering almost every year at school that is all the history we cover. It gets pretty repetetive.

[AJBryant]

I am a historian, actually.


Tony

[Hatori]

AJBryant wrote:
I am a historian, actually.


Tony

i don't understand how people aren't bored with history. i mean, i like ooold and ancient stuff, but nothing within about 700 years before us right now. but, everybody has their hobbies and stuff. but i'm getting annoyed because US history is so... boring. lol even though this year of school i've probably done more coloring than i have in 3rd grade.

[AJBryant]

Sad. Very sad,


Tony

[chrischi]

We learn from the past to prepare for the future.
I'm not good enough to translate that yet.

[Kidaver]

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" or however it goes

[Schattenjedi]

OP, try watching a show that has some historical value to it like るろうに剣心 or any 時代劇. If that doesn't spark your interest in Japanese history, it's hopeless.

[clay]

Schattenjedi has some good advice. Watching anime, movies or samurai flicks based on historical events is a great way to get your interests perked.

I think you will find your interests in the language will increase if you increase your knowledge of Japanese history.

[b4d0m3n]

I like history in general. Of particular interest to me are the movements and separations of Slavic tribes. Japanese history is interesting, to a point. It sort of degenerates into one several-hundred-year-long episode of 'Civil War Island' after a while. Chinese history, on the other hand, holds more of an interest to me, and I'm partial to British history.

[AJBryant]

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it"

That also holds true for Math, Science, French, and any other classes you may be taking.


Tony

[richvh]

The problem isn't that history is boring (it isn't), but that (some/many) history teachers are boring.

Try reading some historical novels, or history books written for the popular audience. (The histories written by Isaac Asimov, if you can find them, are excellent introductions to the various countries/periods he covered.)

[mamba]

richvh wrote:
The problem isn't that history is boring (it isn't), but that (some/many) history teachers are boring.

Yes! Very true. I hated history during highschool; that is until I had this very awesome teacher. Actually, he taught kind of "college-ish," all talking, no notes, the blackboard was empty. He sat on a stool, and just talked. I swear i could have listening to him all day talking about history. As a computer/science student, i could care less about how Cornwallis was owned at the Battle of Yorktown, but this teacher made it interesting. It was actually the first time i recieve a perfect score on a test about history i wrote no notes about.

However his "talk only" style of teaching did not fit well with the students, and the school complained that he was teaching at a slow pace, not meeting with the requirements. After a couple of months, he was gone. If he continued teaching, i could have sworn i would have been majoring in history right now.

And id just like to add in one quote also:
"The seeds of the future lay buried in the past."

[Infidel]

Kidaver wrote:
"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" or however it goes

The problem is too many people tend to think of histoy as pre-human. Everyone who lived in history were like cavemen. Stupid. Yes we can read about the Jewish Holocaust, but that would never happen again, because we know better. Slavery will never happen again. The goverment will never turn against the people, because we are a democracy. Etc, etc.

Everything that happened in the past will happen again so long as people think that they are better, more special, and smarter, than historical figures. The problem is all these people thinking they learned from history, when they really didn't.

[Kidaver]

AJBryant wrote:

That also holds true for Math, Science, French, and any other classes you may be taking.


Tony

..Indeed so,