NationStates Jolt Archive

To state I am NOT going to Japan and I have never been there, though I have stared down Japanese tourists in Hawaii after they screwed around with me and insulted my beautiful light hair color and pale brown eyes. This happened with two little Japanese guys who bragged about knowing Karate and then started making fun of me and American culture in general. I replied to their comments with my own pointing out serious flaws in their culture, such as their own xenophobia, not coming to terms with their history, and other things. So then I stood up fully, being 6'4" does kinda of help in a stair down with people a full head shorter then you does help you intimidate people, so they backed offer in fear and gave up their fight and then I went to the beach and got in with some nerd chicks. :)

Yet, to point I do realize that Japanese culture in general is pretty dang cool and pretty well on the edge in new tech. Though I do wish to learn on how people of European people, aka white people, have done in Europe and what are their comments on the whole Japanese experience and, if any, xenophobia they encountered.

I've never been to Japan, but I do hope to go to the Philippines at some point, mainly for the women, hey I'm not going to lie why I'm going there.

To state I am NOT going to Japan and I have never been there, though I have stared down Japanese tourists in Hawaii after they screwed around with me and insutled my beautiful light hair color and pale brown eyes. This happened with two little Japanese guys who bragged about knowing Karate and then started making fun of me and American culture in general. I replied to their comments with my own pointing out serious flaws in their culture, their xenophobia, not coming to terms with their history, and other things. So then I stood up fully, being 6'4" does kinda of help in a stair down with people a full head shorter then you does help you inyimdate people, so they backed offer in fear and gave up their fight and then I went to the beach and got in with some nerd chicks.:p

Yet, to point I do realize that Japanese culture in general is pretty dang cool and pretty well on the egde in new tech. Though I do wish to learn on how people of European people, aka white people, have done in Europe and what are their comments on the whole Japanese experince and, if any, xenophobia they encountered.

Ask NERVUN. :)

Uh... so what is this thread about?

Thinking that two tourists in Hawaii who happened to be idiots represent the whole of Japan, apparently. ;)

Thinking that two tourists in Hawaii who happened to be idiots represent the whole of Japan, apparently. ;)

Not 'I faced down two Japanese who said they knew Karate and therefore I is hard'?

Thinking that two tourists in Hawaii who happened to be idiots represent the whole of Japan, apparently. ;)

That and 'ugh! Me big, little Japanese man SMALL'.

Thinking that two tourists in Hawaii who happened to be idiots represent the whole of Japan, apparently. ;)

I guess that's why he said:

what are their comments on the whole Japanese experience and, if any, xenophobia they encountered.

:)

Thinking that two tourists in Hawaii who happened to be idiots represent the whole of Japan, apparently. ;)

I thought it was supposed to be about his beautiful light hair color and pale brown eyes.

I thought it was supposed to be about his beautiful light hair color and pale brown eyes.

I thought he was a girl at first... but most girls don't grow to be 6'4"...

I thought he was a girl at first... but most girls don't grow to be 6'4"...If you fail to realize I tend to like including at least one little joke per paragraph, that was one of them.;)

If you fail to realize I tend to like including at least one little joke per paragraph, that was one of them.;)

You managed to fill the entire post with joke this time.

That and 'ugh! Me big, little Japanese man SMALL'.

Well thank you for that image Neesika. :p

If you fail to realize I tend to like including at least one little joke per paragraph, that was one of them.;)

Oh... well now it's funny. :D

I thought it was supposed to be about his beautiful light hair color and pale brown eyes.

Yes...that jumped out at me too. Reminded me of the Atlantian Island and his self-love.

On the whole, I (An American of Eruopean descent), haven't really encountered xenophobia. I have had a few experiances, but honestly, nothing that I can really take Japan to task to given my wife's (who is Japanese) experiances in the US.

The only three times I've really seen a "GAIJIN! KOWAII!" bit was in larger cities and I think it was more startling for them to hear English as opposed to Japanese.

The folks I live with and work with daily have been very welcoming and open, if more than just a little missinformed about the US (Of course truth to tell, my family is very missinformed about Japan). But they have invited me into their homes, taught me about their culture, and have asked me to stay here. I really haven't felt all that out of place living and travling around Japan, nor have I really run into a heady stream of "Nippon Ichiban!" (Except for the WBC, but Japan loves baseball).

Does that help?

Yes...that jumped out at me too. Reminded me of the Atlantian Island and his self-love.That reminds me of when I went to Venice and saw my own reflection in the some clean:eek: canal water near the edge of the city, seeing my own relfectio I nearly drowned trying to get closer to the relfection of my beauty.

*Begs someone to know of the story being paraphased.*

That reminds me of when I went to Venice and saw my own reflection in the some clean:eek: canal water near the edge of the city, seeing my own relfectio I nearly drowned trying to get closer to the relfection of my beauty.

*Begs someone to know of the story being paraphased.*

I'm going out on a limb and say you're citing a mythology story about a God who was struck by Cupid's arrow and that the first thing he would see would be the thing that he falls in love with. Anyways he wakes up, and see his reflection in a pool of water. I think that's how the story go.

On the whole, I (An American of Eruopean descent), haven't really encountered xenophobia. I have had a few experiances, but honestly, nothing that I can really take Japan to task to given my wife's (who is Japanese) experiances in the US.

The only three times I've really seen a "GAIJIN! KOWAII!" bit was in larger cities and I think it was more startling for them to hear English as opposed to Japanese.

The folks I live with and work with daily have been very welcoming and open, if more than just a little missinformed about the US (Of course truth to tell, my family is very missinformed about Japan). But they have invited me into their homes, taught me about their culture, and have asked me to stay here. I really haven't felt all that out of place living and travling around Japan, nor have I really run into a heady stream of "Nippon Ichiban!" (Except for the WBC, but Japan loves baseball).

Does that help?Quite a bit.:p

I'm going out on a limb and say you're citing a mythology story about a God who was struck by Cupid's arrow and that the first thing he would see would be the thing that he falls in love with. Anyways he wakes up, and see his reflection in a pool of water. I think that's how the story go.Wrong, thinking of an old story of Venice where one youth saw his relfection in the water and could not look away till he fell into the canal and died from drowning.

*Begs someone to know of the story being paraphased.*

Are you kidding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_%28mythology%29)?

We learn Greek mythology very early on here. And Ovid is fairly standard reading.

Wrong, thinking of an old story of Venice where one youth saw his relfection in the water and could not look away till he fell into the canal and died from drowning.

Isn't that really just a cheap ripoff of the Narcissus story though?

Isn't that really just a cheap ripoff of the Narcissus story though?

Well, more like an allusion to.

Isn't that really just a cheap ripoff of the Narcissus story though?Possibly.

Wrong, thinking of an old story of Venice where one youth saw his relfection in the water and could not look away till he fell into the canal and died from drowning.

Is the story older than the myth of Narcissus? If not, you lose!

EDIT: Boy, did I get beaten to that! Wtf was this thread about anyway? Reading the OP doesn't seem to help.

Hmm something about blah blah, I'm too sexy, blah blah, ha ha little Japanese men, blah blah, never going to Japan anyway, blah blah, so what's up with white people in Japan?

Hmm something about blah blah, I'm too sexy, blah blah, ha ha little Japanese men, blah blah, never going to Japan anyway, blah blah, so what's up with white people in Japan?
Can't... resist...

I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love
Love's going to leave me

I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts
And I'm too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan
New York and Japan

And I'm too sexy for your party
Too sexy for your party
No way I'm disco dancing

I'm a model you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah
I do my little turn on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my car too sexy for my car
Too sexy by far
And I'm too sexy for my hat
Too sexy for my hat what do you think about that

I'm a model you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah
I shake my little touche on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my too sexy for my too sexy for my

'Cos I'm a model you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah
I shake my little touche on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my cat too sexy for my cat
Poor pussy poor pussy cat
I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love
Love's going to leave me

And I'm too sexy for this song

Hmm something about blah blah, I'm too sexy, blah blah, ha ha little Japanese men, blah blah, never going to Japan anyway, blah blah, so what's up with white people in Japan?

You still have to replace the "little Japanese men" and "I'm big" image that I got into my head Neesika! :-p

Actually, I spent a week in Japan when I was about fourteen (twenty years ago.)

People tended to stare at me and my family (frankly, all around the world people would stare at my sister. She was really something, still scrubs up OK.) But whenever we would ask questions or have dealings with anyone they were almost embarassingly eager to please. And we got along OK with essentially no japanese language.

I heard the word "gaijin" just once, and there might have been some justification that time. We were eating in a teppan place, where the chef would fry the octopus on a big grill right in front of you, moving along the counter and turning each person's food in turn. Then drown it in some brown sauce which I think might have had oyster in it.
Yeah, so it smelled delicious and I was very hungry. I broke apart the lightweight disposable chopsticks and tried to pick up a tentacle, but it was slippery and I had to squeeze hard. The chopsticks broke, and my fist went right into the food, sending tentacles and sauce everywhere.
Getting your food on other people is bad table manners just about anywhere, and someone muttered something with the word "gaijin" in it, but most of the other customers plainly wanted to laugh their guts up but kept straight faces. I kind of died.

Kyoto had a lot of beautiful old temples and other buildings. It left a huge impression on me ... ooh, and the girls all dolled up in shiny kimonos.

To live there? I don't think so ... the place is insanely crowded and I like to be able to look out a window and not see crowds of people.

When I go to Japan, half of me is ridiculed behind half of my back, while people greet half of me with smiles and kind words.


Actually, the only blatant xenophobia I've experienced in Japan came from a baby who'd never seen a white person before, apparantly, and was afraid of my me and my mother. It was pretty funny.

To live there? I don't think so ... the place is insanely crowded and I like to be able to look out a window and not see crowds of people.
Depends where you live. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are insane. Here in Nagano though... It's pretty quiet.

You will most likely be invite onto an innocent seeming game show that will end up featuring a lightning round with real lightning, japanese ninjas stalking you with with wooden swords for smacking you when you get answers wrong, and the end involving you strapped spreadeagle to a concrete wall while 13 year old schoolgirls try to hit you in the crotch with a RPG launcher. *nod*

You will most likely be invite onto an innocent seeming game show that will end up featuring a lightning round with real lightning, japanese ninjas stalking you with with wooden swords for smacking you when you get answers wrong, and the end involving you strapped spreadeagle to a concrete wall while 13 year old schoolgirls try to hit you in the crotch with a RPG launcher. *nod*

You mean like this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xm3cV61Mqtk) LG? :D

Depends where you live. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are insane. Here in Nagano though... It's pretty quiet.

It would have been good to get out in the country a bit. I understand there are some really wild places, national parks, but all we managed out of Kyoto and Tokyo was to climb the sacred mountain.

I wish I'd been there longer, but the exchange rate was a killer. We could barely afford to eat! Is it still expensive to live on foreign money?

You will most likely be invite onto an innocent seeming game show that will end up featuring a lightning round with real lightning, japanese ninjas stalking you with with wooden swords for smacking you when you get answers wrong, and the end involving you strapped spreadeagle to a concrete wall while 13 year old schoolgirls try to hit you in the crotch with a RPG launcher. *nod*

:D
Damn, that didn't happen to me!

You mean like this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xm3cV61Mqtk) LG? :D

Thank you. :)

Though I am now concerned that the producers of The Simpsons may be borrowing my brain while I sleep to develop their material.

<.<

>.>

:D
Damn, that didn't happen to me!

There's always next time. :)

I wish I'd been there longer, but the exchange rate was a killer. We could barely afford to eat! Is it still expensive to live on foreign money?
Depends upon which money you're using (Everytime I come back from the US I'm pretty happy). It also depends upon where you eat. A lot of Japan is pretty cheap if you know what to look for. It's just that tourists don't know this part and get stuck with the hellishly expensive bit. ;)

Not 'I faced down two Japanese who said they knew Karate and therefore I is hard'?
I thought it was, "I'm such a dick even people from another culture will diss me, but I'm so dickish I think they're the dicks not me."

I had a Japanese roommate when I lived in France. I found her, and her Japanese friends, to be quite friendly and open. There was a bit of an issue about the amount of public displays of affection between my girlfriend and I (as Midori was extremely culturally conservative) but after a long discussion about give and take between cultures it worked out in the end.

The only really weird thing about the Japanese is the "peace sign" thing they all seem to do when having pictures taken (except Midori, who is wierd). (I'm the only guy in the picture)

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/tuebor/IMG_0872.jpg

I had a Japanese roommate when I lived in France. I found her, and her Japanese friends, to be quite friendly and open. There was a bit of an issue about the amount of public displays of affection between my girlfriend and I (as Midori was extremely culturally conservative) but after a long discussion about give and take between cultures it worked out in the end.

The only really weird thing about the Japanese is the "peace sign" thing they all seem to do when having pictures taken (except Midori, who is wierd). (I'm the only guy in the picture)

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/tuebor/IMG_0872.jpgCool, but do not think she was conservative as in Idaho if you are white and talk to someone they look at you with that disgusted look.

Though I do wish to learn on how people of European people, aka white people, have done in Europe and what are their comments on the whole Japanese experience and, if any, xenophobia they encountered.

NERVUN handled it pretty well. I've lived here 16 years, and have had a few experiences w/ xenephoboic types. But overall, most people are OK.

Ask NERVUN. :)

Or me. ;)

On the whole, I (An American of Eruopean descent), haven't really encountered xenophobia. I have had a few experiances, but honestly, nothing that I can really take Japan to task to given my wife's (who is Japanese) experiances in the US.

The only three times I've really seen a "GAIJIN! KOWAII!" bit was in larger cities and I think it was more startling for them to hear English as opposed to Japanese.

The folks I live with and work with daily have been very welcoming and open, if more than just a little missinformed about the US (Of course truth to tell, my family is very missinformed about Japan). But they have invited me into their homes, taught me about their culture, and have asked me to stay here. I really haven't felt all that out of place living and travling around Japan, nor have I really run into a heady stream of "Nippon Ichiban!" (Except for the WBC, but Japan loves baseball).

Does that help?

True true. I've experienced more xenephobic anti-American from Europeans, Canadians, and Aussies than from Japanese.

Can't... resist...

I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love
Love's going to leave me

Hehe. The school in Wakayama I go too twice a week has cable radio and the station it's usually on plays that song about twice a day. The Japanese staff knew it but didn't understand it. Once I told them what he was signing, it became the running gag.

Actually, I spent a week in Japan when I was about fourteen (twenty years ago.)

People tended to stare at me and my family (frankly, all around the world people would stare at my sister. She was really something, still scrubs up OK.) But whenever we would ask questions or have dealings with anyone they were almost embarassingly eager to please. And we got along OK with essentially no japanese language.

I heard the word "gaijin" just once, and there might have been some justification that time. We were eating in a teppan place, where the chef would fry the octopus on a big grill right in front of you, moving along the counter and turning each person's food in turn. Then drown it in some brown sauce which I think might have had oyster in it.
Yeah, so it smelled delicious and I was very hungry. I broke apart the lightweight disposable chopsticks and tried to pick up a tentacle, but it was slippery and I had to squeeze hard. The chopsticks broke, and my fist went right into the food, sending tentacles and sauce everywhere.
Getting your food on other people is bad table manners just about anywhere, and someone muttered something with the word "gaijin" in it, but most of the other customers plainly wanted to laugh their guts up but kept straight faces. I kind of died.

Kyoto had a lot of beautiful old temples and other buildings. It left a huge impression on me ... ooh, and the girls all dolled up in shiny kimonos.

To live there? I don't think so ... the place is insanely crowded and I like to be able to look out a window and not see crowds of people.

Aw man. I've had my share of faux paux and accidents here too, and iot really does make it worse when you stand out so much.


Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are insane.

And so am I. :D

You will most likely be invite onto an innocent seeming game show that will end up featuring a lightning round with real lightning, japanese ninjas stalking you with with wooden swords for smacking you when you get answers wrong, and the end involving you strapped spreadeagle to a concrete wall while 13 year old schoolgirls try to hit you in the crotch with a RPG launcher. *nod*

The newspaper had another festival for you in it the other day - everybody all covered in mud. Ya'll do gotta get over here one of these days.

I had a Japanese roommate when I lived in France. I found her, and her Japanese friends, to be quite friendly and open. There was a bit of an issue about the amount of public displays of affection between my girlfriend and I (as Midori was extremely culturally conservative) but after a long discussion about give and take between cultures it worked out in the end.

The only really weird thing about the Japanese is the "peace sign" thing they all seem to do when having pictures taken (except Midori, who is wierd). (I'm the only guy in the picture)

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/tuebor/IMG_0872.jpg

Yes, most Japanese are pretty conservative about public displays like that. But not all are. I've see some people get pretty raunchy in public.

Haha. Best non-thread ever. :p

Anyway, although I certainly have seen the asian inferiority complex rear its ugly head from time to time, asians in general are nice people, I've concluded. Also, beating some five-foot Korean kid into the dust on the playground isn't something I'd go off bragging about - in most cases, superior size/strength > Karate. Not a revelation. :p

Modern Japanese culture is heavily based on American and western European culture after WWII.

Oh and, just make fun of their hentai. ;)

:)
Been there AND around some. Friendliest people I ever met.

I'm going out on a limb and say you're citing a mythology story about a God who was struck by Cupid's arrow and that the first thing he would see would be the thing that he falls in love with. Anyways he wakes up, and see his reflection in a pool of water. I think that's how the story go.

I thought the story was that a greek man or halfgod, Narcissus, loved himself so much, that he would only stare at his reflection. And one day, he tried to touch his reflection, and fell in the water, and drowned....at least, that's what I think....

Damn, I knew the xenophobia thing was bad in Japan itself but I never would have expected the same attitudes from people living in the US. If you see them again, ask them why they're even in Hawai'i if they don't like Americans.

My husband was a missionary in Japan for a while before we met, everyone there called him Santa Claus because of his beard. I don't think he encountered any problems, everyone seemed to like him and enjoyed practicing their English with him, they even taught him some Japanese tongue twisters.

My husband was a missionary in Japan for a while before we met, everyone there called him Santa Claus because of his beard. I don't think he encountered any problems, everyone seemed to like him and enjoyed practicing their English with him, they even taught him some Japanese tongue twisters.

Heh. On the first day of class this April, one of my mid level (1st-2nd grade age) classes decided I am Hagrid from Harry Potter because of my size and beard. :D

Heh. On the first day of class this April, one of my mid level (1st-2nd grade age) classes decided I am Hagrid from Harry Potter because of my size and beard. :D

I believe they also called him "little bear" due to his size (he is tall and intimidating) and fuzziness. The younger ones called him Santa, especially kids.

I believe they also called him "little bear" due to his size (he is tall and intimidating) and fuzziness. The younger ones called him Santa, especially kids.
I don't have the beard, but I do have students who call me a bear, something my wife finds extremely funny.

I'm also known as Santa-sensei by the elementary school students due to dressing up as him last year. :D