Ask: Japan!

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

So im rather bored, looking for something to do, so i figured id start a little thread about Japan! Im half japanese, half korean, born in Seoul, adopted by american parents, but ive kept heavily involved with keeping up with my own history and my countries histories.

So, this thread is for, asking questions about Japan, history, culture, or so on! Ask away, ill do my best to answer and keep up on the thread. Please keep it civil, TRY to keep away from the porn, because honestly, i cant tell you why Japanese people are into freaky things but, anyhow!

Ask away!

 

[UnusualStranger]

Hm. Seems your boring evening isn't being filled, so I think I will give it a shot.

Though, first things first. How long were you around the Japanese area?

If you were around there long, could you perhaps explain the social problems that they have in that area, and how it seems to be causing some isolation, and issues with ultimately enjoying themselves, especially as honor towards the family seems to be an overwhelming societal norm?

 

[Gyrohelix]

[REDACTED]

 

[Gyrohelix]

WOOPS! Should have read that quesito nall the way through, my bad mate!
Anyways, how are the Natives rebuilding their buldings after the massive quake?

 

[Souplex]

Why Japan and not Korea? (The good southern one, not the bad northern one) since the little bio you gave seemed to have more to do with Korea than Japan what with you having been born there.

 

[loc978]

Is the Gaijin Perimeter a real thing, or is it all in Azrael's head? [http://outpostnine.com/gaijin_smash/]

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Ive only been to Japan on trips unfortunately, my mother was Korean, my father was Japanese, there on business, knocked her up and took off.

But i think i can take a stab at your questions.

Socially, even with the fall of the Sakoku isolationist policy that came with the Meiji Restoration, and the fall of the Confusian Caste system that had been in place for hundreds of years, there is still somewhat of a social hierarchy.

A lot of it is that families have a clear history, that they can trace back hundreds, if not thousands of years. A for instance is "Kongo Gumi" a family owned construction company that stretched back to 578CE. Unfortunately the company was liquidated due to hard economic times in 2006, however, the family has a scroll that traces back 40 generations of the family back to the founding of the company.

Back during the days in which the caste system existed, there were extremely rigid and set boundries between each class. Movement between the classes was extremely unlikely and it was rare for someone to become anything more than what their family was already. There was of course, a class of outcasts, people who had been rejected from the census for whatever reason, and this class of people were listed forever as almost literally rejects. There are rumors of lists of these families still circulating today, so that someone of "high" statue doesnt marry someone of low status. Whether its true or not, remains to be seen.

The point is, there remains somewhat of a social hierarchy within Japan, in fact Asia itself. Having the ability to say that youve descended of one of the great Daimyo of Japan's history or one of the Shogun's is meaningful. It amounts to being able to say that your ancestor was once a great Knight of the Round Table or what have you, that will always, sort of raise your families status, regardless of whether or not there is such a system that says you are.

 

[Kolby Jack]

Japan is a weird country. Every time you think the weirdness has peeked, they slap you in the face with bionic cat-ears or a new kind of super-tentacle porn. If something from Japan suddenly becomes popular and normal, they immediately make an even weirder version of it that nobody else will touch. They are like weirdness hipsters.

But aside from all the weirdness, it's a nice country to visit. Plenty of history, great food, friendly people, and cool gadgets. Would I want to live there? God no, they barely have enough room for their own citizens. But still, it's a fun place to go for a couple of weeks, and the language is the only one I've ever enjoyed learning.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Is the Gaijin Perimeter a real thing, or is it all in Azrael's head? [http://outpostnine.com/gaijin_smash/]

There is a fairly evident seperation of "gaijin" foreigners and native Japanese. It comes from the fact that Japan has nearly been invaded a dozen times throughout its history.

The most noticeable is against Americans. It comes down to the ending of the Sakoku Policy that was more or less forced to end by the American Government, under the threat of arms in the 1850's.

In 1849, Captain James Glynn sailed into Nagasaki and requested to speak with the leader of Japan. Upon his return to the US he suggested that they return and this time in force to open the country by force of arms, and this time Commodore Matthew Perry was sent. He returned with 7 American Gunboats and sailed through the blockade set up and demanded that the letter he carried from President Fillmore be delivered. He told the Japanese that if his request was denied he would open fire on the Japanese ships surrounding his own. The letter was delivered and Perry departed for the coast of China to wait for a reply, and returned with twice as many ships as a show of force. So, Japan was effictively opened by force, and its created somewhat of a distrust between the Japanese and outsiders. But this is changing as the years go by and it wont last forever.

Gaijin is a term used for anyone thats not born of Japanese decent in Japan itself. Despite being half Japanese myself, im a Gaijin. Even one of their biggest pop stars Utada Hikaru is a gaijin as she was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York.

 

[Mr Thin]

Please keep it civil, TRY to keep away from the porn, because honestly, i cant tell you why Japanese people are into freaky things but, anyhow!
Ask away!

Says the woman who has slave girls. Got some freak of your own there, methinks.

Not hatin', just sayin'.

OT:
- Do you find the Western facination with Japanese... well, everything... to be amusing, annoying, endearing, infuriating, insulting, flattering, etc?

- Is it possible to live comfortably in Japan, for extended periods of time, without consuming any seafood at all? Is seafood as major a part of Japanese food as Iron Chef has led me to believe?

- Do you take your shoes off when walking around the house?

- Is Japanese culture as steeped in tradition as their games, films and anime make it seem, or is that mostly an exaggeration for the sake of the tourists?

- Do you only speak English, or do you also speak Japanese and/or Korean? If just English, have you ever considered learning the languages of your progenitors? If you do speak the others, which of the languages you know do you prefer?

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Why Japan and not Korea? (The good southern one, not the bad northern one) since the little bio you gave seemed to have more to do with Korea than Japan what with you having been born there.

Ive studied both, but for some reason Japan caught my interest more than Korea. I have been to both places and i have to say, they both feel like home to me. They're fantastic places to be and there is so much history there.

This is in no way meant to dig at America, its my home and i love it, but there are THOUSANDS of years of history in Asia and there just so much evidence of it. I see monuments and things to great warriors who died hundreds of years ago and temples on the mountains that have sat for centuries weathering the political climate and the coming of technology without change. Its fantastic!

 

[bluegate]

Why Japan and not Korea? (The good southern one, not the bad northern one)

Screw that, I would love to know some inside scoops on North Korea!

このページの話題なんだが、これぐらいの日本語なら読めるのかな・・・？　というかな～んてね！冗談っすよ、冗談っす
でも、本当は、君は日本人でもなく、韓国人でもなく、ガキの頃からアメリカで住んでたので大体性格はアメリカ人のはずじゃない？
そのため、君がインターネットや本で日本について調べてきたとしても日本についての知識は日本人ほどじゃないはずじゃない？
僕のことを悪く思わないでね、僕も同じく退屈でやることがないのわざわざ日本語でこういうことを書いてしまった、わるかったな

Let's see... what is up with traffic lights in Japan having different tunes depending on their 'direction'

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Please keep it civil, TRY to keep away from the porn, because honestly, i cant tell you why Japanese people are into freaky things but, anyhow!
Ask away!

Says the woman who has slave girls. Got some freak of your own there, methinks.

Not hatin', just sayin'.

OT:
- Do you find the Western facination with Japanese... well, everything... to be amusing, annoying, endearing, infuriating, insulting, flattering, etc?

- Is it possible to live comfortably in Japan, for extended periods of time, without consuming any seafood at all? Is seafood as major a part of Japanese food as Iron Chef has led me to believe?

- Do you take your shoes off when walking around the house?

- Is Japanese culture as steeped in tradition as their games, films and anime make it seem, or is that mostly an exaggeration for the sake of the tourists?

- Do you only speak English, or do you also speak Japanese and/or Korean? If just English, have you ever considered learning the languages of your progenitors? If you do speak the others, which of the languages you know do you prefer?

I like it honestly, because it means that some part of my heritage will always be kept with people. I think its great that westerners have such a love of all things asia. And honestly, asia loves america too

Yes it is possible to live without eating seafood haha. They have plenty of beef dishes and other such things. However, seafood is a major staple of the Japanese Diet. It simply comes from being an island nation.

Yes, i take my shoes off when at home, and when im in Japan, its just a common courtesy there.

There is a fairly deep connection to tradition. Again in modern times its changing just because the younger generations are more influenced by the "outside" world. However, many parents still require their children to respect them, respect their ancestors and so on. I think the place i see the most deep connection is in the martial arts, but thats a personal observation. The samurai, and the culture surrounding it, is very much what created Japan, and its something thats still held in deep regard. For instance, one art, Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, a Koryu or "martial program" that stretches back 564 years still requires a blood oath, that you wont teach it, or demonstrate it without permission from the grand master, or obtaining the Menkyo Kaiden title, which means "complete transition" and means that the student has learned all the schools secrets and has complete transition of the art.

I speak some Japanese, enough to get me around, and i speak very little Korean. The other language i want to learn is Russian.

 

[astrav1]

So im rather bored, looking for something to do, so i figured id start a little thread about Japan! Im half japanese, half korean, born in Seoul, adopted by american parents, but ive kept heavily involved with keeping up with my own history and my countries histories.

So, this thread is for, asking questions about Japan, history, culture, or so on! Ask away, ill do my best to answer and keep up on the thread. Please keep it civil, TRY to keep away from the porn, because honestly, i cant tell you why Japanese people are into freaky things but, anyhow!

Ask away!

Blessed wounds you must be gorgeous! As for something relevant, have you ever had watermelon kit-kats? I've heard they are magnificent.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Why Japan and not Korea? (The good southern one, not the bad northern one)

Screw that, I would love to know some inside scoops on North Korea!

このページの話題なんだが、これぐらいの日本語なら読めるのかな・・・？　というかな～んてね！冗談っすよ、冗談っす
でも、本当は、君は日本人でもなく、韓国人でもなく、ガキの頃からアメリカで住んでたので大体性格はアメリカ人のはずじゃない？
そのため、君がインターネットや本で日本について調べてきたとしても日本についての知識は日本人ほどじゃないはずじゃない？
僕のことを悪く思わないでね、僕も同じく退屈でやることがないのわざわざ日本語でこういうことを書いてしまった、わるかったな

Let's see... what is up with traffic lights in Japan having different tunes depending on their 'direction'

it is possible to visit North Korea, although i wouldnt suggest it

I dont speak fluent Japanese unfortunately, and i am American, despite not being born there. My parents made every possible move to keep me connected to my homeland and my heritage, both Korean and Japanese, i just made more of a connection to Japan than Korea.

I have no idea on the streetlights, i think its just to fuck with westerners who are visiting

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

So im rather bored, looking for something to do, so i figured id start a little thread about Japan! Im half japanese, half korean, born in Seoul, adopted by american parents, but ive kept heavily involved with keeping up with my own history and my countries histories.

So, this thread is for, asking questions about Japan, history, culture, or so on! Ask away, ill do my best to answer and keep up on the thread. Please keep it civil, TRY to keep away from the porn, because honestly, i cant tell you why Japanese people are into freaky things but, anyhow!

Ask away!

Blessed wounds you must be gorgeous! As for something relevant, have you ever had watermelon kit-kats? I've heard they are magnificent.

i havent, but im not a big candy eater, another somewhat traditional Japanese thing is, traditional desserts are generally a little less sweet than you might expect.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Ask away!

Always been curious as to why the English name for 日本 is the anglicised Chinese pronunciation... o_0'

Also, most national traditional martial arts have an equivalent of pugilism, what's Japan's? ('cos I don't really consider it to be karate...)

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Ask away!

Always been curious as to why the English name for 日本 is the anglicised Chinese pronunciation... o_0'

Also, most national traditional martial arts have an equivalent of pugilism, what's Japan's? ('cos I don't really consider it to be karate...)

Probably because the root language of Japanese is Chinese. Japan and China use the same "pictoral" written language. Its why someone who reads Kanji can get a basic understanding of written Chinese. Korea used the same language as China until King Sejong requested that his scholars create a new language for his country.

I would say the art most closely identified with Japan is Jujutsu. Its a grappling art that has its origins in the 1300's. Karate and Aikido, both arts connected with Japan, were founded in the late 1800's.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

question: is takoyaki not the greatest thing EVAAAAR?

hehe perhaps it is im partial to Yakitori myself, but takoyaki is amazing!

For those who dont know, Takoyaki is a grilled savory pancake ball made with chopped octopus, tempura flakes, green onion and pickled ginger. Its cooked in a special pan and then served on a skewer with a special takoyaki sauce. Its most often served at festivals around Japan, although some restaurants do serve it as a dish, or appetizer.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Do they still sell used panties in vending machines?

yes they do, there are something like 1 vending machine for every 20 people in Japan. You can get diapers, coffee, a recharge for your cell phone, used panties (again, weird, i know), drinks, food, magazines, and so on. Theres almost no limit to what you can buy in a vending machine in Japan.

You can even buy beer in vending machines there, although generally a card is required thats only issued to adult applicants. This also applies to cigarette vending machines.