Japanophiles - WARNING: Essay on the Real Japan

[greenice]

I read the whole thing, and as a person with a moderate interest in otaku/japanese culture I found it to be very interesting. I can see how these sort of inaccurate perceptions of a country can be annoying, but I personally don't really see it as that much of a problem,I mean there are stereotypes about most of anything, all you can really do is just try to educate people and move on.So good job, keep on doing what you're doing.

 

[Verzin]

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed reading it. It seemed like you spent a great deal of time and effort writing and researching.

You're absolutely right: many many people do not understand Japanese society at all, and stereotypes abound.
It doesn't bother me very much though. If I got upset at ignorance, I think I would go mad. This world has too much ignorance. far too much. Even I am very ignorant.

 

[saintdane05]

J-pop like Hatsune Miku, AKB48,

Miku? Trite?
Is that a joke?
<youtube=UEnYvYYtjEo>
<youtube=uRQTZC3uNW4>
Miku is not a single artist. She is a program who sings for you. It is what you write for her that matters. She just has a beautiful voice.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Holy wall of text, Batman!

I studied a little of Japanese culture during my Criminology course at university and came across something rather interesting.

Because Japanese society is focused so much on conformity, crime as very low. That's because if a Japanese person commits a crime. it's not just their family and friends that are ashamed, nearly everyone they're associated with on a day to day basis will be ashamed of knowing that person.

This leads to a lot of the quirkiness we see in the West, since the Japanese are so homogeneous in their day to day lives.

This unfortunately has made life horrible for rape victims. If the victim reports a crime, she gets abandoned by her friends and the like because she caused a disruption of order. Note that this is only anecdote but it seems to be confirmed by a few sources

 

[Cecilo]

I know, it's amazing how our perception of a society can be skewed so much isn't it?

Americans - Gun Toting, Religious, and Uneducated people.
Canadians - People who do nothing but drink and watch hockey.
English - People who act superior to everyone else.
Russians - ...actually I can't think of a Russian stereotype other than drinking a lot, huh.
Italians - Cowards who make Pizza and/or Pasta all day.
French - Snobs.
Spanish - Love to party, eat a lot, loud.

No society is what it appears to be from the outside, and I believe that anyone who takes a stereotype at face value is a fool. The very idea that Americans, Canadians, Russians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, English, Italians, French, Spanish or any other culture can be reduced to a few stereotypical examples is just plain stupid, and I wish people would stop doing it.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Bravo, man, bravo. You have won the internet with that essay

On a more serious note, I love Japan beyond just anime and manga, I always was more attached to Japan's view on education and technology since the age of 10 or even younger. Nowadays, I have a conflict because I love Japan and all of the culture that inspires anime, manga, and other facets but I also know of many glaring issues with the society such as the frequency of out-of-court settlements, the worsened victim blaming, emphasis on extreme conformity, decreased sexuality (to the point that it has worsened the birth rate issue) and the gap between youth and older generations.

Is there any way to consolidate my love of the country and my dislike of some of the less (for lack of better words) "progressive" and "modern" aspects

P.S. My experience with the actual Japan was a friend from childhood who came due to his father's work, a trip to Japan and it's museums, and a semester class on Japanese Language and Culture. If that is insufficient to have a valid opinion, please inform me and point me to more sources of information

 

[Da Orky Man]

That might also be because of the pressure of the "worker bee" society. Don't Japanese high schoolers get like home work... during summer vacation? Now I've been out of high school for over a decade, so I don't know how much has changed, but I doubt high schoolers in the West get that same deal.

Hmm, depends what year, and what you mean. Over here in the UK, from year 9 onwards some subjects set a piece of homework at the end of the year and expect it in at the beginning of the next. It's not uncommon at all.

I'm going to agree with John here. Its quite normal in the UK, if you're going to get the same teachers in the next years, to have homework set of the summer holidays. Quite a lot of it as well, if I remember. I'm fairly sure that's done all across Europe.

Also, aimed at most everyone at this thread, though I can't find the source, so take this with a bucket of salt, but I vaguely remember reading of poll done on the average number of languages spoken, and Japan was near the bottom. Little immigration and a largely insular outlook among the general populace was apparently to blame.

EDIT: Good article otherwise. How long did it take to write that, because it looks like a decent sized essay.

 

[Frostbyte666]

Hmm very interesting and informative read. Useful since I do want to visit Japan at some point and it's good to the common misconceptions that are around. Also I feel incredibly ill educated and lazy now and feel a need to restore the atrophied remains of my French speaking skills.

 

[marurder]

Good article, nothing in it surprises me. But it did clarify some questions I had about this country.

 

[GinraiPrime]

Great Essay! I've always been interested in Japan and not just because I happen to like video games, giant robots and kaiju movies like Godzilla. Probably because its so culturally different than here in the UK with regard to how they treat things like, as others have mentioned, crime and how its dealt with in society over there. I've always wanted to visit there sometime but rather than just immediately do what some people who like anime and games would do and just go to the usual hotspots I'd rather explore as much of the country as I could.
I remember studying about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in History one time and, while you can understand why it happened, I still believe that it was just way too overkill for the Americans to have done at the time so I would like to visit them and pay my respects. Sure I may not be Japanese but that doesn't mean I can't pay respects for people who lost their lives in such a horrific way. I mean many people do that when disasters happen all around the globe so why should that be any different?
Like any culture, theres always gonna be some stereotypes but it really doesn't surprise me that theres more to the Japanese than meets the eye. Anyone who thinks it really is just nothing but otaku's and J-pop is just living in a fantasy world and thats a fantasy world I'd rather not live in.

 

[Cecilo]

Yeah, being Canadian, I know first hand what silly misconceptions people can have about other cultures. Honestly, we just find it funny. Truth is, unless you visit a country or really study it, you will know next to nothing about their actual culture except for how it is portrayed by the media. Most people see Japan through anime and extreme game shows so all the trappings of those two genres become part of our picture of the country. Just like people think we have Mounties riding horses everywhere. I have lived in Canada all my life never even seen a Mountie outside of showboat political ceremonies. If you think images of horse riding Mounties igloos and polar bears, are a burden though; many foreign countries watch fox news (not for news but for comedy value, I might add). I can only imagine what such a skewed depiction that gives of the United States elsewhere. I'm sure this effect really bugs you in regards to Japan because you're so close to their true culture, but this ignorance is everywhere and you might be guilty of it too, in regards to some countries. So thank you for your very informative essay, but try not to judge people to harshly about it.

Fox news does not represent ANY part of the actual American people. Please everyone, please. Do not take what those people say as representative of us. The average person does not fall for Fox's bullcrud.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

As for the geeky street thing, I live in a city that doesn't even have a single comic book shop and has one video games store.

;_;

 

[Cabisco]

I just had to comment to say that was a very interesting and insightful read, well done and kudos on teaching me a thing or two.

Also I couldn't get this out of my head

 

[NemotheElvenPanda]

I agree with all of that, and more. Japanophiles, nihonphiles, weeabos, whatever you want to call them, make it hard for westerners who are genuinely interested in Japan to be taken seriously. I appreciate the culture for example; I am a Buddhist that got a lot of inspiration from Zen teachings, so naturally I'm "drawn" to Japanese thought. I also love the history. Japan is a unique country that has marched to its own drum for as long as its existed, which is ironic given Japan's values of being passive and conformist. In a few centuries it went from a nation caught in civil war between various petty states to a global economic, cultural, and for a time, military powerhouse. There's just so much I find interesting, but I by no means stick all of Japan in a single mold, nor do I want to "be Japanese".

 

[Weaver]

If you don't feel like reading this essay it can be summed up as "Weaboo's have their expectations of Japan set by anime and otaku culture". While I have met a few people like this, including a guy who ran a manga stand at a convention, nearly all self described "otaku" I know very much realize Japan is simply just another place and that the "otaku" side of the culture is, in fact, a very small subset of what the country is. However, you have to realize, it's a very marketable and exportable culture; that's why it's catching on in the rest of the world. In very much the same way American style action movies are synonymous with America and even parroted in other countries.

Terramax, all I can think is that you must have had a very serious number of run-ins with a lot of delusional people to write this because in my experience, even at anime conventions, most people don't hold these misconceptions. Perhaps I've just been lucky.

 

[Zeren]

I spent a month in Tokyo to explore the city and get a feeling of what daily life there was like. I can say with a great deal of certainty that the OP knows what they are talking about. Especially about Akiba. That picture really does sum it up. Think of it as an open air Best Buy for the most part.

Here is what my experience in Japan was like.

The one thing that I took away from my trip was how incredibly wonderful the people were. I don't speak Japanese for squat, but through the power of hand gestures, smiles, and the kindness of the people I was able to find my way around and have a wonderful time doing so.

My first experience with that was when I exited the subway station in the Sumida district and looked at my map. Upon seeing that I looked lost and looked very foreign, a man came up to me and in very good English asked me if I was lost and how he could help. He got me pointed in the right direction.

At one point I couldn't find my hotel because it was hidden and my map had been wrong. I asked a construction worker just across the Sumida river from where I had met the first man where it was and instead of brushing me off or being unhelpful, he drove me around in his personal vehicle until we found it.

Another wonderful event happened to me in the Ueno district of Tokyo. A group of 6 school children about the age of 8 or 9 with impeccable English approached me and asked me where I was from, why I was visiting, and what my favorite Japanese word was. I told them it was "kinzoku", because well... I like metal. The had a laugh at that and went off on their merry way.

The fourth encounter was the funniest of them all and took place in the Asakusa district. I was at a crosswalk behind an elderly couple who were clearly as touristy as I was. I caught enough of their conversation to understand that they were talking about the tall buildings. The lady pointed behind her and remarked that one of the buildings was very tall. Her husband turned to look and saw me. I'm 6'2" and he must have though that she had been referring to me, because he looked shocked and confused. She then turned and looked. I just laughed, as did they. I squatted down so I was closer to their height and we had another laugh at that. We then walked for about a block together, trying to understand what the other may be saying. We parted ways as they went into the subway. We shared a friendly wave and that was that.

Out of all of the beautiful things in that city, I remember the people the most.