i kindda getcha..
since my friends are otakus like me and they are always using the language and one of theyre dreams is to go to japan...
i mean i like anime and manga...
but i dont really like japan...
im not saying that i hate it...
but at first to me ...
japan is the country of perverts...
i mean...
i dont know how to say this but usually its like that...
and my opinion is still not changing...

oh please do click this!
The sweeter the apple, the higher the branch. The quieter the fart, the nastier the smell.
GUESS WHO??

@Crenshinibon
I am actually not against escapism. But sometimes it can be too bad, too stupid, too over the top or too offensive to other groups in society, you know what I mean? I am personally not that fond of that but I don't care if other people like that. It's none of my business.

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I didn't mean it's unique in Japan. People from other countries can like escapism because of their own different problems. However, anime and manga are originally made to target the Japanses market, so I think they reflect Japan's problems more than any other country's.

I'm pretty fond of Japan just because it is Japan, with all it faults and wrongs. But I keep it on a pretty sane level, it's not like my dream is to become japanese nor live in Japan. Some things with the Japanese mentallity scares my, specially since I'm Swedish and Sweden are after all known as one of the most modern countries in the world when it comes to gender equality and such things.

But in the same time I love Japanese culture, the clothing styles, the music and the love for everything sweet. Japan is the land of both such shallow things and deep problems, and that's why I find it interessting.

Some of your comments make me think some of you are attacking the japanese people themselves. sure culturally they have a lot of morally corrupt prpblems but which country doesnt? Eroticism, sexism, the problems many of you mentioned are real problems culturally but those arent the only problems limited to the japanese. The japanese people essentially are just like you and me just affected by their culture, yet most can be very personable and good friends and overall great people. I understand getting angry at the cultural immoralities but some could also get angry with say most americans for being ignorant (i always hear people from other countries tell me this), people in the middle east for sexism, and so on. I guess what im trying to do is defend the japanese people themselves as I do have a deep care for the people and desire them to break away from they're culture's perversion, they're culture's materialistic obsession (which most nations have), and really to show others the japamese people actually do have many good points that the culture has shaped them with.

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2777/4207527145_31aa2e1471_m.jpg[/img]

Quote from Azari02

Some of your comments make me think some of you are attacking the japanese people themselves. sure culturally they have a lot of morally corrupt prpblems but which country doesnt? Eroticism, sexism, the problems many of you mentioned are real problems culturally but those arent the only problems limited to the japanese. The japanese people essentially are just like you and me just affected by their culture, yet most can be very personable and good friends and overall great people. I understand getting angry at the cultural immoralities but some could also get angry with say most americans for being ignorant (i always hear people from other countries tell me this), people in the middle east for sexism, and so on. I guess what im trying to do is defend the japanese people themselves as I do have a deep care for the people and desire them to break away from they're culture's perversion, they're culture's materialistic obsession (which most nations have), and really to show others the japamese people actually do have many good points that the culture has shaped them with.

Well said and I agree. Like alot of things done by Americans are considered erotic or perverted from people from other countries or cultures.

It's actually in the eyes of the beholder. For me Japan is an interesting country. It's not perverted and such though. I do agree with the racism and the sexism part. (I'm Thai btw) But like any other culture, it has its goods and its bads.

I do like manga, but I'm not obsessed with it. ;P

Paste siggie here. ^^

Sorry about the hyperbole - that's why they call it a rant, after all. I spent a summer in Japan through a study-abroad program and it was an amazing experience. I like a lot of things about Japanese culture, too. It's just that it really gets me when people act like Japan is some kind of amazing fantasyland with faultless people when it's far from it.

I don't think it's "the country of perverts", though. That seems a little harsh. I mean, most of the people here aren't living in Japan and look at them. =D

[img]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g32/akari_mizunashi/reallybutton.png[/img]

I like some parts of their culture, but not all of it.
Like how women are expected to be good housewives and drop their job when they get married. (Or they have to be a good housewife and careerwoman at the same time.)

Also, there's that thing where after high school, you're expected to become a part of society and blend in with everyone else... or something like that. Those businessmen work way too hard; it's bad for their health

The prejudice (or maybe even elitism? social inequality?) really really bugs me too.

I am learning Japanese and plan to visit someday, although I don't ever plan on actually living there. I like Japan, but not that much. 🤣

And yeah. Japanophiles = scary. They only "see" what they want to see about Japan, and turn a blind eye to everything else.

i personally think that whether people obsess about japan depends on their mindset, whether they naturally would feel better in their culture, and this mindset is only multiplyed by manga/anime, because it makes them realize some of what japan has to offer.
i am learning japanese and would like to find out just how much their culture suits me(i think very well). but only after ive visited will i become someone who wants to live their. even before i got fully into manga/anime i liked japan, though wouldnt have gone as far as learning there language.

Quote from Revi_Malsaneta

Sorry about the hyperbole - that's why they call it a rant, after all. I spent a summer in Japan through a study-abroad program and it was an amazing experience. I like a lot of things about Japanese culture, too. It's just that it really gets me when people act like Japan is some kind of amazing fantasyland with faultless people when it's far from it.

I think whether it's a "fantasyland" will depend on the person. For example, I know some men who want to marry a Japanese or some other Asian country's woman because they think they will get a "submissive" wife due to their believing what these cultures expect women to be (and I have to say sometimes they are indeed correct and some do get what they want). So this is assumed to be a more favorable aspect for those men compared with Western cultures. On the other hand, it's probably not so for women. "Faultlessness" doesn't exist, I am sure they know too. Only what's favorable to a person exists.

Quote from Revi_Malsaneta

Sorry about the hyperbole - that's why they call it a rant, after all. I spent a summer in Japan through a study-abroad program and it was an amazing experience. I like a lot of things about Japanese culture, too. It's just that it really gets me when people act like Japan is some kind of amazing fantasyland with faultless people when it's far from it.

Yeah... just ignore them. Seriously. People who think of any place as as "faultless fantasy land" clearly have a thin grasp on reality to begin with... I can certainly understand if you don't want to be guilty of association with such people, but the best law I've found is that the number of idiots in a given group and the size of a group tends to be positively correlated. Just find friends who share your interests and don't make you want to slap them every 30 seconds, and let the little wormlings have their dreams if it makes them sleep better.

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Quote from leelee.

Also, there's that thing where after high school, you're expected to become a part of society and blend in with everyone else... or something like that. Those businessmen work way too hard; it's bad for their health.

Actually at the present the Japanese youth are causing a huge cultural change considering this aspect. I've talked with people living in Japan and its quite noticeable that the youth aren't buying the whole "businessmen assimilation". A lot of youth are becoming more disrespectful to elders and are somewhat diminishing the old traditions. More youth are making a living by acquiring multiple jobs at convenient stores or restaurants and such... really breaking the "company's hand-cuffs" I'll call it.
which I think is both good and bad in many respects. The differences are noticeable just by looking back ten years ago.

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2777/4207527145_31aa2e1471_m.jpg[/img]

I find myself more irritated at people who get up in arms about stuff that, while it may be annoying, is essentially harmless, than I do with the original annoying people. Or maybe I just don't spend enough time around otaku Japanophiles to get that annoyed by them...? 🤣

I'm interested in Japanese culture & trying to learn the language mainly so I can (someday) read manga in the original Japanese. I love the manga-fantasy-Japan; not so sure about the real thing. Then again there are plenty of things about US culture that I'm way less than thrilled about, I'm just used to them so they don't stand out to me.

There are some parts of Japanese culture that would fit me a lot better than US culture, but other parts that wouldn't (I'd make a lousy Japanese wife...) so there's no way I'd seriously think about living there - at least not until I'd had a good long visit first & decided it was a good fit overall.

If I were to encounter one of those "Japan is perfect" folks in a situation where it was possible, I'd probably try to steer them towards some accurate information on current Japanese culture. Or else just laugh & shrug it off; not worth getting upset about. 😎

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

Quote from Azari02

Quote from leelee.

Also, there's that thing where after high school, you're expected to become a part of society and blend in with everyone else... or something like that. Those businessmen work way too hard; it's bad for their health.

Actually at the present the Japanese youth are causing a huge cultural change considering this aspect. I've talked with people living in Japan and its quite noticeable that the youth aren't buying the whole "businessmen assimilation". A lot of youth are becoming more disrespectful to elders and are somewhat diminishing the old traditions. More youth are making a living by acquiring multiple jobs at convenient stores or restaurants and such... really breaking the "company's hand-cuffs" I'll call it.
which I think is both good and bad in many respects. The differences are noticeable just by looking back ten years ago.

Yes about a lot of that, but the freeter thing is a gross exaggeration perpetuated by the Japanese media for political reasons. They exist, but not in the numbers that have been claimed. It's like the hikikomori thing from a couple years back after all the publicity from the busjacking.

It actually isn't that the young are adverse to the whole salaryman assimilation thing- it's actually that the system hasn't really existed since the economic bubble burst around '96, hence, everyone's trying to figure out what to do as the societal norms of Japanese business (life-long employment, etc.) are slowly disintegrating. On the plus side, the economy "rebounded" this quarter.

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Reviews of my Work:
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**Your awesome!!! **- Cherelle_Ashley
NightSwan also said that she wanted to peg me, once, but I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or a threat...

Quote from Revi_Malsaneta

I don't think it's "the country of perverts", though. That seems a little harsh. I mean, most of the people here aren't living in Japan and look at them. =D

maybe because of this my opinion might change..
im not narrow minded...
so peace dawg!!!
😀 🤣

again before anything else i have to apologize if my comment was a bit "too harsh"...
i wasnt even thinking when i wrote that...
it was probably because i have studied about the damages that the japanese did to our country in the world war 2 ...
so out of a guilty conscience im really sorry!!! 😢
and also to the offended people sorry!!! 😢
now that my head is much more clearer...
i hafta say that there are bad things about japan but there are also good things about it...
how can a place that creates such beautiful pieces of literature be such a bad country...right?? 🙂

oh please do click this!
The sweeter the apple, the higher the branch. The quieter the fart, the nastier the smell.
GUESS WHO??