Japan is quite possibly the only countrywhere people can just sit around on the side walk and not be hassled by anyone. That's like 100 times worse than all those bums you see on the floor at the bookstore. As an aside, the girl in the black sailor fuku in your pics looks hot.

Sarcasm just doesn't work over the internet.

Yeah!! Isn't it?! XD And you're welcome. bigrazz I can't believe you actually browsed through the other albums. ^^

Actually i browsed almost everything 😀
im still looking through japan and japan2 albums

I`m really crazy about japan after all,
I hope i can go there after i graduate like you did , hehe...

Mittsu no kokoro ga hitotsu ni nareba...
Hitotsu no seigi wa hyakuman pawaa.

• Getter Robo -

Quote from Spanky151

I think that's only the well off people. Most of the families I know try to economize as much as possible, even going so far as to reuse rubber band from things they buy.

But is it the older people that are in their 40s that are keeping the elastic bands? And maybe it's convenience to have them around rather than drag oneself to the 100 yen store and buy some. Is there a specific disposal area for rubber type items? But I think Japanese will even reuse their high end shopping bags like the paper bag that Louis Vuitton uses, because I sort of doubt that this women I saw on a train was using it just to carry home her purchase. The bag was like the size of a carry on luggage bag.

I saw some local guy in a suit do the same thing on my city's train, but since he was carrying a Louis Vuitton messenger/laptop-type bag (which I recall being real because of the red lining I spotted) and a paper bag with Burberry on it (but it was probably an accessory), he seemed sort of show off. Maybe he was just taking his purchase home instead of reusing the bag. 😐 😳

Quote from Razril

Quote from smichal

I`ve heard from a friend of mine that japanese people are so overconsuming that they actually throw things like a tv or stereo away just to buy a newer model.

I'd say it's somewhat true, just not as exaggerated as people think. Of course they just don't throw away their TV sets right after they see a new model coming out. But yes, some (not all) people do throw sofas and TV sets away (even if it's still working), when it's like 5 years old and they want to buy a new model already.
This comes from the fact that in Japan, if you're throwing out something big (like a bike or a tv), you'd actually have to PAY for its disposal. Since that's such a hassle, some people would just rather put their old wares out in front of their houses hoping that someone else will find a good use for them and take them.
I'm sure next year, this is going to get more prevalent, cause beginning 2009 (or was it 2010?!), Japanese broadcasting stations will switch from analog to digital programming---so everyone has to buy new TVs.

Wow, so the old TVs won't work! 😲 Maybe some group should get together and collect all the dead TVs and see if the parts could be reused since if every household threw away a TV, that would probably be a lot of junk on the streets. I can't remember if it's just my area, but the government added a price tag that for new TVs, printers, and computers, there is this environmental fee to offset the cost for recycling the old stuff. So people can drop off their old computer and TV stuff without charge to some recycling group. I've heard other areas have wanted it illegal to discard these types of products into the dump.

But to me, if they aren't really trying to recycle the products for free, I don't think the "illegal" part would be enough incentive for a person to bother. The person would probably just look over their shoulder more carefully while doing it.

I guess the Japanese government has already started to work on it or they will do something like I mentioned above.

Quote from Razril

Harajuku, just because I said I would: [url]http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v31/shuro/Harajuku/[/url]
Gosh...I almost blend in. XD

Well if I were to guess that you're one of the two girls show in the Ghibli Museum, then you're Asian and have black hair. When my younger sister and I were in Kyoto, a Chinese/Asian guy was trying in bad Japanese to ask her for directions. (Is just said something like, "I know English," when she recognized immediately that he was struggling to ask for directions.) But we're both Chinese but we looked like people that lived there. 🤣

Oh yeah, if someone is interested in things like hearing other people's stories or living vicariously through them as if he or she was going to Japan themselves, for the maid cafe, Kelly Osbourne spent 4 weeks in Japan and so they documented her while she tried out things and did some odd jobs (working at a maid cafe, working at a love hotel, training at a shrine and acting as a nun (well not acting 'pure' if you feel to urge to laugh at that role 😳 ). I thinking the stuff is probably still wandering around YouTube, and maybe I should warn you that she's opinionated about situations she doesn't like. I don't consider her a continuous witch every second of the show though but I've read a girl write, "It's so unfair that she gets to experience this when I would kill for that experience!".

I wonder what other sources there are online like this (other than trying to track and keep a keypal). There use to be this sort of 'journal' that an American had written about for her year or so spent in Japan in high school and it was on the University of Berkeley's (excuse me if I misspelled the name, but I didn't go there and it's not my life's ambition, so it's not a requirement to know how to spell the school's name 😛 🤣 I think the spellchecker gave me the correct spelling though 😉 ). It probably expired because she graduated and Berkeley deleted her stuff.

Quote from smichal

I`m really crazy about japan after all,
I hope i can go there after i graduate like you did , hehe...

How many years away is that? Have you saved your pennies or will you just go there and come back in debt (back to even less money for college or university 😳 )? 😳 🤣

[color=#990066]My avatar was Yves Saint Laurent's The Black Evening Dress (with big bow) first shown in 1983, photographed from his 2002 retrospective and final show.[/color] [color=#CC0066]Check out some of his collections for free (pre-2008) HERE[/color] [color=#CC0066]courtesy of FirstView[/color].

Quote from Mr. sickVisionz

I have one. In alot of anime I see the kids wearing gym uniforms. For the guys, its pretty much the same as it is in America: t-shirt and gym shorts. However for the girls its almost always a t-shirt what looks like a bikini bottom. Is that really the case? At first I thought it was fan service but I've seen it so much that now I wonder if its really like that. But it seems so wild that its hard for me to believe it.

What you're referring to are bloomers, btw. In sports that require girls to wear skirts, like cheer leading and field hockey, the girls are wearing them underneath. They're the same thing, and they're not bikini bottoms, but basically just shorts without legs. From what I understand, in Japan, currently the bloomers are outdated and most girls just wear normal gym shorts.

This signature was recovered from Hades to serve in my rotting armies.

How many years away is that? Have you saved your pennies or will you just go there and come back in debt (back to even less money for college or university shy )? shy laugh

It should be next year, or the one after, depends on what i will decide to do
for my diploma.
Money regarding, i have enough for about a week right now (if i was to go for
vacation) and im also planning to sell my car when the time comes. Of course, my first Objective is to go there to work for a year through a certain program my university offers, but thats difficult since my grades aren`t top
notch 😀

Mittsu no kokoro ga hitotsu ni nareba...
Hitotsu no seigi wa hyakuman pawaa.

• Getter Robo -

'Kay sorry ahead of time if these questions were already answered but the info on this topic is soo much to go through.
I school fights and street fighting really popular? I know that mangas may take it too far, but is it there to some level? Are girls into it much also?

Quote from KennEH!

'Kay sorry ahead of time if these questions were already answered but the info on this topic is soo much to go through.
I school fights and street fighting really popular? I know that mangas may take it too far, but is it there to some level? Are girls into it much also?

I think that it is no more popular than anywhere else, as the police are sure to be involved. I really can't see people fighting in the streets like they do in manga.

Listen here
Livin just to keep from dyin
[img]http://imagegen.last.fm/TheDarkTen/recenttracks/imgooley.gif[/img]

Quote from ahoaho

Quote from KennEH!

'Kay sorry ahead of time if these questions were already answered but the info on this topic is soo much to go through.
I school fights and street fighting really popular? I know that mangas may take it too far, but is it there to some level? Are girls into it much also?

I think that it is no more popular than anywhere else, as the police are sure to be involved. I really can't see people fighting in the streets like they do in manga.

I can't remember where but I heard that there were special people at schools just for the purpose of stopping school fights.

Quote from KennEH!

'Kay sorry ahead of time if these questions were already answered but the info on this topic is soo much to go through.
I school fights and street fighting really popular? I know that mangas may take it too far, but is it there to some level? Are girls into it much also?

Well this is just my reasoning but for girls to get into a street fight? The submissive Japanese school girl? I think she would have to be really aggressive or really pissed to do that! 😲

I wonder if they get expelled for a week for doing that on school property. The teacher for my Japanese class in high school said that when a student was caught chewing gum in class that someone would phone home saying, "You're child was chewing gum in class." My other classmates shrugged off her comment with "Yeah right 🙄 ". But that girl in her Berkeley journal said that episode where the principal is forcing Ranma into a school uniform and he won't wear one would not happen.

And I forgot to mention this earlier, but Shoujo Beat magazine even covered the matter of school uniforms more as a "fashion" thing a few months ago. Some uniforms have been even done by designers, but the students that graduated feel no camaraderie with other students since the uniform was being changed a lot and so the current students would have a different uniform. I was reading about this English school in the Globe and Mail newspaper, that had uniforms in place and I found it sort of funny that school were dealing with some girls were getting in trouble because their kilt was too short. It was probably acceptable when the girl's height was 3 inches shorter but since a kilt cost around $100 it's expensive to replace. But I find it 'funny' because usually I expect news like that is that girl is trying to look sexy in her school uniform. 😳

3-9-6 posts. Wheee! 🤣

[color=#990066]My avatar was Yves Saint Laurent's The Black Evening Dress (with big bow) first shown in 1983, photographed from his 2002 retrospective and final show.[/color] [color=#CC0066]Check out some of his collections for free (pre-2008) HERE[/color] [color=#CC0066]courtesy of FirstView[/color].

Quote from KennEH!

Quote from ahoaho

Quote from KennEH!

'Kay sorry ahead of time if these questions were already answered but the info on this topic is soo much to go through.
I school fights and street fighting really popular? I know that mangas may take it too far, but is it there to some level? Are girls into it much also?

I think that it is no more popular than anywhere else, as the police are sure to be involved. I really can't see people fighting in the streets like they do in manga.

I can't remember where but I heard that there were special people at schools just for the purpose of stopping school fights.

They're called security guards dude. my school had them. Not that they were really needed since the teachers were allowed to jump in and break up fights, with force if neccessary.

Sarcasm just doesn't work over the internet.

Quote from silent killer

They're called security guards dude. my school had them. Not that they were really needed since the teachers were allowed to jump in and break up fights, with force if neccessary.

Actually, do you think Japanese schools worry about like bomb threats and shootings like in North America? The USA is more cautious because it's like they had the first school shooting in Colorado but I wonder if the Japanese having even drills for it, just like fire drills. And I wonder if Japanese people worry about pedophiles as much in the security of their school.

Not exactly "nice" questions, but I guess it shows how much Japanese people trust each other. Supposedly, a woman can leave her purse on a park bench and find it there tomorrow. However, with my oldest brother's engineering hat, which was a winter knit had with an Omega sign embroidered on it (the Greek letter that looks like an upside down horseshoe that Lulu Lemon uses as their logo), someone obviously liked it or thought it was from Lulu Lemon. (Lulu Lemon isn't cheap, and my older sister even heard a girl remark that she was paying something like $70 for overpriced sweat pants.) I saw a girl carrying a Lulu Lemon bag unless another store uses that logo (I doubt it because then the two would fight it out if they were selling internationally) within Japan. I figure she could have gone across the world too maybe on a student exchange.

399! Wheee! 😁

[color=#990066]My avatar was Yves Saint Laurent's The Black Evening Dress (with big bow) first shown in 1983, photographed from his 2002 retrospective and final show.[/color] [color=#CC0066]Check out some of his collections for free (pre-2008) HERE[/color] [color=#CC0066]courtesy of FirstView[/color].

We're getting off topic here, but our security guards were there long before that stuff happened. Gang's are a prevalent problem here where I live, and to keep them from killing each other while at school(not an exaggeration either) people trained to deal with them are necessary. It's not as bad as it used to be, but stuff still happens from time to time.

I've got a question. To keep from derailing this topic completely; about how often do you see a mixed race couple in Japan? I'm wondering because my teacher way back in second grade moved there to teach and live with her then boyfriend. She was about as close as you could get to the stereotype of the female caucasian. Blue eyes, tall, blonde hair etc.

Sarcasm just doesn't work over the internet.

how often do you see a mixed race couple in Japan?

While you do get some sort of a "cool" status because you're a foreigner (everyone wants to talk to you, everyone wants invite you to places), interracial marriages in Japan are very rare in comparison to other countries. This isn't really because of some conscious racism or anything, they just think foreigners are "different". Maybe just too different. The Japanese word for "foreigner" comes from two kanji that mean "outside" and "person", I think that already says a lot.

Actually, do you think Japanese schools worry about like bomb threats and shootings like in North America?

Not at all. What they worry about are earthquakes. More than shootings, bomb threats, or fires, earthquakes is the #1 disaster schools prepare for, because it does really happen a lot. When I was there the strongest earthquake I felt was intensity 5.

[img]http://img.userbars.pl/69/13603.gif[/img]

Quote from KennEH!

Quote from ahoaho

Quote from KennEH!

'Kay sorry ahead of time if these questions were already answered but the info on this topic is soo much to go through.
I school fights and street fighting really popular? I know that mangas may take it too far, but is it there to some level? Are girls into it much also?

I think that it is no more popular than anywhere else, as the police are sure to be involved. I really can't see people fighting in the streets like they do in manga.

I can't remember where but I heard that there were special people at schools just for the purpose of stopping school fights.

I think you are refering to students serving on a disciplinary committee.. well I will also ask do disciplinary committees exist in schools in Japan? and is it run by students?

[img]http://dragcave.net/image/HbYb.gif[/img] [img]http://dragcave.net/image/PpOf.gif[/img]

Does this really exist? Do people REALLY have hairstyles like this.
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/36/Ruy_sk.png/200px-Ruy_sk.png[/img]