Forum - View topic[Off-Topic] Are you a Wapanese?
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Well, you have to understand that America is a melting pot of other cultures, a lot of people have history to draw from through their ancestors. Not to mention you also have Native American culture which is very rich. There's a lot of culture in the US, we may not have been around in ancient history but most everyone can trace themselves back to those times, and we still have centuries of tradition to fall back on. Part of it is you just don't notice aspects of culture so much when they've been a part of you from day one, you don't see the culture because that culture is what is seen as "normal" around you. You easily notice other cultures because of the fact those cultures are so different. In regards to the trashy pop culture, the truth is most modern nations have such a culture and in fact Japan is no different in that respect, they have quite a pop culture going themselves which isn't all that different.
Very wise words and I completely agree. Not only is hard to determine that because you are seeing your own culture as an insider and the others as an outsider but also because "richness" in a culture is really somewhat subjective, what makes it "rich" to you might not seem all that important to someone else. Not to mention if you haven't really looked in to the hundreds to thousands of cultures on this earth you really don't have any grounds to say one is richer than another. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Tokyo where it's all urban and industry can look like New York or Detroit. But Tokyo does have some beautiful scenery as well, like the Emperor's Palace. But you have to go to further ends of the country to get the really great scenery. Kyoto and Nara, Okinawa, and that's just naming three out of the thousands of places you can go in Japan. When comparing Japan to other places, obviously it won't compare to Europe or the Middle Eastern areas because they've had history going back to before the time of Jesus Christ. Japan can be said to have a longer history than the United States of America as a country, and possibly a time before that as well. To explain some things better, according to a history class I took last semester, Native Americans have been around since before the second millenia (1000 A.D.). That is the history and culture that has been dug up, and more from before that. The Japanese have had their history go back to the Jomon Period, from before AD. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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It is because of that homogeneousness that facinates me. It's an anthopologists dream of what can happen when a people are placed in a closed off society and evolve and develop over centuries. I'd love to visit Japan just once before I die, but I could never dream of living there. I just don't look good in a komono and baggy trousers for one, and I'm not sure I'd like to wear those socks with the indent between the big and index toes. It's just not me. |
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Viga_of_stars
 Posts: 1240 Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier |
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hmmm did you say "you love japanese people?" im guessing by the little i understand through books and anime. anyway be careful some people take offense to wapanese. others embrace it. kinda like the title otaku. me and my boyfriend dispute as a joke weather were japrican-american or afra-jaffas of course thats a mix of black people and japanese people. but am i one truly. well i got into manga and anime heavy then discovered fashion and dress FRUiTS all the time. Plus love their food and want to visit there badly. my room decked out in giant anime collages and posters and i perfer japanese video games than most american. i guess i am but i perfer japrican-american since im not the W in wapanese. |
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TcDohl
 Posts: 82 |
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Funny you should mention the Meiji era. It's like the Civil War-Wild West era of the US, which only lasted 30-45 years. The Meiji era is about the same length of time, if not, shorter. Anyway, cutting to the chase. I'm going to be absolutely blunt here and say that I believe that the Wapanese/weeaboo are people who experience very little culture in general, and the culture they see from Japan is like that coming from a pinhole looking into an art gallery. What one gets from anime/manga/j-pop/dorama is merely a tiny piece in the puzzle of Japanese culture. But when they see Japanese culture, they are totally dazzled by how different/cool/stylish everything is compared to their own culture (which almost always lies undiscovered, ignored, or even rejected), without looking at the history, society, and other art forms of Japan. These people probably have never looked up a world history and world culture book and see how rich and how deep the the world's culture and history is, including Japan. I just challenge any of these weeaboo to delve as deeply into another country's culture's history and culture as they did with Japan and let's see their interest turn to something else -- real knowledge instead of false idealism. I myself was never a Wapanese. I never thought of Japanese culture as any more superior than any other culture, even though I enjoy anime, manga, j-pop, doramas, Japanese food, and Japanese movies, take several Japanese martial arts, and have had a few Japanese friends. I am a person who enjoys learning about the world, especially its history and culture, and though Japan is of a particular interest, (since it's a culture and society that is very far removed from my own) I enjoy Korean food, African film, South Asian history, British culture, American animation, etc. I do not hold any of these cultures above any other, because I know that my lack of interest is because of my lack of knowledge. I am planning to go to Japan after I complete my degree to teach English, but not because "zOMG JAPAN MUST GO", but to sort of plant the seeds in Japanese kids of how they can improve their society and not be a modern society with mentalities from the Middle Ages. |
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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I'm sorry, I've never heard the terms "Japophile" or "wapanese"
What do they mean? 
I've heard of people catching "yellow fever" hehe  and "bananas" though.
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Azathrael
 Posts: 745 |
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I don't see how being knowledgeable about a certain culture has anything to do with liking it. I've had my fair share of European history and I've never been obsessed with Italian food or Greek art as much as I've been obsessed with anime. I expect a lot of Americans to be absolutely surprised and maybe even disappointed from realizing that Japanese society is nothing like what's portrayed in anime but nevertheless criticism of one's lack of knowledge on the history and culture of Japan for simply indulging themselves with foreign culture is like asking someone to learn the history and culture of pizza before eating it.
A "Wapanese" is someone who has a completely disillusioned idea of Japanese society, as compared to a small idea of it. They may know small tidbits such as saying "itadakimasu" before a meal, but their general picture of society is probably completely skewed from reality, as my own was before I took courses (and I also watched J-drama, which is a lot closer to Japanese society than anime). If any Wapanese loved Japan enough to live there for a couple of years (while working as an adult, not a tourist enjoying vacation), they'd be surprised, to say the least. |
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Riyousha
Posts: 817 |
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It's "Japanophile" not "Japophile". BTW, I did some research and this is what I found out. Japanophile is a term that describes a person who's interested in Japanese culture. Like Lafcadio Hearn for example. He always loved Japan and books on Japan. And wapanese is a term that describes a certain light-skinned person who acts Japanese. It's very similar to another term that describes a white person who attempts to act like a black person. EDIT: What do you know. My post count reached to 666. 666th post celebration! EDIT #2: Too late. The 666th post party is starting to end. My post count is now 667. Last edited by Riyousha on Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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unhealthyman
 Posts: 306 |
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Think of a Japanophile as like a pedophile, but instead of liking little children a bit too much, liking Japan a bit too much instead. (Another -phile words are ones like Francophile, (liking France)) I believe it is from the Greek philos, meaning love, which is why Philosophy is 'love of wisdom' (sophos is wisdom?) and Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love (delphos meaning brother.) I'm not a linguist though, so that may well be wrong... Anyway, yeh, the west is a cultural vacuum. We don't have books, or films, or art, or fashion, or nothing. You're best off obsessing about cartoons from miles away. [/sarcasm] I'd like to think that an interest in anime is complimentary, not supplementary to my life. I like a great deal of things, and one of them just happens to be anime. Lots of people I know get a bit obsessive and start trying desperately to cram as many Japanese words into conversation and obsessing over Japanese food and fashion etc. I mean, I like Pizza, but I'm not an italophile. Last edited by unhealthyman on Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:59 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Mercury Crusader
 Posts: 67 |
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Are you being sarcastic? I understand a lot of popular culture in the United States makes us all seem "unrefined" or whatever pretentious "cultured intellectuals" think of the majority of folks, but saying that the west (not just the U.S. but the western world in general) is absent of what can be considered culture is a pretty ignorant statement to make. The Renaissance era alone is a historical goldmine of artistic, technological, and political progress and influence. |
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omar235
 Posts: 1572 Location: Florida, Jacksonvile |
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Yeah don't worry he was being sarcastic.  I don't think unhealthyman would mean that in the least.
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Nerv1
 Posts: 601 |
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Same here. Yes, I like anime a lot but I like to do other things too with playing video games as being another one of them. I'm not so obsessive with anime and the Japanese culture that it becomes the entire focus of my life. Being extremely obsessed with things like anime is unhealthy, people will start look down at you like a weirdo if you become to obsessed. |
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CGord
 Posts: 163 Location: Phoenix, AZ suburbs |
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I have become interested in Japan to an extent, & it's 100% from anime. It's a window to another part of the world, though I know it's their entertainment industry, & as such, doesn't truly reflect life there.
Lessee...we use chopsticks now when we eat Chinese take-out, Top Ramen, or California rolls. Tiny pieces of Japanese are scattered in among our speaking at home, but there's more Spanish thrown about. 98% of my television watching is anime or at least animated (Family Guy, Avatar, Metalocalypse, etc). I think Kappa Mikey is damned funny. I'd like to visit Japan one day. My daughters & I are going to spend this weekend at a comic/anime con. I'm selecting my dvd covers for VA autographs. You say I'm Wapanese? Chigau! Last edited by CGord on Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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unhealthyman
Posts: 306 |
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Yes. I am, by nature, a very sarcastic person. Unfortunately, the sarcasm becomes a bit redundant if it needs to be accompanied by /sarcasm tags though. 
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Subaru19
 Posts: 118 |
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A lot of people have already said what I've been wanting to say. There's so much more to Japan than anything you'll be able to glean from watching anime. It's like learning about America by watching Westerns.
My theory about Japanophiles is that they see Japan as a completely foreign place. A lot of my friends who enjoy anime are very much the pinacle of the "social outcast" type. You aren't accepted in your own culture, so hey why not try a brand new one that you've seen in your favorite TV shows. It's a far cry from reality to think that you'll be accepted in Japan as a foreigner, but heck half of the anime fans I know have never even set foot out of their own state let alone the country. I've been to Japan and liked living there, but I personally wouldn't want to STAY living there. I find the cultural/language barrier too high for my liking. And anime was my first impetus to go and learn Japanese, but now I've become less of an anime fan and more interested in Japan from an academic standpoint. OT/ Which gets me thinking, has anyone else experienced the "oh you know about Japan, so what does that Chinese menu say?" experience? 
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