Forum - View topic[Off-Topic] Are you a Wapanese?
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DKong
Posts: 152 |
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Yeah and nah.....
I mean, I've been eating Japanese food as long as I can remember, WAY before seeing anime. I'm not really huge fanboy kinda guy....and junk like that. I'd like to live in Japan, though. If that automatically makes me a japanophile, then so be it... |
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Amasa
Posts: 340 Location: Japan |
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Well thank you for your concerns, however, my opening post may have come off a little naive. I live in Australia and have all my life but I have been overseas many times. Israel, South Africa, Greece, Indonesia, Cyprus, Egypt and England - I have stayed in all these places and experienced each society and culture from a distanced tourists point of view. My family is very Greek, and I'm sure many of you have heard of the interesting and many cultural traditions we take part in every day.
Just because I love Japanese anime and the other labels associated with Wapanese, does not in any way mean that I dislike Australian or Greek culture, as some of you have insinuated. I've come to the stage in my life where I am free to travel to places without my conservative parents' influence, meaning the East has opened up to me . Naturally, as I am a huge fan of anime and also happen to like most Japanese food, music and am genuinely interested in it's history and culture, I have chosen Japan as my destination for a 1 year exchange program - where I will be living with a volunteer Japanese family and will be going to a regular Japanese school. It is impossible to mentally prepare yourself for an adventure such as this and it is a given that hardships will be faced, but a challenge is what I'm looking for and what better a place to challenge myself than in a culture which I am vaguely familiar with and have a desire to learn more about and enrich myself in it (since this is what a Japanophile is). Honestly, I see no crime in dreaming of another culture. If I had said that I expect school-life to be similar to what I viewed in Azumanga Daioh, then I suppose criticism would be fair. If I had never tasted Japanese food or if I had not done any research on the country, then I would completely understand any insults fired at me. I'm not going to lie and say that I could teach Japanese history or that I know everything about Japanese politics or lifestyle, but to be fair I think I know enough to not be overwhelmed by a culture shock (as is common to happen to exchange students in Japan).
Even Australia has had such a short history compared to Japan or Greece, however, it's Cultural Value (I can't believe I'm using that term ) can only be measured by inspecting every single minority since that's what makes up our nation.
Haha, sorry about the generalisation
Hmm well that's not how I interpret 'Japanophile'. It's a fairly casual term and in my opinion has nothing to do with "devotion". I don't consider myself to be unhealthy, obsessive or extremist. I don't think any Japanophile actually devotes every second of their day to something Japanese, that's just absurd. Obviously I have many other interests too; philosophy, environmental activism, politics, computer games, tennis, architecture to name a few. It is unrealistic to just assume that because someone is Wapanese, or loves so much of one thing that they can all be collectivised under one term, it means that they're greasy and driven to sickness by their obsession. I'm not sure if that made sense . Okay, so I'm getting less and less coherent but thanks all for the great discussion! Keep it coming |
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Keonyn
Subscriber
Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Well, I think your mistake came when you claimed Japanese culture was richer. People are fine with those who devote the majority of their attention towards Japanese culture mainly because we see those people in the fandom regularly. The problem arose when your comments started to come across as an attack which causes people to become, rightfully, defensive and makes yourself seem obsessive at the same time.
Personal experience also becomes a factor. I don't know about others, but my past experiences with Japanophiles and Wapanese are all pretty negative. I've often found such people to be obsessive and closed minded, focusing so much on aspects of Japanese culture that they fail to appreciate or even recognize the qualities of other cultures, even their own. Something like this is always going to come with a few preconceptions which you're going to have to get past first. You may not fit those preconceptions but you need to make that apparent right from the start, unfortunately making a claim of cultural superiority has the opposite effect. |
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Nerv1
Posts: 601 |
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Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so negative about it. I've just met a lot of people who were too crazy over anime so it just makes me think that "Japanophiles" are like that. I didn't mean to offend you or anything, sorry about that. |
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Doctor who
Posts: 103 |
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I'm in no way shape or form in love with japan, quite the contrary really. I couldn't care less about their culture, I'm sure it's very nice but my interest will always lay in the west. Now I love manga as much as the next bloke. And happily read any literature no matter what country it's from, I just never fell in love with japan the way some have.
I love america, I love our culture. American history is a hobby of mine (well so is the history of Europe). We are the undisputed kings of sci-fi (my favorite genre). Japan's most note worthy entries into the genre have been cyberpunk (which I have never felt they have done right) and the space opera. The ladder hit it's hey day in the late 70s early 80s. Truth be told I would much rather take a trip to Britain than japan. Now I'm sure I'm in the minority on that one. And I'm also sure some of my Dr.who fanboy is peeking through as well. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar Posts: 16941 |
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As others have stated many times over obviously not all anime fans are Wapanese or Japophiles. For starters those terms sound highly degrading. Japophile sounds like you molest Japanese people. If I'm not mistaken any "phile" word has connotations of sexualness to it. If there's any Sociology or Psychology majors out there please correct me if I'm wrong and chime in. They both still, to me anyways, sound very degrading by their names. I also wonder on a daily basis why everything and everyone has to be labeled. It seems more and more as a culture, humans that is, we have to label and define every aspect of our world. Be it cultural titles or whatever. It seems there's a new term or label for something popping up overnight. Still ticked off about the new "tweens" demographic. So annoying. "Are there some of us out there that don't care about the latest fashions in Tokyo?" I think 90% of us don't give a rats a$$ about it honestly. I mean seriously, how many of us here read a Japanese fashion magazine? You know I always rush to Borders every Tuesday for the new Japanese vogue and Cosmo issues, yes sir! I don't think it's fair to also assume that just cause people may like anime, or other Japanese products, we have to be up on the latest trends. Personally, I could give a monkey's butt hair less about fashion ANYWHERE in the world. Most of what is "in" is just whatever popular and famous people wear anyway. Then it gets urbanized for us common peasant folk. If you like Japanese fashion then kudos to you, not exactly a reason to love their culture or move their though based on that. Moving there also based on what you've stated seems kinda silly. I love anime and manga as much as the next guy/girl but to in the end move there because of that hobby? You say your love for anime and manga is what started it for you right? Sure you also like the culture and fashion and what not but in the end your reason for moving there is derived from you love of a cartoon. I don't wanna start any "anime aren't cartoon" debates I'm just simply generalizing here. For anyone to move somewhere over frivolous reasons like that is rather silly and almost stupid. As others have stated do you speak the language? Do you know anything about the social and economic structures there? Do you know anything that you would NEED to know in order to live there? If not you might seriously wanna check into that first. I think Fighterholic could educate you into your lack of knowledge of their infrastructure and day to day life. Being an outcast if you move there, and everyone is an outcast if you're not born there and pure Japanese (correct me if I'm wrong), you'll probably find it's not as magical as you think it will be. Lastly, to say Japan is more rich in culture then most Western Nations is downright rude and insulting. Plus, which western cultures are you talking about? I mean anything can be considered west from Japan. Are you talking about the Middle East, Eastern or Western Europe, North or South America? Please be more specific. In the end it doesn't matter though. All cultures are rich and have unique characteristics to them. The characteristics that matter to you might make Japan seem higher up then other countries, but to make a statement saying they ARE MORE RICH in culture then other countries is ignorant. They have lots of beautiful aspects no doubt, but so do countless others. How about Native American culture, Aborigine culture in Australia, Polynesian culture (that's native Hawaiian's btw), or how about the rich culture and landscapes of places like the seaside's of Corsica Italy or the Irish countryside. Plus if you want historical cultures how about the Romans, Celts, Greek, Persian, etc etc. Some places excel is some areas over others culturally and they fail in other cultural aspects. It's nice you support Japanese culture so avidly but as others have said it's rude to say they're more cultural then most Western Nations. |
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Samurai-with-glasses
Posts: 628 |
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"-phile" is merely a suffix indicating affection, affinity, or perhaps obsession towards something. The changing popular perspective of the suffix is due to the pedophile scare, mostly. Every male's a potential pedophile and every priest of faith a fetishist nowadays, if we are to believe some. And of my opinion of the "Wapanese," I believe they actually have much less knowledge about Japan than what people who mildly like Japan, or perhaps dislike it, but are well-versed, have. It is rather quite disconcerting for me to realize that Japan's biggest foreign fans tend to be ones with the least knowledge of that fascinating country. Japan's interesting culture is not to be denied -- it is, indeed, very, very interesting -- but, then, again, that is the case with every other culture out there. The obsession seems to stem more from the stereotype that Japan takes in American culture -- the representative of "Oriental" cultures, that somehow obscure world of rich cultural traditions separate from that of the West -- thus allowing it more exposure in the West, than anything else. Me? I came from one of those cultures. I think they are interesting and all, but so is America. |
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Fui
Posts: 339 |
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I'm Japanese by blood but was born/raised here. I'm not sure if one would consider me a wapanese or something of that nature, but if I weren't JP by blood, I would definitely be considered one. I plan on moving there eventually after I graduate, and I'm really using my "family being there" as a convenient excuse to satisfy my Japanophile nature.
I probably like Japan more than anyone else I know. I visited my relatives for a month and I had the time of my life from urban shopping centers to peaceful temples. I feel that Japan has a more rich culture (but not pop/present culture), primarily due to the length of documented history compared to that of America's. いつか日本に住む事になるといいな~w |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I guess you could consider me a Japanophile. I lived there, went to Japanese school there, read and read (present tense) plenty of manga and watched (still watch) anime. Now on top of that, I've talked about Japan and going back to Japan enough at work and school that a lot of people that I know either tell me that I'm so into Japan or that I need to go back over there so I won't bother them about my discussion of Japan.
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NovaReon
Posts: 4 Location: Finland |
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I have some interest in Japanese culture and language, but not enough make me a wannabe-japanese. However, I'm thinking of leaving my home country once I graduate and I consider Japan as one alternative. To make it possible though, I'd have to extensively study the language which is going to take a lot of time and effort (self-study, summer school and the sort, since my uni doesn't offer any Japanese language courses of its own).
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Steroid
Posts: 329 Location: At home, where all good hikikomori should be |
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Hmm. . . I freely admit that there's probably a lot to Japan I don't know about, but it's not Japan per se Japan that I'm a fan of; it's the front that one sees from being a fan of anime, J-pop, et cetera. I like the idea of cute girls being ubiquitous, and of people who struggle with English, and other such differences. Does it make me a Wapanese if I acknowledge my limited view? Well, whether the label applies or not, that's me. Personally, I think those who are "deserving of a shiv between the shoulderblades," as the Dramatica article on otaku says, are those who look askance at Wapanese people and otaku as pathetic, because why do you want to rag on what makes someone happy, just because it's not normal? Insecurity?
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Mindless Watcher
Posts: 68 |
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No. Today's Japanese culture is definitely as unique as every other culture, and that includes the pop culture. Try and take a typical Japanese TV program, broadcast a one to one copy at home, only replacing the Japanese people and language, and you'll see the audience go "WTF?" And the "Western world" isn't monolithic either. The rift between the US and Europe is the most obvious and even between neighboring European countries there are significant differences, and I'm talking about living, breathing everyday culture here, not about any cliches. In any case, I'm certainly no Wapanese. Some facettes of Japanese culture downright appal me (as do some facettes of any other culture including my own). My interest are anime, manga to a much lesser extend, and I couldn't care less about games and dorama. If the Swedes had such a professional and versatile animation industry instead of Japan maybe I would watch Swedish animation instead, who knows. But I think that Japanese high cuisine is rivaled only by the French. |
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Keonyn
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Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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History isn't the only factor that represent the richness of a culture. While Japan may have the history it doesn't have the same range of diversity caused by the fusion of such a large number of cultures that you get in the US. There's a lot of different aspects that define a culture, you shouldn't be so eager to dismiss a culture so easily as it really makes one wonder how open you are to them. |
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Mercury Crusader
Posts: 67 |
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I cannot identify sarcasm in a message board that doesn't have the words "Something" and "Awful" within them. Well played :argh: SARCASM :argh: |
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Doctor who
Posts: 103 |
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Umm...there are ugly girls in Japan just like every where else on the planet. |
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