Forum - View topic

[Off-Topic] Are you a Wapanese?

It's kind of the same though, here. People have Japanese friends just because they're "Japanese", instead of actually appreciating the individual.

Quote:

It's kind of the same though, here. People have Japanese friends just because they're "Japanese", instead of actually appreciating the individual.

I see and agree with alot of what you said which pretty much sums up this thread but I have a question...what would be the point on having a Japanese friend just because they are Japanese? What would be the point on having a foreign friend in Japan? I mean I have heard people joke around with eatch other like "oh yeah thats my asian friend" but even though they say that, they only hang around with that person because they like to...right.

Masanova wrote:

Someone showed me this thread, and I basically felt the need to put in my .02.

Thanks for joining up; we could really use a lot more down-to-earth posts like this. I'm assuming (hoping?) that most people who read this and other anime related forums are moderate types who can readily understand and appreciate both the positive and negative aspects of Japanese culture and indeed their own culture. The people who actually post, however, seem to often come from one of two hard-line camps. Either they are overly fond of Japan or overly protectionist of their own culture.

Well I only get pissed off with my culture, celtic, when I hear people in bookstores act like they know anything about it. Yes, that cheap pendant you bought at Tower Records makes you celtic, jerk. That however has nothing to do with anime so I'm all cool here. Japan has a lot of beautiful aspects to it's culture. I love what I've seen of the actual countryside. I also had total respect for their public transportation system. I wish ours was as useful as theirs. There are lots of other cultures though that have great aspects about them. I think it's cool if you're any other nationality and like the Japanese culture but it's not cool if you're obsessed with it and assume it's better then any other culture.

Honestly, I think that Japanophiles are some of the most annoying people I've ever encountered. It's fine to have a interest in Japanese culture, but some of these people take it too far. Most of them try too hard to be something they aren't, and they think that Japan is some kind of holy country where every Japanese person acts like the characters they see in anime. Like others have said, Japan is just like any other country, they are no better or worse than the culture we live in. I really don't like it when people obsess over Japan just because of the anime and manga, because to me they don't seem to appreciate the country for what it truly is.

I've read up on this thread and I noticed some people mention, "Well I've eaten the food, and I like it.." kind of insinuating that they know the culture because they've eaten the food.

Personally, I'm in love with Japanese language. I've always had a knack for languages (I picked up English almost entirely on my own, and so I did with Japanese--the only thing I lack right now is vocabulary, that's why I started taking regular lessons), and anime and manga were just a circumstance. Everything is a circumstance, even my liking of Japanese. I don't know why I like it, and I can't explain it, because if I did, it wouldn't be subjective anymore, and it wouldn't be my own farking opinion anymore. I just do, and that's all.

Living in a (relatively) backwater country, people over here tend to suffer a much worse effect from world economic disasters. The ups and downs of capitalism strike particulary ferociously over third-world countries such as mine, and in terms of academic formation and opportunities, Argentina is a country where a lot (a lot) of doors are closed down on you. Knowing this since childhood, it's kind of natural for me to set my sights onto living overseas. Of course, this is goes along with the obvious delusions everyone has about an object of opinion with which no real, truthful contact has been made--from the blind lovers, to the crude haters. What's more, people with actual contact with said object of opinion usually do have different views and opinions, because that's what they are after all--views and opinions.

So that's why Japan has been my target since some years. At the least, I dream of becoming a full-fledged Spanish-English-Japanese translator, and if I can at least spend some time in Japan studying translation, I could not put in words the happiness that would imbode me. To be able to put to practice in everyday life the language that fascinates me would certainly make me feel that I made something useful out of my life.

I know that if I move, even temporarily, to Japan, things are going to be rough. Very rough. But that's life for ya, even more in a third-world country like mine. And as long as you believe in what you do and receive everyday with a smile upon your face, things will turn out for the best.

The only thing that saddens me of extremists is that they try to justify themselves. There's no reason to do that. You like it, and that's it. No freaking need to explain it to people who would never understand, or who would never find an interest in it. At first I tried to justify my liking of anime and Japanese, but then I grew to realize that there was no need to do it. What am I, a missionary? An evangelist that must convince people to convert to my side? No way, man. Maybe sometimes hardcore fans fail in this point, and that's what earned them the adjective of "Wapanese" or "Japanophiles". Not that I'm justifying the people who made up these insults, because they're at the other side of the line, and are as much extremists as the western otaku.

psycho 101 wrote:

Well I only get pissed off with my culture, celtic, when I hear people in bookstores act like they know anything about it. Yes, that cheap pendant you bought at Tower Records makes you celtic, jerk. That however has nothing to do with anime so I'm all cool here. Japan has a lot of beautiful aspects to it's culture. I love what I've seen of the actual countryside. I also had total respect for their public transportation system. I wish ours was as useful as theirs. There are lots of other cultures though that have great aspects about them. I think it's cool if you're any other nationality and like the Japanese culture but it's not cool if you're obsessed with it and assume it's better then any other culture.

I've taken a few Celtic classes and understand where you are coming from in regards to new agers. I've also found many first generation Irish and Scottish who have gotten into detailed conversations about the Mabinogi and Tain with me. I love Charles DeLint's novels and short stories.

I'm primarily fascinated with what is often unfortunately considered pagan myths which is usually lumped in with new age. My Grandmother was very Shinto (although my parents lean more Buddhist) and I love the parallels between Shinto, Native American, and Celtic mythology. I've always loved tales about animal spirits and ghosts.