Visiting Japan

[Animeniax]

Any Asians? or just Japanese/Chinese and Korean?

o.o

Random question.

Asians meaning yellow people, period. I don't mind Asians making extended trips in Japan, but others should limit their stays so as to not leave any lasting influence on the people there, and not to burden them with their foreignness for too lengthy a time.

Side note, I just realised how funny it is that the Japanese are considered asian ahead of Pakistani's, Indian's etc despite the former not even being attached to the damn asian continental land mass.

We've had this discussion before. If you want to include all people on the continent of Asia when you speak of Asians, it makes the classification meaningless. When people say Asian, they mean yellow people. I'd prefer we went back to calling yellow people "Orientals," just to make the distinction between us and the brown peoples.

Here's a litmus test: take a trip to Japan. If the people there treat you like sh*t, you're not Asian.

[rockmanj]

I was orginally going to go there next week, but my boss screwed up my plans. Does anyone think a May trip would be a good idea? I'll probably stay with my friend in Tokyo...but would it be better to get a hotel?

[XanBcoo]

When people say Asian, they mean yellow people

...

I'd prefer we went back to calling yellow people "Orientals," just to make the distinction between us and the brown peoples.

Oriental is even more vague, if you know the meaning of the term, and in most places that aren't America, "Asian" is acknowledged as including Indians. Ethnicity really is a hard thing to pin down and label. There's too much splitting of hairs and cultural bias involved.

[Assertn]

You're probably good to go after a few years of anime, assuming you've made a conscious effort to learn the language while watching instead of mindlessly reading the subtitles.

Dagara Nandei......
Sasuke-kun.....
Omai wa Korosu!

Am I ready for Japan?

[sangai]

dagara not sure what that is, but nandei = why

sasuke kun obvious,

Dagara Nandei......
Sasuke-kun.....
Omai wa Korosu!

Am I ready for Japan?

you is/are dead/kill

[Buffalobiian]

Here's a litmus test: take a trip to Japan. If the people there treat you like sh*t, you're not Asian.

I'm finding that quite strange. Why would they treat you badly? I remember reading on this forum, a long time ago, a post that said the Japanese basically idolize the west. If that's true, why the dislike in these people visiting?

Oriental is even more vague, if you know the meaning of the term

. I find that term rather more distinct than just the term Asian. Sure, Oriental means "of the east", but you don't just think of those "from the east", you tend to form the image of, as Ani said, yellow skinned. I find that sort of funny since I'm Oriental, but really, but I can't say I'm yellow at all. Most Orientals I've met are either described as lightly tanned or white. Only one I can describe as yellow would be one of my teachers. There's a lot more to it than that though. Like, in my previous post, I mentioned genetics. Besides the hair, another feature that's really telling is the face. Sure, there's the stereotypical eyes that we get teased about at primary school, and that, to an extent holds true. However, the thing that really tells Oriental genus apart from other Asians, to me at least, are things such as the nose and brow. Orientals generally don't have such a pronounced/high nose nor eyes that are as deep in the skull as other races.

[Animeniax]

dagara not sure what that is, but nandei = why

sasuke kun obvious,

Dagara Nandei......
Sasuke-kun.....
Omai wa Korosu!

Am I ready for Japan?

you is/are dead/kill

It's probably "dakara nan de" which means so why? or how come? or literally therefore what for?

Omae wo korosu means I'm going to kill you or you are dead like sangai said. (edited to correct a painfully simple mistake)

I'm finding that quite strange. Why would they treat you badly? I remember reading on this forum, a long time ago, a post that said the Japanese basically idolize the west. If that's true, why the dislike in these people visiting?

Well I was referring to Indians or Pakistanis or any other non-Asians who like to refer to themselves as Asians, who visit Japan. The Japanese tend to look down on darker toned people, including anything darker than yellow. Therefore, if you're not yellow, you're not Asian, and hence the Japanese will look down on you. They wouldn't treat you badly, just not as friendly. I was just joking about that.

a post that said the Japanese basically idolize the west. If that's true, why the dislike in these people visiting?

Well sometimes when you want something so much and it's out of your reach, jealousy and envy ensue and you end up hating the thing, or at least hating someone who gets to enjoy the thing while you cannot. It's like I was saying about a yellow person who speaks English in a foreign country that really likes the language; sometimes people think you are showing off.

[David75]

Animeniax:
It's very strange the way you speak about Japan.
It's as if it was a giant zoo that 'foreigners' shouldn't spoil with their own culture and rules.
It's as is tourists were colons that in the end would kill the culture of a less advanced civilisation... or even small group of underdeveloped people.

I don't really know why you react that way. It's as if you were a extreme right japan nationalist. But that would be strange if you're not even japanese in the first place.

In the end, eventhough you try to educate us in not spoiling the culture and people there, there's little you can do.
Japanese see for themselves. Some travel, they use the internet, they get to meet people from all over the world. Yet it seems they can protect themselves for quick cultural changes. But they will evolve, no matter what. And it's not 10 gootwooters that will change anything in the end. Even 1 million tourists staying there more than a month can't change that.

So I would just say this:
While you're there, enjoy your time, don't be deceived by false perception based on anime. Japan is a huge society with good and bad sides like any other contry in the world. Most bad sides have the exact same roots as in your own country. Some other may be local.
Try to be respectul of anything and try to learn what is considered unrespectful you may not know of.

Then, again, have the most fun you can dream of and "Open you mind"

[Animeniax]

Animeniax:
I don't really know why you react that way. It's as if you were a extreme right japan nationalist. But that would be strange if you're not even japanese in the first place.

I definitely tend towards Japanese nationalism. I don't think you actually have to be Japanese to feel that way, in the same way you don't have to play hockey but still want the game to maintain its core values and "purity" by not removing fighting. My biggest concern is that in a few hundred years, there won't be a Japan or Korea or Germany or Norway or any well-defined nationality of people. It will be one big world of mutts. The only upside is that halfers and mixed-race girls are often freaking gorgeous.

In the end, eventhough you try to educate us in not spoiling the culture and people there, there's little you can do.

True, but a cop can only catch so many criminals. Should he stop trying because he can't stop all crime? I do my part.

[Sapphire]

I pretty much agree with David. I think the fact that any of us are reading the thread means that we're at least semi interested in being respectful towards Japanese people on our trip there, and not doing anything stupid that will cause the Japanese to warp their visions of all tourists. In my opinion everyone has the right to be exposed to something that is a little different, without other people having to hover over them and wonder if their minds and cultures are being corrupted. I agree with David, I highly doubt a trip to Japan, especially from some of us, will change their fundamental way of life and culture or anything, especially if we're here trying to learn here how to respect that culture. So I think rather than telling us not to go or to limit our stay, I think it's more useful to advise us on what we should do and things like that.

[Animeniax]

Regardless of how you act or speak, your being there could be enough to cause a ripple effect in the space time continuum, as it pertains to some of the people you'll meet there. It's like one murder, does it really affect me if I didn't know the guy? Sure it could.

I don't think anyone will heed my commands, but when I run for office in one of the nationalist organizations in Japan, I can point to this as evidence that I did my best to defend their causes. I'll be a shoe-in, particularly with my militant views on the subject.

[Sapphire]

Sure, why not. But in that case I better not go outside, because someone's second hand smoke could give me lung cancer and cause ramifications everywhere! But yeah, I don't really see your point, but besides having to weed out personal opinions from useful ones, thanks for the tips!

[DB_Hunter]

By the powers vested in me due to my Pakistani lineage, I hereby banish the Japanese from the Asian club. Until they get a territory in asia again, or failing that move their island so that it attaches itself to Asia, they will be known simply as Japanese.

[Animeniax]

But yeah, I don't really see your point, but besides having to weed out personal opinions from useful ones, thanks for the tips!

You should heed every word I say. It's all good stuff.

By the powers vested in me due to my Pakistani lineage...

So basically nothing changes, right?

Some more tasty tidbits:
You'll probably hear okyakusama a lot. It means "(honored) customer" and refers to you.

The u in words is often silent, so words like suki is pronounced "ski" and "desu" is pronounced "dess".

[DB_Hunter]

You are talking this thread dangerously close to flame pit territory.

[David75]

Well I'm as gaijin as anyone else.
But I hope the fact that I'm French, and from Paris at that, could help even a little.
Eventhough I do not plan relying only on that. I really need to prepare that long before the actual trip as my honey doesn't any language other than French. So I'll have to be reponsible enough for 2 people...

[Psyke]

It's actually "omae wo korosu" (お前を殺す), just like how Heero said it to Releena.

[Board of Command]

Asians (ie. yellow people) in Asia treat foreigners like crap. They don't have the same view of the western world that we have. They don't idolize the west like some of you think. They are extremely conservative even if they don't look like it. They've never had prolonged exposure to other ethnicities, so you shouldn't expect them to like westerners.

Yellow countries aren't nearly as multicultured as the western countries. In fact, I'm willing to bet that over 99% of people in Asia are yellow people. You can argue that tourists go to Japan and whatnot all the time, but the relatively small number of tourists barely makes a dent in the demography. They're still pretty much interacting with other yellow people and living yellow culture 24 hours a day. When you live in a society that has an overwhelming majority of one ethnicity and culture, then it's only natural that you'd be highly conservative.

Appearance is the easiest way to distinct westerners. Even though I'm not Japanese, people probably wouldn't glance at me twice because I'm yellow. I don't stand out in a crowd of other yellow people as opposed to white, brown or black people. When they find out that I'm actually not Japanese, they'd probably still treat me worse than they do real Japanese folks.

[Killa-Eyez]

How are they against black people? Anyone any experiences? Should we all just stay away?

[Board of Command]

It's not like they'll run up and stab you because you're black. They'll just look at you and think to themselves, "Hmm...a black guy......0_o"

Where you're from, people on the street will just look at you as "a guy." Over in the east, they look at you as a "black guy." They make a conscious distinction between locals and foreigners because they're used to living in a homogeneous society.