Japan Is Doomed

Update: The blog post discussed in this update has been changed. For more information, check the comments section.

I want to preface this update with the following statement;

This update is not designed to cause arguements or drama between anyone. I am simply addressing a very real, very distressing problem, using evidence I have seen myself on the internet. I am aware this update will probably clash with a lot of people’s opinions and I would like to welcome anyone to voice their opinion in the comments section in a mature manner.

Right, with that out of the way, I want to discuss today the problem of what foreigners think of the Japanese. Obviously I’m not talking about all foreign visitors, and to be honest I would hope this is a small majority, but in the last few days I’ve seen two different articles that I feel are not just misinformed, but entirely wrong.

Two days ago, Neil Duckett wrote on his blog an update called Amae And Japanese Girls. I spotted the title via Japan Soc and had to find out what he had to say. I enjoy his blog and plenty of his updates are very useful and interesting, but this one was beyond unacceptable from an established Japan blog writer.

One thing i’ve noticed since moving to Japan and something Japanese girls themselves have mentioned to me is the level of maturity, or lack thereof, in Japanese girls. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, not by any stretch, truth be known that’s actually what many Japanese men and also many Gaijin love about Japanese Girls.

What. Are you seriously proposing that “many gaijin” love the fact they think they can push these grown up kids around? Exactly what message is this meant to bring across? “Hey guys, if you don’t want an adult relationship, head to Japan”? Even if some Japanese girls reckoned they or other girls lack maturity does not make it a reality, nor does it make it an acceptable opinion.

Neil then goes on to talk about Amae, a Japanese term relating to emotional development and maturity. But wait!

Also firstly let me say, my thoughts on this subject have NO connection whatsoever to the 2 Japanese Friends i was out with last night should they happen to read this!

So you’re prepared to label an entire gender of a nation with this term but not close friends? It seems to me you realise this is an unacceptable statement, and want to cover your tracks incase someone takes offence, which is pretty likely considering the following other golden quotes taken from the update;

Japanese men like younger women, there’s no secret there, i’m quite partial to them myself. It’s widely known a girl over the age of 26 will struggle to find a partner and i’ve heard of the term ”Christmas Pudding” often used to describe them. I’d hazard a guess there’s a Japanese version of this which it was actually derived from but i can’t be certain. As a foreigner giving mid 30’s a good shove i have no problem whatsoever targetting what’s left on the shelf in the their late 20’s!

So basically, you’re saying “I think Japanese men like younger women. I’ve heard a few people use some rediculous term to describe older single women and I’m using this misinformed belief to lust after girls younger than I am.”

I don’t have a problem with people dating people older or younger than themselves as long as it’s legal, but this is a disgusting statement. You make yourself look immature and desperate, and you are affixing a horrible label to an entire nation of people. There is a big difference between “I know or have heard of some Japanese men who like younger girls” and “All Japanese men like younger girls” and you need to realise this. I know plenty of people who would be utterly horrified by these rediculous beliefs.

Japanese men like their girls submissive, there’s very little room in Japanese society for a stronger female character, not if they plan on getting married anyway. How else would the Japanese man live his Salary Man existance if he had a wife that expected him home to do his share of the household duties?

Here we delve into the history books and draw upon a history of female subjegation. There’s probably some weight to this statement, however the last sentence establishes that Neil thinks this is a good thing. I have a suggestion, Neil. Why not pop into a nearby business and ask a couple of the women why they aren’t busy getting married or cooking for their husband?

Even more worrying than the post itself is the comments the update has got. Plenty of “I learned a lot here!” replies suggest people are reading this and believing it. Please don’t. Have some sense and realise Japan, like every other nation, is made up of a massive variety of people, and blanket terms and blind stereotyping is never suitable.

I want to wrap this up now because this is getting too long and I want people to read and understand this. I hope this inspires bloggers to think more carefully, and causes everyone with some of these racist and sexist stereotypes to wake up and join the adult world. Of course, I can’t control what anyone writes on their blog, but I hope common sense would win through in the end.

General Blogging, Internet

I am a big fan of What Japan Thinks, a site that translates polls done on members of the Japanese public on various issues and reports back the results with pretty graphs. Whilst the title “What Japan Thinks” may be suggesting all Japanese think the same way, I’m sure it’s not intended to be like that. I’m not really sure why I brought that up except to avoid angry people emailing me.

That has got me thinking though. “What questions would I like to see on that site?” I’ve thought for about 60 seconds long and hard about it, and here are my top 5 questions I’d most like to see on the site;

1. Do those text based emoticons everyone uses in mobile phone messages annoy you?
a. Yes
b. Sometimes
c. No
d. <(O_o^)>–<-<@ Not at all I love them! ^___^

This may seem like somewhat of a non-issue, but when over 50% of each message is made up of brackets or other various symbols, they become blindingly hard to read. Most Japanese mobiles these days have these really cool little animated icons and they are much friendlier. So stop with all the (*+o*) nonsense.

2. Do you fully understand how to use the Tokyo train system?
a Yes, because I designed it and have spent many years studying it.
b. I know how to get around but sometimes the train goes in entirely the opposite direction to where it said it was going.
c. No because my IQ is not 5991592.
d. I don’t use trains, probably because I know in order to read the train map I’d need a team of scientists.

Ok, it’s not that bad, but sometimes you will end up in an entirely random station. The subway is especially bad, and be wary when two lines join or one line splits into two because you will be on the wrong train. Add express trains into the mix and you have insanity.

3. Speaking of trains, have you ever missed the last train?
a. Never because I am absoloutly no fun.
b. Once or twice when I had a few too many drinks.
c. All the time, because I’m an adult and thus I like going out past midnight.
d. There’s a last train? If it’s before 5am I’m not going home!

It’s like one big bedtime. Too many times fantastic drinking parties in Tokyo were stopped early by people rushing off to catch the last train home. Boo.

4. What are your thoughts on Roppongi’s night scene?
a. It’s a dark, scary place.
b. It’s a dark, scary, dangerous place.
c. It’s a dark, scary, dangerous and tacky place.
d. I like it, but then my hobby is being followed around and invited to strip clubs.

This place has absoloutly nothing going for it at all. Roppongi Hills is only a few minutes away, and although it’s very expensive, it’s much much nicer. If you really want to meet up with other foreigners in Japan then yes, the pubs and bars of Roppongi are the place to go, but do yourself a favour and stay way, way away from the clubs.

5. What is your favourite area of Tokyo?
a. Harajuku - I love alternate fashion. I’m either incredibly rich or I do all my shopping on Takeshita Dori.
b. Shibuya - I spend in excess of 10,000 Yen a week on hairspray.
c. Shinjuku - I am a businessman, an avid shopper or a degenerate gambler. Or I just love Starbucks.
d. Akihabara - My hobby is either being an anime dork or watching anime dorks be dorky.

I left “e. Oji because Mike used to live there” out but obviously that answer would win if entered.

Five totally and utterly, 100% fair and unbiased questions, all ready for the public!

My answers are a b c c ea. Post yours!

Japan's Culture Internet

!!! Important !!!
Due to Mixi now demanding Japanese mobile addresses, I can’t invite anyone. Sorry!

If you’re a Facebook or Myspace user, you may be interested in hearing about Mixi. Mixi is the Japanese equivalent of Facebook, basically.

There are a few key differences, however. The primary one is that you cannot just join Mixi, instead you must be invited by a current member. If this is to keep everyone linked together or just so nobody ever has no friends. The point is, if you want to get online and practice your Japanese, you’ll need an invitation. If you comment on this post with an email address I will invite you.The Japanese on the site is obviously a high level. To help, I advise using the Rikaichan Japanese Dictionary for Firefox. From there you should be OK simply highlighting words you don’t understand. Hey, it works for me. The other main difference is that unlike Facebook there is no wall on your profile - instead the site relies on your writing journals or uploading photographs which people can comment on. There are also some communities - if you’re looking for some penpals or whatever, the best way to do it is to find the MSN community and make a post. You’ll get a few people interested in swapping languages ect.

As a bonus, once you’ve signed up here is my profile so you can laugh at my terrible photograph and awful Japanese grammar.

Enjoy!

In Other News my hosting company decided it would be awesome to accidentally charge all their customers for 24 months of future usage by mistake, which lead to all their servers exploding into flames. If you haven’t been able to get on the site recently, it’s all their fault. My apologies. I may be moving hosts soon so bear with me.

!!! Important !!!
Due to Mixi now demanding Japanese mobile addresses, I can’t invite anyone. Sorry!

Japan's Culture Internet, Mixi

I’ve been writing a lot about other places on the web that are of interest. That’s not because I want to get rid of you guys, I just want to share with my readers some of the places I use for Japan related news and so on.

In my New Year’s Resolutions post comments, Nick Ramsey posted about a new site called JapanSoc. Think of it as a Digg for Japan related things - users submit content and people vote on them if they’re interesting.

It’s pretty handy to say the least. Whilst it is very new, I fully intend to delve right in there, submitting and voting as much as I can to try to build a solid, sensible community. Plus, if you write content on your blog that applies to Japan rather than to you alone, it couldn’t hurt to submit your own content, right? Just don’t overdo it…

See you in the JapanSoc comment section, then… Look out for Mike. That’s me.

General Internet

Note: I am no longer using Entrecard. This post thus serves now just as a resource.

If you have been visiting this blog recently you will have noticed two things. The first is that the look of the site keeps changing. Don’t worry, that’s stopped. More importantly, you may have noticed the little box in the “Featured Site…” area on the sidebar.

That little logo which links to another blog is called an “Entrecard“, and it’s a great way to drive more traffic to your blog. This is of course a good thing, because we blog writers are all egotistical meglomaniacs who desire nothing more than power over thousands of people.

When you sign up you create a little 125×125 logo and drop your card at blogs with content that interests you. This earns you credits, with which you can pay to advertise your card on other people’s blogs. It’s free, it takes very little time and it creates a great deal of traffic for your blog.

If you don’t already have an Entrecard profile, go sign up at their site and get one. Then make sure you drop your card here when you visit! If you have a blog, install the Entrecard code onto it and I’ll drop my card in thanks, and also have a good read of your blog. I always want more stuff to read!

General Internet