[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Gahzirra

Guess i misinterpreted this part? Why can't it be the people just like that part of the culture? What would normal be? I read this as don't wear a kimono your a gaijin, don't take traditional art classes...just be normal and do whatever you "gaijin" do...

You`re still not getting what is being said.

No one has said to never wear a kimono, or to never take traditional art classes (I don`t think that anyone has said anything negative against traditional arts at all, really.)
Normal is, well, what normal people in Japan do. Not some "whatever you gaijin do" sort of thing. Normal Japanese people do not go about wearing kimono, nor have they all mastered some traditional art. To have an interest in some traditional art and to study it is *fine*. It`s *normal* - people who have an interest take classes.

What is NOT normal is rejecting anything that is not traditional, and taking it beyond an interest. As I said, there are people who feel that it is necessary to fit in. Their interest isn`t in the traditional art, but in the fact that it is something, anything, Japanese and not western.
I have never made, nor seen anyone (Japanese or foreign) make negative comments about someone who has an honest interest in some traditional art - even if they dedicate their life to it. The opposite, in fact - they`re given respect regardless of background.
But there is a difference between those people and the kind who reject anything western and who think Japanese culture is in danger of disappearing.

It isn`t necessary to learn some traditional art in order to "fit in". It would be kind of like saying that someone couldn`t fit in, say, in the US unless they could recite the constitution. Normal people do not do that. If you`re a scholar who studies the constitution, that is one thing - but if you spout the joys of American life and quote the constitution or Declaration of Independence at every turn... People are going to give you weird looks. Even in a place with as much variety as the US.

Other posters stated as well that a foreigner should not do these things cause they don't know the cutural significance behind them cause they are gaijin.

This is something that I have not agreed with. I don`t think it`s impossible for a foreigner to understand cultural significance, etc etc. I initially agreed that, yes, you`re likely to be looked at as weird. I don`t recall telling anyone they shouldn`t go ahead and do it - but rather to be aware that it isn`t likely to make you seem more "Japanese". (Likely the opposite, in fact.) For those who think that the more traditional knowledge they pile on the more "Japanese" or accepted they will become, it can be a rude awakening.

Again since when is fitting in wrong?

When it is doing something that does the opposite of fitting in.