The real Japan

[GTJ]

Originally Posted by spicytuna

I met a girl last year who asked me if we Canadians spoke カナダ語.

Most of the Japanese I met thought that we Canadians live in Igloos, hunt wild game for food, etc. In other words, they had the same perception as the Americans.

You mean you don't? What is this jibber-jabber??

Actually, though, that's downright pathetic. Honestly? Can anybody justify that level of... I don't wanna use the word "ignorance" but I'm at a loss for other words.

edit: The "canada-go" thing I can understand. It's not like I know what language is spoken in every other country. The igloo, game-hunting, savages living off the land bit, though... I wanna ram my head into a wall in frustration.

[samurai007]

Thanks GTJ.

About the countryside vs city, seeing the scenery is only 1 part of it. Having lived in both big city and rural America, and rural Japan (and visited nearby Osaka frequently even though I didn't live there, as well as visiting Tokyo, etc), IMO there's a difference between urban people and rural people, in both countries (and probably most or all countries). Urban people tend to be more wary of strangers and busy with their own things. I don't mean to insult city folk, but I just find country folk to be more welcoming, open, and friendly on average, while urbanites tend to be more guarded and keep to their own business and prefer if you do the same. Of course there are exceptions, but in my experience, this tends to be the case in both the US and Japan (probably more in the US, because of the added element of fear of crime in the bigger cities). Total strangers, in my experience, are more likely to say hi and strike up a conversation in the rural areas of both countries.

So it's not just scenery, it's meeting and talking to the rural folks, seeing what their life is like, experiencing their hospitality rather than the more guarded urban atmosphere that tends to happen in big cities everywhere, that helps you see the "real Japan". If they just wandered around Akihabara in an anime daze without talking to people and getting to know them a bit, I would say they didn't really experience much of the real Japan...

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by spicytuna

I met a girl last year who asked me if we Canadians spoke カナダ語.

Most of the Japanese I met thought that we Canadians live in Igloos, hunt wild game for food, etc. In other words, they had the same perception as the Americans.

You should say "Yes, I'll teach you "Canada-go"... just speak in English, pronounce "ou" as a long "u", and add ", eh?" at the end of every sentence! Tada, you have Canada-go!

[GTJ]

samurai007, given that rural Japan is where foreigner-exposure is the lowest and inherent racism the highest, would you say the "rural friendliness" applies to Japan for foreigners or just fellow Japanese? (Then again those variety show Tokyo guys that go out there and bother people with camera crews and annoying games that get in their way probably don't give fellow Nihonjin a good name either!)

[GTJ]

Originally Posted by samurai007

You should say "Yes, I'll teach you "Canada-go"... just speak in English, pronounce "ou" as a long "u", and add ", eh?" at the end of every sentence! Tada, you have Canada-go!

Now see, I wasn't gonna say it

[spicytuna]

Haha! You guys are funny!

The weirdest question I was ever asked was by some Japanese girl who had just arrived in Canada via the working holiday program.

A mutual friend of ours introduced her to me since she was having problems with the brand new laptop she bought over from Japan.

She turned it on and surely enough, it booted into Japanese Windows 2000 so I asked her what the problem was. She then looked at me as though I was an idiot and said, "What?! Isn't it obvious? We're in Canada and yet its coming up in Japanese!".

She apparently thought that her operating system would suddenly turn into English the moment she landed in an English speaking country. Much like her radio.

Ok, this has nothing to do with stereotyping, general perceptions, etc. but I thought it was friggin hilarious!

[burkhartdesu]

GTJ,


I noticed that in several of your posts you're spelling "wrong" "rong" ... which is, coincidentally, wrong.


Correct me if I'm wrong :-D

[SSJup81]

Originally Posted by GTJ

YES. It's worth noting that apart from what they see on TV or in movies, the Japanese are almost completely ignorant on the whole about foreigners. It's pretty funny most times, completely blows my mind other times.

Hmm, sorta like how there's this stereotype that only blonde-haired, blue-eyed white people live in the US or that it's only whites here in general and that no other group of people help to make up this country. That's a crazy stereotype. lol I had a pen-friend last year, who was going to the university near here. She's from Osaka. She was talking about the stereotypes her family back home, and even she, unfortunately, thought before actually coming here to live. It was pretty much "Only white people live in the US" and for black women, we all apparently are supposed to look like Beyonce. lol

I agree with miyukisama more than the OP (and am interested in knowing how she got like 144 billion posts). I raised my eyebrows at the "perfect English" comment, but that's irrelevant. The OP's post has a very tangeable "the REAL Japan is in the inaka" slant to it. The message I got clearly from it was "if you don't go to Japan for the boonies and backwoods, you suck and you're doing it rong." Sure, that's where all the historical and "pure, untouched" Japan is, but you can say the same for any country.

So, if you don't go to the Grand Canyon or the forests and mountains in West Virginia, you aren't seeing the "real America". If you only go for New York to eat pizza and hamburgers and see Broadway shows, you're doing it rong. Something like that, OP?

Ah, so by the OPs logic, I'm a "true American" because I have to constantly visit my mother's hometown, which I was raised in when I was very young before they moved to Richmond, and New York City prior to that. Seriously, the town is so small, people constantly warn us to don't even bother dating down there because more than likely, it'll turn out to be a relative. lol This actually happened to my cousin once. He met a girl when in his teens, and it turned out that our family was related to that girl's family.

Anywho, that place is very "inaka". The town doesn't even have a grocery store or a hospital.

[IcewindDude]

Originally Posted by wasabijuice

nature, beautiful, snow, surf, ocean, beach, Hokkaido, Okinawa, hiking, mountain, outdoors, no cops, no rangers, no rules, cheap, free, inexpensive, healthy food, rent free, cheap rent, Then by all means come and explore the real Japan.

Nature, beautiful, snow, surf, ocean, beach, hiking, mountain, outdoors (some overlap there huh?) can all be found in the US and many other countries, and I dare say they all look relatively the same.

Reasons I went to Japan... Language, different culture, different styles, different foods, and video games (my initial hook into Japan).

Sure, I actually did climb Fuji (to the highest building) and I did do some small hikes and all that, but that didn't feel like Japan. The nature is beautiful, but it's not much different from other forested, mountainous areas. So I'd rather spend my time in the heart of the cities and in rural communities than to be among the trees and mountains.

I'll leave the nature stuff for when I am in the US and have more of a variety of natural settings to go to and the time to enjoy it. (think Grand Canyon, Smokies, Rockies, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Death Valley, Louisiana swamps, Florida wetlands, etc... I've been to them and they are all amazing!)

[Realism]

When I was in Tokyo, I never really "felt" like I was in Japan. When I was in rural Japan, I definitely felt that I was in Japan. Plus, it's probably the best way to improve on your Japanese.