Mixed race children.

[WeeFugu]

Originally Posted by hadron

ok you are starting to convince me so what to do in situation when both parents need to speak with kid at one time?

which language should they speak? still each of theirs?

They simply switch between the languages. I have Norwegian cousins that do the same. I think it has been mentioned before, do not underestimate the power of the mind.

So you think I am okay in what I am doing then Nyororin? If and when we move to Japan I plan to label everything in the house with an English/Japanese label it is going to look like a shop. I am already teaching him phonics using Jolly Phonics inspired songs and gestures. He just sits there and looks at me smiling, but there is no harm in starting as early as possible. I sing the JP songs in the shower all the time anyway being a P1 teacher. Hehe.

My wife speaks to him in Japanese and has a few lovely books that she reads to him, as well as singing Japanese nursery rhymes from a CD her Mum sent us over. We are having lots of fun with him the moment, and it is going to be a wonderful day when he says his first word!

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by WeeFugu

So you think I am okay in what I am doing then Nyororin? If and when we move to Japan I plan to label everything in the house with an English/Japanese label it is going to look like a shop. I am already teaching him phonics using Jolly Phonics inspired songs and gestures. He just sits there and looks at me smiling, but there is no harm in starting as early as possible. I sing the JP songs in the shower all the time anyway being a P1 teacher. Hehe.

My wife speaks to him in Japanese and has a few lovely books that she reads to him, as well as singing Japanese nursery rhymes from a CD her Mum sent us over. We are having lots of fun with him the moment, and it is going to be a wonderful day when he says his first word!

I don`t think there should be any trouble as long as there is some sort of set pattern. There just have to be enough strong clues to give him the chance to sort things out. I would just be sure to make it a rule that your wife speaks to him in only Japanese (not just most of the time, or on occasion) and that you speak to him in English all of the time (without some Japanese thrown in here and there.) Of course, this may already be the case.
The sort of "mixing" to avoid is speaking a bit in Japanese here, a bit in English there, and so on without any sort of pattern to it.

Good luck, and it truly is wonderful when they do start talking to you. I had to wait 4 years for mine, but it is so much more fun when they start telling you things.

[HarajukuLima]

I'm not in an interracial relationship, but I often times wish I was mixed. ^_^ I think it'd be really neat to say that I'm half this and half that. XDD

I AM russian, irish and italian, but (as silly as this sounds), they're all Caucasian. It don't count. lmao.
My sister is half Puerto Rican (different dad) and that's just neat!

[dogsbody70]

reading tenchu's message I hope it was not serious but a wind up.

what a dreadful way to describe your wife.

If I were her-- If you were NOT joking-- I would leave you.

It was So insulting.

[bekhiet]

"As for people of mixed nationalities in Japan. I imagine that it's tolerated"

So basically you have no idea what you are talking about. The author of this thread is looking for real answers not your assumptions. Others have written about all kinds of things and very much off focus, which is very annoying. Please make sure your on the right thread. Getting back to the issue:

Japan is a country that prides itself on its supposed homogeneity, and conformity is valued. Realistically, racism and discrimination do exist. There is a Japanese proverb that states: the nail that sticks out will be hammered back. Due to Japans centuries of isolation that ended in 1854, there is still a distrust for foreigners. Following WWII when the American GIs pulled out and left for the US, many mixed children were left behind. It was not uncommon for the mothers of these mixed children to leave them at orphanages due to the humiliation they would face with a mixed child. During the Korean War era, anger and hate in Japan toward the mixed children was still intense. By now, the more offensive postwar view of children of mixed race has largely disappeared. The derogatory term “ainoko” meaning half-breeds and its equally loaded successor “konketsuji” (mixed blood child) are of the past. However, the term “haafu” to describe a mixed child in Japan is still heard, especially among children. Growing up being different is still frowned upon and Japanese children are especially cruel. Mixed children knowing they are conspicuously different, go through childhood either trying to prove their legitimacy, or turning their back completely on trying to be Japanese. There will be great pains to fit in as an adolescent: even if the mixed child speaks Japanese and knows the tough dialect of the Kansai region, there is still problems fitting in. Why even at international school, full of Westerners, there are suffocating rules of the Japanese seniority system; juniors and mixed kids are silent until spoken to and carry their superiors' bags (and so-on). Mixed couples will also have issues and foreigners and mixed adults will often see this, as their opinions are often shrugged off as insignificant. Many Japanese positions and places are reserved for “true” Japanese people. Although, nice to your face, mixed couples can tell in the eyes of true Japanese people that they see disapproval and resentment of a Japanese marrying a non-Japanese. Now it is true that some haafu are seen on fashion magazines and TV and has some younger generation women running to get plastic surgery for eyelid incisions and nose jobs to look more western, for that “non-japanese-yet-japanese” look but these idealizations and fantasy are in the world of sports and entertainment. It is often stated that, as a haafu, you never get full admission to the club. The question most asked by mixed children is am I really Japanese? Never mind that the mixed child was born in Japan, and their first language is Japanese, or that they’ve spent three-quarters of their lives in Japan. The problem is you don’t look Japanese, and that has always foiled attempts to pass as one in a country that cloaks itself in an impenetrable veneer of homogeneity.

[Javen]

Originally Posted by bekhiet

"As for people of mixed nationalities in Japan. I imagine that it's tolerated"

So basically you have no idea what you are talking about. The author of this thread is looking for real answers not your assumptions. Others have written about all kinds of things and very much off focus, which is very annoying. Please make sure your on the right thread. Getting back to the issue:

Japan is a country that prides itself on its supposed homogeneity, and conformity is valued. Realistically, racism and discrimination do exist. There is a Japanese proverb that states: the nail that sticks out will be hammered back. Due to Japans centuries of isolation that ended in 1854, there is still a distrust for foreigners. Following WWII when the American GIs pulled out and left for the US, many mixed children were left behind. It was not uncommon for the mothers of these mixed children to leave them at orphanages due to the humiliation they would face with a mixed child. During the Korean War era, anger and hate in Japan toward the mixed children was still intense. By now, the more offensive postwar view of children of mixed race has largely disappeared. The derogatory term “ainoko” meaning half-breeds and its equally loaded successor “konketsuji” (mixed blood child) are of the past. However, the term “haafu” to describe a mixed child in Japan is still heard, especially among children. Growing up being different is still frowned upon and Japanese children are especially cruel. Mixed children knowing they are conspicuously different, go through childhood either trying to prove their legitimacy, or turning their back completely on trying to be Japanese. There will be great pains to fit in as an adolescent: even if the mixed child speaks Japanese and knows the tough dialect of the Kansai region, there is still problems fitting in. Why even at international school, full of Westerners, there are suffocating rules of the Japanese seniority system; juniors and mixed kids are silent until spoken to and carry their superiors' bags (and so-on). Mixed couples will also have issues and foreigners and mixed adults will often see this, as their opinions are often shrugged off as insignificant. Many Japanese positions and places are reserved for “true” Japanese people. Although, nice to your face, mixed couples can tell in the eyes of true Japanese people that they see disapproval and resentment of a Japanese marrying a non-Japanese. Now it is true that some haafu are seen on fashion magazines and TV and has some younger generation women running to get plastic surgery for eyelid incisions and nose jobs to look more western, for that “non-japanese-yet-japanese” look but these idealizations and fantasy are in the world of sports and entertainment. It is often stated that, as a haafu, you never get full admission to the club. The question most asked by mixed children is am I really Japanese? Never mind that the mixed child was born in Japan, and their first language is Japanese, or that they’ve spent three-quarters of their lives in Japan. The problem is you don’t look Japanese, and that has always foiled attempts to pass as one in a country that cloaks itself in an impenetrable veneer of homogeneity.

this will all change when caucasian-japanese will become the majority

in 2006 ...735,132 marriages in Japan, of which 40,154 involved were international...thats 40,154 possible caucasians-japanese babies in a year

mixedasians.com • View topic - Are whites taking over Japan?

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Javen

this will all change when caucasian-japanese will become the majority

in 2006 ...735,132 marriages in Japan, of which 40,154 involved were international...thats 40,154 possible caucasians-japanese babies in a year

Everyone forgets that more than 90% of those international marriages are between Japanese and other East Asians. In other words, producing children who look Japanese.

International marriages between Caucasians and Japanese are a small small fraction, and the number of those who actually stay in Japan are an even smaller fraction of that.

Japan is in absolutely NO danger of being taken over by Caucasian-Japanese babies.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Javen

this will all change when caucasian-japanese will become the majority

in 2006 ...735,132 marriages in Japan, of which 40,154 involved were international...thats 40,154 possible caucasians-japanese babies in a year

mixedasians.com • View topic - Are whites taking over Japan?

[Javen]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Everyone forgets that more than 90% of those international marriages are between Japanese and other East Asians. In other words, producing children who look Japanese.

International marriages between Caucasians and Japanese are a small small fraction, and the number of those who actually stay in Japan are an even smaller fraction of that.

Japan is in absolutely NO danger of being taken over by Caucasian-Japanese babies.

zainichis don't count ...so 90% of international marraiges are between japanese and westerners

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Javen

zainichis don't count ...so 90% of international marraiges are between japanese and westerners

Umm... Last time I checked, all of Asia wasn't Japanese. If a Japanese person marries someone Korean, Chinese, or Filipino - the top nationalities for international marriages - they are still considered *international*. Any marriage where one partner is not a Japanese citizen is an international marriage.