anything Japanese

[Opacic_A]

I went to High School in Japan for about half a year, and I'll never forget it. The food basically tastes the same as you would if you ate it anywhere else, it may taste slightly different but the location really doesn't define how well it tastes.

Japan is both an amazing and depressing place, at one point I was amazed at all the things that I saw first, a vending machine at every corner, the girls (For the most part, but there were quite a few godawfully ugly ones), the people (some at least) and school was actually quite fun.

However, the longer I lived there, the more I noticed that some people really didn't enjoy my presence amongst them, even ones I didn't know, I don't know if it was I scared them with my long hair, my looks or if I was a foreigner but the Japanese can be incredibly judgemental, this really got to me and I was pretty depressed for about two months because of it all.

I didn't watch any anime or read any manga or anything like that at all while I was over there, and I'm kind of glad that I didn't, there is a great deal much more than just thinking "LOL DERES ANIMU HERE AND IM GONNA PICK UP DA SCHOOLGRLZ XDXD".

I may not paint a particularly bright picture about Japan, but it's a great place to visit, but not to live there, no way.

I loved it, however, and I plan on visiting my old host family sometime in December, and I would most certaintly reccommend that people stay with a family instead of being a tourist and just staying in some stupid hotel, staying with a family is much more fulfilling.


Edit : Oh and before I forget, try Kendo out if you do end up going, it's awesome fun.

[<3Ryu]

Haha i studied iaido and kendo for 5 months, until i got a tattoo and piercing and my sensei said "thats bad for budo" . It was fun while it lasted.

[Opacic_A]

Yeah, to be honest it took a while to get used to the yelling, lmao.

Piercing? Where'd you get it?

[<3Ryu]

On my lip haha, i also had one lesson in kyudo at the osaka jyo park school, out of 3 senseis one stood next to me a scrutanised me the whole lesson. I stuck to iaido after that haha

Haha i never did feel confortable yelling in kendo haha, in iaido it was allot more sutle i guess i prefered that. I think my best memory of kendo was my just after they allowed me to wear my Men, id been practising along time and my sensei decided he wanted to show me how it was. It was possible the scaryest 5minutes of my life. It was just a blur of shinai and whacks on my head lol.

[SnowPrincess]

I like the kimonos in Japan :[ dreaming of wearing them D:: and so are some of their food =P~

hmm...


find it very hard to learn their language cos of the different constructions of sentence D:: :-?


verb -> noun -> linking verb :(

[sakrash]

Nah, once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.

My father's relatives (he's japanese) are very ecstatic for me to have an interest in their culture. My uncle always comes over and cooks me food. (btw, to the person who created this thread and everyone else, stop calling takoyaki takuyaki, please, it mocks my favorite food of all time)

What Opacic_A said is true, they can be very judgemental. This comes from me, who already looks Japanese and is half Japanese. In animes we see the halfs getting admired, but it's not really all true. Most do admire it, but there are still some who practice racism, especially when they find out you speak Chinese (which I do =.=). But all in all, Japan is a fun place.

[<3Ryu]

you get used to the racism, i mean i get called gaijin, what 20 times a day, i could look at it as racism but meh its something that will never change so theres no point getting pissed. Whats really funny is when you have been here too long and start calling other people gaijin.

[skullreken]

what is a gaijin
is it the equvalent of us calling them gooks?

[nit3mar3]

someone from a foreign country, if i remember correctly. a rather rude term, similiar to yankee-kun.

[skullreken]

man thats wierd most people in my country wanted bad mouth
foreigners they'ed do it in private
Actually saying it to their faces is frowned uppon in our socioty
in school we all have to take Civil, Social and Political Education
one of the key focuses is anti racisim it's somethig we are taught
to be against at an early age. Of course, sadly there are people who
are just plain racisits and no amount of educating can change that.
But it is certainly something which is not tollerated by the majority
of our socioty the police can charge and impose a fine on you for
racially attacking someone verbally or physically or trying to incite hate