Racism in Japan and Mensetsu wo furikaete miru-ing

So I had a question about dealing with racism/discrimination during my interview.

At the time, I managed to break my reactions to "racism" into hostile and ignorance (=teachable moments) over the course of two questions. (Thus recovering from my first, oh I didn't really experience much! ahhhhhhhhh! moment when my response to the first question ended.)

But in my dream last night I was interviewing again, and remembered this story.

The most outward racism I ever experienced (=noticed) in Japan was not from a Japanese* person, but rather another international student.

There was one day a small, sweet-looking redheaded Korean girl wanted to check out my club. Sometime over the course of our interaction she looked at me dead in the eyes, and I realized she was very, very cute. She opened her mouth to speak.

"You're black, but you're not scary."

I was appalled and taken aback, silent until I had conquered the dissonance that told me no, those words could not possibly have been carried by such a sweet voice.

I had two options: pimp or educate.


Suppressing my natural inclinations, I chose to educate.

Soldiers on the bases in Korea would be scary, and the perceptions gathered via media certainly give that same impression for black people in general, but people are just people; seeking out the chance to interact with more people from a given culture will give you a truer and better picture, along with the realization that we are all human. Besides, there are tons of scary Koreans."

I told her, or at least something similar.*

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right."

After that I saw her a few more times, but there was never the same feeling of closeness as that day when I had the chance to pimp. In fact, I suspect she might have had some unfortunate experiences to reinforce her stereotypes. But, when I did see her she looked happy, and was definitely hanging out with a diverse group of other students.

I called it a success.

*This is with the exception of fuuzoku, of course! I just remembered in Nagoya, not only was there a district of "nightlife guides" a stone's throw away from the main station, but wandering around at night led me to a clubbing & prostitution district with "No foreigners allowed" signs pasted everywhere. I have faint recollections of asking a bouncer if they were serious, and him being like "Naaaw," but I'm sure that's just my mind playing tricks.

**Also struggling with being self-conscious about sweat and stinkyness as basically the only westerner in a dance club... and said stinkyness being attributed to my race/culture (although it is true apparently); it was still a shock during my last festival to be told that my costume stunk and should be hung outside until it could be washed haha.

***There is a bit missing from the conversation above... probably. Also, she was a new freshman international student at the time.

hmm...

Maybe I should have looked into consulting. Although you probably need a better gpa hahaha.

Also thinking about joining the PMJS ML, just to lurk and read...

Also, a grad program that sounds beast in it's course offerings but a bit scanty on the language side

Return of the Kikokushijo!!

Bad pun, I know.

But just got the idea of looking for representations of kikokushijo in anime/manga, starting with my beloved Asuka (I'm getting more and more afraid to finish the series as time goes on, so I should make some way for it to be inescapable for myself...). Although, it seems like a lot of the characters are in fact stereotypical (tropes?)m so perhaps I should say innovative portrayals.

On the same note, my ideas of ibunka komyunicke-shon also extend to the different cultures within a given culture, basically through senmon yougo (specialized vocabulary) that develops through different groups. From computer programmers and scientists to dancers and artists and farmers (another reason I like gin no saji so much, gotta write about how awesome it is (and manga in general vs jun bungaku ("real" literature) later) have to communicate with each other using modified "foreigner english". I should find out what the term for that is.

But yeah. Ugh. Train of thought interupted.

http://maki.typepad.com/justhungry/2010/03/if-you-cant-speak-english-youre-a-loser-in-life.html

Ridiculous, 伊達眼鏡

Mo Xi alcohol lake

According to Liu Xiang's book Lienü zhuan written much later, around 18 BCE, Jie was corrupted by his infatuation with his concubine Mo Xi (妹喜 or 末喜), who was beautiful, but completely lacking in virtue.^[7][8] Among other things, she liked to drink, enjoyed music, and also had a penchant for jugglers and sing-song girls. Apparently, she had King Jie order a lake of wine made.^[8] They both sailed about in the alcohol lake in an orgy of drunken naked men and women bathing and drinking.^[9] She then commanded 3,000 men to drink the lake dry, only to laugh when they all drowned.^[8][9] This event was also recorded in the Han Ying's (韓嬰) book Han Shi Wai Zhuan (韓詩外傳).^[9][10]

-Wikipedia, Jie of Xia

Baller, utter ridiculousness... and there's more if you look into that guy! Clearly people like this were an influence for the Tenryuubito of One Piece. Really need to go back and read the 400 or so chapters I skipped. Next time I'm in town, I'm clearing out Book-Off!

The evergrowing List of light novels and manga to buy:

Spice and Wolf - 17 volumes

Haruhi  - 

Durarara! = 

Welcome to the NHK - 

One Piece manga - 50+ volumes

When opportunity knocks, you either answer the door, or you light up your internet connection and spank away your sorrows.

 This is from 30 Sleeps, which has some really good writing and inspirational stuff. Even talks about meeting girls, contrasting the pick-up artist methodology with a "get a life first" mode that makes a whole lot of sense.

Great articles on language learning over at Fluent in 3 Months, one very breathtaking post on comfort and tips that I need to apply to my everyday (actually resonates with the social skydiving post mentioned on 30 Sleeps), and another one that I will need to muse on, "Stop being shy!" Reminds me of all the people who introduce themselves as 人見知り over there. Entertaining thoughts of doing my first serious E->J translation since that translation class at Waseda with this.

---

Why We Procrastinate

1. Fear of success.
 Success comes with its own strings attached. Landing your dream job might involve relocating to a new city. Your promotion might alienate some of your co-workers. And dedicating yourself to the pursuit of happiness might require letting go of the people in your life that drag you down.

Definitely felt this one when it comes to job searching... and house searching... and email replying...

Procrastination is the Governor of the State of Boredom. It wants to rule you, hold you down, and keep you from reaching your potential. It feeds on your fears and encourages you to keep talking in tomorrows. But by accepting that now is never the right time, you’ll start leveraging your present circumstances for future gains. By acknowledging that you might make mistakes, even making failure a requirement, you’ll experience the benefits of imperfection. And by using action to clarify your goals, rather than ready-aim-aim-aiming, you’ll have taken the most crucial step towards living your ideal life.

-----
Reading an article from here before I go to bed.
Creating a "currently reading" list on Wordpress
Go through this blog for particle physics in Japanese
Hilarious commercial on Shuukatsu -- gotta prepare for interview in both English and Japanese though!
A couple more Japanese blogs that I wanna keep an eye on.
Collection of Japanese folk tales with interactivity! -- still gotta listen to those kids stories and pick out good ones to tell the kids! This is actually really baller!!!
Start a lang-8 account and rack up some points to trade for corrections.
Livestation apparently has around 15 Japanese tv channels!

This post from Tofugu has some interesting ideas about role-playing in language learning situations -- kind of ironic that there was just a colloquium series about this type of thing. :)

I always meant to watch this "English Teacher" series  but never got around to it. That and catching up with Wong Fu (dunno if it's worth it anymore...)

全日本コール選手権. Look this up on youtube for some interesting calls hahaha. 


Going to have to keep a better eye on the Japan Subculture Research Center and Jake Adelstein (as well as Polaris Project Japan...) 


Interesting article on development of cute writing in Japan in the 70's, and a throwback to learning to read squiggles in Classical Japanese class.... wonder what came in between and now, after them! Wonder if there's anything interesting going on at Neojaponisme...

Most days I hate how Spanish sounds, but...

at the same time have a strange (and totally explainable) attraction to it.

And I gotta give props to this guy. Sometimes amazed at the power of fandom...

Readings!

Awesome! Japanese and Chinese attitudes towards sex, summary of a paper published last year by James Farrer. So baller, I wish I had found this earlier.Hate how this makes me start to rethink my plans so easily. (And from that study I'm starting to think that that encounter with the prostitute in high school has led to an affinity? obsession? with these types of topics....At any rate, self-reflection is good and those memories are there, for the most part.) At any rate I'd like to see this guy invited to the university...

A couple other links that I will definitely come back to.

Life lessons

Fools waste their money on foolish things. Only the wise use their money to better themselves.

So many life lessons, jam packed into those pages! Gin no Saji

[Edit, 2 minutes later] The nametags on this page... I never realized how old school/common place the soudairyou check-in system was. Wonder how Nakamura-san's doing, haha.

Issho ni ryuugaku shita tomodachi no burogu wo imasaranagara hakken shita. Issho to ittemo, kaku hito no keiken ga (betsu betsu, buyiyang) chigaundanaa , to hajimete (to douji ni sai)ninshiki suru. Arata na tabi wo hajimeyou to ima shiteiru ga, Toukyou ni datte mada mada ippai michi no koto ga afureteiru akashi de atte, hotto suru

I need to stop clicking on links...

More stuff from random blogs!

Great (p)review of Skyward Sword by the first video game blogger I've ever taken note of; apparently the academic side of gaming has exploded as well.

In what might be the most interesting iteration the Zelda series has yet seen, Skyward Sword takes a brand-new approach in characterizing Link via Zelda, who receives a tangible, compelling and nuanced characterization herself for arguably the first time in the series' history. Little has changed about the hero; he is skilled because we make him, dutiful because we press buttons, and brave because we don't stop pressing them even when there are monsters. 

You probably thought I chose the wrong major, didn't you? Well, my friend... I think that all the time as well!

But every now and then, something like Katawa Shoujo comes along. I might play the first chapter in Japanese and Chinese... and it's rekindled a desire to learn sign language. Not sure why I get so fascinated by it, seeing as I've never known a deaf or signing person; but hey -- maybe my subconscious knows something about my learning style.

This is the official site for the game, the above-mentioned video game blogger wrote a review and the Escapist has a so-far hilarious review that I will need to finish later. To quote the opening line:

To put it as bluntly and politically incorrectly as possible, this a game where you date crippled girls, spawned by 4chan.

There's also some interesting stuff about the reaction on the Japanese interwebs, although it's mostly about the use of Katawa. I learned the word for deaf-mute, too, which is apparently 聾唖. Just add a 者 to either one of those, and you get the corresponding person. Kind of weird that sign language is just 手話 then, although widely recognized (ie not home-language) sign language I would suspect is a product of the modern era, and thus the word as well. Interesting...

Oh, man! A great analytical blogger I had just found the other day, 2-D Teleidoscope closed their blog about a week ago. Found out the guy had a role in the production of Katawa. Will be looking forward to diving through the remnants.

This is from his (don't even know if it's a guy... or what their handle was, but) last comments after a really great selection of reflections on how anime has changed people's lives. There is a crazy guy living in two dimensions, but other than that there are four people who put into words their transcendence of the genre, and into something more reminiscent of Genshiken; that is, how fandom is/was a road to personal growth and human connection that lasts far beyond the bewilderingly fearsome prospect that is losing interest in something that you currently obsess over. Perhaps this is something extendable to any marginalized group, but I want to romanticize it and say that in some way it is unique to anime and manga. Certainly in some strange way, I can't say that I've felt so connected to as many strangers (that I wasn't with in person) as when I am cruising anime blogs and stumble upon ruminations of an underground series like Haibane Renmei. Or in the same source a career chemist musing on anime and Christianity, something I feel I can pass on through the gap that undeniably exists between me and friends more rooted in their faiths.

A final word, before I close the doors.

Anime can be a second reality.  It can be an escape, a reprieve, a haven away; Door Number One is the geeky stuff, Door Number Two is everything else, and ne’er the twain shall meet.  I think that’s easy enough to do.  It’s much more difficult to live in both worlds at once.

But that’s the ideal, at least for me.  Visual culture – anime, manga, visual novels, everything we enjoy – can be a lens that helps us love the here and now.  Of course, it isn’t easy.  It takes thought, and perspective, and a willingness to shed cynicism.  But we should strive for this.  It’s worth striving for.

And how wonderful reality becomes then!  Hobbies, entire lifestyles, friends, lovers, the precious understanding between one human being and another: All of these and more, right at our fingertips, all because we share a love for this stuff from Japan.

Our world, plus this, is beautiful, prismatic and complex: A perfect 2-D teleidoscope.

Thanks for reading.

僕と契約して○○になってよ！

僕と契約して○○になってよ！

is what I said! Madoka joke. Wanna fill in "社会人" there haha.

Ahhhh, application turned in sort of on time! Money isn't such a big deal! Now all I need is to find housing and the courage to email my supervisor haha.

Below is a great analysis of Ohno's character. These past few days I've remembered why I liked Genshiken so much. Definitely have to check out the 2nd season (even though it's filled with fujoshi crap...). Definitely in danger of falling back into otaku mode. Although maybe that's just because my interactions with people (and the outside world) are so few these days.

Anyways, great analysis, and interesting one of Kousaka's girlfriend Saki. (tteka Ohno and Tanaka getting together in episode 4 was unexpected but unexpectedly realistic! Gotta post on that later.)

I love Kanako Ohno.
This is simply because she is one of the — if not the – strongest and most honest characters in all of Genshiken. Yes, she hides her preference for bald, muscled older men (due to some bad experiences showin’ her moe in America), and she is prone to stammering when she does not know what to say, but she is not afraid to stand up for herself and what she loves. When Saki reacts like, “HUBBAWHA?!” to Ohno — a woman! — actually wanting to join Genshiken, Ohno just replies, “But I like cosplay.” That’s all that matters to her. That other people may disapprove of it never crosses Ohno’s mind for even a second. This is who she is! She loves to put herself in the shoes of different characters; nothing makes her happier. And she loves to put that happiness on display for others to enjoy. It’s tough thing to develop the confidence to show yourself like that. Certainly the men of Genshiken are nowhere near being able to do that...