Question for non-Japanese and furthermore, non-asians.

[Shizuru]

I guess i'm kind of lucky cos most of my family members are into japanese stuff. My friends mostly love korean dramas but they also tune-in to Doramas.

At my house you wont here any other song playing accept from the Jpop idol or Jrock sometime a lil bit of english song. I guess thats because Malay music scene are so boring and somewhat stupid.

I aslo have a cousin who is merried to a Japanese guy

[IkematsuSosuke]

I like this thread..really interesting

[eltinator]

Ushiroyubi wrote:

eltinator, when they call you "Japanese" is it in a playful, sarcastic manner or negative?

well it's "supposed" to be playful but I know my mom and she does it to get on my nerves. I try to let it slide since she is my mom and all but seriously, doesn't she have anything better to do than to just get on my nerves -_-

[Jeanxi]

I'm Chinese, but my maternal grandparents were born and raised in Japan, so my mom's pretty cool with all the Japanese fascination and she even occassionally watches j-dramas with me. My brother is also interested in many foreign entertainment (mostly German and Japanese) so he doesn't have a problem with my obsession either. However, my father is the one who doesn't like me listening to j-pop and watching j-drama because my paternal great-grandfather was killed by the Japanese during WWII. So whenever I'm around my dad, I just don't listen to Japanese music...and he doesn't really mock me or get mad at me for having interest in Japanese culture, I guess he just can't go along with my interest tho. The problem with my friends is that although most of them are also Asian, they're very Americanized, and they think it's really fobbish of me to like Asian entertainment more than American entertainment. Most of them don't make fun of me for it, but there are a couple that like to call me a fob for being so absorbed in Asian entertainment. But we still get along, and I still try to convert into fellow fobs

[MixxDreamer]

my family doesnt mind, tho i think my sis gets annoyed so i dont bring it up.. as for my mom, i think shes really cool about it, since i hook her up with anime soundtracks.. she loves hearing the smooth relaxing orchestra and piano, i even watch anime with her.. she really loves hayao miyazaki and ghibli movies, as to what bmw would say, a cartoon for adults
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[bmwracer]

MixxDreamer wrote:

my family doesnt mind, tho i think my sis gets annoyed so i dont bring it up.. as for my mom, i think shes really cool about it, since i hook her up with anime soundtracks.. she loves hearing the smooth relaxing orchestra and piano, i even watch anime with her.. she really loves hayao miyazaki and ghibli movies, as to what bmw would say, a cartoon for adults

Correction imoto-chan: that's animation for adults.

[niko2x]

very good topic, ushiro. i was trying my damn-est to avoid posting here, but to no avail, alas i'm here to share my schpiel. after reading bm, elt, slackey, i think mine is comparable.

being chinese, i grew up HATING the JPN as a kid. my parents use to tell me all those atrocities that happended to them when they were kids living in southern china/HK duing the end of WW2. even after the war when everythings was just destroyed, food/water was scarce, even when the japanese had lost and were no longer there, but everything bad was caused by *cantonese* "say yan law bat tau" (literally means - damned daikon heads (jpnese eat a lot of daikons...).

never met either of my grandfather, both killed in the war as civialian. my maternal grandmother? had her pinkies sliced off for interegational purposes. as you can see, my family were no friends of the japanese. as a matter of fact, i never gave anyhting that was japanese a second thought in, always thought jpn was a pretty bad bunch of people, believing in that not as an opinion, but a fact.

i guess you can see where this is leading up to when i tell them that while i was stationed in okinawa, i had met this okinawan girl and when we come back to the states, we plan to get married. to my surprise, they were like "OK, at least she's not jpn." her family's got some beef with "mainland JPN" as well. and being that okinawans have more chinese blood in them than jpn. i can turn this into a whole discussion on okinawa/chinese history, but that would be off topic.

althoug they say, she's ok (for a JPN) and all, there is still some resentment towards her tho.
1. they usually refer to her as "you wife" rarely by name.
2. make sure she teaches them chinese BEFORE learning any of that japanese.
3. have her cook chinese, not to eat all them raw fish
the list continues......

i mean, i can definitely understand their rage towardsthe JPN, but IMO, i'd like for them to understand my point of view, althought the jpn have done some nasty things towards them, Mrs. niko has done nothing to them.
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[bmwracer]

niko2x wrote:

i mean, i can definitely understand their rage towardsthe JPN, but IMO, i'd like for them to understand my point of view, althought the jpn have done some nasty things towards them, Mrs. niko has done nothing to them.

Yeah, but you can't convince them of that. And that's the problem: guilt by association. It's inescapable.

[babyguh]

hehehe i think ive said it before in the introduction thread hehe but im vietnamese and ever since i waas yung i liked watching chinese movies that was translated in vietnamese and i think wen they started translating korean drams in viet i began to watch it and look more different ones that is not translated that is the bad thing bout the translations only certain ones get translated
but as for japan drama my brother has always been a j fan hehe like getting anime sheesh he has tons and then he went into a different phase and started getting real live dramas and he introduced it to me and i began to look for dramas whether b korean or jap or HK
my friends always saying y dunt i like viet stuff like music or drama well becuz they dont have any set idea of their own its always translations! *sigh*

[MixxDreamer]

bmwracer wrote:

Correction imoto-chan: that's animation for adults.

ahh gomen! but mah mom prefers the word cartoon.. but i know how japanese gets 'offended' calling their work 'cartoons'
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[bmwracer]

MixxDreamer wrote:

ahh gomen! but mah mom prefers the word cartoon.. but i know how japanese gets 'offended' calling their work 'cartoons'

Yup.

[lovelessemotion]

Ushiroyubi wrote:

How do friends, family, and acquaintances treat you when they find out or you share with them about your J-cultural interests?

i dun talk to my family.... my friends.. well i have 2 kinds... my everyday friends who i surf, dunebuggy, and go out with know that i like that stuff so they accpet it...i've known them for so long that they're cool with it... sometimes i watch dramas while i'm at their house..in fact i saw the endidng to younger man on a Black&white 7 inch television at my friends house... we were out one night looked at my clock and saw it was 9o'clock and i said "OH CRAP I'M MISSING YOUNGER MAN...I GOTTA WATCH IT!" so we qucikly left the club and went looking for any TV... finaly found a small 7 inch.. so i ended up watching it on that... after it was over we went back to the club... so they're real nice about it!

my other friends are the ppl i have met in college..i'm lucky to attend a college that is mostly asian majority... so everone i meet in my classes knows what j-pop is and most girls watch some type of drama... that's how i split from j-drama into k-drama taiwan-drama and HK-drama... ppl i met introduced me to it! ...so when i'm in classes its all DRAMA &music talk

Ushiroyubi wrote:

I generally get a lot of "harro!" jokes and "yellow fever" jokes from some friends ... sincere intrigue from others...

woah!... not beign asian myself... i think i understand... but since i think ur african-american u must have a harder time than I..

Ushiroyubi wrote:

Others call me an "anime geek" (I dislike 99% of anime and circles) because they think it all has to do with some DragonBallZ fixation like they're used to seeing in lame publications.

i agree 100%

Ushiroyubi wrote:

I can explain things that have led to my "Japanphilia" (family business, ex-fiance, etc.) because I don't believe that it is,

mine are work, girlfriends, ex-Gfs, and friends...

[RedRum]

William Hung fan!

[WMcnair370]

My wife is Korean and she is not amused by my interest in Japanese culture. Don't get me wrong, she has nothing against any Japanese person she meets, but she does have a lot of problems with Japan as a country.

Oh, and I just started meeting with a Japanese women who is trying to learn English while she teaches me Japanese. She is married, and needless to say, both spouses consider this to be very very strange.

Bill

[Impression15]

Heres my phase, All American stuff when I was little, Chinese stuff after that and now Japanese stuff; stuff as in you movies, items of possession, stuff like that. My parents don't seem like they care and my friends watch Japanese stuff too even though they're Chinese and Korean.

But I CAN understand why Chinese and Korean parents dislike if not despise Japan and sometimes Japanese people as a whole. The invasion of China WAS devastating. The occupation of Korea was devastating. They were devastating to your grandparents and parents. Because everything is peaceful now doesn't mean it didn't hurt before. You can say they're close-minded and all but sometimes, things happen to you that you can not forget. My grandfather told me (school project about WWII) that he witnessed Japanese soldiers killing and burying his neighbors and friends. He doesn't appear to hate Japan or Japanese people now but if he did, I wouldn't blame him nor would I try to reason that it's OK.

[Tekanan]

actually, i'm pretty sure that i would get lots of the same treatment as Ushi did. the only reason why i'm not getting it now from my friends is because since we arrived in melbourne, i guess the amount of ppl who currently is into the japanese culture/anime opened their eyes.[yes, my friends can be self-centered bastards at times.] all it takes is for them to see the "real" world....part of it that is.


as for how it is affecting my family, i don't think they mind at all.....with one exception. you see, my mom is soo afraid that i would get a japanese girlfriend. she told me that she just finds their intonnation wierd/funny and that it would be difficult for her to communicate with my girlfriend in the kitchen...haha!

no way that's gonna stop me!!muahaha!

[Akakage]

My family has nothing against me abt digging the J-culture. same applies to my friends and colleagues at the office.

[Ushiroyubi]

Thanks so much for contributing so much.

I am only familiar with such stories relating to the WW2, Japan-centrics and their families, and the clash of them ALL...

through friends I've spoken with. I find it rewarding that some of you have shared so much; as I know being looked down upon because of something you enjoy can be both painful and debilitating.

I've gotten to the point that I simply don't care what anyone thinks and I'm not about to take my DEEP interest in J-culture or J-ENT and pass it off as a "guilty pleasure" as many suggested was the best route I take.
It took a long time to get to such a point. But some of you guys with the courage you've shown in sticking up for what makes you happy, stepping OUT from under that dark cloud of the past, and standing up to negative tradition (however justified much of it can be labeled as being) is pretty impressive.

thanks.

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[eltinator]

Ushiroyubi wrote:

I've gotten to the point that I simply don't care what anyone thinks and I'm not about to take my DEEP interest in J-culture or J-ENT and pass it off as a "guilty pleasure" as many suggested was the best route I take. It took a long time to get to such a point. But some of you guys with the courage you've shown in sticking up for what makes you happy, stepping OUT from under that dark cloud of the past, and standing up to negative tradition (however justified much of it can be labeled as being) is pretty impressive.

Yea I agree, personally I don't find any embarassment in watch jdramas or anime or any J-Ent. I tell my friends all the time that I'm into Jdramas, I run a website dedicated to J-Ent, and hec I even run a weekly chart, LOL. But hey, if they can't accept it then I guess they won't be able to accept me since it's pretty much a part of me. Maybe I'll train my kids into watching it as well I plan to name them Japanese names anyways, hehe

[Moccona]

Hmmm..

I'm Aussie. I am currently studying in Japan. My family and friends really supported my decision to come here and such, my uncle even assisted the financial burden by a few thousand dollars. (^o^).

But back in the day,... my mother thought Japanese was just going to be a 'phase'.. I began studying by myself as there was no Japanese course available during highschool.. and it snowballed from there.

My mum was disappointed (in a joking manner) that I chose Japanese over French (the most beautiful language in the world, she says.. hee hee) but is quite impressed when I bring Japanese friends home and converse with them in Japanese. She adores Japanese people, and can never pronounce their names correctly (>o<)/ (seriously, how hard is it to say Akiko, for example?)

I met my gf (who is Japanese) in Australia in 2002. Interestingly, she is really close to my mum, they exchange emails and gifts and things. I guess my gf is good in my mum's books so to speak then. (^-^)

As for my friends, well there are two differences here:
(A) reactions from friends who also study Japanese, etc
(B) friends who don't have any interest in Japan.

As for A, well they obviously approve and often ask me to help them with their homework, etc. (>o<)

As for B, well, if i run into an old highschool friend, they will often ask about how my progress with Japanese is going, etc. They never disapproved of it, and that goes for my Chinese friends too.

Interesting, in Australia I don't really hear from Chinese (and Chinese diaspora) about their dislike of Japan, Japanese people, etc. Thus it is interesting to read about all of your other experiences and reactions from friends in America, etc. Great discussion though! (^^)