http://www.outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html
Is this really how Japan is like now? Some of it sounds farfetched, but it seems more than possible. This editorial series is crazzy.
Is this really Japan???
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Oh this guy again.
He writes about Japan knowing little about it and exaggerates for comedic effect which has gained him much popularity in the past couple years. Although I wouldn't say anything he writes is false or a lie, much of it is more spectacular in his writing than in reality and much of what he makes out to be crazy can easily be understood.
That said, if you're under the impression that Japan is a place where everyone smiles and watches anime all day, you're in for a shocker when/if you go there.
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am i the only one that finds it funny that he's freaked out by public bathhouses? Personally if i ever do go to Japan that'll be the first think i go to.
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Ahh, Azrael. Good for a great deal of laughs, though I strongly suspect omae is right. Remember that editorials are pure opinion, and though he has credibility, almost everything he writes about is intentionally mentioned because it has the potential to be funny (outside of the charming stories, like Moeko's Owl).
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You know, I've "known" Azrael (he's quite active at www.shoryuken.com) for quite a long time…..He believes firmly in everything he writes. Of course, there's anything 100% false about his editorials, but he really seems hell-bent on demonstrating how perverted Japan is.
It's kind of annoying imo, when he puts stuff like this (and he does it a lot)
Insert apparently immoral/perverted fact here "THIS is Japan, people."
He's got a lot of nutriders.
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@omae:
That said, if you're under the impression that Japan is a place where everyone smiles and watches anime all day, you're in for a shocker when/if you go there.
WHAT?! they don't?! next thing you're gonna tell me is that they all don't look gorgeous like miyavi! pffffffffft!!!!
in the manwhile, sic, quote from his experiences from the japanese health care system;
…Apparently, really skinny people just hit the ground and bounce.
well, that's what i did, speaking from the experience of about 18 BMI, confrontation with a car and bones still unfractured.other than that, his stories were quite a fun read. perhaps a bit exaggerated, i can spell, though.
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am i the only one that finds it funny that he's freaked out by public bathhouses? Personally if i ever do go to Japan that'll be the first think i go to.
I imagine a lot of Americans would be freaked out by that sort of thing because there's so many homophobic people and people who are insecure about their own bodies. I think the public bath house idea is really neat and interesting myself. Though I can't say it's the first thing I'd do in Japan. XD
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. - Frank Zappa
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I imagine a lot of Americans would be freaked out by that sort of thing because there's so many homophobic people and people who are insecure about their own bodies. I think the public bath house idea is really neat and interesting myself. Though I can't say it's the first thing I'd do in Japan. XD
If an 85-year-old Japanese dude is hung better than me, that would pretty much destroy whatever ego I have left. I don't see myself going into a public bathhouse anytime in the near, far, or potential future.
As for the editorials themselves, I get a ruckus out of most of them, and the Moeko articles are certainly touching… I like the site. Can't say if it's true or not, but when you mention kancho and dickdodging, I reeeally don't want to find out firsthand.
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I'm not saying everything he says is true. I know he embellishes a lot of it and its no different than watching, say, a hollywood movie. But I don't think he is going waayyy off base either. I'm not talking about his general opinions and comments about his situations, but the actual words and actions of the kids and the people. I am currently taking first year japanese at my university and always had the stereotype of a japanese person being very conservative and "not crazy and wild" driven into me, by both the media and now the japanese TAs and sensei's in my classes. Is there an objective answer? Are they really just as screwed up as Americans or even more so? I can't really imagine Japan being like some sex-crazed or perverted country. That's the last thing we want happening to the world. As for the school discipline problems. I knew entrance exams for like daigaku were extremely hard but once you got in you just party and graduate. I didn't know it went as far down as the lower school levels also.
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I can believe the stuff the kids say. I've been used as an ETP* for ages now and while I'm very proud that they like English so much, um, I have to wonder how much of it they're learning from MTV :laugh: I can especially believe the profanity after watching Utawara last week. One of the songs was almost completely in English but holy cow, it had racier lyrics than I've heard in America for a looong long time. I was honestly shocked by it; I don't quite think Jin knew what he was singing :laugh:
But as for the insane perverted screwed-up factor, errr no, I think you'll find most Japanese to be fairly normal in their sensibilities, if not pervasively group-oriented. It's like anything in ANY country: no one wants to hear about the normal stuff or the good stuff, it's the bad that everyone latches onto. And yeah, there's entrance exams for junior high, high school and university (why do you call it daigaku ? there's an equivalent english word :P), which by reputation I've heard are monsters. I've taken some of the math on the junior high one before, and while the actual math wasn't that bad, I think the biggest challenge I had was finding the right relationships to model each situation. The questions you'll find on those are not so straightforward like what you'll find here – they're all application and situation based, and apparently most Americans recoil at the thought of ever applying knowledge to a situation :rolleyes:
But eh, I guess next month I'll really know for sure. Hooooly crap 一ヶ月後日本にいるよ。。。！！！ うわああぁぁぁ～～
*English Target Practice
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If an 85-year-old Japanese dude is hung better than me, that would pretty much destroy whatever ego I have left. I don't see myself going into a public bathhouse anytime in the near, far, or potential future.
It's good to be a woman. :laugh:
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. - Frank Zappa
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I imagine a lot of Americans would be freaked out by that sort of thing because there's so many homophobic people and people who are insecure about their own bodies.
It's JAPAN. One of the few places in the World that even the 'smallest' of Americans can gloat.
Seriously though, public baths are neat and I've done that whole bathing naked with older people and my own friends my age. If you're insecure grow up. But there is one thing that I totally accept as a valid excuse:
FOLLICULITIS
Imagine this:
http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/430/20031008051147/www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/plates/p112_2.gif
All the hell over your groin and/or ass. I speak from experience and the experience says: NOT FRIGGING FUN!
Picture yourself waking on a fine freezing winter morn (no central heating) and giving yourself the 'Good Morning Scratch' only to hit a sore spot, then looking down and seeing several, all with white centers. As images of all kinds of lovely VDs pass through your head you panic. You're in a foreign country. You don't trust anyone well enough to actually tell them you might have a VD. You can't get a checkup. And the best part, the next day there are more and they now burn like HELL.
This ladies and gentlemen, all because I got in a frigging bath house after jogging. If you read up on the disease you'll see it's a pretty common disease actually and isn't a VD or anything like that but it can spread like wildfire and it burns like you wouldn't believe. Yes folks, disease is an important thing to consider when dipping in your skivvies, sharing the same bath water (therefore not chlorinated) with people you don't know. NOT FUN! NOT COMMON! But keep it in mind and if it happens at least now you won't scare the shit out of yourself.
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Ooh, yeah, that doesn't look fun. Do people who grew up there develop an immunity to it because they're used to it, or do they just not find it such a big deal?
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i agree with Cosmic. That looks nasty. Maybe i won't be going to a bathhouse.
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am i the only one that finds it funny that he's freaked out by public bathhouses? Personally if i ever do go to Japan that'll be the first think i go to.
Since it is a normal thing in Japan, I wouldn't be afraid to try it. Then again, I'm blue eyed and blonde haired. I KNOW everyone would be staring at me, which would make me self conncios (sp)
Then, I think of people like my mom, with a certain medical condition, who wouldn't be comfortable with other people being able to see her condition. Kind of personal thing, like you don't go anouncing to every person on the street, I have my period.
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I always figured that Japan as a culture was "dialed to 11". They work excessive hours and conditions and as a result crash hard, embracing relatively excessive entertainment (tentacle rape hentai, electronic doodads which wouldn't sell anywhere in the world but Japan…)
