Do Japanese have a problem with Foreigners?

This is definitely not a yes/no answer to that question...

I think its easiest to say "The Japanese love foreigners." They embrace American culture as if it were their own. When an American music artist showcases in Tokyo they can charge easily close to $100 a ticket and still sell out the theather even if its a lesser known or less popular artist. The music culture sometimes makes you wonder, "What happened to the Japanese music?" It seems at some point like it stopped developing held onto its traditional form and from there split off into a booming branch of western style music which ranges from Jazz & hip hop to punk & metal. Honestly the list is massive when it comes to music. One stroll through Shibuya makes this fact immediately obvious. Poke your head into a club and your bound to find Japanese in their 20s-30s decked out with Timbs, cornrows, dreads, the usual baggy ass hangs-out jeans & shirt long enough to cover it--girls are no exception to that wardrobe. That being said, you'll just as easily find goths (increasingly popular goth-girls), punked/rocked out guys, or whatever you can imagine. They embrace American pop culture. This extends further to their movie scene (Johnny Depp is an idol; as well as ブラピ=Burapi aka Brad Pitt), television (24 is huuuge and The O.C. just started its rise), fashion (though to be fair Tokyo has a huge fashion scene and it changes/evolves ***FAST***)... honestly theirs no point in laundry listing all the things the 現代人(modern persons) have come to embrace. Instead let's focus on the strongest example first...

Japanese are convinced that the words they spell in katakana (アイエオウ vs hirigana あいえおう) are Japanese. This results in very annoying situations as well as very amusing situations. I get annoyed when someone proceeds to assume I don't know a words that they use (and is spelled in Katakana) or they go off on a huge explanation when all that would be necessary is saying "its in katakana" that way when you hear someone say "se-o-ri" rather than think "What the hell is seori..." instead, as if it were spanish or french, you do a backwards conversion an realize the word is "Theory." Last spring break I was in Kobe's train station and trying to figure out where I could check my bags between trains while I explored the city. So I proceeded to ask where a place to store my bags was. The response was that the "ロッカー" =
"Rowk-Ka" were "over there." My first thought was what the hell is a Rokka? I had no clue. Eventually after some attempt to explain, I was led by one of the station staff to the ***lockers***.... Rokka = Locker. I laughed to myself and made the mental note...

The list of Katakana words from english or what I'd call Janglish is immense. Adjectives seem to be popular conversions as well as technical words. The surprising this though is that words that exist in Japanese are increasingly converting to english words. Yesterday I heard someone say エンジニア [ ENJINIA ] but last time I checked the word ぎし (GISHI) is the Japanese word for Engineer... I'm all for borrowing words (80% of English active vocabulary comes from French) but sometimes I feel ridiculous saying things like "ii aidea!" = good idea rather than use of the Japanese word "ii kangae." That being said, I've been corrected both ways (aidea <---> kangae) by teachers and Japanese friends to use the other one. I'm not going to lie though; I love the reaction when someone says "What? you know that word?" and I smile and say "Yeah, its from english" and they says "Wow? Reaaally?" almost in disbelief. They don't borrow the words; they assimilate them. I guess its no different than when we speak without realizing that a French person realizes 80% of our active vocabulary was stolen from French.

Sorry a little side tracked... so my point was that a culture that assimilates foreign words into their active vocabulary generally doesn't hold distaste for foreigners.

Well let's take a look at the opposite end. The thought that Japanese *might* have a problem with foreigners never really came to mind until I attempted to walk into Club Heaven in Osaka and promptly received the gesture in Japan for "no" (arms crossed with fist closed forming an X). Then some broken English and a finger pointed towards the door which together amounted to "Foreigners are not allowed here" or "No Gaijin" to quote. I've got two opinions about these type of locations. 1) Its ridiculous and the Japanese version of segregation or Jim-Crow-locations. 2) Japanese sometime need refuge from the crazy college frat boys that terrorize Roppongi doori for example and whose presence encouraged the Yakuza (Japanese gangsta-businessmen = mafia) to start up the cocaine and ecstasy market. Its simply creating a safe area. That being said; that kind of establishment would not be tolerated in America no matter what the excuse is. How many people could easily make the argument that since Jails are proportionally full of minorities, we could decrease crime in an area by simply not allowing minorities in an area... I clearly have some serious problems with that kind of an argument so I'm not one to support these nihonjin only bars.

My other issue involves in the use of the word gaijin. I don't call Japanese "Japs" yet the use of the word Gaijin which was once considered foul language (contraction of the word gaikokujin meaning outside-country-person) has become more and more accepted as a normal word. Conversations include a little kid at a Zoo who refered to my greeting of "konnitiwa" by saying something to his mom about "Its because he's a Gaijin-San" a Mr.Foreigner? WTF? The parents have somehow cultured the kid's mind to completely categorize foreigners.

My second experience was a very short statement by a new acquaintance while she was on the phone asking for recommendations from a friend of hers. Her friend asked something along the lines of "Who needs a recommendation?" and she said "外人なんですよ．” Which means "it's that they are gaijin." Or "they are Gaijin-people." That extra なん (nan) makes a huuuge difference.

The 3rd experience was an odd fellow at a pharmacy who looked at me and says "Hiyakeshita! A, sou ka. gaijin da. gomen nasai... gaijin da. gomen nasai" = "you're sunburnt!" (fyi, I'm
Black). "Oh, I see, you're a foreigner. I'm so sorry! You're a foreigner! I'm soo sorry!" As if he was expressing pity because I was a foreigner as opposed to apologizing for what he said which usually involves a completely different sentence construction. i.e. (間違えて、ごめんなさい・間違えて、すみませんでした．)

There's a 4th much broader set that involves speech styles. For now...

続く - to be continued

Asakusa Class Trip

So the teacher's set us off lose to Asakusa. I went there about a year and a half ago and loved the place. It was sunny and a cool winter day and the streets were still kind of crowded even during midday. Lots of tourists, of course, coming from Korea, China, Australia...just to name a *few*.

This time though, I was there for class and not just touring. Our objective was to practice our "polite" Japanese speech style (here I mean distal with polite verbals) by interviewing at least 3 Japanese people while of course enjoy the scenery, street shops, and temples. We met at a huuuuuge Shinto gates marked by an equally massive latern with "kaminari-mon" written on it (literally lightening gate).

It was lightly drizzling and around 10:30 when we set out. Despite the rain, I'm guessing because it was a Friday, the street-shop lined walk way to the temple was still incredibly crowded. Me and Kendall Rice, my partner for the outing walked the street warming up our Japanese and enjoying a bit of people watching and peeking into shops.

When we hit the end of the road we were under another large gate where people were resting, chatting, putting on make-up, reading newspapers, flipping through guide books, or just sheltering themselves from the rain. After a few nervous laughs we approached our first group of about 6 people--Chinese. I'll spare you from any culturally insensitive jokes, but to be fair the teacher's vouch that they also run across the same problem from time to time. Apparently one group pulled off an interview of a Korean man & woman, a couple, in Japanese. Our next two attempts were met kindly at first but when it came time to avoid using the 2nd person "you" in Japanese [which is considered rude even if you don't know or forget someone's name or even if you have been friends for a long time], after asking for a name the response was a quick (literal translation) "That's already good enough..." or in a 2nd case, "Okay I'm going now." I think for the most part since not all adults have had the experience of conversing with Gaijin they may have simply been intimidated by Rice & I standing at 6ft and speaking fairly poor Japanese (in my opinion). Most of the Japanese elderly woman we came across that day were standing at what I'd estimate to be about 4'8" to 5', so it was inevitable sometimes to cause someone to be a bit nervous. In the end we succeeded in interviewing a group of middle school girls and two female university students.




The name thing:

In comparison with American's, the Japanese put a tremendous amount of value in names, so I think they are sensitive to giving it out to strangers. My personal belief is that the value of a name is why the Japanese see the 2nd person "you" both in its informal "Kimi" from as well as its formal and respectful "Anata." Furthermore in Anime you'll find words like "omae" literally, honorable in front of me, or "Temae" literally, facing me, or "kisama" (just you) all translated as various English expletives.

In the states, and most "western" countries, a baby's name is chosen before birth--at least usually. The Japanese however, will wait until even more than a week after the baby has been born before giving it a name. At this point they want to give a name that is reflected in some trait of the baby or some hope or wish the mother has for the child. As if the pronunciation of the babies name wasn't enough, they then run through various Kanji and verify all possible meanings that the name may be interpreted as. Still not done... the chosen Kanji most then be aesthetically pleasing to read and write. Finally, there are fortuitous or lucky stroke counts, and there are unlucky stroke counts. When all is said and done the name still have to match cultural expectations for a male or female name. This is way often generations have popular name trends--someone figures out a good combo and it permeates from one person to another. The current generation is full of names like: Eriko, Yumiko, Yuriko, Emiko, etc. Popular joke goes that if you forget a girl's name just mumble two syllables and a "ko" and you're usually in the clear....







Rain aside, I had a lot of fun & it was nice to get out and talk to a variety of Japanese children & adults, male & female, young & old. Sure as hell beats drilling honorific verbals in a classroom.

The Sun Academy

Duty calls... I hope someone reads this blog because I probably should be doing homework right now instead of typing a diary... haha.

I've got a lot of blogging catching up to do so I might as well start now. First things first: Hiroo rocks. Its a sick location to have a program and you can walk in 20 min to Roppongi (probably Japan's most popular nightclub/bar scene). Of course, you've got to find the time first.

[tokyo bay]


I'm sure all the light programs can relate to this, but the workload you take on during a summer cram course is intense. MTuWThF I get up at 8PM commute to class by 9:15PM and the "ending at 12:50PM" classes usually get out around 2:00ish and I cross my fingers that there's no after-class one hour explanation of directions or some kind of debriefing (in Japanese of course). Eitherway, enjoying the convenient stores' onigiri (rice ball) and oinarisan (rice in a sweet fried soybean/tofu wrap), eating with the teacher's has become kind of a good habit. After lunch I usually get back to my room around 3:30ish. Despite being tired and mentally taxed I greet myself with a mound of homework and tackle through it until around 10 on an easy night, midnight if I waste time, and 2PM on the difficult days. Either way midnight is always the goal, stopping to cook myself dinner in the rooms kitchenette and eating dinner while watching one or two anime episodes (great for the listening skills) or some Entourage.

[Hokkaido]

That's the daily routine. If you're brave you can finish your homework by 11 or 12 and headout to Roppongi which is always bustling with a large crowd of foreigners, businessmen, and Japanese in the 20-30yr old range. Weekends add the option of going to Shibuya which has a much smaller foreigner mix and a big hip-hop scene though I'm sure whatever your fancy is be it karaoke, dancing, house/techno, or watching hip-hop crews showcase you'll find it.

The Sun Academy has a good mix of teachers. All female and ranging from what I'd guess to be 30 up to 60 years old. The teachers are a mix of characters of course. Some you'll love and some you'll find difficult to get along with. The usual story I guess. No matter what, in the end you can't help but remind yourself that no matter how strict they are, how much homework you get, or how frustrated you get, the teacher's are on your side and are doing everything they can to help improve your Japanese. The program has a heavy focus on speaking ability and improving what you have already learned to a fluency that allows you to use it with ease while expressing an opinion. I feel that as a second year student, these focus points haven't allowed me to pick up enough vocabulary, or new grammar. Of course the former is an opinion since learning more vocab is entirely dependent on the student; write down words you come across that you don't know, the make it your own responsibility to learn them. Its just hard to find the time for free time and non-course-work study time. Half the students seem to grasp this balance by skipping night outings and replacing clubs and bars with karaoke.



To each his own.