Japan Is Not Funny Anymore

[Shy]

[size=1]Tim Rogers (via Kotaku) describes Japanese culture, and says the things few others are willing to:[/size][quote][url=http://kotaku.com/5484581/japan-its-not-funny-anymore]I swear, at every party I've ever been to in Japan, this exact conversation has occurred, word for word:

"Ahh! Beer!"

"This beer is delicious!"

"Yes! This beer is delicious!"

"There's nothing quite so delicious as a cold beer after a hard day of work!"

You know those trees in "Lord of the Rings", where they have to sit in a circle for an hour making low sounds just to say "hello" to one another? That's what this is like.[/quote][/url][size=1]Other topics include mandatory work parties, why the Japanese like to scream so much, why every food item they sell has some sort of meat in it, and why having a tattoo means you can't get a gym membership. Enjoy.

Has anyone here been to Japan and has some horror stories of their own? Are there any aspects of Japanese culture that still baffle you, even after being a member of this site for so long?

-Shy[/size]

[pooperson]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]I've never been there, but I took Japanese for 3 years in junior high & high school.

I always thought it was sad that they don't have a direct term for "I love you". The closest translation my teacher could tell me was "anata ga daisuki desu".

I love that they have beer machines, like Coke machines.

& their little sleeping hotel rooms are cute.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE="1"]I've been to Japan, for two weeks in 2007, and I loved it. But I do have an interesting story, I'm not sure if I posted it on here or not.

I went with a group of ninjas, a teacher at the high school I went to teaches Ninjitsu in the area(and these guys were not stealthy, or good, lol). We went to a little revolving sushi restraunt by Koshigaya station, one city away from where we were staying(very convenient).

As we were riding our bikes back to our Inn I got seperated from the other guys I was with because the light changed, obviously they didn't wait for me so I was a little lost. I was riding through a crowd and a young guy stops and tries talking to me in his broken english. He said his name was Satoshi, but it was a very hard conversation because we couldn't really understand each other. What made it creepy was that he kept saying beautiful, then started touching my chest, and kissed me. He also asked if I liked sex. He was short, about my height, dressed nicely with these crazy pointy dress shoes.

I'll [I]never[/I] forget that experience. The people I incountered were usually very polite, and distant, except for him. I should have taken him out, lol, but causing an international incident in Japan would have probebly given me a one way ticket home.

Now everytime I'm out with a friend of mine, and I see someone with pointy shoes similar to his, she says "You like sex" loudly.

[QUOTE]Taperson, they also have vending machines with underwear aswell, according to my friend who went two years before I did. I never came accross them though.[/QUOTE][/SIZE]

[Kei]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Tapeperson: Though they don't use it all that often, "aishite iru" or "aishiteru" does literally translate to "I love you." The Japanese just have it built into their society to not express too much affection out in public or risk the stink eye, so they don't say it out in the open very much. lol

Anyhow, the thing that always baffled me was about their game shows and how based on humiliation they are. I studied Japanese culture in college and drew a conclusion that because of how stressful they make their lives, they must use the gameshows to give people something to point, laugh at and say "He's worse off than I am". At least, that's what I'm telling myself so it makes some kind of sense. > >[/color][/size]

[Shinmaru]

Haha, my initial reaction to the thread title was, "'Not funny anymore'? Have you seen anime comedies? They almost all suck."

Speaking of unfunny ****, the amount of (potential) incest in anime has always baffled me, doubly so when it's in a comedy and apparently supposed to be hilarious instead of uncomfortable and awkward. And then there's the incestual variation where the romantic attraction is to an adopted sibling, which is just infuriating because we have to deal with this **** AND it's basically the anime creators announcing, "Hey! They're not [i]really[/i] related, so it's OK! By the way, we are lacking in testicles!"

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Calibri]I suspect it's partly tied to the items [COLOR="DarkRed"]Kei[/COLOR] brought up, along with their compulsive social bowing deal, which strikes me as less respectful and more self-debasing.[/FONT]

[Nony]

[quote name='Shinmaru']And then there's the incestual variation where the romantic attraction is to an adopted sibling, which is just infuriating because we have to deal with this **** AND it's basically the anime creators announcing, "Hey! They're not [i]really[/i] related, so it's OK! By the way, we are lacking in testicles!"[/QUOTE]

Totally. It's extremely awkward to watch or read. Also, nice reason for editing your post there. :P

Referring back to the original topic, I dunno if I have a specific story to tell... I've read that article, and I was in Japan for ten weeks last fall. I've also been studying Japanese for a couple years, as well as took a class on contemporary Japan. So I've been prepared/dulled to some of this stuff.

I will say, I feel bad for any vegetarians that travel to Japan. 'Cause DAMN they do like their meat. Not that there's necessarily an abundance of it in every meal, but there is at least [i]some[/i]. My study abroad group had a couple vegetarians, and I heard stories about when they would go to a restaurant and order food without meat. Sometimes they would STILL get meat in their food, 'cause apparently the restaurant peeps didn't want the customers to feel like they were getting jipped. Or something like that. It's almost like they don't believe you, kinda like in the article with the guy always saying he CAN'T drink alcohol but people would still try to shove it on him.

Also, it was annoying (for me, personally) how many people smoked over there. I mean, no wonder they're all skinny. :/ Seriously, I once saw a guy smoking while he was riding a bike! Like he couldn't just wait until later, goodness.

At the same time, there was plenty good about Japan. It's hard to get an in-depth opinion on it when I was there for such a short time. I gotta say, I loved the convenience stores and the vending machines you could find every couple blocks. And katsu curry. Katsu curry is magical. <3

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]There are a million unfunny (and often seriously disturbing) things about Japanese culture, but I guess this helps to explain why western people are generally so fascinated by it.

I am going to Japan in September. It's only a short trip, but hopefully it'll be a good one.[/font]

[Brasil]

[quote name='James'][FONT=franklin gothic medium]There are a million unfunny (and often seriously disturbing) things about Japanese culture[/FONT][/quote]

[IMG]http://www.otakuboards.com/customavatars/avatar6_95.gif[/IMG]

*cough*greeneyes*cough*

[Shy]

[quote name='SaiyanPrincessX'][SIZE="1"]I went with a group of ninjas, a teacher at the high school I went to teaches Ninjitsu in the area(and these guys were not stealthy, or good, lol). We went to a little revolving sushi restraunt by Koshigaya station, one city away from where we were staying(very convenient).

As we were riding our bikes back to our Inn I got seperated from the other guys I was with because the light changed, obviously they didn't wait for me so I was a little lost. I was riding through a crowd and a young guy stops and tries talking to me in his broken english. He said his name was Satoshi, but it was a very hard conversation because we couldn't really understand each other. What made it creepy was that he kept saying beautiful, then started touching my chest, and kissed me. He also asked if I liked sex. He was short, about my height, dressed nicely with these crazy pointy dress shoes.

I'll [I]never[/I] forget that experience. The people I incountered were usually very polite, and distant, except for him. I should have taken him out, lol, but causing an international incident in Japan would have probebly given me a one way ticket home.

Now everytime I'm out with a friend of mine, and I see someone with pointy shoes similar to his, she says "You like sex" loudly.[/SIZE][/QUOTE][size=1]This is an amazing story. The Japanese in general seem to have a very strange relationship with sex, at least by our standards. In some ways they seem very proper and conservative, yet their youth culture makes a fetish out of EVERYTHING.

Especially in the 'romantic-comedy' anime I'm always surprised by how far they push the envelope. I've seen more than one show where a character has sex with their relative, but it turns out to be a clone or a devil in disguise at the last minute. Crazy stuff.

I didn't know that smoking was so common in Japan until I read that article. Given how crowded their major cities are that just seems rude.

-Shy[/size]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Sometimes I just find these oddities amusing, but I can imagine being frustrated by them in everyday life.

Lately I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII and one character - Vanille - is such a ridiculously over-sexualised stereotype that it actually almost makes me angry. Her ability to giggle at completely inappropriate moments, or her frequent grunts, moans and groans (often for no apparent reason) become incredibly tiresome.

So tiresome, in fact, that there are times where she almost single-handedly ruins the game for me. Not in terms of gameplay, but in terms of the story and characters.

And because I see this trend so often in anime, it's no surprise that, as a consequence, I don't watch a great deal of anime (especially these days). I don't view these types of characters as a charming element of Japanese culture - I actually view them as a grotesque element that we could really do without (even if just for the sake of promoting variety among female characters).[/font]

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Shinmaru']Haha, my initial reaction to the thread title was, "'Not funny anymore'? Have you seen anime comedies? They almost all suck." [/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]God, the sense of humor in animes are so awful. More often then not, they boil down to something that's at least intended to be funny happening, but then the other characters just outright state the damn joke, effectively robbing it of any humor it ever had.

It really frustrates me when otherwise wonderful series do this.[/color]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1][URL="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Kiss_Players_%28franchise%29"]The reason I stopped being a Transformers fan.[/URL][/SIZE]

[Shinmaru]

That actually makes me like Japan more.

[Sangome]

[FONT="Microsoft Sans Serif"][SIZE="1"]In regards to the weird fetishes and sexuality in anime: feel free to correct me if I'm horribly off-track, but isn't sexuality [i.e. expressing oneself sexually, PDAs, etc] [I]really[/I] repressed over there? Like, to the point where even kissing in public is frowned upon?

And in regards to the giggly schoolgirl stereotype, if the repression is true, maybe the overload of such characters is a result of it? I'm no psychologist, though, so it's only a theory.

Again, though, [I]please[/I] correct me if I'm wrong, 'cause the last thing I wanna do is spread around an incorrect aspect about a country's culture and people. [/SIZE][/FONT]

[Brasil]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][COLOR=deeppink]God, the sense of humor in animes are so awful. More often then not, they boil down to something that's at least intended to be funny happening, but then the other characters just outright state the damn joke, effectively robbing it of any humor it ever had.

It really frustrates me when otherwise wonderful series do this.[/COLOR][/quote]

That's the funniest kind of humor, though. Awkward silence!

[John]

Awful writing and characterization has turned me away from many Japanese games that were probably otherwise really fun. The World Ends With You is definitely the worst offender here, not only in terms of just how bad the characters and dialogue were, but just how muchof it there was, and the fact that you can't skip [I]any[/I] of it. I couldn't even trudge through the first in-game week of that crap before I stopped playing. Stupid characterizations and over-the-top anime-style animations (as well as all the grinding) kept me on the edge of quitting for most of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, even though it was otherwise a freakin' sweet game. Advance Wars: Dual Strike suffers a similar problem, but that game is just too awesome for the heinous writing to stop me from playing. Besides, its dialogue is generally skippable.

Of course, sometimes non-Japanese games suffer the same fate with me. I got past, like, the first level of God of War before I said, "This is stupid. I'm not a thirteen-year-old," and quit. It baffles me that I seem to be the only person in the world to hold this opinion.

On the other hand, one thing that I find fascinating is how the Japanese treat the English language. I'm not talking about Engrish, but often when they're giving some creative work an English title or name, they just put together weird combinations of words, usually not even making any grammatical sense, that a native English-speaker would never have thought of. The band name "Melt Banana" is a good example of this.

[eleanor]

[font=trebuchet ms] Other than the weird sexual **** going on (incest fetish, rape fetish, dub-con porn, 12-year-old innocent schoolgirl fetish, tentacles, hentai chicks saying "thank you" when you-know-what happens jesus I could go on forever) the whole "repressed" side of the culture is also irks me.

My cousin's wife is Japanese, and they just had a kid, and this is how meal time goes:

1) kid finishes plate
2) mom asks if kid wants more
3) kid says yes
4) mom gives disapproving look and asks again if kid wants more
5) kid says yes
6) repeat step 4
7) kid looks like she's going to cry but says "no"

I mean obviously not all Japanese moms do this, but I just found it so representative of the part of Japanese culture I dislike.

Random point:
- the whole Japan vs. Korea thing. Like damn, can we let this **** go? Even in that freakishly popular series Hetalia Axis Powers manga "Korea" is this randomly really perverted guy. WHAT LOL. Like I understand all the country portrayals are based on sterotypes, but when they hell did Koreans have a stereotype of being perverted? Same goes for Koreans, who pretty much flip a **** whenever there is something remotely worthy of being seen as a "Japan vs. Korea showdown"

[/font]

[chibi-master]

[quote name='John']
On the other hand, one thing that I find fascinating is how the Japanese treat the English language. I'm not talking about Engrish, but often when they're giving some creative work an English title or name, they just put together weird combinations of words, usually not even making any grammatical sense, that a native English-speaker would never have thought of. The band name "Melt Banana" is a good example of this.[/QUOTE]

I love those! It always gives me a nice refreshing "Pardon me?" moment when I try to figure out what they may have been going for.:animesmil

[aarenlainey]

Well the japanese had an interesting history during colonial period. During the Japanese colonial period of 1867 to 1945, the phrase "Japanese people" was used to refer not only to residents of the Japanese archipelago, but also to people from occupied territories who held Japanese citizenship, such as Taiwanese people and Korean people. The official term used to refer to ethnic Japanese during this period was "inland people" (内地人, naichijin). Such linguistic distinctions facilitated forced assimilation of colonized ethnic identities into a single Imperial Japanese identity.

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Calibri]This one's actually on topic. The subject?

Milk Drink.

[CENTER][IMG]http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/7/7a/Milk_Drink_anime.png[/IMG][/CENTER]
That is seriously one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen.[/FONT]

[Justin]

Don't you love people who skip the funny part and go into totally incongruous details barely pertaining to the conversation?

I heard a Japanese metal band [i]once[/i].

I haven't given a damn about Japanese culture since. I know one thing: Wherever [i]that[/i] could get a following, I don't want to be.

-Justin

[eleanor]

[quote name='Justin']Don't you love people who skip the funny part and go into totally incongruous details barely pertaining to the conversation?
[/QUOTE]

[font=trebuchet ms] [img]http://i40.tinypic.com/2ewcdjs.jpg[/img][/font]