MORE Japanese Culture Tidbits

[The Velveteen Violinist]

Here's the stuff you never learn in school!!

Tidbit One: 95% of the Japanese population call their parents "Mam" and "Da(d). 3% call "Mother" and "Father." Finally, there's that uuber-conservative 2% that still say "Otousan" and "Okaasan."

Tidbit Two: Pale skin and dark hair is considered as fashionable there as it is in America.

Tidbit Three: Foreigners are liable to die of heart attack, apoplexy, and gastric problems because if you say, "Good Morning!" the wrong way (there are 239489302843902480234893 wrong ways and 5 right ways), you will be considered so rude you can be chased out of the city with pitchforks.

4. You haven't lived until you've seen a bunch of drunk businessmen fighting over the microphone in a kareoke bar and singing... Also, you CANNOT die without having been plastered enough to join them.

5. If female and under the age of 29, NEVER EVER bathe next to a group of little old ladies. Unless if you enjoy being the topic of a heated debate over your breasts, skin, figure, underarm hair, butt (if you get out) and some things I shouldn't mention.

6. When going to Japan for the first time, you must shave every milimeter of hair off your body with the exception of head and eye area. (Yes, shave your toes too.) Buy enough deoderant for three people. Bathe two times EVERY DAY. Scrub yourself raw. Don't have a speck of dirt underneath your nails. Don't have eye boogies. Don't have noticeable snot in your nose. Do this and they might think you half-way decent.

4laugh

I love my country.  

[S. Shark]

Hoorah!

1) Is that literally what they say or the English equivalent?
2) emo
3) emo x239489302843902480234893.

I love culture tidbits. <3 They're fascinating, and make idiot otaku who think Japan is a wonderland where they will be instantly accepted and have their pick of pretty Japanese women CRY (like I did in #3 ).

Slightly OT, but my French teacher (who has infact lived in France before, hoorah) tells me one of the questions he most often gets from French people is, "Do you really have those yellow school buses?" xp  

[The Velveteen Violinist]

1) Literally, mostly! Sometimes with an accent. Like calling your mother (if you're not Japanese) okaa-chan in English.
2) 4laugh
3. Oh, they'll look at you funny and ask questions about "Are you from England?" but really, it's a hot Asian guy that does it.

rofl AHAHAH!!!! heart I love culture-questons! 4laugh Seriously? rofl  

[Pandora Box]

5 ways to say good morning? gonk I only know of two -- ohayou and ohayou gozaimasu?

Teach us, oh wise one! xd I do enjoy learning about other countries/cultures/etc.  

[The Velveteen Violinist]

Heh, I exagerrated: Only four ways the sane person knows.

"Os"
"Ohayo" and any variations
"Ohayogozaimas" and any variations
"Good Morning"  

[Sexbomb Hermione]

What do they think of tall women there? I'm a white girl whose 5'10, and I've always wondered how people would treat or view me. sweatdrop  

[ThePeerOrlando]

foxxy_love_sugar

What do they think of tall women there? I'm a white girl whose 5'10, and I've always wondered how people would treat or view me. sweatdrop

The same way they treat all foreigners.

They call you respectful names to your face (the worst you get is Gaijin).

Behind your back they call you a foreign whore/dog/whatever other deragatory names they can come up with.  

[The Velveteen Violinist]

ThePeerOrlando

foxxy_love_sugar

What do they think of tall women there? I'm a white girl whose 5'10, and I've always wondered how people would treat or view me. sweatdrop

The same way they treat all foreigners.

They call you respectful names to your face (the worst you get is Gaijin).

Behind your back they call you a foreign whore/dog/whatever other deragatory names they can come up with.

......Like my grandmother. She's kinda.... Well, not out of it, but she's like the traditional Japanese granny... "Did you see that white woman? She is soooo big! Look at that overdone makeup- ugh! Why, my children are proper and beautiful, and look at those white people with that mud all over their faces and their awful fashion! What are those things hanging off her ears- saucers?" and etc. xd  

[ThePeerOrlando]

..Le Chat du Noir..

ThePeerOrlando

foxxy_love_sugar

What do they think of tall women there? I'm a white girl whose 5'10, and I've always wondered how people would treat or view me. sweatdrop

The same way they treat all foreigners.

They call you respectful names to your face (the worst you get is Gaijin).

Behind your back they call you a foreign whore/dog/whatever other deragatory names they can come up with.

......Like my grandmother. She's kinda.... Well, not out of it, but she's like the traditional Japanese granny... "Did you see that white woman? She is soooo big! Look at that overdone makeup- ugh! Why, my children are proper and beautiful, and look at those white people with that mud all over their faces and their awful fashion! What are those things hanging off her ears- saucers?" and etc. xd

Bullet Train Passenger #1: "Dude, look at the Gaijin, he's freaking humongous!"

BTP#2: "I wonder if he can understand us."

BPT 1: "Naw, Gaijin are too stupid to understand Japanese."

My Friend/Translator: *tells me what they just said*

Me: "..." *twitch twitch fury*

BTP1: "I wonder what a giant gaijin like that is doing here?"

BTP2: "I bet he's here to climb the skyscrapers and knock planes out of the sky"

BTP 1&2: *LOL raucously*

MFT: *Tells me what they just said*

Me: "..." *twitch rage twitch*

Me: "You two both know I'm a half-breed, not a Gaijin, right?"

Old Lady on the Train: *look of shock and horror, pulls small grandchildren away babbling about how I got that big by eating small Japanese children*

Me: *foreheadpalm*  

[RMarques]

ThePeerOrlando

Old Lady on the Train: *look of shock and horror, pulls small grandchildren away babbling about how I got that big by eating small Japanese children*

Me: *foreheadpalm*

You know, that's usually be shocking or surprising, but after reading this I'm really not surprised at all... (go to the archives, it has a lot of stuff that'll help you understand what he's talking about now).  

[ThePeerOrlando]

RMarques

ThePeerOrlando

Old Lady on the Train: *look of shock and horror, pulls small grandchildren away babbling about how I got that big by eating small Japanese children*

Me: *foreheadpalm*

You know, that's usually be shocking or surprising, but after reading this I'm really not surprised at all... (go to the archives, it has a lot of stuff that'll help you understand what he's talking about now).

Haha, I was reading Gaijin Smash back when it was till "I'm a Japanese School Teacher" on Outpost Nine.  

[RMarques]

ThePeerOrlando

RMarques

ThePeerOrlando

Old Lady on the Train: *look of shock and horror, pulls small grandchildren away babbling about how I got that big by eating small Japanese children*

Me: *foreheadpalm*

You know, that's usually be shocking or surprising, but after reading this I'm really not surprised at all... (go to the archives, it has a lot of stuff that'll help you understand what he's talking about now).

Haha, I was reading Gaijin Smash back when it was till "I'm a Japanese School Teacher" on Outpost Nine.

hehe, classic reading, and a hell of a reality check to the Japanophiles razz  

[Tsamikayu]

I still want to try being a Japanese school teacher. Just for the hell of it blaugh  

[ThePeerOrlando]

Tsamikayu

I still want to try being a Japanese school teacher. Just for the hell of it blaugh

You'll say that right up till the point where some eighth grader shoves his fingers up your a** screaming "A Thousand Years of Pain!" in Japanese.  

[RMarques]

ThePeerOrlando

Tsamikayu

I still want to try being a Japanese school teacher. Just for the hell of it blaugh

You'll say that right up till the point where some eighth grader shoves his fingers up your a** screaming "A Thousand Years of Pain!" in Japanese.

Or he gets a 12 years old popping in, yelling "breasts!" and running away at random times razz Or teenagers making questions about his sex life.