General Japanese Culture Thread

Well if you ever end up going to Tokyo, I can say from personal experience that you don't even need to learn a bit of Japanese to survive there. They made the city especially foreigner-friendly, especially towards English speakers, and most of the residents in Tokyo are fluent enough to give basic directions and help if needed. It is quite the expensive city, though, so I'd advise using a hostel as your residency if you'll only be there for the sake of tourism or business. The better hotels are way too expensive to be economical.

A little bit of Japanese can go so much as to help you along like asking around for a taxi lift for instance.

Although I do this a lot whenever I'm in Japan.

I know already that the reason why the Japanese practically worship swords is because they were seen as a huge status symbol in the past, but... out of curiosity, is there any similar beliefs in regards to spears?

"Please crush me with your heels Esdeath-sama!

No and this frustrates me to no end. Bokken is the mos enjoyable martial practice I've indulged in, and I can't for the life of me find a place to practice it any-more.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

The sword became a status symbol around the Tokugawa period, and the formation of the samurai as an aristocracy. Before that, bows and polearms were, indeed, seen as the key weapons of the samurai class. Polearms, though, lost some of their reputation once Naginatas Are Feminine took root. Many samurai still wielded them, but the sword became far more important.

& I see.

I was curious because I noticed a while ago that in Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors both of the protagonists (Zhao Yun and Yukimura Sanada) and the residents World's Strongest Man (Lu Bu and Tadakatsu Honda) use spears.

edited 2nd Sep '14 5:52:11 AM by SaintDeltora

"Please crush me with your heels Esdeath-sama!

Which is why when the Meiji decided to abolish the use of katanas alongside the samurai that it became Serious Business for them.

edited 2nd Sep '14 6:05:27 AM by Ominae

Sengoku Basara has sempai-kohai relationships that are so idealized they cross through disgusting and come right back to adorable. It makes you feel nostalgia for an age that never happened. Do Samurai stories have an equivalent of Battles Without Honor and Humanity?

edited 2nd Sep '14 6:06:59 AM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Clearly you have not heard of "unbirth". And no, it's not related to the "unbirthdays" from Alice In Wonderland. Do not google it. Take my word for it; in all probability it may squick you to hell and back.

@The Handle: "Bokken" is the Japanese name for the native type of wooden swords usually used for training (alongside the shinai). It's not a martial style/practice; you're looking for kendo.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Akira Kurosawa liked telling stories like that. His samurai stories were about the complexities of duty and honor, as well as how humans were ultimate flawed at living up to such ideals. Both Rashomon and Seven Samurai were like that.

Aside from him, I'm not sure. A popular theme in Japanese media, though, is "Gimu" vs "Ninjo" (Duty versus Compassion), where a samurai feels torn between following an order or duty he knows is wrong, or between two conflicting loyalties such as between a lord and a close friend.

Dealing with the ninjo/gimu conflict is one of those things considered to be the "essence" of being Japanese.

I meant Bojutsu. Slip of the tongue.

Love that shit.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

^^^Masaki Kobayashi has made at least two movies which examine the hypocritical use of concepts like honor by those in power, as well as some of the general injustices of the feudal system. They are known as Samurai Rebellion and Harakiri in the west and the latter is one of my favourite movies of all time, with Tatsuya Nakadai giving one of his very best performances. Kobayashi also made a 9-hour long trilogy called "the human condition" about the effects of the war on a Japanese pacifist (he himself was strongly against the war) and most of his movies tend to be pretty anti-authoritarian.

Kenji Mizoguchi also made a couple of movies that were fairly critical of feudal society, such as Sansho the baliff and Ugetsu, but they don't focus much on the trappings of samurai honor. True to form he was especially critical of the treatment of women, which is a major theme throughout his filmography, most of it set in (at the time) contemporary Japan.

edited 4th Sep '14 8:54:09 AM by mathias

I was doing some research for writing lately, and thought I'd share this article about interracial dating in Japan.

"Even though it seems like a majority of the interracial/intercultural relationships in Japan are between a white man and a Japanese woman, they are, in fact, between a Japanese man and a southeast Asian woman."

Makes sense.

I think there’s a global conspiracy to see who can get the most clicks on the worst lies

Indeed. Filipino women are the only reason the population in the rural areas isn't completely flatlining (since no Japanese girls want to move from the city to be a farm wife, among all the other issues with dating and marriage in Japan)

Gregor: a proto-Hikikomori?

edited 9th Sep '14 6:33:44 AM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

That might be my favorite literary analysis ever.

My comedy and Social Change class showed us a documentary on Rakugo, a Japanese type of comedy with similarities to stand up. Here are the youtube links.

part 1

part 2

and part 3

I found a very interesting article on Japanese ettiquete today. It did a lot to explain some things I'd wondered about Japanese culture—particularly, the idea of omoiyari (keeping the concerns of others in mind at all times).

The article (which is a ten-page excerpt from a larger text) can be found here.

1. Unlike many other social mores, the top priority for Japanese society are not abstract principles (like justice or freedom), but other people inhabiting their social world. Thus, they always make decisions based on what they believe others are thinking and feeling in the context of the situation. For example, when preparing a meal for guests, it's considered righteous to do research on the guests' preferences and serve what you think they'll like without directly asking them. Even if you get it wrong, this "sincere effort" takes a higher priority than being correct.
2. Japanese mores are based on what's called a "cultural common sense", which is defined as actions that are "so perfectly 'good' or 'normal' that they are not aware of or would not approve of any alternatives".
3. The author then broke this down into three concepts of their own creation: coerced conformity, willing conformity, and complacent conformity. Coerced conformity is basically "shame", where failing to act as others expect leads you to be ridiculed or judged. For example, many regular actions (such as greeting a customer) repeat a specific line word-for-word ("Please come in and let us serve you!"), which culturally signifies that the person is committed to your comfort and satisfaction (even if they are only doing so because it's expected). Willing conformity occurs when someone perceives a personal satisfaction or benefit from an action, such as feeling good for doing a good deed. Complacent conformity occurs when someone acts in a scripted or rehearsed way, while ignoring or being unaware of the intended meaning. An example of this would be "role narcissism", such as a policeman who becomes upset that a distraught victim didn't address them properly, rather than acting upon his duty to help someone in need.
4. Most people who suffer from the complacent conformity are teenagers, as they simply regurgitate things they've been told make a person "akarui" (lively and amicable) or "yasashii" (kind and gentle) while having no real knowledge of the reasons, consequences, or wider ramifications of their actions.
5. This system is incredibly easy for other people to sabotage; for example, the author gave an example of a bullied kid that learned martial arts to defend himself from his bullies. The bullies then turned the situation against him by publically complaining about how unfair it was that an "expert" was using his skills against "novices". Even if the crowd knew that the bullies were lying, their adherence to omoiyari meant they had to consider the bullies' complaints as a real concern to be addressed.
6. Omoiyari is related to honne and tatemae (inner self versus public self). Japanese citizens conform to tatemae with the unwritten contractual assumption that there will be a context where their honne will be concealed and allowed. If that becomes impossible, then a person can manipulate omoiyari to justify letting their honne become public. Since omoiyari implies that one feel empathy for a "sincere heart", a person showing honne with no other alternative is justified.

edited 12th Sep '14 8:56:03 AM by KingZeal

I think you accidentally something in the last sentence.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Fixed.

I don't know if this is the right thread to ask, but is it polite to ask for signatures from circle staffs when buying merchandises in fan conventions (such as comiket)?

edited 13th Sep '14 4:56:31 AM by murazrai

I can't say 100%, but Japanese culture seems to be pretty cool about autographs. "Sign Kudasai" is a pretty innocuous request to make of someone famous.

I think there are official signing events for popular manga authors/artists, or even those who are starting to become popular. Inui Takemaru of Daily Life with Monster Girl has had at least one such signing event, which he described in an after-chapter segment of the aforementioned manga... and he expressed that he felt both surprised elation and nervousness when one of the fans who asked for his autograph was a foreigner (not sure of the nationality, but it was certainly something he wasn't expecting at all).

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Although security was stepped up a bit due to some nut attacking some of the AKB 0048 performers at a convention. So I'm sure they'll do the same.