General Japanese Culture Thread

It's definitely an issue with shades of Stop Being Stereotypical. And while it's not the same as saying the stereotypes themselves are necessarily true, most stereotypes are spun out of something that is true or observed to be true.

edited 9th May '18 1:22:01 PM by AlleyOop

Or from my perspective, is a misunderstood exaggeratation of an actual fact.

Case in point, it's not that East Asian immigrants are inherently well-educated or wealthier, but that up until the last two decades the only ones with enough resources to immigrate in the first place were the wealthier and better educated.

That’s a good explanation guys

Tbh, I feel more sympathetic now for my parents who did try to push me but wanted to balance it if clumsily

I wish I did better for them

I can attest to that. My own parents were relatively well-off and high performers in good schools even before earning scholarships in the USA. And even then the money was a bit tight.

edited 9th May '18 8:24:40 PM by M84

Well decided to apply for some embassies as local staff officers in Manila since my internship is almost ending with a 50:50 chance of being in an NGO or not.

I did apply among them, the Japanese Embassy. Website ad mentions that they prefer to hire someone who can speak Japanese with no level (eg N4/3 level) disclosed.

Got my requirements in on the 8th and it’s almost a week by next Tuesday. I’m expecting them that they’ll have a different work culture, so I’m not sure if I have to do a callback for an update...

Good luck.

About the stereotypes, I know how weird it can get personally, for example, Alberto Fujimori, a peruvian president had his campaign based on being asian and thus smarter and better (he also had the whole classical "man of the people" too, but his race was also a factor).

Yeah. People in Latin America voted for a Asian man because he was Asian.

Let that sink.

Good luck

edited 19th May '18 1:34:44 PM by KazuyaProta

I wish I had a scholarship but it is too late now.

Well anyway. I did my research on being hired on a Japanese work environment. I'm torn on whether to call someone at the embassy next week or leave it to fate that someone with better Japanese speaking skills will be hired and look for another job.

I'd say put the call in. You can still leave it to Fate if that's how you're inclined, but you might as well give Fate the ability to also potentially hire you.

I'll try to think about it carefully. It's the second week already here (GMT +8 time), so I'm deciding on how I should inquire about it without being pushy. I read from someone who worked in a Japanese diplomatic facility that sometimes, native Japanese can take it the wrong way (depending on discretion) and your application can be in the reject bin.

Well, took a leap of faith and called it in. Spoke to a native Japanese (whose English is okay...) and mentioned that my application (resume + cover letter attached) is submitted. He said that if I'm needed for an interview/other purpose like submitting more documents (I mentioned that I have N5 qualification under JLPT), they'll email me or call me from the mobile.

He thought that I was calling for a visa application and I had to correct him. Almost tempted to break into Japanese.

Other than the marriage of Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi and Mitsuko Aoyama, were there other cases of Japanese women marrying foreign nobility during the 19th Century?

edited 30th May '18 10:12:14 AM by HallowHawk

I'm doing some amateur research on what Japanese naming traditions were like prior to the Meiji Restoration^note Because the government that was ushered by this event imposed a strict "family name—given name" structure on everyone that wasn't a member of the Imperial Family. Part of what's driving me is to hopefully shed some light on the naming choices behind the few cases of Overly Long Name in Japanese media that concern characters of obviously Japanese origin and likely aristocratic/upper-class background, such as Marechiyo Omaeda and Hattori Gyoubushoujo Hanzou.

If anyone has any useful information to provide on the topic, or a link to a (hopefully free) resource on the matter, I'd be grateful.

It gets even more confusing because a lot of those famous figures changed their name a lot.

For what it's worth, I can't think of any real-life examples off the top of my head, aside from Jugemu Jugemu Gokō-no Surikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kūnerutokoro-ni Sumutokoro Yaburakōji-no Burakōji Paipopaipo Paipo-no-Shūringan Shūringan-no Gūrindai Gūrindai-no Ponpokopī-no Ponpokonā-no Chōkyūmei-no Chōsuke, and he doesn't count.

The way you worded it made it sound like Jugemu is a real person after all

Well, there's Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was...

1. born Matsudaira Takechiyo.
2. adopted the name Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu at his genpuku ceremony. "Jirōsaburō" apparently means "third son of the second son", while the "nobu" in "Motonobu" appears to be in honor of his great-grandfather Nobutada.
3. changed his name one year later to Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu upon his first marriage. From what I gathered, "Kurandonosuke" is a title of office, while "Motoyasu" is simply "Motonobu" with the second half swapped out for "yasu", probably after his grandfather Kiyoyasu.
4. eventually got permission from the Imperial Court to change his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu, which incidentally is an implicit claim to descent from the Minamoto clan.
5. was posthumously deified with the name Tōshō Daigongen.

Yeah, I know. But usually the name changes had a comprehensible reason behind them, as illustrated in Tokugawa Ieyasu's example that I provided.

edited 31st May '18 9:06:46 AM by MarqFJA

The headmaster of my martial arts school is named Seki Hugh Fujiwara no Humitake (Hugh he picked up from Canada, I believe). His teacher was Kunii Zenya Minamoto no Michiyuki.

The Kunii family is descended from the Seiwa Genji, thus Minamoto. Seki is descended from the Fujiwara clan. These are their full names, but on any government papers they are called Kunii Zenya and Seki Humitake respectively.

To add a bit more complexity, the creator of the school was Matsumoto Bizen-no-kami Masanobu, where the middle is a court title.

Sometimes a leader of a clan might also give a loyal retainer the right to use their surname. For example, Miyamoto Musashi's father Miyamoto Muninosuke, served the Shinmen clan. Due to his service he was given the right to call himself Shinmen Munisai.

Combining all of the above, we get names like the full name and title of Musashi; Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara no Harunobu.

edited 31st May '18 10:17:07 AM by TerminusEst

My favorite parody of this is the translation for Ace Attorney Spirit Of Justice with Inga Karkhuul Khurain actually having a a full name of "Inga Karkhuul Haw'kohd Dis'nahm Bi'ahni Lawga Ormo Pohmpus Da'nit Ar'edi Iz Khura'in III".

I.E "How could this name be be any longer or more pompous than it already is" XD!

edited 31st May '18 9:39:52 PM by Demongodofchaos2

Nevermind. Asked not to share the picture of the actual Tonbogiri, wielded by Honda Tadakatsu.

Edited by TerminusEst on Jul 1st 2018 at 9:49:29 AM

X-posting from the history thread: New theory: Hideyoshi twice invaded Korea to expel Europeans

That is a very interesting theory. It makes sense too, considering the way Europeans conducted business in those days.

Interesting, but if this picks up steam I hope it doesn't embolden certain left-wing types to whitewash Japan's treatment of Korea under the message that they were doing what they had to in order to combat European imperialism (because imperialism is fine when it's other people, apparently). I've seen too many defenses of 20th century Imperial Japan and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere's actions using those same arguments to not get cynical.

Edited by AlleyOop on Jul 14th 2018 at 2:44:59 PM

Let’s just assume it’s going too

Would it mean the theory itself is implicitly endorsing the Japanese invasions or is it another explanation as for why Hideyoshi chose to invade Korea