• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Why are you interested in Japan?

Status
Not open for further replies.
FluxWaveZ said:
They make entertainment products that I really enjoy and am thankful for. I don't really have an inherent interest in the culture, but because of my consumption of those entertainment products of Japanese origin, I gained a slight interest through osmosis.
Click to expand...

Good answer.

My interest in Japan is mostly limited to video games and anime. Visiting there would be interesting in terms of the culture and setting but I'm not really big on travelling. Even if I did I'd like to get a better understanding of the language before I decide to throw myself into an area where I will have difficulty communicating without that knowledge.
 
Vigilant Walrus said:
Climate seems to be friendly enough, and the animals except for hornets and things in the sea, won't kill you. Australia is a no-go. You'll die before you know it. I don't know how anyone can survive in Australia.
Click to expand...

There are dolphins there too. Don't forget about the dolphins dude.
 
TokiDoki said:
tumblr_inline_mhoeucDf7M1qz4rgp.gif


Yes , everything . From language , people , culture , entertainment , cityscape , landscape , nature , design , food etc etc . Everything .
Click to expand...

this was my answer! Two trips and I still want to go back.
 
Having just been to Japan, I have to echo most of what has been already said. It is just a great, first world country but with the history, arts, culture and lifestyle to make up what North America lacks. I have to say though, the one thing that sucks about Japan is how incessantly "polite" people are. It is clear that there are tons of extremely polite people that would put Canadians to shame, but there are also people who wear the "liar mask" and just say it to not stand out. In comparison, China seems a lot more rude on its face but in reality I think they are even more polite than the Japanese. Their actions speak louder than words.
 
I find it endearing, admire their dedication to culture preservation and love reading wacky stories from there. But sounds like a pain to live in as an outsider, so I'm interested in seeing more documentaries and reading more articles, as well as in having one night or two in Tokyo having fun and enoying their advances, but I have zero attraction to their custom and way of living. I can understand the love tho!
 
I live in Tokyo and I hate a lot about it. Probably because I'm so busy though.

Honestly though, people suck here. The "Japanese politeness" is just a facade.
 
A lot of stuff I grew up liking and continue to like are from Japan. Video games, anime, tech, etc. Y'can't blame me for being interested in the country that gave me Pokemon as a child lol.
 
My grandpa was stationed in Okinawa, I played a lot of Japanese videogames as a kid, and I watched Toonami as a kid. So all this naturally led to an interest in their culture (at least the entertainment side of things)
 
CHusson91 said:
I live in Tokyo and I hate a lot about it. Probably because I'm so busy though.

Honestly though, people suck here. The "Japanese politeness" is just a facade.
Click to expand...
That might be more Tokyo culture than Japanese culture. I find Tokyo to be a lonely place despite all the people. In my experience people in Osaka are more outgoing and truly friendly.
 
I really loved the hyper aggressive Japan of the 80's, earlyish 90's; ever on the ascent. Now as a guy who works in international business and finance, Japan has almost become an insular thinking joke. America's greatest strength is our diversity of thought and challenging careless opinions. They have very little of that.

Sony Computer Entertainment's mindset is an example of what all of Japan needs to become. They understand and have adapted to a market that's become predominantly not Japanese.
 
I just fucking love bureaucracy, like how yesterday it took me 4.5 hours speaking to about a dozen people to turn a form which gave me permission to apply for a visa into an actual submitted visa application which will lead to me receiving a postcard in 2 weeks that I need to bring back with my passport and submit again in order to wait several more days to maybe get said visa (after waiting 5 months after the initial application, all done on Japanese soil)
 
FluxWaveZ said:
They make entertainment products that I really enjoy and am thankful for. I don't really have an inherent interest in the culture, but because of my consumption of those entertainment products of Japanese origin, I gained a slight interest through osmosis.
Click to expand...
Pretty much, same reason why the US is interesting for me as well. Furthermore, I like the food. I would love to go on a sushi tour in Japan and a hamburger tour in the US.
 
Ecotic said:
I really loved the hyper aggressive Japan of the 80's, earlyish 90's; ever on the ascent. Now as a guy who works in international business and finance, Japan has almost become an insular thinking joke. America's greatest strength is our diversity of thought and challenging careless opinions. They have very little of that.
Click to expand...

And they still act arrogant about everything. I already wrote it here on GAF a lot of times but business negotiations with (at least) anime and manga publishers are the worst. Every negotiation with another country about the rights of tv-shows/movies is great. Both sides try to find a good solution that benefits both.
Japanese anime/manga publishers are just "take it or leave it" with clauses like "We can take away the rights you bought without giving you any reason and we will not compensate you."

Regarding the topic. I guess you can just like it without having a good reason. I like the scenery and some mediums from there. I dont like their politics and somehow social system. Would not wanna live there for a long time, but from a tourist perspective, its good.
 
CHusson91 said:
I live in Tokyo and I hate a lot about it. Probably because I'm so busy though.

Honestly though, people suck here. The "Japanese politeness" is just a facade.
Click to expand...

I worked there for 4 years, and remember going through the "it all sucks" phase.
no place is perfect. I also lived in Singapore, New York, London and Australia. All of them have their pluses and minuses.

But now, in retrospect, Tokyo (well, Japan) was in many ways the best and most aligned with my own particular interests. And I don't have rosy tinted glasses, I remember all the negatives quite clearly. You definitely need to absorb some Japanese "shoganai ne!" to be happy living and working in Japan.
 
They make the best console games. I like seafood, and I hear their women are into foreigners or something. I wonder how Japanese girls would react to Latinos.

Plus, it seems like an interesting place of interest.
 
My father raised me in stories of japan that kind of took hold of me. Then in 7th grade we studied Japanese history for social studies and I thought it kind of just took over. I ended up majoring in Asian studies emphasizing japan.

Admittedly the "weeaboo" types are pretty annoying though. I had one guy argue with our native speaker teacher that he wasnt saying "konnichiwa" correctly. Those people drop off pretty quick and eventually you are left with some pretty passionate cool people.
 
I'm not personally, I guess people are interested because of video game/anime.

Mt. Fuji would be interesting to see, and I'd like to sample some of their foods. Though I'd rather visit South Korea and China first, Forbidden City + Hong Kong sounds awesome.
 
It is mostly due to how much impact they have on Media,Electronics..etc. Japan and now even Korea id say are the only two places that have this.

When you look at other regions like the Middle East, South/SE Asia...etc They just lack the content. When you look at big companies like Sony,Toyota,Honda and even in media Anime is the biggest Non-Western TV media I can think of.


Its the same reason why the US is seen as a big thing to people in Asia. Media and Electronics. Its all about how you portray your countries culture and how it appeals to people.


People always have a fascination for the country of origin. Like a fan of German cars would have an obvious interest the automotive/motorsport industry. Now think of people who watch Anime or play Japanese video games driving Japanese sports cars and you have a large audience of people interested in the country.
 
I'm a quarter Japanese and always had an interest in the country. I like the way the language sounds and the way the people are. I mainly enjoy the food and language.
 
I'm only interested because their culture is in such stark contrast to the western world. Yet they feel like a more western country than say...China. If that makes sense?
 
I'm not but it's a beautiful place. I also like the culture, I grew up with those puppet Japanese science shows and those brainwashing science shows about how Japan is on the forefront of technology and everyone else still has sticks and stones.
 
I still think its absolutely incredible how they went from 0-60mph with industrialization after the Mejii Restoration. They took such a unique path to modernity.
 
Video games and that's really it. I consider myself a weeb but that's where it all comes from, I probably wouldn't have cared about anime if it wasn't for video games and video game communities being so closed tied to anime ones. I don't really have too much interest in the culture of the country itself and my tastes are way too sensitive/picky for me to enjoy most foreign cuisine (though I enjoy filthy Americanized Japanese food) . I've spent some time learning Japanese solely to play video games that weren't released outside of the country, but I don't really have any interest in doing anything else that requires use of the language.
 
For me it was just curiosity, since I knew absolutely nothing about the country.
When I wanted to know what their music was like over there, I thought that the language sounded beautiful. At that point I wanted to know more, and learn new things.
 
Their underground music culture got me interested, in a society where being so different excludes you from the mainstream, those guys and gals MEAN IT. Some of the most inspired, inventive and passionate noise/avant garde stuff knocking about in Japan for many years. I had the good fortune to meet and play with Acid Mothers Temple once and they were awesome. I learnt the language over tons of years which gave me the oppurtunity to contact, put up and help organise UK gigs for folks like Nisennenmondai, Merzbow, Boredoms and Agata from Melt-Banana as well as tons of incredible free jazz noise-o's. Been a good time.

Outside of the music though I have no special interest. Learning the language is always gonna lead into learning the culture, which I find interesting but I daresay if it wasn't for the music, I probably wouldn't have had the motivation.
 
My best friend is living there teaching English so I want to visit. I had a 20 hour layover in Narita and although I didn't get to go into the city (had to save money and tough it out), even at the airport I could tell that it would be a cool country to visit.... But not on my own or without someone who doesn't speak the language.
 
I'm not really interested in Japan, I just like the Nintendo games and anime.

In America if you're from Britain, you're British/British descent. In Japan if you're from anywhere outside of Japan you're a foreigner/outsider/gaijin. That type of xenophobic talk rubs me the wrong way.
 
The two main things that interest me the most are video games and anime. I can watch anime all the time and still play video games, no matter how old I am. Everthing else is good too, like the music, culture, history, etc. I hope I can go visit Japan some day to experience all that there is and learn everything.
 
1) because I'm a geek and it's basically a gigantic geek culture focused on the things I love (games, comics, toys, sci-fi/fantasy, school girl outfits, and/or fucking...)

2) because growing up in the 80s Japan was the bleeding edge of cool and made the coolest things

3) because they have awesome history. The samurai and ninja and shogun stories are right up there with the Old West in America, the Middle Ages in Europe, the age of myth in Greece/Rome, the time of the pharohs in Egypt as a classic story era.
 
Culture, cultural differences, architecture, art, history, historical arms (no I swear I'm not a katana folded billion times person, my favourite Japanese weapon is the yari) and armour.

And videogames of course.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Japan's half-white Minister for Economic Security says she's only interested in "2D men"
2
74
1K
Mr Reasonable replied
MilitaryGAF , why did you join?
13
328
Meicyn replied
Which country are you from?
Social  2 3
120
757
Forsete replied
  • Poll
What Generation Are You?
2
80
562
Avid Reading Horse replied
Investigative Report - Why Grocery Prices Are High
News Business 
31
386
Unknown Soldier replied
Top Bottom