TuskCracker
後輩
- 17 Jan 2004
- 531
- 14
Why Do So Many People Love Japan
- Thread starter TuskCracker
- Start date
- 21 May 2003
- 14,310
- 4,404
For me......
I fell in love with Japan for it's people. In the 2 years I was there , I made sooooo many good friends and everyone treated me like part of their family. The Japanese people seemed a lot more kind & gentle then the Mainers I grew up with.
Frank
I fell in love with Japan for it's people. In the 2 years I was there , I made sooooo many good friends and everyone treated me like part of their family. The Japanese people seemed a lot more kind & gentle then the Mainers I grew up with.
Frank
epigene
相変わらず不束者です
- 10 Nov 2004
- 4,354
- 179
To tell you the truth... I've never seen many Japan-lovers outside this forum... 
The "gaijin-san" I see walking in the streets in Tokyo look very somber and glum and don't look happy being in Japan (maybe because they're at work?)
My daughter says there are more Japan lovers in Boston than in Japan...
The "gaijin-san" I see walking in the streets in Tokyo look very somber and glum and don't look happy being in Japan (maybe because they're at work?)
My daughter says there are more Japan lovers in Boston than in Japan...
- 28 Jul 2005
- 5,238
- 172
Well, obviously I had been a Japan lover before joining up on Jref. . . I had been here for some 20 years already. To be honest, however, I had a love for Asia, and Japan offered itself as a easy stepping stone due to its seemingly (at the time) more westernized image.
But also--and it's missing in the OP (although it is insinuated, and Frank mentioned the people too)--we shouldn't forget about Japanese girls !! (of course I'm male, so I say that.... )
I love Korea and China too...not to mention Thailand, India, and a lot of other Asian countries.
But also--and it's missing in the OP (although it is insinuated, and Frank mentioned the people too)--we shouldn't forget about Japanese girls !! (of course I'm male, so I say that....
)I love Korea and China too...not to mention Thailand, India, and a lot of other Asian countries.
dreamer
後輩
- 15 Aug 2003
- 2,181
- 25
There's already been lot of similar threads in the past.
However I can't say that I love Japan since I've never been there. I think most of the people in the Forum love the side Japan exports to their country (that is what you've quoted).
I can't say for the others but what I've seen made me want to go there and have a look.
Of course everything won't be pink and beautiful, and I don't think I'll be better welcomed than in any other asian country but still, my curiousity urges me to have a look there before life forces me to settle down.
However I can't say that I love Japan since I've never been there. I think most of the people in the Forum love the side Japan exports to their country (that is what you've quoted).
I can't say for the others but what I've seen made me want to go there and have a look.
Of course everything won't be pink and beautiful, and I don't think I'll be better welcomed than in any other asian country but still, my curiousity urges me to have a look there before life forces me to settle down.
Megumi-chan
後輩
- 17 Apr 2006
- 15
- 0
japan is really great...and i would love to go there some day....it's the best country on the world for me
- 8 Mar 2005
- 2,139
- 89
Exactly.epigene said:To tell you the truth... I've never seen many Japan-lovers outside this forum...
I think people's interest in Japan is generally a small percentage of society, and of that percentage, theres a great majority of people who proclaim their love for a country they've never been to, and know little about.
You can't call Japanese film very popular because people have seen the Ring, and or Grudge, most people's experience with Japanese food is Sushi, Japanese music, and pop music in general is no more popular outside of Japan than it ever was, oh, sudoku... that's made it over here.
Tell me when you can buy Doraemon & Anpanman toys in your local Dennys and then I'll know Japan has truly arrived.
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TuskCracker
後輩
- 17 Jan 2004
- 531
- 14
- Thread starter
- #13
Its a unique culture, old and the modern. It has blended an ancient culture into a modern advanced country.
Saudia Arabia is an example of failing to bring their culture into a modern society.
Saudia Arabia is an example of failing to bring their culture into a modern society.
gaijinalways
puzzled gaijin
- 15 Jan 2006
- 681
- 21
As noted earlier, is it really that many. For the ones that live here in Japan, a lot of them enjoy living in Asia, dating Japanese girls (if they're male of course) who don't carry 'religious baggage' in their approach to sex (well sometimes other kinds of baggage, which are not up for discussion in this topic). Of course, I love Japanese electronics and their cars, been using those for years. Temples, well I like architecture and carvings, any country, but there are of course fantastic examples here as well. Finally, Japanese animation has led the way in influencing most areas of animation with many imitators.
strongvoicesforward
Sempai
- 25 Dec 2005
- 242
- 7
TuskCracker said:
I think because it has been romanticised by writers and film producers so much. A lot of people just fall in love with what they read or see on TV or in the Cinemas.
For a lot of men, it may begin with the exotic image of an Asian lady -- the traditional kimono wearing bowing lady may serve some kind of fantasy. I am not saying that is what all men who have an interest in Japan is based on -- just merely could be a gateway to Japanphile, just as Karate and an interest in Bhudism or J-pop may do.
Look at "The Last Samurai" for example. Oh -- how romanticised! Lit'l ol white Tom becoming a samurai -- going native if you will. The Japanese version of Herman Melville jumping ship to live with the natives -- but instead of drinking coconut milk, we see him turning the tea cup (did he or didn`t he?) three times to take in green tea.
Oh, and let`s not forget the Maiko that were seen in the Yokohama scene while Tom was walking on the street. Maiko are in Kyoto !
I like Japan. It is ok. I think I would like most places where the government isn`t overly repressive. However, it is no better or no worse than many places. Just a place to call home if you choose, but hopefully not seen through the prim-rose glasses of Japanphiles.
Not all, but I would say the answer to the question of this thread has a lot to do with "romanticization."
Crazy Russian
Banned forever!
- 24 Feb 2006
- 94
- 4
There is the Russian proverb: "It isn't love if you know the why".
- 1 Nov 2005
- 446
- 39
Japan has always fascinated the world. I remember that quite some Dutch people living in Indonesia before WW II went on vacation to Japan, The Kimono's from Japan were worn by many Dutch ladies while eating their breakfast, my own mother had two of them, they were absolutely beautiful. I have spend quite a bit of my pocket money on Japanese toys bought in the Japanese shops in Malang in Indonesia. My father's barber was a Japanese and so was his photo-shop. A few Japanese children went to Dutch schools but most of them to special Japanese schools.
My father who was a ship engineer by the KPM in the former Dutch East Indies, before he married my mother, has been many times to Japan. He told me that he loved all the wooden houses in Yokohama and Tokyo and that he liked the very polite Japanese people. Yes, he was talking about the years between 1921 and 1925.
I, my father's eldest daughter, visited Japan in 2000, together with a group of Dutch ex-war victims from Japan in Indonesia.
The beautiful wooden houses my father had told me about, were gone. I could only see them as a model in a museum in Tokyo. The kimono's I saw during a show were very special, but didn't have that gentle touch of my mother's kimono's.
Kyoto, the golden temple impressed me, the Japanese landscape I saw while we were traveling by bus was absolutely lovely.
The only place that stole my heart was Nagasaki, it was not only beautiful, it was also a open and friendly town and so were the people living in that very pretty town.
I saw where the Dutch seamen lived about 400 years ago on the "island" Deshima ( guess I spell it wrong), every thing was very carefully kept in place.
I don't love Japan, I like Japan, I am interested in Japan, and I have two very nice Japanese friends.
My father who was a ship engineer by the KPM in the former Dutch East Indies, before he married my mother, has been many times to Japan. He told me that he loved all the wooden houses in Yokohama and Tokyo and that he liked the very polite Japanese people. Yes, he was talking about the years between 1921 and 1925.
I, my father's eldest daughter, visited Japan in 2000, together with a group of Dutch ex-war victims from Japan in Indonesia.
The beautiful wooden houses my father had told me about, were gone. I could only see them as a model in a museum in Tokyo. The kimono's I saw during a show were very special, but didn't have that gentle touch of my mother's kimono's.
Kyoto, the golden temple impressed me, the Japanese landscape I saw while we were traveling by bus was absolutely lovely.
The only place that stole my heart was Nagasaki, it was not only beautiful, it was also a open and friendly town and so were the people living in that very pretty town.
I saw where the Dutch seamen lived about 400 years ago on the "island" Deshima ( guess I spell it wrong), every thing was very carefully kept in place.
I don't love Japan, I like Japan, I am interested in Japan, and I have two very nice Japanese friends.
TuskCracker
後輩
- 17 Jan 2004
- 531
- 14
- Thread starter
- #18
Their must be big interest. Why are their so many forums on Japan. The culture, the people, the arts, music and just living and working their.
dorikura
MADMalice
- 7 Sep 2006
- 150
- 1
I don't really know the answer...when I love one person I love the county he is from (in my case)...I know it's stupid...and I don't think that japanese people are some more special than any others I just have a feeling that they are different then I am and I want to explore them and to say one day I know japaese people very good!(i'm on a good way to say that)
But I like their tradition and their point of view!
And my man!XD
But I like their tradition and their point of view!
And my man!XD
