Being called a weeaboo

[kadajkitten]

I find it very offensive when people called me a weeaboo or other 'anime freak' names just because people think I'm trying to 'become japanese'. True enough I love the culture, maybe because I've been surrounded by asian culture my whole life as I was adopted by a thai family, and I do love anime, but is this really considered wrong? To learn the Japanese language, and to live an 'asian lifestyle'? I mean when I moved in with my fiance he found it a bit strange that I expected to eat rice with everything.

 

[nice gaijin]

sounds like a weaboo.

 

[kadajkitten]

How entirely appropriate.

 

[nice gaijin]

welcome to the internet. Not even the Japanese eat rice with everything.

 

[kadajkitten]

Yes well I thought adults could act a little more mature. My family is asian and they eat rice with everything so I picked up the habit is that so bad?

 

[nice gaijin]

Yes, it is terrible. You will forever be judged by strangers for it. You shouldn't let it bother you so much.

 

[Mike Cash]

If you're that thin-skinned about people commenting on what they consider unusual about you then you're going to find Japan annoying and Eikaiwa intolerable.

 

[Nuala]

Yes well I thought adults could act a little more mature. My family is asian and they eat rice with everything so I picked up the habit is that so bad?

You're being oversensitive, kadajkitten. And yes, you're a total weaboo. Sorry. Oh, I eat rice with everything, om nom nom nom. TOO MANY CARBOHYDRATES IN YO DIET!

 

[Half-n-Half]

If Thor, of all people, is calling you oversensitive then it is safe to say you are oversensitive.

 

[ariso07]

Yes and No

Lets look at the definition of a weeaboo, courtesy of Urban Dictionary:

Someone who is obsessed with Japan/Japanese Culture/Anime, etc. and attempts to act as if they were Japanese, even though they're far from it. They use Japanese words but usually end up pronouncing them wrong and sounding like total assholes. You can find alot of these faggots clogging up the forums of Gaia Online, hanging out in the international aisle of the supermarket, or crowding the manga section of your local bookstore.


So, you have admitted to at least two of these points. You "want to be Japanese" and you "are obsessed with Japanese culture." The thing that has always defined a weeaboo to me is whether or not they actually know about Japan. If they are someone who has been there, speaks the language (at least at a basic conversational level), and follows the news and popular trends (NOT anime and manga) then they have left weeaboo-dom and moved on to being a normal functioning adult with an interest in Japan.

The fact that you are adopted by a Thai couple is completely irrelevant. The two cultures are nothing alike and its not like this makes you less of a weeaboo just because you are kind of Asian. You still like something that you don't completely understand.

 

[FrustratedDave]

What the... Rice with everything...

 

[Mike Cash]

Isn't that what Japanese culture is all about? Poorly animated goofy kids' cartoons and eating rice with everything?

 

[KirinMan]

I mean when I moved in with my fiance he found it a bit strange that I expected to eat rice with everything.

Wow this is truly hardcore. If you start feeding it to your future husband all the time he might end up looking like this.

 

[Nuala]

If Thor, of all people, is calling you oversensitive then it is safe to say you are oversensitive.

Silly, I'm not oversensitive, I'm emotionally unbalanced/half insane! But it's troo, they are oversensitive..!

 

[John Tippin]

Maybe you should try diversifying your rice styles

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

It can be annoying when you're called a Weaboo when you honestly don't match the criteria. I am interested in the Japanese culture and have made an active attempt to take Japanese lessons to learn the language. I don't act like a typical weaboo would, and weaboos actually really annoy me. I once went to a Comic convention (to meet Warwick Davis, mostly) and was irritated by the number of weaboos
there screaming, "OMG your costume is so kawaii!!! You're so sugoi!" Makes me think, "Either speak Japanese or speak English. Don't do both!!!"
I wouldn't say I'm obsessed. I'm interested. I don't know enough to be considered an expert, but I am not ignorant enough to be considered a Weaboo. I know there's more to Japan than Harajuku, Gothic Lolita, and Yaoi.
Back on topic, no, it's not wrong to want to learn the language, but to want to live an Asian lifestyle if you don't live in Asia and aren't, in fact, asian, will always be considered weird. If you want to live a japanese lifestyle, move to Japan. Trying to inflict a japanese lifestyle on others just because you think it's cool is the act of a Weaboo.
And eating rice with everything? That is a little weird. Maybe not EVERYTHING. Have you tried noodles?
Sorry to ramble, but I think it's ok to be interested in the culture without actively trying to become one of them. I think the most weaboo thing I have ever done is attempt to decorate a room in my house in the traditional Japanese style, but it is not because I want to live Japanese. It's simply because I love the look of it. It's nothing to do with the fact it's Japanese. If the style was considered French, I'd do it, simply because I think it looks pretty.
Liking the culture is ok. Trying to live it is Weaboo.

 

[Froth]

It has a bit of a negative connotation since people use it as an insult, but I think that will wear off. Eventually it'll just come to mean otaku or Japanophile which are pretty neutral terms. It's still a relatively new term that's why I think it's so popular. Hell, there are websites named TheWeeaboo which don't seem too bad. If we get more people just saying, yeah I'm a weeaboo, what of it? Then people are likely not to use that particular insult as much because you've embraced the term. They'll have to think of something new to use.

That's my take on it anyways...

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

You're right, but there needs to be a differentiation between Weaboo and enthusiast. Some people are interested in all aspects of the culture; the history, current events, cooking, classical music as well as modern, and so on. Weaboos just like the 'Kawaii' culture, in my experience.

 

[Half-n-Half]

If we get more people just saying, yeah I'm a weeaboo, what of it? Then people are likely not to use that particular insult as much because you've embraced the term. They'll have to think of something new to use.

So you'll go from being called one insult that becomes obsolete to another, more hip insult with the same connotation as the old. Meaning there's no difference. The problem isn't necessarily in the word but of people's perception of "weeaboo's".

 

[Froth]

So you'll go from being called one insult that becomes obsolete to another, more hip insult with the same connotation as the old.

Truthfully, I don't care what anyone calls me or thinks of my interests. I moved beyond caring what other people think of me (life becomes more enjoyable that way), I was just trying to explain to the people who do care.

The problem isn't necessarily in the word but of people's perception of "weeaboo's".

Well, that's debatable. 10-15 years ago, "weeaboos" and "otakus" didn't exist (at least not in the form they do now). It could be that the entire fascination with certain "kawaii" aspects of Japanese culture is a fad. If this is the case, it will die. Along with people's perception. If this is going to happen, making the term Weeaboo obsolete would expedite that process.

If it's a lasting thing, then the term 'weeaboo' will likely become obsolete and replaced with another down the road regardless of what anyone does anyways. Though, I highly doubt it will last so I'm hedging my bet on the former scenario.

 

[cacophony]

Is it considered wrong? Well, is anybody getting killed from you studying a new language? No.
Embrace it I'm sure I qualify as a weeaboo. I can't say I've ever been called that though.

 

[Bob LeKatt]

my fiance .

It is going to be hard to pursue your interest in things Japanese if your husband does not share the interest.

 

[Chidoriashi]

Would you prefer to be called just a plain old geek instead? There is always going to be a name for something or someone that one group of people see as different from themselves or the norm or especially when that different group is a minority. It seems to me you need to stop caring about what these relatively meaningless people in the scheme of your life think of you.

 

[Mike Cash]

Elvis left the building quite a while back, guys.

 

[Chidoriashi]

Yeah, I noticed that after I posted. My statement still stands though, forget about people who mean nothing in the long run...but it is easier to feel this way once you are past all the crap of your youth.