Is it true Japanese men find discomfort in expressing emotions through words?

[maushan3]

Isn't it same for every male on this planet? Not Japanese men only.

Yes, it is the whole male species who will be frowned upon if they cry, we will be looked strangely if we express our emotions freely. Our way to express emption is usually by anger. I was taught this on psychology class.

Mauricio

 

[undrentide]

If you really want to make your novel realistic and want to understand the mentality or behaviour of the Japanese men in 1940s, why don't you read Japanese literature? I'm sure many books written by Japanese writers in English.

Yasunari Kawabata - Wikipedia
Yukio Mishima - Wikipedia
Shūsaku Endō - Wikipedia
These are just for example.

Natsume Sōseki - Wikipedia
Mori Ōgai - Wikipedia
Ichiyō Higuchi - Wikipedia

They are a bit older than the 1940s but still the characters in their books show Japanese men and their mentality/personality/behaviour. Maybe Natsume Soseki is the most "approachable" and interesting (IMO).

 

[gwendy85]

Thanks for the replies
Sorry for the 'cruel' thing, but that was a quote from a website online. I dunno if the webmaster was burned or something, but she was a fanfiction writer. Somewhere in fanfiction.net and I can't remember her pen name, just that she wrote a lot of fanfic on DBZ's Vegeta and Bulma. Guess you can't trust too many people online.
BTW, I didn't intend to be cruel. I'm born of Japanese lineage myself.
But then, there's also someone (you know who you are) who told me that Southern Kyushu men tend to be very chauvanistic, treating women politely in public but...er...not so politely at home. ☝ Nothing against Kyushu men, okay? I know, I don't know enough, which is why I'm asking.
Thanks for the replies

 

[yoshirotokagewaki]

depends on the person. And this is not only for the Japanese though. I agree that westerners are more passionate, and i grew up in an Asian country. Even if you look at Korean movies, you'll see the guys are a little bit colder as opposed to westerners where they can express their emotions simply by kissing and that sort of thing. But believe me, the more one holds back from saying "i love you" the more the real feeling builds up... And sometimes words just don't matter

as for the "i love you" thing, japanese are more comfortable saying "daisuki desu" than "aishiteru". It's like "i like you" rather than "i love you". And yes, it's just like the Mainland Chinese belief sometimes. "You can not really love someone you don't really know". So aishiteru really does take a lot of time to be said.

 

[macadamia_cocoa]

In my experience... yes, yes, absolutely yes. It's really confusing to me, I guess, because of my background. I mean, guys in Japan can be REALLY emotional - more emotional than guys in my culture. Still, they don't express their emotions verbally like guys in my culture do. It's like they're not supposed to.

I also remember a book saying the difference between American and Japanese comics: an American comic is packed with words, while Japanese comics are packed with pictures expressing emotions.

So it's natural for them to be as emotional as women, but they can't talk about it. That's the sense I got, anyway.

 

[Henna Gaijin]

So what I read out of this is Japanese generally don't hold hands or kiss in public, but you'll find married men openly soliciting prostitutes and reading hentai in public?

That seems a bit inconsistent to me. If I'm in the wrong, please let me know.

 

[Gentleman10]

I find your comments interesting, and Im not writing a reply to spite you...
You are lucky to find your Korean boyfriend, who sounds like a nice guy compared to the Japanese who burned you.
In my experience, Korean men too aren't all that much better than how you claim Japanese men to be.

lol, whenever I hear Asians arguing with other Asians about Asia, I take their opinions woth a grain of salt..... Jesus people, friggin' get along.

 

[Mrjones]

I have been wondering, is it just me, but I find the whole definition of psychology lack in proof.
How can you just say you know individual ? or there are habits and cultures, but I personally think this psychology thing is a lot about non sense. (I know there is a lot of theories, but I see non here anyways, start with darwin etc...)

I dont know you, you dont know me...fine