Shattered Expectations?

[PopCulturePooka]

Those of you who have been to Japan, what were some of the stereotypes, thoughts, beliefs and ideas you had about Japan that turned out to be wrong?

Eg:

• The manga/anime thing. A lot of media in the west, especially targetted at comic fans, tries too tell us taht Manga and Anime is a hugely accepted thing in Japan, loved and cherished by all and sundry. I found this to be simply untrue. Sure it is better recieved than comics are in the west. But it not hugely accepted by the genereal population. Guys too much into manga/anime are still considered very weird. Most anime seems very childish or direct to video. A salary man reading a manga with half undressed girls throughout will be avoided on the train. And I still find myself having too cover the fact that I read comics to many girls/people as it still gives me 'negative brownie poits' in terms of their impressions of me.
  
• Otaku. Anime geeks and nerds in the west wear the term Otaku like a badge of pride. Stupid shirts and accessories displaying that they are otaku. Otaku-con? 'I'm not a geek, I'm otaku. Otaku is cool in Japan'.
  One of the first lessons I learned coming here, and same for my 'otaku' room-mate, was that in Japan otakus are by and large regarded WORSE than the usual fanboy/geek/nerd is in the west. In recent years in the west its become ok to jokingly admit to being a 'geek'. Not so in japan. Otaku as an adjective holds a very negative conotation. ESPECIALLY if you're trying to impress girls. Seems the average fashion concious young japanese girl will run a mile if she catches a whif of 'otaku' on you.
  
• Japanese girls. I admit to having this mental image of Japanese girls being these shy demure little things. Submissive, meek, virginal.
  Boy was I wrong. Japanese girls are some of the biggest party animals I have ever met, and can go toe to toe, drink for drink with any western girl in the party stakes. And while they can be as cute, loving, fun etc etc etc as any western girl they can also be as petty, image obsessed and bitchy as any western girl when they want to be.
  
• Sex. I always pictured Japan as being somewhat sexually repressed. Not a whole lot of sexing being done and all that. I had this belief that japanese had very conservative views regarding sex. The hentai manga thing I thought was an 'artisitic (heh)' extension of this repression.
  Again wrong. The amount of sex people my age or slightly younger/older have in this country shocked me. Casual sex is a norm here, sex friends are ok to have, the booty call seems common practice (I know an otherwise very normal, straight seeming Japanese OL who is 26, but when she gets bored she ask me to visit, no emotions, no comittment). I've seen and encountered a lot more cheating on boyfriends and girlfriends here than I ever did back home. And its not jsut 'clubber' type people. I was shocked when I found out that all it took to get into the pants of a very sweet, cute, intelligent and innocent seeming girl I know was to invite her over to watch DVD's.
  

 

[TwistedMac]

• Sex. I always pictured Japan as being somewhat sexually repressed. Not a whole lot of sexing being done and all that. I had this belief that japanese had very conservative views regarding sex. The hentai manga thing I thought was an 'artisitic (heh)' extension of this repression.
  Again wrong. The amount of sex people my age or slightly younger/older have in this country shocked me. Casual sex is a norm here, sex friends are ok to have, the booty call seems common practice (I know an otherwise very normal, straight seeming Japanese OL who is 26, but when she gets bored she ask me to visit, no emotions, no comittment). I've seen and encountered a lot more cheating on boyfriends and girlfriends here than I ever did back home. And its not jsut 'clubber' type people. I was shocked when I found out that all it took to get into the pants of a very sweet, cute, intelligent and innocent seeming girl I know was to invite her over to watch DVD's.
  

you make it sound bad?

just don't forget to mention that this DVD thing only applies if you are not the hunchback of notre dame (or just not purdy) as I would expect japanese girls to have as much taste as western..

 

[PopCulturePooka]

you make it sound bad?

just don't forget to mention that this DVD thing only applies if you are not the hunchback of notre dame (or just not purdy) as I would expect japanese girls to have as much taste as western..

Hey I sure as hell ain't complaining. Theres worse things in life to be than a cabana boy for a sexy older women.

I'm just saying that it was a much different affair to what I expected.

 

[Anyuni_Nakashima]

I plan on going back to the home country this coming up spring 2005. I haven't been to visit, since i was a lil girl. My dad put me Japanese classes so I would learn more Japanese.

I am also surprised about sex not being a taboo there...
I was also surprised to hear about the trend of plastic surgery and the lack of dental appearance

I'm also a lil nervous about how I will be treated. I'm half japanese, but I look more chinese/khmer like my mom...I heard westerners get treated better. :haihai:

 

[PopCulturePooka]

I am also surprised about sex not being a taboo there...
I was also surprised to hear about the trend of plastic surgery and the lack of dental appearance

Yeah, i actually heard for the first time in my life the line
'Its just sex, I do it for fun, like reading or watching movies'
In Japan, not Australia.

hehehe

YAYYYYYYYYYYY!

 

[Hero]

I am also surprised about sex not being a taboo there...
I was also surprised to hear about the trend of plastic surgery and the lack of dental appearance

I'm also a lil nervous about how I will be treated. I'm half japanese, but I look more chinese/khmer like my mom...I heard westerners get treated better. :haihai:

The sex taboo is very false. I've heard stories from one of my old bosses telling me how some of his friends have been to Japan and it was easy to get one-night-stand. During my visit there I clearly saw how this is possible but I don't regret not taking part in it, lol.

Plastice surgury is rampit there. The JP girls want to look more "western" and have bigger boobs (my girl calls this "American boobs", and also anything considered large in Japan is called "American size")

The lack of dental appearance: Messed up teeth are considered cool there.

Half JP acceptance: I read that traditional Japanese don't like Japanese to hook-up/marry non-Japanese, therefore the sorta "shun" of half Japanese offspring.

I'm pretty sure the younger generations don't really care. Just the old ladies and such.

 

[MeAndroo]

Plastice surgury is rampit there. The JP girls want to look more "western" and have bigger boobs (my girl calls this "American boobs", and also anything considered large in Japan is called "American size")

Not just breasts, but facial surgery is common as well. Ayu brought to the forefront the cheekbone surgery that has become quite popular. Eyelid surgery is common as well, since a lot of Asians in general are told by the media that folding eyelids are better/more attractive.

salary man reading a manga with half undressed girls throughout will be avoided on the train. And I still find myself having too cover the fact that I read comics to many girls/people as it still gives me 'negative brownie poits' in terms of their impressions of me.

I never once got the impression that the ecchi-manga man was being avoided on the trains. In fact, it struck me how much people DIDN'T seem to care. Then again, I was always on trains during morning rush hour or last call at night...it could have just been crowded.

Otaku as an adjective holds a very negative conotation. ESPECIALLY if you're trying to impress girls.

That's definitely true, and was somewhat of a surprise...though lots of the Japanese people I spoke to actually seemed to think it was the norm for white kids coming to Japan to be a bit...odd.

I always pictured Japan as being somewhat sexually repressed. Not a whole lot of sexing being done and all that.

I kind of agree with you on this one. The first time you see Condommania stores is kind of shocking. But Japan in general has the tendency to say one thing publicly and do something else in private. One step into Kabuki -cho sold me on the pure pervertedness that an awkwardly rigid upbringing can cause.

The thing that surprised me the most, though it wasn't really a pre-Japan concept, was how Japanese people just don't seem to get hot/sweat. I'd be roaming Tokyo on 35C days with humidity in the high 90s, and people are wearing SWEATSHIRTS or two-three layers. Absolutely baffling.

I'm also a lil nervous about how I will be treated. I'm half japanese, but I look more chinese/khmer like my mom...I heard westerners get treated better.

It depends on what you mean by better. Eventually you get tired of being stared at and asked for English lessons. I'm asian as well, but used to go out of my way to distinguish myself as a foreigner...must be that American individualism. Talking on my phone on the train (no no) in English, bobbing my head to my music, getting publicly drunk at 4 pm, these things aren't common behavior. Westerners are treated far more leniently than Japanese in a myriad of ways. Breaking rules is easier, getting dances in clubs, especially in Roppongi is ridiculously simple. But there are still certain areas that serve Japanese only, places where your service will suffer, and people who won't accept you or be nice to you just because you're different. It's happened to me on multiple occassions. Basically, the longer I was there, the more tired I got of the gaijin treatment, and just wanted to be accepted as a person, rather than a novelty.

 

[PopCulturePooka]

Not just breasts, but facial surgery is common as well. Ayu brought to the forefront the cheekbone surgery that has become quite popular. Eyelid surgery is common as well, since a lot of Asians in general are told by the media that folding eyelids are better/more attractive.

Does that explain why the Shibuya Special type girls commonly sport eye patches?

The thing that surprised me the most, though it wasn't really a pre-Japan concept, was how Japanese people just don't seem to get hot/sweat. I'd be roaming Tokyo on 35C days with humidity in the high 90s, and people are wearing SWEATSHIRTS or two-three layers. Absolutely baffling.

Actually the heat itself is one thing that shocked me. I never ever knew that Tokyo in Summer is hotter than Brisbane Australia in Summer. Unpleasant shock.

It depends on what you mean by better. Eventually you get tired of being stared at and asked for English lessons. I'm asian as well, but used to go out of my way to distinguish myself as a foreigner...must be that American individualism. Talking on my phone on the train (no no) in English, bobbing my head to my music, getting publicly drunk at 4 pm, these things aren't common behavior. Westerners are treated far more leniently than Japanese in a myriad of ways. Breaking rules is easier, getting dances in clubs, especially in Roppongi is ridiculously simple. But there are still certain areas that serve Japanese only, places where your service will suffer, and people who won't accept you or be nice to you just because you're different. It's happened to me on multiple occassions. Basically, the longer I was there, the more tired I got of the gaijin treatment, and just wanted to be accepted as a person, rather than a novelty.

Word up!

 

[chikazukiyasui]

This staring at thing: I never felt I was stared at much when I was in Japan. Maybe you have to be pretty to be stared at. Still, I made efforts to be less conspicuous, such as buying a floppy-brimmed hat.

 

[senseiman]

I came to Japan without any preconceptions about what it would be like, so I didn't really have any expectations to be shattered. I was a little surprised/ dissapointed by the lack of traditional architecture and preponderance of concrete everywhere I went, but that was about it.

 

[chikazukiyasui]

The first time I went to Japan, I read "Hokkaido Highway Blues" by Will Ferguson on the plane going over. When I arrived, I found the place exactly as the book had led me to expect.

I heartily recommend the book, by the way. It is very funny, even though (or perhaps because) the dude who wrote it is clearly a miserable sod, and unfair in his judgements.

 

[TwistedMac]

The first time I went to Japan, I read "Hokkaido Highway Blues" by Will Ferguson on the plane going over. When I arrived, I found the place exactly as the book had led me to expect.

I heartily recommend the book, by the way. It is very funny.

I'll take your word for that and order the book.. now if it's cr*p i'll hold you personaly responsible

 

[chikazukiyasui]

I just edited, Twisted, because I thought I should point out that he's not always fair about the people and places he writes about.

There's an interesting thing he says in a serious moment near the end of the book, if you don't mind a spoiler: "Before I came to Japan, I had tremendous respect for the Japanese, but I didn't really like them very much. Now, after five years in this aggravating, eccentric nation... I found I did not respect the Japanese as much as I used to, but I liked them a whole lot more."

Kinda made sense to me. Still does, even though I've never found Japan as aggravating as he seems to.

 

[misa.j]

I plan on going back to the home country this coming up spring 2005. I haven't been to visit, since i was a lil girl. My dad put me Japanese classes so I would learn more Japanese.
I'm also a lil nervous about how I will be treated. I'm half japanese, but I look more chinese/khmer like my mom...I heard westerners get treated better. :haihai:

I really hope you have a good time, Anyuni.

Honestly, I can't really tell if someone is a Chinese or a Japanese, I think the feature between those two is very similar. Many asian people have asked me if I was a Chinese or a Korean.
I understand your concerns, though.

 

[Hero]

I really hope you have a good time, Anyuni.

Honestly, I can't really tell if someone is a Chinese or a Japanese, I think the feature between those two is very similar. Many asian people have asked me if I was a Chinese or a Korean.
I understand your concerns, though.

The Japanese can tell... rofl

 

[kirei_na_me]

The only way I can tell is usually by clothing. By physical features, it's almost impossible.

 

[chikazukiyasui]

The only way I can tell is usually by clothing. By physical features, it's almost impossible.

How many people here have taken the test at AllLookSame ? Some interesting articles at that site, too.

 

[Sy-l]

lol just took the test and i "can't tell the difference"

 

[misa.j]

Damn! I got only 9 right out of 18!

See, I am a Japanese, but I am not that good.

 

[Anyuni_Nakashima]

I did worse!!! I only got half of them right and I'm asian. Maybe, my friends are right we do all look the same...hahahaha :?

 

[chikazukiyasui]

Normally, though, when people say "All Asians look the same", they don't mean you can't tell Japanese from Koreans; they mean you can't tell one Japanese from another or one Korean from another. So, they've kind of twisted the meaning there. It's still kinda interesting, though.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I Even....

had a hard time telling male from female!! In the 70's when I was there, they called feminine guys: sisterboys;now they call them rockstars!

Frank

 

[cicatriz esp]

I got 14/18 on the test. My gf, who is japanese and claims she can "tell", got 10/18. So much for that theory.

As far as the topic goes, i think the sexual misconception is very prevalent. I wouldn't even persue a Tokyo girl for a serious relationship anymore. We'll get a few dates into the relationship, it'll get to the "how many people have you slept with" topic, and i'm sick of hearing a number like 38546.

 

[Mike Cash]

This staring at thing: I never felt I was stared at much when I was in Japan. Maybe you have to be pretty to be stared at. Still, I made efforts to be less conspicuous, such as buying a floppy-brimmed hat.

You're a generation too late to have encountered the "staring at thing" in all it's full-blown glory. It used to be maddeningly rampant. Right about the time the JET program achieved full saturation it went into a steep decline and has pretty much totally disappeared by now, especially in urban areas.

had a hard time telling male from female!! In the 70's when I was there, they called feminine guys: sisterboys;now they call them rockstars!

Frank

Things haven't changed in that regard, Frank. I am a dedicated people-watcher and there are many many many times when I absolutely can not tell with any degree of certainty whether the person I am observing is male or female. I can't tell you how many times I have seen couples walking down the street holding hands and initially thought them to be a lesbian couple, or to find myself marvelling at the fact that the male half of the couple was much more feminine in appearance than the female half.

 

[Glenn]

How many people here have taken the test at AllLookSame ? Some interesting articles at that site, too.

LOL. I got an 8. I'm bad.