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What Generalizations do the Japanese Have On Americans ?

You Seem Like The Type......

Warlock said:
maybe we should raid their homes like how the US occupation forces raid homes of iraqis...................do watcha like...


that is willing to strap a bomb on and blow people up? So secure in your knowledge about the world. I would like to meet your history teacher and see what he thinks of your learning ability concerning people & world affairs.

Frank

:mad: :box: 😲
 
lexico said:
Just before my boarding a plane for the US, a relative of mine told me something scary; that US police offiicers would shoot if I moved just a little when stopped for a minor traffic violation. Hence I was told to sit straight without the slightest move unless I was ready to die for nothing.

You're not alone. I used to do a lot of business the US and on my first trip a colleague told me that if I got pulled over while driving I should never reach for the glovebox to get my license because the police officer may think I'm going for a gun. I should always ask his permission first or allow him to search for it himself. Now of course this is probably total BS but it's funny how these things hang in the back of your mind.

I can't speak as a Japanese person myself, but I can recall one anecdote. A few years ago I was offered the possibility of a job in the U.S. (Texas to be exact) and I seriously considered it. However my fiancee (Japanese) was adamant that she couldn't move the America because she was absolutely convinced that everyone carries guns and she was terrified about safety. It took me a long time to convince her that this was just the way she'd been brought up to think and that the truth is somewhat different. She's a well educated, intelligent woman (if she was a complete ignoramus I doubt we'd be getting married) but it shows how the effect of one's upbringing and influences can really fix an idea in your mind. Interestingly she was quite happy about the idea of moving to London (I'm English) should we ever decide to do so, when in fact the violent crime rate in certain parts of London is as bad as any developed country in the world.

From a personal point of view, having made over 30 trips to America in the last 15 years, I have found the American people to be among the kindest, warm-hearted, generous individuals I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Not everything about America is perfect, but the average American gets a lot of bad press and it's not always deserved.
 
That was a very nice post, Silverpoint.

Thank you for the open-mindedness.

Where I live, people have guns for hunting(which I don't like), and that's about it. You hardly ever hear of anyone getting shot intentionally, and when it is intentional, it's usually a suicide. Just very rarely you hear about a shooting around here. Very quiet town I live in. I think foreigners have this idea that the whole U.S. is a big L.A. or Chicago. That's just not the case. Where I live, in Virginia, there is much more rural space than urban space. Pretty peaceful here until you get into D.C. That's where the real weirdos reside... :p
 
that is willing to strap a bomb on and blow people up? So secure in your knowledge about the world. I would like to meet your history teacher and see what he thinks of your learning ability concerning people & world affairs.

that is if youre country is occupied by foreign nation..spreading an ideology that would devour your entire system..destroy christianity..and controlling youre economy.. imposing their own policies,their own goverment,cheating the election,bring illegal immigrant settlements like izrael..lying to the media about precision bombing when you destroy towns that dont support you.. hiding and covering up the truth about attrocities and war crimes committed by your peoplo behind close doors,abu ghraib and etc..sucking your country's oil dry and all its resources..rediculing youre incompetence.. taking away youre pride and honor..making you dependent on them.. and put billions of debt on your country...

with the complete superiority over your weapons. you have no chance of rebelling againts your occupiers..and the whole world against you.. how would you feel..not much to live for is it.. strap some bombs perhaps.. if youre gutless..you wont..

Where I live, people have guns for hunting(which I don't like), and that's about it. You hardly ever hear of anyone getting shot intentionally, and when it is intentional, it's usually a suicide. Just very rarely you hear about a shooting around here. Very quiet town I live in. I think foreigners have this idea that the whole U.S. is a big L.A. or Chicago. That's just not the case. Where I live, in Virginia, there is much more rural space than urban space. Pretty peaceful here until you get into D.C. That's where the real weirdos reside...

just because youre place is quiet doesnt mean the whole world is the same.. you got lucky..but what about all the other slums and getos..the famous new york city...they arent so lucky..its nature's nature to be unfair..some of us are big and small..
 
Warlock said:
just because youre place is quiet doesnt mean the whole world is the same.. you got lucky..but what about all the other slums and getos..the famous new york city...they arent so lucky..its nature's nature to be unfair..some of us are big and small..

No kidding. I'm not that naive. I'm just saying the whole country isn't as violent as you make it out to be. You have no idea.

I hate weapons. I think our country spends way too much money on them and then they misuse them. I think gun laws are too lax and people have little or no conscience. Our government gives everyone a bad name. You should look beyond them to form any opinions.

Also, nothing good comes from anger. Anger that comes out in condescending tones and low, personal attacks. Nothing will ever change with attitudes like yours.
 
Warlock said:
just because youre place is quiet doesnt mean the whole world is the same.. you got lucky..but what about all the other slums and getos..the famous new york city...they arent so lucky..its nature's nature to be unfair..some of us are big and small..


Um Ok, since when was New York the 'whole world?'
I think you are just being a tad bit negative, and I think that this thread was more on how Japanese view Americans... not just your totally biased opinion.
 
No kidding. I'm not that naive. I'm just saying the whole country isn't as violent as you make it out to be. You have no idea.

I hate weapons. I think our country spends way too much money on them and then they misuse them. I think gun laws are too lax and people have little or no conscience. Our government gives everyone a bad name. You should look beyond them to form any opinions.

Also, nothing good comes from anger. Anger that comes out in condescending tones and low, personal attacks. Nothing will ever change with attitudes like yours.

sorry..but ive seen human nature taken place in its worst forms..none in which you can see or imagine..one like you might even ignore..i have no parent to restraint me.. from visions i have seen.. ive strolled through history books and founded out the worst of human kind.. evil is undoable..and some evil go unpunished..it is reality..some punishment cannot erase as much evil done to the world or to an individual..it is unmeasurable..only to be disregarded by selfish simplistic definations..i have experiece the a part of a terrible society at young age..and so have shared experieces with authors who share the same experiences too.. life is no sunshine..maybe to some..but not all..but this unjustice..it overides all..to an individual..one dies meaninglessly and to be existed as a puny grain of entertainment for another persons happiness without choice at all..but only options..one could even say..there is no freedom to life..but only to obey and follow the physics and nature of this universe..

although US is the riches and superpower of the world..could even say have one of the diverse and highest renown intellectuals in the world..but why the screw up.. even with all the knowledge..one still ignores the nature of humand kind..that lead you to your situation..

ever watched medical detectives..probrably you have read all the crimes in the US.. sometimes one crime is committed when the society creates an oppurtunity which gives them the gap and the power to exhale crimes...it is our fault for underestimating human nature and nature's ways...
 
Dude... seriously, stop trying to be all pseudo-intellectual like because it doesn't suit you. Your "arguments" (for lack of a better word) are ALL over the place, messy and in disarray. The whole "poster-boy for apathy, discord, and general malaise..." routine gets old real quick. Instead of just denigrating human nature in general (that includes yourself btw in case you haven't noticed), learn to properly focus and articulate your opinion. You make more generalizations and blanket statements re: just about anything and everything than anyone else i've ever seen on these boards. Deep down inside... i'm sure you can come up with something better than the same tired old "humanity sucks, kill'em all" rhetoric.
 
sorry..but ive seen human nature taken place in its worst forms..none in which you can see or imagine..one like you might even ignore..i have no parent to restraint me.. from visions i have seen.. ive strolled through history books and founded out the worst of human kind.. evil is undoable..and some evil go unpunished..it is reality..some punishment cannot erase as much evil done to the world or to an individual..it is unmeasurable..only to be disregarded by selfish simplistic definations..i have experiece the a part of a terrible society at young age..and so have shared experieces with authors who share the same experiences too.. life is no sunshine..maybe to some..but not all..but this unjustice..it overides all..to an individual..one dies meaninglessly and to be existed as a puny grain of entertainment for another persons happiness without choice at all..but only options..one could even say..there is no freedom to life..but only to obey and follow the physics and nature of this universe..




Listen. Can you hear? ........................... ☝





















That's the sound of me not giving a damn. :D
 
Warlock said:
sorry..but ive seen human nature taken place in its worst forms..none in which you can see or imagine..one like you might even ignore..i have no parent to restraint me.. from visions i have seen.. ive strolled through history books and founded out the worst of human kind.. evil is undoable..and some evil go unpunished..it is reality..some punishment cannot erase as much evil done to the world or to an individual..it is unmeasurable..only to be disregarded by selfish simplistic definations..i have experiece the a part of a terrible society at young age..and so have shared experieces with authors who share the same experiences too.. life is no sunshine..maybe to some..but not all..but this unjustice..it overides all..to an individual..one dies meaninglessly and to be existed as a puny grain of entertainment for another persons happiness without choice at all..but only options..one could even say..there is no freedom to life..but only to obey and follow the physics and nature of this universe..

although US is the riches and superpower of the world..could even say have one of the diverse and highest renown intellectuals in the world..but why the screw up.. even with all the knowledge..one still ignores the nature of humand kind..that lead you to your situation..

ever watched medical detectives..probrably you have read all the crimes in the US.. sometimes one crime is committed when the society creates an oppurtunity which gives them the gap and the power to exhale crimes...it is our fault for underestimating human nature and nature's ways...


*sighs* You have some serious issues with yourself, people like you make me want to study psychology. You know I could sit here and argue with you, but............it's a real waste of time and you seem very satisfied in your little comfort zone.

Now, if you don't mind I would like to get on the topic I get really annoyed when folks tend the steer off topic on threads. Besides, I don't understand your arguments, because they make no sense to me. :eek:
 
my girlfriend said to me last night "japanese are told not to talk about politics with them" and she think america is very dangerous, i do to ofcourse compared to canada it is.
 
I also read that Japanese think like that outside is very dangerous compared to Japan... I mean Japan may be very safe but this is like a real phobia and exageration. I was reading once an account from a canadian exchanged teacher that the principal of the school was telling him to teach 2 students who were going to go to IOWA for an exchange program things like i don't have any money, or put them up, or other idiotic phrases like this to keep them safe from danger. When the teacher refused because he thought it to be ridicilous the principal threatened him by telling thim that if anything happend to the students he would be held responsible. Surely enough the students return unscathed expet for one incident where a cow stole the corn from one of them and she fell down and bruised her kneee.... ok i made the last part up 😊

He went on to describe though how sometimes in magazines they have idiotic phrases to keep you safe from the dangerous outside, phrases like put the up or other crappy japanese version of english stuff that supposedly you have to use in the many dangerous situations here in the west. I feel that's going to far and is also a bit of an insult.

Westerns don't generalize on Japanese culture like that
 
Christmas in Japan...is one generalization... kind of like these tales I found on boingboing :D

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/19/hilarious_passion_of.html

more on Christmas in Japan
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/20/more_on_jesus_in_jap.html

"Update: In 2003, Joi Ito wrote about Christmas in Japan.

"Did you know that Japanese families will be lining up in front of Kentucky Fried Chickens today to get their chicken for Christmas? I DO know where this comes from. When my friend Shin, introduced KFC to Japan, the ad campaign showed wealthy American families all eating friend chicken for their holiday feast. KFC was marketed as an upscale food of the privileged in America. This triggered a tradition in Japan for families to eat friend chicken on Christmas."

NOTE: Be sure to eat your "friend" chicken for Christmas...especially if you are in Japan LOL

Also, the generalizations can be said with all the Amerikan celebrities selling themselves on the CMs (commercials) so to appeal to the consumers there to buy their products so they can emulate the Amerikan lifestyle as much as possible in their own limited fashion...I had always wondered about the KFC thing... Kentucky Fried Christmas...makes sense now.... :D
 
den4 said:
I had always wondered about the KFC thing... Kentucky Fried Christmas
:D
That should be a new ad for KFC in Japan around Christmas time! I didn't know the history behind it.
It is such a big thing that they have to order ahead of time.
Having my own bucket of KFC was always one of my dreams...

About the topic, whatever generalizations on Americans I might have had don't mean anything to me anymore because I started to learn a lot about this country and people after I got here.
The fact that there are so many debates on an issue proves that America is not one big flat field where there is only one way for everything.
 
misa.j said:
:D
The fact that there are so many debates on an issue proves that America is not one big flat field where there is only one way for everything.

Nicely put misa.j.

I think for me, the clue here is in the title of the thread. ("Generalizations"). Anyone who tries to blanket an entire nation from a single perspective can do nothing more than make gross generalizations. There's not just one category labeled "American", from which you can predict everything about a persons personality and beliefs. Any attempt to do so is a complete waste of time. Some people still try it though, no matter how fruitless it may be.
 
misa.j. said:
The fact that there are so many debates on an issue proves that America is not one big flat field where there is only one way for everything.
Silverpoint said:
Nicely put misa.j.

I think for me, the clue here is in the title of the thread. ("Generalizations"). Anyone who tries to blanket an entire nation from a single perspective can do nothing more than make gross generalizations. There's not just one category labeled "American", from which you can predict everything about a persons personality and beliefs. Any attempt to do so is a complete waste of time. Some people still try it though, no matter how fruitless it may be.
Good points both of you! Anyone can, and usually do, generalize on a country, culture, and it's peoples. This is usually based on how that particular country and culture are portrayed by the local media.

I think even the people of a particular country also generalize about their own people. For example Osakans generalize about Tokyoites and they both generalize about the people in northern Japan. Tokyo people generalize about Yokohama people and so on.

Even here in the states the north generalize about the states in the south and vice versa The east vs the west, etc.

Perhaps the biggest generalizations the Japanese get about America (and other countries) is probably due to 1) US servicemen and their actions and 2) Hollywood. Only after they have actually lived in America do they come away with a different way of thinking. But that again, I think, depends on where they lived.
 
lexico said:
I moved really slow not to surprise the patrol officer. Naturally he wondered why I was behaving with such caution, and I could only answer, "I...I don't want to get killed, Officer !" Hahaha...


HAHAHA! My fiancee is a Police Officer. He would get a kick out of that. I don't know of any place like that, but they are so community friendly here they use the term (or at least my fiancee does) "hug and release". :)
 
Icedyn said:
HAHAHA! My fiancee is a Police Officer. He would get a kick out of that. I don't know of any place like that, but they are so community friendly here they use the term (or at least my fiancee does) "hug and release". :)
Hug and release, Community friendly...Oregon must be a nice place to live.
If every city were like that, we wouldn't have had John J. Rambo, though.
That movie should come with a disclaimer; Not in the State of Oregon !
In reality the officers in CA were quite patient with me; I often learned something new. They were gentlemen. 👍
 
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Sorry to dig up a thread put to rest but, What Generalizations do the Japanese Have On Indians? Actually, come to think of it, i dont really think of myself as an indian since i've lived most of my life in the US, but i'm just curious... :)

If none exists, that's a sufficient answer to satisfy my curiosity... 😊



alright, but what i mean is, Japan and India have a much closer geographical proximity than say...Japan and United States, but do Japan and India share a political/social/economical proximity displayed between Japan and the US? Is there any sort of attention or preconceptions (true or not) between the two nations (about the nation or the people) or does India just seem to be one of the many countries out there? Like i said...just curious...
 
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I wonder why the Japanese like so much American stuff - like baseball, bowling, golf, jazz, etc. I don't know, but being american I'm flattered. Maybe it's Hollywood & stuff. I like it when American makes good friends with another country, for instance, with Britain, there is a vibrant cultural exchange going on, take for instance with rock n roll. We listen and are influenced by each other, and the music transmutates. One thing I find fascinating about Japan is this kind of cultural exchange. I'm curious how they change the music, or literature, movies, etc. and make it their own. Like Shakespeare was an influence on Akira Kurasawa, and he in turn was an influence on Spaghetti Westerns. (and darn good movies they are too.) And here in Seattle there's alot of Japanese influence, because of our location, trade & stuff. woops is this a very bad tangent i've gone off on?

Anyway my point of that was that Japan must also generalize us in a positive way, to like American stuff alot. Do they think we all bowl alot and things like that? Maybe. There was one guy that even did a little talk about our influence on Japan, and he showed a photo of a billboard with James Dean on it.

About their view of crime here. There was a sad and shocking case of a Japanese guy, I think just a teenager, visiting the states who was going to a Halloween party and went to a house to ask directions. This was in Texas and he was wearing a mask. Apparently the man in the house told him to stop or something, but he didn't understand and the man shot him. That was a very disturbing story - they had it on American Justice I think, and no doubt left a bad impression on the Japanese. Even though it was a rare case, it shows what could happen when you get some nut with a gun like that. But that attitude of having guns to protect yourself, not many americans I know are like that at all. Most I know don't have guns. There is more violence here than in many countries, but it's still much safer than people realize. They don't put the statistics into perspective. I think the news distorts just about everything, and it's really not the best way to get your info. And it's shallow. If you for instance just read the headlines and watched tv news, you may never want to come out of your house. But the real America isn't really like that mostly.

I hear alot of generalizations about Japan, but I take them with a grain of salt. I think it was Donald Keene, who said that for every stereotype about Japan there are exceptions. I like to not make assumptions about individual people. And that can blind you to seeing who they really are. And making assumptions about a whole country is, ignorant. It's just too complex. However, I find the generalizations people have about countries to be a very interesting topic. And there's usually some truth in them. Just don't apply it to ME, lol.
 
I just heard somewhere that the Japanese got into American stuff during the allied forces occupation after WW2. So that's probably the beginnings of why they like alot of American things now. And that seems to be the start of Japanese influence in America. (Well, in Seattle there are alot of Japanese Americans, and I think that's one reason, plus the trading.) But of course they seem to like gaijin from everywhere. Especially Italy for some reason. Is it those Vespa scooters I wonder...besupa? So, now I'm answering my own posts...posting is addictive...wish someone had warned me of the dangers....must.....stop.....posting....must...........stop.....
 
Well, I'm an American, and I don't own a gun. Never saw the romance in it myself, I guess that came from my having spent twenty years in the military where guns were nothing more to us than tools, not love objects. Nor am I a Bush supporter. UGH! What a positively frightening concept.

As for generalizations Japanese have about us, this is just my opinion, but they may think that all tall African-Americans play basketball. During my little trip to Japan a couple of years ago, I had a few people come up to me and ask if I were in the NBA. I still chuckle when I think about that.
:)
 
Hold On

Warlock said:
the fact is you caucassions are not american and so are the blacks and latins.. the true americans are the aztechs,mayans and red indians.. you are illegal immigrants from europe and slaves brought to america to constructs its illegal stronghold.. im tired of your old story of declaring yourselves americans make me bored and annoyed..

I only got this far, now I have to correct you. The Indigenous Peoples of America are NOT Red Indians. Please refrain from this. I am of mixed blood. Blackfeet and Cree Indian, Irish and English (yes a half breed). I must tell you that I am NOT red. Red hair maybe, but not red. True, the Europeans came here and blah blah blah, that is the past. I hate hearing about it. Your generalizations are a sad vision of how all Americans are seen through the eyes of others. I feel for you. You need to expose yourself not to the big cities, but the little towns. That is the heart of America. You can see from them that yes, differences take some getting used to, but you are brought into with open arms. The generalizations I read earlier, fat, guns etc. are suface things that the media focuses on. Get information from research not from the media. Cops are not as**oles and not everyone owns a gun. Not everyone is fat and not everyone blindly supports their leaders.
When you believe only the media of America, you truley see a piece of quartz. When you research America, you find the vein of gold in the quartz. That is the real beauty. The hidden treasure. Each culture and country has it, you just need to see.
 
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