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What was the first thing you had heard/known about Japan?

Zauriel

The Angel of Justice
13 Mar 2005
66
5
18
When you had heard of Japan for the first time, what was your reaction and what was the first thing you learned about it?

When I was in the elementary school history class and I heard of the word Japan for the first time, the first thing I discovered about Japan was they were vile and merciless invaders and I thought they were "bad guys". That was because I had studied about "Japanese occupation in Philippines during World War II" in the history class at that time.

Today I still remember, from a high school level history book, a picture of Japanese World War II soldiers eating bananas while forcing the Filipino and American prisoners of war, even those wounded ones to walk on their death march as well as a picture of a U.S.-Filipino troop struggling to help his wounded comrade walking for miles.

I've seen an anime called Daimos when I was 6 or 7 years old but I had no idea it was anime and thought those kanji showed in Daimos were Chinese.
 
I'm have some scattered memories. I stayed one night in a hotel when I was 6, because there was no flight for us. Probably somehwere outside Narita.

Then I had a Japanese-American neighbor my age who would pick on me, and my parents had to explain to me that I had to understand. Understand what ? I reciprocated his hospitality, and he was clear of my way.

Then I shared the cabin on a cargo ship USS Polar Bear with a Japanese gentleman; we stayed in Bay of Tokyo (?) for three nights, and went shopping for the colorful umbrellas. That's about the earliest I can remember. Nothing dramatic really.
 
Same pretty much. First experience with Japan as a country was in school when learning about the American entry into world war 2. Obviously I had some cultural experience before hand (cartoons actually), but I wasn't aware that they were japanese cartoons.

I'm afraid that for a very, very long time that most people will first learn about Japan through the context of war. The scope of the conflict was so large that there was no corner of the planet that didn't feel its touch.

But sometimes things can and do change, for instance there was a poll here in the States where people were asked what countrys they considered to be Americas "best" allies. The top 4 results were:

1) UK
2) Canada
3) Australia
4) Japan

Which is very interesting since from a historical perspective the United States "greatest ally" has always been France. Infact one of our greatest war heros from the American Revolution was Gilbert du Montier, known mostly in this country as General Lafayette. There is a collosal amount of towns, cities, countys, streets, schools and public buildings named after this man. He was a trusted friend to men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. One of his most famous quotes is "Humanity has won its battle. Now liberty has a country."

Anyway, its pretty obvious that American-Franco relations are at a pretty low point right now, mostly stirred up by short sighted politicians on both sides looking to score public opinon points with some pretty pathetic rhetoric. It just goes to show you how things can change over the course of a couple hundred years.

Maybe in two hundred years from now the lot of the Japanese in world history will have changed some?
 
Unfortunately Wwii Horror Stories Were......

my first knowledge of Japan. My dad fought the Japanese and he and his buddies always told "WAR" stories. In the later part of the 50's when TV started to take off, pretty much of anything about Japan was negative. I sure am glad I got the chance to live in Japan and see how much was really wonderful about it.

Frank

😊
 
For me, it was probably shows and movies on World War II. Then I discovered Japanese kaiju and science-fiction films.

In high school, a class on Asian Studies was offered in my senior year. That started my desire to want to go visit Japan, a goal that was finally reached in 2001 (29 years later). A field trip to Los Angeles's Little Tokyo district with the class also made me want to see the real thing.
 
The first thing I rememeber hearing about Japan was the japanese were the most hard working people on the planet. And as far as their involvment in WWII, I first learned about that when I read a book called Sadako and One Thousand Paper Cranes. About a girl who is diagnosed with leukemia. Due to after effects of the bombming of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. And finally I began to watch anime! 👍
 
Nintendo. When I got my first NES system way back when I learned that it was made in Japan and that a Mr. Miyamoto was responsible for most of the wonderfull games I was playing. It just sort of took off from there and over the years I became genuinly interested in the society and culture. But stereotypically videogames got me interested in the first place.

My reaction I suppose was one of excitement and joy. Japan is stereotypically known for videogames and technology. So whenever I play a old NES or SNES game I often think of Japan and it brings back fond childhood memories.
 
Big Bird in Tokyo. I was like, the coolest kid on the block for about 20 minutes for being able to say "Ohayou" until that one ******* kid that lives on every block pointed out that it sounded just like "Ohio."
 
I don't remember much (other than we fought them in WW2) until I got orders to be stationed there. Since then, it's been a love affair.
 
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