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Your relationship with Japan

Have you been to Japan

  • I have always lived in Japan

    Votes: 26 2.1%

  • I've grown up in Japan, but don't live there anymore

    Votes: 32 2.6%

  • I am living in Japan for the moment

    Votes: 76 6.2%

  • I have lived for sometime in Japan

    Votes: 132 10.8%

  • I have been several times to Japan (as a tourist, short-stays)

    Votes: 101 8.3%

  • I have been to Japan once (tourist, short-stay)

    Votes: 98 8.0%

  • I have not been to Japan yet, but intend to.

    Votes: 679 55.7%

  • I haven't been there and don't plan to.

    Votes: 23 1.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 56 4.6%
  • Total voters
    1,219
Never been there, but I really want to visit before college starts, and I plan to live there after I graduate.
 
I never been there before, but hope one day i can go japan meet some gundam modeller, and buy some limited edition gundam kits and gundam magazine there..
 
Never gone, However i plan to go in 2007 and study abroad during college. I want to go so badly!
 
Went there for 10 days on a school trip, three days of which were with a homestay family. Lots of fun!
 
Am a newbie to this forum. Joined today. Looks most interesting. Been to Japan 3 times. Loved it each time. Looking forward to going back. Am trying to learn Japanese slowly but surely.
 
I have not been to Japan yet, but intend to.

i really want to go there T_T...soooo badly.... and once i go i won't return here>_<!!
it's my dream!
 
japan is cool but i would want live in Australia
 
Japan was cut in the shape of a Samurai sword

Japan,

A place of four seasons where everybody lives in harmony with nature.
For me, Japan means many things:
1) The sake that pours forth from the vulva into my mouth down my
esophagus.
2) The onsen(hot spring) that gushs forth from the bowels of the
earth.
3) The little sweet obachaan you never see who works countless
hours behind the scenes weaving dreams.
4) That sweet Jukujo lonely yet spry and fully girthed with discerning
eye's and motherly instincts. With one smile she can calm a tide
of fierce waves pounding upon the doors of my heart.
5) A vision of the Hinomaru collaged with a cherry blossom tree in the
back drop with the sweet smell of sake and her sweet perfume
permeating through the darkest voids of loneliness.
6) It's the spirit of the young man who straps himself into a classic
zero; as he floats through the strata he see's the beautiful orbs
from the rising sun gently warm his face. Everything goes silent
and for a moment in timelessness he touches the face of God.





 
Knock it off, Mac ! That is disgusting !

That is a beautiful poem you wrote, Mac, although I liked the original rendering, "touched the face of Son of Heaven" because it retains the kanji meaning of tennou 窶弖ﾂ皇, a distinctively Japanese expression for Son of Heaven.

However I somehow feel uncomfortable with the glorification of the kamikaze fighter pilots for four reasons. 1) It dehumanised the Japanese youths by leading them to death, and eventual defeat in the war. 2) It disregards the 20 some million victims of the Great Asian War/Pacific War of 1931-1945 by the blanking out of their historical reality of victimisation in the blinding glorification. 3) The historical distortion eg. in the Fushousha textbook controversy pushed by/with governmental (backing) has had a damaging effect on the youths' understanding of Asia's reality. 4) The kamikaze pilots were most likely on amphetamines, so what they touched was probably not God, not the face of the tennou either. Sorry to be a spoiler, but historical accuracy must not be glided over for poetic effect on this forum. But yes, the noble feelings you expressed are beautiful nonetheless.
 
Last edited:
The Kamikaze was a document.


The life of the Kamikaze Lexicon was a document; a testament of his undying love for his country not some ecumenical Judeo-Christian ideology where you have to feel sympathy and pity for every country that has suffered under the hands of an evil dictator or somebody's war machine.

We are not trying to understand the Kamikaze like that because that view seems to be ubiquitous in every westernized sphere of influence. That's like trying to understand why somebody would strap fifty pounds of explosives to their body then blow him/herself up killing scores of innocent men women and children in the name of a God that they can't even see, feel, or touch. In addition, we are not supposed to understand people like that, are we ?

When we look at the sacrifices of these young men we look at men who volunteered to die in the name of Tennou a god that actually existed in the eye's of the Japanese; a god who adorned himself in military garb. These men willing flew what's termed " Bon Voyage Missions" knowing full well that they would never return. These men weren't conscripted by law to die, after all, these were professional pilots who knew exactly what they were doing. You can call blind allegiance but whether you beleive it or not many asians admire the sacrifice of the Kamikaze because it shows the strength and the audacity of an asian power. Other asian countries have lost so much to western influence Lexicon, look at China before Japan invaded.
She was raped long before Japan had its turn.
 
I've never been to Japan. I want to visit Japan in spring when sakuras are in blossom.
 
I've never been to Japan, either.

Maybe one day I will go, maybe I won't. Let's see where my life takes me!

I began to learn the Japanese language because I found song lyrics in Japanese and it interested me - I love languages, so I decided to learn it myself rather than relying on translations! So my 'relationship' (such as it is) with Japan wasn't at all related to me going there or wishing to go there.

However, I've got this forum to thank for interesting me in lots of other Japan-related stuff - politics, culture, food, manga, the list goes on - and educating me, too, about the country and about how it seems from both inside and out. I still have no special ambition to go there more than any other country (let's face it, they are all interesting!), but, let us say, yes I would like to go there, one day when I can get the money! :joyful:
 
I spent one year at Aoyama Gakuin, during that time I lived in their dorm in Omotesando.
After that I spent six months working in a hotel in Nihonbashi living in the hotel's dorm in Koiwa.
This all happened in 1998-99

I visited again in 2004 for one week.
 
ive been stationed in japan for a year now.. 3 years left... then i could stay if i wanted.. but i want to try germany out..
 
i have never been to japan but i will go there someday. i promised!...hehehe...but i dun plan to live there. i plan to live in the u.s. and travel all around!
 
I've been to Japan 5 times for 2 weeks each time. It's a very beautiful country. My aunt took me to a Dir en grey concert back in 1998 and I met Die and Toshiya which was awesome. Japanese concerts are sort of different then american ones. I do plan on moving to Japan sometime soon.
 
I've been 3 times for a total of about 8 months, the big chunk coming in spring of 2003 when I spent 6 1/2 months doing a study abroad program at Waseda U and living with a couple of different host families. I've lived in Kanagawa, Kanazawa, Tokyo and spent random amounts of time throughout the archipelago (yay vocabulary).

My first trip was back in 1998, and my most recent one was just a few weeks ago. My initial motivation was one of pure tourism; I wanted to see the world. Being partially of Japanese (specifically Okinawan) descent I knew I wanted to see the motherland, but a subsequent interest in samurai movies and anime led me to take up classes in college. Oddly enough, I still enjoy an occasional Kurosawa flick, but my interest in Japanese pop culture has waned almost to the point of apathy.

I wouldn't mind living in Japan for a slightly more significant period of time, but I could never live there permanently. The city life and constant drinking wears me out (in a good way, but tiresome nonetheless) and the country bores the crap out of me.
 
The best time of my Life!!!

Okay, one of them!!!! Way before 9-11, I got a call to do a gig in Kyoto. I got my passport and was flat broke. Because I knew my agent would be there to pick me up, I went on the airplane without one penny in my pocket, I just didn't have it. I was cared for as a performer better there than anywhere I have performed. I worked 6 nights aweek from 8pm -2am in the morning, and sang for my favorite fans at their respective karaoke clubs on Sundays. The gigs ran four months each. I got an apartment and free meals. The town watched my every move because even in a town with so many people my bronze skin stood out. I had the best time there and will grow old there if I am to be graced in that way. A retail family wanted to adopt me after I modeled their fall line to the buyers. Imagine, working 8pm to 2am, try to eat and sleep, and having to meet your driver then at 9am and model until 5pm, only to start singing again at 8pm!!! For ten straight days I worked under the ether of my soul and I'd do it again in a hot second! They loved me and I loved them and we all cry when I have to leave!!! If you go there to work, be prepared to work hard! To play hard! All the games, all the anime, all the clubs, the lights, ALL. Nippon Rocks! They rock the day life, the night life. I can grab a keg 'o Kirin from a vending machine and buy some Issie on the same block!!! Japan Rocks Hard!!! All the tech is ten+ years advanced to the west, and know this! Fashion is balls out, I don't care who is copying who, these kids & kiddens are entertainment for the eyes and I dig 'em. It's All good in the Land of the Sunrise. I write music and design clothes, mainly crazy political t-shirt slogans, now. Japan has the creative integrity and spark to be number one in the world market and they are smart enough to know it! I look forward to being part of that great energy again!
 
I'll be going to Japan for the first time next winter. I'm visiting a friend who lives in Osaka.. I'm very excited to go!!! My Japanese sucks.. (took three years, but forgot it all by now)
So far, Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo are the cities I will be visiting.
Can't Wait!!
 
I was born in Tokyo, and plan on moving back to Tokyo after I finish school.
 

I love Osaka and Tokyo too!!! Great for shopping and sightseeing...!!! I have friends and family in both cities so I always visit Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama.
 
Never been to Japan...sadly...
Was about to kill a friend when he went to Japan...lucky grmbl grr...

But I'm gonna go there as soon as I get hte chance too =D
 
I've been once. Well, I'm living in Japan now and have been for a little over one year. It's very beautiful. I love the traditional architecture and textiles. Unfourtunately I haven't been to many different areas yet, but I hope to when I get the chance.
 
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