What's with all the Japan-mania?

[bethzerosix]

ok... so in 2004 i was with my last girlfriend. she is the one that i did everything in my power to supress gid. she never knew.

she was a japanese social worker in tsuruoka. a small city west of yamagata. i was very into japanese stuff.. and she was really upset by it... otaku is a bad word... like super nerd geek.  anyway, i had learned, "watashi no kokoro wa nihonjin desu" from a  casual japanese friend who i talked with only a few times. when i told my girl friend what japanese i knew she laughed and scolded me and taught me  "boku no kokoro wa nihonjin desu". "only girls say watashi".... maybe it was a northern japan dialect..  she would constantly correct my improper use of gendered words that i had learned from books.

[Hypatia]

Wow. OK-- thanks for correcting me.

[soldierjane]

ok... so in 2004 i was with my last girlfriend. she is the one that i did everything in my power to supress gid. she never knew.

she was a japanese social worker in tsuruoka. a small city west of yamagata. i was very into japanese stuff.. and she was really upset by it... otaku is a bad word... like super nerd geek.  anyway, i had learned, "watashi no kokoro wa nihonjin desu" from a  casual japanese friend who i talked with only a few times. when i told my girl friend what japanese i knew she laughed and scolded me and taught me  "boku no kokoro wa nihonjin desu". "only girls say watashi".... maybe it was a northern japan dialect..  she would constantly correct my improper use of gendered words that i had learned from books.

Well "watashi" is ok for both sexes when you want to be polite but friendly. "Boku" is more rude and therefore more male. Oh well, at least she didn't have you say "Ore" which is really dripping with macho juice ;P

Isn't "watakushi" a bit too formal for most situations? It sounds a bit stilted for normal speak.

[cindybc]

"Hee, hee." Watashi, sounds like Washi meaning, *Big Belly* in First Nations here in Vancouver. Actually Washi is the name of a native woman I know, my best friend. 

Cindy 

[Ryan]

"Are you upto being a shinigami?"

It was actually me who said that.

I enjoy watching anime, but am in no way one of these crazed Japanese wannabe people.
I just said that cause the other poster mentioned wanting a name from the anime "Death Note"

*Goes and hides back in the corner*

[Jeatyn]

"Are you upto being a shinigami?"

It was actually me who said that.

I enjoy watching anime, but am in no way one of these crazed Japanese wannabe people.
I just said that cause the other poster mentioned wanting a name from the anime "Death Note"

*Goes and hides back in the corner*

I was the other half of the conversation. but I on the other hand totally admit to being a "weaboo" - I'm openly obsessed with Japan

[Hypatia]

Thanks for replying, Dawni. I hope you understand this thread was not meant to belittle you or other you or criticize you in any way. It's something I'd been wondering about for years-- actually, ever since I first visited TG communities online and found them rife with manga/anime fandom. It's just that your posts showed the purest examples of the phenomenon I'd ever seen and prompted me to ask what's it all about. I felt slightly weird about asking because I remind myself a little too uncomfortably of the rubes who ask "What's this TG all about, anyway, I don't get it" which makes me feel objectified if it's done aggressively. I don't want to do that to anyone else.

But I'm wondering does this Japanophilia have any particular connection with TG, or is it widespread in general? I know lots of young people, but none of them who I know IRL are into this, just TG people I see online. I want to understand better, because if there is a particular nexus of Japanophilia or anime fandom with TG, it might be relevant to me.

Japanophilia isn't a new phenomenon-- the most advanced example of it I've ever heard of was a Greek-Irish journalist named Lafcadio Hearn, who first went to Japan in 1890, settled in, learned the language, became a naturalized Japanese citizen, changed his name to 小泉八雲 Koizumi Yakumo, and spent the rest of his life writing books about Japanese culture.

[lady amarant]

But I'm wondering does this Japanophilia have any particular connection with TG, or is it widespread in general? I know lots of young people, but none of them who I know IRL are into this, just TG people I see online.

I don't know about over in the States, but in South Africa there is a small but diverse community of anime fans and "japanophiles". Thing is, they tend to be the same type of people that gravitate towards comics and roleplaying and computer games and the like. I don't think that it's a "TG" thing, but from my experience TG people are generally more attracted to fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk and the like - probably partly as escapism, but also because you get to live out different lives through tabletop RPG's, video-games, LARP and cosplay etc. Add to that that people attracted to these sorts of activities are generally quite intelligent, usually way more accepting of different, and usually have a philosophical bent to them, and there is alot to attract TG people to the fanboy/gamer-geek/anime otaku communities, in the same way that many TG people are also attracted to the androgynous tragic self-absorption that is goth.

~Simone,
      Tragically self-absorbed cybergoth geek.

[Alyx.]

Japanophilia isn't a new phenomenon-- the most advanced example of it I've ever heard of was a Greek-Irish journalist named Lafcadio Hearn, who first went to Japan in 1890, settled in, learned the language, became a naturalized Japanese citizen, changed his name to 小泉八雲 Koizumi Yakumo, and spent the rest of his life writing books about Japanese culture.

Lol, you make it sound like an illness.

[Lisbeth]

but from my experience TG people are generally more attracted to fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk and the like

I tend more toward steampunk myself. Can I get a job as computer (someone who does calculations using a computational engine) on the Nautilus?

[lady amarant]

I tend more toward steampunk myself. Can I get a job as computer (someone who does calculations using a computational engine) on the Nautilus?

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

Have you read Grant Morrison's Sebastian O? Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is brilliant!

Sorry, the fangirl in me can't help herself. As usual.

~Simone,

[Lisbeth]

I tend more toward steampunk myself. Can I get a job as computer (someone who does calculations using a computational engine) on the Nautilus?

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

Have you read Grant Morrison's Sebastian O? Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is brilliant!

Sorry, the fangirl in me can't help herself. As usual.

~Simone,

No, I've not. They aught to be on my reading list, and my son has strongly recommended that I watch the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

In SecondLife I am a Steampunk Girl: "Today's computational engines are far advanced beyond Mr. Babbage's difference engine and analytical engine. The mill has been reduced in size to fit on a chip of silicon. Rather than being several tonnes in weight, they are now a mere fraction of a stone."

I have had to explain the ears though. Experiments by my father that I have had to learn to live with. Had something to do with DNA, but the rest is beyond me. There are certain advantages, like being able to see in the dark, and thankfully a bussel skirt hides the tail.

[lady amarant]

my son has strongly recommended that I watch the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Noooooooooooooo!

Or at least, only after you've read a few issues of the comic. The movie is good, but the comic is brilliant.

~Simone.

[soldierjane]

my son has strongly recommended that I watch the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Noooooooooooooo!

Or at least, only after you've read a few issues of the comic. The movie is good, but the comic is brilliant.

~Simone.

Indeed! The movie is... horrible. The graphic novel is awesome though

[cindybc]

Well this TS likes fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, romance, animes, old fashioned and new animated Walt Disney cartoon characters, Pretty well any kids movies, Walt Disney and other wize, comedy, westerns, etc. I love telling my own stories to kids, art, drawing my own cartoons, wright my own stories. I am also mischievous, loving  caring compassionate person. Anybody want to adopt a 62 year old going on 10 years old kid?



Cindy

[Constance]

my son has strongly recommended that I watch the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Noooooooooooooo!

Or at least, only after you've read a few issues of the comic. The movie is good, but the comic is brilliant.

~Simone.

Indeed! The movie is... horrible. The graphic novel is awesome though

I liked the movie.   

[soldierjane]

my son has strongly recommended that I watch the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Noooooooooooooo!

Or at least, only after you've read a few issues of the comic. The movie is good, but the comic is brilliant.

~Simone.

Indeed! The movie is... horrible. The graphic novel is awesome though

I liked the movie.   

There's certainly no argument against personal taste, but the movie is a soulless husk compared to the comic. Everything that's neat about the movie (like.. the League) is there plus a ton more. Do check it out

[Ryan]

I've never seen the TV series or the comic, but would have to agree. The movie sucks!

Also, back to the Japan/TG business. I reckon whoever mentioned escapism was probably right.
Most anime is completely unrealistic. Girls look like boys and boys look like girls. In anime you can be who you like and pretty much do what you want.
This isn't something that I actually look for when choosing anime to watch, but I think there's definately something about it that I love.

[lady amarant]

There's certainly no argument against personal taste, but the movie is a soulless husk compared to the comic. Everything that's neat about the movie (like.. the League) is there plus a ton more. Do check it out

Another neat thing about the movie: Stuart Townsend. 

~Simone.

[Hypatia]

Also, back to the Japan/TG business. I reckon whoever mentioned escapism was probably right.
Most anime is completely unrealistic. Girls look like boys and boys look like girls. In anime you can be who you like and pretty much do what you want.
This isn't something that I actually look for when choosing anime to watch, but I think there's definately something about it that I love.

So... anime helps TG kids deal with the pain of being displaced in life? By showing a world where you aren't locked into such rigid categories (like gender)?

(or nationality...)