There have been, and are, several reasons for this site. But I think ultimately the reason I created and still write in this site is to help me work out stuff by writing, and I just so happen to do it publicly sometimes. I need to do that now. So, here we go. If I were to give a word to how I have felt throughout my entire life, I think I would use the word “isolation”. The Japanese word “gaijin” really does encompass in many ways how I feel… Read More »Alien (Gaijin)
Am I Otaku or even weeaboo? This is a question I’m asking myself more and more lately. I mean, I guess I fit some of the definitions. I like JPop – enough so that I’m maintaining an entire website about it, and other pop culture things. I’m familiar enough with different idols to have a semi-intelligent conversation about them (can you ever have a truly intelligent conversation about a Japanese idol?). I even have some anime figures sitting on my dresser, and some of them I can’t post to Facebook… Read More »Am I Otaku?
Kawaii may be the only real Japanese word many people know. And they really don’t know what it means. It’s usually translated as “cute”. And that’s one of the meanings, for sure. Maybe it’s even the primary meaning. But that’s not really what it means. They actually have another word for cute, “aikurushii” which seems to have a more pure meaning of “cute”. Not pure innocence-wise, but it seems to be more of a direct translation to our word “cute”. I think a better translation of kawaii is “childlike”. That’s… Read More »Kawaii
Let’s get back to basics, I suppose. From the very moment I began learning Japanese, and even before, I became aware of a specific breed of person – one that I instinctively had very little respect for. This type of person was called a “weeb”, which is short for “weeaboo”. There are many different characteristics of weebs, but the primary characteristic is a kind of escapism in to Japanese pop culture. I’m trying to find a way to express it that’s not horrifically insulting, but you get the type. Basically… Read More »Weeb
Over the past few years, My thoughts on Japanese culture have taken a very definite arc. I started out with a general sense of admiration, but then decided that I wanted to learn more about their language and culture. I immersed myself into learning as much as I could about it. Unlike some “Otaku” or “Weeaboo”, I always kept a sense of balance about it, but there was always this kind of undefined yearning that I couldn’t quite place. I’ve never been to Japan, but for some reason, many things… Read More »Japanese Culture: The Seduction of Exoticism
In the cult I grew up in, throughout my childhood, there were some very strict expectations about how one was to behave. One was always to behave in an “upright” manner – to be honest, the ideas of tatemae and honne are not really all that foreign to me, as I lived that as a child. One was to be “in the world, but not of it”. Practically, this meant we had our own set of traditions. For example, we would celebrate a somewhat bastardized version of the Jewish Holy… Read More »Normalcy
I like to say that I’m never really wrong – as my decisions and opinions are nearly always right based upon the information I have. But sometimes I don’t have enough information, so as I get more information, my opinions can change. That kind of makes my previous ones wrong. I don’t really mind all that much because I did my best with what I have, but it still requires some acknowledgement. I had the opportunity to ask my sensei last night about the whole “brother/sister” thing, and I have… Read More »Sometimes I’m Wrong
I honestly don’t have a whole lot of experience, or interest, in anime or anime-inspired things. I have seen some anime, and I was impressed with it technically. By which I mean, there is often a lot of care put into how the higher quality animes are animated. I remember watching “Akira” and being really impressed by how well they animated it, and I also watched an episode of “Nodame Cantabile” which also really impressed me – those who animated it did their homework and actually animated the playing of the instruments… Read More »Anime