Japanese Culture

[raikage]

Random question: Did baseball player Hideki Matsui's injury really make front-page news in Japan?

[iamtetsuo]

OK another question:
Do people go four wheeling in Japan? What about lifting their trucks and puttin big ol mud tires on? I know that there's a lot less land and do to strict car laws most old vehicles are put to rest, but I also know that they have a lot of cool suv's and 4x4 trucks that we don't get stateside. Maybe this is the wrong forum to be asking such a question on...

[JanthraX^]

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai...dm014000c.html

whoah feel the hate, seems very sterotyping or maybe that is the defination of an otaku

is that the real atitude towards otakus in japan,

[sorvani]

read that article the other day. it didn't seem stereotyping to me. From what i have learned, not being Japanese or living in Japan, that is actually fairly acurate.
of course it is also only that person's opinion that the current moe culture is little more than child porn.
myself, i have not come to a decision on the subject yet. it requires more study.

[sorvani]

well we were bored in the office today and everyone was teasing me about my vacation to Tokyo next week.

before the day was over we were wondering about proposals and marriage.

What IS the most common form of wedding now a days in Japan? Nothing i see in pop culture ever looks "traditional." I know from seeing it on my last vacation that big hotels like the Shinigawa Prince do weddings, and then there are all the dramas i watch that involve weddings at christian looking churches.

On the same lines what about proposals and engagement. Is there something like the traditional US 2 month salary engagement ring? This one i don't know anythin about.

[DaFool]

Originally Posted by iamtetsuo

OK another question:
Do people go four wheeling in Japan? What about lifting their trucks and puttin big ol mud tires on? I know that there's a lot less land and do to strict car laws most old vehicles are put to rest, but I also know that they have a lot of cool suv's and 4x4 trucks that we don't get stateside. Maybe this is the wrong forum to be asking such a question on...

I bet they do, because such 2nd-hand vehicles keep coming into Subic port. They really do pimp their vehicles, and they come in wide variety too, not just limited to Isuzu Bighorns (Troopers), including

2-door SUVs (Suzuki Jimny, Mitsubishi Pajero, a few Bighorns)
4 X 4 minivans (Yes Mitsubishi Delica I'm looking at YOU)

I haven't seen many with super-sized tires though. But I am amazed that sometimes they don't take out the pimped equipment (foglights, extra side and rear mirrors, metal bumpers) before shipping them over, so we get all the goodies.

They just dump their old vehicles (trucks, construction equipment, SUVs, some cars) onto countries like mine and Vietnam, and we have special right-wheel-->left-wheel-drive conversion kits. These vehicles are unsafe, but they sure are cheap!

[Sakaki]

Originally Posted by iamtetsuo

OK another question:
Do people go four wheeling in Japan? What about lifting their trucks and puttin big ol mud tires on? I know that there's a lot less land and do to strict car laws most old vehicles are put to rest, but I also know that they have a lot of cool suv's and 4x4 trucks that we don't get stateside. Maybe this is the wrong forum to be asking such a question on...

I don't know how much off roading they do, but I have seen some 4X4's sitting in parking lots that were lifted up with oversize tires when I visited Japan a couple of years ago.

[Onizuka-GTO]

Originally Posted by sorvani

well we were bored in the office today and everyone was teasing me about my vacation to Tokyo next week.

before the day was over we were wondering about proposals and marriage.

What IS the most common form of wedding now a days in Japan? Nothing i see in pop culture ever looks "traditional." I know from seeing it on my last vacation that big hotels like the Shinigawa Prince do weddings, and then there are all the dramas i watch that involve weddings at christian looking churches.

On the same lines what about proposals and engagement. Is there something like the traditional US 2 month salary engagement ring? This one i don't know anythin about.

I thought it was universally traditional for the women to demand her bloke to get her something that's far too expensive with one pay slip?

[sorvani]

Originally Posted by Onizuka-GTO

I thought it was universally traditional for the women to demand her bloke to get her something that's far too expensive with one pay slip?

well yeah, but the wedding part i've seen in dramas and anime and various other sources, but i've never seen anything to give me source data for engagement. And Japan does have the whole arranged marriage meeting thing (forget what it's called).

[raikage]

Originally Posted by sorvani

well yeah, but the wedding part i've seen in dramas and anime and various other sources, but i've never seen anything to give me source data for engagement. And Japan does have the whole arranged marriage meeting thing (forget what it's called).

Are you thinking of o-miai?

[jedinat]

Naw, I think he's thinking of some other japanese marriage meeting thing.

[sorvani]

Originally Posted by raikage

Are you thinking of o-miai?

That was the word i was looking for, thank you.

Nakōdo and omiai. Like i said kinda like arranged marriage, but not exactly. as it is reallyonly a meeting thing. Best example i can think of off thetop of my head was Yankumi in Gokusen(live action) Season 1 going to one of these arranged meetings.

Aside form things like that, I've never seen much in all the dramas (or anime) that shows the engagement side of relationships. so when we were talking about this at work i didn't have anything to say on this particular part.

[Ziv]

I heard that vending machines are everywhere in japan, and that you can buy obscure and sometimess bizzare items from them. (i.e. underwear) Is there any validity to this?

[Eric the Grey]

Originally Posted by sorvani

it is/was a stereotype, guess i'm showing my age.../cringe i'm only 33... the point was dinner to chat and talk, a movie to entertain not talk and just get comfortable together, and then talk more afterwards.

most of my own first dates were coffee shop affairs.

That is exactly the reason why I like the Dinner & Movie type of first date. A chance to talk and get to know the woman, and the movie lets me judge what she likes to watch. That is an important bit of knowledge for later on, assuming she wants to go out with me again.

Ok, with that out of the way, here is a question that has come up amongst a few friends:

In Anime, we often see children, usually high-school aged kids, living alone or with a sibling for one reason or another (parents working out of town/country or deceased). Is this just story-telling to make the plots more interesting, or is it based on fact?



Eric the Grey

[jedinat]

And there seems to be a 50/50 chance that you'll die in a car accident/get hit by a car living in Japan? Must be full of crazy drivers. Either that or it's just the simplest way to explain away a death without interfering with the plot.

[raphaël]

Originally Posted by Ziv

I heard that vending machines are everywhere in japan, and that you can buy obscure and sometimess bizzare items from them. (i.e. underwear) Is there any validity to this?

Didn't find any yet, unfortunately.
The only vending machines you indeed find everywhere outside are meant for sodas or cigarettes.

Originally Posted by Eric

In Anime, we often see children, usually high-school aged kids, living alone or with a sibling for one reason or another (parents working out of town/country or deceased). Is this just story-telling to make the plots more interesting, or is it based on fact?

Story-telling, of course, especially when you know how long Japanese have to live with their parents because they can't afford a rent on their own. I'd even say that's sort of a dream, or a fantasy for everyone here (and there. lol). You know, making the audience "jealous" is the best way to remain interesting, isn't it?

[Guido]

How frequent do laws against animal cruelty are enforced in Japan?

In my country, México, legislation for animal rights is gaining relevance but at a very slow and apathetic rate. The sad news is that both the authorities and the general public continue to give a damn for the welfare of pets and animal care.

I always see dead cats and dogs run over in the road and nobody cares to pick them up and give them a proper burial.

[Akeval]

let me ask... i've always adored the old style areas of japan with the temples, and the shrines, and possibly the old style houses? do they have those? and has anyone here moved there at an older age and had to learn the language? its always been on my list of dreams to go to japan. i havent visited any country and always wondered what japan would be like.

[kaito-kid]

Several things has lead me to believe that the japanese can and cannot be racist. (I'am kind of confused )
I think that they might be on behalf of being scared that foreginers might do some crazy stuff to them or that hey hate others beliefs of just plainly that their culture is going down the drain. But hey the japanese arent the only ones that can be racist.....

next year I am moving to Japan for my study, but after reading those stuff on the internet I’m kind of scared

[raphaël]

Well, I'd better not tell you what happened to me.
But on the whole, you're right, Japanese aren't more racist than anyone else.
Good luck. I'm on my way home, and nothing went as I planned, but I did it the wrong way, actually, so I won't complain.