Sadie's Gaming Infection

PigLick on 22/3/2009 at 08:20

forbid the day!
Im serious too

also JapanLove is nothing new, its been going on since the 80's really. Basically if you start thinking that figurines of anime characters are cool, thats the time to start worrying.

haha this also goes for people who enjoy gaming related figurines. Stop it.

Ombrenuit on 22/3/2009 at 09:26

Steampunk is just yet another way for kids to showcase their "uniqueness" against peers and other generations.

Pretty much anyone with fucking "cat" in their user-name has the maturity of a ten year old--much like most of the girls in Japan; big surprise.

Quote Posted by Demagogue

But in the West I get the idea that it's a much more positive term, just meaning a big fan of anime and manga and Japanese popular culture

Yeah, just like nerd isn't pejorative. Even amongst the whole geek-culture, anime fans are pretty much despised. Although it's a step up from furries.

I'm living in Japan and I'll say the place pretty much sucks compared to the United States. Literally, most of its merits are legal public drunkenness, really crazy strip clubs and brothels (there's one called Mama here in Nagoya), and really loose college women because it's the first time in their lives without parents breathing down their necks.

Overall, the people here are incredibly superficial, immature, and narrow minded as well as intensely conformist to the overarching hierarchical system.

Come on, in their culture, "Individualism" is translated to "Selfish" in Japanese. It's not the promised land.

june gloom on 22/3/2009 at 10:33

Quote Posted by Yakoob

QUICK DETHTOLL, HERE'S YOUR CHANCE!

GENTLEMEN.
WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?
/TTLG/ IS NOT YOUR PERSONAL ARMY
HILARIOUS THREAD IS HILARIOUS
fgsfds
NO U
posting in an epic thread
weeaboo weeaboo weeaboo

hahaha oh wow

Koki on 22/3/2009 at 10:37

Ombrenuit is my new bff.

Yakoob on 22/3/2009 at 11:28

Hahahaha, oh wow, as much as I disagree and hate you dethtoll, if this forum had a reputation system, I would +rep you for that post :D

Andarthiel on 22/3/2009 at 13:13

Quote Posted by dethtoll

What a way to ruin a perfectly good guitar.

Once again we have a conflict of opinions. First it was Gears of War and now this:tsktsk:
You remind me of my brother who can also be an annoying and immature idiot sometimes.:rolleyes:
On another note, I am a big follower of Cyberpunk, need to get a leather trench coat one of these days and my copy of Deus Ex should be arriving soon.

demagogue on 22/3/2009 at 19:37

Quote Posted by Ombrenuit

I'm living in Japan and I'll say the place pretty much sucks compared to the United States.

That's cool to know you're there. I didn't remember reading it.
If we were in Japan, the immediate question people ask is "how long"? For a lot of people there's a love-hate cycle, or more like an acculturation cycle every few months, then the first year, then the second (though I don't sense much of the "love" swings from you) ... as you get alienated/acculturated to different things ... so they know where you stand in that and where to place your "opinion" or "theory" about Japan, which is usually very familiar.

For my own part, while I'm into using manga and anime to study Japanese, I wouldn't really be into it if I had to read it on its own merits, and I also think a lot of things about the society are irredeemably "broken" in a lot of ways, stuff that even other Japanese (that have lived in the West) notice too.

I saw a teacher beat a student senseless and nothing happened to him. They don't really get civic life, so when politically dodgy things happen people don't get upset and think it has to do with them; they think it's somebody else's problem to worry for them (like stupid use of taxes, or an awful govt policy, or some health disaster). They're democracy isn't entirely "working" yet. Or just generally, from a Western perspective it looks like they just get uncomfortable and try to worm out of taking responsibility with a strained grin. The relentless pursuit of harmony just looks stupid in the modern world. Yeah, the girls seem always 5 years behind the curve ... college girls act like they're in highschool, career girls like college. I didn't seem to have a problem with them being "easy" (I originally lived on an island and needed the boost), but the immaturity did annoy me.

Quote:

Overall, the people here are incredibly superficial, immature, and narrow minded as well as intensely conformist to the overarching hierarchical system.

There comes a point, though, (and notice I'm not actually disagreeing with what you said) when I wonder if you're getting to know the right people. Are you living with a Japanese family/friends or surrounded entirely by other Americans trading cynic stories? I met my share of superficial saps, but I also met very open-minded maverick types that were really cool ... Koreans there tend to be more independent, college students, esp those that have studied outside Japan, artists and musicians, anybody outside the loop (not a salaryman or blue collar) or anyone that can look back critically on their own culture, which isn't an easy thing to do for the first time.

I tend to think that Japanese mavericks are even cooler because you know how much pressure they're bucking. They remind me of the spirit of black civil rights leaders in the US 1960s (not exaggerating if you know the pressure to conform Ombrenuit is talking about). You want to root for them pushing the way towards a new Japan, not just a mirror of the USA, but a cosmopolitan, open-minded place where people can be themselves. And when you start caring about people and things there, it can inspire you to want to join the fight.

It's far from a promised land. I think the important question is whether you think it deserves the struggle to make it a more open-minded place, or whether you just don't care, it's not your problem.
I don't mean to rant, just getting out my perspective.

june gloom on 22/3/2009 at 19:38

Quote Posted by Yakoob

Hahahaha, oh wow, as much as I disagree and hate you dethtoll, if this forum had a reputation system, I would +rep you for that post :D

Much obliged. And hey, you can be a dick too but you're not too bad in my book.

Quote Posted by Andarthiel

You remind me of my brother who can also be an annoying and immature idiot sometimes.:rolleyes:

So, by disagreeing with you on a number of fronts I am an annoying and immature idiot, eh? Now I know I'm on the internet.

I do love cyberpunk though, as long as Neil Stephenson has nothing to do with it.

Andarthiel on 22/3/2009 at 23:41

Quote Posted by dethtoll

No, I've just read so many of your posts, I can tell what sort of person you are.

ZymeAddict on 23/3/2009 at 00:07

Quote Posted by Andarthiel

On another note, I am a big follower of Cyberpunk, need to get a leather trench coat one of these days and my copy of Deus Ex should be arriving soon.

In my experience there are very few people who wear black trench coats who pull them off convincingly, but more power to you if you are one of them.