Comments on J-List side blog: Stereotypes and Japanese Salarymen

Locohama, welcome to the blog. I imagine the Japan...

2008-10-26T22:58:00.000+09:00

Locohama, welcome to the blog. I imagine the Japan you see from down there in Yokohama is quite different from me, being on the "less" cultured side of the Kanto Plain. Part of the reason people might assume you're in the military is that you're in a place where there are a lot more military types than (say) where I am. I get asked "Are you a professional wrestler?" more often than "Are you in the military?"

I imagine it's hard for Japanese to approach you, being slightly more different in their eyes than the "baseline" foreigner, which is the dumb white ESL teacher. Do you see it as a major problem, or a small annoyance? When I run into trouble, such as a loudmouth drunk who doesn't want a foreigner in the bath he's about to get in, I just shrug and ignore it. The magic word "sho ga nai" can help. Japan nearly always nets positive experiences, even though there are frustrating times.

Maybe try turning their world view around a little by learning more Japanese than they expect you to know, or learning Japanese proverbs, or something? (They might start asking you to sing Enka like Jero, but roll with it if so.)

I get asked do I play basketball (I do), and do I ...

2008-10-26T22:00:00.000+09:00

I get asked do I play basketball (I do), and do I like hip hop (I did) a lot. Guess what race I am? And, of course Military is the only reason blacks are here, and to rape the women of course, so no one will dare stand near me on a train, etc... So easy to hate Japanese people fort their small mindedness. Lately, it's "do u support Obama?" which I do, as my cap, t-shirt and buttons attest to. Sometimes I think they do it on purpose. I tell myself no on can be this insensitive to the ignorance of stereotyping. But...
Anyway, if anyone is interested in reading my crazy blog check me out at: http://goinglocoinyokohama.wordpress.com/

Haha, that's great. I have also substituted おかまで f...

2008-10-25T03:54:00.000+09:00

Haha, that's great. I have also substituted おかまで for おかげで、 don't ask me how the hell that happened. ("by your gay" instead of "thanks to you"). Ah, it brings back the memories...

I will use birth control - that is better than min...

2008-10-25T01:58:00.000+09:00

I will use birth control - that is better than mine. I once told my homestay host family I wanted to stop at a hotel store to get 葉書(postcards), and they thought I said I was going there to get 下着 (underwear). My Japanese was pretty poor at that time.

Yes, all gaijin are overly emotional (I am), like ...

2008-10-25T01:51:00.000+09:00

Yes, all gaijin are overly emotional (I am), like anime too much (I do), am clumsy (I am ), sometimes make the most perplexing errors in Japanese (I do, like the time I went to say 避難します "I will evacuate this area" but accidentally said 避妊します "I will use birth control"), and so on.

Heh, I get the "what branch of the service are you in?" from Americans when they hear I live in Japan, but no one out here. We're too far from any base.

I am sure they do. They probably assume you are a...

2008-10-25T01:33:00.000+09:00

I am sure they do. They probably assume you are an English teacher, not a business owner. I hit this a lot when I was studying in Aichi-ken - I would tell a Japanese person I was studying Japanese, and sometimes they would try to correct me to say I was teaching English.

I hit it a lot when I lived in Korea. Everyone assumed I was a soldier, and if not that, and English teacher (I was an expat with a corporate job).