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Just how many people who think that Japan is full of animé/manga/videogame/pop culture goodness.
*****.com/forums/index.php?/topic/460874-ever-think-of-going-to-japan/ (replace the stars with the following letters backward: u me gd (I don't want to link to this forum directly)
On that first, all but one of the first fifteen posts seem to be people with this idea. There's barely a single mention of "culture", and everything else is repeated mentions of animé, manga, games and game systems, and food. And...really now?..."cute girls". Well, there's one mention of a car show. Not even any mentions of "Hollywood Japan" things like geishas, samurai, Mount Fuji, Shinto shrines, etc.. I mean, I cringe at people who are obsessed with that, but...we don't even get that far And not surprisingly, there's absolutely no mention of anything more subtle, like the economy, the salarymen, issues with WWII atrocity denial, societal gender roles, and things like that.
Granted, the site is an emulation site that gives people some basic points for posting something more substantial than "me2 lol" (points which can be redeemed for the download of you can guess what), so a darn lot of these people will most probably be of the "yeah, sure, I'll go, if you supply me with free plane tickets, hotel stays, tour guides, and interpreter services" persuasion.
Still, though...
...time to read the rest of the thread. There are another 7 pages.
And another thought before I continue...I actually do wonder how much of the tourist economy is based in Red Stapler tourism. That is, tourism thanks to pop culture.
Comments
Poor education regarding foreign countries and cultures coupled with obsession over their favourite past times anime/manga/whatever.
Also idiocy.
*cackle*
Weaboos gonna boo.
^^ Something tells me that someone needs to make a laughingjapanesegirls.jpg .
FWIW, the thread does get better gradually. At first, people are complaining mostly about the language barrier and the cost of travel, and finally on page 4 someone brings up the ridiculous cost of living (which applies at least to Tokyo, which is where most tourists would go to first anyway). And then someone finally brings up a nature preserve that's known for a population of human-raised squirrels (as opposed to being featured in some pop culture work).
On page six, one bitter user shows up and complains about the weeabooism. Then you get an actually interesting reply to that, about a "lodger" who stayed with them and talked about how the youth are becoming more politically and historically aware of issues such as Unit 731. I'm there now.
And later on page six: the earthquake/tsunami hits. People start mentioning that.
Was I the only one whose first thought was a visit to the site of battle of Sekigahara?
Thank you. Sheesh.
...and I'm actually surprised it took until page 8 for someone to mention ninjas.
Also, the disenfranchised poor in the bigger cities who are forced to sleep in the booths of internet cafés. Which could probably make for a cheap hotel if one goes backing in that area.
The ones who interpret any interest on Japan as "lol weebo go suk nurutu's dick" are quite annoying too. Really,extremes on anything are bad
^ You're right, and perhaps my initial post was a bit miswritten in this regard. You probably legitimately had people answering the question "Ever think of going to Japan? (and why?)" with their interest in Japanese pop culture, and thinking about going to Japan thanks to interest in its pop culture is not the same as actually intending to go to Japan primarily or solely due to interest in its pop culture. As I mentioned, a lot of these people probably won't ever go anyway, short of getting an all-expenses paid trip.
In sort, yeah, I'm inferring that people want to visit Japan only because of pop culture, but it's completely possible that they're also not really taking this question seriously anyway.
I didn't see you as one of those people,sorry if it seemed like that
I'll be honest and say shallow weeby reasons are my default assumption until shown otherwise. I've just seen it happen more often than not.
^Yeah pretty much. Everyone I've met who says they'd like to go to Japan proved themselves to be total weaboos down the line.
;_;
While I don't automatically assume that (the only "Japan-fan" I personally know, is not someone one could call a weaboo and I'm not sure if he even likes manga and anime), I can understand it well.
I admit, if somebody were to ask me what I like most about Japan, it's the pop culture stuff. Still, that would never be a reason for me to visit Japan. If I'd travel to Japan, my destination of choice would certainly not be Akihabara. Actually, it wouldn't be Tokyo at all, but Kyoto, due to it's reputation for still having quite a lot of historical stuff. Since it's a big city like the aforementioned capital (even when it's not as big), I wonder how true that is, though.
The first negative thing about Japan, that comes to my mind, is always the treatment of their atrocities. Or rather the absence of treatment. I can't help but compare it to our treatment of our own atrocities.
Akihabara is hideous.
It's not unique to Japan though. I don't see the US owning up to destroying democracy around the world any time soon.
I'm gonna be honest and say I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with wanting to visit Japan because you like its pop culture.
Although people who actually think that Japan is this utopian anime land are plenty irritating.
It's kinda like visiting the US because you like westerns
I wanna check out the Japanese metal scene and test my skills against kenjutsuka. And eat a shitload of proper damn ramen.
no alex stop being alex
SHOW UP IN FULL PLATE ARMOUR
CHALLENGE THEM IN MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN
LEGENDARY
(in this scenarios, i wear the armour on the plane trip also)
Wouldn't wearing armor be really uncomfortable on a long plane ride, though?
THE ANSWER IS CLEAR
ARRIVE VIA SHIP
There is nothing wrong with pop culture being one reason to visit it. And of course, I'd want to enjoy that too, if I'd visit Japan. But it being the primary, maybe even the sole, reason is... Well, visiting another country is a pretty big thing (unless you live near the country in question and it's easy to get over the border, like Poland here which is, or at least was, used by some people to get fuel for cheap). And that's quite a low reason to visit a country.
Even flying to a Spanish island to drink sangria out of buckets is more... No wait, that's just as stupid. And one of the reasons, I'm sometimes ashamed to be German.
For me, the reason to visit Japan is to explore their railway system, but then I'm a trains geek. Oh, and the food. And the history. And getting to see the things you don't see of a country before actually being there, including sometimes the not quite so nice parts.
> including sometimes the not quite so nice parts
I am actually rather curious about economically depressed places even here in the U.S.. Interested in figuring out why they're impoverished/run-down/adjective-of-your-choice.
Indeed -- and looking into the "archaeology" of such places, working out what used to be there.
There's also the fact that (as a passionate but amateur photographer) run-down, depressed places are full of hidden beauty and fascination -- a bit of a "wasteland porn" kind of thing, I guess.
It's naturally much harder to learn about places that you don't visit regularly, even moreso since there are so many of them on Earth. Most of what I know about Japan I learned from a neighbor who lived nearby for about a year. His father worked for the Japanese Embassy.
Some of the things I learned surprised me a bit. For example, he often wore a surgical mask outside in the winter. Apparently they take cold season a bit more seriously in Japan.