Racist "Darrin the Gaijin" animation featured on JR trains.

[Torimaro]

maybe you should get a lot better before teasing out perceived racism in the mass media.

oh also, about there not being any stereotypical cartoon characters in the last 40 years, i was wondering if you have ever seen the simpsons or furturama or south park or family guy?

[amdg]

For what it's worth, I'm not a big fan of the manga title myself. Although I know I'm probably in the minority in this regard, I don't think a wife should be going around calling her husband a gaikokujin. I certainly don't call my wife a foreigner when she comes to Australia. If I have need to make reference to her nationality I will call her Japanese, because, you know, that's what she is. I married her, so I should probably notice little things like that - they are important.

Then again, I never bought into the whole moral relativism thing either.

Edit - Some things I wanted to say but was too busy when I first posted at work.

I bet my left testicle that Saori, the author of that manga (now anime I guess), would without failure identify herself as Japanese when she's traveling overseas with her husband. If you kept referring to her as an asian or simply a foreigner she would begin to get annoyed (I've tried it, and most Japanese don't like it and/or don't understand the point you're making). Now reverse the situation, her husband is here with her in Japan and she just refers to him as a foreigner (not the american/hungarian or whatever mix it is that he likes to portray himself as). She thinks that's perfectly fine, because that's what she's been taught. It's a double standard.

[james]

[quote="alicia454"]Are you sure, since the Japanese title in kana is: "ダ]

can you even read japanese? where the hell do you get "wo" from は? romanji? christ you sound like an idiot saying that.

edit: i'm not trying to attack you personally, but i really think you need a better handle on the language before diving into certain types of discussions.

[Iraira]

oh also, about there not being any stereotypical cartoon characters in the last 40 years, i was wondering if you have ever seen the simpsons or furturama or south park or family guy?

Drawn Together (RIP) was the best for racial, ethnic, sexual stereotyping. If everyone gets bashed, it's all good.

[kamome]

But has anyone else seen the videos on the JR trains? ...I would appreciate hearing opinions from others who have actually watched those videos on the trains before expressing their judgements on it.

Can anyone post a link? Would be interesting to at least see the vid and judge it before tearing alicia apart the way some people have been doing in this thread. So she got the Japanese wrong and she may be a Japan noob, but damn, give her some slack, people.

[james]

Without digging too deeply I suspect one could find racists in many (most? all?) countries.

and therein lies a great irony - racism knows no racial bounds.

[FG Lurker]

So she got the Japanese wrong and she may be a Japan noob, but damn, give her some slack, people.

Yeap, she got the Japanese wrong and doesn't speak the language, she has no idea about the book, doesn't know anything about the writer or the writer's reasonably well-known husband, and is a Japan noob who knows little about the country but seems determined to judge it based on her own few bad experiences.

Maybe there is room for a bit of slack in there somewhere but personally I don't see it. Maybe you have a higher bullshit tolerance than I do.

[kurohinge1]

Can anyone post a link? Would be interesting to at least see the vid and judge it before tearing alicia apart the way some people have been doing in this thread. So she got the Japanese wrong and she may be a Japan noob, but damn, give her some slack, people.

I agree. There's too many trigger-happy posters on the parapets this watch.

Alicia454 conceded her mistakes but there's been far too many presumptions made by others, and irrelevant points laboured.

No one else seems to have seen the video.

The book may be relevant but you can't assume that, or that everyone (including Japanese) that sees the video is familiar with the book and its background and/or aware that the video is not intended to be racist.

[Greji]

and/or aware that the video is not intended to be racist.

The intention of the book was purely to make money, whether it was accepted as racist, or not was probably no where in the calculation. However, what righteous, upstanding member of wagakuni could ever resist getting a copy given that title?

BTW Kuro, when did you start picking your skippies with skirts?

[amdg]

I agree. There's too many trigger-happy posters on the parapets this watch.

Alicia454 conceded her mistakes but there's been far too many presumptions made by others, and irrelevant points laboured.

No one else seems to have seen the video.

The book may be relevant but you can't assume that, or that everyone (including Japanese) that sees the video is familiar with the book and its background and/or aware that the video is not intended to be racist.

What's that kangaroo doing with a gavel? Australian courts don't use gavels.

[kurohinge1]

What's that kangaroo doing with a gavel? Australian courts don't use gavels.

It's a visual reference to a "Kangaroo court".

[Takechanpoo]

By the way, why are you Euro-American dudes so noisy to tiny trivial racism to you, despite that you dudes have so far discriminated non-white or non-Euro-American dudes severely cruelly ruthlessly?
Just endure it. Don't make noise like a selfish child.

[alicia454]

can you even read japanese? where the hell do you get "wo" from は]romanji[/I]? christ you sound like an idiot saying that.

edit: i'm not trying to attack you personally, but i really think you need a better handle on the language before diving into certain types of discussions.

Opps, I meant to type "wa" not "wo", that was a typo.

However, even I know that "は" is the hiragana for "ha". However I also know that "は" is also used for "wa" instead of "わ" in Japanese when it comes to specifying the "as for" particle.

Here is a quote from Wikipedia:

は wa (は 'ha' is pronounced 'wa' when used as a particle)

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Grammar/Basic_Particles

So it appears that we where both wrong. Me for the typo "wo" instead of "wa", and you james for not understanding Japanese particles. And yes, I do admit that I need to learn a lot more Japanese.

[Behan]

Would it be fair to say that Laszlo and his wife seem to be using stereotypes of gaijin to make money? Maybe the book isn't racist but it looks like it's promoting stereotypes.
My wife borrowed one of those books from a friend and I had a little look at it so I am not really too sure what it's like.
How about TV shows like Koko ga Hen Dayo or Okusama wa Gaikokujin(?). They seemed to be doing the same thing.

[nottu]

Let's just clarify something, nottu..

By your above statements, do you mean...
1) America invented racism or just perfected it?
2) America just became hypersensitized/hyposensitized to what constitutes racism?

If you claim 1)...uhhh...good luck with that. Racism is far older than 232 years, 11 days.

Clearly, in more mono-cultural societies, the gaijin stand out and are going to be perceived differently. Nothing is really wrong with that per se, until you begin using the "all of them" label.

Let's just clarify - #2
Before modern America, it was the natural way. And in many places in today's world - it still is. Yes - Racism is far older than 232 years, 11 days and before that time - it was all that was.

[nottu]

yeah. racism in south africa? no problem. racism down unda? no problem. racism in Rwanda? no problem.

You've spent a great deal of time in these places - SA- Rwanda? Can you elaborate?
I always like to learn.

[james]

[kamome]

So it appears that we where both wrong. Me for the typo "wo" instead of "wa", and you james for not understanding Japanese particles. And yes, I do admit that I need to learn a lot more Japanese.

Best not to bait FG members on their Japanese ability. There are many people here who are professional translaters, bilinguals, married to Japanese and/or have lived and worked as professionals in Japan for years.

[kamome]

[quote="FG Lurker"]Yeap, she got the Japanese wrong and doesn't speak the language, she has no idea about the book, doesn't know anything about the writer or the writer's reasonably well-known husband, and is a Japan noob who knows little about the country but seems determined to judge it based on her own few bad experiences.

Maybe there is room for a bit of slack in there somewhere but personally I don't see it. Maybe you have a higher bullshit tolerance than I do. ]

Generally I don't, but she's not trolling and (I think) is trying to understand. As kuro pointed out, she also conceded her mistakes. So I guess it shouldn't be a big enough deal to torture her over something she misunderstood. I'm sure we've all been in that boat at some point before.

[omae mona]

This thread has it all. Racism! Newbies! Inter-FG bickering! Veteran members trying to restore sanity (futile)! Takechanpoo! Australia! Come to think of it, it's still missing Noriko and goats, but I am sure that will come soon enough. Please do carry on.

[nottu]

[FG Lurker]

Generally I don't, but she's not trolling

No, she isn't trolling. It looks like she has entered the typical second stage of culture shock: "This place and everything about it sucks!" I think most of us have gone through it.

She has conceded the katakana spelling, but then tried to call James on a particle problem (trust me, James knows his particles ]brain[/s] "funny bone".

I don't cut her any slack because she thinks she knows everything, hasn't listened, and seems unable to accept that perhaps there are people around who know more than she does.

[amdg]

This thread has it all. Racism! Newbies! Inter-FG bickering! Veteran members trying to restore sanity (futile)! Takechanpoo! Australia! Come to think of it, it's still missing Noriko and goats, but I am sure that will come soon enough. Please do carry on.

Oh totally. This could be the ultimate thread. But it also needs more Pongi.





Fixed.

[james]

Oh totally. This could be the ultimate thread. But it also needs more Pongi.





Fixed.

god dammit, when are you people gonna stop spamming?!

[james]

This thread has it all. Racism! Newbies! Inter-FG bickering! Veteran members trying to restore sanity (futile)! Takechanpoo! Australia! Come to think of it, it's still missing Noriko and goats, but I am sure that will come soon enough. Please do carry on.

now we're 1 for 2 on the goats and noriko. who's got the latest group photo featuring noriko?

[amdg]

We're getting close to an ultimate thread, but not close enough. There's a few things missing yet.

[Taro Toporific]

This could be the ultimate thread. But it also needs more Pongi.

[Mike Oxlong]

I'll bring the ice cream!

[Guy Incognito]

I just think you guys all gave her such an audience because she potentially has a vagina!

Quite frankly, its sexist!

[Iraira]

What I'm really po'ed about is why did it take so long for this thread to enter into the realm of the inane? Must be the heat & humidity, as normally, spread eagle farm animals would crop up around the 20th or so post.

We must focus on what is truly important. Darling Darin is not important. Absurdity is critical. Perversion essential.Cycling Freudian phases necessary. And a good daily bowel movement doesn't hurt either...no pictures please.