Deadbeat wonders why he has no Japanese friends

[Longname]

File this under 'Missing the absolute obvious'

A few months ago I had beers with several old Japan-hand guys (combined we have more than a century of Japan experiences), and one of them asked an interesting question:

"After all our years here, how many close Japanese male friends do you have?" (Excluding Debito, of course.)

We glanced amongst ourselves and realized that none of us had any

No doubt this story is his own made-up 'true' Japan story. I can't imagine he could find *any* 'old Japan hands' to spend *any* time with him. Would you?

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110802ad.html

.

[maraboutslim]

FWIW, that is quite possibly the least annoying thing by Debito I've ever read. And if he'd take out the word "Japanese," out of a few more sentences and just admit it describes most men, anywhere, then it'd be even less annoying.

[Iraira]

Maybe I'm going through crack & elephant tranquilizer withdrawls, but I swear the Japan Times published the exact same Debito article a couple of months or so ago.

[Taro Toporific]

[Iraira]

[FG Lurker]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. But, now, I'm trying to figure out why I was perusing Debito's website.

Probably due to too much crack and elephant tranquilizers...

[2triky]

and elephant tranquilizers...

I doubt any visit to the K hole would be so unpleasant...

[GomiGirl]

I doubt any visit to the K hole would be so unpleasant...

Do people still go down the K hole? I haven't heard that term for over a decade.

(Christ I am showing my age....)

[sublight]

FWIW, that is quite possibly the least annoying thing by Debito I've ever read. And if he'd take out the word "Japanese," out of a few more sentences and just admit it describes most men, anywhere, then it'd be even less annoying.

Agreed. Although if you notice that you don't have any friends in group X, and your response it to start theorizing "what's wrong with the people in group X that makes them not be friends with me?" then your perspective on life may be just a bit skewed.

[waruta]

Do people still go down the K hole? I haven't heard that term for over a decade.

(Christ I am showing my age....)

It's big in China/Taiwan trance clubs...can smell that shit a mile away.

[maraboutslim]

Agreed. Although if you notice that you don't have any friends in group X, and your response it to start theorizing "what's wrong with the people in group X that makes them not be friends with me?" then your perspective on life may be just a bit skewed.

Agreed. Though I think overall, men just don't need "good friends" the way he is theorizing. I certainly can't think of anyone I'd want to wake up at 3am to tell them my child was born! That shit can wait till, well, till whenever.

What men do is have guys we do hobby 1 with, other guys we do hobby 2 with, those we work with, those we drink with, etc. We don't need one person to do all that. Some of us have friends we talk to about life and how we are feeling and whatnot: others of us just keep that stuff to ourselves.

I have many "friends" I've made later in life, but I'll admit that the guys I'd consider my best friends are those I grew up with because of all the shared experiences. Once you are an adult, unless you're a soldier or something, men don't really have that dramatic kind of shared experience that creates that kind of friendship bond that they had as kids. Once we are adults, we live our own lives and walk our own paths, thank you very much. Don't call me at 3am with good news. Post that shit to twitter and I'll read it in the morning.

[Taro Toporific]

... have many "friends" I've made later in life...

I'm deluded into thinking, all you folks are my friends [color="Silver"](even Take-kun)[/color].

[Greji]

I'm deluded into thinking, all you folks are my friends [color="Silver"](even Take-kun)[/color].

Well thanks Taro, you sweet thing you. I didn't realize you were so sentimental! Would you like to go up to Brokeback Mountain with me tonight and watch the moonrise?

[rooboy]

Yeah, while I've gotta give the bloke some credit for doing good stuff, he does come across like a whiny sheila who wonders why the other girls don't want her in the group.

Maybe cause J men are just too damn busy to invest all that time in getting their English skills up, with all their obligations etc, they don't wanna hang out with gaijins. Even ones who speak good Japanese - in that case it's the not much in common syndrome.

Memo to overly sensitive gaijin re J people - their 'closest' friends are from school, even primary school while most of us lost contact years ago, and their company people of the same age. Leave em alonge Debbido.

[syrup16g]

What the hell is an "old hand-guy"? Do I even want to know?

[dimwit]

Well thanks Taro, you sweet thing you. I didn't realize you were so sentimental! Would you like to go up to Brokeback Mountain with me tonight and watch the moonrise?

Go for Brokeback Mountain, you really don't want to see Greji moonrise.

The problem I find with Japanese friends is that with work and all, the only thing I do with them is drink and that I need to cut back on (I've already built up enough blabber to keep me warm this winter).

[Samurai_Jerk]

What the hell is an "old hand-guy"? Do I even want to know?

If you can type this question, you can use Google or onelook.com.

[Taro Toporific]

http://www.debito.org/ is down and...

I don't want to start a new thread over an unverified report, but James of JapanProbe has just remarked...

.....

The citied WikipediaJapan link does not take me to any information about a forced DMCA shutdown of debito.org [color="Gray"](he reposts complete newspaper reports without permission on his site)[/color], so for the time being I am going to assume that somebody is teasing Debito about his website's server problems.

[Coligny]

DMCA... works only in USSA right ?

[yanpa]

The site appears (at a quick look) to be hosted in the USA.

[Taro Toporific]

[Ganma]

I am gonna have to side with Debito on this one: His parody of Little Black Sambo which he called "Little Yellow Jap" should fall under Fair use --- Parody concept.

I wonder if I can pick up a copy of that in Kinokuniya?

[Dreamy_Peach]

Little Yellow Jap

Jesus Christ.

[IparryU]

Jesus Christ.

Fair game...

Now lets start this for when the Japanese say, "Gaijin" rather than, "Gaikokujin"

Jap is to Gaijin as
Japanese is to Gaikokujin

so us FG can say Jap just as freely as they say Gaijin right?

[Greji]

Jesus Christ.

Well, J-media has reported that he is buried in Aomori and considered Japanese by the folks there. Are you saying he's Yellow as well?

[matsuki]

[omae mona]

I have not been much of a fan of Debito recently. But fraudulent DMCA claims really piss me off, as they stifle free speech. Don't confuse general copyright law with the DMCA.

Whether Debito is violating copyright law or not is an entirely different question than whether he is violating the DMCA and should have his material removed. For what it's worth, I think yes, he very possibly is violating copyright law in both cases (the Japan Times letters and the Little Black Sambo repost).

But there's a very clear and basic rule about DMCA takedown notices, as far as I understand. It must be filed by the copyright holder. An unrelated third party cannot complain. Both DMCA takedown notices seem fraudulent to me in this sense.

The author of the Japan Times letters is not the copyright owner as far as I can see; the Japan Times stipulates that they become the owner once they publish your letter. So I do not believe anybody but the Japan Times can file the takedown notice. In the case of the Little Black Sambo it sounds like the complainant is not the legitimate copyright owner either, certainly not in the case of the original American material. And the complaint looks suspiciously like a forgery, not even legitimately from the Japanese publisher.

I also do not think DMCA applies to material not copyrighted in the U.S.; neither of the cases above are!

If I were Debito and had as much spare time and room for grudges and vengeance as he has, I would file suit against both complainants in U.S. court. Fraudulent DMCA takedown notices are illegal. Not criminal, but the victim is allowed to recover all costs (including legal costs) of combatting the fraudulent takedown notice.