Dave In Japan: Society And Culture

[Big Booger]

http://daveahlman.com/society/society.htm

Interesting.. quite recent, and hits the major points of Japan.. I especially like the bosozoku showing the English teacher his rod.. you'll have to see how big it really is.. LMAO.

[yellowlightman]

Found that site recently since Taro linked to one of the bosozoku pictures.

Pretty interesting commentary, looks liek it wasn't finished as it hasn't been updated in a while. His bamboo house project is pretty interesting.

[Big Booger]

That site is really good. I liked reading it. His bamboo house looks awesome, and totally original. yeah that kid has some nasty teeth LOL

The toliet training is interesting, as is nearly every part of that site. If you want to know what life is like currently in Japan, without the fluff of some of those other "This is Japan" sites, Dave's site on his experience in Hiroshima is detailed and interesting.

[jingai]

Yeah, parts of the site are condescending (calling Japanese kids little monkeys???) but overall it's interesting.
When I was getting into forum-wars over bosozoku, I linked to his page a bunch of times, and Japanese found it amusing, but were wondering if we still think of them as near-sighted with bad teeth.

Jingai

[Milla]

A very good site but for a teacher (I assume he's an English teacher?) his spelling is appalling!

[Caustic Saint]

Yeah, parts of the site are condescending (calling Japanese kids little monkeys???)

I think he's using that phrase to put their behavior in a context that he can understand. What he said was:

One thing I've become accustomed to (barely) is boys sitting on each other's laps. The boys at left are 9th graders (age 14 - 15) at my junior high. I'm still a little disturbed by it. It helps me to think of them as little monkeys playing.

In America, that kind of close physical contact simply doesn't exist in boys that age. Boys would never do that, and would be labeled "gay" the instant they did. So for him, knowing these kids are just regular Japanese boys, he feels the need to come up with some frame of reference to explain the behavior. It is very primate-like - and who among us has never referred to kids as "little monkeys?"

I often refer to some of my students as "monkeys on crack."

[maraboutslim]

a few, um, odd things on that page: he says: "It's fairly common for Western women to date Japanese men, but the inverse is pretty rare." Surely he means the opposite, no? He says bozozoku aren't into drugs? Says bastards have a special mark on their birth certificates (we all know individuals don't have birth certificates in japan, they just get added to their father's, or i guess in this case mother's, family register). And I'm not sure that the gesture people flash in photos is a "peace sign".

-Slim

[Big Booger]

If you are looking for factual data about Japan, then no, his site is not the best. It is more of an opinion/experience of Japan. It's not an encyclopedic reference LOL

I think the monkey comment is basically like CS says, a description about their actions rather than any racial remark or slur. I have seen students even picking through their classmates hair just like little chimps. It is almost comical.

And yes I think he meant western men hook up easily with Japanese women.. just a small mistake in the wording.

As for the bosozoku, I think by birth certificate, maybe he means family register??? I am not too sure because I'm not knowledgable about those matters...

And I think the bosozoku of Hiroshima might be a different breed than that of say Tokyo or Osaka. Drugs might be prevalent in the later, but less so in Hiroshima.. not too sure because I have never heard of a sociological study done on bosozoku.

As for the gesture, it appears to be the peace sign to him. He called it the peace sign because that is how he recognizes it.. not sure if he was inferring that Japanese consider it the peace sign or not..

I think Japanese just think that V sign is cute and has no real meaning.. though if I am not mistaken even the bubble-headed Musume Band, through out the "peace sign" in their "Za Peace" Song.

[maraboutslim]

I just think they whole "peace sign" thing is a trip. I agree that for most people I'm sure they have no idea and just do it because everyone else does it (like kids flashing "gang signs" to be cool).

I suspect this sign was first widely seen in Japan as the "v for victory" being flashed by American soldiers following WWII. Then perhaps it mutated into the peace sign in the hippy era or perhaps by then it was already a meaningless gesture used by Japanese who didn't care/know about its intended meanings.

-Slim

(by the way, the written "peace sign" thing is connected to the tutonic cross, broken cross, various symbols that are supposedly satanic or at least anti-christian, and is also connected to the Masons and all sorts of wacky stuff, as is the hand gesture).

[yellowlightman]

I suspect this sign was first widely seen in Japan as the "v for victory" being flashed by American soldiers following WWII. Then perhaps it mutated into the peace sign in the hippy era or perhaps by then it was already a meaningless gesture used by Japanese who didn't care/know about its intended meanings.

I thought the V-for-victory hand sign was the other way, with the back of the hand pointing away from the person? Or at least thats what my 10th grade World Civilization teacher told me.

[maraboutslim]

back of the hand outwards sounds awfully like the British version of the American middle finger trick. Oi!