Do any of you seriously wish you are Japanese?

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

HALF WAY THERE SUCKAHS!

I'm born and raised in America and 100% culturally American and I wouldn't trade that for shit. My family does have some 'Japanese' traits about us but my Dad is second generation so most of that shit didn't stick with him and even less so with us kids. We do eat rice with every meal though and take off our shoes because we aren't dirty cockbags.

Also I suck at math but I'm also bad at driving. WHY DO I GET THE BAD OF BOTH SIDES!?

Oh and I don't want to be a flat chested twig, fuck yeah my white mama gave me some nice curves.

Though I do wish that I had learned Japanese through my Dad and grandma but it's not used ever in my house. So that sucks, I wanna be bi-lingual >:C

[kai_desu 340]

Though I do wish that I had learned Japanese through my Dad and grandma but it's not used ever in my house. So that sucks, I wanna be bi-lingual >:C

LETS LEARN NUCKA.

[coffee000 14]

Seriously, there are still people who think like that? I know many countries are not that good, but Japan is definitely not your ideal anime or visual kei fantasy land. *sigh* OK, even animeland is not your ideal world since most anime is crap.

 

Japan is actually a very conservative and close-minded society in many ways. You will be grateful if you live in a much freer Western country as your Western raised mindset will find it very hard to accept many of their views. I am talking about the real Japan, not your anime or visual kei fantasy land. Of course it will be different for a gaijin living in Japan and somebody who's Japanese having grown up there. You should know that many Japanese people are not that happy due to their society's norm, biases, and restrictions on them (well, at least some Japanese TV shows are honest about telling these stories). Trust me, their education system sucks.

 

The only thing I wish is being able to speak and read perfect Japanese therefore I wouldn't have to spend a lot of time and efforts to learn it.

 

That said, I still think it's a very good experience for a foreigner to live in Japan for a while if you can afford it. As to actually being a Japanese living there? No, thanks.

 

The real Korea sucks even more and it's not worth mentioning. And I think the fantasy cheesy kpop/kdrama land is even shittier than the most crappy anime. O_o

[usuxorz 30]

Nope, and I never did. I've had a few friends who earnestly wished to be Japanese/fully Japanese.

[Thedane 176]

Nope, I'd never want to be Japanese, ever.

 

Would top every hangover I've ever had, suddenly waking up being Japanese.

 

Nah, vacation though, that'll be more my cup of tea.

[RpgRiser 70]

Being Japanese...not really...

What I'd love would be to have straight hair like them, speak Japanese and maybe have a Japanese girlfriend

[chemicalpictures 1888]

lol, no. What I like about Japan: music, technology, food and folklore. I find everything else WAY too weird.

[Licio123 181]

Being Japanese...not really...

What I'd love would be to have straight hair like them, speak Japanese and maybe have a Japanese girlfriend

 QFT!

[Ro plz 1290]

I used to want to be in the past but I love being black and having a lot of Japanese things be a daily part of my life. Its one of the things that makes me who i am. Id love to move there or be able to study there, which would be awesome. 

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Currently attaining a minor in Japanese. Wish I could speak it fluently though. Although I am very fortunate to speak English at a very skillful level too.

 

 

Being Japanese, not so much. 

[orangetarts 249]

I think the only think I would like from being japanese was thick hair, discipline and cleanliness. lmao

those are things I do not possess! *looks around at my dirty ass room*

 

but the societal standards there are like wow wtf no.

I am the laziest fucking student ever, and I think If i was Japanese I would be one of those girls in suicide club that jump off the train bridge e___e

 

But I'm mostly German and English, born and raised in America.

Ive studied Japanese since I was in 5th grade (albeit not seriously until later) so at this point in my life I guess I can speak/read/write it decently.

I am nowhere close to fluency anymore since korea came in and invaded my life, so i get my languages mixed up a lot.

It is what it is.

[hiroki 5521]

Being Japanese: yes and no.

 

I've lived in Japan before and can speak Japanese fluently. But no matter how culturally "domesticated" you become I've found (like most others who have lived in Japan for years) it's impossible to be treated in the same way a native Japanese would be. That's one thing I kinda feel sad over, even as I have wonderful Japanese friends, but in general I find that to be the case which is quite regrettable.

 

At the same time a part of me doesn't want to "become" a Japanese. For one I'm very thankful to be fluent in 3 languages as I think that just opens up the world so much more than if I'm only monolingual in Japanese. I feel that even when I'm in Japan, sometimes it's nice to have an additional "outsider" perspective on issues that might not be immediately obvious to the natives.

 

Just my 2c.

[lichtlune 915]

I would like their facial features like eyes and nose. I don't believe japan is a perfect anime wonderland but i am not afraid to say yes, i wish i had Japanese genes but being myself is fine.

[Guest mitsubana]

Yeah, Japan is such an interesting place culturally and historically (and the language is fascinating), but I am content with who I am, my race, nationality, etc. I love Japan, but not enough to want to become Japanese. I'd love to visit and experience the visual kei scene and see some tourist attractions. That's about it.

[ronluna 17]

i wanna to be a japanese and i like to visit japan, meet some cool people and buy CDs. some of my japanese friends are friendly. the problem is my communication skills, kanji and money since japan has a high cost of living.

[Augie1995 325]

I wish I could fluently speak japanese and all...but I dont know if I truly want to be Japanese. I'll settle for English or Scottish

[Ikna 1225]

I am a transethnic japanese girl from da heart, even though my genes aren't azn, and I was blessed with sexy visual kei guy headmates too!!!!

…

(okay I stop with the bad tumblr related jokes )

No, I never wished to be japanese. I can't even understand anyone who says they want to be born as a diffeent ethnicity... I can understand it when people wish to be born in different places though, because living and spending your life in a country is something you can choose. Ethnicity and genes are not something you can select as if you'd play a Sims game...
And sorry, I always feel it comes off as a bit fetishizing and weird when someone are so totally obsessive about looking like someone else. I sometimes have this happen to me as I am not fully Austrian... I am half arabic and people always aproach me with the weird "Oh I like you, you are so oriental and exotic and such a lucky mix of two cultures! Can I have your almond shaped eyes please?" But maybe it's just me, because I generally don't like people to come near me.

Anyway... I am certainly not happy with my body and my appearance, but I just accept that I can't really change those issues. I'd also like to have hair that isn't just a mess of thick frizz and have clean skin and whatnot, but I think those issues aren't really related to ethnicity - japanese people as well can have a hairstructure that doesn't allow styling, they can be ugly and have the same problemes as anyone else. We might just not notice it as much as foreigners because what we always see from Japan and Asia are the musicians, stars and middle class teenager who have the money and "tools" to make them look perfect. Without make up, surgery, photoshop and beauty products they look as shitty as everyone else.
So I believe that people who obsess about being, and even more extreme, becoming asian or japanese have a really twisted sense of reality. All the have in their head when thinking about japanese people are anime characters and japanese rock or visual kei guys. Of course the same creepy shit happens in japan as well when teens there pay shit loads of money to be transformed into european looking abominations...

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

Yes - but Im chinese, Japanese and Chinese people arent so different. Cultures are very similar,

 

As a child I was told an ancient tale about how the Chinese emperor back then (and we are talking millions of years ago) sent out soldiers or conscripts to find him something that would make him immortal so he could rule China forever, He also said that if any of them were to return empty handed that they would be executed...

 

Obviously none of the soldiers or conscripts returned to the emperor and thus how Japan was born and why the cultures are similar, not forgetting Japanese Kanji of course. If you can read chinese then you would have no trouble getting around town in Japan. 

 

Unfortunately there seems to be a growing hatred between Japan & China given their history and its come to a point where the Japanese are more racist towards Chinese then black people who visit Japan - This is according to a friend who's just returned from a trip there (and yes, hes black) Ive heard parts of Japan can be extremely racist but when their hate is directed at the Chinese who are of the same colour and more than likely from the same ancestry it becomes a little extreme.

 

 

Welcome to Civilisation 2013

[clear1985 5]

Yes - but Im chinese, Japanese and Chinese people arent so different. Cultures are very similar,

 

As a child I was told an ancient tale about how the Chinese emperor back then (and we are talking millions of years ago) sent out soldiers or conscripts to find him something that would make him immortal so he could rule China forever, He also said that if any of them were to return empty handed that they would be executed...

 

Obviously none of the soldiers or conscripts returned to the emperor and thus how Japan was born and why the cultures are similar, not forgetting Japanese Kanji of course. If you can read chinese then you would have no trouble getting around town in Japan. 

 

Unfortunately there seems to be a growing hatred between Japan & China given their history and its come to a point where the Japanese are more racist towards Chinese then black people who visit Japan - This is according to a friend who's just returned from a trip there (and yes, hes black) Ive heard parts of Japan can be extremely racist but when their hate is directed at the Chinese who are of the same colour and more than likely from the same ancestry it becomes a little extreme.

 

 

Welcome to Civilisation 2013

 

I'm Japanese who has lived in Japan, the USA, and China. Currently in China. I'm Japanese. No other option for me. I'm proud to be Japanese. I love my country.

 

Hm.... Chinese and Japanese culture are similar, only when we compare ours to the rest of the world. Seriously Japanese and Chinese are totally different.

 

About the relation between China and Japan, it's true. Some Japanese would openly discriminate against Chinese these days, and vice versa. That isn't only because of the political situation. It's because Chinese and Japanese culture are very different.

 

In short, Chinese are in general more friendly, but they are just sloppy. Chinese just don't care about anything. Easy to live in China. Japanese are in general extremely polite, and meticulous, which means Japanese are extremely strict. Very hard to live in Japan as Japanese. Social pressure is just ridiculously strong. No joke.

 

I don't hate the Chinese. I really like some of my Chinese friends here for real. But, I hate the government. China isn't the best country to settle down even for the Chinese.

[mitsu☆ 10]

No, I enjoy being who I am. I'm just interested in the language and culture. Don't mean I wanna be Japanese haha.

[Nyasagi 259]

I wouldn't like to be Japanese. All that pressure in the society... just no. I'm already having a hard time, because people around me are too judgemental and close-minded, while I'm not... so I'm not a very open person, because I don't want to be around such people. It would be probably even worse in Japan as a Japanese person. Plus, I can be fat and get away with it (some people don't like it when someone is fat, but the pressure to lose weight isn't riddiculously high)

[The Bread Wolf 231]

Japanese are in general extremely polite, and meticulous, which means Japanese are extremely strict. Very hard to live in Japan as Japanese. Social pressure is just ridiculously strong. No joke.

But then again, if politeness and strictness are against each other, Japanese people will choose strictness. Like, for them things have to be a certain way, and if someone opposes these norms, they think they have a right to say it straight to their face.

 

These have not happened to myself, but are second-hand information. Yet, I do not suspect their accuracy.

 

1st occasion: A Western person moves to Japan. She's not the thinnest or smallest of girls. Honestly sayin', she is a pretty big gal. But no one in the Western part of the world, except maybe 15-year-old punks who think they're cool when they insult others, would tell her that she's fat to her face. That would be impolite, because it's none of their business what other people do with their bodies. But in Japan, this girl has faced situations, where adult people, especially elders, feel the right to tell her that she's fat and should lose weight. She didn't even know them, they were just some passer-bys in the street. 

 

2nd occasion: A Western transfer student in Japan. She had a bad day and it was showing. Something bad had happened and obviously she was feeling down. Her classmates, instead of trying to cheer her up like most people in the west would do, or at least leave her alone with it, decided it was alright to tell her to "stop moping around", as she was ruining the other people's mood as well with her behaviour.

 

Like honestly, I can't understand how this kind of behaviour is acceptable in any part of the world. These people seem to lack empathy all together. 

 

I certainly would not like to live in Japan. Like @Nyasagi, I'll gladly be fat, and bitchy, and have no one interfere with it, thank you very much.

[Nyasagi 259]

...

[God 264]

Maybe when I was way younger, I'd have thought yes about something like that.  But, I'm third generation Norwegian because my grandma came over here with her parents from Norway.  Once I found that out, I was hella stoked on my heritage because that's just rad.

[hiroki 5521]

I'll just say that I'm surprised at many of the comments here.

 

I lived in Japan for a good while and I've never experienced anything like that. I dunno if I'm just lucky, but if someone tells me he/she had been denigrated or mocked by a random stranger on the street... Japan's probably one of the last places that will come to mind.

 

From my own experience - and I won't pretend that it's a universal experience of Being In Japan - I've observed that alienation is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. A lot of people feel that they won't be accepted *anyway* in a foreign land hence they make zero effort to know people in the local community. It's the same here where I live. We peer at foreigners in our midst and imagine that they won't want to be approached by us anyway, so we keep a distance from them and feel miserable at having been alienated "by them". Obviously there are instances where you do get rudely rebuffed, and that's unfortunate. Nonetheless this isn't a problem endemic to Japan - there are rude idiots everywhere.

 

It's also no one's fault that there's always gonna be a language/culture barrier. This problem is compounded in Japan as they're generally not fluent in conversational English, and instead of embarrassing themselves they tend to avoid gaijin. Some people construe this as "being rude" but I don't because if I were in their shoes I'd probably have done that too. This brings up another problem I've noticed that's the opposite of the first - some visitors to Japan can be overzealous. Let's just say Japanese people generally don't like others (especially strangers) to be too in-your-face or direct, especially if they can already hardly understand what you're trying to say. For my part, rather than clenching my fist and whining that this barrier exists, I did everything I could to try and overcome it by learning their language. After all, I'm more interested in their culture/language than they are in mine, so why not? By and large things have worked out very well in my various interactions with natives.

 

In any case, I would advise taking others' anecdotal "evidence" with a pinch of salt. Some people may have had bad experiences - and I'm sorry to hear that - but these aren't exemplary of what living in Japan as a non-Japanese feels like. The bottom line is that if you treat people in a way that you'd like to be treated, there shouldn't be problems.

 

Edit: Regarding the topic, it's unanswerable because how would I know what living in Japan as a Japanese feels like? I believe this was basically what Ikna said as well - without knowing that there's no basis for comparison between the two "possible scenarios." However if I have a chance to move there permanently (and that's different from "wishing I'm Japanese") I think I'll be happy to do so