63 replies to this topic

[G☆LE]

I was scrolling through old Hey!Say!JUMP videos...Remember that thing I said about "breaking down the language", I literally mean this:

 

 

I have actually had people at school that speak like this, it is pretty hard watch, especially when they talk to teachers. 

Spoiler

I wasn't going to mention this at first, but I just wanted to throw it out there. About 5 years ago, when I was in the 8th grade, I met a girl named Cherry (at least I think that was her real name), she did something... very disturbing. 

In the beginning of the year I introduced her to anime, with things like Karin, LoveCom (the perfect anime) and Monster (which was awesome), After a while she got kinda weird, speaking in chopped up Japanese sentences, and got too weird for me so I kind of distanced myself. A few weeks later she comes to my friends and says "there is a place in the forest, everyone their does transformations into neko, and a neko bit me, but my outfit is so cute, it is pink and frilly and has a heart on it, and there is this really cute guy! He makes be blush, so kawaii. He is so cute in his neko form, when I am in my neko form I like to snuggle with him." (something weird like Tokyo Mew)

Throughout the year she would describe this place in the forest more and more, almost to the point that I believed her. She actually got so immersed in anime, that she created her own world.

It really scared me. 

[Kinjiru]

I think it mostly manifests itself in people who only just started watching anime and get so overwhelmed by this entire new, exotic world their geek level goes off the charts and they lose track of how they affect those around them and are seen by them. I have never seen 'veterans' act like that and the people in Japan who grow up with it and are into otaku culture even hide it completely unless the other person shows interest in it. Then again, the image of an otaku and the social consequences for one are much clearer then overseas, where people will just think you're kind of weird.

[AragonDx]

She actually got so immersed in anime, that she created her own world.

 

I think there's another term for this kind of behavior. It's called "Chuunibyou Syndrome."

[✮DanDan✮]

Oh well that's kinda...scary. That goes way passed weaboo-ism into clear obsession in my view. Or I guess it'd be Chuunibyou Syndrome. 

 

My friends have a few stories when they ran a booth at a convention about weaboos. One of them was something like "Oh this is so kawaii desu!!!" 

Although, I've never heard anyone speak like that (because they know they'd be judged), I've heard the usual "Japan is the greatest country" shtick a few times. I have seen online though the use of Japanglish (is that coined yet? Can I coin that?), and frankly it's a little jarring to see, but I think that's how fans reach out to each other. It's like a bonding process in which you use Japanglish to gain the amicability of other fans who are just like you, who "understand" you which makes me think that weaboo-ism is a phase and you can outgrow it (I did if that's any evidence).

 

As for fanfiction (because I write Kpop ones I admit) I do not support the use of "(S)he looked chou kawaii/neomu yeppeo in that outfit" I am perfectly fine with the character's catchphrase. I don't see anything wrong about that. Like using "dattebayo" in a Naruto fanfic would totally be appropriate because he says it all the time. Fanfiction is weird because foreign fanfiction you're writing it in English but you assume the dialogue would be in the characters' native language? So adding a random Japanese word in wouldn't make sense? 

 

And although in fairness I don't expect Japan to know much about America, I still think America should know more about other cultures. America sells itself as the land of many cultures that come together to make one culture so respecting/accepting different cultures should be the one thing we do, but we don't.

 

Edit: Japanglish is already a coined term orz

[LoveRice]

There are 2 types of Japanese Culture Fans:

 

Weaboo - " Japan has the best culture ever! Everyone else's culture suck!"

 

Japanophile - " I love everything about Japan!"

 

The question you need to ask yourself is which category you belong to.

[Hatched Egg]

I was scrolling through old Hey!Say!JUMP videos...Remember that thing I said about "breaking down the language", I literally mean this:

 

 

I have actually had people at school that speak like this, it is pretty hard watch, especially when they talk to teachers. 

 

 

There's actually a linguistic term for that image you shared. This person is code mixing, although it's usually used to describe speaking behavior. Whoever wrote that was obviously 13 at the time as well. 

[Krusha]

There are 2 types of Japanese Culture Fans:

 

Only two types of people who are into Japanese culture..? You're really sure you can't boil it down to just one type, and make it even more accurate, precise, and all-encompassing in terms of describing the thousands of thousands of people who are into the numerous aspects of Japanese culture, old and new, of the past and of the present? ...

 

Look... there's lots and lots of different "types", if you want to call it that. 

 

I myself with regards to Japan, have an interest in idols, various aspects of popular subculture, entertainment, music, movies, culture, history, religion, literature, society, traditional art, architecture, and probably more topics that I forget right now. Some I care more about than other, and with regards to the aforementioned I'm into, there are certain topics I care more about than others. For example with Japanese history - which really is a vast field - I am more interested in Classical and Medieval Japan rather than say the Meiji Period, although the Meiji Period is really fascinating. I read about these things, watch or listen to relevant media, and all of that jazz.

 

But I don't think that everything Japan is amazing and that everything else not being Japan sucks, nor do I love everything about Japan. In terms of things I like, study, read about, immerse myself in and so on, Japan isn't even number one for me... There's a couple of other countries and issues related to those that I am far more interested in than Japan, and have been for years since I was a child. 

 

This phenomena isn't limited to just Japan, you can find it around the world with regards to other countries or topics that people go way overboard with, and completely lose the plot with. I know of South American black metal fans that are surprised when they come to Norway and finds out that their heroes so to speak have regular parents whom they meet with, or maybe are parents themselves, or are school teachers, and are well functioning human beings of society, and don't constantly wear corpse-paint or walks around looking angry and so on. 

 

And what about some of the Japanese people (girls in particular) who thinks that France = Castles, and romantic princess or whatever. I mean, this is a rather naive and limited view to have isn't it?

 

It all just boils down to doing your homework, i.e., becoming informed, objective, being open-minded, trying to look at things from different angles, and not being lazy. A lot of people refuses to do the work needed to attain more knowledge about any given subject. And that's their downfall.

[G☆LE]

There are 2 types of Japanese Culture Fans:

 

Weaboo - " Japan has the best culture ever! Everyone else's culture suck!"

 

Japanophile - " I love everything about Japan!"

 

The question you need to ask yourself is which category you belong to.

For me, personally, I love all cultures and Japan is just slice of what I love. For me I love Thailand, but it just means it is somewhere I know I can feel accepted and meet humble people and enjoy a very strong and very proud culture, but I know it has flaws just like every other country on this planet. I don't love everything Japan, and I am pretty far from a weaboo. I actually am very critical of Japanese society, but I love certain singers and landscapes in their country side. 

So I wouldn't say there are just two types. There is plenty gray area. There are casual Japan fans, there are idol Japan fans, there are cultural Japan fans, etc.

[LoveRice]

 

There are 2 types of Japanese Culture Fans:

 

Only two types of people who are into Japanese culture..? You're really sure you can't boil it down to just one type, and make it even more accurate, precise, and all-encompassing in terms of describing the thousands of thousands of people who are into the numerous aspects of Japanese culture, old and new, of the past and of the present? ...

 

Look... there's lots and lots of different "types", if you want to call it that. 

 

I myself with regards to Japan, have an interest in idols, various aspects of popular subculture, entertainment, music, movies, culture, history, religion, literature, society, traditional art, architecture, and probably more topics that I forget right now. Some I care more about than other, and with regards to the aforementioned I'm into, there are certain topics I care more about than others. For example with Japanese history - which really is a vast field - I am more interested in Classical and Medieval Japan rather than say the Meiji Period, although the Meiji Period is really fascinating. I read about these things, watch or listen to relevant media, and all of that jazz.

 

But I don't think that everything Japan is amazing and that everything else not being Japan sucks, nor do I love everything about Japan. In terms of things I like, study, read about, immerse myself in and so on, Japan isn't even number one for me... There's a couple of other countries and issues related to those that I am far more interested in than Japan, and have been for years since I was a child. 

 

This phenomena isn't limited to just Japan, you can find it around the world with regards to other countries or topics that people go way overboard with, and completely lose the plot with. I know of South American black metal fans that are surprised when they come to Norway and finds out that their heroes so to speak have regular parents whom they meet with, or maybe are parents themselves, or are school teachers, and are well functioning human beings of society, and don't constantly wear corpse-paint or walks around looking angry and so on. 

 

And what about some of the Japanese people (girls in particular) who thinks that France = Castles, and romantic princess or whatever. I mean, this is a rather naive and limited view to have isn't it?

 

It all just boils down to doing your homework, i.e., becoming informed, objective, being open-minded, trying to look at things from different angles, and not being lazy. A lot of people refuses to do the work needed to attain more knowledge about any given subject. And that's their downfall.

 

The 2 types are for when people just got exposed to Japanese culture.

 

The other types only appear when they actually start researching.

 

I myself love Japan almost as much as my own country but I'm aware of its negatives.

[True_Beginner]

And although in fairness I don't expect Japan to know much about America, I still think America should know more about other cultures. America sells itself as the land of many cultures that come together to make one culture so respecting/accepting different cultures should be the one thing we do, but we don't.

 

I would say it's ideal to know that there is more to a country than what gets spread around the internet, like that the Japanese aren't just some country "full of weirdos" or something, we have our own strange things that go on over here but of course the things that make it onto the internet are going to be what is viral or eye-catching. Although knowing the exactness of another country is pretty extreme I think, people just need to know that while we live in different countries, we all tend to live the same way to some extent, just with different values and traditions. To say we should hold ourselves to a higher standard than others I don't quite agree with, maybe more a standard higher than having sweeping generalizations about another race and culture.

 

The one thing I don't care for is the elitism I see when people want to profess how much they love Japan. I get that some people have a high respect for the country and would hope others could share the same kind of regard, but you love the country more than the average person, so keep that in perspective too. I love Japan, but I really don't know a fair amount of stuff, it's more a casual love that is spread around things I genuinely like.

[AragonDx]

It all just boils down to doing your homework, i.e., becoming informed, objective, being open-minded, trying to look at things from different angles, and not being lazy. A lot of people refuses to do the work needed to attain more knowledge about any given subject. And that's their downfall.

 

 

 This is very true. A misled information and ignorance can easily make someone a weaboo. For example, we know that in Japan, the word "otaku" is not cool. It has negative means. And many people in this world (and my country) still think that otaku is cool. And they are proud to be called otaku. This is because they only look at word "otaku" from one angle. They think that being otaku is cool, but they don't know that it actually has negative means because they don't have the knowledge about the word itself, and they don't want to attain more knowledge about it.

 

I have personal experience in this matter. One day I went to Internet Cafe, and because my modem was broken, I download and watched some anime there.

Suddenly a man came closer to my seat and said (I was watching anime at that time) : "Hey, are you otaku?" .I answered " No, I just like to watch anime", and then he said "It's the same meaning bro. Oh yeah, why don't you join our group on FB? I'm an admin of a FB group called '*my town name* Otaku Group'. We have a lot of otakus there. Come join us!" I just answered "Okay, I'll consider it. Thanks" and finally he left. I never joined that group, of course.

 

In my country almost every city has a anime community with "otaku" name on it. And they are proud of that name.

This is one of them --> https://www.facebook...93278?ref=br_rs

[EtherSword]

^I was reading through this topic and I was going to bring that up but you did already lol.  I noticed the terms weeaboo and otaku are also often used very poorly, I lurk around at many forums and for like gaming forums (gamefaqs), I often see people be bashed at for preferring subtitles over English dubs and those peopled are being called weeaboos.  That is at least one of the examples I've seen.  Just because some person prefers the audio in Japanese, it shouldn't make them a weeaboo.

 

A weeaboo in my opinion is a person that not only loves everything about Japan but also pretends everything that is Japanese related is always better no matter what simply because its Japan.  That to me is a weeaboo.  And having that mindset isn't going to bode well for them.

 

But anyways, I think the true weeaboos out there, I think its more of just a phase and they will get over that mindset in due time.  At least I hope so lol.

[Kinjiru]

^Yes, people preferring the original Japanese voices get called weaboos by some, which is absolutely ridiculous. How the hell is wanting the original voice talent who partly created the characters related to that? I invite these people to watch Harry Potter in German or Red Cliff in English or whatever, and make them wish they had the original voices. There is so much lost in translation that I find it more awkward if someone wants a dub, unless the original is bad. At least subtitles aren't restricted by lip-syncing.

[Neru Pyon Aishi]

-

[✮DanDan✮]

 

And although in fairness I don't expect Japan to know much about America, I still think America should know more about other cultures. America sells itself as the land of many cultures that come together to make one culture so respecting/accepting different cultures should be the one thing we do, but we don't.

Although knowing the exactness of another country is pretty extreme I think, people just need to know that while we live in different countries, we all tend to live the same way to some extent, just with different values and traditions. To say we should hold ourselves to a higher standard than others I don't quite agree with, maybe more a standard higher than having sweeping generalizations about another race and culture.

 

Well, that's what I meant. I didn't mean we should know the extent of culture in every country, but we should know more than generalizations about another race and culture than what we get through YouTube and other social media sites ^^. Like to know that Japan has more music than Babymetal/Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and that it isn't just "weird". 

 

 

But anyways, I think the true weeaboos out there, I think its more of just a phase and they will get over that mindset in due time.  At least I hope so lol.

I honestly think it's a phase. But I have seen 18+ weaboos.

[AragonDx]

I often see people be bashed at for preferring subtitles over English dubs and those peopled are being called weeaboos.  That is at least one of the examples I've seen.  Just because some person prefers the audio in Japanese, it shouldn't make them a weeaboo.

 

Yeah, I personally prefer subtitled anime than the dubbed one. In my country some animes are aired here on TV, and it's Indonesian-dubbed. The seiyuus (what's the term? dubber? I just don't know) looked like they only reading the script, not putting spirit in it. It just don't feel right for me. I mean, it's fine if the dubbing is good, but if it's bad, I really prefer the subtitled one. It's a waste to see good anime ruined by some bad dubber (is it right?).

[michikodesu]

When did this "weeaboo trend" start, I wonder? Because when I got into anime, finding others who watched it was few and far between and we were pretty much borderline "otaku" (meaning we huddled in each others houses to watch whatever we could get on VHS, and there wasn't anything that we could wear or flaunt the fact that we loved anime----so there wasn't the social aspect there). Even my friends and I who were taking Japanese in college, didn't have loud conversations in Japanese (even when speaking to our friends who were exchange students and 'mentors'). But, you just didn't see this type of behavior among the community. 

 

I could blame it on the information explosion of the internet.........but, then again, you could blame the internet for a lot of things. But it seems people are now more open and accepting of things, so maybe that is bringing about the courage and forthrightness that maybe my friends and I did not have way back in the old days. 

 

What do ya'll think? 

[zam（仮）]

Racist is a strong word, I meant to say prejudice, when your outlook on an entire culture (all cultures have wars, fights for rights, justice, injustice, famine etc) is cosmetic, it is not appreciating the culture, it is raping it of its merit. Expecting every Japanese person you see to be like a character in Haikyuu is just prejudice, but it also goes both ways, since many people in eastern culture expect all americans to look like Taylor Swift.

The word you are looking for is stereotype.

[michikodesu]

I think that this kind of discussion is needed. When there is a certain 'terminology' used to define a group of people, I think people should talk about it. Especially if it is detrimental to another person's culture/traditions/way of life. 

 

When discussed in this manner, there isn't a lot of "hurt feelings", but a coming together for understanding. I'm glad that many of you put a lot of thought into your posts before commenting. 

 

Thank you!!! 

[iheartmanochan]

This is such a good thread!

 

I was definitely a weeaboo in my early high school years. I'm not afraid to admit it. If you look up the typical weeaboo behavior, I did it ALL. It was REALLY bad. I'm so terribly embarrassed of those years. But I phased out of it. I grew. And now I'm more informed about the culture and language than I ever was as a weeaboo. 

 

Defining exactly what a weaboo is is really hard. I really don't think that a person who only knows about anime and manga and nothing else about Japan is a weaboo. I would call that Cultural ignorance maybe? There's not really a word for it. Also, plenty of people only like Korea due to kpop and don't really know anything about the country. But that doesn't mean they're a koreaboo. An otaku is definitely not a weeaboo, but an otaku CAN be a weeaboo. There's a difference. And I agree with others, people use the term way too lightly. 

 

A weeaboo to me is exactly as EtherSword stated because this is exactly how I acted "A weeaboo in my opinion is a person that not only loves everything about Japan but also pretends everything that is Japanese related is always better no matter what simply because its Japan"