Why Japan?

[BobbyCooper]

Originally Posted by tipsygypsy

oh before I leave, i wanna show all y'all this video. I think this is why I love my own people. YouTube - Purinkitsu Purinkitsu

can't watch it in my country

[protheus]

Why Japan? Can't answer, from my point of view, it's the same as any other country I hadn't visited yet.

I think I can answer better to "Why Japanese?" I'm here just to learn the language, it has something that attracts me, maybe it's because of it's logic base. Implying is a rule in speaking/writing japanese, - at least from what I learned until now - and implying something involves logical processing.

Originally Posted by tipsygypsy

oops it's already 10pm here.

Buh, it's barely 3 pm here....

[Dutchie]

For me it started at an early age. My grandparents lived in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and once a week we visit theme and every satherday there was a big market. There was a little stand with 2 Japanese guys selling toys comming directly from Japan. I'm sure they were sailers from the harbour making some money with stuff they brought from home. But anyway , i loved those toys...they looked like robotic dinosaurs and could shoot stuff. While my friends played with Star Wars and Star Trek i had some obscure brightly coloured mecha dino's and boy did i loved them.
Here is a picture of one of them : http://mhsrobotics.com/wp-content/up...ku%20Maryu.jpg
A couple of years later they aired "battle of the planets" on tv. I realy don't know how the serie is called in Japan but it blew me away. it was the first anime i saw and i made a conection with the toys i had and this serie thinking...stuff from Japan is cooool.
Later in life i started racing motorbikes. I raced classic britisch bikes (norton and BSA) but was always amazed with the technic the Japanese bikes had racing in my class. The Honda Black Bomber with the torsion bar valve springs and double cams , the 2-stroke unslaught of the Yamaha racing bike's and so on. The Honda six cilinder racers were the top of the bill. Now i was sure all the special stuff came from Japan
During the Balkan war i was stationed in Italy with the Dutch airforce as a weapon mechanic for the F-16's and met a Japanese girl. She teached me my first Japanese words. I loved the spoken words and it wasn't that difficult to learn them.
Even my taste of music connect me with Japan. You guys have some great psychobilly scene.
When i played in a band (bass guitar) we had a gig with a Japanese band called s.o.b (grindmetal) One of the nicest guys i ever met.
Besides all that there are many other things that got me connected with your country like my hobby to collect ww 2 stuff.
If i summ it up it will look like this : Anime/manga , Honda rc181/rc173 , Suzuka circuit (i have to see the F1 there) , psychobilly/rockabilly scene , the girls , the food , the language , ww2 aircrafts , discover the many differencies between my country and yours. That is what attract me to your country.

[RealJames]

Originally Posted by BobbyCooper

Your entire life story is very facinating James. I always love reading about it!

just one question.. did you finished University before you were looking for a different country?? And why did you exactly wanted to move?
Did you more plan to see the World or was the intention really to settle somewhere else?

Thanks! That's nice to hear, I seem to find myself around people whose lives I think are much more interesting than mine lol, it's nice to see someone else thinks the same of me haha.

I was in Kenya for a while after high school, and Korea for a few months during uni. I came to Japan after uni, which is pretty much a necessity if you intend to stay unless you're still a student or have extensive experience in the filed you work in.

I wanted to move because, all countries being equal, each one seems to have different things it can offer different people. My life in Canada was perfect and well balanced, but pigeon-holed with respect to work options. Kenya was liberating and a lot more happy, but risky at best and with no western concept of "a future". Japan suits me best at this time, and for the foreseeable future.

I never had the intention to settle anywhere, though I seem to be putting some roots down here, I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself in a different part of Japan, or the world, later on.

[ryuhebi13]

For me, my interest in Japan started when I was a kid. Most of the animation I liked was Japanese, or at least had Japanese animators. Battle of the Planets with G-Force (Gatchaman) was one of my favourite shows. I got books out on Japan and was taken with the Samurai (even dressed up like one at a school fancy dress lol). Throughout my life Japan has popped up and caught my interest whether it be some innovative technology, Shintoism or anime. Japanese games and music led me to start a more in depth exploration to find out more about japanese culture and language to the point where I want to learn more about Japan from it's own people. Now I want to visit the place that has caught my attention so much but before I do I want to be able to converse freely and not expect my host to use English. I also want to learn mannerisms too. I found out (on NHK) that crossing fingers means basically, I am done, and pointing to your nose means it's mine. In short. So for me, I've always been fascinated by Japan, I just wish I would have started to learn the language at an earlier age.

[TalnSG]

My first triggers were typical of a young girl in some ways. I was all of about 9 when James Shigeta's picture from a movie magazine went up on my bedroom wall. And I always wished Jack Soo was my uncle.

Flower Drum Song was followed by Shirley McClain introducing a less than accurate concept of "Geisha" to my inquisitive mind. Being a Brando fan (secondary to Shigeta!) I also watched Sayonara and Tea House of the August Moon every chance I got. And I read everything I could find about real geisha's - though that wasn't much till many years later.

Then around 13, my interest took a serious detour into Shinto .... at least as far as someone in Mississippi could get before the internet and without any skills for reading Japanese. I even tried to get a friend's Japanese mother to talk to me about it, but she objected to the subject even more than the base librarians. By then my parents already knew I was weird. Evenutally I gave up on that study - at least until I got my first PC.

As for everyone else I know (other than Koreans and Sansei) their interest in Japan began with either imported cars, technology or the advent of sushi as the food that cool people ate.

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by protheus

Why Japan? Can't answer, from my point of view, it's the same as any other country I hadn't visited yet.

I think I can answer better to "Why Japanese?" I'm here just to learn the language, it has something that attracts me, maybe it's because of it's logic base. Implying is a rule in speaking/writing japanese, - at least from what I learned until now - and implying something involves logical processing.

Oh your opinion also is really interesting. In general, Japanese is considered as an abstract language in our society. Most of us think Chinese, English, and other western languages are much better languages for logical thinking. What a vice-versa!

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by Dutchie

For me it started at an early age. My grandparents lived in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and once a week we visit theme and every satherday there was a big market. There was a little stand with 2 Japanese guys selling toys comming directly from Japan. I'm sure they were sailers from the harbour making some money with stuff they brought from home. But anyway , i loved those toys...they looked like robotic dinosaurs and could shoot stuff. While my friends played with Star Wars and Star Trek i had some obscure brightly coloured mecha dino's and boy did i loved them.
Here is a picture of one of them : http://mhsrobotics.com/wp-content/up...ku%20Maryu.jpg
A couple of years later they aired "battle of the planets" on tv. I realy don't know how the serie is called in Japan but it blew me away. it was the first anime i saw and i made a conection with the toys i had and this serie thinking...stuff from Japan is cooool.
Later in life i started racing motorbikes. I raced classic britisch bikes (norton and BSA) but was always amazed with the technic the Japanese bikes had racing in my class. The Honda Black Bomber with the torsion bar valve springs and double cams , the 2-stroke unslaught of the Yamaha racing bike's and so on. The Honda six cilinder racers were the top of the bill. Now i was sure all the special stuff came from Japan
During the Balkan war i was stationed in Italy with the Dutch airforce as a weapon mechanic for the F-16's and met a Japanese girl. She teached me my first Japanese words. I loved the spoken words and it wasn't that difficult to learn them.
Even my taste of music connect me with Japan. You guys have some great psychobilly scene.
When i played in a band (bass guitar) we had a gig with a Japanese band called s.o.b (grindmetal) One of the nicest guys i ever met.
Besides all that there are many other things that got me connected with your country like my hobby to collect ww 2 stuff.
If i summ it up it will look like this : Anime/manga , Honda rc181/rc173 , Suzuka circuit (i have to see the F1 there) , psychobilly/rockabilly scene , the girls , the food , the language , ww2 aircrafts , discover the many differencies between my country and yours. That is what attract me to your country.

Oooooh my gaaaaaaawd!! Your grandpa is in Rotterdam? Rotterdam has been a special place for me since I was 15. I really was into Rotterdam techono music back then. By the way, that dinosaurs toy is called "Zoid" here in Japan. And, those toys are still popular among mania people.

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by ryuhebi13

For me, my interest in Japan started when I was a kid. Most of the animation I liked was Japanese, or at least had Japanese animators. Battle of the Planets with G-Force (Gatchaman) was one of my favourite shows. I got books out on Japan and was taken with the Samurai (even dressed up like one at a school fancy dress lol). Throughout my life Japan has popped up and caught my interest whether it be some innovative technology, Shintoism or anime. Japanese games and music led me to start a more in depth exploration to find out more about japanese culture and language to the point where I want to learn more about Japan from it's own people. Now I want to visit the place that has caught my attention so much but before I do I want to be able to converse freely and not expect my host to use English. I also want to learn mannerisms too. I found out (on NHK) that crossing fingers means basically, I am done, and pointing to your nose means it's mine. In short. So for me, I've always been fascinated by Japan, I just wish I would have started to learn the language at an earlier age.

You are jus like another "Oooooh my gaaaaaaawd!" dude to me haha. You sound like more Japanese than me since you are so curious about the roots of us and traditional Japanese manners. lol But let me tell you one thing. Feel free to speak English whenever you feel it's much easier to communicate with your host family. Trying to improve your Japanese skill is important thing, but it's more important to have smooth communication with others.

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by TalnSG

My first triggers were typical of a young girl in some ways. I was all of about 9 when James Shigeta's picture from a movie magazine went up on my bedroom wall. And I always wished Jack Soo was my uncle.

Flower Drum Song was followed by Shirley McClain introducing a less than accurate concept of "Geisha" to my inquisitive mind. Being a Brando fan (secondary to Shigeta!) I also watched Sayonara and Tea House of the August Moon every chance I got. And I read everything I could find about real geisha's - though that wasn't much till many years later.

Then around 13, my interest took a serious detour into Shinto .... at least as far as someone in Mississippi could get before the internet and without any skills for reading Japanese. I even tried to get a friend's Japanese mother to talk to me about it, but she objected to the subject even more than the base librarians. By then my parents already knew I was weird. Evenutally I gave up on that study - at least until I got my first PC.

As for everyone else I know (other than Koreans and Sansei) their interest in Japan began with either imported cars, technology or the advent of sushi as the food that cool people ate.

hahaha what a mature kid you were! If I were your dad, I would think "9years old and she's into geisha stuff? what kinda 9years old gurl you are?" seriously. lol Thank you for the intersting story.