What is japans view on England?

[JamboP26]

Originally Posted by clairebear

Nobody cares about Scotland.

Lol. Tell me about it

[clairebear]

Originally Posted by JamboP26

Lol. Tell me about it

I actually have this Japanese guy as a friend on Facebook (not quite sure who he is exactly, he added me out of nowhere lol) and he messaged me saying hi and he asked me where I was from. After I told him I'm from Scotland he said "where is that?" and all I could say was "Uh...next to England" and he said he would look it up.

The fact that Scotland seems to be that unknown is a bit worrying. lol

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by clairebear

I actually have this Japanese guy as a friend on Facebook (not quite sure who he is exactly, he added me out of nowhere lol) and he messaged me saying hi and he asked me where I was from. After I told him I'm from Scotland he said "where is that?" and all I could say was "Uh...next to England" and he said he would look it up.

The fact that Scotland seems to be that unknown is a bit worrying. lol

Japanese tend to think England is Britain in my experience.

Even I don't really understand what Scotland is. Scotland is to Britain what California is to the USA how I see it.. but a Scot friend of mine is adamant that Scotland is a seperate country to England lol.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by ColinHowell

Second is that you make it sound like Japan's split with Britain was precipitated by its movements into British imperial territories. Actually that split had happened some twenty years earlier, and the U.S. was mainly responsible. By World War I the U.S. was already highly distrustful of Japanese power in the Pacific, and after the war Britain was concerned that it could be drawn into a naval arms race or even a war with the U.S. To preserve good relations with the U.S., Britain eventually decided to abandon its Japanese alliance, which was officially dissolved in 1923 as a result of the 1921 Washington Naval Conference.

Wikipedia's article on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance has a more detailed history of the relationship, with pointers to further sources.

Interesting. Didn't know that.

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

Japanese tend to think England is Britain in my experience.

Really? I read something similiar in a manga once, I thought it was an epic case of mistranslation, it was something like one character asking another where he was from, and he was like "Oh, I'm from Wales in England", and the whole confusing England/Britian thing went on so much I really thought the translator was an idiot. It's kind of interesting to hear that it's more of a Japanese thing than bad editting, lol!

[tokusatsufan]

I think a precious few know that Wales and Scotland exist but whether they know they aren't in England is a different story.

[clairebear]

It's not really a Japanese thing, it's a worldwide thing. Most people think that Britain = England. If I tell someone I'm British, they're going to assume I'm English (the biggest insult to a Scot LOL). I always have the depressing job of explaining that Britain is in fact an island consisting of 3 countries...

Somebody thinking Wales or Scotland are part of England...well...that's just a whole new level of fail.

[StonerPenguin]

Haha, I'm American, and I do know a bit about Scotland & Ireland (Read James Joyce extensively and I love Franz Ferdinand :P) but I didn't know England ≠ Britain. I knew that Ireland and Scotland was part of the UK though. So The United Kingdom and Britain are the same thing?
DUUUUR Only British people know apparently Sorry Brits.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by clairebear

It's not really a Japanese thing, it's a worldwide thing. Most people think that Britain = England. If I tell someone I'm British, they're going to assume I'm English (the biggest insult to a Scot LOL). I always have the depressing job of explaining that Britain is in fact an island consisting of 3 countries...

Somebody thinking Wales or Scotland are part of England...well...that's just a whole new level of fail.

If Scotland is a country then California is a country.

[clairebear]

Originally Posted by StonerPenguin

Haha, I'm American, and I do know a bit about Scotland & Ireland (Read James Joyce extensively and I love Franz Ferdinand :P) but I didn't know England ≠ Britain. I knew that Ireland and Scotland was part of the UK though. So The United Kingdom and Britain are the same thing?
DUUUUR Only British people know apparently Sorry Brits.

Britain = Scotland, England, Wales

United Kingdom = Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland