Originally Posted by Columbine (Post 739140)

Actually, I'm a bit baffled. You're going on a host stay mediated by some kind of school/uni right? And the host, I assume, already knows something about you, and probably you're not their first foreign host?

See, I was at a place last year where this was an option (about 1/2 the students did that) and the people I knew who took this, who had tattoo's and piercings, generally didn't have a huge problem. There was pretty much a non-committal 'Eh, but that's what young people DO, isn't it?" attitude. In fact I can only think of one student who had initial problems, but he was a BIG burly shaven-head type guy with a lot of tattoo's down his arms and back and his japanese wasn't good so he had a hard time explaining that he was maori and what the tattoo's were really all about. It did get smoothed out in the end though.

A lot of them did make attempts to make their tatt's and whatnots more subtle, especially if there was company around, but generally after a while it was just accepted as part and parcel. It's not like piercings amongst college students are really that much of a rarity in Japan anymore either. Well, maybe in other areas. My city might have been unusually liberal, I don't know.

As for the food thing, allergies were generally accepted without much fuss, it's things like lent that the host family's found really hard to get their head's around.

Originally Posted by Sangetsu (Post 738689)

It seems that many people have a lot of misconceptions about Japan and Japanese culture.

Originally Posted by Sangetsu (Post 736585)

Then grow up and don't uncover them. In Japan people are taught to respect the body which was given to them by their parents, not to deface it with tattoos or piercings. Your host parents may be embarrassed to be associated with you if you ever uncover them, and they'll certainly feel sorry for your parents.

Originally Posted by burkhartdesu (Post 739205)

When I went to Japan I had two lip piercings on each side (commonly known as 'snakebites').

I was very straightforward and honest with my host family-- and they thought they were terrific. Seriously, they asked me to wear them in our purikura :o They didn't even find it that strange, all things considered.

On the other hand I wouldn't have been caught dead in School with them.

If you're piercings are healed, and it's not necessary to wear them, then don't.



I think if I didn't have the piercing, I would have drawn much less attention to myself.


For some reason I had the sensation of being a 'rockstar' type figure-- now that I look back on it, it's pretty embarrassing. :D

For the record, I posted one of those instances:




We thought we were so cool. (Im in the blue, with the ridiculous white sunglasses on.)

Originally Posted by mercedesjin (Post 739233)

It's good to hear that your host family didn't care. I hope mine will have the same reaction. When I was in Sendai I still brought a lot of attention to myself, and I didn't have any piercings then. I think I'll get a lot of attention either way just because I'm an obvious foreigner.

And those sunglasses are cool lol. I think that someone only has the annoying "rockstar" aura when they walk around, thinking they're cooler than everyone else. Doesn't mean you can't wear the shades. Cause believe me, I love busting out my shades too.

Why didn't you like to wear your piercings in school?

Originally Posted by ACW (Post 739228)

The conversations between Mercedesjin and MMM remind me of this segment from Family Guy. Don't know why haha :confused:


YouTube - Family guy-Stubborn as a mule

Originally Posted by burkhartdesu (Post 739234)

Well it's not so much that I didn't like wearing my piercings, but they are forbidden at the High School I attended.

And I'm sure I brought attention to myself not because my "aura", but because I was with a massive group of American high schoolers.


Though I would like to think it's because I'm cool
:D

Originally Posted by MMM (Post 739257)

I hope I didn't sound like the mule.

Originally Posted by mercedesjin (Post 739160)

It's good to hear this. =) And I'm going to Kyoto city too, so hopefully what you say will work out. Where were you last year?

But no, even though I'm going through a school, the school told all of us that we won't find out about our host family and they won't find out about us until mid-August, and we arrive in September. I think that might be common with exchange programs.