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Cue up The Vapors, "Turning Japanese"

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Posts

  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    Goose! wrote: »
    What was it like writing on chalkboards in school?

    fffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

  • LorahaloLorahalo Registered User regular
    My younger school years were with chalkboards, and that was only 10-15 years ago. My high school was all white boards (except one classroom in the really old block with a chalkboard) and the 3 maths rooms had smartboards.

    I have a podcast about Digimon called the Digital Moncast, on Audio Entropy.
  • PinfeldorfPinfeldorf Yeah ZestRegistered User regular
    We had an ancient ass math teacher my junior year. He was told that they would be replacing the blackboards with whiteboards and to use magic markers when the change went through.

    Well, he decided to use the magic markers on the blackboard and oops.

  • halkunhalkun Registered User regular
    Hey @Tank
    I looked for you dude, but there was no Ghostbusters stuff that I could find. Right now the big movies here are Deadpool and Zootopia and there isn't any Ghostbusters promotional things yet.

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    I've never even seen a smart board

  • MysstMysst King Monkey of Hedonism IslandRegistered User regular
    what a thing to say about this community

    ikbUJdU.jpg
  • TankHammerTankHammer Atlanta Ghostbuster Atlanta, GARegistered User regular
    halkun wrote: »
    Hey @Tank
    I looked for you dude, but there was no Ghostbusters stuff that I could find. Right now the big movies here are Deadpool and Zootopia and there isn't any Ghostbusters promotional things yet.

    They're out there somewhere but thank you for using your personal time to search for me. I do appreciate it.

    I even saw this morning that J.S. BURGERS CAFE in Japan is going to be releasing a Ghostbusters-themed menu next week.

  • halkunhalkun Registered User regular
    edited June 2016
    So I'm flying back to the U.S. Today.. Japan was fun.
    I upgraded from economy for business class though (extra $1,300) I did that because the flight out here was balls and a half and didn't want to feel like I just *survived* something when I got off the plane. This means I get the little fold-out seat/bed deal and the pillow and whatnot.

    Also I went back to the video store yesterday... They had a meet-and-greet with a Japanese AV star. It was $25 bucks to say hello, so what the hell right? I didn't know this particular girl's work. The ones I do follow have an event scheduled for the first part of July in Akihabara, so I was going to miss them.

    I walked though the curtained-off area and there she was sitting at a desk and a stack of signed videos beside her. When she turned and saw a goofy, bald American walk in, a look of bewilderment kind of struck her face. I told her I spoke Japanese, which put her somewhat at ease. (Meet and greets are very conversational). She asked if I was a fan, and told her that I was curious about the meet and greet and decided to say hello.I also said that she looked cute on the cover of her new video to placate the conversation. She asked if Japanese AV was popular in America and I told her about I my senior thesis I did on her industry, and apologized that I wasn't very familiar with the company she worked with (It was "Prestige" It's a popular indy company that hasn't been gobbled up by SOD or S1 yet. By extension I was also saying I wasn't very familiar with any of her co-workers either.) I told her I found the whole Idol system very interesting from a business point of view. After that my Japanese started to falter trying to communicate "Market Diversity" (Or she was not getting where I was taking the conversation.. One of us was out of our element, but I don't know which one)

    Beside me, a store clerk politely cleared his throat letting me know time was up. I thanked her and wished her luck with her job and bought a video.

    Fifteen minutes later (and as the room got more crowded) she disappeared into the bathroom and came back in a bikini. They moved the fold-up desk out of the way and started the second part of the meet and greet, which was changing fifty bucks for a individual impromptu photo shoot. Lots of very expensive cameras came out of nowhere.

    I didn't participate in that, but it was an experience. Next trip I'll have to schedule around a Muteki meet and greet. They seem fun.

    There was a point to this, but I seem to have forgotten it...

    halkun on
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    To be reminded that the adult film industry is, in fact, an industry is a very weird thing.

  • halkunhalkun Registered User regular
    The whole idol system is gears within gears. It's why I can't get into K-pop even though I realllly want to. It would just be another machine to take apart and I have enough on my plate.

    Keep in mind Hollywood used to have the "Star System" in the 40s and 50s.

    I've been ragged on because I group the Idol system under the Japanese "Sex Industry" umbrella. (Many who professionally study this stuff do as well)

    "AKB48 isn't porn" they would say... Sure, as I can point to their albums in the very shop I shook hands with an AV starlet. There are defenders that say that Japan gets dumped on because their culture is different. It's ok, within cultural context, to have a 16 year old have a bikini photobook. Well, I like to think that normal companies don't make a teenage girl shave her head because she was caught with a boyfriend. In the end I don't want to be an advocate, but I do like to inform. Remember, this gross thing happens because that gross thing happens is a thing I run into a lot in Japanese culture. I hate to paint with a broad brush though.

    You have to excuse me, I'm just babbling before my flight. I have a bit of stream of consciousness going on here, so if I'm rambling, I apologize.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    My friends just came back from a trip to Japan and I'd love to go

    he said that being a foreigner in Japan people did point him out to each other, like, it's notable to the locals and stuff

    I imagine that's less true in the bigger, tourist-y places though?

  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    Children do it kind of everywhere.

    Older folks tend to do it the further away from a metropolitan center you get.

    You're not blonde, though, so unfortunately you haven't got what it takes to be an instant celebrity.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    sarukun wrote: »
    Children do it kind of everywhere.

    Older folks tend to do it the further away from a metropolitan center you get.

    You're not blonde, though, so unfortunately you haven't got what it takes to be an instant celebrity.

    So, make sure I have shaved my head before I ever go to Japan then, got it.

  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    So about japan schools, i've seen like a bunch of stuff that says they are shutting down left and right because there just ain't enough kids around anymore

    That true?

  • Houk the NamebringerHouk the Namebringer Nipples The EchidnaRegistered User regular
    Peas wrote: »
    So about japan schools, i've seen like a bunch of stuff that says they are shutting down left and right because there just ain't enough kids around anymore

    That true?

    In rural areas it's becoming more common, yeah. A falling population combined with more and more young people moving to cities and not coming back is having a hell of an impact on smaller communities for sure.

  • TankHammerTankHammer Atlanta Ghostbuster Atlanta, GARegistered User regular
    I would like to travel to Japan and Korea someday. Probably to spend a couple days apiece in the cities and some extended time in the more scenic/historical areas.

    I also get a kick out of the way people sometimes react to my height and saturated-blue eyes so the extreme version of that I've heard happens over there would probably be very fun for the short term. I've even pondered wearing sunglasses to pull off dramatically to see if it gets a reaction.

  • JarsJars Registered User regular
    is there anything else that makes you stand out a lot in japan. I remember seeing this thing about vin diesel in japan and how he loved going there because he was pretty much incognito and no one recognized him as some big movie star

  • TankHammerTankHammer Atlanta Ghostbuster Atlanta, GARegistered User regular
    Well, the full Ghostbusters flightsuit should get a good reaction as well.

    Not sure I'd have much luck getting the proton pack through TSA, though.

  • PLAPLA The process.Registered User regular
    sarukun wrote: »
    Children do it kind of everywhere.

    Older folks tend to do it the further away from a metropolitan center you get.

    You're not blonde, though, so unfortunately you haven't got what it takes to be an instant celebrity.

    Most of this describes where I grew up, which wasn't Japan.

  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Houk wrote: »
    Peas wrote: »
    So about japan schools, i've seen like a bunch of stuff that says they are shutting down left and right because there just ain't enough kids around anymore

    That true?

    In rural areas it's becoming more common, yeah. A falling population combined with more and more young people moving to cities and not coming back is having a hell of an impact on smaller communities for sure.

    In the two years I lived in my rural area of japan around six elementary schools and two junior highs closed.

    It's very sad watching the countryside die out.

  • Houk the NamebringerHouk the Namebringer Nipples The EchidnaRegistered User regular
    Jars wrote: »
    is there anything else that makes you stand out a lot in japan. I remember seeing this thing about vin diesel in japan and how he loved going there because he was pretty much incognito and no one recognized him as some big movie star

    As an individual, there really isn't much you could do to draw attention to yourself (again, in the bigger cities at least) other than just like walking around dressed as a clown or yelling into a megaphone or something. Or at least, if people did notice you they mostly wouldn't say/do anything. In general, Japan tends to be a very 'don't bother me and I won't bother you' type of place.

  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    I'll add that speaking Japanese, even at a very basic level, breaks down a lot of those barriers though. I've heard people describe the Japanese as shy or introverted, and really who isn't when compared to many American travelers, but if you can start a conversation they'll really open up to you. I've heard Korea is the same way, but I only know 3 words.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Children and old folks tend to ignore social rules of course, either by not knowing them or being too old to give a damn about them.

    I took a good natured attitude about it with kids because, well they are kids! Seeing a little kid point at you and tug on their mom's dress to get her attention and then hide behind their dress is just adorable. I remember eating once at a restaruant by my town and there was a kid who felt like wandering the restaurant instead of eating. He found me and he was really shocked to find me but totally soldiered on up to me and asked me where I was from and some other basic questions. After that he hauled ass to the booth where his parents were at. It was only a couple booths over. He told them everything I told him, but his parents basically told him to eat, stop making up lies, and that there are no foreigners in these parts of Japan, this isn't tokyo.

    Well funnily enough for them my booth had direct line of sight to the register and they finished eating before I did. When they were paying the kid pointed me out. The parents went pale so fast and did countless bows as they shuffled out the doors.

    Old people could be a bit more annoying as unlike kids that had cute responses some old folks would just stop and stare at you. If you bowed some would realize they were being rude and bow and go back to whatever they were doing. But some would just stare until you walked out of sight, and that is creepy. Some of the old folks were awesome though, some just were super curious and old and wanted to talk. And some since they gave no fucks about the rules didn't care you were foreign and just knew you'd have an interesting to them worldview and wanted to become friends. Which is how I became really close with an awesome old couple living near the top of a local mountain and helped them make wood fire pottery, but that's a story for another day.

  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    Has this ever happened to you?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLt5qSm9U80

    I used to instigate this with one of my Hawaiian friends. I'd always point to her and say "she taught me everything."

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    edited June 2016
    Hah never anything quite that blatant. Of course, my Japanese never got that amazing as when I moved over there I didn't speak any of the language.

    The situation that I frequently ran into was that my group of friends was almost exclusively women when I lived in Japan, most of these people being foreigners from other parts of the world. They had all lived in Japan longer than I had and most of them had studied before moving over, so all of them had damn good Japanese and some were near native fluent. However, in many social situations all the conversation would be directed at me, the sole male of the group, despite my inability to hold the conversation. It drove the girl I was dating at the time (rightly) nuts. Person at a store would direct the question at me, I'd look to her, she'd respond, I'd look back at the person, they'd direct the next question at me and still not her, rinse repeat. This was even if she was the one who was buying something and initiated the conversation at the register.

    This does remind me of a funny moment when the girl I was dating was helping a mutual girl friend of ours go mattress shopping. When we got up to the register the girl I was dating was in the restroom. The standard all questions directed at me thing was going on. Our friend was upgrading from a twin to a queen sized bed, and I guess the person at the register assumed it was for me and her cause he was giving me like little smirks throughout the entire buying process. And then the girl I'm actually dating gets back from the restroom, walks up and gives me a peck on the cheek. You could just kind of see the person at the register's brain melt in that very moment. He must think us foreigners get up to some crazy stuff now.

    (For some reason all the women that moved over to work in Japan that I knew were nice and socially well adjusted and all the men were total creepers. Go figure.)

    Inquisitor on
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    TankHammer wrote: »
    Well, the full Ghostbusters flightsuit should get a good reaction as well.

    Not sure I'd have much luck getting the proton pack through TSA, though.

    I'd be astonished if anybody knew what you were up to.

    If you could find a group that is way fucking into GB they'd probably lost their minds, or at least want to compare notes on how you build the packs.

    In Akihabara or something they might recognize the skills.

    But, unless the new movie gets real huge, I just don't think anybody's gonna know what it is you're doing.

  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    Has this ever happened to you?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLt5qSm9U80

    I used to instigate this with one of my Hawaiian friends. I'd always point to her and say "she taught me everything."

    Nothing this egregious. Like, this is obviously hyperbole, but generally, they just kind of direct questions at the Japanese person, and respond politely when you pipe up with something to say.

    In foreigner bars in Taiwan I generally get wait staff that resolutely use English with me even when I refuse English menus or order from memory because I've been to the place often enough to know what I want, but pretty much every place else in Taiwan I never get this at all, as soon as I speak Mandarin there's usually relief and a follow up question on how long I've been living in Taiwan. I chalk the English-only up to the staff wanting to keep their English going as much as possible or a manager's insistence, and try not to take it personal even though it bugs me a bit.

  • TankHammerTankHammer Atlanta Ghostbuster Atlanta, GARegistered User regular
    sarukun wrote: »
    TankHammer wrote: »
    Well, the full Ghostbusters flightsuit should get a good reaction as well.

    Not sure I'd have much luck getting the proton pack through TSA, though.

    I'd be astonished if anybody knew what you were up to.

    If you could find a group that is way fucking into GB they'd probably lost their minds, or at least want to compare notes on how you build the packs.

    In Akihabara or something they might recognize the skills.

    But, unless the new movie gets real huge, I just don't think anybody's gonna know what it is you're doing.

    Ghostbusters is massive in at least parts of the Japanese market. They have the biggest marketing push outside of the US from what I understand and tons of unique licensing for products. I'm sure someone would recognize it, even though I was definitely joking about donning the costume there. It takes up a lot of room in the luggage to bring it without specific reason.

  • Death of RatsDeath of Rats Registered User regular
    edited June 2016
    E-Cigrat.jpg?resize=340%2C230

    Death of Rats on
    No I don't.
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    edited June 2016
    TankHammer wrote: »
    sarukun wrote: »
    TankHammer wrote: »
    Well, the full Ghostbusters flightsuit should get a good reaction as well.

    Not sure I'd have much luck getting the proton pack through TSA, though.

    I'd be astonished if anybody knew what you were up to.

    If you could find a group that is way fucking into GB they'd probably lost their minds, or at least want to compare notes on how you build the packs.

    In Akihabara or something they might recognize the skills.

    But, unless the new movie gets real huge, I just don't think anybody's gonna know what it is you're doing.

    Ghostbusters is massive in at least parts of the Japanese market. They have the biggest marketing push outside of the US from what I understand and tons of unique licensing for products. I'm sure someone would recognize it, even though I was definitely joking about donning the costume there. It takes up a lot of room in the luggage to bring it without specific reason.
    I obviously don't know first hand, but I would be pretty surprised to learn it's anything more than a bunch of unrelated niche fandoms feuling that demand, which are a thing all over Japan for every thing it is possible to have a fandom for. Bunch of guys had a bluegrass band in the town I lived in, just because one of them loved bluegrass and got all his buddies into it. None of them spoke a lick of English, but they would jam for this small "American festival" thing the board of education threw once a year, they ruled. Japanese people seem to go super hard on whatever it is they love and just don't give a fuck if/what other people think about it.

    But those communities tend to stay small and super local. You got your five to ten homies who you get together with on weekends and do your thing with, and that's pretty much it. For me it was taiko drums. And that particular hobby was unique in Japan because most people had at least seen kumidaiko once or twice before.

    If you were gonna be in Tokyo anyway, though, I would absolutely encourage you to walk around all suited up, there's no way a foreigner in costume doesn't get some fun attention, and in the wake of the new movie, people there would be bound to recognize the gear. Just go in the fall so you don't die from the heat stroke, Tokyo is a kiln in the summer.

    sarukun on
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    I love taiko. I always make it a point to go to any demonstrations I see. I was really pleasantly surprised when Imagine Dragons incorporated taiko drums into their tour.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLA87KxWdb8

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    What the hell does the thread title mean?

  • miscellaneousinsanitymiscellaneousinsanity grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and brother, i hurt peopleRegistered User regular
    OP is requesting that the forum dj play the song 'turning japanese', by english new wave band 'the vapors'

    uc3ufTB.png
  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    oooh oooooh

    Can I be the forum DJ?

  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    Beasteh wrote: »
    what the hell is that pic of the girl with the pig even

    like aren't people embarrassed to have that there

    Shes the plus sized model for an electronics catalog.

    She didnt have the pig in her debut.

    Why does an electronics catalog have a plus-sized anime girl mascot with a pet pig? What does that have to do with electronics?

  • Houk the NamebringerHouk the Namebringer Nipples The EchidnaRegistered User regular
    Hexmage-PA wrote: »
    Beasteh wrote: »
    what the hell is that pic of the girl with the pig even

    like aren't people embarrassed to have that there

    Shes the plus sized model for an electronics catalog.

    She didnt have the pig in her debut.

    Why does an electronics catalog have a plus-sized anime girl mascot with a pet pig? What does that have to do with electronics?

    Japan fucking loves mascots and mascot crossovers.

  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    And don't forget, mascots fucking

  • CorporateRedCorporateRed Wooooooo! Registered User regular
    Hexmage-PA wrote: »
    Beasteh wrote: »
    what the hell is that pic of the girl with the pig even

    like aren't people embarrassed to have that there

    Shes the plus sized model for an electronics catalog.

    She didnt have the pig in her debut.

    Why does an electronics catalog have a plus-sized anime girl mascot with a pet pig? What does that have to do with electronics?

    If you would buy electronics from a place that doesn't have a plus-size anime girl with a pig in their advertising, you are clearly not a savvy shopper.

    Steam ID: Corporate Red
    steam_sig.png
  • GvzbgulGvzbgul Registered User regular
    Isn't it an ad for nikuman, explaining the pig?

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