Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore • Hacker News Board

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#161

Post by weeksie » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 6:14 PM UTC

plinkplonk wrote: post #156

weeksie wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Booze and meat can be found in Bangalore, much the same way that vegetarian food can be found in Japan. And I've been to a few of the pubs there. Well. Yeah. Not to say I didn't enjoy my stay, on the contrary I loved it; but I wouldn't move there and act indignant because I couldn't get good quality wine and steak. The point was to illustrate that Southern India is a culture inclined to vegetarian food and not drinki…

"Booze and meat can be found in Bangalore, much the same way that vegetarian food can be found in Japan." From what I understand from the article under discussion , purely vegetarian food hardly exists in japan. I have no idea if that is true, but the situation wrt meat is hardly the same in South India, so your comparison above is demonstrably false. "The point was to illustrate that Southern India is a culture incl…

He was exaggerating about the scarcity, I've travelled Japan with vegetarian friends and they could fine suitable food (and quite nice food when we were in the mountains around Buddhist temples). In any case you're getting into a nitpick about the general idea which is that a meat loving boozehound is going to feel really out of place in India when compared to, say, Japan, Australia, North America, Europe, etc. . . .

As one of those I wouldn't move to India and expect to have my cravings for steak and a nice Bordeaux satisfied with any regularity. Just as I wouldn't move to Japan as a veggo and expect to have my cravings for super awesome tempeh dishes satisfied. And I certainly wouldn't complain about it like that.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#162

Post by plinkplonk » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 6:22 PM UTC

weeksie wrote: post #161

plinkplonk wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Booze and meat can be found in Bangalore, much the same way that vegetarian food can be found in Japan." From what I understand from the article under discussion , purely vegetarian food hardly exists in japan. I have no idea if that is true, but the situation wrt meat is hardly the same in South India, so your comparison above is demonstrably false. "The point was to illustrate that Southern India is a culture incl…

He was exaggerating about the scarcity, I've travelled Japan with vegetarian friends and they could fine suitable food (and quite nice food when we were in the mountains around Buddhist temples). In any case you're getting into a nitpick about the general idea which is that a meat loving boozehound is going to feel really out of place in India when compared to, say, Japan, Australia, North America, Europe, etc. . . .…

"As one of those I wouldn't move to India and expect to have my cravings for steak and a nice Bordeaux satisfied with any regularity. Just as I wouldn't move to Japan as a veggo and expect to have my cravings for super awesome tempeh dishes satisfied. And I certainly wouldn't complain about it like that."

Fair Enough! Fwiw, some Indians bitch and moan about American food habits when they move to the USA so I am sure the habit is fairly universal !

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#163

Post by Vivtek » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 7:06 PM UTC

iamelgringo wrote: post #125

itistoday wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't dismiss this article as simply culture shock. A university surveyed foreign students and tracked their progress as they adjusted to the new culture, they found that most people get over the culture shock after 2 semesters. [1] This guy is writing this after living 5 years in Japan. I would therefore not dismiss this as simple culture shock, it's a genuine critique of a culture after he's become accustomed…

I grew up as an expat in Central America for the first 14 years of my life. My parents worked for a religious NGO and part of their job was to help other incoming expats acclimate and adjust to the new culture. There's an entire branch of psychology devoted to culture shock, enculturation and acculturation. It's a pretty complex process. Becoming bicultural is a long, long process. A lot of monocultural people, by de…

It can work both ways. I hated bluegrass with a passion (music, that is; the plant I'm agnostic about) until I came back to Indiana the first time (from Europe). Now I like it - I went through a period of really liking it, though.

But the US still drives me batty. It's just that houses are so damn cheap here.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#164

Post by prewett » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 7:07 PM UTC

I'd recommend the book "Polite Fictions" to this guy. (I have a summary at http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~prewett/writings/BookRevi...) I felt like I understand Japanese culture a lot better (the little bit I see from here in the U.S.) because of it.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#165

Post by w00pla » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 7:33 PM UTC

jmillikin wrote: post #113

dkarl wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to check out some manga to see what it's like. I almost posted a request for manga recommendations on a LibraryThing manga forum, but I decided against it. I tried writing up a description of what I was looking for, but it devolved into rejection of a bunch of anime stereotypes: - No ordinary schmoes who turn out to have amazing supernatural powers. - Nothing that revolves around a series of contests wit…

The problem with forums about anime or manga is that they self-select for people who have been rejected from every other community. A solid science-fiction or horror story can find discussion in the appropriate forums, but nobody normal is interested in some high-school student's harem of magical girls. Here are some manga / anime recommendations. Some have not been licensed for distribution in the US, or have been o…

> - Kino's Journey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kino%27s_Journey >

The anime version of Kino's Journey is probably my favourite anime.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#166

Post by w00pla » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 7:36 PM UTC

weeksie wrote: post #6

I can't imagine living in Japan as a vegetarian teetotaler. There's nothing wrong with that lifestyle but, man, pick your battles. Those things—the working, drinking, and meat eating—are part of the culture and it's not exactly a well kept secret. I know that I love booze and meat so I'm not going to relocate to Bangalore any time soon.

> Those things—the working, drinking, and meat eating—

Meat is expensive in Japan. I buy a 400 gram steak and a Coke&brandy for $4.63 total.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#167

Post by weeksie » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 9:05 PM UTC

plinkplonk wrote: post #162

weeksie wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was exaggerating about the scarcity, I've travelled Japan with vegetarian friends and they could fine suitable food (and quite nice food when we were in the mountains around Buddhist temples). In any case you're getting into a nitpick about the general idea which is that a meat loving boozehound is going to feel really out of place in India when compared to, say, Japan, Australia, North America, Europe, etc. . . .…

"As one of those I wouldn't move to India and expect to have my cravings for steak and a nice Bordeaux satisfied with any regularity. Just as I wouldn't move to Japan as a veggo and expect to have my cravings for super awesome tempeh dishes satisfied. And I certainly wouldn't complain about it like that." Fair Enough! Fwiw, some Indians bitch and moan about American food habits when they move to the USA so I am sure…

I agree completely. People will find things to complain about nearly everywhere. Frankly, if I had an opportunity to spend more time in India I wouldn't complain one bit because I really enjoy the country and I could be quite happy going without my usual fair.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#168

Post by kazuya » Mon, Mar 08, 2010, 11:45 PM UTC

bh23ha wrote: post #41

This poor person is suffering from culture shock. I'm an immigrant let me explain. Culture shock is not OMG they eat X here. Culture shock develops slowly from the stress of being away from home and living in a strange land. You are long over people eating X or what ever, and then one day you're just sick of it all. Not exactly ALL of it, but you tend to fixate on the defects of the strange place you're in and you're…

People tend to attribute problems around them to the culture, particularly when the culture isn't theirs. And everyone wants to think his/her situation is unique, as the indication of one's uniqueness.

But as some comments indicate, some (or most) of the author's problems are actually not idiosyncratic to Japan. Although he has valid points, his problems will just stay there in different shapes even if he leaves Japan.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#169

Post by elblanco » Tue, Mar 09, 2010, 1:43 PM UTC

bh23ha wrote: post #41

This poor person is suffering from culture shock. I'm an immigrant let me explain. Culture shock is not OMG they eat X here. Culture shock develops slowly from the stress of being away from home and living in a strange land. You are long over people eating X or what ever, and then one day you're just sick of it all. Not exactly ALL of it, but you tend to fixate on the defects of the strange place you're in and you're…

In the "Teach English in Korea" support crowd, they talk about culture shock settling in around the 90-day mark, and letting up 6-12 months in.

Re: Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore

#170

Post by elblanco » Tue, Mar 09, 2010, 1:49 PM UTC

Funny I was reading this while on a trip to Korea. Different country, but some of what he describes applies here as well.

But my final thought was "really, he's a vegetarian and he picked Japan as his place to go?" I was talking this article over tonight with some friends over a bowl of Sujabi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujebi, which could be vegetarian-ish, but like most things in Asia, never really are. It had clams in it, and the broth was boiled out of cow bones or sardines or something. I've yet to encounter some food in East Asia that didn't have some kind of animal product in it.