[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
I’m going to ignore that trollpost[/quote]
Thanks.[/quote]
lol
[quote]Chushin wrote:
Interesting “statistic” that gets quoted alot is that “95% of the population is Buddhist, and 95% is Shinto.” No idea how true those numbers are, but the point is valid: Japanese people have no problem accepting 2 religions as true at the same time. (In fact, some anthropologists argue that this isn’t limited to religion; that it’s a Japanese cultural trait to be able to hold 2 seemingly contradictory beliefs at the same time).
[/quote]
I can identify with that
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]farmerson12 wrote:
Another question if you guys dont mind, how is religion accepted in the country? Especially the mainstream lines like Islam and Christianity?[/quote]
Well, firstly, there is only a very small amount of Islam and Christianity, compared to Buddhism and Shinto (though some scholars argue that Christianity has had a larger impact than its numbers would suggest, since it has tended to be “intelligensia” types who have been believers.)
As for “acceptance,” as far I know, there are no problems at all. The last time that “foreign religion” was a problem here, I believe, was during the Tokugawa era, and that was because Chistianity made people more accountable to “God” than to their feudal lords.
Interesting “statistic” that gets quoted alot is that “95% of the population is Buddhist, and 95% is Shinto.” No idea how true those numbers are, but the point is valid: Japanese people have no problem accepting 2 religions as true at the same time. (In fact, some anthropologists argue that this isn’t limited to religion; that it’s a Japanese cultural trait to be able to hold 2 seemingly contradictory beliefs at the same time).
For all the pressure for people to “conform” in so many ways, there is sometimes a very strong “to each his own” (“Juunin, tou iro” – “10 people, 10 different colors”) attitude taken toward some things.
BTW, one of the coolest things I’ve seen here (but it may just be me) is an old Catholic church that had no pews – just tatami mats – for the parishioners to sit on.
Edited[/quote]
Thats great to hear. Really. From what I gather, Japan seems more open minded to cultures, religion, races, etc. than the U.S. Is that so or are there some major factors Im not taking into consideration?
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
Interesting “statistic” that gets quoted alot is that “95% of the population is Buddhist, and 95% is Shinto.” No idea how true those numbers are, but the point is valid: Japanese people have no problem accepting 2 religions as true at the same time. (In fact, some anthropologists argue that this isn’t limited to religion; that it’s a Japanese cultural trait to be able to hold 2 seemingly contradictory beliefs at the same time).
[/quote]
I can identify with that[/quote]
How so?[/quote]
As far as both politics and religion are concerned, I’ve always operated in a more intellectually free sense than most people I’ve encountered. I typically dissolve most of the bounds associated with a certain school of thought. I just find that what you stated in that quote sounds the most similar to my own ideas as a collective out of everything I’ve seen thus far.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
Interesting “statistic” that gets quoted alot is that “95% of the population is Buddhist, and 95% is Shinto.” No idea how true those numbers are, but the point is valid: Japanese people have no problem accepting 2 religions as true at the same time. (In fact, some anthropologists argue that this isn’t limited to religion; that it’s a Japanese cultural trait to be able to hold 2 seemingly contradictory beliefs at the same time).
[/quote]
I can identify with that[/quote]
How so?[/quote]
As far as both politics and religion are concerned, I’ve always operated in a more intellectually free sense than most people I’ve encountered. I typically dissolve most of the bounds associated with a certain school of thought. I just find that what you stated in that quote sounds the most similar to my own ideas as a collective out of everything I’ve seen thus far.[/quote]
It’s been 25 years since I was in grad school (damn!), but I vaguely recall reading a fascinating hypothesis of how Westerners keep dividing and dividing, always focusing on “differences” amoung similar things, leading to a world view many disparate things. The guy claimed that Japanese people focus on the similarities to the point that in the end, “It’s all one.”
Meh, just a vague (and perhaps inaccurate) memory… [/quote]
Indeed. I’ve seen the data sets that contribute to that hypothesis lol. I believe it is 100% falsifiable. You can go out, test it, and see for yourself. I don’t think people interpret polarity in a useful fashion.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
Oh man.
Remember how we were saying how hard it is to explain this stuff?
The short answer, IMHO is, “Yes. And no.”
I know I’m likely going to say something here that’s just wrong, but here’s my “7:30 am on a Sunday, been up since 5:30 and haven’t eaten yet” answer.
I guess I’d say that Japanese people have, at least to some degree, a healthy “respect” and interest in such things. But that doesn’t mean that they see them as “equal.” Japanese thinking tends to be very “vertical” – everything gets “ranked” in one way or another, and you can pretty much bet that the Japanese way will be close to or at the top of any list.
Maybe, to be a bit crude about it, it’s like, “Hey, that’s cool. Not as good as us, but cool. So long as you keep it away from my life, no problem.”
I’m going to stop here and hope that the other 2 amigos see some truth in what I’ve written. [/quote]
Not one of the other 2 amigos, but I agree with this completely. Pretty dead-on for an early morning, glycogen-depleted state!
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]SkyzykS wrote:
Very interesting thread. My brother has been going to Japan on a regular basis for work for the past few years and loves it. His last trip was a one month vacation, and I’m pretty sure he’s thinking about moving there later in life.
A question for Chushin- Do you see any discreet similarities between there and this region that give it a homey or familiar feeling?
[/quote]
Hey Skyz - Where you been, man?
Huh, interesting question, but then I’d expect nothing less from you.
If you’re asking on a “country” level, I guess I’d have to say something like “no way.” But at the level of the city where I’m at, yeah. This city is filled with rivers, and therefore, with bridges. And the main industry is auto manufacturing (with all the associated businesses), so that kind of matches up with the (former) “big industry” feel that affects so many things, most noticeably the nature of the people. Finally, the size & nature of the city is kind of like home: small major city that’s got a fair number of “bumpkins” who speak in a less than “refined” dialect. no offense to yinz, of course! 
Hey, let your bro know that I’d be glad to help him out in any way I can. If he wants to venture down this way, we could get a drink and / or dinner. Maybe I can scare Cortes up, too.
Finally, jump on his coat tails sometime and get your own ass over here. I think you’d really enjoy it.[/quote]
Thanks, I do tend to see things strangely/differently than most. I’ve been job jumping with temp assignments and changing lots of diapers.
I meant more regionally, and figured it had to have something to do with the heavy industrial feel of things. I know that there has to be something that he dialed in on to make it one of only a couple of places in the world that he would want to live. But honestly not knowing much about the geography, regions or their infrastructure, I don’t know where other than the vague “Japan” you actually are. He spends a lot of time in Yokosuka, Yokohama, and Kamakura. I’ll relay your offer to him, as I’m sure he would get a kick out of hanging out with a fellow yinzer in such an entirely different setting. Maybe he can smuggle in some good ketchup :).
From the pics and his take on things, I’m sure I would like a trip over there, but it may not be any time soon. Although, the wife is a former English teacher, and I can do pretty well in any shipyard or industrial setting.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
Hey, thanks, man!
You miss it here?[/quote]
I do actually. I miss having a sense of wonder and exploration about a place, even after having lived there for half a decade. I miss kaiten sushi - oh how I used to stack those plates! I miss the rock star thing…being a giant whitey without visible deformities in a medium-sized town granted me occasional celebrity status. On a more practical standpoint, I miss how easy the money was there - I worked reasonably hard, but got paid incommensurately well for it - ironically I had to return to Canada to become a “salaryman” :). I do miss the random gigs, particularly the voice-acting ones. As of a year ago, friends told me that they still hear my voice doing the English announcements every time they walked into a Mitsukoshi - I wonder if they still use my recording?
It was a great, great chapter in my life, but I’m onto another one…
You still loving it there?
[quote]Cortes wrote:
I’m sorry to say, but it probably does mean what you fear it means. I have heard and read, from the horse’s mouth, the type of stuff you read paranoid people and Arabs say about the Jooooooooooos. The Koreans own and control the media and have infiltrated the media in order to brainwash and indoctrinate the the common Japanese. The Koreans are buying up all the real estate (I guess so they can one day take over the country), they are treacherous, not to be trusted, you name it.
I do everything in my power to dispel this kind of crazy thinking whenever I hear it come up, but it’s like draining the ocean with a teacup. A leaky teacup. [/quote]
Oh wow. That goes quite a far beyond what I expected!
That sucks. It really does.
Very interesting thread. I’m sorry if I missed it I tired to read everything or at least skim, how long did it take you guys to become proficient at communicating and did you move there with any grasp on the language?
[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
[quote]Chushin wrote:
Oh man.
Remember how we were saying how hard it is to explain this stuff?
The short answer, IMHO is, “Yes. And no.”
I know I’m likely going to say something here that’s just wrong, but here’s my “7:30 am on a Sunday, been up since 5:30 and haven’t eaten yet” answer.
I guess I’d say that Japanese people have, at least to some degree, a healthy “respect” and interest in such things. But that doesn’t mean that they see them as “equal.” Japanese thinking tends to be very “vertical” – everything gets “ranked” in one way or another, and you can pretty much bet that the Japanese way will be close to or at the top of any list.
Maybe, to be a bit crude about it, it’s like, “Hey, that’s cool. Not as good as us, but cool. So long as you keep it away from my life, no problem.”
I’m going to stop here and hope that the other 2 amigos see some truth in what I’ve written. [/quote]
Not one of the other 2 amigos, but I agree with this completely. Pretty dead-on for an early morning, glycogen-depleted state![/quote]
There he is!
Where’ve you been hiding, PimpBot? We’ve been having a party without you.
I completely agree with Chushin’s assessment of religious and philosophical acceptance here.
I don’t really have a whole lot to add other than that, in certain respects, Japanese people have a completely hands off, “it’s all good” attitude. In other things, even REALLY minor things like how you eat your food or the questions you ask or what you choose to reveal about yourself can cause pretty major social upheaval.
I would certainly NOT call the Japanese more open minded than Americans. They just tend to mind their business better, or at least, they make it look they way. Chushin and Varq will understand what I mean and maybe one of them can explain a bit better.
[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Very interesting thread. I’m sorry if I missed it I tired to read everything or at least skim, how long did it take you guys to become proficient at communicating and did you move there with any grasp on the language? [/quote]
Absolutely zero Japanese language ability to start (like, three words, seriously). I did not feel like I was anywhere near proficiency for three solid years that involved an average of two hours of study every night without fail along with all the practical application I could fit into a day.
Luckily for me, the kanji came really easily to me, I guess because I have always loved languages of all kind, linguistics, linguistic history, just anything to do with human to human communication. Also the kanji are just so cool, because each character contains its own individual elements that combine to make a little story.
So, for example, the kanji** for “!scratch (an itch)” contains the radicals for hand, insect and crotch. So imagine a mosquito biting you right on the chode and then scratching the hell out of your itchy nutsack. You’ll never forget it. Similarly, the kanji for â??make noise" is the same two radicals for insect and crotch, but the hand radical has been exchanged for horse. So now you can imagine a horse getting stung in the crotch by a bee and kicking up a serious racket. I friggin love kanji and I love being able to read Japanese. It’s one of my proudest accomplishments.
**[i]It is very unfortunate that this website cannot display the Chinese characters.