Broadcasting to you, not-quite-live from the crystal gondola in the palatial main Tiltyhouse studios in beautiful downtown Nagaoka Japan, for the education, elucidation, emancipation, enlightenment and mental emolument of the Nipponistic hoi-polloi. Or in plain English, Dai-Cast is a weekly podcast highlighting recent developments in Japan and Japanese pop culture from a western perspective.
Hosts: Ian Horner, Dan & Mannie Ross, Brendan “Beej” Dery.
Topics Covered this Week:
- Married Vacationing In Japan
- Being an American Born Asian in Japan
- Opinons of Japanese Who Date Foreigners - link
- Fuel Cell Trains by 2007 - link
- Japanese Food Critic a Bit of an Asshole - link
- Rock Paper Scissors Rules at Art Auction - link
- Beej’s Webcomic of The Week- Order of the Stick
Running Time: 01:28:46
Hi guys.
In this podcast it is suggested that Japanese natives ignore, shun or are rude to gaijins… This surprises me. I haven’t been to Japan yet (I will hopefully be spending some time, anything up to a year, there next year), but I was always under the impression that the Japanese liked foreigners, particularly English and Americans. I was looking forward to being welcomed and making friends during my time there. Is this preconcepion of mine unfounded or have I just misunderstood the points made in the podcast?
Cheers
-Stu, England
HI Stu,
I would have sent you an E-mail directly, but I couldn’t find an address on your myspace page. I just wanted to address your concerns here about Japan.
I think you have to remember that episode 39 of Dai-Cast presents Japan from the point of view of two people visiting for a short time. What you are seeing is what they experienced during a period of two weeks. Sure it sounds negative, but it’s what they encountered while they were there.
Now I’ve lived in Japan for over three years (and I’m still here) and while I have felt like that at times, I can tell you that Japanese people can be very nice to foreigners. But the reality of the situation is that people might not be as nice as you might have expected. It’s all part of the culture. And it’s difficult to explain, but Japanese people really believe in being part of groups. And you are either in the group or you are not in the group. You think foreigners get it bad? You should see how they treat eachother sometimes. It’s something you need judge for yourself.
Now, that being said, I wouldn’t let this discourage you from coming to Japan. I think you’d need to see what Japan is like for yourself. You might find a totally different country from what was described in the episode. Japan still has millions of wonderful aspects to explore. And there are wonderful people as well. I have many awesome Japanese friends. Japan is changing everyday.
Here at Dai-Cast we present the reality of the situation. We don’t sugar coat anything. In fact, I find we are a bit more critical of Japan because we like it so much. So I invite you to explore this wonderful country and come to your own conclusions about it. It’s might not be the utopia you thought, however, it could end up being something much different.
Japan has changed my life. It’s done that much for me. SO I would recommend you come here sometime. And when you are here, come up to Iwate and have a beer with me.
Jason
Dai-Cast
I look forward to it Jason.
Thanks for your reply. You’ve eased my worries. I learn something new about Japan almost every day and I’m not even there yet.
Keep up the good work.
-Stu