Mike_Fagg comments

Is the answer constantly posting on comment boards and forums how their wife is a crazy and horrible person because she's no longer the bikini wearing nympho that they married and expect her to still be? Or, maybe the answer is wasting day after day away posting anything and everything they find negative about a country they have chosen to live and work in?

I dont see the value if kids spend too much time just shooting sh$t, but these things have huge educational value, and they are here to stay - just like the telly when I was their age. So I say the experts suck it up and make some sensible recommendations instead of trying to tell us how bad everything is all the time.

Well said. For some people it's just so much easier to accentuate the negative of anything and everything.

How many times in the past week have I seen little kids on ipads while mom is on her phone? Far too many.

How many times in the past week have I seen a parent chatting away on their phone while out with their little kids? Far too many.

One read: "To the Chinese people: your government controls the Internet in your country and tries to filter what he sees as a threat to him."

Is this a typo? Aren't words like "she" and "her" typically used when governments are personified? Or, is it different with respect to China?

Another said: "Dear Chinese government, you are not infallible. Today websites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall."

Sounds like a line from some movie that I just can't remember. "Today something something, tomorrow the world". China is pretty big so if they want to overthrow the government by the end of tomorrow, they better get cracking.

But, seriously, I know that Anonymous is anonymous and likes to take on all comers, but the Chinese Government doesn't mess around when threatened. When pushed, they seem to have no qualms about pushing be exponentially harder. They are extremely serious when it comes to self preservation.

Vast Right-Wing ConspiratorAPR. 04, 2012 - 10:32PM JST @mike... the name writing thing is a bit of a shibboleth. Most official forms I have seen in Japan are ordered 'last name, first name', so there is no mistaking them. Come to think of it, the same applies back home, too. I think the easiest thing to do is to use the rules of the language you are using. In Japanese, use the Japanese order, or just your last name. In English, use the Engilsh order. It saves a lot of confusion. As you said, other countries besides Japan use the "family name first" order. If people use my first name in inappropriate situations, I just mildly remind them that my family name is "conspirator", and things are smooth. The reverse is also unusual- using Japanese name order in English. It causes nothing but trouble to people who don't know given names from family names. Imagine a Japanese guest going to a hotel and asking for a room, saying "I have a room booked. My name is Tanaka Kenji". The clerk will invariably say, "I'm sorry Mr. Kenji, there is no record of your reservation in the computer..."

It's not even remotely possible that a Japanese person my innocently make a mistake and mix up a person's first and last name?

Do you think the hotel clerk who says "I'm sorry Mr. Kenji" instead of "Mr. Tanaka" is being rude and trying to separate Tanaka-san from Americans?

How many Americans think that Yao Ming's first name is "Yao"? How many British think that Park Ji-Sung's first name is "Park". How many figure skating fans outside of Asia know that Kim Yu-na's first name is not Kim? Of course, the three I mentioned are famous athletes so maybe they don't count, but there are plenty of Chinese/Korean/Japanese academics/professionals working/living overseas who stick with the order of family name first name.

Is it not possible that the name of your friend the teacher was written in the wrong order on that list and just read as is?

Jo HaAPR. 04, 2012 - 08:18PM JST most japanese dont know what --fagg mike--could mean.... maybe the grasseating man get horny..joke

Correction.

You wouldn't be the first person to do so.

tmarieAPR. 04, 2012 - 07:01PM JST This is partially because the foreigners choose to use their first names. Or more often than not, someone's dumb English teacher many years ago told them to always address a foreigner by their first name because that's what they do in "gaikoku". I have been asked on very few occasions what to be called. Until I say they can call me by my first name, call me by my last. With San added. Anything less is rude.

Perhaps what you say is indeed true to some degree. But could it also have something to do with the order a person's name is written.

Most Japanese typically use the order last to first., right? ( I think the Chinese and Koreans also do the same but I'm not sure). Most native English speakers typically use the order first to last, right?

So if I write my name or my name is written as "Mike Fagg" isn't even remotely possible that a Japanese person might mistakenly assume that my last name is "Mike" and my first name is "Fagg" and call me "Mike-san" without trying to be disrespectful at all.

I have been in Japan for quite a long time, even now it still feels awkward to right my name as "Fagg Mike" or "Fagg, Mike" and instead often just write down "Mike Fagg". So often when my name is being called at a restaurant or the bank , etc., the staff person usually says "Mike-san, "

smithinjapanAPR. 04, 2012 - 03:46PM JST The only thing that bothers me about the use of the term (aside from the aforementioned), is when Japanese use it overseas when talking about the native people of that nation. I remember a woman I talked to who went to Australia and said, "There were so many gaijin, I felt uncomfortable!".

That's probably because, like with many Japanese, the term means "non-Japanese" to that woman. So any "non-Japanese" person throughout the world is still gonna be a "gaijin" to regardless of where they are at the time.

Vast Right-Wing ConspiratorAPR. 04, 2012 - 02:50PM JST Another pet peeve of mine is the "first naming" that gets done when dealing with foreigners. This is common both in person and in the media. Example, a TV show goes overseas and is taking a look at the life of Bob Smith, an American lawyer. The show will refer to him as "Bob-san" constantly. Not "Smith-san". It's a way to separate foreigners from Japanese, and to take them less seriously.

Sure, I guess. I also hear things like "Shinsuke-san" "Ichiro" (usually with no san, how rude), "Shizu-chan", "Ma-kun", etc., etc. being said a lot on TV. I am not saying it doesn't happen to non-Japanese, but I am not sure if the only reason it is being done is to separate non-Japanese from Japanese. It could be that in some cases the non-Japanese person actually prefers to be called by their first name. Maybe the TV staff did start with "Mr. Smith" but somewhere along the way during the pre-show prep he just said "please call me Bob". That part just didn't happen to make it onto TV.

Haven't you ever been introduced to somebody who said something like "Hi, my name is Robert Smith but please call me Bob".

Not saying this is what happened in your friend's case but I have known teacher both in Japan and back home who prefer to be called by their first name instead of "Mr. xxx" or "Ms. yyy".

This looks interesting.

Love movies. They help me forget (at least for a little while) that I live in the radioactive hot spot of Kashiwa, work at a dead end job that I can't stand with people I just can't help but ridicule, have to pay off a huge mortgage that I'll probably never be able to do on a place that'll probably never be able to sell and that I am stuck married to a Japanese woman who is a lunatic (on and off meds for anger issues) who no longer the bikini wearing nympho (wish she was Brooklyn Decker) I married all those years ago.

Battleship take me away before I start on on one of my bitter anti-Japan rants again.

Nothing wrong with a little fantasy every now and then.

Wouldn't mind living on Mars for a bit. It might help me forget about living in the radioactive hot spot of Kashiwa, working at a dead end job that I can't stand, stuck with a huge mortgage that I'll probably never pay off and being married to a Japanese woman who is a lunatic (on and off meds for anger issues) and who is no longer the bikini wearing nympho I married all those years ago.

It's either Mars or continuing my bitter rants against Japan and all things Japanese.

It is sad to see the Russel hooded sweatshirt that I used to love being denigrated in such a way.

Elbuda MexicanoAPR. 02, 2012 - 03:49PM JST Hoodies and this topic of racism is a bunch of crap! If you were at a gas station, 7-11, AM PM, etc..back in the USA and you have some fool come in, trying to HIDE their faces with their hoodies, just look at thousands and thousands of SURVEILLANCE camera footage, it can be a minority etc..but any fool wearing a hoodie, say in the MIDDLE OF THE SUMMER??

Was it the middle of summer when Trayvon Martin was wearing his hooded sweatshirt and got shot?

Elbuda MexicanoAPR. 02, 2012 - 03:49PM JST Not too sure, I do not live out there in Sanford, but I do know some parts of Florida are very, very dangerous, just stray a few blocks off the beaten path and you can end up dead, like last year 2 Brits out bar hopping and looking for an IHOP restaurant ended up in the wrong part of town at 2 am and when some young punks came out demanding their $$$ etc..they tried to run away, but you can not run away from a flying bullet pointed at you point blank, that is only in the movies.

Do you know whether either of those two Brits wearing hooded sweatshirts?

When did they stop being called "hooded sweatshirts" and start being called "hoodies"? Was this some kind of pop culture thing or some kind of marketing thing?

Don't remember these being a problem back when I was young.

Personally, I'd rather live in Tokyo than being stuck where I am now paying off my mortgage in Kashiwa. That's one place that is definitely never gonna be confused for the "greatest city in the world".

Everyday I keep saying to myself, "My god, what have I done?" :D

ReformedBasherMAR. 06, 2012 - 11:49AM JST @Mike_Fagg Would you insist we indocrinate our kids too then? Because we must absolutely never let anyone forget, right? The "what" is far more important than the "why'. The "why" happened 70 years ago, the "what" is still a danger, not just to us but to all future generations until nuclear weapons no longer exist. Which leads us back to what the Peace Boat is all about. If you don't get that, I give up trying to communicate with you because you are a waste of my time. Enjoy hating.

Not hating on anybody. And not suggesting that anyone's children be indoctrinated. Moreover, I've known quite a few people who participated in Peace Boat. All of them have had mostly positive things to say about the experience. Like any program it has a few problems every now and then but even so I am not hating on Peace Boat.

I responding to this comment you made to Jeff Lee regarding the Peace Museum in Hiroshima and in particular your assertion that museum "rightfully shows the attrocities as one of the factors why the atomic bombs were dropped."

ReformedBasherMAR. 05, 2012 - 09:20AM JST @JeffLee And I would suggest you visit the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima. The peace activists make no attempt to deny the attrocities the Imperial forces commited. In fact, they rightfully show the attrocities as one of the factors why the atomic bombs were dropped. If you have in fact visited the museum previously , I'd suggest you actually read what is in plain view.

My experience at visiting that museum (many times) is that it does not do that at all. Whatever information is presented about such atrocities is only cursory at best.

Finally, I would argue that people who insist on just focusing on the "what" and ignoring the "why" are doing themselves and others a disservice and perhaps are even at a greater risk of repeating the horrible mistakes of the past than others. Such people are also probably more likely than not to label those that do not share their particular viewpoint on a matter as "haters" who only waste their time.

ReformedBasherMAR. 06, 2012 - 09:12AM JST @Mike_Fagg I recall mention of the lead up to war towards the entrance when I visited about 2 years ago. If the adults are really not telling children the truth or simplifying the reason, that is their individual responsibilty. The museum however is open to everybody and therefore has a might higher responsibility to tell the truth. My impression is that you and others feel that "Japan" was not "punished" enough. This kind of grudge does not promote peace.

My impression is that having 5% of a museum devoted to the Japanese involvement in the war and the other 95% implicitly implying that Hiroshima (Japan) was victimized by the war also does not promote peace.

The exhibits on the things leading up to the dropping of the bomb are at presented at the beginning of the museum tour. They are all lumped together almost as if they are part of "different" exhibit. In turn, they are followed by many many more exhibits depicting the horror and destruction that Hiroshima endured because of the dropping of the bomb. I don't remember the "why" exhibits being mixed in with the rest in order to provide any context as to perhaps why some people felt that the bomb(s) needed to be dropped.

Most of the Japanese school groups I've seen at that museum don't really spend tons of time at the beginning of the tour. Many are led through fairly quickly to get to the other parts of the exhibit. Most of the teachers leading their kids through on this tour have only a limited amount of time before they have move on to the rest of their day's activities. Most of them don't want to spend 20 minutes at the beginning of the tour trying to explain to their kids why this might have happened. They'd rather get onto what happened.

I've read journals of students who have visited that museum. Most of them too focused on the "what" and not the "why". This is not surprising because that is the way the museum is laid out. Can't really blame the kids since the exhibits on "what happened" are so strong and powerful and so numerous that the "what" completely overwhelms the "why".

And I would suggest you visit the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima. The peace activists make no attempt to deny the attrocities the Imperial forces commited. In fact, they rightfully show the attrocities as one of the factors why the atomic bombs were dropped. If you have in fact visited the museum previously , I'd suggest you actually read what is in plain view.

I have been to that museum many times, both privately and work-related. The Peace Park is a beautiful place especially when the weather is nice. However, I would not say that the museum "rightfully" shows anything of the kind. It not nearly as biased as the Yushukan at Yasukuni, but it is also definitely as not as forthright about the Japanese involvement in the war as the memorial in Nagasaki.

Took an group of American school kids through that museum once. One of the museum guides leading group of Japanese kids through at the same time was asked "Why did the Americans do this?". The guide's reply was "Because they didn't like us". On other occasions through that museum, I heard similar things from Japanese school kids, teachers,etc. trying to sum of the reasons behind the dropping of that bomb. Lots of "Atomic weapons are evil and we were unjustly victimized by the bad Americans" talk, but strangely not a lot of talk of Japanese atrocities or other things.

DisillusionedFEB. 27, 2012 - 02:08PM JST Oh, no! Not another one! It is the same scenario over and over again! The mother's BF beats or abuses her kid. I am divorced with kids and I am so afraid for my kids as to what kind of nutcase my ex will attach herself to.

Crazy stuff. But it's not always a the mother's BF doing the abusing. Sometimes it's the mother herself.

I used to work with this guy who was married to a Japanese women. One night this dude says he comes home and sees that his daughter somehow has a pretty bad black eye. So, he asks her what happened. Turns out that his wife lost her temper and whacked the kid really hard in the face because the girl did move quickly enough for her or something. Smashed her head into a table. Talk about being mentally unstable.