Thanks Hokkaido Brit, that was very informative.
This attitude has got to be harder to keep up with the Internet and stuff like Wikipedia.
Remember, the VAST majority of people here do not speak, read or write English and thus a lot of the internet is not available to them. The Japanese version of Wikipedia is of course written from the Japanese point of view.
Good for you Hokkaido Brit! There’s something I’ve come to realize about Japan after 15 years and that’s the way the all-pervasive re-enforcement of ‘Japanese niceness’ in the media has a horribly distorting effect on people. Slightly off topic, but when I met with my boss for my yearly review last month he laughed and said “Isamu, you’re so Japanese! You never ask for more money and never complain about anything, unlike every other person on staff here.”
I just smiled and nodded my thanks at his ‘praise’. But I’m the only non-Japanese person in the whole office. Think about it. If the measure of ‘being Japanese’ is something that doesn’t exist except as some behavior only displayed by a non-Japanese, then how Japanese is it? You see this in all (well, most) Japanese movies - the idea of Japanese selflessness - it’s as bogus as the Hollywood movie notion of ‘true love’. That’s not to say that there are no Japanese people who show selflessness, of course there are, but it’s no more common (I’d in fact say less common given the general reluctance to give to charity in Japan) than in any other developed nation.
And even if they do speak, read and write English, they are still extremely unlikely to be looking up any English version of a website. It’s just too much of a chore for most people.
Hokkaido Brit, what an amazing story. And well done for sticking to your guns (no pun intended). Really impressed, given the small glimpses I’ve had into the cultural respect for institutions, and particularly fantastic that you could bring your own families into the story as proof of reconciliation.
Isn’t it mandatory over there to take a few years of English classes for school, though?
To answer a question with a question, Vicullum, did you study a language in school? Perhaps Spanish?
Yep, took it for a year. German, too. And while I don’t use either and forgot most of it I still have a passing familiarity with Spanish, at least enough read and construct simple sentences. Had I taken more lessons, or actually put some effort into my education at the time, I’m sure I’d be even better.
Well, I took Spanish for 2-3 years, and I too have a passing familiarity with it, but I can’t read Spanish wikipedia without some serious effort. IMO, the average Japanese student’s reading ability is quite good, but even with 5 years of mandatory English study, I still don’t think the average student would feel comfortable reading English websites casually. I’d love to be corrected if I’m wrong. I can say with confidence that your run-of-the-mill JHS student could not.