Maybe, that’s what I thought too. Guin is still a person, who may herself be Catholic, who’s hurt another whether she intended too or not.
Maybe they’ve already made up too. (Hope so, they both seem nice.)
Maybe it wasn’t the “Mary-worshippers” comment, but it was that she was stereotyping Baptists.
Hmmm… Hope you two have made it up, letting it slide.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so harsh. It’s just I’ve heard so many stereotypes about Catholics from the fundy segment.
And yes, I am Catholic, although non-practicing.
Glad that’s out of the way. 
I can see how that would bring up bitterness, Guin.
It also fits in with the thoughts of the OP. Wish people would not be so ignorant, and further it by using cliched stereotypes.
Yeah, I realize that people will “classify” things, and put them in nice little nooks so they can “understand the world”. People also can go too far with this, and become ignorant, and infect others with it. 
I suppose I should be grateful that Lifeway didn’t include mock buck teeth, round-rimmed glasses, and a Chinese take-out menu with dishes like “cum of sum yun guy” on it. :rolleyes:
The Chinese take-out box motif was amusing, but the rest… 
I was not aware of that. I knew Geisha were skilled in the arts, but it was always hinted that that just rounded out the package.
Did Japan also have high-class courtesans, like I’m describing, and could I simply be confusing the two?
(and I consider myself something of a student in Japanese history :smack: )
Courtesans I think were seperate. They were not performers I believe. They were more “escorts”. A pretty bauble for the male’s arm. Geiasha were “hired” to “host” the party, and provide the entertainment. Some Geisha had rich sponsers, who would gift them with things like combs, and kimonos. Sometimes, the Geisha and patron became lovers, she would become a “Mistress” of a sort.
Some men had courtesans, who would accompany them to functions, and be “eye candy”, they weren’t at the function as performers, I think the best description would be: in between concubines, and Geisha. They were there to “be on the man’s arm” and stroke his ego, in public and private. I believe Courtesans were more often a man’s Mistress. I think Courtesans were for sex, and Geisha were for intellectual/emotional stimulation if that makes sense. The men paid to watch, speak with, and listen to the Geisha, while they went to a Courtesan for un-inhibited sensuality/sexuality.
Am I correct? Does anyone know for certain?
Good post, gobear, but I must correct you, there are most certainly rickshaws in Japan. You’ll find them in Kyoto, around Higashi-yama where many temples are and in Nara park. They’re entirely touristy things. Rickshaw-pullers are usually (always) students working part-time.
This reminds me of a group of American teenagers, ages 14 to 16, I met in a Chinese train. I thought they might have been on an uber-cool school trip, but when I asked them what they were doing in China, they replied that they were here “to spread the word”. It became obvious, as the conversation moved on, that none of them were particularly interested in actually learning anything. I was filled with great sadness. They had this golden opportunity to expand their minds and instead, all they worried about was “spreading the word”. It’s a good think they didn’t know the language.
Sounds like a kit they could have used for Japan Day on TV Funhouse.
I didn’t see them, but then again, I’m not the most observant guy on the planet. And the “touristy thing” agrees with my OP–that rickshaws are not used in Japan. Retro-on-purpose antiques don’t count.
I want to go back and see how the remodeled JR station in Kyoto looks.
Were there ever any rickshaws attached to animals? Because having a human being work as a beast of burden seems, well, crude.
Hell, now I wonder if AEON is hiring.
If you read all the criticisms, you’ll notice the recurring theme of “…well intentioned, but poorly executed…”
And if you actually went to the Vacation Bible School (VBS) site and watched their tedious streaming video introduction and overview of the program, you’d see that this characterization of the critics is accurate: The intentions were good, but the execution was off.
E.g., as noted, there are rickshaws in Japan. Even ones being pulled by Japanese men in conical rice paddy hats. Where the VBS got off track was elevating this touristy remnant of bygone imperial days as a major theme of the VBS. Even moreso was the video showing two young white Americans VBSers encouraging their rickshaw pullers to ‘go faster’ in a rickshaw race <shudder>.
OTOH, other elements of Japanese culture are shown accurately. And yes, one of the day’s snacks is sushi. (Although, just try getting American children to eat raw fish as a mid-morning snack – good luck.)
The whole VBS theme is about the “Far East,” (a Eurocentric term) but focuses solely on Japan, and yet, manages to mix in American Chinese elements (the take-out box and fortune cookies). But this leads to the biggest problem: Why the hell use a mostly non-Christian culture as the window dressing to Christian scriptural catechesis?
I wouldn’t say they are intentional racists. But I would say there’s a good chance they were high when they thought this up.
Peace.
The word “rickshaw” comes from the Japanese word jinrikisha. If you look at the characters individually you get:
jin: person, human.
riki: strength, force, power
sha: car, vehicle
So, by definition, a rickshaw can only be pulled by a human. A rickshaw pulled by an animal is called a “carriage”, I believe.
Even though pulling rickshaws is hard work, nowadays, it’s hardly slave labour. I don’t think it’s much different than working as a bike courier. Compared to typical part-time wages, it’s also fairly well-paid.
The Kyoto station (I was there yesterday) is… monstrous. There’s certainly something overwhelming about the architecture. It’s not an unpleasant place to be in, but I think they might have tried too hard; I would have prefered something a tad more sober in style.
Oh, and also:
is wrong. Pearls aren’t cultivated in the Sea of Japan. The main area for pearls is the Ise-shima peninsula, with coasts on the Ise bay and Pacific Ocean. There are also pearls in Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita and Ehime, none of which are on the Sea of Japan. There are divers (ama) working in the Sea of Japan, but they’re not diving for pearls.
Actually, I commend them for at least trying to teach children that other cultures do exist. The stereotypes may be exaggerated, ridiculous, and inaccurate (which is a rather big criticism), but it’s better than showing nothing but Caucasian faces to the kids in VBS.
[hijack to clarify] Guin, I just wanted to pop back up and say that I wasn’t angry- just hurt. I knew that it was a joke, but it still kind of stung. I get so tired of that particular shtick. That’s all. No hard feelings, really.
Zabali, thanks for caring. [end hijack]
And as far as the Koreans are concerned, it’s the East Sea (tonghae), most emphatically NOT the Sea of Japan.
Just in case anyone didn’t see this:
The official “Rickshaw Rally” site
They have sound clips too… looks like they reached deep into their bag of “Stereotypical Asian Music Phrases” to produce their soundtrack. Anyone surprised?
I don’t know if this counts as tourist-y, since it’s not something that everyday people do, but my office is pretty close to two of the traditional theaters in Ginza, and it’s not too unusual to see the performers (or some of their more traditional patrons) arriving in covered rickshaws.
Also, IIRC from my copy of De Becker’s The Nightless City, geishas in the 19th century and earlier were often of lower status than the courtesans, and special rules were passed prohibiting them from engaging in prostitution as a way of making more money.
Maybe, from my understanding some Geisha at least were able to become quite famous, and acquired rich powerful patrons. There were some functions that were “guys only” but Courtesans were allowed in, (because they were for sex) and there were no Geisha hosting the event. This does not mean that the Geisha were of lower status, just that they had a different “social function”. They functioned in the upper reaches of society, on the “Polite” “cultured” side.
Sort of like wives being excluded from bachelor parties today, or in Roman times, wives being excluded from an Orgy, but prostitutes allowed in. (Don’t remember the Roman term for them atm.)
No one yet seems to have pointed out that if they are focussing on JAPAN, then WHY, oh WHY do they have Chinese take out boxes and fake Chinese-y fonts on their stuff. This drives me mad!
My children are bicultural Japanese and English, and my mother sent them a beautiful book of stories from around the world. As we read the contents page, my son noticed there were two from Japan, so we eagerly turned to them. The pictures were all of Chinese-y (not even accurate Chinese!!) men with long pigtails and mandarin jackets, and the heroine was wearing something that might have been a bathrobe or maybe a Korean dress (forgot what it’s called, sorry!) but certainly wasn’t a kimono. For half an hour’s research, the illustrator could have got it right. The book was beautiful but I couldn’t trust the rest of the illustrations so it got chucked.
And on proudly taking my first born to England to show all the relatives, our old neighbour looked down on him and cackled, “Oooh, 'e don’t look a bit Chinese, do 'e?”
And a good job too, or my husband would have divorced me…
(I suppose this is the equivalent of many Japanese people assuming that a) I speak English and b) I am American, sigh…)