They are wrong, and are back-defining the word. “Tidal wave” has always been a huge wave caused by a earthquake, etc. See the line “Tidal wave was used in earlier times to describe what we now call a tsunami.”
From an interview with Dr. Eddie Bernard, Director of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory:
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: *How common is-and by the way-should we say Tsunami or Tidal Wave? *
EDDIE BERNARD: *It’s your preference. Tsunami is the Japanese word. Tidal Wave is an apt description of the process. It looks like a very rapid tide to people who live along the coast-whatever word works for you. *
They started using “Tsunami” as they were 'weeaboos". Why? Well, “because the waves are not caused by tides”. Sure. No one thought they were. “Tidal” in this case meant “in the sea, in a area that has tides”.
True, the term was slightly confusing. But “tsunami” means “Harbor wave” and they are not caused by or limited to harbors.
Here’s why. There’s no logical reason white people should be made fun of for being interested in Japanese culture. Now, there are many ways in which an interest in Japanese culture could be annoying - if the person is myopic about their interests and never shuts up, or if their conception of Japan is based on stereotypes and doesn’t involve any real understanding, but I wouldn’t just assume anyone who likes Japanese stuff is ignorant or putting on airs.
I agree. I dont mind the term “Francophile” for those in love with French culture, etc, but “weeaboo” is dismissive. “Japanophile” is correct but somehow sounds off.
Yes, I see I linked to the same exact page. D’oh. And maybe that’s what the word is intended to mean. But when people throw these types of insults around they’re not that discriminating. A word that originally (maybe) meant a white person with a barely-informed obsession with Japan winds up meaning every white person who’s into Japanese culture. The Knowyourmeme definition makes that pretty clear - there’s nothing in there about stereotyping or ignorance. Just a preference for Japanese stuff.
Perhaps one analogy might involve Renfair/SCA folk. Or figure skaters. Or scrabble enthusiasts.
FWIW, I consider myself a Japanophile. I generally consider Japanese manga and anime to be superior to American comics and animation, though I enjoy some of the latter. I practice an Asian martial art influenced by Japanese martial arts. I can’t see how any of this is a bad thing and even perceive some xenophobia in one of the OP’s links, but whadya expect from a weeaboo?
It’s obvious you’re only doing those things to look cool or impress others, not because you enjoy them. That’s how it works for everybody who’s into stuff I’m not into.
Obviously European obsession with Chinese culture started in the 17th and 18th centuries — partially due to curiosity and interest in design; but the first great wave of fascination with things Japanese, particularly prints, due to their incomparable drawing skills, was — in Western Europe at least — around the 1860s and '70s. Not only Whistler, but most Impressionists, and collectors, were maddened with Japonaiserie.
Even in the 1930s, common household china in Britain was still strongly influenced by previous Japanese patterns and motifs.
Many of the people I’ve run into who are obsessed with Japan seem to have a highly sexualized view of Japan, Japanese culture, and most importantly, Japanese women, or rather girls. You know, that stereotypical infantilized thing so often seen in anime? They dig Japanese stuff because Japanese stuff gives them raging boners. Those guys are creepy as hell.
Liking anime is not creepy. Fantasizing about fucking about fucking Dawn from Pokemon is.
It’s not a bad thing at all.
Unless you also fantasize about fucking Dawn from Pokemon.
I know more than a few Afro-philes of various strains (full admission: I may be one myself.) I think part of it is that Africa is so often misrepresented in the US that people who happen to like Africa kind of reflexively overdo it.
Afro-philes most definitely gravitate to modern Africa, with its pop music and wax prints. But a lot of “modern” Africa reads as “traditional” from the outside.
I’ve always been a little baffled with the fact that we easily accept other people being interested in American culture. Indeed, it’s almost a given that random Joe/Liu/Jose/Yosef/Jomo will enjoy Hollywood films and Beyonce and would probably cut off their arm to go to the US, but we find it almost pathological when an American has a strong interest in a non-European country. Nobody asks the Indian doctor in Atlanta “What’s wrong with India? Why would you want to leave you home to live in a strange country? Don’t you want to help your own people?” But if an American doctor wants to move to India she’s going to get those kinds of pointed questions.
I seem to remember, dimly, a fascination with Polynesian culture in the early 60s. Anyone else recall the rattan/bamboo wallpaper, tiki torches, of those days?
Weirdly, or perhaps not, I’ve never watched or played Pokemon as an adult.
Yeah Polynesia was once all the rage: highlights or lowlights included Hawaiian basements, Trader Vics, Tiki bars, enchanted Tiki rooms: the fad dates from the 1930s and continued through the 1960s. And afterwards, though with increasing irony.
Tiki culture. Interesting article, if a little naive: hey, it’s OK if we pinch random bits of your culture to furnish our bars 'cos it’s done with lurve.
I’ve encountered this idea before, and it baffles me. Here in the US, we are very much a composite culture. We certainly have created elements of our own, and by far the biggest chunk of what we’ve absorbed comes from the English, but bits and pieces from all over the place have filtered in over the centuries. This seems to be tolerated well enough, but anything new… The general rule seems to be, if it was brought to this country by immigrants, that’s fine, but if you’re copying an idea you’ve seen someone else do, that’s condemnable.
I think you’re working from the wrong definition of weaboo. Yes, they may call themselves Japanophiles, but the version of Japan they like is the fictionalized version from anime, combined with western stereotypes. Heck, I’ve heard the term used just for an otaku, someone who really likes anime.
The reason I have a problem with weaboos is that they’re kinda (unintentionally) racist. I’m not sure that’s the case with other -ophiles.
I’m sure there are some true Japanophiles who get put under the weaboo label. They treat Japan the same way Anglophiles treat England. But there are so many that are the anime-fantasy kind that it’s hard to treat the same way.
Not that I think they are horrible, just extremely naive. I think the cure is just for them to go to Japan for a little while and see what it’s really like.
So is it a positive difference, as in they thought it would be ok, but the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, etc… are more awesome than they thought?
Or is it a negative sort of difference, as in they had it in their heads that Paris was some sort of fairy-tale romantic place, and they get there and find out that it’s kind of dirty, filled with people with very different attitudes, and generally not much different at all than any other big city in the world.
I’ve kind of had both happen- not to the point of having physical symptoms, but I’ll admit that I thought Paris was going to be a lot cooler than it really was, and I didn’t go to Rome expecting very much at all, and was really surprised at how much I liked it.
The second one. The idea is that their expectations are so totally unrealistic that the city itself becomes a crushing disappointment.
In other words, nobody’s working from the wrong definition. An insult for a specific type of person got applied to a much bigger group of people. Quoting from the OP, someone who is “fanatic about all things Japanese. Anime, food, social norms, whatever.” probably isn’t just going off of stereotypes or fiction. They sound pretty well-informed about the country. Which apparently is bad if you’re white.
I think that’s pretty common. It’s part of why you sometimes see people having the Oriental vs. Asian debate: the word Oriental was sometimes used by people who admired those countries (and sometimes not), but it was always associated with a shallow and stereotyped image of the countries and the people.
