Anime =/= Japanese Culture

[Darknight2433]

So I was thinking, and I think I'm the ONLY one of out my cosplay friends who doesn't really like the Japanese, or even Asian, culture. It's not like I hate it or anything, but it's like you having to like Italy to like pizza: it's just doesn't happen.  I don't like kimonos, the kind of architecture they have, the society and living spaces, the language, a lot of things. It's just like another culture to me. :3

I was wondering if anyone else felt this way, ehhehheh~?

[oslapedo]

I see where you're coming from~!

It's like, a lot of my cosplay friends are interested in the Japanese language and going to Japan, etc but for me anime is just another form of cartoon for me to enjoy; I keep culture out of it, haha~

[Kagome219]

For me it was just a transition from one thing to the next. Sure I still like anime and manga, but the entire Japanese culture is more my thing now than just the cartoons. I tend to keep the two separate.

[DancingTofu]

Well, I'm not really into Anime, and I'm not super into Japanese culture.  I like a lot of Japanese products, and I love pachinko, but other than that Japan just represents the place I expect most of my competition to come from if I manage to get into the game design industry.

[StarryShay]

For me it was just a transition from one thing to the next. Sure I still like anime and manga, but the entire Japanese culture is more my thing now than just the cartoons. I tend to keep the two separate.

Yeah, that's how I am too.
When I first started watching anime, I was already into the Japanese culture a little bit, but after learning more, I started to actually want to go to Japan, and learn Japanese. >.<
(Plus, in Japan there are cool 'Manga Cafe's' and I really want to go to one of those too. xD)

[jaybug]

I appreciate anime and manga as a way of introducing the Japanese culture to me. I can learn things that would be good to try, say Pocky, or takoyaki. Even if I prefer Violet Crumble and the pudding filled fish, I would not have known that so many people really loved them to think maybe I could try one.

My dad however is totally against Japanese stuff. He says that they are too trade protective for him to want to buy their stuff anymore. I guess that means he doesn't own Nikon cameras anymore. Just all the Japanese audio and video electronics he bought way back when. I hope his cousin Gene doesn't know, as Gene married an Okinawan.

So I guess appreciating Japanese culture is to me like trying to understand family. Now if only there was something culture wise coming from Iran, I would be able to understand more of my more distant family relations.

But yeah, I guess cultures are cultures. They are all different, so it gets to the point of being, if this is Tuesday, this must be Rome kind of situation. Try to learn enough to deepen the experience, Grasshopper.

[fleur_fraise]

It's funny for me, because it's sort of the opposite- I don't like a whole lot of anime or manga, but the Japanese culture and language is really interesting to me. Especially fashion. Most people get introduced to Japanese alternative fashion (specifically lolita) through manga, but I made the jump over manga.

I don't really view anime or manga as anything more than a comic or cartoon because, essentially, that's what they are. They're another form of art and/or entertainment.

Japanese culture, it seems, is popular with "kids today" (jr high - college) because it's so readily available.

[DemonSpawn]

I like both, but they aren't like in one category for me. I like them both seperately.

[Cassiopeia]

^  Same.

[princessmoon]

So I was thinking, and I think I'm the ONLY one of out my cosplay friends who doesn't really like the Japanese, or even Asian, culture. It's not like I hate it or anything, but it's like you having to like Italy to like pizza: it's just doesn't happen. 

I..uhh... LOVE pizza, but don't really have any affections for Italy... o_o

As for culture, I'm Asian, so no real comment since I do love my culture and grew up with the American lifestyle. Anyways, cosplay is for your entertainment, so the whole 'culture shabang' doesn't really have to tag with it. Anime is a form of art and perhaps cosplay can be viewed as another form of art... 

I have friends who enjoy anime/manga, but are not 'into' the culture as well, so don't feel like ur the only one. ^_^

[xxxchihiroxxx]

I know kind of what you mean

i have always like asian culture in general since I was a kid. Mostly the anciant culture, things like kimonos, old myths, the old shrines and temples. I thought it was so fascinating and eligant. The japan I see today is like a new york city on drugs. While one day i want to visit it I would rather go to places like okinawa than Tokyo.

One thing is that japanese culture in anime is diffrent from what it is in real life. The japan I see in real life resembles more of a cartoon really to me. Theres a bunch of flashy colors and it feels (to me at least) like everyone is absorbed in materialistic things and theres a major clash of the old traditions and the new standereds of modernizing society.

i also found that the majority of japanese people ive come to encounter (not all mind you just a few of the ones ive met) are more interested in pushing me over/aside to take a picture before they hop back on the tour bus. And also, they get sea sick very easy. -_- It's like a flock of fish. I saw there were like five tour busses of japanese people traveling australia the same time and places we were, every where we went suddenly a swarm of japanese people would flood off the bus take a bunch of pictures, push many people aside to take said pictures, then just get back on the bus again. and if there was a line for something.... well uh they like to cut from what i noticed. and are not afraid to spit on you if you get to cut to the front of the line for the boat because your aunt only has one leg. ._. again these are just some the encounteres ive experienced, ive also met a lot of japanese people who i find quiet nice and polite and i get along with very well...

but in general it seems like the people ahve become very materialisitc, and its not all so sugery sweet as it seems in the comics. Same kinda goes for lolitas. they seem sweet and in most manga ive encounered the personality matchs the dress. In real life i find them more bitter than the tarts they eat at tea partys. (again just some of the ones ive met, i have nothing against the fashion i think its very cute and i wouldnt mind owning a few sweet lolita dresses myself)

but yeah thats just my opinion : / anime and the asian culture are two way diffrent things for me. i have an apriciation for aspects of both.

[Darknight2433]

So I was thinking, and I think I'm the ONLY one of out my cosplay friends who doesn't really like the Japanese, or even Asian, culture. It's not like I hate it or anything, but it's like you having to like Italy to like pizza: it's just doesn't happen.  

I..uhh... LOVE pizza, but don't really have any affections for Italy... o_o

As for culture, I'm Asian, so no real comment since I do love my culture and grew up with the American lifestyle. Anyways, cosplay is for your entertainment, so the whole 'culture shabang' doesn't really have to tag with it. Anime is a form of art and perhaps cosplay can be viewed as another form of art...  

I have friends who enjoy anime/manga, but are not 'into' the culture as well, so don't feel like ur the only one. ^_^

Haha, see the little thing after it? It just doesn't happen. xD

And I think also my point is a lot of cosplay meets/hang outs have things to do with culture (like going out to sushi, going to an Asian supermarket, ect) and I would like to, say, go play tennis! Or anything that still involves anime that isn't directly involved with a culture, yuh. >D Or even MORE RESPECTED to do a culture that is that of besides Japanese~

I don't hate it or anything, and I like sushi, but I would prefer some diversity.

[princessmoon]

Ya gotz me thinking and I do sheee what cha mean!

And I think also my point is a lot of cosplay meets/hang outs have things to do with culture (like going out to sushi, going to an Asian supermarket, ect) and I would like to, say, go play tennis! Or anything that still involves anime that isn't directly involved with a culture, yuh. >D Or even MORE RESPECTED

I think we have some hardcore fanz who would do tennis in costume  XD But, ya...

The japan I see today is like a new york city on drugs.

ahaha...  It's the modern world, eh?  I think I'm stuck in time...

[jaybug]

Ya gotz me thinking and I do sheee what cha mean

Me too.

Also, had I gotten into anime seriously back in the early 90s or thereabouts. I think my views on the Japanese culture would have been much different than it is now. I had more friends that were either more religious, or more important to me as to what they thought. So all these Kami would have been seen by me as something to avoid. I had already forgone watching Oh My Goddess. I doubt I would have watched any of Kami-Chu. Both of which I adore today.

I guess it has taken me to be more comfortable with my own concept of religion, and what my own personal culture is to be, to have me be more accepting of other culture's than what is American standard.

From having been to several Asian nations. Japan is the one I would most like to visit again.

My mom's first cousin had a DNA test done, and found that we have more in common with Ghengis Khan's Golden Horde, that we do with France, where my great-grandfather came from. srsly? I guess so. So it's The Khan on mom's side, and Charlemagne from dad's. Any wonder I can stand the little people? lol

So is it the people, or their works that make me wish to find out more about a culture? I don't know. It is what interests me that counts. And that is subject to change without my being notified.

If I visit, and eat great things, and see amazing sights, and don't get beat on by the locals, what more could I ask for eh?

[fleur_fraise]

but in general it seems like the people ahve become very materialisitc, and its not all so sugery sweet as it seems in the comics. Same kinda goes for lolitas. they seem sweet and in most manga ive encounered the personality matchs the dress. In real life i find them more bitter than the tarts they eat at tea partys. (again just some of the ones ive met, i have nothing against the fashion i think its very cute and i wouldnt mind owning a few sweet lolita dresses myself)

That may be because manga isn't real life.

What someone wears shouldn't dictate how they act. Just because someone wears frilly pink dresses doesn't mean they have to be a doormat. It's a very common misconception that if you wear lolita, you have to be polite, which is pretty absurd.

[Wuntvor]

Hmm...  I became fascinated with Japanese culture by watching anime.  I have always been a fan of animation, in all of its forms.  When I graduated back in 81 I wanted to get into CG animation like in TRON.  There wasn’t really anything around here that was like that though, so I ended up in TV Broadcast & Design and computer programming..  Neither of which was what I really wanted.  My wife is a graphic artist, so I am living with someone who draws “cartoons” all the time.

Animation in the US has really gone downhill over time.  In the 70’s it, for lack of a better term, sucked big time.  Computers helped to revive it a bit in the US and cell copiers really improved it.  I think the best thing to happen to American Animation in the theater was Don Bluth.  He put out The Secret of NIMH and pretty much gave Disney a kick in the butt.

At about the same time Japan started importing their anime into the states.  We saw Transformers and Robotech for the first time.  A little later Pokemon, Digimon, Sonic, Yugi-Oh and a bunch of other kid’s shows made an appearance, and Adult Swim, and Toonami hit Cartoon Network.  Compared to most of the other US animation these shows were a breath of fresh air.  I couldn’t believe the amount of detail that was put into the backgrounds, the shading of the characters.  Everything about these shows was just amazing.

As I started watching more and more anime, I naturally started taking an interest in the events being portrayed by the characters.  Watching Rurouni Kenshin made me wonder if such a person really existed.  I checked on-line about the Meiji Revolution and took an interest in it.  Watching Grave of the Fireflies and Zipang, got me interested in some of what happened in WWII.  All of the anime shows showing nuns and Catholics, made me wonder about how prevalent it was in Japan.  I found out that the US pretty much wiped out the majority of the Catholics in Japan when we blew up Nagasaki, and one of the largest cathedrals in Japan.

I, of course, also became fascinated with the other religions in Japan.  Shows like InuYasha, Shonen Onmyoji, and Tactics all had me interested in the shrines.

The multitude of school life anime made me wonder about the school uniforms, and Culture festivals.  The respect the students have for their teachers.  The effort they put into entering a good school.  The support the family gives to the students.  All these things interested me, partly because of the total lack of same in the US.

I find it interesting that after WWII the US helped to get Japan back on it’s feet and introduced our capitalist industrial model to them.  We now have all of our automobile manufacturers begging the government for money, because they have done such a terrible job at running their companies.  On the other hand Japan…

It is a whole different mind set for their culture.  For the most part, I like a lot of their beliefs more than ours.  I have never been to Japan, but I do plan to visit some time.

[Washougal_Otaku]

I see where you're coming from, too, but I disagree.  Even before I got into anime I've thought highly of the Japanese culture.  I find it to be one of the most beautiful cultures out there.

[MiriaRose]

I actually don't like most manga/anime that much anymore and I prefer the culture over it. I'm not really that into the culture, though, either, though I think it's beautiful, and I don't really want to learn Japanese that much- I'd rather learn a few other languages. Asian history isn't really too much of interest to me, either. Eastern European history, on the other hand. .

And I've played badminton in cosplay. It was fun, but it got really hot after a while. >.>

[The_Geek]

I've always been interested in Asian culture in general. Anime and cosplay are just separate. I still see where you're coming from though... It definitely got me to think.