Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!news.moat.net!news.glorb.com!postnews.google.com!o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail From: "etaka" Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: Gaigin or non-gaigin? Date: 13 Sep 2005 04:47:29 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lines: 23 Message-ID: <1126612049.335302.250210@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com> References: <4326786f$0$8993$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au> <1126596972.265046.324600@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> <1h2u6wb.a993gk1d5leyoN%dame_zumari@yahoo.com> <1126599454.272736.81930@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 4.63.7.192 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Trace: posting.google.com 1126612054 30204 127.0.0.1 (13 Sep 2005 11:47:34 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 11:47:34 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: <1126599454.272736.81930@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/0.2 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Mac_PowerPC),gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=4.63.7.192; posting-account=2HyN1gwAAACdKwpWFk0-ZrcKP8rRTGrL Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:29484 That's an interesting situation NC86's student is in, her parents have letting her conversational Japanese slip that way. My kids can now have spontaneous simple arguments with each other in English "It's mine!" "No, it's mine!" but I don't see us not speaking to them in Japanese soon. I doubt my wife will ever give up speaking Japanese as they grow up. Insensitive people in Japan, at least those who don't know that woman, would mistake her for or perhaps treat her as foreign, in the way that resident Chinese and Koreans I knew who spoke like native Japanese were treated as no different from Japanese or the way I used to pass as a Japanese if there was no reason to present ID. After they let people know, they were in for a flurry of questions or oohs and ahhs about their good Japanese, however. I wonder how she'd do in a Japanese Only establishment. And unfortunately enough, the few resident Chinese and Koreans I have known willing to out themselves have had pretty stereotypical lifestyles, eg owning or working in pachinko parlors, construction companies, yakiniku restaurants, or Chinese restaurants; attending Korean universities, or openly espousing extreme anti-imperial or pro-Korean views. I wish I'd known more ordinary people, say an ethnic Korean nurse or naturalized Japanese who became a government worker.