Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!onodera-news!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!newsfeed.freenet.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!yahoobb218120102027.bbtec.NET!not-for-mail From: Eric Takabayashi Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: At least she was honest Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 22:31:32 +0900 Lines: 57 Message-ID: <3FC0B6B4.8AEFEF03@yahoo.co.jp> References: <1oa1svsdqefs285h69fm61grlssbtd86hq@4ax.com> Reply-To: etakajp@yahoo.co.jp NNTP-Posting-Host: yahoobb218120102027.bbtec.net (218.120.102.27) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-2022-jp; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de 1069594441 61641901 218.120.102.27 (16 [138107]) X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.79 (Macintosh; U; PPC) X-Accept-Language: ja,en Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:8134 Chris Kern wrote: > "For a foreigner, even writing hiragana is amazing." > > Gee, thanks. > > And is it just me, or do some Japanese people have a mental block that > prevents them from believing that a gaijin can read or write Japanese > -- even if the ability is shown to them multiple times? Many, many Japanese people. They may smile, laugh or applaud as a group if merely given customary greetings. I would like to know if anyone in other countries would clap and compliment Japanese if told "Hello" or "Thank you" in their language or when their skill with a fork is demonstrated. > It's even funnier when they forget to be surprised for a minute. It's funniest when people only find out I can understand Japanese or am not Japanese much, much later. Most of the people in my neighborhood do not know I am foreign, and I have been here seven years. I have had people gawk, recoil, scream, apologize, exclaim disbelief, or actually run away. It's why I use a Japanese name when I can, and use my alien card for ID in transactions. I want to see their faces. > I > was looking at this register of new babies in our town's newsletter, > and the teacher holding the thing was commenting on a few names that > she had never seen before. I commented that one seemed like a good > choice because of the kanji they used (kokoro and atatakai). At first > she started to respond in agreement -- but then suddenly the lightbulb > went on and she remembered to patronize the gaijin ("sugoi! kanji no > imi mo wakaru!"). I've had this happen on a few other instances when > I was asking a question about something -- How long have you been here? It's normal when people find out I am foreign. The only people who don't seem to care are those with a lot of exposure to foreigners such as at Immigration or at the airport. I surprise even local police, every time. And I liked it when the guy at the licensing center, who only spoke Japanese and had Japanese forms, said I could fill out the application "in English". I guess he thought I could speak, understand and read Japanese, but miraculously be too ignorant to write my own name and address. > they start to give the > answer but then remember "oh wait, I can't acknowledge the actual > reading ability of the gaijin by responding to his question, I have to > patronize him instead -- that way I can pretend that he doesn't really > know anything and feel secure in my bubble!" > > Today someone said "eego sugoi jouzu desu ne!" -- I thought she was > joking at first but sadly, she was not. > > Then there are all the pathetic "even Japanese people can't read this" > lines, but that's enough for this post.