Bit of a Letdown, That

[l33tminion]

Today was an awesome day. In the morning, I bought shinkansen (bullet train) tickets for the second leg of the Hiroshima trip (four nights in Hiroshima, two in Kyoto, then back to Tokyo

Comments

[l33tminion]

The FHCers were even native Japanese, not errant gaijin. Although you could tell from the way they hugged that they weren't that experienced with the whole hugging thing. There were probably some interesting stories behind the whole deal. I'm just rambling, but I think the FHC is really cool.

[l33tminion]

hey how about you don't use the word gaijin please, thanks

[l33tminion]

Would you rather I use gaikokujin?

I prefer the shorter word. I know some people consider "gaijin" to be pejorative, but it's been widely adopted by foreigners in Japan (including most of the IES people who I've heard mention their status as foreigners in Japanese). "Gaijin" is also a more familiar word to non-Japanese-speaking Americans than "gaikokujin". So I'll probably be sticking to my original wording in the future, although I'm sorry if you find it offensive.

[l33tminion]

It's not "some people" who find it pejorative, it [i]is[/i] a pejorative word. It's not even that I find it offensive, it's that Japanese people find it uncomfortable to be used. If you don't notice it I guess it's because you don't know where to look. But just wait until you use it flippantly and have a japanese person tell you not to use it, that it's like using "nigger" and just because you have to use two extra syllables shouldn't mean that you shouldn't try to be culturally sensitive since you're in their country

[l33tminion]

I'll keep that in mind. While your feelings on the issue still seem like an overreaction to me, I think I'm probably missing some necessary context. I'll talk to you about this later.