Otaku Culture Hangout

[Teeba]

The downside of having zashiki warashi is that if they ever leave your house you know you're screwed. There's a famous myth that an entire household ended up dead, poisoned or having killed each other less than a week after their zashiki warashi left. T_T But I agree, their presence isn't scary.

I like the rivalry between Tanuki and Kitsune too! But I think its interesting how they both seem to specialize on transforming into beautiful women, despite the fact that they're originally male.

[Asarii]

True. I guess even good fortune doesn't come for free so one must constantly make the zashiki warashi happy so they could stay. Even though it's a pain to keep them in the house, I'm sure it's worth it just like part-time jobs.

That's an interesting point. I wonder why they both like transforming into women. My wild guess it's more entertaining to transform into women since they'd get a better reaction.

There are a lot of allusions to Christianity or Greek mythology in Western literature, and it's interesting that Japanese stories are influenced by their folk tales.

[BexXx]

Hi there everybody, I'm not sure if this is the correct section but it seems appropriate, I'm just wondering if people would mind doing me a favour by filling out this short survey?

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9797ZKP

It's for my final year college dissertation which is on manga perceptions and growth in the western world and I would really love to get an international scope at this point.

Very much appreciated! x

[Josef K.]

So how does everybody stand on Japanese cinema? It is miraculously cast aside in the shadows due to how popular their animation has been. There is not a single country in the world that has such an effect I think. Though I think the anime directors and voice actors are far more popular than the directors and actors that do the films. The most popular are Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.

Does anyone else follow this aspect of the Japanese culture?

[Asarii]

I love how a lot of popular Japanese films seem almost like indie films. Several movies I've watched were slice-of-life so there wasn't an overarching conflict throughout the story. It's nice to watch something that tries to steer away from common Hollywood tropes, but for that reason some people might find some Japanese films boring because they don't contain those narratives.

One characteristic of Japanese films I noticed were the visual effects from the camera. The lighting is not as crisp (?) as Western films, but I like the atmosphere it creates.

[Doraku]

I'm not really familiar with contemporary Japanese movies, but I have several favorites Japanese classic movies, and I'd recommend you to watch it too

1. Zangiku Monogatari - A movie directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. I believe this is one of the pioneers of Japanese motion pictures industry. It's one of the essential Kenji's works that you should watch, and I admire how he could depict a powerful attack on the the social beliefs at that time that impose roles of sacrificial victims upon woman.

2. Rashomon - One of my favorite works of Kurosawa. Rashomon unique storytelling gives you unreliable perspective with points-of-view in flashback style, framed with a fluid and moving camera. It's just that amazing

3. Tokyo Story - Ozu's greatest film, in my opinion. His ability to give a "life" on deceptively simple affairs in everyday life is extremely underrated. His philosophy of camera tend to be static (not as fluid as Kurosawa) but he really knows how to make a simple scene become so powerful.

4. Biruma no tategoto - directed by Kon Ichikawa, and a very underrated director whose ability could match Kurosawa. This movie proves that statement, an elegy for a lost innocence. I could say that this movie is suitable as an epilogue to the horrors of World War II.

[Asarii]

My mom watches the NHK noon hour news so I get a daily dose of what goes on in Japan. (A very small dose since it's 15 min long.) Anyway since it is nearing Oomisoka (大晦日/New Years Eve), a lot of people are going on vacation to travel. What I find most interesting is that a) there is always a segment where an interviewer asks people in the airport where they are headed off to, and b) at least one interviewee always answers Guam.

So if anyone feels like heading off to an island and meeting Japanese people at the same time, Guam is your option. Even Wikipedia agrees.

[Crude]

I was just wondering, would it be possible if anyone here would create a thread about Japanese school life? I was thinking about creating one myself, but then I think it would be better if the introductory post of the thread would be informative, and to be honest I really don't know much about Japanese school life. I'd like to know about when students have classes and when they have holidays, how much free time they have and if there are certain middle-schools and high-schools in which uniforms aren't a requirement. I'd very much appreciate if someone with knowledge concerning this topic would do this!

[Asarii]

That's an awesome topic! I'm pretty sure there's a member or two *cough*mikkih*cough* who have attended Japanese schools, and many more who have gone on an exchange.

If not, I'll make the thread myself since I have some knowledge. However, it would be nice to have someone with first hand experience talk about the subject. (My only experience is attending a second grade class for two weeks in Tochigi.)