Though there is full white consensus on a number of white things, there is perhaps nothing that draws more universal white acclaim than the island nation of Japan. It should be noted, that some white people harbor SOME ill will toward Japan because of whaling, killing dolphins or Nanking. But those are generally considered isolated incidents that do not indict the entire nation.
White people love Japan for a number of reasons. Sushi is pretty much the biggest one, since white people have spent so much time Sushi restaurants, enjoying the food, learning about how to eat it, and how to be snobby about it. This natural curiousity fills them with a need to pay a visit to Tsukiji and taste the freshest Sushi possible.
But it goes beyond just food, all white people either have/will/or wished they had taught English in Japan. It is a dream for them to go over seas and actually live in Japan. This helps them not only because it fills their need to travel, it will enable them to gain important leverage over other white people at Sushi restaurants where they can say “this place is pretty good, but living in Japan really spoiled me. I’ve had such a hard time finding a really authentic place.” 
White people also love Japan because of it’s tradition, futuristic cities, films, kawaii stuff, music, and writers. Many white nerds are into anime, so being too into this can be seen as a negative by white people. It’s best to have a passing familiarity for things like Hayao Miyazaki who is universally accepted by white people, or if they don’t know who is he, they will look him up and they won’t find weird violent or sexual cartoons.
If you find yourself in an awkward silence with white people, just mention how you want to go to Japan. They will immediately begin talking about how their trip to Japan, or their favorite stuff from Japan, but it will be entirely about them. This is useful as you no longer have to talk, and they will like you for letting them talk about themselves.
But like with anime, you have to be careful about how much you like Japan. If you know how to speak Japanese, you kind of ruin it for everyone else.
It’s interesting.
I love SUSHI resaurant so much.
I pooped my pants
So did I.
I really think some of these people are imature but, I totally agree with the message above!!!!!
Hey thanx sooooooo much for this info I really can’t decide if i should go to Japan or not!!!
I just came across this post…. I’m at my desk… I’m an English teacher… in Japan. I wore my NB shoes to work today (I always ride my bicycle to the high school). I have a graduate degree from an Ivy League, and one of the best parts of my job is teaching about grammar. …Yeah, all my ancestors came to the US from various European countries three generations ago…
(for the record, I’m not into sushi, anime, or asian girls)
McCain hates sushi restaurant.
[...] #58 Japan [...]
Drat! I shouldn’t have spent all that time studying Japanese: I didn’t realize that ruins it for everyone else. It does however make my daily life a lot easier.
Ditto… I didn’t realize that it was a social faux pas to actually know what I’m talking about when the subject comes up. I’ve just had a ball pointing out the true meanings of ridiculous phrases and words that people unknowingly sport on t-shirts and (shudder!) tattoos.
[...] to this stupid website, Japan is #58 on the list of things white people [...]
My aunt and uncle got back from Japan a few years back. Thier entire house is now in a japanese theme. More orchids than you can shake a joke at. They have Majhong (sp) night with thier friends. That game is impossible, and white people just weren’t meant to understand anything beyond battleship. But, they did get an awesome automated toliet thing from over there! It thanks you for the “gift” you leave.
orchids? why is that japanese? they should have ‘bonsai’
and chrysanthemums! mah jong? well they play it a lot in japan, and it’s not any harder than canasta, but really,
after college and early 20s most japanese, well, i hate to
generalize…but couples playing it?
Mahjong is definitely something old white ladyies like. Haven’t you seen Seinfeld?
Crap - I am SO white. This post was a bit too close to the bone for me, which is probably for the best. I better go and recycle something to feel better…
are u white
I am dying to go to Japan.
I embrace my whiteness.
Man I have Ken Folk In Japan so back off son
One thing that white people don’t like - being inferior gaijin. Pro Tip: xenophobia is king in Japan.
White people rike to speak in fake Japanese accent when go to lestaulrant. It’s universal, and I think it may be genetic. All whites do it.
hahaha!!
im white and no does that
The nice thing about actually living in Japan is so many of the things white people love are readily available here. The mountains and natural scenery allow the #9 “Making you feel bad about not going outside” rule to be very applicable. Japan’s location makes traveling to the third world (#19) easy and by God, if you haven’t been to Cambodia yet, you will get it from the other whites here. Obviously many white men here are working on rule #11, and Japan’s general love of bad music makes having an 80s Night a snap (just hit up Harajuku for the clothes).
Harajuku for the clothes, then go to Sinjuku or several other stops on the Yamanote for the bars.
This is so true! I went to Japan over the summer, and all of this article is so true! Hahahaha.
This blog title is misleading: what you are in fact referring to and mocking is a certain subsection of white people in North America (mainly the US and to a lesser extent the non-Francophone parts of Canada), who are liberal/left-wing poseurs with above average incomes.
Most whites in the UK (where I am from) are nothing like that! Indeed, many whites from America itself are nothing like the whites you mock here. Moreover, whites from the non-anglophone world would hardly recognise any of the stereotypes you portray here. Talk about ethnocentric!
I suspect you are an Angry Asian Male (AAM) who has been brought up and educated among upper-middle class whites, subjected to their patronising behaviour and seen most of “your” fellow Asian women hook up with white men. This blog is your way of expressing your anger and getting some measure of revenge against the whites who have bothered you for so long. It’s funny and all, but please remember the target of your lampooning is a very narrow sub-section of the Caucasian race as a whole.
Oh, and Asians can be just as funny and weird too.
Its not surprising you’re from the UK. White people over there have absolutely no sense of humor like us white people over here. Maybe its all the rain. This blog is intended to be lighthearted and a little poke-and-jab. I find it to be funny and so do a lot of other people. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you are pretty pitiful. Lighten up. It sounds like you were looking for a typical racist website and got off at the wrong exit. LOL.
I’m guessing you’ve never been to the uk, and what you know about white british people comes from watching american tv shows, like csi, that one with the ‘english’ woman who looks like she has a rod stuck up her butt.
This web site has some funny bits to it, but alot of the posts are plain rude, and on the whole it encourages racism.
Unlike the ‘what black people like’ site it comes from a really negative angle of white people.
Oh for heaven’s sake. As an Irish person living in the UK (how European and multicultural…sort of!) I think the best way to describe this site is as “What white middle class/upper middle class urban professionals like” - seriously, I work in financial services and if I’ve found a post that doesn’t apply to me I just have to look up and it applies to at least 3 or 4 people in my immediate line of sight….
Only miserable people can find this negative. Fact. To echo a comment on a different entry, “Pipe down Oprah!”.
(As an aside, we are so white where I work that the gym everyone here goes to (in Soho! How media! How gritty!) has a Whole Foods Market *inside* it - perfection!)
Oh my god hilarious again.
When I went there earlier this year (AAM here), I pulled the Japanese girls away from the white guys kicking it to them because a) I could dance b) I wasn’t ogling them like a teenager waiting for the playboy channel to unscramble and c) I wasn’t Japanese nor White.
The big reason White folks (more specifically, White GUYS) like Japan is because they get to stand out. Outside of Japanese folks, all I saw were white folks. And yes, this was a lot of Americans….AND British, Australian, German, and other white GUYS. Don’t kid yourself and get all self-righteous…before I decide to footsweep that soapbox out from under you, “JOE”! WAH-TAH!!!
You bring other ethnicities besides white folks out there, and I guarantee you, the big pilgrimage back to Motherland Japan for a lot of white guys will end up culminating in Korea or something. North or South, it probably wouldn’t matter.
On the plus side, you can swap all your Grandpa-Fought-In-WWII-And-Japan-Is-So-Beautiful stories to Uncle-Fought-In-Korea-And-Decided-Its-Not-a-Poor-Mans-Japan-After-All.
I think we’re only talking about white people who live in Silver Lake, CA.
one of my best experiences has been living in the international area of Tokyo. As a real white American (blond, too), I’ve had my first run in with white people from all over the world and they’re fairly similar! I’ve yet to study the Asian culture as I’m too busy partying in Roppongi with the Brits, Aussies, Kiwi’s and their pet Frogs.
*shiver* another Roppongi gaijin.
it’s a joke - it’s obviously written for the average middle-to-upper-crust white American - a fun culture that likes to make fun of itself too. Just because you happen to be white and this blog is about white people (think about how serious the author is) doesn’t mean you have to get your panties in a knot. Or your “knickers in flap.” or something.
And don’t forget how this relates to how much white people love martial arts! If a white person can tell a group of white martial arts enthusiasts about the amazing karate/aikido/judo/jiujitsu/kendo/kyudo teacher he or she studied with in Japan, that person automatically becomes exponentially more hip. I’ve witnessed this many times but sadly have never been the one telling the story.
I speak Japanese and am married to one. However I am not White. Though I love my wife very much, I have found the more I learn about them, the less I like them.
Japanese people can be extremely rigid and racist in ways they will never understand. I guess it’s from being closed off for 200 years. But I regularly find when dealing with my wife’s family when they visit us in America, there is only one way to do anything and that’s the Japanese way. If a Japanese way doesn’t exist, there there is a real problem!! When I go to Japan, of course everything is the Japanese way. I get asked repeatedly how big my penis is and get called “my nigga” because of television and movies.
There are really beautiful aspects of the culture, but those who are looking to find what they see in anime and zatoichi films are in fr a rude awakening!!
Well, how big is your penis? Don’t leave us hanging.
you know what white people really like? grilled cheese and or macaroni. it is our crack.
Hell YES!! But after a while plain macaroni doesn’t do it any more. You have to cut up bits of hot dog and mix them into the macaroni. That’s when you know that you have a serious processed cheese food addiction!
And have a twinkie for dessert!
I am in total agreement with the posts above…the author of this blog is ASIAN.
This blog reeks of
“Asian American (I am almost 99% it is Korean-American) Guy who realizes that the Fixed Action Patters of Upper Middle Class, Urban, Liberal White People” is the standard target and pinncale lifestyle to which almost all wealthy and educated people in America strive….and is a bit peeved at it so decides to poke fun of it in a light, but still somewhat derisive manner”
For all of you who mistakenly believe that the author is black or hispanic, I quote the famous SNL skit: “Nigga Please!”
Although Black or hispanic people poke fun at and find much of white culture quirky and hilarious, they do not write blogs which dive so deep into showcasing white culture and critique in a way that exudes insecurity or a vent-up “grudge” as this one does. You can see that that none of the items in this blog are really far from fact. Alot of the items of in the list do indeed apply to a very large section of white population in America. The author does not really lie or distort reality. However, that’s just it. Only Asians find the reality of white culture to be bothersome to their pre-programmed prejudices of what is superior. Hispanics and blacks would be more likely to make up and totally distort the reality of white culture and make jokes about it and leave it at that since they really don’t care what white people do as long as it doesn’t infringe upon their enjoyment of life. In other words, Hispanics and blacks are perfectly fine with the whites wanting to recycle, drive Priuses, live by the water, shop at Whole Foods or what not because if they were making as much money or obtaining the same level of financial comfort, many black and Hispanics would probably want to do the same thing too. Or, they would choose not to, but it doesn’t bother them. Simply put, black and hispanics are comfortable being themselves and with white people being different. They really don’t have any dreams or illusions of black or hispanic culture dominating the “stuff that white people like culture” and really don’t get annoyed that liberal, urban white culture is what it is.
However, with Asians, it is a completely different story. Asians have this strange underlying “grudge” or I should say, “inferiority complex” with any culture or people that are different from themselves but hold a dominance in the society in which both live. Thus, this reality does not fit well with the natural competitive and insecure nature that personififes so much of the Asian immigrant culture in the western world. Unlike black and hispanics, the Asian population in western countries has already reached the same level of economic/financial success that white people hold, and in Asian culture, there is no greater feeling of enjoyment than seeing yourself becoming the dominant power. Thus, because Asians share pretty much the same socio-economic status as whites, they are much aware and exposed to white, urban, liberal blue-state culture since they probably work alongside these types of white people and probably have gone to the same wealthy, high ranked, hippie universities full of white people that this blog ridicules. Not too many black and hispanics have reached this position to be so close and neck to neck with the white population that is the target of this blog. That is the diference.
Thus, Asians see that in this country (USA) or whichever country in which Asians and whites are neck to neck, that despite sharing almost the same economic status with that of the white population, the standard for hipness, wealth, and whatever is considered “cool”, fashionable or trendy is basically “stuff that urban, progressively-minded white people like”…not stuff that “rich, successful, science/engineering background-minded Asian people like.” This reality conflicts and does not bode well with what these Asians have believed throughout their entire lives from birth which is that “Our Asian culture is superior to any caucasian culture because our race is the most intelligent and most beautiful in the world”. It is a commonly known fact that Asian culture in the form of parents, schools, media drill this message of racial superiority into their heads from birth. Thus, when these kids grow up and actually see that reality of the world is totally different from what their masters in their little Asian enclave of racial superiority has told them, they get confused, jealous and spiteful to the point where they need to find tribal comfort in congregating with other Asians and finding humor in telling each other how funny it is that white people’s culture is so different from theirs.
The irony is, however, that in secret or behind closed door amonst themselves, alot of Asians actually yearn for the same things found on this list…especially living by the water or shopping at high end groceries. However, they are just irritated that they came from a culture in which their families could not afford to or did not give a rat’s ass about the environment, recycling, helping poor people in third world countries, eating organic food, helping causes, going snowboarding, renovating a house, throwing dinner parties, travelling to exotic locales, etc., Granted it is not their fault because as immigrants to a new country, their parents did not have the time nor luxury of doing these things because they were too busy trying to make money or push their kids at school to learn Calculus by age 10.
Instead, these Asian kids grew up seeing TV shows from their motherland countries and their families living a different culture: obessing about money, buying expensive designer name brand goods with the label on the front to show off (Gucci, Guess, Dolce Gabanna, etc.), smoking cigarettes in front of their girlfriends, driving nothing other than Mercedes Benz and BMWs, listening to cheezy ballad or R&B based pop music, striving to be a rich doctor, never thinking about travelling to third world countries (only places where they want to travel is K-town in LA, NYC, or anywhere which is considered “fashionable”), etc. Becuase they grew up seeing this type of lifestyle and culture as what is cool and what every normal person strives to acheive, they are heartbroken and angry when they realize that noone in upper class America considers this type of lifestyle to be “cool” or reflecting of high class or wealth. Thus, you get the grudge and blogs like this.
Now of course, before anyone jumps on my back, I know I did ALOT of racial stereotyping and applied a huge range of broad labels to Asians in general. However, my response to that is, “I really don’t care.” Why? Because I can. The reason is that although I am not a member of this group, I spent almost all of my 34 years growing up surrounded by Asian Americans with almost 70% of my childhood friends being Asian, going to school with them side by side, eating dinner and spending weekends upon weekends at their houses with their families, and just knowing their culture inside out. I can even speak Mandarin and Korean even though I am a white boy. Now, I will say that almost half of my close friends now are Asian. However, none of these people subscribe or are victims to the mental disease of insecurity and inferiority complex which I described above. In fact, these guys are “whiter” than me in so many ways and unlike the Asians which I describe above, they really don’t care that “white culture” is different from what they grew up with and really don’t care that it is the dominant standard for what is considered trendy and characteristic of wealth and high-class. In other words, they are absolutely comfortable with themselves. Thus, I want to say that NOT ALL ASIANS ARE LIKE WHAT I DESCRIBE ABOVE.
However, I would like point out three points in the list of this blog that are dead giveaways that the author is Asian and not black or hispanice. Here they are:
#68 Divorce
- Please. I think more blacks or hispanics get divorced than whites. No black or hispanic would be foolish to cite this as something characteristic of being something only a white person would do. However, I can’t even count how many times I have heard the endless adage from Asians saying how terrible and inferior white American culture is because the divorce rate is so high in this country. They insist that Asian culture is that of higher morals because divorce is uncommon. Well, I guess it would be that way since the only other alternative for an Asian women would be to become a prostitute and outcasted by society for the rest of her life since a divorced woman has as much value as a slab of T-bone steak 10 days past the expiration date. No wonder you see so many loveless Asian couples who stay together just for superficial face value while the husband goes and screws whores at the hostess bar on a weekly basis while the wife flies to Europe or Thailand with her girlfriends for a romp in the sack with locals. Meanwhile, the kids grow up seeing such a screwed up household and become permanently scarred for life so they end up jaded, angry, and insecure. Thus, many of them end up writing blogs like this. Oh well, but according to them, this type of relationship is waaaay better than divorce.
#47 Art Degrees
- Again, while in university, I was astounded by the number of Asian students who told me how they hated courses in English lit, history, or any of the humanities courses which required them to write. Thus, it’s not surprising that I found the opportunity to make alot of good money from Asian high school kids who would pay me to write their college application essays since they had no writing skills whatsoever to complement their 800 math SAT scores. I’m not talking about international students either but rather Asian-Americans. It’s strange that even with the privledge of having grown up in an English speaking educational system, so many Asians have difficulty in expressing themselves outside of number or equations. I think this stems from the fact that they are conditioned within their families to think that the only respectable disciplines or professions are ones that use science and math. Any other academic discipline such as arts and the humanities is for the inferior white race. Thus, this becomes ingrained in their heads. However, the caveat is that when it comes time to apply to Harvard or Princeton, they realize that their high grades in math/science and 800 math SAT scores don’t mean jack when they also carry poor grades in English or low verbal SAT scores. I guess that’s where I come in. In any case, many an Asian student who was denied his/her chance at Harvard, Stanford or Yale because of their weakness in the arts or humanities has expressed to me their utmost hatred in all of their high school English teachers, college essays, etc and vow that they would like to exterminate any person who majors in such disciplines and gets a better paying job (probably a lawyer) than themselves. Dead giveaway. Blacks and Hispanics don’t give a shit about who majors in what.
#42 Sushi and #58 Japan
- Actually, these two may be more of a confirmation that the blog writer is definitely NOT Japanese but most likely Korean or Chinese American. However, that in itself serves as a strengthening evidence that the writer is definitely Asian and not hispanic or black because there is no way in hell that a black and hispanic would know or even care to subdivide the Asian fetish that alot of white people have. To black and hispanics, a white person fawning over anything Japanese is just an “Asian fetish.” However, to a Korean or Chinese person, a white person fawning over anything Japanese is just one more cherry on the top of the pudding of insult to their own culture which they believe to be superior to that of Japan’s. To Korean-Americans and Chinese-Americans, Japanese are pretty much at the same level as white people are in terms of targets of jealousy, insecurity, disdain and their grudge. I really don’t think any black or hispanic would give a frog’s fat ass whether or not white people preferred Japanese culture/food to that of Koreans or Chinese but for the Koreans and Chinese, it’s just makes them squirm even more with rage and jealous grudge. Spend any time with a Korean or Chinese and they will tell you that the thing that they hate more than Japan itself is the fac t that Japan enjoys a very popular image throughout the first world and is considered “cool” and “hip” among wealthy, urban, intelligent whites. They really don’t like it that kimchi, soju, Korean soap operas, turtle boats, and Panda express do not conjure up the same image of elegance and chicness that sushi, “Lost In Translation”, samurai and sake do for white people. Definitely, it would not be on this list if it was a non-Asian.
For a better idea of what I am talking about, look at the website below. It’s chock full of Asian American males who are venting their anger and frustration at being the little man on the totem pole in American society. Their posts describe their laments but also their dreams and fantasies of finally being able to turn into the second Ming Emperior who will destroy all white males and reestablish themselves as the ultimate alpha males in society. It’s a good laugh.
http://www.thefighting44s.com/
I can sort of see why you say that the author might be Asian, although it’s also possible that the author might be similar to yourself - a non-Asian immersed in Asian culture. You’re uncommon but not completely unique. I am not Asian, I am a black female. However, I grew up around Asians (particularly Chinese, Koreans, and Filipinos) and was around them quite a bit in college due to my involvement in a predominantly Asian campus organization. I had Asian acquaintances in childhood and college, and a number of Asian friends. Curiously enough, the Asians that I truly can call my friends nowadays are all Korean or Korean-American (I can’t understand why blacks and Koreans don’t get along in California since in general the ones I meet are less racist than Chinese or Japanese). It seems that to a greater degree, both Chinese and Japanese Americans tend to be kind of clannish…they like being around their own almost exclusively, and they don’t like getting to know people different from themselves, especially if they’re not white.
I can concur when it comes to your assertions, particularly the view of non-Japanese Asians about Japan, as well as how many Asians see white culture. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the author is Asian, it just may mean that like you or I, they have been socialized with Asians.
Well, damn, I think you hit the nail on the head there. I didn’t grow up with Asian Americans, but from some unfortunate experiences I’ve had since college your description here definitely has a ring of truth. I’ve met a lot of terrific Asian American guys since who don’t think of life in terms of “black eyes” and “feathers in their caps” (or algorithms for getting inside a girl’s pants) though, so luckily we can’t take this stereotype to the bank.
I immediately assumed the author was a white person making fun of white people or making fun of wealthy North Americans to be more precise but less funny
i don’t believe that there is just one author, although one person may be submitting the writings the ideas and the direction each topic takes suggests to me that there are multiple people involved in this blog.
come on! this isn’t 1950, who psychoanalyzes authors anymore? yeesh, i cringe thinking about being in a literature class with you.
and by the way, the author’s white.
from:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=4504557&page=1
“‘This is a scientific approach to highlight and explain stuff white people like. They are pretty predictable,’ wrote Lander, who is also white, on the site.”
Man…forget “JOE” in the earlier comments. I can’t wait to footsweep this ladder of a soapbox you’re standing on from under you!
Since you make such sweeping statements, let me make some of mine.
I was under the impression this was written by a white guy. Because, he’s sick of seeing some of the bullshit that happens among white folks. Not that Asian, Black, or Latinos have any less bullshit, but there’s MUCH MORE white people in this country, and so you can multiply that bullshit by about 200.
Second, white people LOVE to feel guilty for/about other ethnicities. Because, it’s a derivative of the White Man’s Burden. But in a more nurturing and mothering sense. How many times must we see Sally Struthers or that other old guy trying to “Save The Children!” It gives a chance for white folks to focus on problems in other countries when we as a nation have our own problems to handle. And, just as conviently step out of it because it IS another country. Luckily…you too can feel less guilty and more assuaged for the wrongdoings of your ancestors…for the price of a cup of coffee.
Basically it’s the extreme opposite of the what was happening 100 years ago in America. White folks love their guilt. Now I don’t know who wrote this, so this is all assumption. But I’ve said what I needed to, with about 200% less bullshit than yours.
I fell asleep two sentences into your reply. I believe the author is a generic white dude. However, if he is Asian (and a he at that), then I’d have to agree - only a Korean would write this. No other group would care.
Oh, God. Get over yourself.
thanks for the verbal diarrhea. much needed fix.
I think the ‘white people’ in question actually have a bigger obsession with Vietnam. Just check out any of the socially networking sites (Match, MySpace, Facebook) and you’ll see the hottest trend is Ho Chi Minh. It’s even more ‘forbidden’ and [quoting everyone's favorite white girl, Paris Hilton] hot.
So true!
I worked at a high end Japanese restaurant while in school and I cannot tell you how many times a white guy would come in, insist that something was not as it should be, and inform me that he was an expert because he lived in Japan for x number of years. Even after I told him that
1. I was Japanese and had grown up in Japan
2. The sushi chef was Japanese and had worked at sushi restaurants in Japan
3. both the sushi chef and I eat Japanese food, which we cook, every day
and that he (the white person) was mistaken, he just kept insisting that his one summer internship in Japan or whatever made him a more knowledgeable person than me in regards to Japanese food. I love it.
P.S. For someone who dislikes a blog obviously intended to be tongue in cheek discussing matters of race and ethnic stereotyping, Tom Sawyer sure does a pretty good imitation of a racially (actually asian) obsessed whiner.
Well, it’s obvious, once you remember that White people like themselves more than anyone else.
im white and i love my family just as much as me
Another thing white people like: being “more Asian” than someone who is Asian, or Asian American….
White people are turning japanese, i think they are turning japanese, I really think so…hey, it’s 80’s Night somewhere!
Hehehe…obviously, I must have touched a nerve in some Asian boys, eh?
Guess it hits too close to home.
You touch Asian boys? Well, just don’t piss off Thailand, in your quest to become persona non grata–it’s your last hope!
While I am not a fan of the means (satire - I think it’s too easy to make it overly incendiary, i.e. too easily misconstrued), I support the ends to which this blog is aiming (greater reflection and insight to the offensive consequences of mass cultural appropriation). Not as an woman of color but just as a person, I think it’s fucked up that people think that “ethnic peoples” should find the production, packaging, selling, and consumption of different bits and pieces of their cultures to be endearing or cool. Cultural appropriation is offensive to the core, and that this blog brings that to light is important.
That said, I sympathize with Joe’s feelings of offense a few posts above. It’s true that most of this blog’s content applies to a very distinct subsection of White America (and possibly whites of other economically prosperous countries) - the powerful class of White yuppie types. Monied, entitled, and privileged, popular culture conforms to their whims, desires, and fears, whether they realize it or not. Money translates into social power (i.e. the power to dictate culture). That’s not something that those with social power like to admit or even understand about themselves; it’s a not-cool identity, being defined by your money.
So what happens? People want to buy other identities. BUY other identities. The green-conscious consumer. The culturally-savvy consumer. But no matter what, a CONSUMER. Of course it’s good to be green and to be culturally knowlegable and well-rounded. But when “becoming” those things is a means to the end of “being something other than ‘just white.’” that’s problematic, especially when consuming other people’s culture’s in overly simplistic ways. It’s belittling at best, traumatic at worst, e.g. adopting a “poor” Asian or African baby to “save *it*” from its kin and culture… How disturbingly demeaning. [Google the Case of Anna Mae He for an example.] Literally buying into paternalistic, bourgeois stereotypes of “ethnic cultures” is disgusting. But what’s intriguing will sell, and thus, I doubt we’ll ever stop seeing chopsticks being sold as hair accessories or Asian women as polite, submissive Geisha-like sex objects.
In light of all this nastiness, one really shouldn’t wonder why blogs like this exist. People are rightfully angry and disgusted. It sucks that all whites, whether or not they are among the very economically/socially/culturally powerful, are getting ass-kicked stereotyped here, but think about it: That’s what happens to everyone who has their culture packaged up and consumed. It’s becomes a destructive game of tit for tat (see Tom Sawyer’s post above…*shakes head*). But at least this site has satire for an excuse.
so i am into japan for there arcade games, Anime, and music.
personally i am planing a trip to japan to goto a anime related event…
but i dont like people thinking i am a total nerd (i am a total nerd) so ill make somthing up.
i also find it hard to find a girlfriend (dont care what race she is) all i really want is love <3
but yah i love japan… for the most part.
Have fun at your hentai convention you fat greasy nerd!