Mixed Marriages & How to Enjoy Life in Canada
In today’s Canada, especially in a mutli-racial environment like greater Vancouver, mixed marriages involving Nikkei Canadians and ijusha are nothing unusual.?A year ago I...
Category: CrossCurrents
CrossCurrents
Bent on some crazy mission to save that fleeting illusion, if only for naïve, dream-struck kids, yours truly must confess here and now to having resorted once or twice to the “urban-guerrilla-street-art-like” tactic of quickly and surreptitiously transferring that ugly placard from the seat to the top of the piano. Apparently someone (a security guy?) does check, because once I casually sauntered by later to look, and the placard had been put back on the seat, as if to proclaim: “We’re in charge here!”
What’s In A Name? Different Ways the “East and West” Handle it in Daily Life and Business
Peoples of all races must, I would assume, customarily attach a lot of importance to personal names—usually a surname and given name (though not...
Japan’s Recovery: will a post-disaster generation take over from the post-war generation?
The massive destruction wrought by the great Tohoku earthquake of March 11 and the waves of tsunami it triggered, together with the risk of...
Crosscurrents: “Ganbare Nippon” Now More Than Ever
This spring, as usual, the splendid cherry blossoms Vancouver is famous for adorn our streets and parks. But this time, their beauty brings out...
Deteriorating Vernacular of The Young Can’t Handle Abstract Thought.
Have you ever had the experience of trying to explain to non-Nikkei friends words like gaman, ganbaru, shikataganai—common Japanese expressions . . .
“Open Letter” to Son Studying in Japan: Things I Must Tell You …Though You (Think) You’ve Heard ’em All
And, this you’ve heard me say before, Japan is a very densely-layered ancient society with rich culture (e.g. variety of food) with strongly-held, complex values with constant, built-in pressure toward conformity that sometimes works in unfathomable ways. I’ve watched sensitive foreigners who want to gain acceptance, including those who are racially Japanese, even start seeing things and thinking like a Japanese without quite realizing it themselves.
Of Ramen, Japanese Major Leaguers and the “Face of Japan” to the Outside World—Topics That May Loom Large in the Year 2011
Akemashite omedetoo gozaimasu. As we begin the year 2011, I pondered which topics might emerge this year that might be of general interest to...
Why Nikkei Seniors Are “10 Years Younger” than Seniors in Japan Things We Can Be Grateful For
As we end 2010 and get ready to usher in the new year (how time flies!), I wanted to share a happy topic with...
Do Japanese Tend to Think There’s One Standard English?
After Japan, through her high economic growth period, joined the ranks of advanced nations and after the US and Canadian governments officially apologized and made some compensation in the late 1980s for their suffering in the past, Japanese North Americans have been able to live their lives without worrying too much about prejudice against Japanese culture for some time now. I wonder how many Japanese words still remain in their English, and whether new words have been adopted. There must be many readers who have first-hand knowledge.
More Young Females Leaving Japan For Konkatsu (Marriage Partner Seeking Activities) Abroad
“Many people set age 30 as a kind of time limit by when they want to acquire a skill and find a job,” said a can-do type from Osaka who worked as an office data processor to save money and came to Canada. Finding a “partner for life” by age 30 if possible, would be a reasonably natural objective for a woman—or a man. But such a crucial encounter, alas, cannot be planned the way acquiring English and other skills and finding a job can be. But at the very least, the pro-active drive with which these members of the once-upon-a- time “weaker sex” pursue their various possibilities deserves respect.
Does “Japadog” Sound Offensive?
In the Japanese language, the name is pronounced “Japadoggu” Because long words both foreign and Japanese are often abbreviated, “Japa,” as short for Japan or Japanese, is sometimes used. At an international university I attended in Tokyo in the 1960s, students from abroad were officially referred to as “non-Japanese” to avoid using the word “foreigner.” Japanese students and staff found “non-Japanese” too much of a mouthful, so they all said “non-Japa” instead. Pretty soon, Japanese students with mixed cultural and educational background were being called “han-Japa,” meaning “half-Japanese.”
