Japanese stereotypes

Japan - A geisha and a Japanese temple.
Netherlands
July 25, 2009 7:29pm CST
I was wondering what Japanese stereotypes you are aware of and if you believe them or not. I'm just curious as to see how Japanese people are seen from the outside world because I find stereotypes quite interesting and recently, I've really started to appreciate Japanese culture. So I guess the questions are: What Japanese stereotypes are you aware of and do you believe them?, What do you think about Japan in general, & Does Japanese really sound like Chinese?
1 person likes this
3 responses
• Japan
26 Jul 09
hi, i am chinese,when i was five old, went to japan, lived in japan nagoya for 20 years,worked in usa 2 years,then went back china and japan,japanese are much different from chinese, china is big country and people are great-hearted and a bit rude, japan is small country and lack of resources, people are rich and good manner, but rather diffident and silent, surely japan is so beautiful and weather is so clear,you may have to get used to silent and aloof people when you travel to japan(laugh,i have became like japanese almost),most japanese kanji is from old china, japanese creat a few other kanji,such as touge, hataraku,saku,hatake and so on,chinese pronunciation is hard,you can image it as russian or french, its phrases is short, the most short sentence in the earth(laugh), japanese has only fifty syllabary pronunciation, beginning learn is easy, but master many loanwords and honorific communicate with japanese is very hard. quiet nature and beautiful art is japan's style.
• Netherlands
27 Jul 09
nagoya! i used to live there when i was younger. well i think the case with japanese people is that they can't really be independent so if they're part of a group or something, they will be loud but if a japanese person were alone then she/he really is silent. definitely i am japanese and i still am learning how to speak/write properly in japanese. haha :P i didn't know that chinese had the shortest phrases in the world!
• Netherlands
27 Jul 09
well currently, i live in europe soo i'm no where near haha :P but i'm originally from tokyo. i haven't been to nagoya in so long. i usually eat hitshumabushi. i love eels :D
• Japan
27 Jul 09
bohemian03san yorosiku hehe, japanese move family is always the case, i havent seen my neighbors for long time, including my first love girl, i dont know if she has married(laugh),but i am foreigner and dont want to move out, i live in village nearby the sea, i often go out to fishing on the sea or ride a boat, hills of village is beautiful, i also often climb much, i love nature. i dont know which ken are you living in, if you have come nagoya, you can eat deliouse nagahama ramen, it is from fukuoka,i rarely go to kyusyu(laugh)
• United States
26 Jul 09
hmm ive actually studied japan quite a bit im very intrigued by them lets see some of the stereotypes they are all really smart and good at math? lol ive seen some dumb japanese people no offense to them. umm all the men have small thingys haha i happen to know this is false lol also one of the things that bother me is people say asian people have yellow skin where is this coming from ive never seen a yellow skinned person at least one that doesn't have jaundice lol hmm oh and the laungage is waaaay different than chinese japanese is more like spanish chinese is basically single syllable words japanese uses alot of syllables in words ive studied japanese and taught myself some its a fun language oyasuminasai!!!
• Netherlands
26 Jul 09
haha yeah the reason i started this discussion is because i AM japanese and i was just really curious :) i am definitely not one of those genius geeks :P i am actually quite the opposite. i don't do so well in school- i guess i am average. well the skin color is just compared to the caucasians because compared to my friends my skin is much much darker and yellower. thank you for understanding about the language! that is one thing that frustrates me so so much. some people can't differentiate chinese, japanese, and korean. they always make noises like "ching chang chong" and think it's japanese :(
• United States
26 Jul 09
lol yeah some people just don't bother to learn anything about other cultures and languages i also want to try to learn Chinese and Korean but will probably be harder than Japanese i can tell the difference between Japanese Chinese an Korean when written Korean uses a lot of circles in the writing
• Philippines
26 Jul 09
i got to admit they are very much quiet than any place on the planet. to those who had been there? isn't like being on another place, like the future..i like their music and their culture..even though i don't understand the language, but i get to pick up a few things..No, they are too different from the Chinese..