I think the funniest part is Japanese people choosing Massachusetts which is famously difficult for Japanese speakers to say.
What in God’s name are the rules of this show?
Seems like you laugh and you get a cheeky lil cheek slap by the IRA.
As a life-long Masshole, I support this change.
This is neither clever nor insightful nor of any artistic value. So exactly the level of stuff that Western fetishists for their idea of Japanese culture, or Japanese people writing about the West are capable of. In that way - well done!
Well, you are the divine.overseer of wit, wisdom, andnart, as well as the lord laureate of both the West and Japan, so i suppose i will take your word for it
Yeah but even better put down your Waifu pillow and get on that Peloton.
Fun fact: the largest Japanese population outside of Japan is in Brazil.
Looks like the US is close, though!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_diaspora
Apparently the Brazilian center is São Paulo:
https://geographyiseverything.substack.com/p/why-brazil-is-home-to-so-many-people
Massachusetts also has a large Brazilian population!
the idea of Japanese-Brazilian fusion cuisine 🤤
Have you heard Japanese people talk about Anne of Green Gables? This should’ve been about Maine
Why would they be in Maine if they like Anne of Green Gables? Green Gables is in PEI, Canada.
I know that Anne of Green Gables takes place in PEI. But Maine is more accessible for Japanese tourists.
I think they should go to Texas to be with Kenichi Smith.
My wife was more interested in the Louisa May Alcott house when she visited Mass for the first time!
Man everyone loves Anne of Green Gables. I’ve loved Mathew, Marilla, Diana, and Gilbert since I was kid. They are an international treasure.
Of course Anne of Green Gables is set in PEI so really it should have been set there. It would have been even funnier since they could probably outnumber the current population pretty easily if they immigrated en masse.
The first panel is exactly why Japan has been super isolationist. Outside of tourist areas I’ve heard foreigners are never fully welcomed no matter how long they stay
Can’t blame them. The only place where I can blame people for not accepting other races is America where we done fucked all that up. The exception is if you’re a native. Then you’ve got more reason than the rest of the planet and are pretty much the example they should all point at.
Are you an Australia denier?
Their story match?
Pretty much.
Well, everyone’s gotta maintain their space.
A lot of Aboriginal Australians would object to the idea that the land here is “their space”. Aboriginal ideas of land ownership are very different to white ones. For most aboriginal tribes, the relationship with land isn’t a property relationship like white people would understand it. It’s a spiritual connection of interdependence. You might say that the people don’t own the land, the land owns the people.
Nobody made the land they live on. Well, except for the Dutch. So how can you say land that has existed for millions of years longer than you is yours? Did you steal it? The white people in Australia sure did. They justified their colonisation with the idea that since aboriginals didn’t have a white idea of land ownership, the land belonged to nobody and was free for the taking. But the reason many aboriginals wouldn’t describe their relationship as ownership is because they don’t believe land can be owned. The concept is nonsense. And those white people sure didn’t cultivate a spiritual connection with the land the way things are supposed to be done around here.
Well the fact of the matter is that force of arms dictates “ownership”. Owning something means you control it.
I didn’t mention ownership though. You’re coming at me with a bit of a chip on your shoulder. “Maintaining your space” means taking care of your boundaries, keeping distance from others when appropriate, and generally keeping safe however you see fit. Mowing your lawn and shaving your face are the same this way.
I love the Dutch. They’re real life team magma!
That’s mostly overstated and you usually hear it from people who don’t speak Japanese who lived somewhere for a couple years teaching English after graduating college.
Japan has been isolationist since way before weebs existed…
Yeah that’s what I meant, I suppose I could’ve made it more clear
TBH the same could be said for some areas of Boston…
That’s called xenophobia.
Not to suggest that this isn’t xenophobia, nor that the subject can be summed up this succinctly, but there is something to be said for a culture not wanting to be swept away or squashed by others. As with pretty much everything else, there’s middle ground.
I think there’s no middle ground when the answer is isolation instead of trying to integrate foreigners into the local culture.
Of course not. “Middle ground” necessitates effort on both sides. I just think it’s worth bringing up when that word starts getting tossed around. It’s easy to create hard lines when it gets used.
That’s what that is. You summed it up succinctly. You just think white people’s culture doesn’t count as a culture and you like to use “phobia” as a means to insult people rather than describe effects. Obviously white people are the premier example for why xenophobia should exist, but at that point we’re blaming me who has nothing to do with anything and has only ever worked hard and focused on distilling the truth of things.
but
No “but,” it’s plain xenophobia, no debate about it.
Not to suggest that this isn’t xenophobia
Miss that part, did you? Also, nothing is “plain” anything. Expand your view one bit and see the world for the complex place it is.
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
Obi-wan declaring himself a Sith was the weirdest part of the prequels.
It’s really in this year
I dunno what the motivation behind this comic was, but I now want an entire series of Bostonian-Japanese Baseball Girl.
Baseball.
Seriously Japan loves baseball and the mascots that come with it.
Yeah, they even have native word for it, I mean not even a kanji written loanword like sacca or baskettoboru
Now I’m curious as to how many foreign sports have native words. Pretty much baseball and ping pong I think, unless you want to call mountaineering a foreign sport.
No shit? What’s the word?
It’s やきゅう, yakyū
Cool, TIL, thanks!