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camwynI have thought, on occasion, that it is fortunate my parents do not know certain words that I know. If I am ever careless in a phone conversation, for example, they will not have the slightest idea what 'hentai' refers to.
I have occasionally felt a bit sorry for them not knowing other Japanese words; I have had to explain a few times what 'anime' and 'manga' are, and how they differ from American cartoons and comic books.
The word 'otaku' has never come up around them; I told them I was going to Otakon this year and explained it was a convention, and they never asked what the name meant. That's as close as they get.
But yesterday I told them, for the first time, about the idea of the Japanese Mounties. I could see a vaguely blank look on their faces as I sketched out the origins of the force, but they perked up when I mentioned the horses. "Where would they come from?" my mother asked. "Are there even horses in Japan?" asked my father.
"Well, yes," I said, "but they're a bit-"
"Small?"
"Yes."
They smiled at each other. It looked as if they were thinking of Toyotas.
I added, "They wouldn't be using native horses, though. The first horses of the Imperial Japanese Mounted Police came from gaijin-"
"What's that?"
"What's what?"
"Gaijin. What does that mean?"
... they didn't know? I thought everyone in their generation was forcibly exposed to Shogun, right?
I explained that it meant 'foreigner' and that it was somewhat less friendly than 'gringo' in its implications, and that seemed to work. My mother thought it very clever that in the future, the Japanese would have to buy horses from America instead of America buying cars from Japan. I had not thought of this, and I did not stop to think of it much. I was still boggling.
Gaijin.
There was a time in my freshling year of college when I grew so frustrated with what I suddenly realized no one taught me that I screamed it to the skies. I have spent the years since that day shoveling the things I want - the things I need - to know about other cultures and coutnries into my head. It had escaped my mind that the people around me did not do the same thing.
I have walked so far away from what everyone else in my family is, that I had forgotten I had walked at all.
I have occasionally felt a bit sorry for them not knowing other Japanese words; I have had to explain a few times what 'anime' and 'manga' are, and how they differ from American cartoons and comic books.
The word 'otaku' has never come up around them; I told them I was going to Otakon this year and explained it was a convention, and they never asked what the name meant. That's as close as they get.
But yesterday I told them, for the first time, about the idea of the Japanese Mounties. I could see a vaguely blank look on their faces as I sketched out the origins of the force, but they perked up when I mentioned the horses. "Where would they come from?" my mother asked. "Are there even horses in Japan?" asked my father.
"Well, yes," I said, "but they're a bit-"
"Small?"
"Yes."
They smiled at each other. It looked as if they were thinking of Toyotas.
I added, "They wouldn't be using native horses, though. The first horses of the Imperial Japanese Mounted Police came from gaijin-"
"What's that?"
"What's what?"
"Gaijin. What does that mean?"
... they didn't know? I thought everyone in their generation was forcibly exposed to Shogun, right?
I explained that it meant 'foreigner' and that it was somewhat less friendly than 'gringo' in its implications, and that seemed to work. My mother thought it very clever that in the future, the Japanese would have to buy horses from America instead of America buying cars from Japan. I had not thought of this, and I did not stop to think of it much. I was still boggling.
Gaijin.
There was a time in my freshling year of college when I grew so frustrated with what I suddenly realized no one taught me that I screamed it to the skies. I have spent the years since that day shoveling the things I want - the things I need - to know about other cultures and coutnries into my head. It had escaped my mind that the people around me did not do the same thing.
I have walked so far away from what everyone else in my family is, that I had forgotten I had walked at all.
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 10:50 am (UTC)Want I should share my AMVs???
Leanne (aka Remy from BH)
Rabid Otaku and Screaming Fangirl
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 11:29 am (UTC)As for the AMV's I'd say yes but I've got nothin' to repay in kind with...
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 02:25 pm (UTC)That.
Yes, I know that place well... and I do not regret what I have learned for and of myself, but I regret the pain it causes me when I cannot share what I have found with my family.
*hugs*
-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 04:43 pm (UTC)