Thursday, July 30th 2015 ☀︎
I'm at Starbucks-- of course I am. It's another hot day and I think everyone comes here to escape the heat. Better than running the AC on all day at home. I work in a hour and came here to be shielded by cool air and to move this junk from my mac to my hard drive.
The young, college age-looking couple next to me are taking pictures of themselves, food untouched-- of course.
Last night was a little upsetting as I found some comments on a YouTube video I was asked to be in-- talking about things Japanese shouldn't say to a foreigner... or things that rub me the wrong way. And even after doing the video, I thought, oh no... I sounded like such a Japan-hater. Well, the topic was what...
Now the girl of the couple is taking a picture of her boyfriend's... shoes-- of course.
The topic was what I didn't like, really. So-- negative comments follow inevitably.
I've decided to for my YouTube channel just to skip the negativity and complaining. Talking about heavy topics seem to more often than not bring about hate and misunderstanding, rather than love and understanding. Honestly, I have to even reconsider my own personal habit of critiquing. I'm always going back and forth between looking through 2 lenses. If I were in the States, I'd be saying, why is everyone so fat-- Jeez. Americans know no boundaries-- just when you think you've seen the fattest person... Then in Japan... people are way to concerned with how they look. It's all about constructing an image. Stop trying to look like westerners with your fashion. You dress the same and are only copy and pasting what you see from magazines. Oh, there's more too. And I know. I know it's wrong of me to put others down-- as if I'm any better or different. In the end... Who cares? Why is any of this important? What's the point of addressing my petty dislikes? Like it or not, this is what people are. People give in. People conform. People want to fit in. People don't change. None of this is new. We're all the same.
Instead of doubly complaining and critiquing, I should doubly applaud and appreciate.
Now there's a girl taking a picture of her Starbucks drink-- of course.
Like there aren't enough photos of that? I mean... I'm happy she's happy with her drink...
Or something like that.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Wednesday, July 29th 2015 ☀︎
Today I was supposed to have a Spanish lesson at 12:00. But I didn't/couldn't go because I spent the night at my grandma's house and well, to be honest, I become really lazy there. It's just so comfortable. And this morning, my aunt and I took out the and redid the screen doors-- putting in new... what do you call it... well... screens. I guess the old ones had some holes. Well, let's just say I didn't want to be rushed with that.
Last night, my grandma made some bangin' food which just made me content and sleepy. Let's see... what was it... Grandma watched her Korean dramas that she loves, but acts like she hates-- because it's always so predictable and the dramas are always some combination of fights, crying, scandals, hidden secrets, lost memory, some kind of serious illness, love triangles... but yeah-- we still watch it while complaining... because we are so above all that drama.
Speaking of my grandma being above Korean dramas, I do sense racism in Japan towards Chinese and Koreans. It's just so subtle, and I don't think the majority of Japanese would really admit or think there is any racism in Japan. Whether toward foreigners or Japanese people discriminating other Japanese. For example, I saw on tv, on the news, about a big pothole in China. Basically, a truck was driving on the road and the patch of road behind the truck just sunk in-- maybe about 3 feet deep, causing the vehicle behind to suddenly stop. I just thought, why is this on the news? Well, is it just necessary? Is it that important? Isn't that just so Japanese think, "that would never happen here"? But then I googled "potholes China" and found articles from the UK and the states mentioning it too. And then I also saw a Japanese tv program that just went on about Chinese people from a Japanese perspective-- of course. What I took away from it is that Chinese people have this tendency to get stuck... in any way and shape possible. In phone booths, in between the walls of houses, kids in washing machines, etc... and also that they are really into posing for pictures and have a variety of um..... poses-- they aren't shy about it either. So after watching, I just felt that the show did a good job of stereotyping the Chinese and generating a "yeah, I don't get them" attitude in Japanese viewers. I had a talk about racism/discrimination with my French friend recently and he showed me this really insightful video. Watch it here.
I just got back from having lunch with grandma and my aunt-- sushi. My grandma kept hitting me today, like on the shoulder... in jest of course, but still. She's gotta calm down. She's 84. And today, she was losing her voice, talking so... you know, she was talking so raspy. My aunt and I kept telling her to not bother talking-- "We can't understand you." Amazing though, she's probably the most energetic of the three of us. I believe my mom will be, if she isn't already-- the same.
One more thing.
IT'S HOT.
Today I was supposed to have a Spanish lesson at 12:00. But I didn't/couldn't go because I spent the night at my grandma's house and well, to be honest, I become really lazy there. It's just so comfortable. And this morning, my aunt and I took out the and redid the screen doors-- putting in new... what do you call it... well... screens. I guess the old ones had some holes. Well, let's just say I didn't want to be rushed with that.
Last night, my grandma made some bangin' food which just made me content and sleepy. Let's see... what was it... Grandma watched her Korean dramas that she loves, but acts like she hates-- because it's always so predictable and the dramas are always some combination of fights, crying, scandals, hidden secrets, lost memory, some kind of serious illness, love triangles... but yeah-- we still watch it while complaining... because we are so above all that drama.
Speaking of my grandma being above Korean dramas, I do sense racism in Japan towards Chinese and Koreans. It's just so subtle, and I don't think the majority of Japanese would really admit or think there is any racism in Japan. Whether toward foreigners or Japanese people discriminating other Japanese. For example, I saw on tv, on the news, about a big pothole in China. Basically, a truck was driving on the road and the patch of road behind the truck just sunk in-- maybe about 3 feet deep, causing the vehicle behind to suddenly stop. I just thought, why is this on the news? Well, is it just necessary? Is it that important? Isn't that just so Japanese think, "that would never happen here"? But then I googled "potholes China" and found articles from the UK and the states mentioning it too. And then I also saw a Japanese tv program that just went on about Chinese people from a Japanese perspective-- of course. What I took away from it is that Chinese people have this tendency to get stuck... in any way and shape possible. In phone booths, in between the walls of houses, kids in washing machines, etc... and also that they are really into posing for pictures and have a variety of um..... poses-- they aren't shy about it either. So after watching, I just felt that the show did a good job of stereotyping the Chinese and generating a "yeah, I don't get them" attitude in Japanese viewers. I had a talk about racism/discrimination with my French friend recently and he showed me this really insightful video. Watch it here.
I just got back from having lunch with grandma and my aunt-- sushi. My grandma kept hitting me today, like on the shoulder... in jest of course, but still. She's gotta calm down. She's 84. And today, she was losing her voice, talking so... you know, she was talking so raspy. My aunt and I kept telling her to not bother talking-- "We can't understand you." Amazing though, she's probably the most energetic of the three of us. I believe my mom will be, if she isn't already-- the same.
One more thing.
IT'S HOT.
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