Anyone ever been to Japan?

GlassOnion

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#1
I know they're ethnophobic over there but still, I really, really want to go to Japan for when I get into vet school and do a residency. I want one of them to be in Japan. I think that'd be incredible. But how would one start? And has anyone here ever lived in Japan? Or even been? I'm really interested but I can't find anything on the internet. Or anything that I can read, at least.

And how long did it take you to learn Japanese? I'm trying to get into the Japanese class in my college but probably won't be able to until I'm a senior and can register first. I doubt one semester will be enough but hey, it's a start.

Edit: Actually I just looked and there are four slots open this semester for Japanese I, but guess what? It's during the ONLY time I can take Microbiology! **** it...life isn't fair lol.
 

Dreeza

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GO, i've been to Japan...but only for a week when i was in high school. I went with my dad who was having a business meeting there, so I was actually on my own to tour Kyoto basically everyday....

i LOVED it. I was like 15 yrs old, didnt speak an ounce of Japanese, and managed to find my way around. I didnt get majorly lost at one point, but i found my way back (how i am still not sure, haha, i like ended up in a cornfield...it was rather scary, hahahahhaa)

I have heard of a few people who have lived there, and from what i remember, everyone has loved it. One guy in particular sticks out in mind...he is half black/half Japanese...im pretty sure he lived there as a kid-teenage, but i honestly cant remember. I can get in touch with him through facebook if you would like...but i cant guarentee he has the info you are looking for...great guy though.


I dont think they are ethnophobic unless you are totally American, and arent adapting to their culture. I learned the basic please and thank you, and would always bow, etc. I was also younger though... I did hear a few "Gai-Jin" comments...which means people were pointing me out as a foreigner. And also in restaurants i'd get laughed at sometimes for just pointing to a picture...and not audibly ordering....and theyd bring me out silverware instead of chopsticks. Stuff like that. But they were all little things, and i was so in awe of the beauty of Kyoto that i didnt even care.

As to your language question...are you good at languages?? I SUCK, so i didnt really pick anything up. I know they are COMPLETELY different languages, but my bro started learning Chinese 3 summers ago (if i am not mistaken...might be 2, could even be 4)...and he gets tutored once a week (they dont offer it at his high school).

He is pretty good at languages, and he says he can already hear phrases and interpret them in his head in chinese...like..,he doesnt have to think what they are in english...which is so crazy to me!!! He could carry on a slow conversation with someone in Chinese if he wanted to...

But, he also went to a camp for 4 weeks called Concordia where he was immersed....so if you can go to something like that, it would by far be your best bet for learning before you actually go to Japan.

and haha, gotta love that class overlap!!

anyhoo...hope that helped some. good luck with all that!!
 

Zoom

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#3
My brother has been taking Japanese for a few years now because he wants to go live over there as well. He spent three weeks on a class trip last summer and he said it was freaking awesome. The best part, he thought, was the fact that everyone over there is around 5'6" at the tallest, so he could just walk through a crowd and see over everyone because he's about 5'11".
 

Roxy's CD

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I am Japanese, unfortunately never been, I was offered a two week paid stay from a wealthy Japanese woman, (her husband owns the equivalent of Hydro One here in Canada) but I was 10, and my mother wouldn't allow to me to go without her, and my mother was not invited so... LOL

My Aunt, who is caucasian (married into the family) taught English there for 3 or 4 years and she now refers to Japan as home. She fit in quite nicely.

I've been on and off learning Kanji for awhile now, but to be honest, it's not that hard. I'm sure if you reallly dedicated yourself to it, it'd be a breeze. Speaking and seeing the pronunciation of the words is the easy part, the strokes and stroke order is the hard part. I've been learning the characters the easy way through numbers and colours and broken down so simply, it's comparable to english.

In highschool the Japanese class went to Japan for two weeks, and all the girls I knew said they had a great time. Their families wouldn't let them pay for a thing. The only part they didnt' enjoy was the bath houses! LOL
 

GlassOnion

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You have to make the strokes in certain ways? I thought you only had to do that in calligraphy.
 

Dani

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I've never been to Japan, but I really want to go, too. There's such cool contrast: the country has lovely, peaceful scenery and at the same time it's an urban, technological leader.

I'm in Japanese class. It's not a difficult language, but it does take time. I've been learning Japanese for about 3 years, and I can hold a super basic conversation. So I'm still far from fluent lol.
 

Zoom

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#7
Tokyo has a "daytime population" and a "nighttime population" since it's such a commuter city...daytime is like double to triple what nighttime is.
 

iheartsammy

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#8
I've always wanted to go to Japan!!

I think it would be so fun, but for some reason my mom thinks it would be aweful?? why?? I have no clue, but thats just her.

I still really really wanna go!! ^_^

maybe someday...soon...
 

GlassOnion

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Yah my parents gave me the o_O expression when I expressed interest.
"You want to learn Japanese? Why?" "I want to go to Japan some day" "...why?" "To see how they do veterinary medicine, if not that, then just because." "Yah but...why?"

:rolleyes:
 

iheartsammy

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idk..I think my mom thinks it's some huge country and everyones in poverty?? whats up with that?? I have no clue...

but I still wanna go and actully want to learn Japanese too..I just think it's such a cool culture and everything..
 

Dreeza

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#11
haha i just dont understand parents like that. My friend's parents dont want her going to Europe....


If I told my parents I was going to be living with tribesmen in Somalia for 4 weeks, their response would probably be "only 4 weeks??? Why not 6 months!?????"
 

Saje

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#12
lol 'ethnophobic'? Where did you hear that? nothing in Japan is that simple. I lived there a year and a half and you should definitely go. Probably the best experience of my life. If I didn't have so many pets I'd move back in a heartbeat.
 

GlassOnion

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I've heard that several times from different people who've been there. They all said that no white person would ever truly fit in because they're ethnophobic over there.

I was skeptical the first time I heard that but the third, no so much. I'm on my fifth time now. You're actually the first person I've heard say otherwise.
 

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