(LOL; I hope you don't mind. Feel free to delete it if you don't like it! [it's YOUR post after all~] It's just... a little overwhelming for me to answer all eight in one go...)
The angst! The awesome! The huge plausible amounts of history. It is near-impossible to tell you how much and why I adore this pairing, but I'll definitely tell you that after reading 15+ history journals/textbooks/ magazines written in non-biased English on the Sino-Japanese Relations from 500 BC all the way to 2008 will make you a little in love with this pairing too. I can see this as noncon, pluscon, dubcon, jealousy!much, adorable, fluffy, and any other way so long as Japan is the one on 'top' because China's too girly. There are just too many plausible story ideas, and the only thing that has ever made me look away from this pairing was the 731 (and areas like that) experimentation
( ... )
Um, as I said before, I actually like to read journal articles a lot. I recommend The Journal of Asian Studies and The Slavic Review (in the latter, there's this one article from the 1970's [I'm away from home, so I can't pull it up for you, but if I ever manage to find it in my pile of papers, I'll tell you the actual title & etc.] that I found to be intriguing/disturbing/very-funny in that apparently, at one point, Japanese schoolkids were more likely to say that RUSSIA had dropped the bombs, as opposed to the US. *nervous laughter*)
In terms of actual books, the one that I liked the most was Interpreting History in Sino-Japanese Relations by Caroline Rose. It's... a little lengthy, but I think (for me, at least!) it was really interesting, in that it gives you the POV of the citizens being pawns in a diplomatic chess game (which is what I sometimes/often think Kiku and Yao to be, in relation to Japan and China).
But yeah... sorry I don't have anything with me right now! I can only recommend right off
( ... )
I'm not too sure if this is the right place for this - but I totally had to put it out somewhere: I'm just, like, totally not comfortable with shota. And I have no explanation why, outside of the initial uncomfortableness with pedophilia in-general. I mean, I fine with - and oftentimes even LIKE - tentacles, harems, dubcon, and foot binding (again, despite moral inclinations against those sort of things) - but I guess shota's just not my cup of tea? ^^;;
Of course, if you like shota, that's all the more power to you! *laughs* And you're totally allowed to be creeped out by my fascination with Yao/amputee!Kiku (智花子 on pixiv draws it really nicely).
*snickers* I'm so glad I'm not the mod for this entry, because I would be compulsively reading over every comment to make sure that it was on-topic and whatnot.
But I'm not comfortable with most of those things, even though I've written a lot of them (tentacles, harems, dubcon/noncon, I mean). And no, I've never written shota/amputees (more on those two later...), but I have read hakubeni's "baby!Yao" piece.
And was totally creeped out, actually.
Haha, but despite my choice of pairing, and my (apparently) good style of writing smut, I'm actually distressingly vanilla. I don't like shota, whether it's with Yao or Kiku on the top. I'm terrified of amputee!pairings, and yes - I've seen (and rather liked) 智花子's pictures, but I've always quickly scrolled through those pictures.
Sextoys, I suppose, I'm okay with. But even then, I usually make it dubcon/noncon, which I'm totally not okay with...! >____<'' (I'm so easily bullied into requests that I feel like a pushover all the time...)
For me, in terms of real-life issues, I generally just think that they'll be affected by whatever ends up last on the plate. I mean, I guess I would have to believe that all nation-tans are super-genii (read: superhuman memory) because normal people don't have a brain that can hold memories spanning centuries.
So, I guess my love of science/the-physical-world/rationalization*cough* makes me think that they'll remember the past events (Mongol invasion, Sino-Japanese wars, Mao at his height of power, Japan's economic impressiveness), but that they'll also be able to distinguish the past (or even just push it to the background of their consciousness) with the (possibility of - ?) a loving relationship between the two of them in the future.
Ah, on terms of Kiku (touchy subject ya have thar), I don't like to see him as a cold and heartless figure. I've sat through a lot of (painfully biased) Glenn Beck with holier-than-though family members to have it pounded into me the corruption of the government, the manipulation of the people to accede to their will and the overall power a few people want to wield while the majority have to suffer (i.e. any government who sends their people to war for something the government wants, not so much the collective agreement of the people). I've had enough stories told to me by my step sister's grandfather who survived the Holocaust who believes there was some spark of goodness in those who were deceived into believing their government. It's even to the extent that my head cannon sees to two Japan's: Dark Japan and Japan. Dark Japan is everything that went wrong in his history: Imperialism, oppression, cruelty, evil, corruption, the corrupted government--the soldier who became dehumanized, the doctor who ripped the flesh off his "patient"
( ... )
I guess my personal reason for disliking the Dark!Kiku/Normal!Kiku archetype is because it feels (to me, at least) to offset blame. Like: "it's not me, it's my other personality!" While I understand that people do suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder (and schizophrenia - our favorite cover-all diagnosis! *shot*), those victims still hold themselves responsible - they still feel guilty and like they should have control over their actions. (That's where, I'm betting, most of the trauma comes from.)
Which is why I've never separated the characters into their "dark/bad" and "light/good" sides. I think that they're more complicated than that, and it doesn't do to split the character - much less the populace - like that. John Rabe was a Nazi; he's got a museum. Klaus Barbie was a Nazi; he's got a museum. I'm willing to bet that Rabe was racist; I'm certain that Barbie did help out other human beings (certainly not Jews
( ... )
One of the main things (as Dreamz pointed out in her previous lengthy!article/rant on why she liked this pairing) that I find so versatile about this pairing is the sheer amount of history behind them, in their possible interactions - and in their feelings and thoughts.
Like any good fan, I enjoy (if not delight) in alternate universe stories - whether they have any historical backing or not. I think that they're a lot of fun to write/read, and for those sort of stories (serious or not), I think that the only thing that's important is that during the INITIAL CHAPTERS, Yao and Kiku must remain strictly in-accordance with their canon!characteristics. Otherwise, for me, I don't see much of a point in making the characters have names that are "Yao" and "Kiku" when, in reality, it's just an original story
( ... )
4) What important things about the two countries involved do you think shippers and everyone else should be aware of?
I think that, although people should know about Rape of Nanking and things like that, people also need to know about what happened afterwards to lead them to this situation. Mainly, how China turned communist and needed to trade with Japan, so he let him off easy for the sake of being able to get back on his own feet. So between China and America, Japan gets a nice ego boost. Which means now, as China is starting to leave Japan in the dust, makes for some nice jealousy fics.
Well, I am Asian, for what it's worth, but I don't think that really affects my pairing choice TOO much, seeing as how Japan/China is the only strictly-asians pairing that I'm really rather fond of. I enjoy mixing Hetalian characters up a lot, but I'll admit that this might be a result of how all the schools I've been to have always had a scarily diverse range of students (ie: in high school, we had a classmate from Brunei! xD).
Well, as being German, French, and English, I can't quite say. I could have far-off relatives who were related to Karl Marx for all I know, but I don't. To say the least, my nationality really had nothing to do with it.
5) Do you think your country of origin has influenced you in choosing this pairing, if at all?
Oh yeah. I’m Chinese American too, and getting into Hetalia just personifies the country’s issues with each other. It actually made me want to go into International Relations for the sake of working on their relationship.
Plus, my mom is just like China, and I have a little brother just like Korea…so I’m stuck in the middle as Japan. So, in regards to the East Asian family, I am sympathetic. For anything else, no. xDD
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Um, as I said before, I actually like to read journal articles a lot. I recommend The Journal of Asian Studies and The Slavic Review (in the latter, there's this one article from the 1970's [I'm away from home, so I can't pull it up for you, but if I ever manage to find it in my pile of papers, I'll tell you the actual title & etc.] that I found to be intriguing/disturbing/very-funny in that apparently, at one point, Japanese schoolkids were more likely to say that RUSSIA had dropped the bombs, as opposed to the US. *nervous laughter*)
In terms of actual books, the one that I liked the most was Interpreting History in Sino-Japanese Relations by Caroline Rose. It's... a little lengthy, but I think (for me, at least!) it was really interesting, in that it gives you the POV of the citizens being pawns in a diplomatic chess game (which is what I sometimes/often think Kiku and Yao to be, in relation to Japan and China).
But yeah... sorry I don't have anything with me right now! I can only recommend right off ( ... )
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Of course, if you like shota, that's all the more power to you! *laughs* And you're totally allowed to be creeped out by my fascination with Yao/amputee!Kiku (智花子 on pixiv draws it really nicely).
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But I'm not comfortable with most of those things, even though I've written a lot of them (tentacles, harems, dubcon/noncon, I mean). And no, I've never written shota/amputees (more on those two later...), but I have read hakubeni's "baby!Yao" piece.
And was totally creeped out, actually.
Haha, but despite my choice of pairing, and my (apparently) good style of writing smut, I'm actually distressingly vanilla. I don't like shota, whether it's with Yao or Kiku on the top. I'm terrified of amputee!pairings, and yes - I've seen (and rather liked) 智花子's pictures, but I've always quickly scrolled through those pictures.
Sextoys, I suppose, I'm okay with. But even then, I usually make it dubcon/noncon, which I'm totally not okay with...! >____<'' (I'm so easily bullied into requests that I feel like a pushover all the time...)
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But childhood crushes are like chocolate to me. Kissy-kissing is okay...
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So, I guess my love of science/the-physical-world/rationalization*cough* makes me think that they'll remember the past events (Mongol invasion, Sino-Japanese wars, Mao at his height of power, Japan's economic impressiveness), but that they'll also be able to distinguish the past (or even just push it to the background of their consciousness) with the (possibility of - ?) a loving relationship between the two of them in the future.
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Which is why I've never separated the characters into their "dark/bad" and "light/good" sides. I think that they're more complicated than that, and it doesn't do to split the character - much less the populace - like that. John Rabe was a Nazi; he's got a museum. Klaus Barbie was a Nazi; he's got a museum. I'm willing to bet that Rabe was racist; I'm certain that Barbie did help out other human beings (certainly not Jews ( ... )
Reply
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One of the main things (as Dreamz pointed out in her previous lengthy!article/rant on why she liked this pairing) that I find so versatile about this pairing is the sheer amount of history behind them, in their possible interactions - and in their feelings and thoughts.
Like any good fan, I enjoy (if not delight) in alternate universe stories - whether they have any historical backing or not. I think that they're a lot of fun to write/read, and for those sort of stories (serious or not), I think that the only thing that's important is that during the INITIAL CHAPTERS, Yao and Kiku must remain strictly in-accordance with their canon!characteristics. Otherwise, for me, I don't see much of a point in making the characters have names that are "Yao" and "Kiku" when, in reality, it's just an original story ( ... )
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Seconded, entirely~
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I think that, although people should know about Rape of Nanking and things like that, people also need to know about what happened afterwards to lead them to this situation. Mainly, how China turned communist and needed to trade with Japan, so he let him off easy for the sake of being able to get back on his own feet. So between China and America, Japan gets a nice ego boost. Which means now, as China is starting to leave Japan in the dust, makes for some nice jealousy fics.
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Oh yeah. I’m Chinese American too, and getting into Hetalia just personifies the country’s issues with each other. It actually made me want to go into International Relations for the sake of working on their relationship.
Plus, my mom is just like China, and I have a little brother just like Korea…so I’m stuck in the middle as Japan. So, in regards to the East Asian family, I am sympathetic. For anything else, no. xDD
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