The J-niche

[space__between]

So recently i have been looking at other peoples live journals and trying to find other people within the LJ community who can speak Japanese. I figured this would give me a good idea of what kind of people students of the language are. Its not even a cross section. I'd be willing to bet a large some of money that a majority of students of

Comments

[darklingthrush]

I think that's pretty common -- for me, it WAS about the viz rock and the anime and the games and the manga and etc., but as you go along, you start to get at the meat of Japan through explorations of all those different avenues, and that's what really interests me. at this point, I still watch the occasional anime and read the comics and play the games and laugh at/consume the music, but for me, my J-niche is contemporary cultural anthropology. I see Japan and its funny little people in all of those cultural outputs, and I'm intrigued by what I see of them as a culture and a society, as expressed through those artifacts. don't get me wrong, I also like them as the entertainment they're engineered to be, but I think the reason why I still stick with it all is because it makes me think about what's going on in that crazy little shimakuni. what's driven you to study the language this far if not a curiosity in the culture matched with an enjoyment for their products? is it the kilimanjaro thing? "because it was there?" has

[uidistortion]

Like everything you see it comes back to a metaphor about breakdancing...just think bout that. Ha

[play_ball]

I know the feeling - I think there are plenty of ways to start getting into Japan, like manga/videogames/anime/j-rock/etc, but with the exception of some hardcore otaku that I know, most of my friends who studied or are into Japan don't seem to have a "j-niche". I'm a big fan of manga, but I don't feel like I have a niche...I've just always liked comics alot.

I like some J-pop, but I will openly admit that most of them can't dance or dress themselves half the time. the only pop star who really can dance or dress well is BoA, and that's because she's Korean, I figure. I do like Morning Musume though, because I like alot of dance or pop music that is just fun - there is plenty of music that I listen to for lyrical content, or sick beats, or what have you, but I get plenty of enjoyment out of Morning Musume, Utada Hikaru, and some other jams. I like campiness sometimes!!!

[fluffyumpkins]

I like arrow game.

[raven34]

I haven't watched anime since I left high school. Its a phase maybe? I kind of feel the same way.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!?! ALL IT TAKES IS SOME SMAP TO GET MY EXCITED. Funny mentioning smap. I was stuck in stand still traffic, I had no cds in my car and I was hating the radio station (in Cincy its 15 country stations and one rap station), so I found a SMAP single and put it in. Guess what it was? 世界に一つの花。

I sang at the top of my lungs, it was a beautiful moment. Reminded to me by the blossoming of the cherry blossom, which is sad because it is so beautiful, yet so fleeting.