Asakusa

Asakusa (浅草) is a district in Tokyo, Japan. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals. It’s famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple. With so many religious establishments, there are frequent matsuri (festivals) in Asakusa, as each temple or shrine hosts at least one matsuri a year, if not every season. The largest and most popular is the Sanja Matsuri in May, when roads are closed from dawn until late in the evening.

In a city where there are very few buildings older than 50 years because of the wartime bombing, Asakusa has a greater concentration of buildings from the 1950s and 1960s than most other areas in Tokyo do. There are traditional ryokan (guest-houses), homes, and small-scale apartment buildings throughout the district.

In keeping with a peculiarly Tokyo tradition, Asakusa hosts a major cluster of domestic kitchenware stores on Kappabashi-dori, which is visited by many Tokyoites for essential supplies. Next to the Sensō-ji temple grounds is a small amusement park called Hanayashiki, which claims to be the oldest amusement park in Japan. The neighborhood theaters specialize in showing classic Japanese films, as many of the tourists are elderly Japanese.

Asakusa is Tokyo's oldest geisha district, and still has 45 actively working geisha. Because of its colourful location, downtown credentials, and relaxed atmosphere by Tokyo standards, Asakusa is a popular accommodation choice for budget travelers.

Rice Cakes

In Japan, there are many salty snacks. The word for salty or savory in Japanese is called すっぱい (suppai). My favorite (and a very popular Japanese snack) is a rice cake called osenbei (おせんべい）. This is the word in Japanese for rice cake. There are many types of flavors in Japan. My favorite is slightly salty and sweet at the same time. Along with the crunchy texture of most osenbei, it's a delicious snack. Another interesting type of osenbei that I tried is a soy sauce flavor. I hosted a student from Japan for 10 days, and she brought me and my family a great number of treats! A lot of them were sweet and were green tea flavored. She brought green tea flavored kit kats, green tea cookies with chocolate at the bottom, and a creamy green tea flavored candy. She also brought the soy sauce osenbei. What was interesting about these osenbei is that they were soft and bendable. Most osenbei I've tried are rigid and crispy.

Osenbei are pretty much as popular as potato chips in America. Nearly everyone in Japan likes them, and if not there's usually a flavor someone likes. I tried many different flavors, but I didn't catch the names of them. One had a type of nut in them and tasted very savory. Another tasted like chicken and was delicious. A different one tasted like slightly sweet seaweed and soy sauce. That one was my favorite. The outside of that osenbei looked like it had caramelized sugar on it. It was shiny, but the initial flavor was very salty instead of sweet. The sweet aftertaste came later.

Weeaboos

Weeaboos are a name for people who are generally looked down upon in society. They love anime and manga. They feel the need to live and breathe everything Japan. They often tell people and themselves that Japan is better than America. They idolize Japan as a country for making the comics and shows they love, so they feel Japan can do no wrong. Weeaboos often try to speak Japanese but make no real effort to learn the language. They usually just learn a few words from watching anime with subtitles and use it too much or in the wrong context. The most used term by weeaboos would probably be the word "baka" or "idiot" since it's often used in anime and it often stands alone without being part of a sentence so it can't be confused as other words.

Weeaboos can also be interested in cosplay as well. Cosplay is dressing up as your favorite anime character and parading around and acting like them. I've never done it, but some of my friends have and it can be quite fun. Cosplayers often spend hours if they make costumes themselves, and if they don't make them, premade costumes cost huge amounts of money. These elaborate costumes can often come with many types of props, so they can get very pricey. For example, you might need the base outfit, a wig, colored contacts, a few hours of research to do makeup to match that character, any makeup you might need, shoes, any accessories the character might wear. If you're making a costume, the cost of materials will usually be less and the quality of the outfit will usually be higher (and fit only you) but the time spent can be hundreds of hours for a complex costume. Some people even spend hours doing makeup or putting liquid latex on to mimic scars or cuts their character may have. This often happens hours before a con. Weeaboos usually don't put that much effort in cosplay. They often wear cheap cat ears, or a poorly made schoolgirl outfit. I have nothing against cosplayers, because they put so much time and effort into their craft. It's an art, really, and I'm pretty much in love with all forms of art. I'm mad at weeaboos because they put hardcore cosplayers to shame. They often get mad if you don't know what they're cosplaying as, and some will even cosplay in plain sight, such as school or while shopping.

The reason weeaboos are problematic is because they want to get credit for things they don't actually do. They want to get praised for knowing Japanese when they really only know a few words. They want to think they're fluent because they taught themselves a few words in Japanese. i understand this a very close-minded article. I don't really hate weeaboos and honestly they are a fairly rare breed after you pass a certain age and mature. They're most often younger teenagers. I was one in 8th grade. I loved anime and even said "kyyaa" all the time. It was a dark time. I'm heavily embarrassed of that part of me but also I just think it's funny. Honestly why does loving anime and manga have to be a bad thing? The answer is it's not, it's certain people who act badly and also love these things who are problematic. My boyfriend actually hates weeaboos most of all. They make him cringe and at the same time enraged. However, they're also wildly entertaining if you can keep them at a distance and just listen to them. Wow look at me dehumanizing people. That was rather dehumanizing. I feel like this whole article is. Weeaboos are people too! However their ideals and thought processes are problematic. They're just annoying to me. I don't like them because they make me a little angry.

I've studied Japanese for 4 years, and I have to stop because my college doesn't have any Japanese classes. I chose this college despite loving Japanese because it had the best art program in the state. The probability that I'd get an art job with that college versus the college that had the best Japanese program was huge. Weeaboos want to thing they're fluent for not taking any classes, and I've studied hard and have to give up my passion. It frustrates me.

Anime vs. Disney

Anime is a type of Japanese animation. Many people in America watch anime. The name anime comes from the Japanese katakana word アニメ (pronounced ah-ni-may). It's short for the English word "animation." Anime is watched by many people in America, especially teenagers. Even yours truly had an anime stage. When I was in 8th grade I was obsessed with Naruto and many other anime types such as Bleach or Inuyasha. These anime are very popular with young people and have been around for years.

Anime can easily be distinguished from another show or even american cartoons because it has a very distinct style. Popular characteristics of anime characters are long limbs and huge eyes. They are also often very pale and white, any black characters in anime usually have very stereotypical personalities. These features are often seen as crazy or ridiculous by comic artists in America, but anime is also accepted by many people.

Disney cartoons similarly create disproportionate characters, however it's more Americanized and less exaggerated than in anime. For example, The Princess and the Frog has a black main character without overly stereotyping her personality. Tiana is a princess who just happens to turn into a frog, but that's part of the story. Disney is becoming (slowly) less stereotypical and whitewashed than anime. It's interesting to me because Japanese people are Japanese, not white. However, most of the anime characters I've seen are girls with huge double lidded blue eyes, and wavy brown hair. Or straight vibrantly colored hair in various ridiculous styles. Either way, dark brown eyes and dark haired characters are not as common in anime as double lidded eye characters are. it's interesting.

Anime also distorts anatomy much more than Disney does. There is a genre of anime called yaoi (which roughly translates to guys being friendly) where the hands are often incredibly large and the heads are drawn to be tiny. The shoulders are also incredibly wide in some comics or shows, and sometimes the main characters have limbs that are so long they resemble spiders. It's creepy, however it's just an art style. Anime isn't made to be anatomically correct, it's made to tell a story or just look cute.

Wallet

On our flight to Japan, it was very long and tiring. Each of us were excited to be in Japan, and ready to start our two weeks as tourists in a country none of us had ever been in before. I was so excited, even though I was exhausted. The first thing I bought in Japan was a type of soy rice cracker, a snack called fish and nuts, and milk tea. The milk tea was delicious! It was sweet and creamy with a rich aftertaste of tea. The fish and nuts was the most interesting snack I've ever eaten in Japan. I laughed so hard when I tried to get people to try it. Fish and nuts is basically a snack that is self-explanatory. It's small, dried fish and slivered almonds. It is a great source of protein and omega 3 oils that fish have, and nutritionally it's a great snack. However, since eating whole fish (no matter how small) isn't a regular thing in my hometown, it's a snack that creeped everyone out. However, the fish were crunchy and had a sweet and salty coating.

While I was busy creeping everyone out with my tiny fish snack, one of the people on the trip lost her wallet. She began to frantically search for it in all of her bags, and when she didn't find it there she fervently retraced her steps. One thing about Japan that's important to know is the crime rate is very low. In Japan, it's more likely that you'll get your wallet back quickly than have it stolen. In any American airport, if you lose your wallet, kiss your money and anything else of value you had in it goodbye. Eventually, a clerk came running up to our group with the missing wallet. We were all so grateful! We slept well that night knowing Japan was such a safe country.

White Day

White Day is a day in March that is similar to Valentine’s day. Like Valentine’s Day in Japan, these two holidays focus primarily on heterosexual couples (meaning a man and a woman or a woman and a man) because they are both based on gender. Valentine’s Day is a day where girls give chocolates to guys, and White Day is the opposite. On White Day, guys give back gifts to the girls that they received presents from in February.

The gifts given to girls by guys on white day can be toys, stuffed animals, or candy. Often, these gifts are chocolates. It’s traditional in Japan (since Valentine’s Day became a tradition in Japan, I mean) for girls to make guys chocolates on Valentine’s Day, but often (because #masculinitysofragile) guys buy girls chocolates on White Day instead of make them. These chocolates can come in various sizes. Smaller sizes are cheaper, and can be more plain. The more detailed or big the chocolate is, the more expensive it is. Larger chocolates, however, resemble more love and compassion. It doesn’t get excessive (as everything in America does) because it’s not worth it, and Japanese people won’t buy excessively large things. Instead of enticing, ridiculously large amounts of food seems ridiculous to Japanese people.  

White Day and Valentine’s Day are very heterosexual holidays. Valentine’s day is for girls (or really guys, since they’re getting stuff) and White Day is for guys (or really the girls, for the same reason. In Japan, acceptance of the LGBTQ community is much less than here in America. These communities are very uptight when it it comes to tradition, and gay people are not considered equal in Japan. They have to hide and will be shunned from the community if they try to be openly gay. They can even be barred from jobs and lose friends by coming out openly. This is just mainstream Japan, however. In some places there are gay communities where it’s accepted and okay. People in these communities are often gay or gay supporters and are very kind and respectful of sexuality and gender differences.

During White Day or Valentine’s Day, both members of a gay couple will exchange gifts. Sometimes, one gives gifts and the other waits until white day. They don’t assign certain roles based on femininity or masculinity, they treat each other as equals. I wish Americans were the same way. Many people are often sad or lonely in America because they don’t have anyone to love, or someone won’t love them. My friend, Dakota* is afraid he will be alone forever and will never ever in his entire life find love, other than those two girls he dated who refused to see him in public (really? Two? He let two people treat him like that?) when they were together. He’s not well-adjusted at all and absolutely hates Valentine’s Day in America.

In America, we don’t have White Day. Valentine’s Day is a day where both parts of a relationship give candies and sweet gifts to one another. I love Valentine’s Day because I can show my love and be extra sappy. Naturally, I like being lovey-dovey but I don’t like PDA so it can be difficult to have a relationship. But on Valentine’s Day I can give gifts and say lots of cute things to the person I love and that makes me happy.

*name changed