(it refers to a specific part of Japan, ancient Nara in specific, but it is used to represent Japan in general. Yamato-damashi (大和魂) means Japanese spirit
@Pëkka It was late in the year, so there weren't so many people around. It was expensive too. I was happy I went there once, but not my favorite city in Europe.
I was a big fan of Dusseldorf and Heidelberg, if only there weren't so many Germans around
London I think wins it for me, but again, wealth would be a necessity.
@jmac hahahaha. Düsseldorf is nice (even though I'm not supposed to say that as an ex-Colonian.) Heidelberg is super cool, very cozy place and the University saves it from being too dull.
@jmac I get the same feeling whenever I reenter the country. I'm sure I'm going to be shocked when I go back in May, and long for the States. Part of it is habit, though, I think, a different social code how to behave in public. Hard to put in words
@Pëkka Ah, you're living in Germany? No offense intended! Some of my best friends are German (not really)
I think the Brits are a lot like the Japanese actually. And the Germans, I just don't understand the Germans. Even the Japanese think the Germans are dry.
@jmac I'm German-Finnish, but I really do not mind at all. I'm only now finding out that I myself have typical German traits, shudder!... I walked past a broken down car the other day, on a really really busy intersection in West Philadelphia. The two dudes were just sitting in the car, waiting for AAA I suppose, and I was completely perplexed why they weren't wearing their neon emergency jackets, and putting up the warning reflector 50 meters away from the car.
What the German and the British have in common (I think) is a certain perpetual notion of misery. No enjoyment of being part of the First World, of having solid finances, etc. Just a lot of complaining.
At least, it's a trait that I've seen most in Germans and Britons (Although I'm sure it's a universal human thing, all in all.)
The German was always incredibly rule-based, and was constantly complaining, and they would always ask me, "You're foreign, why does he act that way?"
We had a German before him who got in trouble because he bought a case of beer at a local liquor store, and had them store the cans there for him, and pick two up for his commute home each day.
One for the bus, one for the train. Coworkers complained that it was unprofessional, but in true German fashion, he didn't care.
Public drinking is a-okay. On trains you will generally see an army of salaried workers toting beer around.
Oh, the liquor store part?
A lot of liquor stores in Japan have a section where you can consume your purchases at a counter in the store (generally equipped with ashtrays), and they are more than happy to accommodate you in any way that will allow them to sell more booze.
Yeah, asking a shop to store something like that for you sounds weird. (Public drinking doesn't. It still weirds me out that you can't do that in the US.)
Also bear in mind that most Japanese shops have absolutely no issue with you running up a 6,000 yen tab ($60 give or take), and then running out to get money from the ATM.
Transactions are based on trust and loyalty. And it's really weird how that materializes a lot of the time.
But yeah, anyway, the Germans. Dry. The Japanese wonder why they never seem to laugh or smile, and why even when drinking they seem so dour.
From my perspective, there are two types of Germans. The serious Germans, and the ones that are fleeing the country and backpacking around the world.
I always mistake the latter type for Belgians or something. And then talk about about the Germans. And then they share a laugh with me. And tell me they're German. You think I'd learn?
Heh. I don't think it's that bad - part of it is down to habits. The language and the social code probably lend themselves to be perceived as abrasive... that plus a culture that encourages formality and isn't keen on showing weakness, slightly similar to Japan as far as I grasp it. But to an American, it can be shocking. (Finland, too, though. Finnish has a word for "suspiciously eyeing" someone.)
There was a joke on 9gag recently that claimed that Norwegians and Swedes each have a specific word for a lover, one that translates to "my treasure" or "my beloved" like any other language; and that in Finnish, the term used for the same purpose translates "person that I hate slightly less than all the others". It's completely made up, but the fact that it made it to a widespread social media meme tells you a lot.
I think that the real issue for me is that most of the Germans I've met have been in a business context, which gives me a rather skewed view due to my industry and the context of the people I meet. I'm sure the Germans are swell and if I set up shop in a German pub for a year, I'd probably get on fine once I learned the language.
So is Japanese business, but the Japanese business rigidity is in stark contrast to how drunk they get after the business dealing. The Germans seem moderate in that regard, which may be why the Japanese find them so dry.
and then there are welcome parties, farewell parties, and just plain drinking parties.
One of the 'rules of being a good employee' in my company is (translated liberally), "When you go out with customers for business, go out to earnestly have fun and get close to them. No matter how expensive the dinner, showing them a good time will have more effect."
This is probably more accurately stated as, "Go out, get drunk, and be merry with your customers."
It was far more pronounced in the 80's. They've had to tone it down quite a bit as apparently, it isn't professional to get employees drunk on Monday nights regularly.
When I first came to Japan to work, I was taken out on a Tuesday night to an all you could drink course dinner. I got fed more and more and more beer, all the time thinking, "Okay, I like beer, but I have to be up for work tomorrow." So I cut myself off, and said, "I have to work" at which point they told me it was customary for me to pour beer for everyone else around the room (30 people)
So I go up to the first person and they ask, "Where is your glass?" I explain, "No, I am giving you beer." Translation occurs and I am told, "Yes, you have to pour, but you can't let them drink alone!"
So I ended up drinking another 30 (small) glasses of beer and was absolutely demolished the next day when I showed up for work. My boss comes up to me (a very serious looking Japanese businessman), sees my state, claps me on the shoulder, and gives me a thumbs up for coming in to work on time.
@Pëkka Partially that. The business expense accounts were absurd in the 80's and people had a lot more income to blow on booze. Japanese culture is strict about older people picking up the tab (as younger people are essentially forced to go if invited by a senior), but there is much less disposable income for that now.
But it's also that a lot of those that were working during the bubble era have absolutely destroyed their livers and have been ordered by doctors to stop drinking (so now they only drink beer, occasionally, but don't tell their wives)
Where else would you find such delightful accommodations?
I thought it was hilarious that the hotels were refusing to give guests shower curtains, but when I saw how dirty the water was, I figured "who's gonna want to take a shower in that anyways?"
It's mostly people going to Google, doing a quick search, then copy-pasting a link to some random product and some of the features off their site. There's no real "recommendation" in any of these answers.
"Just dumping a bunch of links from Google leads to nowhere. The purpose of this site should be to actually recommend software. I hope you don't mind if I ask you to retry"
The next question appearing on meta would be "where are all the questions?" :-)
Y/A - just like Stack Exchange, except you can't close questions, and you get repz just for answering... and you can't edit your posts, much less anyone's.
I think the swagbox has arrived -- I can see a brown box in the hall manager's office. Must wait till he gets back to take it, though (the student mailbox is in the office, unfortunately)
@TimPost Please contribute a small part of your day to this which has allegedly been passed through official secret channels by Pops to the community team but is still languishing for now.
HTML tags lea͠ki̧n͘g fr̶ǫm ̡yo͟ur eye͢s̸ ̛l̕ik͏e liquid pain, the song of re̸gular expression parsing will extinguish the voices of mortal man from the sphere I can see it can you see ̲͚̖͔̙î̩́t̲͎̩̱͔́̋̀ it is beautiful the final snuffing of the lies of Man
@ShadowWizard hehe. Depends. If someone trigger that ending by chance... Actually remembers me of a day some years ago. A store near where I live had the bad idea to put some Happy Tree friend dvd on sale. And leave them near other "for kids" movies.
@ShadowWizard now... I don't know if you have ever actually saw a Happy tree friend dvd. If you don't read the text, it could be easily mistaken as a Disney style cartoon.
They are eating a watermelon on the beach? rest assured that they will cut someone hand with the knife in the process. And that only if a shark doesn't eat them before they have the occasion.
@ShadowWizard yet, some genius, looking only at the front cover of the dvd had the brilliant idea of putting that on the same shelf as all other cartoons.
