Comments by "Yo2" (@yo2trader539) on "TAKASHii"
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@pau.7604 There is only one way to master pitch accent (or イントネーション in Japanese) which is exposure. Basically to listen to the language a lot, as we've all done so in our native tongues. It can be music, TV, drama, YouTube, anime, or anything in Japanese. One needs to listen in order to learn how to speak, and read in order to learn how to write. When the pitch accent is off, I often switch to English with foreigners in Japan, because it's simply challenging to understand them.
One of the reasons why many Russians living in Japan are near-native Japanese speakers is because some Russian universities teach Japan-related subjects in Japanese language. And it's sometimes taught by Japanese expats. So by the time they finish university they already have reached N2-level, and by the time they study/work in Japan, they're already accustomed to Japanese phonetics, melody, inflections, and cultural/historical references.
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If you're serious, it's never too late to learn. There are plenty of resources whether language schools or on-line tools.
Frankly, being "treated like a foreigner" will depend entirely on your understanding of Japanese language, culture, behavior, and mannerisms. People who are able to adapt, assimilate, and integrate will be treated differently from others. The former will be part of Japanese society, the latter will be treated as guests/visitors. We have many Nikkei-Brazilians and Nikkei-Peruvians living in Japan (as we have preferential visa schemes for Japanese Descendants), and many of them arrive in Japan with limited knowledge of Japanese language, culture, norms, or society. While some struggle with adapting to Japan, others are able to learn the language/culture and assimilate and build a life in Japan. It really depends on personal determination, curiosity, flexibility, adaptability, and intelligence.
Culture/Language/Norms is an Operating System of each society. Japan just like Australia has it own OS. For some Japanese nationals, Australia fits them better. For some Australians, Japan fits them better. There are people from all over the world who adapt, assimilate, and integrate to each society. So you'll have to try yourself to figure out whether Japan suits you or not. That said, I personally think Japan is perfect for people with autism because the society is well-organized, disciplined, calm, rule-based, and people don't/won't interfere with you unnecessarily. If tranquility is important, you may wish to avoid busy urban areas in large cities.
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It depends on the person more so than nationality. Japanese people will judge you by social class, education, mannerism, or civility. In reality, some of the Brazilians in Japan have neck/arm tattoos like gangs, they walk and talk and dress like narcos, and are often arrested for car-jacking, looting, shoplifting, drugs, murder etc. At the same time, there are many educated and cultured Nikkei-Brazilian bankers, doctors, professors, lawyers, IT engineers, musicians, school teachers, etc. The latter group will be appreciated and treated with respect in Japan. The former will be treated with disgust and disgrace.
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We have a lot of half people, successful ones too. The difference is that they received education in Japan, so they are no different from other Japanese kids in behavior, mannerism, mindset, and culture. The way we sit, talk, walk, dress, hair style, makeup...small things are usually enough to identify a local from a visitor.
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@ganndalf202 I've met or worked with a number of people from Central & Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Balkans in Japan. Many of them found Japanese husbands/wives here and are raising their children in Japan. And some of them decided to become Japanese citizens.
They seem relaxed and comfortable with life here. Western Europe and North America is just too much for some of them. It's not the language, because many of them are fluent in English, but rather the culture, politics, social norms and rules. Some of them sense the micro prejudice when in Western Europe, being looked down or even perceived to be slightly backward (and less skilled/educated/cultured) because they grew up in other parts of Europe, which is quite insulting and hurtful. But when in Japan, they're all appreciated by behavior, personality, or skill set...regardless of which part of Europe you're from. I suppose Japan isn't too liberal or too conservative from their perspective.
By the way, Ukrainians are the only exception Japan has made in decades when it comes to refugees. We've had a terrible experience with Korean war refugees in the past, and since then Japanese society has generally refused accepting refugees. However, people have very supportive of Ukrainian refugees in Japan. There is financial support, housing support, language training, etc. I'm often touched by how much the Ukrainian ambassador is touched by the small donations from ordinary people in Japan.
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@SophieHanna-sn9hc "Ethnicity" is a modern, artificially-created social and political construct. Ukrainian or Russian is a political, national, cultural, linguistic, historical, or ethnic identification, depending on era or who you ask.
And identity has been always been fluid throughout history. Cultures/languages/religions are replaced and altered all the time.
For instance, many in Russia Far East have partial Ukrainian ancestry for historical reasons. But most of them identify as ethnic Russians. In fact, many "ethnic Russians" living within Russia are descendants of Russified indigenous people, which is why there is varying degree of Eurasian genetic admixture throughout the population.
And many people migrated to Ukraine from all over Imperial Russia and Soviet Union for work, education, marriage, or retirement. Many of their descendants now identify as Ukrainians.
Historically, so many countless waves of migration has occurred in the past few thousand years. There are many cities with Greek-origin names along the Black Sea Coast. Scythians were East Iranic speakers. The Huns, Avars, Bulgars, or Khazars were nomadic East Eurasian Turkic-speaking clans from South Siberia and Mongolian Steppe. They dominated the Eurasian steppe, mixed heavily with indigenous people, and migrated all the way to modern-day Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. ("Bulga" means Mixed people in proto-Turkic. Old Bulgar Language is known as Chuvash. And those who migrated to Danube were absorbed by Slavic people, but people in Bulgaria have significant Balkan genetic ancestry. )
If you look at paintings of Ukrainian Cossacks, their weapons, lifestyle, hairstyle, dances, musical instruments, culture, or clothing is heavily nomadic Turkic/Tatar...because they were living in Turkic/Tatar lands for over 1,000 years. The word "Cossack" is actually a Turkic/Tatar word too. As Ukrainian Cossacks were foot soldiers of the Russian Empire, they were given huge chunks of land all across the newly conquered territories. Krasnodar (or Yekaterinodar) was given to the Black Sea Cossacks by Catherine the Great. But their descendants now they identify as ethnic Russians.
Even the Russian language has been altered as the Rus/Eastern Slavs expanded eastward and absorbed the local populations. In the past, Russian language should've been phonetically more closer to Belarussian or Ukrainian (aka RUTEHNIAN.) Again, ethnicity is modern social construct, mostly for political usage.
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@meluvcats Just to be clear, I was explaining my observation on who will most likely be perceived as "Japanese" from an appearance/phenotype perspective. As for beauty-standards on people from abroad, that is an entirely different conservation.
I know there is a wide spectrum of preferences. Some people fancy Taylor Swift, others like K-POP idols. If I understand correctly, in East Asian fashion industries, there are many models from Russia and Eastern Europe, or people with ancestral roots in those regions. I suspect that is the case because many of them have varying degrees of natural Eastern & Western Eurasian admixture, due to thousands of years of migrations in all directions. (I recall hearing once that fashion industry likes "racially ambiguous" appearances because they can appeal to a wide audience.) But it's also true that they fit the preference or beauty standard.
But I do need to emphasize that that even if both of your parents are from Japan, if you were raised/educated abroad and if you're not familiar with Japanese language and culture, you will be treated differently. This obviously applies to half-Japanese kids who were raised and educated abroad as well. For instance, the half-Venezuelan kid in this video may be perceived as "illiterate" in Japan. Japanese companies will be valuing international students who finished Japanese universities and grad school (or studied Japanese in their home countries) over somebody who cannot read Japanese newspapers.
As for foreign-nationals, the social acceptance in Japan will depend on how much they are able to assimilate and integrate with Japanese society. If you study, work, marry, or raise children in Japan, you'll gradually and naturally become part of Japanese society. A few years ago, TERUYA Eiji, a child of a Nikkei-Brazilian who migrated to Japan, passed the Japanese Bar Exam. He was the first Brazilian national to do so. Naturally, he will be respected and valued far more in Japanese society than most in Japan. There are many other foreign nationals who are working full-time in local municipalities and as public school teachers.
Donald Keen was probably the most respected person outside of Japan. So much so that in his final years of his life, and when his daughter approached our NY Consulate that his last wish was to become a Japanese citizen and die in Japan, people in high positions moved mountains and made exceptions for him to show our gratitude. He's the scholar who translated Tales of Genji into English, which is just impossible to do. I'm confident that most of us won't be able to translate a 1,000 year-old literature even into modern Japanese, let alone a foreign language, unless you receive specialized training for decades. He was very well respected, as he understood Japanese history, culture, and literature more so than most people in Japan.
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@JesterEric If they were all descendants of Kievan Rus, their genetics would be near identical to Nordic Swedes and Baltic people. In reality, so much migration has occurred in the Eurasian steppe, language/culture and genetics are often different categories. People living in modern Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus are a fusion of Greek colonies, Iranic (aka Proto Indo-European) speakers, Turkic/Mongolic nomadic Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, etc. Just look at a map from 500 years ago, and you'll realize that most modern ethnic "Ukrainians" and "Russians" are Slavicized people. And Scythians weren't speaking Slavic.
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We have many famous half-Japanese people in politics, sports, show biz etc...but they're all raised and educated in Japan. People who don't share the language, culture, history, mannerism, mindset, or identity with the rest of the population...are no different from foreigners living in Japan with no Japanese ancestry. In fact, there are many Russians, Turks, Koreans, Mongolians, etc who speak near-native Japanese and receive Permanent Visa, and even citizenship. Not being served, means they entered exclusive places that don't want you in their restaurant. A local would know which stores accept first-timers, and which don't.
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@life_of_katastrophes Excellent observation. You have a gifted ear, which means you'll able to master most languages.
Latin/Romance-language speakers tend to have a clear vowel pronunciation in Japanese, perhaps a little too clear/sharp. Conversely, when a native-Japanese speaker studies Italian, for example, we're often instructed to stress every sound/vowel more clearly and strongly (till the end) as if we're exaggerating the sound. This difference creates the difference in melody, rhythm, or pitch accent of the two languages.
Have you ever noticed how native Slavic-speakers sometimes mix short and long vowels when they pronounce English words? So unintentionally, the word "beach" sounds something different. And how Slavic speakers pronounce their short-vowels is very similar to Japanese pitch accent and pronunciation. It's also why native Slavic-speakers have an easier time mastering Japanese intonation than other language speakers.
Spanish/Italian speakers tend to pronounce Japanese vowels like あー、いー、うー、えー、おー, or like long vowels. But in order to master Japanese pitch accent, you need to master the short-vowel, or else you have no control over the pitch. After enough exposure, I'm you'll be able to absorb the sound (and appropriate strength & length of the sound).
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@user-vz5gi5tw9x Excellent point. This is an extremely complicated topic. Japanese surname also matters, and historically surname is passed down from paternal lineage. Education and upbringing is still most important regardless of ancestry.
I had a classmate with Russian/Ukrainian ancestry who was born, raised, and educated in Japan. She doesn't have Japanese ancestry, but she'll always be more integrated and accepted in Japan than most "half-Japanese" interviewed on this channel. It's because she has a Japanese mindset and mannerism, and Japanese is her first language so she can communicate just like a native/local. (I heard from her that her parents speaks to her in Russian, but she speaks to her parents in Japanese.) Her family naturalized so they all Japanese citizenship too.
The other issue is more sensitive because it's about beauty standards. In Japanese entertainment industry, it's always said that "Hafu" celebrities with Japanese fathers tend to be more successful than the other way around. Without doubt cultural and social upbringing is most important. But it's also a true that Japanese men tend to marry foreign women who generally fit within Japanese beauty standards. And beauty standards isn't simple and superficial things like skin-tone, height, or facial structure, it's also about personality, mannerism, and mindset.
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@AngelicKitsunehehe I don't think we have an accurate count on the children of international marriages as some may not have Japanese citizenship. In 2022, there were 504,930 marriages for Japanese citizens. Japanese-husband & Japanese-wife couple was 487,245. Japanese-husband & Foreign-wife couple was 10,907 cases. Foreign-husband & Japanese-wife couple was 6,596 cases.
The reason why these numbers are somewhat skewed is because we have historically had many Taiwanese, Chinese, Koreans, Nikkei-Brazilians, Filipinos who are raised/educated in Japan, as well as naturalized citizens. Thus, if a naturalized citizen marries a Zainichi Korean in Japan...it still counts as an international marriage.
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