Weeaboos DON’T last in Japan

#japan #anime #manga
#english #japanese
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[@Thejugglingbum]

I remember leaving Japan and talking to an American at the airport who had been there for three years for the military. I really wanted to pick his brain about his experiences. I asked if he picked up any of the language or made any friends and he said not really and the proceeded to talk to me about anime and manga for the next 45 minutes even though I told him I don’t watch either. It was just insufferable. I could only imagine what he was like around actual Japanese people.

[@unrested]

Yeah don’t get me wrong there are a lot of horror manga I love and a lot of romance ones too but unless someone asked me specifically about the ones I read and had also read them I can’t for see putting someone through the torture of explaining how great they are…..only to me

[@Crayfis]

I heard an interview with a guy who went to Japan and was into arcade fighting games. He said it took him a long time to even be able to strike up a conversation with the other players at his local arcade. but most shocking was after a while he realized that these players who had been going there for near a decade had never even spoken to eachother!

[@unrested]

Yeah Japanese lock into a privacy cube which others respect. If you want to break in you not only have to be tactful and fluent but possibly a master wordsmith and charisma king

[@AKHalex]

I agree with everything you said. The Japanese people I've met who speak English well, they are usually "gaijin hunters" and will tolerate conversations about anime/manga simply for the sake of speaking English with a foreigner, but they do not genuinely like these things. Their interests are elsewhere. On the other hands, I've had multiple friends who only speak Japanese, and they were deep into the whole anime/manga thing. One thing to keep in mind is that Japan is a country full of actual real, living people who go to school or work and live their lives like everybody else in this world, and your home country. Japan is not some special anime country. That guy looking at manga in 7-11 is probably just some dude who doesn't care about you or English or foreigners or even manga, and he just had a fight with his girlfriend the night before, is feeling stressed out because he is behind on his tasks at work, is tired, and needs to go to the hardware store on his way home in order to buy screws for his curtains that he bought 6 months ago but never had the time or energy to hang until now because his parents are going to come and visit him soon. Or something. Not everything is about anime and manga. Also, I'm happy you are still making videos! I remember watching your old Japan QA videos 10+ years ago when I was in high school :)

[@unrested]

Ahh the gaijin hunters man I could do a whole video on that… hmmm…maybe I should do a whole video on that

[@AKHalex]

@@unrested That would be nice! It's always fun to hear your opinion on these things :) Perhaps it sounds a bit insulting, but I've noticed that a lot of gaijin hunters have mental issues, and I think it's because Japan as a society does not provide much emotional support or recognition of mental health issues, so they look for support and acceptance from foreigners.

[@mranimesamurai1]

The slightly painful smile when Justin Bieber came up.🤣🤣

[@unrested]

It’s the same look Japanese give if you ask them, “do you know akb 48?” lol

[@Shinkajo]

A lot of weebs think Japan is anime. They think it is this quirky paradise with no negatives. They will defend Japan to the point of absurdity when you criticize something about Japan. And by criticize i don't mean just shitting on it, but by having a constructive discussion. Then they get to Japan and reality hits them and they get depressed.

[@unrested]

Yeah when I first started this channel I use to get a lot of hate from these types when I would ask how their experience in Japan had differed they would always boil over into how they hadn’t been to Japan but were “currently in training to meet their destiny in Japan.”…..right..ok

[@AngryGrape1337]

Even worse, they think Egypt is full of gay vampires, or Mexico is full of Aztec Stripper Gods.

[@jamestaylor1934]

Haven't seen Akira in years. That's getting scheduled for a rewatch

[@unrested]

It’s still sooooo amazing

[@seykai]

Omg!! Your videos are awesome :) I was looking back at some of the j-vloggers from 8 years ago or so and stumbled upon your videos; it remidns me so much of the nostalgia I had for those videos back almost a decade ago or so. It's crazy!! I live in Japan right now, been almost six years - and I just realised that all of these videos were really what had inspired me to come here in the first place. Haha, thank you for speaking about these interesting topics! Really nice to listen to your insights. :)

[@unrested]

Thanks a bunch yeah I remember the days when there were a big group of us. I miss that time. I mostly do these still to enjoy that same nostalgia you spoke about. It’s just fun to relax with the original viewers I’ve had for the past 16 years and BS about funny Japan stuff.

[@piplup12]

I am moving to Japan in the spring ( I have an apartment lined up and a 1 year contracted job)and I have a few questions . So while growing up I was a weaboo, But after I finished university I reeled it in. I still like anime and manga but it’s not my entire life . I made some Japanese friends in college and learned a ton about Japanese culture and I am borderline conversational in Japanese now . I have been playing guitar for 10 years , I am into photography, collect mechanical watches, and I really enjoy world history . I know you can’t paint everything with a broad brush stroke but do you think there are enough people into my hobbies in the country to make a connection with?

[@dubndrapwilwork]

he is talking about the dummies who think japan will be like a slice of life anime. then they get that shattered when they move to japan and realize japan is just grind culture not some fun slice of life manga. It sounds like you will be fine especially if you realize the realities of japan before you go.

[@dubndrapwilwork]

just dont be a spaz lol

[@Shinkajo]

There are like 125 million Japanese. I'm sure it's possible to find someone for any interest. As long as you are not in some village in the sticks.

[@unrested]

You’ll be fine. You sound well adjusted. There are a million Japanese who will be excited you play guitar too.

[@codeninja100]

You still sound a bit young at least socially. Learn to be a people person and your personal hobbies will not even matter at all. Of course there's Japanese into guitar, and watches, and cameras.. But why not befriend someone into the exact opposite things? Take genuine interest in what they're passionate about. You'll do fine as long as you go in with no preconceived notions.

[@TKUltra971]

As a wise man once put it, when they ask "where are the subtitles?" they are already a lost cause lol.

[@SuitUpDubstep]

A strange thing I've heard from weebs who went to Japan and didn't like it is that they thought Japan would be the real life version of some slice of life anime. They really thought people talked and acted the way they do in anime. It would be the same as thinking westerners act and talk the way Disney characters do. Such a strange things. I guess there are slice of life anime that are decently life like, but it really isn't going to be like some sort of anime fantasy land.

[@unrested]

Birds and mice make my clothes from twine and I speak animal languages so that perception is pretty much dead on. Also Japan is an episode of usagi drop everyday.

[@j.e.m8506]

​@@unrested Dying from this comment 😂🤣🤣🤣 mice making clothes though lol

[@jamieshelley6079]

Thanks a tonne for this vid.whenever a weeb asks me why i'm not 'into' anime' it's this explaining I have to go into, it's a bit painful tbh!

[@unrested]

I hear ya. When I first started this channel in Japan I got asked this a ton as well. Anime is ok so is manga but I don’t expect anyone to be interested in it or it be the linchpin for my reason for going to Japan

[@Demyn]

I've been here I think around 6 years in total but I've only had one real conversation about anime with a random Japanese person. Almost anything else is better conversation material in Japan.

[@unrested]

Yeah I don’t remember ever bringing it up or having any Japanese friends bring it up in 15 years of my time in Japan

[@mokisan]

Great video! Btw the saint onisan manga is really good, and its really popular in us too (i am not from us). Its been printed by kodansha as a omnibus and a digital version too. 😊

[@Ghostshark83]

That title cracked me up! As soon as I saw this I HAD to hear this! 🤣 I know A LOT of weebs!

[@unrested]

Don’t get me wrong there are weebs who catch on quick and honestly adapt and then even find their niche but really at that point are they considered weebs anymore? They are living the dream not dreaming of what living in Japan is like

[@Siknik64]

The best advice as given by many people before, visit there before diving into Japan head-first. Same with any country.

[@unrested]

Yeah I suppose in my situation this was a lot of us boarded onto a plane and then told “live there for a year and adapt.” I went with 48 teachers and there were like 5 left after 1 year

[@HikikomoriDev]

There's a bright side to this at the end of the day. And that those are the individuals that are the most profitable. They will buy and buy and they are the most loyal users to what ever it is. They din't exist by themselves, they where created by the soft power machine of Japan. It brings tremendous amounts of commerce to the region. I guess I am looking at the situation from an entrepreneurial angle.

[@unrested]

Yeah I mean nothing against selling merch. Especially if it supports the artists behind the titles. I’m all for it!

[@AHMEDGAIUSROME]

Very true !

[@Kandatwitter]

This subject is very interesting

[@DenshaOtoko2]

I don't know. Still hard to speak to people where I am from.

[@rd400d]

@ 9:00 just tell them the same reason older american rock bands were popular there many many years after their time in the limelight here in the US faded. Some still are 30 years later.

[@rd400d]

Like Mr Big selling out the Budokan 11 times in 2023.

[@marocat4749]

I mean its strue if you becume cult media status, you stay there.

[@michey1978]

Yeah 'Seinto Oniisan' - in English its named 'Saint Young Men' is really good. My favourite re-naming of it is the French, when translated back into English is 'Jesus and the Buddha in Tachikawa'. By the way, the manga and the anime drawings really does look like what Tachikawa-shi looks like when I lived there in 2012. We also need to make 'SpongeBob buddies', like a thing... :)

[@Shinkajo]

Found the weeb! Jkjk :p

[@unrested]

I agree it is a really good manga!

[@ivanelmajestuoso]

Harry Maguire!

[@marocat4749]

Regarding the gun question, did you say maybe some places in texas XD all i hear from americans makes a safe bet that texas has that joke too.

[@unrested]

I’ve just had Japanese ask “isn’t American dangerous? Everyone can have a gun.” It’s funny but kinda not when you think about our image internationally

[@noahgolden6258]

cool ass map is it from a particular IP?

[@unrested]

It’s my map for my fantasy world called Sky Coffin. Everything behind me is my own original art! I talk about it a bit more on my channel Scott_inksmith

[@marocat4749]

Arent weebos more specifiv the obsessed with anime so much, but they do dont care about the pretty interesting japanese culture and landscape and people. Hell the festivals alone and baths and tht. liking anime and so isnt the problem, its using that as lense for everything over like the actual country and culture and seemingly nice forrests

[@blakereneehope]

There once was a weebuu in Japan with pink sweaters. He is living the life, a perfect super life. All dreams do come true !Woa!

[@unrested]

I should have said there are exceptions to this rule I’ve seen many hardcore anime fans absolutely thrive and speak Japanese faster than anyone else.

[@LeonardGreenpaw]

Are you telling me that I cant go to Japan to see a yokai in all the supernatural places? D: I guess I am safe on the talking to people aspect. I dont know how to talk to strangers in my own country. Do people really just strike up conversations with strangers out in irl? I would really feel like I would be disturbing that person. Even if they had some clear display of acommon interest and flaunting something they might be interested in talking about, they are probably busy. I worry so much that I do things that bother people and people are just playing nice with me out of politeness, but they really just want me to shut up and go away

[@Ninjakees]

Ah oh Going to Japan this year xD

[@unrested]

Have fun!

[@Ninjakees]

Thankyou

[@cetriyasArtnComicsChannel]

Actually heard of these mostly young adult manga like Saint oni, gokudofudo, taste of God and right now a random ex assign trying to retire and live a happy married life and ect...

[@unrested]

Then you know quality manga. May I suggest donuts under a crescent moon and boys run riot

[@nits4665]

Scott you may not read this comment but thank you for convincing me that japan is a county is not some fantasy land where all your Otaku dreams come true since i started watching your dark side of japan videos i began a hobby of researching the history the culture the food and the social problems of the country and you inspired to watch other japanese cultural KZbinrs i used see japan though rose tinted glasses because all the anime i watched thought my teenage years but you and other japan KZbinrs freed me from that fantasy i wanna say a big thanks to you

[@unrested]

Hey thanks for the kind words and yeah that has always been my goal. A balanced real world display of Japan at its best and worst and everything in between

[@eviscerations]

i feel like the term 'weeb' has colloquially gained another meaning among americans - a lot of people i know will use it as a way to say 'someone who is obsessed with japan or japanese culture' in general, rather than just being into anime/manga; it's almost become a derogatory term in some ways. but yeah probably don't want to strike up a chat with a random japanese person at book off about why griffith did what he did to guts and casca...

[@Akibaferret]

Weeb or Weeaboo was always a mean spirited slur against anime fans or "japanophiles" that originated on 4chan, mostly directed at the more extreme people that you can find in every fandom but in this case they became the stereotype. Now the term gets thrown around so much it lost any meaning, you get called a weeb for anything even slightly japan related. The biggest problem in my opinion was that modern anime fans started to call themselves weebs in self depreciation and the whole western fan culture went downhill from there...

[@eviscerations]

​@@Akibaferret which is strange considering how well manga and anime are doing versus, say, traditional comic books, here in the states. seemingly a lot of anime/manga fans are willing to self describe as weebs while everyone i know certainly doesn't use that as a term of endearment; it's very much said as a way of denigrating others i know i wouldn't use the term when referencing myself, despite my love for japan and japanese culture i think the otaku term also has lost that meaning here, where if people know what it is they'll still use it as a way to talk down on someone else

[@unrested]

IMHO I feel like it originally meant one obsessed with an idea of Japan they had only grasped from anime and manga. I think if someone gets deep into cultural and historical Japanese research they would probably be far more well adjusted for the move

[@eviscerations]

@@unrested i'd agree with that, though i don't spend a lot of time on the chans either, so the origination isn't something i'm aware of. just an observation. language always evolves.

[@KickinTheBucket-List]

Thats how the term is used here in London as well, for people that are completely Japan obsessed (not just anime/managa) and base their life & personality around it.

[@Baum_Mann]

isn´t this the 3rd time you make this video??

[@unrested]

You sound like a long time fan! Thanks for sticking with me for so long❤

[@thrusteavis]

New unrested pog

[@sebastianrubio928]

In modern times you can "study" true Japanese culture, but yeah, you have to speak the language as well, even if basic, but you need to aim higher if you want a deep conversation, even then as you said, you have all kind of obstacles to overcome. I speak multiuple language fluently, even then, it's still hard to make true friends. There is a loneliness epidemic in the entire world I'd say. The older you get, the harder it is to make friends, since you're busy and you don't get to meet a lot of new people. I would say making friendsly overall is harder in Japan. I am a weaboo, I guess, but I don't don't consider myself one per se, some of my hobbies are Japanese related, but I'm a pretty "normal" guy. When I've had interactions with Japanese people here, they brought up manga & anime themselves and thusly we could go into the subject, but otherwise, I would just casually mention I like anime & manga and that's it. I do speak a bit of Japanese, I'm trying to improve it, I know the culture fairly well, though I've never been. Now 1 thing though that I need to say; the Japanese vs Western barrier is 100% real and it's not just in Japan, I've had interactions with Japanese people here and I'll be frank, it didn't always go well. I didn't do anything bad on purpose, but I just messed up, only found out much later. When you mess up, they just don't contact you anymore, that seems to be the Japanese way. This does annoy me, we're in Europe, yet they don't adapt to the way we live here? I do get it, I won't be rude about it, again it's just annoying. I even feel this online, I got some hobbies that are mainly Japanese or Asian and I have online interactions with Japanese folk and it doesn't alway go smoothly, at times I do "the wrong thing", other times it's all fine. I do think Japanese people sooner or later will have to learn to be more open and their culture needs to change a bit. If you check latest data of happiness, it's not good, to add to that there's population collapse & low birthrate. At the end of the day, humans are social animals and they need social interactions I think people may underestimate the culture shock you'll get between Western culture & Japanese Culture. Now even when you speak the language, I mean I speak english fluently and I still get shocked by things Americans find normal, Same goes for UK & Irish folk, they'rein Europe, but they're sitll very different compared to belgians or french, or dutch, etc...

[@unrested]

I worry often about the same enduring resolute spirit of the Japanese also being part of the downfall. Looking back on ww2 they were so stubborn about quitting the war that they were literally collecting pots and pans from peoples houses to make stuff for the military. While this lead them to be a powerhouse in the 80-90s revival and rebuilding of Japan the same unyielding stubborn spirit may also be their downfall economically in their depopulation

[@sebastianrubio928]

@@unrested The way people interact, the friendship thing you described, it goes again human nature. At the beginning of covid, I was left without a job, I couldn't go out either, cause everything was locked down, I hit this really dark period which only got better when I started seeing friends & again & working again. I can understand meeting up a friend needing time to plan, but this gets out of hand. If you wanna see a friend, just see him, basically. I do come from a mix of completely different cultures. It truly is friendship on hard mode and I'm pretty sure people aren't happy with it. I do think the work culture needs to change, to give people free time to see each other in the first place. I love some aspects of Japanese culture, but this one it really needs to change.

[@Tsunkuotaku]

just want to make a better example than your "Peanuts" comparison, one that really happened to me. Imagine if a Japanese person came up to you all excited about NCIS. After all, it was the number one show in America for years. Doesn't every one watch NCIS? Let's talk about our favourite episodes! I don't know about you guys, but I don't know a single fellow (Canadian) that watched that show. Sure, we've all seen an episode here or there, but nobody gave a s4!7 about that show. That's what it's like to for a Japanese person when you try to talk about Demon Hunter or Naruto.

[@unrested]

Yeah ncis. Yeah can’t say I’d be too excited to talk those episodes over and I even watched a few. It would be like having a convo about taxes

[@sirkastic]

As a Weeaboo I prefer Filthy Frank's description of Weeaboo, my Naruto level, Katana level and neckbeard level is more advanced than you

[@unrested]

Filthy frank is the true goat of weeb descriptions

[@DenshaOtoko2]

No not really. People where I'm from are icy and communicate with out speaking words.

[@unrested]

Where is this psychic village of ice people?

[@Melissa0774]

Is that cat from Japan? Isn't it kind of a pain in the butt to import animals between countries? Did you have to quarantine her, or anything?

[@unrested]

No my Japan kitty is still in Japan with my elder son and wife. I miss po chan so much, and yeah I would never put a pet through that stress and the quarantine it involves😢

[@Melissa0774]

@@unrested So where did you get this cat? Are you going to take it back to Japan?

[@Shinkajo]

What do they call Korean weebs?

[@unrested]

Manwhaeebs lol jk I made that up

[@HajimeNoJMo]

I’ve heard Koreaboo

[@HajimeNoJMo]

I sort of get these experiences and I’ve had mixed results, especially with anime and manga and the reverse. It’s funny that Japanese people love Friends, and they tend to be shocked they I had never seen a single episode. I was more into Living Single, Martin, Fresh Prince, Boy Meets World, Dinosaurs, and Family Matters, which were never shown in Japan sadly enough. A lot of Japanese also love Full House, but I only casually watched it. As for SpongeBob, I hadn’t seen it until last year. I used to work at a girls school in Tochigi. On my desk, I put a figure of Sailor Moon on my desk, and my students and coworkers got a kick out of it. The PE teacher loved it and told me she still had her merchandise from her childhood. My open love for Sailor Moon helped me become more approachable at that school. As for traveling, I think only 25% of the population has a passport, but I think that’s common for a majority of countries.

[@unrested]

That happens with Alf and full house too! They were super popular in early 2k

[@asilusx24]

Mmm, its not irrational to hope it kept some edo type culture in Japan, that means they probably came over to learn about customs and "spiritual' practices. What you suggested is that it no longer really has that, for me it would be pointless to visit Japan if everything old is dead in it. You can find anime and all that anywhere here as you mentioned, the only place your gonna find their real spiritual practices are there. Kinda sucks.

[@unrested]

Searching for the spiritual aspects of Shintoism or esoteric Buddhism is fine and if one is looking into that they have probably researched extensively into current Japan. Weeaboo culture is more so concerned with the materialism and consumption of pop culture in Japan as far as manga and anime is concerned

[@asilusx24]

How I phrased that probably was slightly irritating, sorry about that. So what you are saying is people go there with a weeaboo mentality looking for samurai and old practices in some weird infatuation? I guess wanting to be something without being it is really weird actually. I personally would go looking for gain, profit from it through learning about exactly what they thought, their thought process back then. I kinda lean towards that myself and understand it well I think, so I have a respect for it. @@unrested