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Goodpenguin
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 457
Location: Hunt Valley, MD
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 Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 7:10 pm
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abunai wrote:
| Quote: | | Pressed for time, so this will be a rushed post, but... you are describing the Japan of pre-Meiji Restoration times. By the late 19th century, many Western-style social institutions and customs had been imported, including an aristocratic/capitalist system that resembled Prussia/Germany or Great Britain more than it resembled the old Japan. |
Oh, I don't disagree but I thought you covered the essentials of that point in your earlier post with your comparison of 'old money vs. new money', etc. The poster responded with a point about 'ancient' Japan, so the 'feudal', over 'caste' comparison was apt, to me, in that limited respect. Brevity not my strong point, and being no special expert on Japanese history to begin with, I let your previous point on the matter stand for 'modern' context. 
dtm42 wrote:
| Quote: | | Actually, they did have a caste system... |
Thats an accurate point, but it does seem more apropos to small minority circles in Japan. This may be more comparative to something like the Roma in Spain/Italy. When folks talk about 'caste' systems, as I believe the original poster meant, they usually reflect on a culture like India, where (historically speaking) social 'castes' played/play a large role in mainstream society. In that respect, from your linked article:
| Quote: | | The Castes of Feudal Japan
Eta - 'untouchables' - did tanning, butchering, handling of the dead
Ninja - spies and assassins
Yakuza - mob members, gamblers
Heimin - peasants, merchants, artists
Priests - monks and nuns of Shinto or Buddhist religions
Buke - samurai, daimyo, and other military members
Shogunate - the immediate group of the Shogun, his family and officials
Imperial Court - The emperor and families |
...I also don't think it's using 'Caste' in quite the way as say Indian society. It describes niches in the social hierarchy more than endogamous religious/social cultural hierarchy (I'm also not too sure 'Ninja' was an actual class, though I'm sure they had real, ultimate power!!!). But like I said above, sharper posters on this subject than myself can debate that.
Servant of the Path wrote:
| Quote: | | During my time in college I had an interest in ancient Greek and Roman history |
That I'm academically trained in (undergrad at least, and boy what an in-demand skill ), but I'm afraid that knowledge doesn't help us here.
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enurtsol
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14779
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:07 am
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| Moomintroll wrote: |
| enurtsol wrote: | | Japanese have lots of sex - they just don't have a lot of babies |
Not really. Durex did a survey three years ago that measured average frequency of sexual intercourse in over 40 countries and Japan came in last by a considerable margin.
The highest frequency was in Greece where the average adult had sex 138 times in the preceding year and the global average was 103 times. Japan managed a mere 45 times per year. |
Well, that's the average, including the aforementioned sexless married couples and older people (although "elder pr0n" seems becoming a rage there  ). But among the youths..... "sex friend" is not just a term, y'know.... 
| Moomintroll wrote: | |
The same survey put the Japanese second to last (two percentage points ahead of the Chinese) in terms of how satisfied they were with their sex lives with only 24% of the Japanese adults surveyed being happy with their sex lives. |
Ergo, the popularity of sensationalized hentai!
| Moomintroll wrote: |
| enurtsol wrote: | | They have much sex --with love hotels |
Sounds painful. |
Huh? How so? 
| Moomintroll wrote: |
| enurtsol wrote: | | until they get married (well, at least not with their spouses). |
According to a recent study by the World Health Organisation / Nihon University, married couples in Japan have even less sex than the Japanese in general do (with 25% of married Japanese having had no sex whatsoever in the past 12 months). And going back to that Durex survey, Japanese people are, on average, less likely to engage in extra-marital sex than people in most Western nations. |
Or at least, what they would admit to. Housewives don't attend gaijin-taught English classes for the linguist skills, y'know. Or at least, not in that way.
| SakechanBD wrote: |
| daxomni wrote: | |
Girls where I live don't dress like Japanese women. Not even close. Japanese women dress conservatively and with style. American girls dress far too casually and show far too much skin. It's really night and day in my view. |
This is something I noticed too, when I was in Japan, and more recently, when I was in China.
The one big thing I noticed in Tokyo was that while the girls would wear short skirts or shorts-- they would also cover up their legs. Above-the-knee black stockings were super popular when I was there at the time, and I just simply didn't see very many bare legs at all, except tourists. There weren't a lot of low-cut shirts either.
It was similar in China, though the fashion was different. A lot of the women went out in dresses and skirts and high-heels. |
East Asian gals tend to show a lot of leg. A lot of short pants, regardless of how it looks. The Japanese, though, seems to treat the kneecap skin as a blight on the landscape, so tend to cover it up. 
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Ishmoo
Joined: 11 Nov 2006
Posts: 413
Location: Fredericksburg, VA
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:52 am
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| enurtsol wrote: |
Or at least, what they would admit to. Housewives don't attend gaijin-taught English classes for the linguist skills, y'know. Or at least, not in that way.
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Wait. I must be missing something here. What exactly is going on in these classes? Is this a recognized sexual phenomenon or just women oogling a cute guy? Just curious!
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enurtsol
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14779
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Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 3:16 am
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| Ishmoo wrote: |
| enurtsol wrote: |
Or at least, what they would admit to. Housewives don't attend gaijin-taught English classes for the linguist skills, y'know. Or at least, not in that way.
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Wait. I must be missing something here. What exactly is going on in these classes? Is this a recognized sexual phenomenon or just women oogling a cute guy? Just curious! |
Just lonely housewives looking for a fling with Caucasian gaijins.
Ya can't imagine how easy it is to get laid there sometimes.
| Top Gun wrote: |
| abunai wrote: | | But then they would have to display their foreheads -- and one of the quirks of Japanese culture is that the forehead (and to a certain extent the mouth) are, commonly if not universally, considered unattractive body parts. |
Wait...so is that why other characters on Naruto were constantly prattling on about Sakura's forehead being "huge," when it was really nothing of the sort? That explains a lot, then. |
Just think: the many times a chara kisses another's forehead. That's like kissing................................. well, just imagine an unattractive part of the body.
Now that's love!
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