Does Charisma Man comic reflect expat life in Japan?

[Winston]

http://www.charismaman.com/

What do you think?

I always heard that Japanese are very cold, strict, nonexpressive, and stoic and never talk to strangers, so how can so many Japanese girls flirt with a white foreigner like that?

[momopi]

See this page in my ebook for three sample comic strips:

http://www.charismaman.com/

What do you think?

I always heard that Japanese are very cold, strict, non-expressive, and stoic and never talk to strangers, so how can so many Japanese girls flirt with a white foreigner like that?

Japanese are taught to be polite in a formal way. Go to a beer house after work with them, and you'd see very different behavior after a few beers. As for white foreigners, we live in a world dominated by western mass media, so there is a demand for white men/women overseas. In Japan it's a supply/demand scenario where demand > supply for good looking foreign men/women.

Where supply > demand, such as here in the US, statistically speaking 1.5+ generation (US-Raised) Japanese American are actually less likely to marry white men vs. Chinese and Korean women.

Japanese American women marriage stats are pretty interesting to look at. See here: http://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml

Note that if all Japanese American women are included, 38.2% married white men, versus if you only count US-raised (1.5+ gen), it declines to 32.8%. This is actually against the common trend.

[ladislav]

It depends, really as far as expats go. First of all, the cartoon was about being a white Canadian in Japan. Not about being a Bangladeshi or a Korean there. So, assuming you mean White Western Expats:

There is a stratum in the Japanese population that likes Westerners. They are not the majority, though. I would say they are some 20%. Particularly they are those who are a bit rebellious. Also, it seems that the less you speak Japanese, the more they like you as you present an exotic opportunity for them to practice English and to learn about foreign cultures. Also, among older Japanese women who have had bad experiences with Japanese men and/or who are no longer liked by them- too old, too ugly, too smart, etc.

You will have difficulty getting a young, traditional all-Japanese girl, though.

In all cases, it helps to be white, blond and young/good looking.

Not all is rosy though. Mixed couples have hard time getting apartments and quite a few times, foreigners ( even young and good looking) have been refused services at various establishments there.

Having said all that, it is still infinitely easier to get a girlfriend in Japan than in the West. Yes, they are reserved but again, most introductions are at parties/work or through a mutual friend, etc. You can rarely pick up girls in public places. It has been known to happen though, particularly if you look like young David Soul or Leonardo DiCaprio.

Most of the time, though, Japanese people act like the Brits- no eye contact, deadpan, just like statues.

[KristineTheStrawberryGirl]

Having said all that, it is still infinitely easier to get a girlfriend in Japan than in the West.

Most of the time, though, Japanese people act like the Brits- no eye contact, deadpan, just like statues.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I really doubt it is easier to get a beautiful, young and friendly girlfriend in Japan than the American mid-West.

As far as my regards for the cold stone-faced Japanese and British cultures go, they may be icy, but they're very hip and fashionable. I can understand your comfort with "warmer" cultures. Sometimes "warm" or feminine cultures may seem more open/passionate, which makes it easier to self-disclose or initiate relationships. However, these cultures can also be a little frowzy and dulcet. Sometimes I want to see masculine clean-lines and listen to rock and roll. You know what I mean? I guess that's why I prefer not to rate cultures as good, bad or place them in a hierarchy. It would be quite boring if the whole world was one culture. All cultures have quirks and points of pride. Even America.

I believe this sets me apart on this forum. I do not see America as having a bad culture, or being devoid of culture. I believe that America's problems derive more from economic, social and political aspects, which have led to various social problems. The bottom line: I don't believe that men in Seattle are having a hard time finding women because all the women are fat demanding pilgrims off the mayflower, whose dad posed for the cover on the "Quaker Oats" boxes. I don't believe that we have an obesity epidemic because we have some inherent fat pilgrim gene (notice that almost everyone gets fat when they live here; all colors and nationalities, perhaps it is lifestyle). I don't believe that obesity is part of our culture. In the '50s, everyone was eating tons of red meat, drinking whole milk and large portions of everything, but yet we had a good-looking, sexy and fit population. I don't believe that there is so much residue from the historical Puritans in Salem that it serves as the base root for Americans' collective relationship dysfunction. Yes, there were influential puritans in Salem, and certainly residue from that cultural movement remains. However, America has residue from tons of other cultural movements as well, including African and Chinese cultures. I don't believe that we should reduce ourselves to anglo-saxons, puritans or pilgrims, nor should we allow others to reduce us to this without any objections. Decades past showed American families as being very stable, happy and fun. Also very attractive, passionate and sexy. It was always our women on their walls, and not their women on our walls. It seems to me that we are suffering from some kind of a set back, which has nothing to do with American culture or even "pop" culture (sorry, but pop culture is fun if you don't take it too seriously). Collectively, we got fat, and lost allot of what we had.

Consider that we have a declining standard of living, combined with collective complacency as consumers. We do not yet have the strength or will to solve our own problems, and therefore some of us are looking for someone else or some other culture to solve our problems. Some people believe that leaving is the answer. To be fair, for some individuals, leaving probably is a solution, or at least a short-term solution. I don't blame them for leaving in pursuit of something that will make them happy. That's fine, but I still think that America can make a come-back. I had watched some older '70s films recently, and some news stories about New York City. People believed that New York was a dying city, and that Los Angeles would take over. They thought that people would forget about New York. New York made a cultural come back, and America as a whole can do this too.

It's great if all of you find happiness elsewhere, but I think that if you are truly happy in another place, then it doesn't make sense to me why the negative conversations about Americans are such a big part of your lives. Enough so that you are spending large amounts of your time venting about it. Why not spend time enjoying your life where you are at and wish us well in resolving the problems that we currently have?