Comments on: Prison in Japan: Part 5 “Manga and Routine”

By: nosferatu

nosferatu — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:27:46 +0000

well this story is really interesting, the initial naivity and hope in the system followed by the resignation and perplexed attitude reminds me a lot of “midnight express” , I wonder what would’ve happened had he not turned himself in….
on another note, the things on the comments are really funny ^^

By: Yeah

Yeah — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:24:00 +0000

It seems like the person writing this jail story isn’t American. He said ‘arsehole’ in this chapter, and it wasn’t the first thing that made me question his nationality.

By: Loki

Loki — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:14:42 +0000

Maaaan…..fdasfds, Vanya et al: I’m Irish, and male, therefore I am an ‘Irishman’. If I were the ONLY Irishman in a given context I would probably be ‘the Irishman’. I wouldn’t particularly have a problem with being the “Irelandman” but as with Rieux’s points such usage would be odd-sounding in English . I don’t know what it is about people that seem to think by removing language that they perceive to be discriminatory they can remove the discrimination itself. We could pass a law to call all [name your group] “Gods Who Walk the Earth and Can Do No Wrong” and racist people would still say “Look at that goddamn GWWtEaCDNW”…Also, what, precisely is derogatory about calling someone a Chinaman? Is “a male native of China” derogatory? Is it because it reduces a complex human being to one defining characteristic? Well get used to it – when describing someone you met at party to a friend do you describe them as the “single father of one, sociology major, interested in golf and literature, caring yet decisive, good sense of humour, loves dogs” or do you say “the redhead”, “the guy with the purple jacket” etc.?

Go read 1984, specifically the bits about NewSpeak, cop on and shove off.

By: fdasfds

fdasfds — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:44:19 +0000

Yeah, “Chinaman” is not a derogatory, racist term in the least. George himself said he used it just to add character to the story.

If there was a black man in the story, I’m sure George would have called him “the Nigger”, and a Hispanic man would be “the Spic”, which are also not racist in the least, right?

By: Rieux

Rieux — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:34:38 +0000

To Vanya,

We do use those terms. Englishman. German. Frenchman. And they’re not considered offensive. We don’t see japanman as it’s ungainly and English has a tendcey towards simple voal contractions. Hence its German as opposed to German man. I don’t understant how language can be warped in this way to make a perfectly inoccuous term out to be derogatory.

By: Krozar

Krozar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:33:10 +0000

5 days between showers is the standard in most Texas prisons and jails as well. I hate to mar the entire U.S. corrections system because penal systems depend on a State’s political culture. Texas happens to be full of many deep conservatives who believe people in prisons have failed at life and don’t even deserve to be fed. Not unique to Japan at all.

When it comes to being offensive, it’s about context. “Chinaman” was not used in a degrading context. As someone stated, it’s a character reference. Same with “gaijin.” More of a term of endearment unless the context is degrading or downright hostile, as it can be in Japan. I don’t know anyone who uses 外国人 gaikokujin in colloquial speech.

Funny about the manga. Seems like many whites in Japan were otaku before going to Japan. I suppose they thought that the Japan in anime or manga exists in the real world. I joke about foreign English teachers go to Japan because anime and manga tells them that teachers banging high school students is like a tradition. 2 or 3 moe girls always vying for the sensei/oniiiiiiiiiiiichan ^^

By: Blue

Blue — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:56:34 +0000

Give me a day or two, getting there!

By: Marvin

Marvin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:54:09 +0000

Hey Blue – when is the next one of these prison stories?

By: M C Jeebes

M C Jeebes — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 11:49:31 +0000

I never drank more than one beer at a siting until I was 25 and met my first wife.
She drove me to drink, she did…. Never did thank her for that.

By: Ao

Ao — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:35:34 +0000

Hear hear!