Mexican Culture vs. Japanese Culture

jap culture is just a shittier version of a bunch of other cultures

at least mexico gave us nachos

mexican def

^^^ OTM

Japanese culture negatives:

Anime
J-Pop
J-Porn

burritos: among the top 5 important things in my life

http://www.slate.com/id/2213073/

I love the shinto mysticism and all

but I gotta give props to my ancestors

Modern Japan has ruined the formerly awesome Japanese cultural legacy forever.

SIMON vs ASOOO

http://content9.flixster.com/question/46/28/82/4628823_std.jpg

I voted Japanese, probably out of some sort of received nostalgia.

a thread enshrining weird 00s backlash against weird 90s enthusiasm for all things japanese. hooray. the time was right.

sushi fajitas

as a china-man i vote for mexicans why because they are not japanese.

They met up in professional wrestling.

hahahahahahaha ironic culture bashing. it's fuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyy

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fPN6YQ7DU5kx/610x.jpg

at least mexico gave us nachos

― boner state university (cankles), Monday, March 9, 2009 7:53 PM (3 hours ago)

Actually... nachos were invented (along with enchiladas and the margarita) in the late 50s at El Cholo Restaurant (chef Ron Salisbury) in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Koreatown.

a thread enshrining weird 00s backlash against weird 90s enthusiasm for all things japanese. hooray.

Exactly. "Japanese culture" in threads like these tends to mean "those aspects of Japanese culture most open to Western (mis)appropriation" - which usually translates to cultural practices and art forms that are different than ours in very obvious and flamboyant ways, and thus most easily fetishizable as some exotic Other. Of course, cultural differences as a whole tend to be based on more subtle things, but it's easier to just laugh at Those Wacky Japanese, isn't it? And, of course, in cases like these, appreciation can transform quite quickly into disgust since there's often a thin line between "wacky" and "just plain wrong".

I'm not saying that the Japanese don't have serious social problems, but every society does. I'm American, but have lived abroad here and there (including in Asia for a year), and it was only after being exposed to outsiders' views on the situation that I truly started to realize how deeply fucked up things like gun culture or race relations in America are. Say what you want about rape-simulations and subway groping in Japan, there's still far less sex crime per capita there than in the U.S. or U.K. (or Mexico, for that matter).

I don't really want to come off as some sort of Japan stan, especially since I agree that Euro-American J-fetish culture is one of the worst things ever. But that's my point: It's bad enough to reduce an entire country of people with a complex political and social history to some sort of fashion statement or lifestyle choice informed by a funhouse-mirror distortion of one or two specific subcultures. But rejecting that sort of thing on its own terms -- i.e. taking for granted that it's an accurate representation of the culture, and then rejecting said culture wholesale -- is even worse.

sorry, probably taking this thread more seriously than it deserves

^otm

I'm glad I'm not the only person weirded out by the tone of this thread.

jap culture is just a shittier version of a bunch of other cultures

and sorry to be sanctimonious, but this is just offensive.

I'm pretty sure it's ok to go deep into this, especially since the premise of this poll is a culture war of sorts

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1436/1392653912_c843e6b5fb.jpg?v=0

"just a shittier version of a bunch of other cultures" probably works better for America, tbh

the idea of one culture being 'better' than another, completely different culture is pretty dumb but living 45 minutes from the border there's a lot of things about mexican culture that i deeply cherish, so i've got to go with that.

plus burritos >>>>>>>>>> sushi, every time, every context, every way.

lowry, bolano, and the very existence of ciudad juarez seem to suggest a mexican relevance that overwhelms any romanticist impulses. i mean, if you want to disappear what's the difference between dead and df? mexico over japan, easy.

I grew up sneaking over to juarez to shitty bars full of 17-year-olds pretending to be 18-year-olds pretending to be 21, so that's my vote. also, it was stupid of all of my friends to do that every weekend.

jap culture is just a shittier version of a bunch of other cultures

at least mexico gave us nachos

"at least"

i like how he skipped burritos, tacos, salsa, tamales, menudo, and everything else delicious and went straight for the Hope Diamond of Cheese Whiz:
http://www.lafayettejeff.org/DECA_Website/Products/Nachos.jpg

Say what you want about rape-simulations and subway groping in Japan, there's still far less sex crime per capita there than in the U.S. or U.K.

Seriously. What about suicide among teens? Bullying in schools is the worst in Japan.

I have very mixed feelings when it comes to Japan. I hate it. But then there are times I quite like it. Love it? Hmm, hard to say. Not anymore. I guess it's all due to the fact my parents live there (and are so in love with said country).

So I'll probably pick Mexican just cause.

Going back to Japan in a few months. *sigh*

as a mexican buddhist i am seriously torn here tbh

nah not really yall know i vote fam

fuck this thread

there's an objective way to resolve this: consult the ladders of ethnicity

first the ladder of asians

-Chinese (Mandarin)
-Chinese (Taiwan)
-Japanese
-Korean
-Chinese (Hong Kong)
-Chinese (Cantonese/Other)
-Thai
-Vietnamese
-Cambodian
-Filipinos (the Puerto Ricans of Asia)

now the ladder of hispanics

-Spaniards
-Cubans
-South Americans
-Central Americans
-Mexicans
-Puerto Ricans
-Dominicans

so, scientifically speaking, japan wins

u know, i hate when niggas from japan and korea are all "korea power" or "japan power" get the f outta here w/ that, u from china

esp the koreans. what do they have? celadon pottery and the turtle boat? taekwondo? lol

ffs go back to 4chan

also

Actually... nachos were invented (along with enchiladas and the margarita) in the late 50s at El Cholo Restaurant (chef Ron Salisbury) in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Koreatown.

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, March 10, 2009 2:20 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

how DARE u try 2 call me out shasta!!!!!!!! here let me school u

Nachos originated in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, just over the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, at a restaurant called the Victory Club, owned by Rudolfo DeLos Santos.[1][2] One day in 1943, the wives of 10–12 U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan in nearby Eagle Pass, were in Piedras Negras on a shopping trip, and arrived at the restaurant after it had closed for the day. The maître d', Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya, invented a new dish for them with what little he had available in the kitchen: tortillas and cheese. Anaya cut the tortillas into triangles, added longhorn cheddar cheese, quickly heated them, and added sliced jalapeño peppers.[Note 1] He served the dish, calling it nachos especiales, or "special nachos".[3]

Anaya went on to work at the Moderno Restaurant in Piedras Negras, which still uses the original recipe. He also opened his own restaurant, "Nacho's Restaurant", in Piedras Negras. Anaya's original recipe was printed in the 1954 St. Anne's Cookbook.[1][2]

The popularity of the snack qiuckly spread throughout Texas. The first known appearance of the word "nachos" in English dates to 1949, from the book A Taste of Texas.[1] Waitress Carmen Rocha is credited with introducing the dish to Los Angeles at El Cholo Mexican restaurant in 1959.[4]

welcome to the own zone population u

You guyyyys what about Pocky and Kurosawa and "Fruits Basket"?

thanks to this thread, I now know there are acceptable forms of racism after all! woo thanks ILX.

HOOS as a Mexican buddhist & a guy who I generally think of as sensitive to racially offensive shit in a pretty cool-w/o-sanctimony way, do you really find a lotta this "lol, Mexican culture is burritos!" stuff super-hilarious?

My experience of Mexican culture is so colored by my near-daily experience with Mexican-American culture that I really have no idea how to imagine "real" Mexico. I get some skewed idea of a corrupt and populous Mexico city, Zapatistas, that whole punk/goth/emo riot stuff that keeps circulating in the news, and the tourist crap that I have heard about and experienced.

On the other hand, I've been told about the "real" Japan, some fusion of classic Japanese aesthetics, under-reproducing youth, copycat cultural affectation, and stories from friends teaching abroad that paint a pretty incomplete picture as well.

Gimme a basis here, what's the most representative novel from each culture? Maybe I could read a few and come back.

Contemporary literature-wise, I've read "Like Water for Chocolate" and some Haruki Murakami..

do I really need to tempban people or do you all realize that the "lol ironic racism" thing going on here is a bad idea

Mexico isn't just burritos, people! Not saying that burritos aren't awesome and everything, but Mexican music > Japanese music, by and large, for instance.

I think there's a fair bit of "lol ironic racism" going on here, but I think people really can be fans of a culture without being all racist or imperialist about it. I mean, the goofy-ass kids who think that Japan is all anime-covered and think they're going to learn Japanese and dress up all crazy and be "japanese" have a different take-away from the culture than I might, but does that make it any less valid?

If you want to judge which culture's better and riff on it from the basis of a lopsided view of that culture, so be it. I don't think anyone here is all "lol latina boobs beat squinty eyes any day" which I'd read as outright racism

fwiw there is zero irony in my posts

I think there's a fair bit of "lol ironic racism" going on here, but I think people really can be fans of a culture without being all racist or imperialist about it.

OTM. Also, I didn't intend this thread to be a Japanese-bashing thread, even though I'm on the pro-Mexican side. But it's like people are SOOO anticipating all the easy criticisms of Japanese culture that their little "OMG RACISM" flags pop up at the slightest whiff of anything that could possibly be interpreted as slightly racist, maybe. I'm sure that there are a lot of legitimate, non-racist fans of Japanese (and Mexican) culture, and they should have their say.

No actually, this sub-Mencia shit is not cool:

u know, i hate when niggas from japan and korea are all "korea power" or "japan power" get the f outta here w/ that, u from china

esp the koreans. what do they have? celadon pottery and the turtle boat? taekwondo? lol

I haven't locked anything or banned anyone yet and if the conversation you're imagining was more prevalent than the "lol burritos" nonsense happening in this thread, I wouldn't have posted anything in the first place. You can make this into the conversation you want it to be; I figured people would appreciate knowing that their posts were generating moderator complaints so that they had the opportunity to self-moderate rather than doing it for them.

Dan, I think if you applied this same intensity of moderation over racism to the WS threads or half of ILX on the issue of sexism, no one would ever post. Maybe threatening to lock this thread is not entirely proportionate? Or else no one posts pictures of tits ever again.

The difference, Laurel, is that no one has complained to me about the WS threads. It may appear that I am picking arbitrary targets out of the blue, but I'm not. Furthermore, there's only really one poster here crossing a line and he's been yellowcarded.

The only proactive moderation I do is out-and-out slander/harassment.

yeah, HI DERE, iatee, looking back i think i've sort of extrapolated from my initial feeling of 'fuck this thread' into something that the thread might not necessarily be. i guess it's probably not supposed to be an objective, "which is better" thing! but that's what it felt like when i opened the thread and it's people going 'japan is porn and deepseated social problems' and 'mexico is food oh and us teens jumping the border to get drunked', like... there we go, that's those two cultures defined, let's move on.

What the hell is "WS"?

(If it's a "77" thing, never mind that I asked.)

making someone choose between sushi or burritos is still pretty perverse and cruel

― See you dudes on the G train (rent), Tuesday, March 10, 2009 12:46 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this ties into a rant my azn friend was going on abt a while back - sushi isn't sushi if it's made by mexicans or chinese pps or gino the neighborhood pizza man, except maybe if they were trained by wizened japanese master chefs to throw ingredients out at the slightest hint of staleness (which is impossible, since they wouldn't even let a mexican in japan to clean dishes) - paraphrased~

"would smash"

wns is "would not smash"

secret water sports thread on ilx shocker

lol

lol "would smash"

A Gallagher thread? What's controversial about Gallagher?

"would smash" = "would have sex with"

!

i'm hoping "would bag" will take off

What the fuck are you using for the sex?

Laurel? Answers now!

would sploosh

A metal fly swatter?

Can I suggest we drop this, at least on this thread?

xp: argh too late, hate you Que

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Mexican

LOL to be honest, this is far less offensive than what preceded it, but fine, I'll stop.

WRONG (Would Rub On Now, G)

oops sorry

the joeks about WS that is, not WS itself, whatever the hell that is. anyway...

Is there Mexican equivalent of Momus? Momez or something?

Or Gomus?

Momussey

canks i really hesitate to ask this, but, wtf are you talking with this 'ladder of ethnicity' stuff. i never know when you are full of shit but that is way fucked up

goole and others, you realize cankles started the (ethnicity) are the most disgusting savages in the world imo meme, rite?

SuggestBanMasochism, in other words

yup i'm well aware

i dont mean to be offensive at all, but flips basically are island mexicans, or the blacks of asia... they can dance, have "jams" instead of parties, they're always bbqing, and really get into rap... again, i didnt write the lists, but i can't fully disagree w/them either

btw Things that suck about New York: A List
MOSS TO PATS! HOLY WOW!~

^^^okay lock this bullshit

where to these lists come from

a racist flip on another messageboard wrote them

could you maybe not use the term 'flip'?

does it really bother u? i've never heard it used as a slur in my life

Good thread

I hear the flapping of some big yellow wings.....

"would smash"

so rong

(you can interpret anything as rong of course)

sbankles

does it really bother u? i've never heard it used as a slur in my life

i thought it was originally a slur?

I like how ILX has its priorities straight and sbans and what and lets the Vice magazine ironiracist run free.

good job niggas

nationalities get abbreviated almost always for slurring/condescending purposes, i figure

it started as a slur, but it hasn't been used that way in decades... it's like callin UK pps 'brits'

not always abbreviated but reduced in similar way, obv i don't mean like "the Swedes" etc. xp

xp. except that was never used as a slur.

not even on ILX?

Flip is a term used colloquially by Filipino American youth to refer to those of Filipino descent.

According to the late journalist and activist Alex Fabros, Sr. (1903–1999), the term was first used among Filipinos sometime after his immigration to the United States in 1929.

The term came into widespread use in the 1980s and the 1990s.

While Flip is usually used inoffensively, the folk etymology of the term is that it is an acronym for fucking little island people which was allegedly coined by American soldiers during World War II. In response, many young Filipino Americans changed the first word of the acronym to funny, fine, or friendly. The slang flip was invariably used as an acronym for fine-looking island people by Flip Gear, a California-based clothing brand.

A more plausible etymology of the term is that it is derived from the word Filipino.

There are Filipinos who do avoid the term for other reasons (such as "flipped" being used to mean "gone crazy", giving the term a perceived negative connotation) and prefer to be simply called Filipino or Pinoy/Pinay instead.

fyi i have only ever heard this term used irl by filipinos

Missing the point. Using "flips" is one of the LEAST offensive things canks has done on this thread.

it's not really my place to tell ppl what to be offended by (btw there are SO MANY OTHER WORDS i use that u could credibly be taking me to task for), but i am of the conviction that flip, in the context of the 21st century, is a completely harmless identifier and not a slur.

xp

oh no who will stop cankles

http://www.3danvil.com/emoticons/jerkoff.gif

I am locking this thread.