Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - Printable Version

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Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - Evil_Dragon - 2009-08-29

bodhisamaya Wrote:-Alligators may not be kept in bathtubs.

I kind of agree with this one

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - meolox - 2009-08-29

activeaero Wrote:I decided to make a response video. Others were being too nice lol.

So, he didn't accept it. Any chance of the explanation he sent you?

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - ruiner - 2009-08-29

meolox Wrote:
activeaero Wrote:I decided to make a response video. Others were being too nice lol.

So, he didn't accept it. Any chance of the explanation he sent you?

Might have been the 'this guy's retarded' part. Haha. Well to be honest, anyone who watches TokyoZeplin's video and buys into it probably was just looking for a reason to discourage themselves anyway. More ostensible elitism to us for becoming literate in Japanese.

And someone please tell this guy that we don't call fiancées who *die* our 'ex' in English. To actually explain it seriously for ESL people here: I would say 'ex' emphasizes the status of a partner in a relationship which ended for reasons that are deemed easily summed up or dismissed with 'ex'. In that sense you're trivializing the reasons for the end of the relationship and often pejoratively categorizing this other human being as just 'my ex'. Generally the person is still alive in this case, though I suppose if you really didn't like them you could just call your dead ex-boyfriend/girlfriend your 'ex' and maybe qualify it with 'also, they're dead'. But your fiancée? No. Husband? No. At that point, you want to use 'late'. Not 'dead', not 'ex', not 'dead ex'.

Also, using your the spectre of your fiancée as a profile note and then as an example for a highly subjective video statement on YouTube (familiar with YouTube? Is it a haven for tact?), on the Internet, with 'No insults' notice?? C'mon. Even if English is your second language and you screwed up the 'ex' terminology *and* you're being earnest and are convinced that from your personal experience they only knew 500 kanji and similarly with other Japanese, that's douchebag behaviour to stick that, with them as your pivotal example, on the Internet w/ nothing more than a few puffs and a 'it's my opinion, I have nothing else to back up these extreme oversimplified statements'-bracketed video.

Whew, k I'm done.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - Surreal - 2009-08-29

Guys, stop, look. It's ridiculous for this thread to become so long, it's ridiculous people would even look at the whole video. He's stupid, fine. Done. End. He's making devoted learners waste their time. There will always be people like this and when's the last time a youtube argument made a difference? This is like reading evening newspaper story crap and then gossip about it. Take care of your time, it's valuable.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - ruiner - 2009-08-29

Surreal Wrote:Guys, stop, look. It's ridiculous for this thread to become so long, it's ridiculous people would even look at the whole video. He's stupid, fine. Done. End. He's making devoted learners waste their time. There will always be people like this and when's the last time a youtube argument made a difference? This is like reading evening newspaper story crap and then gossip about it. Take care of your time, it's valuable.

I like to think that most of the people who comment on the forum have their reasons and are pretty smart in general. I understand your point--ppl tend to let their time get sucked away by web-browsing and dive off into trivial tangents, but it also gets tiring to constantly see 'stop wasting your time' comments (isn't that a waste of time too? ;p) telling people what they should/shouldn't be prioritizing and talking about.

I will tell you why I think it's important to at least occasionally comment on people like this and be clear about why one is doing so (activeaero did and I pretended to for ESL ppl even though my comment was probably unintelligible to them hehe): He's an English-language source of information about another country and its language whose info is easily accessed. It seems that with relatively few exceptions in between, awareness of Japan is caught between tonnes of people who exoticize the country through its pop culture and know little else about it (Robots! Fetishes! Cosplay!), or ghettos of expatriates who move to Japan, stay isolated, and find soapboxes to stand on and rant about 'the truth' of Japan, for whatever reasons they have.

I think it's important to try and contribute to the spread of critical thought and non-superficial information to those interested, and for those who might be interested in the future. If it's a fun digression and I'm in the mood, I'll contribute to threads like this about people like TokyoZeplin.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - albion - 2009-08-29

I only just bothered to watch more that the first few seconds. If hardly anyone (even university students) knows more than 500-800 kanji, why would it be a problem for society? Surely if most people only know these kanji, then wouldn't those be the only kanji they used? So it wouldn't be a problem, because most (even the highly educated university students) would only use the few kanji they know and everyone should still understand them (or the majority). He contracts himself by saying that uneducated people won't be able to get good jobs or into good schools, but that his girlfriend was smart/in uni but still couldn't read a newspaper or signs fully. How much higher an education do you need to write signs?

Newspaper writers and others are supposed to write for a particular audience, which I assume works the same way in Japan. If that audience only knew 500 kanji, then that's what they would use. And especially so for things like adverts. They wouldn't use a lot of complicated words/kanji that most people don't understand, since their goal is to reach as many people as possible.

Not that his silly arguement really warrents much of a serious response.

activeaero Wrote:I decided to make a response video. Others were being too nice lol.

I was completely distracting wondering "is that a Double Dragon arcade machine in the background?"

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - activeaero - 2009-08-29

albion Wrote:

I was completely distracting wondering "is that a Double Dragon arcade machine in the background?"

Wow lol, yeah it is. Good eye. Technically it is an old Tekken 1 cabinet with a Double Dragon board installed. Still haven't got the sound working correctly and probably won't before I sell it. The Virtua Fighter 1 cabinet right beside it works great though Tongue

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - undead_saif - 2009-08-29

I'm surprised how that crappy video worked people here like this lol.
(Still, I don't wanna comment on the video Smile

)
Other than that, great response ActiveAero, it was informative too Big Grin

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - ruiner - 2009-08-29

undead_saif Wrote:I'm surprised how that crappy video worked people here like this lol.
(Still, I don't wanna comment on the video )
Other than that, great response ActiveAero, it was informative too

I think I'm more intrigued than worked up: Dead Japanese Girl as Orientalist Emo Trophy?

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - Surreal - 2009-08-29

ruiner Wrote:
Surreal Wrote:Guys, stop, look. It's ridiculous for this thread to become so long, it's ridiculous people would even look at the whole video. He's stupid, fine. Done. End. He's making devoted learners waste their time. There will always be people like this and when's the last time a youtube argument made a difference? This is like reading evening newspaper story crap and then gossip about it. Take care of your time, it's valuable.
I like to think that most of the people who comment on the forum have their reasons and are pretty smart in general. I understand your point--ppl tend to let their time get sucked away by web-browsing and dive off into trivial tangents, but it also gets tiring to constantly see 'stop wasting your time' comments (isn't that a waste of time too? ;p) telling people what they should/shouldn't be prioritizing and talking about.

I will tell you why I think it's important to at least occasionally comment on people like this and be clear about why one is doing so (activeaero did and I pretended to for ESL ppl even though my comment was probably unintelligible to them hehe): He's an English-language source of information about another country and its language whose info is easily accessed. It seems that with relatively few exceptions in between, awareness of Japan is caught between tonnes of people who exoticize the country through its pop culture and know little else about it (Robots! Fetishes! Cosplay!), or ghettos of expatriates who move to Japan, stay isolated, and find soapboxes to stand on and rant about 'the truth' of Japan, for whatever reasons they have.

I think it's important to try and contribute to the spread of critical thought and non-superficial information to those interested, and for those who might be interested in the future. If it's a fun digression and I'm in the mood, I'll contribute to threads like this about people like TokyoZeplin.

Yeah I know. I guess the main thing is when people actually get worked up about it and put so much importance into it. I mean, I might gossip about a newspaper story or whatever at times but I'm pretty strict to myself about not becoming negative because of it. I'm pretty huge on making people see more of Japan than just this weird freak country too, of course. But generalizing roughly, there are two kinds (IMO) of youtube watchers who will see this:
1. watchers who will figure out the guy is just blabbing
2. "unitiated" (in Japanese) gullible watchers who will go like ohhh huh okay. If they actually got in touch with conversations like ours it would be too far on the other side which would make them alienated and make them stick to the original information
Mostly. I don't see this working. He's an extreme that will be met with another extreme and whatever mindful responses will be drowned out. Such is the nature of them yous and tubes. The best way I've found to enlighten others on "yes Japan is a country where more than 100 million people live and are very alike to us" is talking not about kanji, anime, train-groping and all that but politics, school, work, family lives, history that amounts to more than samurey samurey LOL. Normal stuff. Yes he is an English source of information that will be blabbing on but more attention -> higher misinformation spread rate. Argue against the fool and you've lost from the get-go.

Also, even though I wrote it somewhat like a command it was more of a reminder to see what this is turning into. So, to clarify: if you are having fun, disregard that (ISC).

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - bodhisamaya - 2009-08-29

I know this is off topic but ragging on a mentally challenged guy has left me feeling guilty and wanting something a little lighter to think about.
Perhaps Arkansas has been beaten fairly soundly as far as crazy laws go:

South Carolina:
-By law, if a man promises to marry an unmarried woman, the marriage must take place.
-It is considered an offense to get a tattoo.
-Horses may not be kept in bathtubs.
-It is illegal to give or receive oral sex.
-When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.
-It is perfectly legal to beat your wife on the court house steps on Sundays.
-Every adult male must bring a rifle to church on Sunday in order to ward off Indian attacks.
-It is a capital offense to inadvertently kill someone while attempting suicide.
-Bitches in heat shall be confined.
-The drinking age on Furman University campus is 60 years old.
-Eating watermelons in the Magnolia Street cemetery is forbidden.

Florida:
-It is illegal to sell your children.
-If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.
-Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.
-When having sex, only the missionary position is legal.
-You may not fart in a public place after 6 P.
-It is considered an offense to shower naked
-Oral sex is illegal.
-You may not kiss your wife’s breasts.
-Penalty for horse theft is death by hanging.
-It is illegal to molest a Key deer.
-Persons may not be “inappropriately attired” who work at hot dog stands.
-The molestation of trash cans is banned.
-Torpedoes may not be set off in the city.
-Ambling and strolling is a misdemeanor.
-Chickens are considered a ‘protected species’.
-Persons face up to thirty days in jail for selling oranges on the sidewalk.
-Citizens may not be caught downtown without at least 10 dollars on their person.
-A women can be fined (only after death), for being electrocuted in a bath-tub because of using self-beautification utensils.
-Stage nudity is banned, with the exception of “bona fide” theatrical performances.
-If you hit a pedestrian you are fined $78.
-You may not catch crabs (I think this needs clarification).
-Persons may not appear in public clothed in liquid latex.
-Women may not expose their breasts while performing “topless dancing”.
-Lap dances must be given at least six feet away from a patron.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - Thora - 2009-08-29

TheTrueBlue Wrote:But more importantly, I'm surprised and impressed by how many people here are kind or tolerant enough to listen to this guy.

I'm surprised it surprises you.

Quote:I can't bear to pay attention to what young people who look like that are saying off the computer much less on the internet.

Now now. Remember what Mom said about not judging a book by it's cover. His design school friends would probably listen to you.

edit: The reaction here made me curious to see the video. I looked at 2 others as well. In those, he was thoughtful, curious, fair and empathetic. His experience of his late fiance's family and their world has given him a somewhat unique insight into certain aspects of life. I find him to be bit wordy and intrigued by the dark side (laws pertaining to suicide?), but some of it was interesting. Lecturing without doing any homework is irresponsible. He did say, however, that it was just his ideas and invited opposing ideas. Surely we can correct misinformation without calling him 'retarded' (Do kids even say that anymore? It sounds weird to me.) I wonder if a grammar video would elicit such a response. Those rabid RTKers. =]

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - ruiner - 2009-08-29

Surreal Wrote:
ruiner Wrote:
Surreal Wrote:Guys, stop, look. It's ridiculous for this thread to become so long, it's ridiculous people would even look at the whole video. He's stupid, fine. Done. End. He's making devoted learners waste their time. There will always be people like this and when's the last time a youtube argument made a difference? This is like reading evening newspaper story crap and then gossip about it. Take care of your time, it's valuable.
I like to think that most of the people who comment on the forum have their reasons and are pretty smart in general. I understand your point--ppl tend to let their time get sucked away by web-browsing and dive off into trivial tangents, but it also gets tiring to constantly see 'stop wasting your time' comments (isn't that a waste of time too? ;p) telling people what they should/shouldn't be prioritizing and talking about.

I will tell you why I think it's important to at least occasionally comment on people like this and be clear about why one is doing so (activeaero did and I pretended to for ESL ppl even though my comment was probably unintelligible to them hehe): He's an English-language source of information about another country and its language whose info is easily accessed. It seems that with relatively few exceptions in between, awareness of Japan is caught between tonnes of people who exoticize the country through its pop culture and know little else about it (Robots! Fetishes! Cosplay!), or ghettos of expatriates who move to Japan, stay isolated, and find soapboxes to stand on and rant about 'the truth' of Japan, for whatever reasons they have.

I think it's important to try and contribute to the spread of critical thought and non-superficial information to those interested, and for those who might be interested in the future. If it's a fun digression and I'm in the mood, I'll contribute to threads like this about people like TokyoZeplin.
Yeah I know. I guess the main thing is when people actually get worked up about it and put so much importance into it. I mean, I might gossip about a newspaper story or whatever at times but I'm pretty strict to myself about not becoming negative because of it. I'm pretty huge on making people see more of Japan than just this weird freak country too, of course. But generalizing roughly, there are two kinds (IMO) of youtube watchers who will see this:
1. watchers who will figure out the guy is just blabbing
2. "unitiated" (in Japanese) gullible watchers who will go like ohhh huh okay. If they actually got in touch with conversations like ours it would be too far on the other side which would make them alienated and make them stick to the original information
Mostly. I don't see this working. He's an extreme that will be met with another extreme and whatever mindful responses will be drowned out. Such is the nature of them yous and tubes. The best way I've found to enlighten others on "yes Japan is a country where more than 100 million people live and are very alike to us" is talking not about kanji, anime, train-groping and all that but politics, school, work, family lives, history that amounts to more than samurey samurey LOL. Normal stuff. Yes he is an English source of information that will be blabbing on but more attention -> higher misinformation spread rate. Argue against the fool and you've lost from the get-go.

Also, even though I wrote it somewhat like a command it was more of a reminder to see what this is turning into. So, to clarify: if you are having fun, disregard that (ISC).

Aye, 'tis a bloody difficult thing to navigate, matey. Treacherous waters be here!

I used to think of it in terms of 'not worth dignifying them with an acknowledgement'. Then I gave it a neurotic and pseudoscientific spin with the idea of recessive memes, passive transmission of these concepts even when you don't agree with them, just by conveying information about them by countering them. (See Kate Distin on the topic here.) I became an abstract mysophobe of sorts. But really, viral concepts and the like, people have responded by generally becoming more cynical, rather than viruses they're more like trojan horses that require conscious acceptance of them as viruses before--okay I digress.

Anyway, the past couple of years I've decided that I should give others' filters, their immune systems more credit, and treat these discourses more like vaccines, being willing to talk about them as long as one tempers their treatment of the topics--here I even tried to understand his motivations by acknowledging, more accurately, the mechanics underlying his socio-economic/linguistic ideas, before getting bored and having a little more superficial fun, re: his personality... (Oh and of course the immune system gets strengthened, the filters more robust, I know I consider it a valuable skill to turn any internet nonsense into something useful--I guess 'ignore him, study more' counts as one method to doing that! ;p)

And true enough, one must guard against arguments in general, against polarizing oneself into unintentionally narrow or rigid positions through extended dialectics.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - albion - 2009-08-29

activeaero Wrote:Wow lol, yeah it is. Good eye. Technically it is an old Tekken 1 cabinet with a Double Dragon board installed. Still haven't got the sound working correctly and probably won't before I sell it. The Virtua Fighter 1 cabinet right beside it works great though .

You're just making me nostaligic and needy now.

bodhisamaya Wrote:I know this is off topic

But it's a more interesting topic (and possibly makes more sense).

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - bodhisamaya - 2009-08-29

Texas:
-One must acknowledge a supreme being before being able to hold public office.
-When two trains meet each other at a railroad crossing, each shall come to a full stop, and neither shall proceed until the other has gone.
-A recently passed anticrime law requires criminals to give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed.
-The entire Encyclopedia Britannica is banned in Texas because it contains a formula for making beer at home.
-Beer may not be purchased after midnight on a Sunday, but it may be purchased on Monday.
-It is illegal for children to have unusual haircuts.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - Reviewed - 2009-08-30

It gets weirder when you realize some of these laws were made because somebody actually tried to do these things.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - mezbup - 2009-08-30

Reviewed Wrote:It gets weirder when you realize some of these laws were made because somebody actually tried to do these things.

it gets even weirder when you realize that for some reason someone tried to stop them.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - ropsta - 2009-08-30

Oh, wow! You guys have reeaaaally gone off on a tangent here.

@Bodi

Bitches in heat? That hilarious. And how does one go about molesting a garbage can?

@先輩

Retarded is the new word for stupid/ignorant/'quit making stuff,' apparently.

@ActiveAero

You've successfully wasted 10 minutes and 2 seconds of your life.

@Surreal and undead

A common belief is that if you ignore idiocy it will go away. This belief is false. It festers. Soon you'll start hearing about this Japanese classrooms, and on the news.

The creator of that video was obviously distraught over the loss of a loved one and made the video in a fit of madness. He has yet to recover and any forceful means of swaying his disposition will only result in his falling further into psychosis.

つまり　He is in need of help not criticism.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - bodhisamaya - 2009-09-02

Damn! Hawaii just made the list:

Honolulu seeking to ban 'BO' on buses

Wed Sep 2, 7:58 am ET
HONOLULU – Stinky city bus riders soon could get soaked. The Honolulu City Council is considering a bill that would impose up to a $500 fine and/or up to six months in jail for public transit passengers convicted of being too smelly.
The bill will be heard Thursday in committee. It would make it illegal to have "odors that unreasonably disturb others or interfere with their use of the transit system."

-The Honolulu Advertiser

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - masaman - 2009-09-05

What? you can't be smelly in Honolulu? Oh no, J people will be arrested for trafficking 納豆!

ruiner Wrote:you're the only person i've seen here that can help create an interesting back-and-forth conversation from it!

oh no no, I only make sense once in a blue moon. I found "Rich people have tigers and need a lot of papers for cleaning up their shit" hilarious though Big Grin

mezbup Wrote:漢字よりカタカナの方が難しい。IMO.

Excessive 外来語 people use in Japan nowadays frustrate me too. I prefer using traditional words.

Wait, am I becoming an お爺さん？mmm may be I should use them too. I really hate them though. they mess up my English.

mafried Wrote:Actually this is something that they teach in grammar schools which is unfortunately neglected by most ESL teachers.

I started to feel like I should do that too. Do you know any good resources?

nyquil Wrote:This works a lot for scientific/medical terms, which will use combinations of latin roots, or of greek roots.

yea, I kind of felt that too. But hey, I can even read Chinese papers and somewhat guess what the articles are talking about, and I could communicate with Chinese people using Kanji, and I know absolutely no Chinese. How cool is that Cool

and you will be able to do that too.

bodhisamaya Wrote:There was actually a law created, still in the books, making it a criminal offense to pronounce Arkansas incorrectly

Do they still hang horse thieves there too? 'cause around here, they do Tongue

So that's French eh? I didn't know that. Actually I asked my girlfriend about it once and she was like 'how the hell do I know?'. Continuously nagging your girlfriend with questions like, what's this what's that why is it like this, is NEVER a good idea. Really. Never. I can tell you that.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - aphasiac - 2009-09-05

ruiner Wrote:Also, using your the spectre of your fiancée as a profile note and then as an example for a highly subjective video statement on YouTube (familiar with YouTube? Is it a haven for tact?), on the Internet, with 'No insults' notice?? C'mon.

Although I do feel sorry for him, I find his whole tribute channel a bit weird. I find it especially strange that he refers to her as his "ex-wife" in later videos..

He needs to start moving on from this tragic event and not let it consume his life; first step would to be to accept of what has happened, but he's not quite there yet..

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - masaman - 2009-09-05

Sorry, it's a dumb question but how did you guys know his girlfriend died??

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - aphasiac - 2009-09-05

masaman Wrote:Sorry, it's a dumb question but how did you guys know his girlfriend died??

check out the info on the front page of his channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TokyoZeplin

Also he's made a few videos talking about it.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - masaman - 2009-09-05

aphasiac Wrote:
masaman Wrote:Sorry, it's a dumb question but how did you guys know his girlfriend died??
check out the info on the front page of his channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TokyoZeplin

Also he's made a few videos talking about it.

Wow, the video cracked me up I've never heard anybody actually pronouncing メス豚 before let alone a young chick. It seems like he's a little bit too into the "Dark Side" and yea, people die if they keep doing it.

Japanese people are stressed because they can only read 500 Kanji. - TaylorSan - 2009-09-05

@bohisamaya -

Thanks for those....really gave me a good laugh!

"Ambling and strolling is a misdemeanor." - Too damn funny!