Member picture thread!!

[Del Stimpson]

"gaijin"? What does that mean?

[Falcom Director of Fanservice]

It's foreign for foreign.

[Musa-Revived]

captain said:

It's foreign for foreign.

Lol, that's a good one. xD

Well, to be more precise, it means "foreigner" in Japanese.
Usually it refers to anyone not Japanese, but somehow it points a bigger finger towards white and black people...erm westerners.

Usually for Asians like me, we would just consider you guys as white people in general.. until you open your mouths and say something. Then it would be like "oh, he's speaking slang, must be American" or "hmm, is that French....?" or "Sounds guttural, must be from some European country" and that's coming from us who actually know english.

I'm also sure Asians look like the same yellow skins to you guys so it's the same.

But damn, Adol, I'm so envious that you get to "get some" with Japanese high school girls lol.

[Adol.Christin]

I can usually tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese or Korean people, but we mostly made the shirts for our trips to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people there tend to think of white folk as Americans and somehow they dislike Americans in those area's, I wonder why

[Inochi 命]

musashiken said:

captain said:

It's foreign for foreign.

Usually for Asians like me, we would just consider you guys as white people in general.. until you open your mouths and say something. Then it would be like "oh, he's speaking slang, must be American" or "hmm, is that French....?" or "Sounds guttural, must be from some European country" and that's coming from us who actually know english.

I'm also sure Asians look like the same yellow skins to you guys so it's the same.

Why is it that most people forget that Eastern Asia only actually takes up less than 50% of Asian subcontinents?

heh... sorry, I tend to do that every time I see the chance... '>_>

anyways, I guess South Asians generally think the same way about Americans/Europeans that Eastern Asians do... they're all the same to us and not much changes when they open their mouth but I guess the change is there. People tend to describe people by their colour before learning where they're actually from, and it's not only with Caucasians. Even South/Eastern/Central Asia is generalized as one thing (Brown/Arab is the choice these days, ugh), and by it's own people too (ugh).

Also, do the Japanese really only use the word "gaijin" to describe foreigners, or does it have a derogatory connotation? I've read here and there that sometimes it's used to describe a foreigner that is japan-obsessed, which isn't really a good thing. Or is that just with the "otaku"? or is that "gaijin otaku"?

[Musa-Revived]

inochi said:

Why is it that most people forget that Eastern Asia only actually takes up less than 50% of Asian subcontinents?

That's because you don't call Russians "Asians", you don't call people from the Middle East "Asians" and you definitely do not call Europeans "Asians". We are talking about people not geography. It is a wide known social norm that we usually do not regard people from Middle East and Central Asia as Asians. If you read around, the term "Asian" is mostly for the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, people from SouthEast Asia and whatever country that is east of Central Asia and below Russia. Well people from different countries have different definitions of Asians

I mean if you want to be technical, you are probably right, but most people won't bother with the differentiation.

inochi said:

Also, do the Japanese really only use the word "gaijin" to describe foreigners, or does it have a derogatory connotation? I've read here and there that sometimes it's used to describe a foreigner that is japan-obsessed, which isn't really a good thing. Or is that just with the "otaku"? or is that "gaijin otaku"?

The word gaijin itself is not derogatory as it is listed in the Japanese dictionary. On a daily basis, it is just a word to term foreigners but it is used with caution. There are other more polite words to decribe foreigners such as "gaikokujin" and "takokujin" but there is a consensus among the Japanese that whenever they talk bad about foreigners, they will use "gaijin" instead.

Oh and "otaku" is a very derogatory term in real-life Japan. You may watch lots of anime and keep hearing the girls casually saying the word but most real-life Japanese girls detest otakus (or at least try to shun them). And then there's the "gaijin otaku". Just means "the foreign equivalent of otaku".

[Adol.Christin]

when in Japan don't wear anime/game related T-shirts, the girl will think you're a gajin otaku

[Inochi 命]

musashiken said:

inochi said:

Why is it that most people forget that Eastern Asia only actually takes up less than 50% of Asian subcontinents?

That's because you don't call Russians "Asians", you don't call people from the Middle East "Asians" and you definitely do not call Europeans "Asians". We are talking about people not geography. It is a wide known social norm that we usually do not regard people from Middle East and Central Asia as Asians. If you read around, the term "Asian" is mostly for the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, people from SouthEast Asia and whatever country that is east of Central Asia and below Russia. Well people from different countries have different definitions of Asians

I mean if you want to be technical, you are probably right, but most people won't bother with the differentiation.

But you see, it really wasn't too long ago that "Asian" was always used to describe anyone from Asia. I'll admit that part of Russia was never involved in it probably because the whole of it was considered European instead. It just sounds odd to me now that Asian is only used to refer to East Asians or sometimes South-East Asians. Also, the Middle East is technically still called Asian, it's just that the "Asian" part of it is left out and it's left as "Middle East" (Central and Eastern Asia), but I doubt most people these days realize that.

But whatever, just a nitpick of mine. Actually, growing up I used to watch a show with my family called Eye on Asia and it was just about Indian related news, so it just started to confuse me at school when people technically from Asia were left out of being called Asian.

and just the girls hate otaku? I thought it was everyone who disliked them?

[Falcom Director of Fanservice]

Why is the Middle East considered Asian and not African? They've definitely gotten as much cultural influence from there as from Central and Eastern Asia, and given more to it than they have to Asia.

[Inochi 命]

Meh, this is getting me more confused the more I think about it. I'm even starting to pull things out of thin air... like first confusing west then east, then saying that the middle east means "central and eastern asia" when it's actually part of west asia, not east. >_<

I have no idea how it was decided what was in Asia and what was in Europe or Africa... I guess it's only really Eastern and Southern Asians that refer to themselves or get referred to as Asian. But technically, the Middle East is part of Asia, no matter how odd that may seem. I've actually always considered it it's own part of the continent.

I've never seen much African influence in the Middle East, though... but I do see Middle Eastern effluence in Africa.

[Adol.Christin]

inochi said:

and just the girls hate otaku? I thought it was everyone who disliked them?

well, it's more important for the cute girls to like you. I don't really care about guys

[Adol.Christin]

the next shirt were gonna make was: "Bloemen houden van mensen" but then in Kana, not translated. it reads: "Flowers love people" but if you convert the Dutch words directly into Kana, "Bloemen" will write and sound similar to "Bloomers"..and well that can give a wrong message.

FYI: bloomers are the little sports trousers that high school girls wear.

so we thought better of it and next time the shirt will probably reads: "Ne?" because that's a word used way to often in Japan

like your t-shirt as well Tom

[Red Hairdo]

Great picture MP83. For some reason I think it suits your character very well. ^^'

[Gamemusicfreak]

mp83 said:

Here's a fresh picture of me, taken yesterday: Click!

Great picture, now I'll have no problem recognizing you.
Also, I'm bringing our Ys illustration, so we can get a picture of us holding it.

[PyramidHead]

A picture of me...
Warning, this image can be shocking =X...


Click

[PyramidHead]

hu... Thanks lol, but we can't see my face well.

[SkyeWelse]

This is a current pic of me from a recent trip to Esteria. : )

-SkyeWelse

[rocket]

skyewelse said:

This is a current pic of me from a recent trip to Esteria. : )

-SkyeWelse

Nice. Looks like a classic bugs bunny cartoon where he tunnels to california but instead ends up in alaska. looks like you just popped out of the ground in esteria.

[SkyeWelse]

Hehe, I can see that. I found an image in National Geographic that seemed to scream "Ys" or rather the classic Ys shot of Esteria's landscape and crater-esque mountain range. I was just looking for a chance to play it up some and add a Darm Tower in there. : )

-SkyeWelse

[rocket]

ya the picture turned out really well. Definately humorous.