Japanese Society: Doing some research for my comic Life of an Aspie

[Aspie_Gamer]

Hello my fellow tappies. Toad-Sta-Ovn here. Creator of shoujo inspired slice of school life Life of an Aspie.

The main story is about a Caucasian red headed teenage girl named Susan Graham (the aspie the title of my comic refers to) who lives in Japan with her grandmother who attends a boarding school her grandmother happens to run. Some of you may ask, "But wait....boarding schools aren't really a thing in Japan right?" Technically, boarding schools haven't been that big in the land of the rising sun, but to say that Japan doesn't have any boarding schools period would be ignorant on one's part. From what I've looked up, boarding schools in Japan aren't boarding schools in the typical Harry Potter esque sense. That said, some boarding schools in Japan are boarding schools in the loose definition of the word (by Japanese standards) The link provided below can better explain what I'm trying to get across than I could on my own.

Excellent webpage I found about Boarding Schools in Japan

Anyway, I know a few things about Japanese society already like their crazy dedication to hard work, respect being an every day facet of their lives, being cool with non sexual nudity, them being behind on bullying, being behind on autism, etc. However, in order to write the best long form comic about Japanese society possible, I would like to be as well educated on Japanese society and culture as possible. Normally, I would just look most of this stuff up, but in the interest of having all my information on Japanese society and culture in one place, I decided to create this thread asking you my fellow tappies what you know about Japanese society/culture.

Specifically, I want in depth answers for why people act the way they do over in Japan in regards to certain issues/attitudes like school bullying for example. As someone who's always admired Japan for years, I find that learning the truth no matter how ugly it is (warts and all) about another culture to be fascinating. (That's not to say that Japan will be portrayed as a hell hole of a place you don't want to live in. Oh goodness no. I simply want to show Japanese society/culture from both ends of the spectrum. The good and the bad in other words. The reason for doing this being that I feel that many manga/animes tend to gloss over certain aspects of Japanese culture or don't go in depth enough on certain social issues Japan has)

Some specific topics that LoaA will cover I'd like to be discussed in this thread:

Bullying

Autism/Asperger's (How its viewed in Japan compared to America)

How foreigners are treated

Women (I've heard that most women in Japan are expected to look cute and nothing else)

Anime/Manga community. Otakus would fit in perfectly while I'm thinking about it

Christianity (one of the characters is a Christian)

LGBT

School (I know a good bit about how Japanese schools tend to work already, but any information like the social atmosphere inside a Japanese high school could be a fun topic to discuss)

Relationships/Dating

tl;dr I'm writing a manga that deconstructs certain aspects of Japanese society (in other words, this is not a JAPANESE SOCIETY IS SOO KAWAII ITS AWESOME piece of fluff I'm writing). Any information listed in the topics covered section of my post would be greatly appreciated.

[lizm]

While I do think I have something to contribute, all those subjects are so broad there's probably not much of a point in me just going on and on about the ones I'm familiar with. Like with any country, there may be heavy regional differences and of course, in the end it always depends on how each individual acts in the given situation--for instance, as a tourist you could get lucky and only ever meet people who have a neutral or positive attitude towards foreigners or you could end up with the complete opposite. I guess this is more about "collecting data," so to say?

That being said, my own experiences as a foreign girl/woman in Japan range from hanging out in anime/manga/game districts to attending events where I stand out even more as the only foreigner to teaching high school students--I've got a bunch of your topics covered, so feel free to throw some more specific questions at me either here or via PM. (Same goes for anyone else interested in Japan.) Note that I've barely ever left Kansai region, so that's what my experiences will be based on. I've heard things can be completely different in the Tokyo area, for example, but I can't personally confirm it.

[Runiix]

Hmm in my experience, foreigners are for the most part are treated respectfully and left to their own devices in Japan, although it certainly depends on what part of Japan you are in. For example, seeing a foreigner in Tokyo is a common day occurrence. I also do know that tattoos are disliked, and can even ban you from entering bath houses and such for people usually associate tattoos with the Yakuza. (I myself would technically be a foreigner, but since I am from a Chinese background, no one really batted an eye for the short time I was there.)

As for bullying in Japan... the general phenomenon that happens in East Asian schools is that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Values tend to situate around the community rather than the individual, and unfortunately, bullying does happen, and sometimes, it happens unnoticed. Many children are also reluctant to find help, probably out of fear or embarrassment. This is changing though, and efforts are being made to improve this!

Lastly, there is a pretty rigid gender role thing set in Japan as of right now, but this is also changing pretty fast. Women usually are seen as the housekeepers/baby caretakers, while the men worked for long hours. However, nowadays, many Japanese women are choosing to not marry and to instead pursue a more career orientated life.

I guess this is my two cents , although I suggest reading up some stuff on Quora; there'll be a lot more people with more experience than I there!

[martharpearson]

For Aspergers what it is in a nut shell is a medical condition where being social just takes longer to learn. On a positive note most of them are extremely smart and have at least one or two things they get extremely interested in which is always something different depending from person to person but they could develop skills in that field that they get really good at and go on tangents of their favorite subject for hours. On one side they aren't super cuddly, but don't mind being around people in general. Sometimes even a little day-dreamy. On the down side they could misunderstand social cues altogether (for example several people gushing over the school hottie and all the aspie sees is a person just standing there looking uninteresting) sometimes and get easily overwhelmed if there is too many things going on at once. Organization is . . . messy . . . and some aspies go for comfort zone more than anything else kind of like having that favorite shirt and trying something new can be stressful.
There's alot of books and research on Asperger's Syndrome but early pop culture has made it out to be some kind of tragic pariah generator of sorts. That view point still pops up universally but more often than not people are keeping an open mind and often don't even know if a person has Aspergers because it's not visual.
It's not much but I hope this information helps.

[sarrowsmith10]

I spent a summer in Japan and I've had Japanese roommates and friends all through college and speak conversationally. I'm also a white American. I can tell you that as a foreigner (gaijin), you will ALWAYS be a foreigner. It doesn't matter how integrated you become into society, even if you marry a Japanese person, you are always the "other" and will always be treated as an outsider. There is general atmosphere of politeness, but generally not acceptableness of outsiders. I very much enjoyed my time there, more than any other country I've been to. (I've traveled a lot) In terms of story, I think gaijin would always have an underfeeling of being estranged, once the initial "awe of being in the land of the samurai" wore off.

That's what I can contribute anyways.

Also, the anime crowd (cosplayers, con-goers, etc.) is sometimes looked down upon in the community, so those people are a little bit more accepting of people who are different. (gaijin, people with disabilities, etc.)

[Aspie_Gamer]

I appreciate your input though as an aspie myself, I already knew most of what you mentioned in your post.

I've always been a fairly smart kid growing up, just lazy more than anything.

I obsess over certain things a bit too much and will talk non stop about a subject I'm passionate about. Just ask my parents. lol

I cannot on all ten fingers and all ten toes the amount of times I misread a social situation growing up or when my Asperger's got me in big trouble with someone.

Us aspies definitely have that Walter Mitty esque quality about us. I used to no joke have imaginary friends from the time I started school all the way through fifth grade. In hindsight, talking to myself and wandering around in circles during recess is probably what made me a target for bullying and general ridicule.

Personally speaking, I can be organized when I want to be, but more often than not, I'll have crap laying around my room that I seriously need to pick up.

Also, us aspies love repetition. Again, personally speaking, I can adapt most of the time even if I don't want to, but on occasion, I will make a big deal out of something small and inconsequential.

[Aspie_Gamer]

Thanks for responding to my post.

Yeah I've heard that some Asian people in general want to keep their blood lines pure hence why foreigners tend to be looked down upon by most. I've heard that bi racial children over in the far east tend to get a fair amount of ridicule from their peers for only being half whatever-nese. Is that true?

[bakasama25]

I remember that Japan has minorities that 1% are of the population. This consists of Koreans, Ainu, Filipinos, Chinese and Westerners. About 90% of that 1% is Korean.

As to Christianity, I remember Christians are very small minority maybe 1% of the population.

[sarrowsmith10]

Maybe that might be true of older people. The younger generation is much more open. They travel more and alot of Japanese are starting to marry foreigners. The children are deemed "exotic" and might even be idolized a little bit by their peers in some cases. I had a friend who was half Japanese. She was very popular. Especially if they can speak multiple languages. Being bilingual makes you very popular and cool. So, the children aren't really called gaijin. Which kids get picked on, probably depends more on how the children behave towards their peers, than their actual bloodlines. (Not so different from here in the US)

[foxowl]

I've researched some bit about Japanese culture, although it might be inaccurate so I don't want to give false information.

Some videos that might help are ones from Rachel and Jun. They're a couple living in Japan and they occasionally do videos about what it's like living there (Rachel is an American? I think)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNB5_GMK6YzGA78miWCsY82-IXnOuahpu - Stories they have about moving to Japan or growing up in Japan. First video is about bullying so yay relevant stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNB5_GMK6YzFxyiACEa_e9aFDdGB9Idic - Culture advice, covers what mistakes they made when moving, how foreigners are treated (which from what I've learn, treated alright as long as you are eager to learn about their culture)

There's also Abroadin Japan which covers like culture shock, crimes and food https://www.youtube.com/user/cmbroad44

The Anime Man has a video on what NOT to do too, covers stuff about manners and how to respond to praise (relating to high school or work) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYMBkrxeVvY
But yeah, there's LOADS of info on youtube, I just put in Japan culture or living in japan as a foreigner