It could also be a specific patron kami of some kind, too, now that I think of it. If everyone weren't going around saying "Oyashiro-sama" in Higurashi, for instance, my guess is that if someone says "kami-sama" they'd all default upon Oyashiro. Top dog kami in those parts.Originally Posted by Kotonoha
Localizationing stuff
amazing job arashi this really makes me interested in japanese culture
Section V: Shirou is Sexist
I always find it a little funny that there’s an argument over whether Shirou is sexist when they make a big point to show how much like a housewife he is.
So, one of the areas this is pointed out is in Shirou’s reaction to Mitsuzuri being attacked. I’m going to transcribe the Mirror Moon translation, and then point out something.
Taiga: Oh yeah, Shirou. It’s about the archery club, but did you know Mitsuzuri-san got injured?
Shirou: Mitsuzuri? What? Did she get in a fight with someone again? Geez, she’s almost a third year, so she should calm down a little. So, how’s the injury? Is it bad?
Taiga: It’s fine. It was a light sprain. It seems she was attacked by a molester on her way home. She’s fast, right? She ran away quickly, but injured herself when she fell over at the end.
Shirou: …I see. Thank god it was nothing serious. But, a molester attacking her…he must be reckless or have discerning tastes. Either way, he was a stupid molester. I thought…
Taiga: You thought she knocked him out instead of running away, right?
Fuji nee smiles. Indeed, she knows Mitsuzuri Ayako well.
Shirou: Yeah. It’s rare for her to run away. But…I see, even Mitsuzuri is weak against molesters. I guess that’s good. It’s impossible to teach her femininity unless something like this happens.
Approving, I eat the well-cooked rice.
So, of course, first, Shirou thinks Ayako got into a fight. Then, he hears she was attacked by a molester, but got away with only a minor injury, and is relieved. Because of the first point, though, he is quick to think the molester an idiot, since Ayako apparently projects as someone that is quick to fight back. Then, almost as an afterthought, he realizes that the situation might have taught her something.
Now, I’ll tell you this: people in Japan, especially housewives, love to gossip. It is very much akin to something you’d expect from, say, a community in the South in America, where people are a little more communal. The average Japanese neighborhood knows everybody, and outsiders are often treated with suspicion if they do not quickly “join in”—thus some of the plotlines for various series. Too, women tend to concern themselves more with other women, not in a segregated way, but just from the standpoint of understanding: who ever knows why those crazy boys do this, but honestly, what kind of woman does that? Anyway, this whole conversation would not be out of place for a Japanese woman to be going on about.
It leads somewhat into a cultural expectation. While it is changing, the average Japanese woman is very much expected to get married and start a family as opposed to pursue a career or whatnot. The fact remains that Shirou, honestly, seems worried about Ayako as a member of this culture, that she hasn’t “calmed down” and all, which could be harmful to her future. A Catch-22, since if she doesn’t calm down, she is both A) less likely to be taken seriously for her future career or academic prospects, and B) less likely to be taken seriously for her romantic or familial prospects. There’s a traditional saying in Japan, “the nail that sticks out will be hammered down.” Shirou is, at least, concerned that this may happened to Ayako.
Also note, that “femininity” is not necessarily derogatory or a put-down in terms of “Woman, stay in the kitchen and bear me children.” On the former, you have the fact that this is not the sort of submissive place quite like it might be in the West. In the traditional Japanese home, the woman is in charge with home matters. The husband may be the “breadwinner” so to speak, but women traditionally dictate finances even. Men are often given an allowance of the money they earn, I kid you not.
On the latter, here’s a funny thing: it is not the men that often dictate the child-rearing issue, but the wife’s parents. It is somewhat even desirable and a growing trend in Japan for people to get married, pop out a kid or two, and then the wife divorces the husband, takes the children, and raises them back with her parents. So, really, don’t even say that’s a sexist thing; in Japan, it’s more of a…generational thing?
Really, too the thing that should be kind of poked at is the fact that Shirou is being very hypocritical here. Take the last line, replace a few words, and you have Shirou’s own problem. I guess that’s good. It’s impossible to teach him pragmatism unless something like this happens. Might as well be a comment on him surviving all the charge-in-save-the-day actions he gets himself into.
Additionally, you have to say, he’s also just teasing Mitsuzuri in particular. If he were really trying to say “women stay in kitchen!” then I don’t think he’d be so afraid of Rin. Nor of this bit that follows right after the conversation with Taiga.
He's not being sexist. I mean, c'mon. If he were, it'd be all, well, Mitsuzuri should do it and then I wouldn't have to say it. Instead, it's, "Don't tell her...she'll kill me!"
An interesting thing to think about, too, is the fact that there’s a funny kind of reversal in the situation at Shirou’s house. Taiga is a woman and with a career. Shirou essentially acts like a housewife, cooking, cleaning, and, as is common in a modern home, also working a job to support the income. Taiga comes home, expects food, and lazes around. If you want to go with the stereotype, this is the direct opposite of the standard Japanese home, with Shirou the housewife and in control at home, and Taiga nothing more than the “breadwinner” that comes and disrupts Shirou’s hard work in the house. Yet he also talks about Ayako and how she should be more feminine. Yes, indeed, Shirou has fully integrated himself as woman of the house.
Christmas Cake: Silly something that has come up a couple of times in conversations that is relevant to general perceptions and cultural ideas about women. You see it somewhat in manga and anime and games: that a woman over 25 years old might be referred to as a “Christmas Cake” and/or in general teased about having surpassed marriageable age. This is a reference to the fact that in Japan, at Christmas, it is common to celebrate by eating fried chicken (don’t ask me where that comes from, I have no freaking clue, and neither do my Japanese-born friends and teachers) and cake. But after the 25th, for some reason, if there are cake leftovers, nobody wants them. This ties to the bit I mentioned earlier, that women are somewhat expected to marry rather than pursue a career. Additionally, you might consider it an extrapolation of not-so-old traditions in Japan, where people married really really young, from thirteen up quite often. Which makes sense, since up until only the past 150 years or so has Japan been a “modern” nation and not one living off of feudalism. Too, life expectancy was much lower in feudal eras.
Short-ish...but I want it up so I can just link it instead of having to argue out the point if it ever comes up again. Anyway.
Localizationing stuff
...
Being born and raised a Filipino, very little of Japanese culture strike me as weird, weirdly enough. Actually, when a woman reacts "Sexist!" when someone points out how she can't cook or do chores, the first rebuttal that comes to my mind is "where is your pride as a woman?". Being a career woman doesn't cut you some slack from that reaction because most of the career women I know run the household just fine.
As with regards to the fried chicken bit, I read somewhere that it was due to a successful marketing ploy by KFC.
Huh.
Localizationing stuff
*opens mouth*
Uhh...
*runs*
That's all, folks!
Yeah, he's right about KFC.
Some time during the 90s (or was it 80s? Damned if I know), KFC had some sort of Christmastime campaign involving whole chickens that was apparently so successful that fried chicken is now irreversibly associated with the yuletide season, akin to the way that Coca-Cola marketed the red-suited Santa Claus and thus instilled in many people's minds the image of that particular holiday icon (although several countries in Europe still have more traditional views on a Santa Claus-figure).
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
Was it something like this, but with an Asian Santa Claus?
I remember a while ago people here were being all moral-outraged about the christmas cake thing, so I had googled it (in Japanese) and what I mostly found was stuff saying it was an obsolete saying, with stuff like "it doesn't work anymore since people get married at 25~30 all the time now lol!". Take that as you will.
Yeah. It's not really that common a perception any longer, though people will joke about it incessantly and it is used a lot in fiction. But it came up a few times around here, so I thought I ought to actually describe what it is.
They make use of the cliche in manga/anime a lot, usually with female high school teachers. Though considering the number of women in education nowadays...
Localizationing stuff
Female Teacher Who Cannot Get Laid is like the most common anime archetype.
Behind dumb harem lead boy.
Localizationing stuff
... and rarely makes sense, given how hotly most of them are drawn.
"Those who say it can not be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."
-- Chinese Proverb
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Sexy, Single, +25, and a gamer.
How does she NOT have a boyfriend blows my mind to pieces. Then again, I guess its just old tropes that haven't been discredited yet. Like Canadians living in Igloos going Eh?
I'd hit it.
Regarding Christmas Cake: It's a real pity if it's really the case that nobody wants it after Christmas Day, because that shit stays good for weeks if you keep it covered and in the fridge. A giant waste of delicious cake. Well, assuming they're eating the same sort of Christmas Cake that we Australians eat, anyway.
Last edited by nick012000; October 15th, 2011 at 07:24 AM.
Who wouldn't?
Fruitcake? What's wrong with you, Australia?
Koto's Location: Canada.
Don't all the Commonwealth nations have Fruitcake for Christmas, or have you Canadians lost the proper Commonwealth spirit from spending too long next to the Americans?
In Canada fruitcake comes in bags.
[04:55] Lianru: i3uster is actuallly quite cute
In North America, fruitcake only exists for the sake of jokes about how fruitcake is terrible.Koto's Location: Canada.
Don't all the Commonwealth nations have Fruitcake for Christmas, or have you Canadians lost the proper Commonwealth spirit from spending too long next to the Americans?
(Also, pumpkin pie is our holiday dessert of choice. Canadian Thanksgiving was last week, my sister made pumpkin pie, IT WAS AMAZING.)
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