America has ___ too?!?

[Vengro]

But occasionally they cover other things too. Which is kind of cool, but really show just how sheltered/isolated Japan is. Like when the office lady next to me was talking about the various different fireworks festivals that were happening in Japan. She turned to me, and asked, "Oh, does America have fireworks too?"

This was something that was cute at first but then just got more and more annoying as time progressed. It wasn't just with things or places, but also with words. In fact, most of the time with words. It made me chuckle when my host parents asked if "Toys R Us" was in America, but I really had to stare at my host mother when she checked to make sure I knew what the word "kiss" translated into in English, and then refused to believe me when I said "kiss" was English. There were a lot of times, in fact, where someone would bring up an English word that had been Japanese-ized and then offered to translate it into...well, English. Denny's was another of those, "They have that in America? You're joking" places as well as several fast food restaurants. (The Denny's was a disappointment, by the way. No breakfast but kitsune udon, hrm?)

On the opposite end, I'd come across coffee places that were definitly not Japanese, and yet I have never once seen these same stores in America. Nor can I begin to explain the amount of amazed looks I got when I had to explain that, although crepe is not a food native to Japan, we don't really have anything similar in America to the multitude of crepe stands all over 東京 and 大阪.

The only thing worse than that was during conversations with my host parents. They'd translate the really easy words but never the words that I couldn't understand at all and were important towards understanding what they were talking about. I'd end up with the English word for 先生 but then they'd just stare at me and keep repeating the word I didn't know; slower, louder and over and over. Argh.

[novacane]

Whenever I go to Japan in the summertime and visit my relatives, the only thing they ask me about is whether there is ___ in America. This summer I met my dad's cousin for the first time, and he kept askming stuff like whether there is better beer in America, if there is tenpura in America, if there is something like the koushien in America, etc. After a while I get used to it, but it is still annoying as hell.

[mediocre]

Does America have 野球 too?





Admit it, it would be funny

[sakana]

Does America have 野球 too?





Admit it, it would be funnyLOL, the American's brought baseball to Japan. If they didn't know that they don't know much about baseball.

[AnaPro]

This is funny on so many levels. Especially because some of the stories I hear from Finnish exchange students back from the US are exactly like that :D. One guy told me how, in the very beginning of his year, the father of his host family showed him a tomato and asked whether he knew what it was.

[Azrael]

I went to my Shorinji Kempo practice tonight.

Ironically enough, he asked me if there were fireworks in America too, and was mildly surprised when I said yes. He thought fireworks was something exclusive to Japan. "Even the little handheld ones?" "Yep, we got those too."

Wow.

[Marblehead]

Did you tell him we can run around with our sparklers? Or would that be just too insane for them to believe? ;)

[Pretentious]

The Denny's was a disappointment, by the way.

Glad to see that, no matter what country you live in, some things are just universal.

[tekkan]

Well if you never been to that country you don't know what it is like. You can only go by imagination and here say.

Like before I knew anyone that went to Japan, I imagined it to be some super high-tech country with tall skyscrapers everywhere and everything was all shiny and new and everyone had the latest technolgies...(and possibily gundams..but I was skeptical).

[hapamama]

I begin to explain the amount of amazed looks I got when I had to explain that, although crepe is not a food native to Japan, we don't really have anything similar in America to the multitude of crepe stands all over 東京 and 大阪.


Ah, I got to explain this one to a Japanese exchange student in college. Crepes are more of a French thing. Living in Southern California, I had never seen a place that specialized in crepes.

Over the past 8 years, we've gone from 1 crepe place (Crepes A GoGo) in my area, to 3... but I'm in the Bay Area now, so I guess it's not too surprising.

[baslisks]

Thats expected I've heard that area is sometimes crepey.

[hapamama]

Thats expected I've heard that area is sometimes crepey.

LOL...

The area of Southern California that I grew up in and went to college in was usually last in line for trendy cuisine.

[Vengro]

There's a crepe restaurant that just opened up on Melrose, but it's still different from the road side little crepe stands they have all over Harajuku and Shinjuku. And Wakaba. I miss my crepe.

[atomiton]

you can get those crepes in Vancouver. Café Crepe... and other places.

It's a french Invention, i believe.

There are also a few Okonomiyaki places and stuff too.

[Marblehead]

There's a crepe place on Sawtelle in the Japanese area there. That's the only one I've seen in L.A.

[bloop]

In the "American has ____ too?" category, I've been asked about watermelons. One person was amazed that my family has a Toyota.
The weirdest thing though is people having a hard time believing I've had Japanese food in America. We're not talking the really special Japanese food; we're talking sushi and miso soup. There are American restaurants in Japan, but the idea of Japanese restaurants in America was mind-boggling to some people.



my host mother [snip] refused to believe me when I said "kiss" was English.
There were a lot of times, in fact, where someone would bring up an English word that had been Japanese-ized and then offered to translate it into...well, English.
Someone once asked me what an aparto was in English, and replied "So different!" when I replied it was apartment. I've also had people turn to me and tell me that "This is called beer"....

[Seramir]

I once saw a French exchange student and a Japanese exchange student team up to make crepes. It was a sight to behold. They decided to put an American twist on them and make peanut butter and jelly crepes. They were actually pretty good, which is surprising since, well, it's peanut butter and jelly.

And katakana words drive me crazy. While I was in Japan, I completely forgot that パソコン wasn't an English word and I kept putting it in my e-mails to people who had no idea what I was talking about. And I forgot how to say カメラ in English. I think foreign languages can be considered a form of brainwashing.

[baslisks]

LOL...

The area of Southern California that I grew up in and went to college in was usually last in line for trendy cuisine.
sad thing thats one of my better jokes.

[deepbluevibes]

Do the japanese believe you if you have raw proof? pictures, etc.

if so, i'm going to take/print out pictures of every possible thing they could dispute. ><

[Vengro]

The Japanese and "believe what you say as truth" deserve an entire other thread, I think. Maybe it was just my experience. My host parents never, ever, ever, ever believed one single thing I told them. There was one memorable scene where my friend backed me up on a point and confirmed, while I was not there, that what I had said was true, and they were flabbergasted that I had actually spoke the truth. Three months in, they still didn't really believe me when I told them I really did eat mostly Japanese food in the states!

So, on that note, I doubt they would. They might laugh, though.

[Mastiker]

Okay, this is related, but only slightly so.

I was in Italy vacationing with my family to see family I've never seen before. (Wasn't the main point of the trip, but let's roll with it.) We get to the supermarket to buy food for the week because that's what we need. When we get there (by the way, when I say we, I mostly mean me and my two youngest cousins, each under 12) we look around the store for something good. However, this isn't a normal supermarket, even by Italian standards. Imagine a Ocean State Job Lot. It was something like that. Anyways, my cousins found snack foods. Lo and behold, there was a container of Pringles. That drove them absoulutely nuts. "They have Pringles here?!" That was their first experience of a new culture. For the rest of the week they pretty much said "They have ______ in Italy too?" It was annoying, much like what everyone else said.

[hapamama]

There's a crepe restaurant that just opened up on Melrose, but it's still different from the road side little crepe stands they have all over Harajuku and Shinjuku. And Wakaba. I miss my crepe.

I grew up in the East San Gabriel Valley... just west of Pomona. The university I went to was just on the other side of the 10 freeway from Cal Poly Pomona. I lived close enough to the fairgrounds/drag strip that we could hear the engine noise from the NHRA Winternationals.

If it tells you anything, my folks still live in the area, and until a couple of years ago, we had to drive to Hacienda Heights to get to any Asian markets.

[Dana]

I actually got asked by a small child if there were birds in the US. It was pretty funny, I just smiled and said "of course."

A surprising amount of Japanese people think that english words which have been japanized are actually Japanese. Like when I asked what the Japanese word for "size" was my friends just kept saying "Saizu." Surely there must have been a word in Japanese for size before the english word took over?! And some of the folks even think "bye bye" is Japanese. I was leaving elementary school one day and said "Byebye!" and the teacher asked me to please say bye in English. I was like... I did. Unmazing.

[Kustom]

One of my meaner friend actually takes advantage of the Japanese gullibility (sp?) to have them believe anything. Once he convinced a student that some French people including him completely stopped eating and drinking for years on. Or that there were sharks in the Seine, and earthquakes in Paris. It sounds crazy, but it really isn't hard to have them believe this kind of thing.

BTW, suggestion for Az: next time someone asks you why you don't eat fish, just draw a shark, a person in its mouth, look at him in the eyes and say "papa".
Works every time.

PS: yeah crepe is typical French food! Unlike French fries (from Belgium) or French コンソメ (consome, from...?), which are NOT. By the way, anybody else thinks it's anoying when people write Tokyo or Osaka in kanji? It's not like they are unique concepts that only Japanese speakers can understand...

[BiZzAr0]

first post....

When I was in japan for a week-and-a-half I was suprised that they had DENNY'S. I mean I knew japan had shitload of american things and resturants but...denny's...c'mon. mabe i should try it when i go back. I had mcdonalds there and it actualy tasted better than ones in america.

[Kustom]

Mc Donalds tastes better than the ones in America just in about every country. You see, I think in America Mc Donalds is at the bottom end of the fast food chains, with the cheapest food you can get without hunting your own in the sewers. Have breakfast in a Mc Donald's, it's all homelesses, cops and hookers. There are a hell of a lot of fast food chains in America, with all ranges of prices and quality, and Mc Donald's is the worst (I think so but I didn't try every burgers in America though... Although I'm positive the best burgers are found in New Orleans).

But in other countries, Mc Donald's is the symbol of America, and is seen as cool and trendy. Competition is either non-existent (France), or limited to perhaps 3 or 4 chains (Japan). Prices are higher than the equivalent in America, and quality is also better. Most Mac Donald's do their best to add local flavor to their burgers as well (Mac Teriyaki!), and sometimes end up with pretty good mixes (but not in the case of Teriyaki...)

[Arilou]

Actually at least in Sweden MacDonalds is the lowest level of scum. Their hamburgers tastes like cardboard and their fries like noodles. (Not a good thing) In general the "Native" chains are much better.

[Firefly]

I went to my Shorinji Kempo practice tonight.

Ironically enough, he asked me if there were fireworks in America too, and was mildly surprised when I said yes. He thought fireworks was something exclusive to Japan. "Even the little handheld ones?" "Yep, we got those too."

Wow.


Would reverse psychology work?

In other words, "OH MY GOD. YOU HAVE FIREWORKS...IN JAPAN?" Say it to them before they say it to you. If I ever go to Japan, I'm going to say this to my host family before they can give me the ol' fireworks question.

[koku]

I actually got asked by a small child if there were birds in the US. It was pretty funny, I just smiled and said "of course."

A surprising amount of Japanese people think that english words which have been japanized are actually Japanese. Like when I asked what the Japanese word for "size" was my friends just kept saying "Saizu." Surely there must have been a word in Japanese for size before the english word took over?! And some of the folks even think "bye bye" is Japanese. I was leaving elementary school one day and said "Byebye!" and the teacher asked me to please say bye in English. I was like... I did. Unmazing.


man what in the world, i hate when people just pay attention to their threads/responses and wait until they get quoted.

And some of the folks even think "bye bye" is Japanese. I was leaving elementary school one day and said "Byebye!" and the teacher asked me to please say bye in English. I was like... I did

that's so funny. What was the look on your face? I would have said sayounara just ironicly twist things around.

[Dana]

man what in the world, i hate when people just pay attention to their threads/responses and wait until they get quoted.

What did you mean by this kokujin? Was it directed at me, did I miss something?

anyway, I just kind of did the whole blank stare thing when she asked me to say bye in english. Then I said "Bye bye is English." and she gave ME the blank stare until I said "See-ya!"