George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
The things you lean on / are things that don't last
User ID: 107
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
20d ago
I react differently to this kind of statement, as myself an expatriate (immigrant) living in Japan as a permanent resident. I sympathize with those here (in Japan) who grumble generally about foreigners, though I realize many of them are grumbling specifically about non-Japanese inability or failure to grasp basic politeness, cultural norms of quietude, humility, cleanliness, or language, etc. It's not that they despise anyone not-Japanese, it's that they're growing frustrated with the ever-increasing number of foreigners noisily crowding the bus, or smoking in the street, or spreading their giant suitcases all over the train aisle, or whatever. To say nothing of the occasional foreigner criminal.
What I am less sympathetic to is the straightforward contempt for anything that isn't 100% Japanese (forget that defining what qualifies as such is likely impossible) and the occasional stated desire to kick out all the foreigners. The 尊王攘夷 (sonno jooi)/"Revere the emperor, expel the foreigners!" type racism of late Edo. This is simply an unworkable, even bizarrely emotionally immature way of perceiving the world.
Copypaste this into America and say it's sovereignty; that's odd to me. I may be misunderstanding you.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
21d ago
Superman: The Movie. Lot of nostalgia there-- the night I went to see it, the era, everything.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
22d ago
It's me but the reconstruction blurred my face grotesquely. Both those dudes were the actors I knew growing up so maybe I was channeling unknowingly. Or something.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
22d ago
Well I happen to be a dude from Alabama so my hand warmth advice may be less than compelling. Good to hear you've pushed through some preparatory climbs.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
22d ago
You have to get into my head and free associate emoji to image to website.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
22d ago
This makes me wonder what will happen when I use the image tab. This is a ChatGPT "rework to look like a modern photo" of me in a 1966 Sunbeam Alpine, circa 1987. What will we see when I post?
Edit: Nothing interesting happened.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
22d ago
but women feel colder more easily
I thought this sounded fishy but looked it up and you're right! So I guess all the Japanese high school girls showing far too much leg in 34F temperatures are just slaves for fashion. Or for something.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
23d ago
As far as I know the research suggests that humans, at least, can become very used to cold.
The original L'enfant sauvage Victor of Aveyron (one among several documented feral children) was reported to like the snow, even when wearing very little clothing:
Bonnaterre reported that one morning, after a particularly heavy snow storm, Victor of Aveyron looked out his bedroom window and with a cry of joy, ran half-dressed into the garden, where “giving vent to his delight by the most piercing cries, he ran, rolled in the snow, and gathered it up by the handful, devoured it with incredible eagerness."
Acclimatization to cold weather is probably the first step @SkookumTree should take if he ever does the Hock. From a brief bit of research on the issue, apparently a German Shepherd is more likely to have a problem with heat than with cold.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
24d ago
Well Billy Squier will never be rid of that music video.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
24d ago
I had never seen interstitial used in this way, well done.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
27d ago
Not at all.
In all cases, as in the ultimate indulgence of going to a Gion teahouse to liaise with a geiko (or geisha to use the popular term, and yes they still exist) the ability to speak, or, more importantly understand Japanese is at least partially the key to appreciating the interaction. A girl at a girl's bar will be--well, a girl. She will be young and will probably know how to be a listener and ask questions, but any interviewer or, now, LLM, can do that. She probably won't speak much or indeed any English, and her charms will be the usual sublunary, earthy charms such as a plunging neckline or flittery eyelashes. A hostess will be, depending on the quality of the establishment, so skilled in chattily manipulating you that you'll feel you're actually an interesting person. If you understand her.
A geiko will be able to do all of the above easily but will also be skilled at playing shamisen or koto, will know and be able to recite poetry, will be savvy to current events should you wish to have a Mottelike sounding board, will even argue with you if you seem like the arguing type, and will leave you feeling both challenged, entertained, and more intelligent than when you went in. And again, you'll feel interesting. But if you can't speak or understand Japanese or do not have the cultural knowledge to appreciate said sweet nothings, these wiles of course are limited in their charm.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
27d ago
No problem.
A hostess club, or スナック (snack bar) in small-scale, consists of you paying a set fee (typically 50-60 bucks USD) to gain entrance to a place where drinks will be served to you for a certain period of time. During this time various females in balldresses or whatever will approach you, you will find yourself suddenly sitting beside them, and you can buy them a drink or ignore them as you would. Typically you buy them a cocktail, which will be added to your bill. If you want a cigarette someone will be sent to fetch you a pack. If you want to sing a song on the karaoke machine this will be immediately arranged, and if you sing you will feel, for at least a few seconds, as if you are really finally hitting the notes. General vibe: Women sitting beside you in sexy dresses, pouring your cocktails and lighting your smokes, and you leave with a big bill.
Girl's bars, which seem now fewer than in the past, may or may not have a table charge but a girl's bar designation simply means only 19-25 or so yr old girls will be behind the bar, primed to chat with you. The drink system (you buying them one) is roughly the same.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
27d ago
In my own time here I've seen far more offensive posts than yours, but typically framed as arguments with (what at least passed for) support. You're "boo outgroup"ing here hard. While you can't do that in one direction on Reddit, you're discouraged from doing it in either direction here.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
28d ago
Well username checks out anyway. Your most recent to this post stated:
Trump is a traitor to the USA, and we need to start seriously discussing imprisonment or a bullet to the brain.
But that was almost a year ago, so I suppose "soon" is relative.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
28d ago
I suppose the best answer to that question is "Not yet."
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
28d ago
I went to Australia in 2003 and one night tried to ask the delivery girl for Hamburger pizza. I could hear her suppressing a laugh. Little did I know I should have just asked for a beef pizza. Or something.
A year or so ago on pizza night I decided to make, in addition to my usual pepperoni, spicy chicken, and regular margherita, a cheeseburger pizza. I mentioned this to an acquaintance who bizarrely asked "Why"?
Some people simply have no taste.
Where the acquisition of Greenland fits in. I get the idea that having access to Greenland would be strategically advantageous for the United States, it just seems a weird drum to bang on. And no, there is no military action in Greenland as there is in Iran and Venezuela, but it is a sovereign country and Trump has made noises about how "We need Greenland." How does that fit in the "Donroe" Doctrine?
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