Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
There's certain content -- certain types of gore, certain furry content, etc -- that gives me "the ick".
Sometimes I remember that many people get the same "ick" feeling from anime art in general, particularly the type of anime art that gets criticized as "overly-sexualized".
What are some times when you were reminded of the unbridgeable gap between different modes of perception?
Watching someone stir up some natto with grated yamaimo and a raw egg, then transport it with sticks into their mouth, the inevitable nebaneba (translation: gooey smelly glop) a demonic tendril connecting the bowl to their lips--well this was enough to make me realize I am in Japan by fluke and this is not supposed to be my destiny. Probably the result of one of those times I "almost" died but actually did die, was given a second chance but spared the memory of the death, and this was enough of a glitch (via interfering with fate) to settle me in a land where people eat the vilest food imaginable with great relish (if not actual relish).
That plus full body tats, piercings of any sort other than the ear, and sometimes, though this bears the sort of explaining I am not ready to attempt at 5:25 am, just looking at a woman I marvel at la difference. Mind you this is only with relatively girly, feminine women (in other words not American). This is not what you're calling "the ick" but there is certainly an unbridgeable gap there. Dress, stockings, painted or otherwise decorated nails, long carefully tended hair, mascara, blush, lipstick, earrings, etc. Not the ick. But a gap of experience. This is not even accounting for the invisible undergarments and whatnot. Anyway yeah it's early.
I've been reading about Japanese food (the one that doesn't get served in Japanese restaurants abroad) and I've come to the conclusion that it's self-inflicted patriotic torture, just like traditional Japanese housing. People eat it only because they grew up eating it and think it makes them more Japanese.
Every culture has dishes like these, but Japan probably has the highest proportion of them among the developed countries. I'd rather turn to the Dutch cuisine than eat oden or zenzai.
Funnily enough I like oden but not everything in it. It's best in winter after a night of drinking beer with friends. You then drink more beer and eat the oden and eat the daikon radish with a bit of mustard. But you may be onto something.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link