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Comment by hbarka | Hacker News Reader

> Japanese do not place nearly as much emphasis on human-to-human relations as much as the west does

This to me is just an offensive and ignorant comment. Just goes to show you that this Orientalist trope still exists. 2nd gen removed you’re practically foreign.

Disclaimer: I’m not Japanese but I’ve been to an obon festival and an onsen, not pachinko parlors.

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There is something called "Japanese people theory" (日本人論), which is actually still popular in Japan. We are far from its peak, but most people who lived through this wave still believe it.

I suspect OP's parents might have been caught in the peak of this wave. It takes Japanese exceptionalism to illogical levels. Everyone caught a glimpse of this during COVID, when television presented a theory that the Japanese language didn't spread the virus.

There isn't anything particularly exceptional about eschewing human interactions and relations, though?

I'm just pointing out that pachinko parlors can (and do) appeal to Japanese folks in ways that westerners might not appreciate.

Your description of pachinko parlors is quite similar to a lot of casinos, from Macau to Vegas.

I'm just pointing out that there is nothing Japanese about enjoying a high charged environment.

The casinos I've been to were as much theme parks as they were gambling houses; simply walking around in them taking in the atmosphere was an experience in their own right.

Most pachinko parlors by contrast hardly have any room. There are rows of pachinko machines with small stools in front, and there's barely room to walk around. It's just you and the machine in front of you, and all the noise; careful not to bother the guys sitting either side of you. I'd say they are very different from casinos outside of their gambling nature.

Maybe you aren't familiar what second generation means: Born to Japanese parents. It's from third generation onwards when you really start having nothing to do with your heritage.

I also speak Japanese fluently as to be indicernible from native speakers and visit Japan on a nearly annual basis to see family and friends across the pond. I'm practically Japanese in everything but birthplace and nationality, Japanese folks just assume I'm one of them unless I mention to them otherwise.

You're quite welcome to disagree and engage in discourse, but I would appreciate more credibility and substance than "I'm a foreigner who's been to a festival and an onsen".

That was sarcasm. If you didn’t get, it’s a counterpoint to you about something something non-communal people. I’m quite familiar with issei-nisei-sansei. I’m not qualified to speak about your experience. When I first came to Japan I instantly loved it in so many ways and I visit yearly to take random walks.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Lost In Translation”, you might find a pachinko parlor scene or two in there. It’s the shallowest of all movies and won an Oscar and I came to realize this is how many people caricature and fantasize Japan. My reaction was the same as this reviewer: https://stanforddaily.com/2021/05/19/the-egregious-racism-ag...

> you’re practically foreign ... > Disclaimer: I’m not Japanese

I'm curious; are you also arguing that you are less credible than the parent poster?

I think the poster making a sweeping generalization on such a large group of people is poor form.

My opinion, based on living in Japan and spending a lot of time around Japanese people, is the generalizations likely applies to a large portion of the population, but I have doubts whether it even applies to the majority.

But does it apply to them uniquely? Is there no population of, say, Europeans or Americans who prefer to order things on Amazon than interact in person? To dislike Walmart greeters? Or sit at a slot machine?

Just seems like a preference that’s trivial to find across humanity.

It is, for me, the number one most annoying aspect of life in Japan.

Every country has this - a large part of the population that has never been abroad and holds certain beliefs that would crumble upon closer inspection.

But when you get the word "Japan" in the mix, the individual suddenly disappears, and everything is explained away by cultural or genetic differences.

I really like the Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture. It takes you through many of these distortions, and how they came to be.

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