[ SECRET POST #2674 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2674 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.










Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 044 secrets from Secret Submission Post #382.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Non-Japanese person living in Japan long-term (and fluent Japanese speaker) here.

Avril is so popular here-- which is kind of hysterical because every time she makes TV appearances here she is so incredibly awkward and, in my opinion, rude in many ways. (To her defense, her rudeness, as I perceive it, comes from lack of understanding about Japanese culture in general.)

Her Japanese "speaking" is CRINGE-WORTHY in this song. I am sure she doesn't realize how appalling she sounds. It gives me the biggest amount of second-hand embarrassment. Or maybe she does know and really just doesn't care as long as she gets paid.

And Japanese people eat that up because it fits perfectly into the stereotype that they have made for western people.

It is not offensive or racist towards Japanese people... the video was made by Japanese for Japanese.

I think it DOES help build the stereotype here that western people are unable to speak Japanese-- and help to reinforce Japanese stereotypes about westerners who live in Japan or are interested in Japan.

I guess I don't particularly care?

And am not offended? Stuff like this gets thrown in our faces all the time and over time and after a while you stop caring so much. (And in the scheme of things it is a really petty thing to be upset about, I think.)

I am just pissed because I know that from now on, every time I go to karaoke with my co-workers or friends of friends, this song is going to be added to the queue and I am going to be forced to sing it. And I really, really don't want to sing it because I think it is a rubbish song.

[(Anonymous)]

Ehh, I think it's silly to pick at Avril's Japanese pronunciation, when 99% of Japanese pop/rock songs have random English phrases and words with horrible pronunciation, too. Granted, Avril's video is for Japanese people, but since she's a gaijin they pretty much expect as much.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Granted, Avril's video is for Japanese people, but since she's a gaijin they pretty much expect as much.

But that is why it is so frustrating? Is what I was trying to get across?

[(Anonymous)]

Lifer here.

I've been following Avril's career in Japan since Girlfriend in Japanese came out. Her Japanese has...always been bad. I really think a lot of it is just her not knowing, or people are just telling her it's amazing, like most Japanese people are wont to do, even when it's not. Avril's always come across as one of Japan's Kawaii Culture fangirls, even if she doesn't always seem to understand Japan.

I found the song cute. Wouldn't say it's going to win any awards, but it's a mindless pop melody I can bob my head along to. I'd rather do that at karaoke than Bon Jovi. So, meh.

I will say, that train bit gets me every fucking time. I went running the other day, and I actually stopped and looked around, confused, because the train normally doesn't come that late.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT.

Yep. Been here since before "Complicated" came out... I have never really been a fan of her, not even back then, but I am sure her popularity here did not help. (Constantly being compared to her by just about every person my age didn't really help at the time, either. I look nothing like her other than having somewhat similar hairstyle.)

Was made to sing her songs in karaoke all the way since back in 2002.

She just seems so, so awkward on TV whenever she is here.
She probably has no idea what is going on, so that is half the problem.
Totally agree with you that she probably gets told how well she speaks Japanese from anyone she speaks to. She doesn't know enough to realize that is just Japanese manners.

Doesn't make it any less embarrassing?

TBH, she does not annoy me as much as, say, Miranda Kerr or the lady from the ボールド commercials.

[(Anonymous)]

So, she is racist towards americans from a japanese view?

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT.

Not directly, no.

I am sure that is not her intent at all.
Probably also far from the intent of the director or anyone involved in the video.

That being said, it does help enforce already existing stereotypes about non-Japanese (specifically western) foreigners in Japan.

Think of it along the same lines as Asians in North America only getting portrayed in roles that highlight their stereotypical "Asian-ness" as people in North America see it. It still is widespread in North America, though there are now more people who find problem with it. In Japan, most of the general public finds no problem with this sort of stereotyping.

[(Anonymous)]

The cringeworthy Japanese, well. I have found that the second hand embarassment is usually a reaction non-native speakers who know how to pronounce stuff correctly have. Terrible pronounciation in most languages, including Japanese, is something that is seen as endearing or adorable by a lot of native speakers. (Or is mocked by a minority, but that's just the way it is.) A lot of native speakers don't expect other people to have a flawless pronounciation, quite on the contrary. They don't even expect you to string more than two words together in a lot of cases. When popular artists who are not native speakers at least try to speak their language, a lot of people think that's great/cute/a nice gesture and couldn't care less about the pronounciation.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, I would agree... the problem is that it is EXPECTED by Japanese here to a point that people automatically assume that no non-Japanese person has the ability to speak Japanese without that accent.

This can be frustrating to non-Japanese that live in Japan.
The song is annoying to Japanese-speaking expats in Japan for this specific reason.

[(Anonymous)]

I understand why that might be annoying, but that's a thing not limited to Japan and the Japanese language - all those movies where, for example, no German or French person is able to speak proper English without the ridiculous "Ze" instead of "the".
And while it might be frustrating to hear such cringeworthy Japanese (it is to me, too), I think it's still nice to hear "oh, your Japanese is really good" if your pronounciation is better than what people expected.

Still, I agree that it doesn't make the song any less cringeworthy but "cringeworthy to my ears because I know better" doesn't automatically equal weeaboo or cultural appropriation the way a lot of people on tumblr insist. Some people are just really bad at pronouncing foreign languages.

[(Anonymous)]

Still, I agree that it doesn't make the song any less cringeworthy but "cringeworthy to my ears because I know better" doesn't automatically equal weeaboo or cultural appropriation the way a lot of people on tumblr insist. Some people are just really bad at pronouncing foreign languages.

Oh I agree 100%
I have no problems with the song in that way.
Still cringeworthy and an annoyance for perpetuation of stereotypes.

And I agree as well when you say this is a problem not limited to Japan.

Still, I feel the lack of awareness about how the foreign stereotypes (black-face, white-face, automatic katakana subtitles, etc., etc.) could be offensive to foreigners is a problem.

That being said... over the last 12 years being here, the amount of Japanese fluent foreigners being seen on TV in a positive way has increased a whole lot, too.

Man, at this point it probably sounds like I am just blowing hot air.

And on a daily basis, this is something that I could really care less about... sorry to use you as a sort of reflecting board in my comment, ahaha. Maybe I have been looking at the butt-hurt "microaggression" threads on reddit too much.

tl;dr. Avril is just doing what she needs to do to make money. Annoying to some expats, but other than that who cares?