JAPANESE AMERICAN IDENTITY & SELF-IMAGE
(Updated to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

In relating with other Asian American groups, Japanese Americans most exhibit which of the following attitudes?
More Americanized than thou | 51%
More rooted in ancestral heritage | 0%
More anxious to be low key | 49%
More embracing of other AA | 0%

Which of the following has the most impact on the Japanese American identity?
Smallest percentage of recent immigrants | 36%
World War II internment | 51%
Japan's economic success | 6%
Smaller population than other AA groups | 7%
Japanese people seriously identify more with whites than other Asians. If you observe them, you can easily notice that they cater and flatter whites while condescend other Asians.

That's just my opinion.
Steve    Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 03:22:13 (PDT)
T.H.Lien,

"1)sarcasm"

no, no. If you thought so, its your paranoia.

"3)that has nothing to do with JA"

no. Whether there were absence of civil war for 800 years would influenced Japanese character.
and,,, there are many messages that has nothing to do with JA. Why did you point out just only to my message?
olmy    Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 16:26:17 (PDT)
I just think it was the tone that was slightly condescending, "The question is, curious girl, will you commit yourself to LEARN the dialect of Chinese that your boyfriend's family speaks"? Of course I would! I think from my posts I show how much I love my boyfriend and how deeply committed I am to him. But it's a two way street, if we did have children then I would also want them to be familiar with great Western works of art and literature, etc.
curious girl    Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 13:27:05 (PDT)
What part of my post was condescending?
Navy LCDR airdale    Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 08:52:22 (PDT)
olmy:
that was:
1) sarcasm
2) from a month ago
3) that has nothing to do with JA
T.H. Lien    Monday, May 20, 2002 at 23:18:07 (PDT)
JA...OXF...PhD, T.H. Lien

>"The absence of civil war for over 800 years"
>Yeah, especially when that guy Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power in a totally peaceful manner.

Its not correct. There were no period without civil war for 800 years in Japan. The period of about 200 years before Tokugawa Ieyasu is called "Sengoku-jidai". It means "battle countries time". Tokugawa Ieyasu experienced many wars in his life. The conflict between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi families is famous in Japan. The "Sekigahara-battle" is the key battle for Tokugawa Ieyasu to get power.

olmy    Saturday, May 18, 2002 at 06:26:22 (PDT)
curious girl,
same situation here. I think that the hardest part of learning Chinese is the different tones, as it is a tonal language and no alphabet system to form those words from.The words I have learned best, I have to say, are the easiest words for me to remember, being the ones that sound or relate in some form to an English word or sound. Saying the Chinese word for I, "ngo" is very difficult for me.
Unless you study at a language school or in college, or live in China,it is going to take some time. So far I have been trying for 2 years and taking everything from a conversational class to an online study, and understand alot of what is being said, but still reply in English, unless ordering in a restaurant or cursing someone out.
Hannybunbun    Friday, May 17, 2002 at 11:39:29 (PDT)
American gal,

While your family has been here for 5 generations, you still get asked what you are because of being Chinese.

Curious girl never gets that question asked because she is German/Swedish.

That was my only point.
Navy LCDR airdale    Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 14:26:34 (PDT)
Navy LCDR Airdale- if my boyfriend and I decided to get married, yes I would commit myself to learning Chinese. However I found the tone of your last post to be slightly condescending.
curious girl    Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 11:12:18 (PDT)

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