I hate when gaijin who don’t speak Japanese well, work a regular job here, have any Japanese best friends, and have lived here less than 3-5 years pen articles about Japan. You have said nothing original and understand very little. #gaijinconfessionfriday
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I don’t think I’m better than anyone. I do, however, think it’s impossible to write articles extolling the virtues Japan or commenting on social problems if you have very little normal contact (i.e. beyond being the token gaijin) with Japanese people.
By that token, do you think Eric Newby, Laurie Lee, George Orwell, Graham Greene, Paul Theroux etc shouldn't have written of their travels?
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Let’s stop pretending that the kind of articles/YouTube video narrations I’m talking about are in any way on the same intellectual level.
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Of course not! But that's a question of talent or intention, not the qualifications you were suggesting necessary.
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The second comment does tho
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second comment does what?
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Addresses the concern of whether one is really in the position to comment on a foreign culture with only some token knowledge of that culture.
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Okay. I suppose it depends if they are trying to assert something as an absolute truth or whether just presenting things as they see them.
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If the latter, then let them do it is all I am saying.
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I find many YouTube vlogs about Japan to be dull and uninspiring, but people have every right to make them.
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Also, let’s not forget that white author penned pieces on other cultures were often problematic in certain ways, even if written well.
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