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No. 60544
What's with the West's peculiar fascination for East Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan?
I know the West has always had a fixation on the Orient, but in the past images of the Orient had a wider variety of countries with Arab countries being the forefront of the "mysterious Orient" (many Eastern-themed paintings in the 19th and 20th century were centered on an Arabian/Turkish/Islamic theme, instead of now where all mentions of Eastern automatically translates in most people's minds to China, Japan, Korea, ect).
Before the early 70's, it seems The West barely had any to do with these countries or their cultures other than treating it like any usual foreign country but for some reason a growing subset of Western people became strongly enamored with this Asian countries, and of course, their women.
I feel like this weird phenomena is also related to the high levels of "yellow fever" in white, Western men we see today. It makes me laugh when a lot of people pretend the attraction whites have for asians or mutual respect between cultures, ect, always existed and is biological when this seems to be a somewhat modern thing.
But.. . why?
Some people are curious about this too but I think it would be more interesting if I made a thread about it instead of obscure weirdos making passing comments about it in threads vaguely related to this topic.
No. 60558
>>60553France already had a bit of a weeb culture before America knew what "weeb" was. Still, I don't see why French guys don't get as obsessed with the idea of a Japanese pure waifu and going to Japan like a lot of American teenagers/young adults do.
It must be something very particular about what happened w/ America thus influencing the West as a whole (France even further, and especially the rest of the Anglo-speaking countries)
No. 60561
File: 1453169052300.png (118.21 KB, 1366x648, french weeaboos.png)
>>60558i asked international once since I was curious
No. 60563
>>60561Interesting, I asked muh boyfriend who's also French and he told me what I told you.
Btw, I got curious and looked up PornMD's statistics for each country and all Anglophone countries had Asian and Japanese in the Top 10, France had only Hentai in their Top 10 but other titles like French.. ect
No. 60564
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>>60563Sorry I am legit derping hard on my reading comprehension right now
in
>>60558 are you saying that french people are less cringy/obssessive weebs? Just trying to clarify
No. 60567
>>60566Okay yes, thank you.
Maybe french weebs being more "classier" than american weebs has something to do with more overall social cultures and constructs. But to be honest I don't know much about French culture so I couldnt really contrast the two.
No. 60570
Japan is economically strong (and in a sense so is China and, of course, Korea) - they're already on the spotlight just from that. Then there's also the fact that japan has a strong pop culture (namely, anime and all things surrounding it), and mainstream culture at/after the 70s and 80s is pretty much pop culture. With the internet it became too easy to consume cultural products from someplace else, connect, see how another culture works (so we get cons and stuff).
Japan, anime and j-music took the spotlight; China is similar and closeby enough to be noticed. Only now is Korea "catching up" with the pop bands and stuff. Japan for some reason has a high tolerance for weird outlandish shit, they end up being trendsetters.
Anime really is very big thing, it's the perfect recipe. It's cartoons, and "cute", so it appeals to children, but it has visual/artistic technique (Ghibli comes to mind) and a lot of detail in comparison to western cartoons; also, depth and plots more complicated than "stupid-cat-runs-after-mouse-and-gets-fucked" create a dedicated fanbase.
I'm a humanities major I'm sorry
If anyone has any papers on this I'd love to read them
No. 60575
>>60571I have an obsession with MENA and Central Asia the same weebs love East Asia.
I wish more people were like me.
No. 60581
>>60576This, most anime is shit these days.
I'm not sure if I can even count more than 20 truly brilliant anime these days…
No. 60583
Japan just seems like a really nice place to visit.
Because it's very difficult for citizens to own firearms and there isn't a lot of substance abuse>>60558When it comes to manga popularity France is pretty much 2nd after Japan. They usually get really good guests at their art and anime conventions, and since there's so much artwork in museums in France some mangaka probably go there for research purposes. I think Japan has a lot of Ouiaboos too but it was more apparent in the seventies.
No. 60593
>>60587Yes, my MENA fetish is too strong..
Unfortunately people find this worrying.. in an extreme danger way.. not in a "she's just a weirdo" way
No. 60600
>>60593Whut. Go on………
Why is it dangerous?
No. 60603
>>60600They think because I like MENA this means I want to be a terrorist, become a radical, or that traveling or talking to anyone from those countries is extremely dangerous because of the potential they may be radicals.
MENA cultures are just so fascinating to me, and so are the people, the music, the customs.. ect.. its in the same planet as us but its so different from America and its so exotic and fascinating..
I never really liked how America was so urban and had a lot of cities so it just lost its sense of history, fruitfulness, and even sensuality
Something is more beautiful about the Eastern rural lives or foreign towns without rampant secularism and being in the pop media culture center all the time
Sorry for rambling
Why do you like Eastern Asia?
No. 60689
It really isn't that mainstream. Your average person knows nothing about Asia besides chinese food, sushi, and pokemon. This is confirmation bias at work. If you're on lolcow, you most likely came here from /cgl/, you're familiar with cosplay/anime/weeaboos, and from your perspective it seems like everyone around you now is fascinated with asia and asians.
It is more popular than it was 5 years ago, but this new obsession is limited to weeaboos and people into anime, k-pop and internet culture.
>I feel like this weird phenomena is also related to the high levels of "yellow fever" in white, Western men we see today.
Nah, this isn't a "today" thing. Men have had a fetish for Asian women since we were involved with Asian countries in the early 20th century. Madame Butterfly is about an American solider taking on a Japanese wife and that was written in 1898. Men just like having something new to stick their dicks in, and Japanese women are attractive to them because they are "submissive" and small.
No. 60691
>>60686>>60689This. Where I live, most people have negative opinions about their looks and make jokes about their culture. Social outcasts and weebs love them because they think the women are kind, submissive, and cute mostly based on anime.
And remember that weebs and social outcasts are a majority online. The majority of people online and the majority of people in real life are extremely different in every aspect.
No. 60720
>>60689But do you think as the older generation dies out and the younger generation comes in, that most people will have an idea about asia?
I will agree that a lot of my friends aren't hardcore weebs, but they've still watched/watch an anime or two from time to time.
No. 60729
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>>60544I think you're looking too deep into this. Everyone else has already explained Japan and with Korea, it's roughly the same.
>K-pop is the reason most young people get to know Korea>Or Korean dramas with its unrealistic plots and beautiful people>Korean fashion is seen as cute and feminine>The whole ulzzang fad, pic-related>(Former) weeaboos are attracted to similar things out of AsiaThey idealize K-pop idols and think Korean life is just like in fictional TV shows. So instead of anime, it's K-pop and K-dramas that become the entry point for people's interest in Korea.
No. 60847
>>60544It's a similar answer superficially to 'what's with east asia's obsession with the west? Particularly the UK, france and anything 'exotic'?' Or 'Why on earth do some teens obsess over russia and being russian?' or 'Why do americans have a boner for the UK?'
I'ts exotic and different. People like novelty. People like to imagine that there's some place far away that's very different to their boring lives and that perhaps in that place they'd be happier, if only for a moment.
If you want to focus on orientalism, read up on victorian japanophilia, where it all largely started in europe, after japan participated in the great exhibition people got curious etc etc
No. 60911
>>60895>from a middle-class, white american perspectiveI haaate how north americans always assume it's about them all the goddamn time. You do know europe, south america, the middle east, australia and asia exist too, right? You know russia is a place full of white people too right? And that the afore mentioned white people aren't middle class americans?
Oh and stop calling yourself a 'white american', you're north american technically. I imagine a 'white' chilean working class person doesn't need to 'check their privilege' or whatever it is you USA fucks do for fun apart from destabilising nations and then whining about it.
No. 60914
>>60848Do people who are obsessed with black Americans count? Because there's lots of those.
But there are still some, there's just dramatically fewer because comparatively its cultural output in terms of film, tv, music, and literature is very little and usually pretty bad. It also lacks the deep history and unique religious perspective that the Middle East, India, and East Asia have as well.
No. 60956
>>60954Ha, Africa has several different countries including Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, ect that certainly do have deep history and religious perspectives.
I agree that this person was very ignorant.
No. 60962
>>60960Libya is quite different from Ethopia, also.
Strong ignorance on Africa.
No. 60969
>>60954Most of their histories are very boring compared to other countries in the world. There wasn't much written history or any major architectural accomplishments compared to other places. I don't think there's anything wrong with admitting certain places accomplished more and have more interesting histories. Australian aboriginals have a long history, but it's very boring and lacking compared to Chinese history.
I'm just giving an explanation as to why people are less interested compared to other places.
>>60956When people say "Africa" they mean sub-saharan Africa not generally North Africa. They're very culturally different and have different histories anyways.
>>60960I don't recall saying that all African cultures were the same, just that it they don't have much quality cultural output. Which I think is pretty undeniable.
No. 60971
>>60969No you said Africa. You made no distinction which was a generalization. You lumped it all together.
Their history might be boring to you but not to everyone. European history is a lot more interesting that Asian history, which is my opinion.
It's okay that you don't care about Africa, why not just say that. There was no need to say that they don't have culture. Just say they don't have a history or culture that you care about.
>When people say "Africa" they mean sub-saharan Africa not generally North Africa. They're very culturally different and have different histories anyways. None of the culture or histories are the same. If you go to one country in Africa it's going to offer a different culture than the next. Things from the food to traditional clothing are different. What's acceptable in one country might not be acceptable in the next. It's not a hard concept to understand.
No. 60973
>>60971The person asked why people don't get as interested in Africa as other parts of the world, and I was giving examples as to possible reasons. The history is more boring relatively speaking to most people, which is a reason less are interested in it.
And I didn't say they had no culture or that all their cultures were the same either, I really don't know how you got that. I said they lacked cultural output and gave the specific examples of tv, film, literature, and music. I didn't even say they had no cultural output, just that it was lacking compared to other areas of the world in volume and quality.
I mean are you really going to tell me that any part of Africa has films or tv on par with Asia, Europe, or America? No. Do they have the pop industry of America or Korea? No. Do people read African literature? Again, no.
I think you're reacting emotionally to my post rather than thinking it through.
No. 60983
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>>60956I've been crazy obsessed with Egypt since I watched yugioh as a kid …
No. 60993
>>60956The problem is that morocco sudan and egypt like to tie their identity to being islamic countries. A lot of them might even get offended at the assumption that they're 'african' even if they geographically are. They like to consider themselves middle eastern.
Black people in egypt get called 'slave'. Just like they do in saudi arabia, you thought "whitey" was racist, they've got nothing on muslims.
No. 61095
>>60994Theres literally nothing wrong with Christian African immigrants like Angolans, Copts, some Nigerians, ect. Faggot.
The Africans causing problems are Islamicizied/ Arabicizied or Muslim Arabs themselves
>>61065at this point i think where da white wimminz at is a trope fitting more for arab men
No. 61148
>>61098I know, theyre faggots and people like that cant be changed.
Thought it was funny they said EGYPT was a non-shit African country I mean.. all the Egyptians said that place is shit and the government is a nightmare.. Holy hell topkek
No. 61152
>>61098show us all this amazing african culture then
challenge mode: try to name things that weren't direct results of colonisation, the middle eastern slave trade and don't involve smearing pig shit on the walls of your hut. Good luck.
No. 61181
>>61151Nah, Egypt is unstable and it's full of repressed sexually frustrated men. Terrorism is also rising.
>>61152Look it up you lazy cunt, we're not gonna play try to convince the racist lousy troll so we can waste more time.
Either stay on topic or get the fuck out of my thread.