So there's a girl who blushes at everything, feels self conscious about her uniform, has a crush on someone but is too afraid to talk, and when she hears a joke, she has a slightly embarassed look of flustered chagrin as her eyes squint and her cheeks raise, symbolized as ^^. And she has a sweat drop on the back of her head.
Why? In an age where modesty means nothing, why be shy at all? A look at US voice actors in anime dubs will often have girls trying their hardest to imitate or act shy like their character, only to come off as overexaggerated. And in the US, there's probably a lot less to be shy about. Girls talk just like guys, know the same things, and can be just as outgoing.
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Anonymous2005-03-22 22:27
american culture encourages outgoingness unlike japanese culture. In japan there are alot of shy people.
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Anonymous2005-03-23 6:09
a huge majority of americans are extroverts
a huge majority of japanese are introverts
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Anonymous2005-03-23 9:39 (sage)
americans can never understand the japanese culture, so don't ask why
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Anonymous2005-03-23 19:36
Wow I didn't know that there's no shy girl in America.
That makes me remind of that America is the uniquest nation in the world.
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Wangsta2005-03-23 22:00
Yep, no other country's citiezens have that many weapons and are that fat.
Look at the boy in Steel Angel Kurumi, he's excessively polite and shy, which is fine, but when do characters grow out of it? A US equivelant might be a boy raised in a heavily religious family, taught to be very polite to everyone, say please and thank you, be overly aware of table manners, social manners, etc. At some point he might grow out of this stage and become a foul mouthed, raging alcoholic (for example).
In AzumangaDaioh, a lot of students act shy and introverted, but is this only a phase because of their young age? The teachers, for example, are more experienced, knowledgeable, and jaded to even bother with being shy and polite.
So how much of it is ingrained personality, and how much is simply "a phase" one grows out of? I can understand how you'd make yourself extremely polite and considerate at all times, but with no real reward for your effort, you'd simply get taken advantage of by extroverted people who are already proficient at manipulating people.
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Anonymous2005-03-25 11:04
Hinata from Naruto comes to mind.
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Anonymous2005-03-25 17:40 (sage)
but with no real reward for your effort, you'd simply get taken advantage of by extroverted people who are already proficient at manipulating people.
That's an American thinking. The world is not so simple.
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Anonymous2005-03-25 17:40 (sage)
but with no real reward for your effort, you'd simply get taken advantage of by extroverted people who are already proficient at manipulating people.
That's an American thinking. The world is not so simple.
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Anonymous2005-03-25 23:19
Doujinshi rape!
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Anonymous2005-03-26 4:47
mmm school girl outfits
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Someone 2005-03-27 23:35
What needs to be remembered is that Japanese are taught to not show their emotions after Grade School. They wear the proverbial masks to disguise how they truly feel. Americans and most of the West for that matter, are taught to openly display our emotions and let others know how we feel. Granted, it's a generalization, not everyone is Japan or the US conforms to the stereotype, but it is a majority of the population in either country. Anime, which is an expression of Japanese culture, is going to display the stereotype.
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Anonymous2005-03-29 2:08
LOL I'm Japanese but I've never taught not to show my emotions.
But it's interesting that Westerners are taught to show everything you feel to others. Now I understand why Americans in Japan are completely laking modesty and humility.
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Anonymous2005-07-09 3:34
Hakujin that try to be Japanese fail to understand the Japanese mindset. Sorry, but eating Pocky and saying "konichiwa" doesn't make you Japanese.
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Anonymous2005-08-15 0:15
whoa wait a sec 15. In america we are not taught to show everything we feel. Guys can't be overly emotional or they are thought to be homosexuals and girls are just barely breaking out of the housewife stereotype that they have been dealing with for a long time.
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Anonymous2005-08-15 0:15
whoa wait a sec (15). In america we are not taught to show everything we feel. Guys can't be overly emotional or they are thought to be homosexuals and girls are just barely breaking out of the housewife stereotype that they have been dealing with for a long time.
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Anonymous2005-08-15 0:16
hmm it posted twice. and it was different the second time. weird
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Anonymous2005-08-15 2:14
lets put this another way. In the US, your average wild party will see girls dancing wildly and flashing their boobs while drunk.
In Japan/Asia your average wild party would just have a load of drunkeness with no girls stripping off unless they were hookers.
Duh, it's anime. Anime doesn't conform to reality, though it's usually inspired by it.
It works upon idealized sterotypes of feminine and masculine behavior, exaggerated in some aspects and altered in others.
How else do you get the "violent girls" who blush and act all girlish at the slightest hint of romance?
Modern Japanese are no longer as emotionally repressed as stories would have you think, but the cultural stigma still exists to cause disfavor on those causing others inconvenience ("meiwaku") or making a scene. It's still important to be polite and deferential to social "betters" and others.
Americans also, unlike the popular stereotype, aren't taught to be tactless and loud, but the culture is individualistic to the point that it emphasizes making one's thoughts (not necessarily emotions) known, almost as something of a social defense mechanism. Ever see a reality show wher the contestants constantly say "I'm just saying..." or "These are just my thoughts..." or "I'm just going to get this on the table...".
It's a form of social expediency and opportunism, and, on the darker side, a way for individuals to avoid responsibility for their opinions and declarations. Japanese culture likes to give everyone a chance to speak, which boosts "equality", but also bogs down decision-making and gives unnecessary consideration to pointless or inconsequential ideas.
>>22
You hit the nail mostly, but I'd like to add a few things regarding Comparative Sociological Systems. The core of the matter is the social structure of both spheres. Japan is an Eastern Asian nation, and has a Collectivist culture, as do many nations in the region. In this regard, the opinion of the whole is prioritised over the opinion of the individual ("If this many people say I'm wrong I must be wrong.") However, the United States is a Western ex-Frontier society, which has a heavy incidence of Individualistic culture. ("It doesn't matter if everyone says I'm wrong, I know I am right because I know my situation best.") In this regard, tactfulness in diplomacy can be seen as an attempt to interface with minimum risk of offending another. Introversion becomes a very effect means of expressing mutual respect, nonaggression, and conformity with the demands of one's archetype. This also extends from Japan's feudal heritage, where title, honor, and social status are highly regarded, thereby shaping the social interactions between individuals in the framework to be very formal and passive.