And our sea sick smiles, screaming home sweet home... (1 Viewer)

Taku2

Anarchist at heart
Joined
Apr 19, 2004
Messages
2
Location
All alone
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
Remember me?

It has been a year since I removed myself from this forum, but in my absence I have periodically reminisced about my English experience in Australia and my attempt to influence, even in the slightest way possible, students of the Japanese language.

Perhaps you might remember me as the one who arrived with the humblest intention of positively encouraging and guiding students who study Japanese under a less-than-perfect education scheme, but who left with a deeply contrasting and aggressive explosion of prodigiously bad taste and impetuous rebelliousness.

For those of you who might on occasion leaf through my old, often seemingly deluded and paranoid posts relating to the cultural subtleties of Japan (as opposed to the mere linguistic technicalities of the Japanese language), I hope that you will see that all was done in good humor and make an attempt to understand the true intent of my correspondences.

Rather than pose as a Japanese dictionary, which your schoolteacher is more capable of doing, I attempted to give an unrestrained portrayal of Japan's cultural acceptance of non-native speakers in an attempt to help the users of this forum utilize their Japanese skills more appropriately, as opposed to more 'correctly'.

Perchance I brought my views to this forum a little abruptly and unexpectedly, however I attempted to cushion their impact on their readers through often comedic and exaggeratedly impulsive follow up replies, some of which, from my current point of view, were quite unbecoming to say the least -

Towards the end, I admit that at times I quite irresponsibly implied the mishaps of my family's elders (an example being the events of WWII) in my attempt to parody the often irrational mindset of anti-Imperialist WWII time Japanese. Having said that, I also recall more than once presenting an inflated version of my own criticisms relating to the modus vivendi of the more avant-garde group of young female Japanese.

At no time did I purport to be the bad guy of the forum; my rantings were one of the outcomes of my failure to tactfully put forth some of the somewhat unsettling truths about Japanese culture and society through the eyes of a young Japanese male who has two eyes, two ears, and a significant amount of experience with current and past students of the Japanese language. I initially attempted to present a clear and arguably fair set of facts about my country's culture but these were fiercely rebutted by several users who possessed next to no experience in Japanese culture. I was without doubt angered by this naive stubbornness, and I countered it by carelessly slipping down the road of bad taste.

Had I merely sat here and corrected phrases, perhaps I would have been better received by the majority of this forum.

As a year has passed, most of those of you who may remember me will be well into your University studies by now. Maybe you have decided to continue Japanese and maybe not. I just hope that I did not steer any of you away from the language with my rather cryptic propositions or my sometimes inappropriate digressions. For those of you who have decided to continue in your pursuit of Japanese fluency, I offer you all my best wishes and hope that somewhere along the line you have been able to extract something beneficial from my unceremonious lessons in Japanese sociology.

As for me, I am in my second year of my Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science at Osaka University Medical School / School of Allied Health Sciences. My English skills have proven to be nothing short of invaluable and I have my parents to thank for my unconventional upbringing which permitted my advancement in the language.

I will be visiting Sydney and possibly other Australian destinations in a few months' time and it may be nice, if any of you are willing, to finally meet some of the users of this forum in public. I will surely extend my greatest hospitality to any of you if you ever travel to Osaka in the future.

Anarchistically yours,
The infamous Takuya Ando.
 

Lexicographer

Retired 13 May 2006
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Messages
8,275
Location
Darnassus ftw
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
Hi Takuya,

It's been a long time, and many have moved on. I think of those who would remember you only I (and periodically toodulu) remain. Back then we had some very heated arguments, and over time I have come to realise that for my own part you were more or less right - my experience regarding Japan was largely borrowed from my teachers and their families (foreign teachers, Japanese wives and families) rather than my own. Your views were certainly formative in my own education regarding Japanese culture, and your shocking methods were what kept me from looking for the deeper message.

I am sorry I did not try harder to understand you then, and I am truly glad that you have decided to return.

Since the time you left a lot has changed. I have become a medical student like yourself (though in a significantly different system) and as you can see much of the forum is not what it was. A few things have stayed the same though - having had to abandon my BA International Studies (Japan) course at UTS to take Medicine/Surgery this year I have chosen to attempt an extra year and earn a BA (Japanese). With some luck I may be able to take a clinical rotation in Japan later in my medical degree, though that's a very lofty ambition. All in all I miss the repartee we had a year ago, and it was with regret that I requested your banning (especially since the bulk of your posts were so helpful to those of us without a native element to our Japanese).

The sector is much quieter these days than it was then (though as I understand it, with a few exceptions we have less driven members) but if there are questions to be asked I would gladly trust in your advice.
 

snoopy05

Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2004
Messages
130
Location
school's janitor's
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
since i came to BOS, i've read just about all the hot threads that was on here,
and i can see that you're pretty legendary.

douzo youroshiku.
 

Newbie

is a roflcopter
Joined
May 17, 2003
Messages
3,670
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
hello mr taku taku
how have you been
your command of the english language once again amazes me
you are better than most of the law students haha
i wana go on exchange to japan, possibly beginning of next year

omg lexo, congratulations on making med
good to see your passion be rewarded
hope all is well
much love and peace

nancy your boyfriend is cute
i want him :eek:
 
Last edited:

Lexicographer

Retired 13 May 2006
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Messages
8,275
Location
Darnassus ftw
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
Woah it's John! I haven't seen you in ages (and never in person!) how = you?

Thanks for the grats, hopefully see you wandering around Market City in July.
 

babydoll_

wat
Joined
Oct 22, 2002
Messages
4,531
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Newbie said:
i wana go on exchange to japan, possibly beginning of next year

nancy your boyfriend is cute
i want him :eek:
i'm going next year I think

wtf john? how do you know what he looks like? i haven't even seen you around yet
 

Newbie

is a roflcopter
Joined
May 17, 2003
Messages
3,670
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
i think he went into an finance lecture?
does he do commerce?
i saw you and him and wenhui talking?
no idea
but his cute, cuter than me........drats.... :(

:D
 

babydoll_

wat
Joined
Oct 22, 2002
Messages
4,531
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
uhhh no... he's in 3rd year med sci

neeee, newbie san wa totemo kawaii desu ne

*pinches john's cheeks*
 

j-belle

suki :D
Joined
Sep 27, 2003
Messages
194
Location
Secret
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
We meet again.


Sorry to hear you didn't make TokyoU ;) Just kidding.


I broke away from the forum not long after yourself.


Y.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top