My life in Japan

[TheIncredibleBulk]

I've been doing these diary strips for a few months. I like drawing, but the amount of free time in the school system was driving me crazy. So, I'm doing these, about three a week. When I get a ton of them done, I'll choose the best and collect them. Maybe. If people here enjoy them, I'll post more. I have a bit over 20 done. Honestly, this group is more the market than anyone else. I'm not selling anything, just sharing.

Here are four which hit a fair cross section of my life: School, lust, neuroses, and parenting.

Can you relate?

[jeisensei]

Hah Good stuff

[JeimuzuAnime Otaku]

Quality, more please as and when you can.

[moolooman]

It's just like primary and high school all over again. I'm getting all jealous cause I can't draw.

[TheIncredibleBulk]

Cheers

I actually don't write much about work. I feel awkward putting co-workers into my work. Mostly strangers and family...

[himitsu]

quite nice. I can`t draw anything except shapes and smilies.... (hmm, wonder if it`s enough for a comic..!?)

[JeimuzuAnime Otaku]

More good stuff there square, I can agree with the second story but transplanted to the London Underground :)

[TheIncredibleBulk]

quite nice. I can`t draw anything except shapes and smilies.... (hmm, wonder if it`s enough for a comic..!?)

If the concept is solid, weak art isn't a hinderance. I put myself in a middle category, nowhere near Picasso, but not just scribbles. Artists like the Farside's Gary Larson relied on solid concepts.

I've found my art improved a lot in just the two months I've given it a regular outlet.

More good stuff there square, I can agree with the second story but transplanted to the London Underground :)

Cheers. That second one would just as likely be Canada for me, if I hadn't been here so long

And just a pinch more, one of them almost being outdated:

I started work on another piece last weekend, that is far more professional, something to print later, not just tossed off. The people here would have to relate, I'm sure.

Blacked out parts are to not 'out' myself anymore than I already have here. There will be 5-6 pages total in end. I aim to finish by next weekend.

Not meant to be a joke or riddle in the least. Sorry.

[himitsu]

Just a piece of advice, I`d make the reading order clearer

[TheIncredibleBulk]

Just a piece of advice, I`d make the reading order clearer

It's fair to say, but I'll have to finish all five pages before tweaking the weak points. The process is pretty slow for proper comic pages, and it gums me up if I try to perfect every page.

But, sincerely, thanks for reading, and thanks for the feedback

[JeimuzuAnime Otaku]

That last bit, I always thought that Europe is centred on the map because of the Prime Meridian that goes through Greenwich.

[squarepretentious Canadian dick]

That last bit, I always thought that Europe is centred on the map because of the Prime Meridian that goes through Greenwich.

And because it was created by the English Would China have put it there? China used to put the north in the south and the south in the north until Europeans took over.

[TheIncredibleBulk]

BTW Telephone numbers are the same in other countries as well. Group to individual. In Japan the first numbers are the area code, just like in other countries, and the next 3, are the locators within a city or district, and then the individual.

Maps were centered by who created them, and it's no wonder that Japan in central in maps made by Japanese, it seems foolish to think otherwise. While "outsiders" think it different it is not wrong by any means.

Who does Japan not consider to be the "west"? American's are considered to be westerners in Japan. The idea of east comes from the days of Columbus and other explorers searching for a path to the orient, and the term, misused in the US still sticks today.

[squarepretentious Canadian dick]

BTW Telephone numbers are the same in other countries as well. Group to individual. In Japan the first numbers are the area code, just like in other countries, and the next 3, are the locators within a city or district, and then the individual.

Maps were centered by who created them, and it's no wonder that Japan in central in maps made by Japanese, it seems foolish to think otherwise. While "outsiders" think it different it is not wrong by any means.

Who does Japan not consider to be the "west"? American's are considered to be westerners in Japan. The idea of east comes from the days of Columbus and other explorers searching for a path to the orient, and the term, misused in the US still sticks today.

I was pointing out that we use the order of Japan in our phone numbers, so that the meaning of order shouldn't be over-emphasized. Not that other countries have a reverse order. From that point of view, we're inconsistent, and Japan is consistent.

Okay, most people in "the West" (not counting Australia) use the Europe-based map. Most have never seen a Japanese map. I never called it wrong in the least. In fact, I think I was pointing out the location was based on the person writing. No?

Uh, yes. There are two more pages, the next one on the idea of "the West". They don't consider us the West, we translate their word for us as the West. That point will be elaborated next.


I think you're missing a really key point in the pages, maybe because you glossed over it? I don't know. Japan is not labeled wrong in any way. Furthermore, I make a key point the fact that it's written from the point of view as a Canadian. (both of these points are clearly stated in the first two balloons). So, I wanted to take things that occurred to me when I was new in Japan and explore them, and dispel them if need be. From the point of view a culture raised in the shadow of Columbus in "the West," this can be how it looks. Whether it's accurate or not is another point.

Tough crowd!

[JeimuzuAnime Otaku]

Tough crowd!

Just making sure you are earning your pay

[moolooman]

I don't know why people are complaining. If a world map is too basic, my country is omitted.

[squarepretentious Canadian dick]

Tough crowd!

Just making sure you are earning your pay

My free free pay This is done at home, since the paper is oversized, and I use grey colour markers... I'd like to publish this piece somewhere though.

[himitsu]

so Americans use the European world maps? Wasn`t aware of that, thought they might also put themselves in the center. I`ve seen Australian maps with Australia in the center (and upside down). Don`t know if that`s the standard though.
And I do think that we are the West for Japanese, as they call most area outside japan "seiyou" (western world or so)... so do they think from the European map point of view then? Why are Jp. maps different then? Hmm.. a mystery.
And about no wrong or right.. considering the world is a globe, you might think so, but on the other hand, sun rises in the East, and Japan has the earliest or fastest time, so it would make sense for them to be in the East..
well, one should ask an astronomer.

[moolooman]

Excuse me, but New Zealand has the earliest time. I thank you.

[squarepretentious Canadian dick]

They are only early by Western time standards, which they've adopted.

The Japanese seiyou is just as often oubei. But the standard word for "western" as an adjective is "you", which means ocean. So, seiyou means west (Europe) and ocean (America?). Not quite sure, it's hard to study Japanese etymology. All the same, I think they process us more as a lump of white people.

Working on that fourth page's details. There will be lots of nitpickers to battle (and it's fair, nobody wants to see BS stated as fact).

[himitsu]

The Japanese seiyou is just as often oubei. But the standard word for "western" as an adjective is "you", which means ocean. So, seiyou means west (Europe) and ocean (America?). Not quite sure, it's hard to study Japanese etymology.

Not quite, just asked some teachers about it. They basically divide the world into seiyou (western ocean) which is Europe and America, and touyou (eastern ocean), which is East Asia including Japan (would be weird to call China east, when it`s west of Japan). So even if this means ocean, I think what is meant here is the whole Asian area with its seas, oceans and land. That would mean they do this based on the European world map.
That might lead back to the time when Europeans came to Asia with their maps, and probably the Asians adopted those. My guess is that only later the Japanese decided to put Japan in the center on their maps (maybe to make it easier for kids to find).

[squarepretentious Canadian dick]

Thanks. I'm looking into it too. At the very least, I'll need to change the words "no way" at the bottom of page 3. Hmmm.

Orient is 'east ocean'. Still, it's weird that when occident is west ocean, and orient is east ocean, they chose ocean as the adjective for Western.

[BeelzeBob]

Europe isn't even close to the center of any map I've ever seen!
Growing up in America, the United States was front and center of every map I had ever seen until I came to Japan.

[squarepretentious Canadian dick]

Europe isn't even close to the center of any map I've ever seen!
Growing up in America, the United States was front and center of every map I had ever seen until I came to Japan.

Shocking to hear. Canada uses a standardized world map, which is the same standard as the ones used on Wikipedia, and in the top 20 hits of a google image search of 'world map'. It seems like it would be hard to study geography if you bisect Asia. Anyway, the Eurocentric world map (or Greenich time centered map) seems to be the English world standard. That point isn't a worry to me.

The thing about 西洋 is a thing though, and I need to change a bit of the next page. I found out it came to be around 1900, as a translation of occident, which is Christian based countries, more or less. 欧米 is more focused on Europe and North America. Thanks for the important info, himitsu!

[JeimuzuAnime Otaku]

For anyone interested in how Greenwich got the Prime Meridian then clicky the following link.

http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/astronomy-facts/history/the-prime-meridian-at-greenwich

In short, America and over two thirds of the worlds shipping charts were already using Greenwich as their prime meridian when the conference and votes were cast. France abstained and sulked about it for a few decades which I found to be amusing.

Actually, maybe someone can explain something to me about localised Japanese maps. When I was doing my touristy visit last October I noticed that a lot of street maps actually had north pointing in other directions rather then what I consider to be the standard of north pointing upwards? Any reason for this?

[TheIncredibleBulk]

For anyone interested in how Greenwich got the Prime Meridian then clicky the following link.

http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/astronomy-facts/history/the-prime-meridian-at-greenwich

It's interesting, thanks!

As I sort through a detail before continuing on page four, enjoy this heartwarming vignette:

And to think, before the Internet, I could write whatever I want and get away with it

[TheIncredibleBulk]

Actually, maybe someone can explain something to me about localised Japanese maps. When I was doing my touristy visit last October I noticed that a lot of street maps actually had north pointing in other directions rather then what I consider to be the standard of north pointing upwards? Any reason for this?

Being an island nation, and depending upon where one is, North, is not "up". Japan is laid out on an angle going east to west, and north is often times at an angle from where you are actually at and maps sometimes will show that.

I have been places where I think I am driving, or heading south, and the sun was going down, one would expect the sun to be on your right in the west right? But no, it was dead ahead up me in the "south".

[moolooman]

I have to admit confusion on my part in relation to the North South issue myself. Coming from a beautiful island nation of roughly the same size, and vertical/horizontal layout on the globe as Japan, it was always North/South for me. Our two main islands are very imaginatively named the North Island and the South Island. This east/west business over her just confuses me. Hokkaido is north, and Kyushuu is south.

[BeelzeBob]

@ square

>Shocking to hear.... if you bisect Asia.

Here is what a map always looked like to me before I moved to Tokyo:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ea9ny__k5Rw/TdshephRvAI/AAAAAAAACDs/dehJ6Uk9Ds8/s1600/Welt-Karte-Bilder%25281%2529.gif

[Paulm22]

@ square

>Shocking to hear.... if you bisect Asia.

Here is what a map always looked like to me before I moved to Tokyo:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ea9ny__k5Rw/TdshephRvAI/AAAAAAAACDs/dehJ6Uk9Ds8/s1600/Welt-Karte-Bilder%25281%2529.gif

I didn't realise I'm from the Middle East.