It was so much fun chatting with you guys and sharing my personal thoughts/experiences!✨ I'm very touched that a lot of people can relate to our stories😭 (your viewers are the sweetest!), and I hope this will encourage more people to learn Japanese and the culture.💖 楽しい時間をありがとうございました！😊
Hi, Karis! Sorry I didn't notice this comment until now >< Rachel & Jun uploaded the Interview Part 2 video, and both of us answer that question in detail there! Please kindly check it out when you have the time!😊✨
Makes me so happy to see a Japanese person address this! I brought it up a couple times with Japanese acquaintances but the reactions were only somewhat empathetic >
I grew up in Japan, live in US for like 13 years now. When I go back Japan for business, everybody think I am less Japanese....like my vocabulary stopped at high school.... I now feel like "Gaijin" in both country.... 😭
+Rachel & Jun this is quite off topic but do you ever get nervous when you film in public say at a restaurant or just in a public area? do people stare?
I wouldn't say nervous so much as self-conscious? I don't like bothering people or being stared at so unless we find places that seem okay we don't usually film outside. Jun's actually a lot better about it than me since he doesn't worry about things as much as I do. That's one of the reasons I fell in love with him. :D
+Rachel & Jun good to hear! I've always wondered that about UA-camrs and I didn't know if the situation was different in Japan verses the US. Anyways, thanks so much for answering! This is sorta a advertisement but there is an app called Japan Amino and it's a community full of people around the world who have an interest in Japanese culture, I would love it if you took a look on it and possibly do a view. if you decide to stay on the app feel free to follow me ( Facts Gal). thanks again!
@LeopoldI think Aisha Tyler would like a word with you, considering she had a whole rant/speech about the idiocy of the idea of "talking white" or "talking Black"...
I totally relate with these girls! As a Japanese American myself, who often visits Japan (in Japan rn 😄) I totally get it. It's difficult when you don't know all the mannerisms, rules, slang, etc. yet you're Japanese so you can feel sort of dumb (or like you should know these things. Don't really know how to phrase this😅) I also tend to get nervous sometimes when I am talking to Japanese strangers (like at the store) in case I don't understand something. Anyways, awesome video guys ^_^ Ive seen vids about the experiences of foreigners and hafus in Japan but I've never really seen a video on kikokushijos before, so it was cool to be able to relate.
Aww me too! Well I was born in New Zealand to Japanese parents :) I can completely cope with regular conversations and rules that go around casual day to day life, but when it comes to using more difficult words or formal situations I get a bit nervous too lol. I can understand keigo perfectly, but for some reason I can't speak it well - it comes out a direct translation of english instead of with the correct iimawashi. And when I went to Japan last time, I was told by an older gentleman that I was far too loud and opinionated for a woman!!lolol I got my back up, but sigh, I know it's a cultural difference...I don't know what kind of person I would have been had I been brought up in Japan lol. On the other hand, it's cool to go back to Japan from time to time and discover that something that I had thought was my individual personality actually is a national trait lol - like really liking naturally made, light-coloured, efficient furniture - I was floored when someone took me to nitori lolol
Hi, I,m am born in america, lived here my whole, Wanting to visit japan sometime. I can totally somewhat relate to this, I'm am hispanic american/Half Japanese, Born to hispanic parents, Grandma on my mom side is Half Japanese. So Majority of our family is hispanics, but I out of my whole family besides grandma apppears asian. (People mistaken me for chinese as a young child) But out of it all, you can really tell I'm mixed. I generally just want to discover my "Asian side," rather then my normal American hispanic ways. But I am naturally quiet and soft spoken most of the time which is different, Maybe natural traits... That lead me to it. Even though i been self-teaching myself japanese, for a year. Now i know how to speak most of it (Asking questions, greetings,introductions, numbers, and general conversation.) I even know how to write and read (hiragana and katakana), back then i never thought i would never be able to learn this, because people saying it hard, but for me it was kinda easy, and i think i would do fine in this language. And i also have natural tone for it, which i prononce some english words kinda funny, but unique sometimes. So... i am kinda afraid and nervous to travel to japan to see what it is like there and how people would perceive me there. I would like to know from a experience one 0.0
Just caught this - what a great chat and is very up to date: 帰国子女 (overseas returnees)、I always had issues with this term (was called a kikokushijyo in 1988 at a Uni in Tokyo!). Back then, I never felt as a 'Returnee' to a culture that I felt rather as an outsider (変ジャパ). TCK (Third Culture Kid) or for my case Global Nomad was more appropriate - I eventually settled in my 10th country that I lived in - there are many many folks like us out there over many generations. このお話しありがとう！ Cheers for this.
This is so true! I'm always a bit worried that I'm going to mistakenly say wrong 敬語 or not understand what people are saying in formal Japanese situations...
Totally relatable. Since the only people I spoke Japanese to were my grandparents (Taisho-umare) my Japanese growing up was super archaic, and most people I'd run into a restaurant had trouble understanding me, went a long way to making me quit speaking from age 14-22. Tough to re-learn, but nothing worth doing is easy!
Hang in there ! That's interesting though, the only people I talk to who were born in Taisho era are my boyfriend's grandparents and they speak the ishikawa dialect so I have a hard time finding what parts are archaic and which are just dialect.
Put it in perspective, my Grandpa owned a kendo dojo, and was a police inspector. His old photos show him dressed up exactly as you see those Jidai-geki samurai films... Which means I was a 10 year old who spoke like an 80 year old man. The teasing was endless =). Now I go to Japan and am mistaken for a gangster ;-)
SiliconValleySky Hahahaha I know the feeling ! I used to speak in a really clean way before I met my boyfriend and since then my Japanese has gotten more boyish and accented. I'm trying to fix it but when I'm tired or drunk it just comes out. Also your grandpa sounds awesome ! I can almost see it ;) and I can imagine the faces people would make seeing a 10yo speaking this way xD
I'm from New England too, but I rarely hear people talk about foliage. I definitely never hear people say, "Let's go look at the fall foliage." 😗 By the way, love love LOVE how you said "hail". Wonderful! LOL
I've heard the term "leaf peepers" as describing tourists to New England who are here to see the autumn foliage. I'm originally from TX, have lived in MN, and had never heard the term until I moved to Boston.
In a Michigan autumn, the expression is "color tour". Most often it appears that way in the press, but it will appear in conversation with other longer expressions.
This is such a great topic! I can really relate to the answers that chika and melodee gave! I moved to Canada in grade one and have been in Korea for some summers, and I always feel this sense of alienation? when I'm there. I can speak Korean fluently (with a bit of an accent), but there are still some words that I don't understand when watching the news. When I walk down the streets and see students around my age in uniforms, I always feel that "foreigner" feeling because I'm not wearing uniforms like them. I mean, I wear them back at school, but not in July or August, but these students do because their vacation times are different. And my goodness, the way of thinking is so different here too! Whenever I read the news online and take a look at the comments, I'm always surprised by the number of the people that have such opposing views to mine, or opinions usually formulated with "American" culture. And it's not that their opinions are wrong, they're cultural differences. So yeah, this video was great and I can't wait until part two becomes public!
I can relate to this so much. Looking Japanese and having a Japanese name is really hard when you first move here. I feel like people just think you're dumb and I would ask my mom to come everywhere with me and explain the situation all the time. After a while, I'm still a bit insecure about it, but I guess I just need to study harder now. :P Nice video!
Thanks so much for the interview, Rachel! By the way, I heard from someone I know who's Japanese but lived in America half of her life, that at some point in her life she started to feel like she was from no where... or most likely, from everywhere, since there wasn't just only one place she could feel culturally related to. What she meant is the fact that she felt she was a foreigner in Japan and in America. Looking forward to your part 2 interview video! :D
I have been subscribed to Melodee for awhile, and I'm glad to learn about Chika now. I really enjoy how these interviews give people that don't live in Japan, a sort of insider look, from so many different perspectives. I believe one of your interviews is how I actually became subscribed to your channel. :)
Kouyou is a thing in the U.S. particularly in the Northeastern U.S. In New England and the Adirondacks of N.Y. it is often referred to as Leaf Peeping. Tourists try to plan their visits to coincide with peak fall foliage. People take drives, hot air balloon rides and there are tours. Tourists that visit at this time are referred to as leaf peepers. It is understandable that a person that lived or was raised in the U.S. would not know this. It is a huge country, and areas of the country that do not have the same seasonal changes or people who live in cities might not know. I really enjoy learning things about other countries and cultures. I find your videos very informational as well as entertaining. I am very impressed with the quality of your videos too. Very professional, especially the documentary style videos. I enjoy the more personal ones as well. Thanks so much for sharing.
The miso soup and rice thing is really interesting. I'm a first generation Korean-American and so when I set the table, my parents always said to do soup on the right and rice on the left. Most people are right handed and it's much easier to eat the soup this way. But--I'm the only left handed person in the family so I always switch it for myself. I'm actually really curious on left-hand "culture", I guess you could call it, in Japan. Even Kanji is more suited for right handers. Great to see you collab with Chika and Melodee!!
InitialSynopsis I think they mentioned that Jun was actually left handed but being right handed is more acceptable in Japan and that's why he's now sort of ambidextrous 🤔. I guess they handle somewhat like Christians in the past? At least where I live left handed children were made right handed because the left side is kind of related to the devil or something? But definitely an interesting topic.
Thanks for making this video:) I'm also kikokushijo(帰国子女） I've lived in the UK when I was young, and now I live in Singapore. Being kikokushijo is pretty hard when you look Japanese (not ha-fu)because they expect you to know stuff.
The thing with the food reminds of America too. We also have rules about where the plates, utensils, etc. are supposed to to go. But a lot of people do not follow those rules, and similarly to Japan, some people hate it and some just don't care, and others don't know.
How cool is that! I love to get different perspectives of a culture and these young ladies really are a wealth of information! I look forward to part two. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
I know my comment is superficial and absolutely off-topic, but I think Chika's beautiful ! And I really liked the interview, very interesting to see how two very different cultures can be part of someone :)
Both of my parents are mixed, and growing up in a mixed area, I realized how common things like this are! It's really cool when you think about it. My mom is Latina and White while my birth father is Asian and White. So I would hang out with my mom's family on the weekend and speak Spanish. Then I would go to school and speak English. After school, my mom would take me to my babysitter from China and we would speak Chinese. Nowadays, I live in South Korea and get to see my boyfriend's family who is French and Korean, so I have two more cultures on top of all of what I already have. I'm not as culturally confused as I am just culturally blended. It's honestly really fun.
Rachel and Jun: It would be great if you do a small tutorial on what to do (bring, dress, behave) on funeral and weddings. As said in the video, this is not a situation when people don't want to look naive or embarrass. Thanks, you do great videos and interviews !!!
This is so interesting! I also feel culturally half (probably more on the American side) but I'm still growing up/going to school in the US. I'm shin-nisei where my father is third generation Japanese American and my mother is from Japan. I'll be going to Japan tomorrow and this video helped a lot in bringing out my Japanese half :), thank you Rachel, Jun, Melody and Chika for this great video!
This was sooo relatable! I'm half Japanese and I was born in the Philippines and I studied there until kindergarten and then I moved to Japan for elementary school but then I was bullied so I went back to the Philippines and studied there for two years and then came back to Japan again and studied here for another two years and the came back to the Philippines again and graduated in elementary school. I studied in the Philippines until the second semester of 8th grade and then I moved back here in Japan and now that I'm in 3rd year junior highschool being a kikokushijo is very hard . And since I study in a local japanese school it's very hard for me to study kanji and stuff like that. And the cultures and traditions in the Philippines and Japan are different from each other the culture shock I had every time I moved schools it was kinda hard. And the language barrier I had with the people I want to be-friend and my teachers was frustrating.
And sometimes during class theres these questions I want to answer but I can only answer it in english and I really don't know the right words. But luckily now I have friends who are very kind and understanding that even if my Japanese is weird or how I pronounce words is weird they can understand. And whenever I don't know how to write certain words in Japanese they teach me and I'm ver grateful for that. Plus my current homeroom teacher is our english teacher so I'm very lucky especially I'm a 'jyukensei' it does help a lot.
Wow amazing how you don't give up and do your best! Instead of complaining you spread positive vibes. I wish you the best :) I'm mixed too but I'm half German and Kenyan. I live in Germany and I'm pretty much German; unfortunately my African origin is that deeply rooted in me, maybe because I dont live there. I had a hard time because I felt like I was just as German as everyone else but everyone treated me like a foreigner because of my looks. I have to deal with a lot of ignorance but I also noticed that I'm sometimes ignorant myself and that's why I started to educate myself about other cultures and that's why I'm subscribed to this channel. I don't want other people to go through the same things I have to go through and in order to understand other people better and gain more empathy I learn about other cultures :) I wouldn't have been able to do what you do. Mad respect from me ~
Both my parents are from Russia and one problem I have is that I can read cyrillic letters but can't write at all, because there are little spelling things (which I have never learned cause I live in Germany) that you don't realize from spoken Russian because some things are pronounced differently when they are written.
These girls are so beautiful! It's funny how Melodee has 100% Japanese girl mannerisms even though she has never lived there, like covering her mouth while laughing or nodding deeply with wide open eyes (to show interest) while listening to people talk
Laughing with your mouth covered is a japanese thing? You must've lived a very very sheltered life. People laugh and cover their mouth everywhere. Mannerism is a individual thing not a nationalistic thing.
I'm looking forward to part 2! And I can sort of understand and relate to some of the cultural differences because it's the same in Chinese tradition too. I moved to live in Canada since I was 6 years old and although I can speak Cantonese fluently, there are a lot of traditional things I don't know either. I also sometimes hear things from my relatives when I go back to visit in China/Hong Kong and they'd tell me oh she doesn't know, she lived in Canada for a long time. It doesn't bother me that much. I think it's one of those things you'll always feel like you can never really "fit in" when you have lived in 2 different countries and spent more time in one than the other. People will always see you as a "half" and not a full local citizen like one of them.
This is really interesting. I find I know way more about traditional Japanese culture than any Japanese person I met and my keigo is way better than most people my generation (the number of times I almost corrected people is almost innumerable). But I agree that things like what to do at funerals, how to open bank accounts, how the healthcare system works - I didn't know those "common sense" things. I think because I grew up away from Japan, I cherished the culture more (and often was in the position of explaining it to others so I had to know something) and because my Japanese was not polluted with the horrible incorrect keigo that is the majority on tv and stores in Japan, my keigo has remained intact while it has completely fallen to pieces among the youth in Japan.
"An interview with two Japanese girls who lived in America but one of them moved back to Japan" is a worse title, trust me lol. They're culturally both Japanese and American.
+pop wittenino Because it doesn't feel like a return for them? If you just remember the experience you made in you childhood in the US you aren't (culturally) returning to Japan just because you lived there for some time. Technically you might be right but technically you ancestors are very likely from Africa no matter where you're from ;)
i dont see anything wrong there. it said [Culturally] Half Japanese, i'm sure you read Culturally [Half Japanese] as mixed people, that why its little confusing
Chika and Melodee are both great UA-camrs who make videos in English and Japanese so check them out! :D Chika (Bilingirl): ua-cam.com/users/cyoshida1231 Chika (Japanagos): ua-cam.com/users/japanagos Melodee: ua-cam.com/users/MelodeeMorita
first off i would like to thank you two for teaching me so much, about a culture i am very interested in. i have a wide vocab of japanese words. i learned through gleaming from anime. but i dont know the basics or grammar, so i dont try to use them. please tell jun to make more cooking vids!!
So glad to see these three UA-camrs in one video. Been following the other two a while for some beauty knowledge (melodee's - she's the most flawless skin I've ever seen *and it rhymed lol*) and watching Chika's videos for mainly entertainment and learning Japanese language. great video btw! 😀
I really like Chika's hair! Also, I would still put miso on the left because I'm left-handed and it seems like it'd be easier to eat from that side lol.
Ahh I totally understand what their saying!! Also, when you are a kikokushijo Japanese people never think you are fully "Japanese" because sometimes the way you act/think may be like a foreigner 😅
i'm really happy i can see Chica is with Rachel. i was looking forward to seeing this situation! this is so awesome video! ty for uploading this video XD
I'm Indian and I have a friend that came back a couple times a year from the UK(he just moved back here) but he didn't have to adjust as much. The only thing he didn't know was how to write Hindi. But no one cared because we usually don't write it in everyday usage(we use English) but his sister who assimilated completely into British society, she had a really hard time because she couldn't speak a word of Hindi and didn't know the cultural norms.
Yeah, it's waving time! ^^ Really great video Rachel, very interesting. (I'm all fine and used to the bowing, the sumimasen overload, more or less everything, but every time I see someone waving manically to a person standing right in front of them, I feel like sayin "come one, dont be shy, give her a hug.... and a kiss" - sorry, the intro made me think of it, LOL ^^)
Nice collaboration video. It looks like chatting with somebody in English like they do is extremely exciting & fun to me. If only I was more used to & good at English than now I am. Anyways, what I can & should keep doing is just enjoying English every day as well I can.
PART 2: ua-cam.com/video/ad4MCEGG6AI/v-deo.html We did an interview with Chika (Bilingirl) and Melodee Morita on being Japanese but spending time growing up in America, and then returning to Japan. The word kikokushijo (帰国子女) means "child who returns to Japan after living abroad". They have a lot of interesting stories to tell! We split the interview into two parts because it's quite long, and while the second one is already uploaded we haven't had time to translate it yet so we'll make it public as soon as we do!! We're traveling right now so it's hard to find time to work on things! And yes this video was filmed quite a while ago. :)
I'm glad I read this comment before posting. I am anticipating the 2nd part...... that's what I was going to ask. I really do enjoy your channel/channels. ( Cooking, food.. YESSSS) I have been watching for a few years now. This channel is by far one of my top 3. One more thing, I really hope to see a video with you two AND Simon and Martina. As always, thanks for sharing.:-)
It's all good take y'alls time don't sweat about it .!😊 btw I really love u guys y'all are super cute together && I love ur videos .! Keep making them for as long as u can .! Love y'all .!!💜💜
Wow, super relatable video! Thank you so much for interviewing Melodee and Chika, I love both of them and their channel. I was born and raised in Canada and I've only visited Japan a handful of times in my lifetime so I totally understood their struggles and it got me laughing many times. But I'd like to add one more struggle to this video: Japanese people just thinking it is NORMAL for you to be fluent in the Japanese language because you are technically full Japanese. Seriously, I've had many Japanese friends that couldn't speak Japanese at all which is normal to us because we just simply don't speak it everyday (maybe only to our parents). It's normal that we would be more comfortable and fluent in English and not Japanese, but if we are very fluent in Japanese, it is because we studied hard, watched many Japanese shows, read many books so we can feel more Japanese and closer to our own background culture. However, sadly, Japanese people just assume we were born with both English and Japanese and how lucky we should feel because of where we were born and raised, it just naturally became our assets. Uh, no, we studied both languages very hard but many Japanese people will never understand.
As a Kurd, who's grown up in Sweden, I can totally relate! I have the same experience, when I go to Kurdistan (to visit). The lacking vocabulary, the (if not quite as much) lacking "common sense", people thinking you're dumb (due to both of the previously mentioned factors. Most often the lack of vocab)... Oh, and on the "there's always a reason for the why": The reason isn't always good or sensible ...but it's good to know it. The miso/rice placement is a sensible thing, but given the reason, you should clearly do it the opposite way, if you're left-handed. You'd need to know the reason, to know where/when/if it is a good idea, and (if it isn't just a crappy or outdated custom) when/where it isn't good.
I am half japanese and half french. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable in Japan because people talk to me firsr in english (obviously, I don't look like japanese but european) even though I speak japanese currently. One day, I went to a restaurant with my grand mother and some of her friends and they were like "おみそ汁も飲めるの？すごいね！Oh you can drink miso soup, this is amazing !" even though I go to Japan every year since I was a child. One time, a neighboor gave umeboshi to my mother and she said "娘さんの口に合わないかもしれませんが。Your daughter may not like this". Another time, my mother told to my grand mother that I don't like otsukemono and my grand mother said "やっぱり日本食の味が分からないね。Obviously, she don't understand Japanese food's taste" 😅 I don't want to live in Japan, but I love that country !
"I was only in Japan till first grade." "And I forget everything! So what grade were you when you left Japan?" "...first grade." That unintentional comedy.
The way Chika and Melodee talk about the miso soup and rice being on the correct sides makes me think of the placement of the bread plate and drinking glass in a table setting (at least for settings in the US). Though I'm not sure anyone would comment on a photo to say that it was incorrect like they had.
This video was really interesting. I've seen many of your videos over the passed few months, and I like how you give different perspectives of life in Japan. This video in particular was really cool for the perspective of kikokushijo. I didn't realize there was a word for that! Haha. I'll have to look for Chika's channel. She sounds like someone I'd enjoy watching. (It definitely doesn't hurt that she's absolutely beautiful lol). Anyway. Thanks a lot guys and keep up the videos.
Thank you for doing this interview! I totally can agree with the whole not knowing what kanji look like when you write them down...I just grew up in Japanese strictly verbally. It's nice to know that other people struggle the same way. lol also, good tips for the funeral stuff. I didn't know that either. I have lots to look forward to in my 30s.
Thanks guys. That was really interesting. Funny how people on the internet are the same all over the world, correcting your "mistakes" and all the rest.
I'm currently a Canadian working and living in Japan, so my situation is a little bit different - but I totally understand what they were saying about making mistakes and Japanese people thinking it has to do with a language misunderstanding. It happens at my work sometimes... There is a lot of times where I just make a regular mistake 9because I can be a clod sometimes), but my coworkers thinks it's because I misunderstood something or don't understand. Although I appreciate them looking out for me, even with the Japanese knowledge I have sometimes I just make mistakes! Same with English, even though I'm native I make tons of English Mistakes. :P
It's kind of interesting how much emphasis is placed on tradition over there. I remember in a previous vlog you mentioned how formal something as simple as speech can be even amongst family members. In the States family members are so informal with most things (I even call my father "You old fool" to his face and he doesn't have a problem with it lol) but where I used to think it was a nation of snotty people your videos made me realize it's just how they show their love and respect for each other. Kinda cool, actually.
In Ontario, Canada, people do sometimes go on drives to see the fall colours in the countryside. But it isn't nearly as popular, probably. And as more people live in urban centres, this idea seems to be waning.
I live in NH and Fall is my favorite time of year. We definitely talk about fall foliage or the leaves turning! I will have to add Kouyou to my vocabulary now. ^_^
A great video! I'm learning so much from this^^ I didn't know that there's a different way to say "father" based on your age and context (casual,formal,etc). In high school I learned Japanese and the word for our own father is "chichi" . But then I got confused when I watched anime because the characters mostly called his/her own father as "otoo-san". Now I understand why^^ The three of you are so pretty, by the way^^ can't wait for the 2nd part!
This is fascinating, even their facial expressions are American, and yet they're Japanese... which raises the question, does their facial demeanour change when speaking Japanese, and thus a slight shift in personality? an opening for a philosophy paper here. Great vid, thanks.
Regarding the part at the end, with the whole reason for the madness thing, I totally feel that way about stroke order. I just started learning chinese, and at first the stroke order was really frustrating, however as I went on, i realized the using this order often made writing significantly faster.
Hey Jun and Rachel, can you guys make a video with mixed Japanese people. For example, I'm half Japanese and half black. My mom (japanese) always talks about all the prejudice hafus suffer in Japan. Can you guys talk a little about that, or ask Japanese people so we can hear their thoughts ? I'm planning on moving to Japan in a few years, so that would help a lot. Thank you very much (*^o^*)
I'm 'hafu' as well :) Honestly I would say as an adult the positives of being hafu really outweigh the negatives. You hear about childhood bullying, but that's more of a systemic problem, not just targeted only at hafus. Also there are more and more hafus nowadays (at least in the Tokyo area), so it's becoming more common.
+Hector P I actually had the topic "Hafus" in Japan for an assignment I had to do. I read that half Japanese people still struggle a lot with the ignorance of the main population. Even if they don't get bullied they don't get fully accepted of being Japanese (A popular example of that happened when that half black and half Japanese woman won the title of being Miss Japan and a lot of people were furious about it because they think she shouldn't represent Japan). Even if the ignorance is understandable (I mean Japan is VERY homogeneous; they don't know it better) for those Hafus who live there know the struggle of trying to educate people that they're just as Japanese as everyone else it's just that their looks that is different. Living in your home country but still not really feeling at home isn't nice. I know that feeling since I'm mixed myself.
+samwtkns I'm half Japanese half Caucasian, and since I grew up most of my life in Japan, I can speak and act like a fully Japanese person. From my personal experience the Japanese people treat me as a Japanese citizen; I feel like I am at "home." Would it be different if I were to say be half black and half Japanese, where the 'foreignness' characteristics are more prominent? What if I grew up most of my life in the US and did not follow Japanese social customs, would I be treated differently? Maybe. But the notion that all Hafus, at least those who grew up in Japan, do not integrate as a citizen is an outdated perspective.
It was so much fun chatting with you guys and sharing my personal thoughts/experiences!✨ I'm very touched that a lot of people can relate to our stories😭 (your viewers are the sweetest!), and I hope this will encourage more people to learn Japanese and the culture.💖 楽しい時間をありがとうございました！😊
とても良い "ふいんき" のインタービューでした！^_^
Do you feel more japanese or american?
Hi, Karis! Sorry I didn't notice this comment until now >< Rachel & Jun uploaded the Interview Part 2 video, and both of us answer that question in detail there! Please kindly check it out when you have the time!😊✨
Melodee Morita please, please tell me where you got that skirt!
Melodee Morita by
I grew up in Japan but I definitely had the funiki problem. I still don't understand why we write that word differently than we pronounce.
That Japanese Man Yuta wow
I remember something about the pronunciation is different when spoken if you are a man or woman
Makes me so happy to see a Japanese person address this! I brought it up a couple times with Japanese acquaintances but the reactions were only somewhat empathetic >
I grew up in Japan, live in US for like 13 years now. When I go back Japan for business, everybody think I am less Japanese....like my vocabulary stopped at high school.... I now feel like "Gaijin" in both country.... 😭
I've been subscribed to both Chika a Melodee for a long time! I'm so glad you met each other
They're both super nice, fantastic people. :D We're really glad to know them!
+Rachel & Jun this is quite off topic but do you ever get nervous when you film in public say at a restaurant or just in a public area? do people stare?
I wouldn't say nervous so much as self-conscious? I don't like bothering people or being stared at so unless we find places that seem okay we don't usually film outside. Jun's actually a lot better about it than me since he doesn't worry about things as much as I do. That's one of the reasons I fell in love with him. :D
+Rachel & Jun good to hear! I've always wondered that about UA-camrs and I didn't know if the situation was different in Japan verses the US. Anyways, thanks so much for answering! This is sorta a advertisement but there is an app called Japan Amino and it's a community full of people around the world who have an interest in Japanese culture, I would love it if you took a look on it and possibly do a view. if you decide to stay on the app feel free to follow me ( Facts Gal). thanks again!
I find it funny that Chika's way of speaking and postures are what I would expect from an American, while Rachel's look much more Japanese
Most black people in America are American...
@LeopoldI think Aisha Tyler would like a word with you, considering she had a whole rant/speech about the idiocy of the idea of "talking white" or "talking Black"...
★Subtitles!★
*Japanese*
*English*
*Portuguese* thanks to: Lucas L
*Korean*
*French*
Finished the portuguese subtitles right now!
thank you for providing Korean. AND i have crush on melodee morita. ha ha ha. She is the prettiest japanese girl that I’ve ever seen.
こうやってみると、日本って細かすぎる部分もあるかも・・礼儀や道徳は大事だけど、形式主義は少し和らげてもいい気がする。あと揚げ足をとる人については、ネット上には常に徘徊している有象無象なので、チカさんどうか気を落とされず！
ホントそう思います。細かい間違いを厳しく糾弾するイヤな人達は、特にネット上にはたくさんいるので、いちいち気にしてはいけないと思います。
それが日本の良さでしょう。
文化もなにもグローバル化することはない。
まじめで規律を忠実に守る、それが日本人の美しさでもある。
This was informative and very fun! I'm looking forward to part 2! ^-^
+
I totally relate with these girls! As a Japanese American myself, who often visits Japan (in Japan rn 😄) I totally get it. It's difficult when you don't know all the mannerisms, rules, slang, etc. yet you're Japanese so you can feel sort of dumb (or like you should know these things. Don't really know how to phrase this😅) I also tend to get nervous sometimes when I am talking to Japanese strangers (like at the store) in case I don't understand something.
Anyways, awesome video guys ^_^ Ive seen vids about the experiences of foreigners and hafus in Japan but I've never really seen a video on kikokushijos before, so it was cool to be able to relate.
+
Aww me too! Well I was born in New Zealand to Japanese parents :) I can completely cope with regular conversations and rules that go around casual day to day life, but when it comes to using more difficult words or formal situations I get a bit nervous too lol. I can understand keigo perfectly, but for some reason I can't speak it well - it comes out a direct translation of english instead of with the correct iimawashi. And when I went to Japan last time, I was told by an older gentleman that I was far too loud and opinionated for a woman!!lolol I got my back up, but sigh, I know it's a cultural difference...I don't know what kind of person I would have been had I been brought up in Japan lol. On the other hand, it's cool to go back to Japan from time to time and discover that something that I had thought was my individual personality actually is a national trait lol - like really liking naturally made, light-coloured, efficient furniture - I was floored when someone took me to nitori lolol
Hi, I,m am born in america, lived here my whole, Wanting to visit japan sometime. I can totally somewhat relate to this, I'm am hispanic american/Half Japanese, Born to hispanic parents, Grandma on my mom side is Half Japanese. So Majority of our family is hispanics, but I out of my whole family besides grandma apppears asian. (People mistaken me for chinese as a young child) But out of it all, you can really tell I'm mixed. I generally just want to discover my "Asian side," rather then my normal American hispanic ways.
But I am naturally quiet and soft spoken most of the time which is different, Maybe natural traits... That lead me to it. Even though i been self-teaching myself japanese, for a year. Now i know how to speak most of it (Asking questions, greetings,introductions, numbers, and general conversation.) I even know how to write and read (hiragana and katakana), back then i never thought i would never be able to learn this, because people saying it hard, but for me it was kinda easy, and i think i would do fine in this language. And i also have natural tone for it, which i prononce some english words kinda funny, but unique sometimes.
So... i am kinda afraid and nervous to travel to japan to see what it is like there and how people would perceive me there. I would like to know from a experience one 0.0
Just caught this - what a great chat and is very up to date: 帰国子女 (overseas returnees)、I always had issues with this term (was called a kikokushijyo in 1988 at a Uni in Tokyo!). Back then, I never felt as a 'Returnee' to a culture that I felt rather as an outsider (変ジャパ). TCK (Third Culture Kid) or for my case Global Nomad was more appropriate - I eventually settled in my 10th country that I lived in - there are many many folks like us out there over many generations. このお話しありがとう！ Cheers for this.
This is so true! I'm always a bit worried that I'm going to mistakenly say wrong 敬語 or not understand what people are saying in formal Japanese situations...
私は63歳の男で53年前の帰国子女です。当時は「帰国子女」という熟語は存在しなかったと思います。私は小・中学をNYCで過ごした後, 高校・大学を日本で修了し, 更なる学業・就職・転勤・転職でMI, TX, CAに住み 現在はNY州に落ち着いています。現時点で在米期間は43年目です。 私も Melodee さんと同様に親の意向で日本語補習校に行かず、夏休み一杯は毎年VTで現地人のsummer campに参加させられました。ChikaさんとMelodeeさんのお話を興味深く傾聴させていただき、世代・時代の変わり様を痛感させられました。Retire後の余生は恐らく日本ではなく米国のどこかになると思いますが、自分の死後は米国籍の娘達に日本に散骨する様お願いしようかと思っている昨今です。
Wdym brother
Totally relatable. Since the only people I spoke Japanese to were my grandparents (Taisho-umare) my Japanese growing up was super archaic, and most people I'd run into a restaurant had trouble understanding me, went a long way to making me quit speaking from age 14-22. Tough to re-learn, but nothing worth doing is easy!
Hang in there !
That's interesting though, the only people I talk to who were born in Taisho era are my boyfriend's grandparents and they speak the ishikawa dialect so I have a hard time finding what parts are archaic and which are just dialect.
Put it in perspective, my Grandpa owned a kendo dojo, and was a police inspector. His old photos show him dressed up exactly as you see those Jidai-geki samurai films...
Which means I was a 10 year old who spoke like an 80 year old man. The teasing was endless =). Now I go to Japan and am mistaken for a gangster ;-)
SiliconValleySky Hahahaha I know the feeling ! I used to speak in a really clean way before I met my boyfriend and since then my Japanese has gotten more boyish and accented. I'm trying to fix it but when I'm tired or drunk it just comes out. Also your grandpa sounds awesome ! I can almost see it ;) and I can imagine the faces people would make seeing a 10yo speaking this way xD
女の子が男ようの日本語使うと下品だけど可愛いようね :-)
SiliconValleySky 可愛いのかな？
よく"外国人だから別にいいんじゃないの？"って言われるけど、個人的には、失礼なこと言ってしまうのが心配でさ
中々おておく訳にはいかないな～って思うときあるよ
^^'
Fall foliage... Depends on where you live. I hail from New England, so yes people do say 'Let's go see fall foliage'.
I'm from New England too, but I rarely hear people talk about foliage. I definitely never hear people say, "Let's go look at the fall foliage." 😗 By the way, love love LOVE how you said "hail". Wonderful! LOL
lol thanks
I've heard the term "leaf peepers" as describing tourists to New England who are here to see the autumn foliage. I'm originally from TX, have lived in MN, and had never heard the term until I moved to Boston.
In a Michigan autumn, the expression is "color tour". Most often it appears that way in the press, but it will appear in conversation with other longer expressions.
John Smith I thought the same thing. Lots and lots of northeasterners do that.
This is such a great topic! I can really relate to the answers that chika and melodee gave! I moved to Canada in grade one and have been in Korea for some summers, and I always feel this sense of alienation? when I'm there. I can speak Korean fluently (with a bit of an accent), but there are still some words that I don't understand when watching the news. When I walk down the streets and see students around my age in uniforms, I always feel that "foreigner" feeling because I'm not wearing uniforms like them. I mean, I wear them back at school, but not in July or August, but these students do because their vacation times are different. And my goodness, the way of thinking is so different here too! Whenever I read the news online and take a look at the comments, I'm always surprised by the number of the people that have such opposing views to mine, or opinions usually formulated with "American" culture. And it's not that their opinions are wrong, they're cultural differences. So yeah, this video was great and I can't wait until part two becomes public!
Do you have examples of differing opinions? I'm interested.
I can relate to this so much. Looking Japanese and having a Japanese name is really hard when you first move here. I feel like people just think you're dumb and I would ask my mom to come everywhere with me and explain the situation all the time. After a while, I'm still a bit insecure about it, but I guess I just need to study harder now. :P Nice video!
Thanks so much for the interview, Rachel!
By the way, I heard from someone I know who's Japanese but lived in America half of her life, that at some point in her life she started to feel like she was from no where... or most likely, from everywhere, since there wasn't just only one place she could feel culturally related to. What she meant is the fact that she felt she was a foreigner in Japan and in America.
Looking forward to your part 2 interview video! :D
Junさんが日本語訳を作ってくれているのかな？英語に疎い私にはとてもありがたいです！いろんな方向からの見方が知れてとても勉強になります！ありがとうございます。
すごい・・・・私、この3人全部チャンネル登録してるｗ
ちかさん…！
私は日本人ですが未だに正しい日本の常識をダイレクトにしてくれる 知り合いはほんの一握りです 😂やんわり教えてくれる人がいるなんて羨ましいです😊❤️
英語は、考えていることがポンポンと素早く出てくる言語という印象だね。
日本語は、言葉遣いを考えてから慎重に話す言語だからか、話すスピードがこれほど速くないような気がする。
日本語は、丁寧語とか、尊敬語とかあるし、相手の年齢によって言葉が違うし、女子言葉とか男子言葉とかあるし、扱い方が難しいからかな。
I like how the wind was blowing everybody's hair around. It looks even more awesome at .25 speed!
LESS awesome was the poor sound quality...
I have been subscribed to Melodee for awhile, and I'm glad to learn about Chika now. I really enjoy how these interviews give people that don't live in Japan, a sort of insider look, from so many different perspectives. I believe one of your interviews is how I actually became subscribed to your channel. :)
字幕があるのでほんとに勉強に役立ちます!❤️
ネイティブ通しのこうゆ会話ももっと増えたらうれしいです:)
Kouyou is a thing in the U.S. particularly in the Northeastern U.S. In New England and the Adirondacks of N.Y. it is often referred to as Leaf Peeping. Tourists try to plan their visits to coincide with peak fall foliage. People take drives, hot air balloon rides and there are tours. Tourists that visit at this time are referred to as leaf peepers. It is understandable that a person that lived or was raised in the U.S. would not know this. It is a huge country, and areas of the country that do not have the same seasonal changes or people who live in cities might not know. I really enjoy learning things about other countries and cultures. I find your videos very informational as well as entertaining. I am very impressed with the quality of your videos too. Very professional, especially the documentary style videos. I enjoy the more personal ones as well. Thanks so much for sharing.
The miso soup and rice thing is really interesting. I'm a first generation Korean-American and so when I set the table, my parents always said to do soup on the right and rice on the left. Most people are right handed and it's much easier to eat the soup this way. But--I'm the only left handed person in the family so I always switch it for myself. I'm actually really curious on left-hand "culture", I guess you could call it, in Japan. Even Kanji is more suited for right handers. Great to see you collab with Chika and Melodee!!
InitialSynopsis I think they mentioned that Jun was actually left handed but being right handed is more acceptable in Japan and that's why he's now sort of ambidextrous 🤔. I guess they handle somewhat like Christians in the past? At least where I live left handed children were made right handed because the left side is kind of related to the devil or something?
But definitely an interesting topic.
melodee is a very good listener.
This was interesting!
すごく面白かったです。
『紅葉を知らなかった』確かに、その国で育たないと、あまり知る機会が無い事ってありますよね。チカさんが「だって、パパもママも教えてくれなかったじゃない！（日本に長くいなかったんだから、あなたたちが教えてくれなかったら、私は知る機会がないよ）」って言いたくなった気持ち、わかります。
冠婚葬祭のマナーは難しいですよね。日本人でも、自然に覚える事では無くて、周りの大人に聞いたり、自分で調べたりして覚えていく事なので、外国育ちが長い人なら、もっと大変だと思います。
実際には、もう現代の平均的な日本人は、そんなにしっかりしていませんよ。ライスとみそ汁の配置なんて、適当な人も多いですし、「食べれる」などの「らを抜いた言葉」とか、バンバン使っている人がほとんどです。そういう事を厳しく注意する人もいますが・・・そういう事が間違っていたからといって、「自分はまだ日本人としてダメだ」って思う必要はありません。もちろん、知っている方がフォーマルな場で恥をかいたり心の中でバカにされたりしなくて済むので、使い分けられるのが理想ですが、
「日本人だって、そんなにちゃんとしている人は少ないんだから、少しぐらい間違えても、別にいいか」みたいに気楽に考えて下さい。
As a returnee myself, I loved this so much. Chika should make a series about this!
She's actually made lots of videos about this topic, check 'em out!^^
Thanks for making this video:)
I'm also kikokushijo(帰国子女）
I've lived in the UK when I was young, and now I live in Singapore.
Being kikokushijo is pretty hard when you look Japanese (not ha-fu)because they expect you to know stuff.
The thing with the food reminds of America too. We also have rules about where the plates, utensils, etc. are supposed to to go. But a lot of people do not follow those rules, and similarly to Japan, some people hate it and some just don't care, and others don't know.
How cool is that! I love to get different perspectives of a culture and these young ladies really are a wealth of information! I look forward to part two. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
I know my comment is superficial and absolutely off-topic, but I think Chika's beautiful !
And I really liked the interview, very interesting to see how two very different cultures can be part of someone :)
重箱の隅を突くような指摘をする暇人もいるんだなあw
チカさん充分常識あると思うけど。
味噌汁とご飯の位置なんていちいち気にしないしw
Both of my parents are mixed, and growing up in a mixed area, I realized how common things like this are! It's really cool when you think about it. My mom is Latina and White while my birth father is Asian and White. So I would hang out with my mom's family on the weekend and speak Spanish. Then I would go to school and speak English. After school, my mom would take me to my babysitter from China and we would speak Chinese. Nowadays, I live in South Korea and get to see my boyfriend's family who is French and Korean, so I have two more cultures on top of all of what I already have. I'm not as culturally confused as I am just culturally blended. It's honestly really fun.
Great vocab examples given on the fly - Kou-you and funiki. Smart girls!
Rachel and Jun: It would be great if you do a small tutorial on what to do (bring, dress, behave) on funeral and weddings. As said in the video, this is not a situation when people don't want to look naive or embarrass. Thanks, you do great videos and interviews !!!
Thank you soooo much for uploading this!! I enjoyed it a lot!! I'm very looking forward to part 2!!
I was expecting the question "Do you feel more American or Japanese". It would be interesting to hear their answers.
This is so interesting! I also feel culturally half (probably more on the American side) but I'm still growing up/going to school in the US. I'm shin-nisei where my father is third generation Japanese American and my mother is from Japan. I'll be going to Japan tomorrow and this video helped a lot in bringing out my Japanese half :), thank you Rachel, Jun, Melody and Chika for this great video!
It's really nice to see this perspective! Looking forward to part 2!
This video answers so many curiosities I've had. Thank you SO MUCH for this wonderful video!
This was sooo relatable!
I'm half Japanese and I was born in the Philippines and I studied there until kindergarten and then I moved to Japan for elementary school but then I was bullied so I went back to the Philippines and studied there for two years and then came back to Japan again and studied here for another two years and the came back to the Philippines again and graduated in elementary school. I studied in the Philippines until the second semester of 8th grade and then I moved back here in Japan and now that I'm in 3rd year junior highschool being a kikokushijo is very hard . And since I study in a local japanese school it's very hard for me to study kanji and stuff like that. And the cultures and traditions in the Philippines and Japan are different from each other the culture shock I had every time I moved schools it was kinda hard. And the language barrier I had with the people I want to be-friend and my teachers was frustrating.
And sometimes during class theres these questions I want to answer but I can only answer it in english and I really don't know the right words.
But luckily now I have friends who are very kind and understanding that even if my Japanese is weird or how I pronounce words is weird they can understand. And whenever I don't know how to write certain words in Japanese they teach me and I'm ver grateful for that.
Plus my current homeroom teacher is our english teacher so I'm very lucky especially I'm a 'jyukensei' it does help a lot.
Wow amazing how you don't give up and do your best! Instead of complaining you spread positive vibes.
I wish you the best :)
I'm mixed too but I'm half German and Kenyan. I live in Germany and I'm pretty much German; unfortunately my African origin is that deeply rooted in me, maybe because I dont live there. I had a hard time because I felt like I was just as German as everyone else but everyone treated me like a foreigner because of my looks. I have to deal with a lot of ignorance but I also noticed that I'm sometimes ignorant myself and that's why I started to educate myself about other cultures and that's why I'm subscribed to this channel. I don't want other people to go through the same things I have to go through and in order to understand other people better and gain more empathy I learn about other cultures :)
I wouldn't have been able to do what you do. Mad respect from me ~
*isnt that deeply rooted
+samwtkns Thank you!☺️ I wish you the best as well😃
omg.. this is totally me! im japanese filipino, brought up in the philippines and moved to japan when i was 12... girl i feel you!
Thanks, this was interesting! I'm a big fan of Chika. This should have been an hour long!
今はネットの時代だからちょっと違うかもしれないけど、当時流行っていた歌やギャグがわからないので話についていけなかったという話もよく聞きますね。辞書の言葉さえ知っていれば会話ができるわけではないいい例だと思います。
あと、コウヨウは黄葉もあるし、ややこしいですね。
私も無意識に言葉、態度、礼儀など使い分けてます。やっぱ大前提にそこに住んでるから分かるってのが一番大きいよね。普段から親、友達、上司、部下らと会話してるってのもあるし、メディア等の影響を受けるってのもあるでしょう。当たり前なんですが。。
Such an interesting video! Thank you so much guys xxxx
Both my parents are from Russia and one problem I have is that I can read cyrillic letters but can't write at all, because there are little spelling things (which I have never learned cause I live in Germany) that you don't realize from spoken Russian because some things are pronounced differently when they are written.
それから、ご飯、みそ汁、おかずの三点セットの定食いつも食べていますが、子どものときから、ばっかりたべをしていて、今でもしてしまうのですが、一つの物ばかり食べていたら、奇異に映ったみたいで指摘されました。なので三点セットの和定食よりも中華丼とか、カレーとかおかずとご飯が一体になっている食事の方が好きです。日本で生まれ育ってもこんなにめちゃくちゃな習慣を持っている人もいるので、日本ではこうとかいう指摘を気にしないでください。この動画を見て気づいたことですが、日本で生まれ育っったからと言って日本式がいいと思うわけではないと思います。
Awww all my favorite UA-camrs in one video!! >< so happy~~
great video! excited for part 2!
These girls are so beautiful! It's funny how Melodee has 100% Japanese girl mannerisms even though she has never lived there, like covering her mouth while laughing or nodding deeply with wide open eyes (to show interest) while listening to people talk
Creeps me out how the white chick also seems to think she's Japanese though... also covering her mouth when laughing
lol
Jeremy Galloway melodee is actually a tv reporter for a Japanese network
Jeremy Galloway well Rachel Has been living in Japan for 7 years soo....pretty sure it's normal to pick up some mannerisms.
Laughing with your mouth covered is a japanese thing? You must've lived a very very sheltered life. People laugh and cover their mouth everywhere.
Mannerism is a individual thing not a nationalistic thing.
3人とも大好き！またコラボして欲しい♡3人とも大人でお互いを配慮した会話も素敵です。
I'm looking forward to part 2! And I can sort of understand and relate to some of the cultural differences because it's the same in Chinese tradition too. I moved to live in Canada since I was 6 years old and although I can speak Cantonese fluently, there are a lot of traditional things I don't know either. I also sometimes hear things from my relatives when I go back to visit in China/Hong Kong and they'd tell me oh she doesn't know, she lived in Canada for a long time. It doesn't bother me that much. I think it's one of those things you'll always feel like you can never really "fit in" when you have lived in 2 different countries and spent more time in one than the other. People will always see you as a "half" and not a full local citizen like one of them.
This is really interesting. I find I know way more about traditional Japanese culture than any Japanese person I met and my keigo is way better than most people my generation (the number of times I almost corrected people is almost innumerable). But I agree that things like what to do at funerals, how to open bank accounts, how the healthcare system works - I didn't know those "common sense" things. I think because I grew up away from Japan, I cherished the culture more (and often was in the position of explaining it to others so I had to know something) and because my Japanese was not polluted with the horrible incorrect keigo that is the majority on tv and stores in Japan, my keigo has remained intact while it has completely fallen to pieces among the youth in Japan.
Genetically speaking these two girls are pure Japanese.
"An interview with two Japanese girls who lived in America but one of them moved back to Japan" is a worse title, trust me lol. They're culturally both Japanese and American.
yeah, theyre not mixed
+Rachel & Jun Yeah I feel ya. But the title is outwright misleading. How about "Japanese returnee children" or "Japanese returnees" for a title?
+pop wittenino Because it doesn't feel like a return for them? If you just remember the experience you made in you childhood in the US you aren't (culturally) returning to Japan just because you lived there for some time. Technically you might be right but technically you ancestors are very likely from Africa no matter where you're from ;)
i dont see anything wrong there. it said [Culturally] Half Japanese, i'm sure you read Culturally [Half Japanese] as mixed people, that why its little confusing
Omg my favorite you tubers are all here!! Hope to see more videos of you guys together
Great video I can't wait to see the second one keep up the good work
Chika and Melodee are both great UA-camrs who make videos in English and Japanese so check them out! :D
Chika (Bilingirl): ua-cam.com/users/cyoshida1231
Chika (Japanagos): ua-cam.com/users/japanagos
Melodee: ua-cam.com/users/MelodeeMorita
you guys beat me to first !!!
IM both etnicaly and culturely half Japanese xD
lmao yaaay halfies xD
THANKS, IT WAS INFORMATIVE!
+
+
first off i would like to thank you two for teaching me so much, about a culture i am very interested in. i have a wide vocab of japanese words. i learned through gleaming from anime. but i dont know the basics or grammar, so i dont try to use them. please tell jun to make more cooking vids!!
So glad to see these three UA-camrs in one video. Been following the other two a while for some beauty knowledge (melodee's - she's the most flawless skin I've ever seen *and it rhymed lol*) and watching Chika's videos for mainly entertainment and learning Japanese language. great video btw! 😀
I really like Chika's hair! Also, I would still put miso on the left because I'm left-handed and it seems like it'd be easier to eat from that side lol.
WANNA see second one!!! :D
Thanks for the great video!
Maybe you shoulda put "Culturally" in bold and in all Caps since people can't seem to see it.
Ahh I totally understand what their saying!! Also, when you are a kikokushijo Japanese people never think you are fully "Japanese" because sometimes the way you act/think may be like a foreigner 😅
I have so much respect for these two. Chika is such an inspiration for me as well.
i'm really happy i can see Chica is with Rachel. i was looking forward to seeing this situation! this is so awesome video! ty for uploading this video XD
I'm Indian and I have a friend that came back a couple times a year from the UK(he just moved back here) but he didn't have to adjust as much. The only thing he didn't know was how to write Hindi. But no one cared because we usually don't write it in everyday usage(we use English) but his sister who assimilated completely into British society, she had a really hard time because she couldn't speak a word of Hindi and didn't know the cultural norms.
三人のブログをフォローしているので、感動でした！チカさんの髪が長いから少し前に録ったんですね。チカさんのご主人のおサルさんもJUNさんも一緒に登場して、帰国子女奥さんについて話して欲しいです。
ついにこの3人がコラボしたのか。
Yeah, it's waving time! ^^ Really great video Rachel, very interesting.
(I'm all fine and used to the bowing, the sumimasen overload, more or less everything, but every time I see someone waving manically to a person standing right in front of them, I feel like sayin "come one, dont be shy, give her a hug.... and a kiss" - sorry, the intro made me think of it, LOL ^^)
Thanks for this making Video is Very Educational !
Nice collaboration video. It looks like chatting with somebody in English like they do is extremely exciting & fun to me. If only I was more used to & good at English than now I am. Anyways, what I can & should keep doing is just enjoying English every day as well I can.
PART 2: ua-cam.com/video/ad4MCEGG6AI/v-deo.html
We did an interview with Chika (Bilingirl) and Melodee Morita on being Japanese but spending time growing up in America, and then returning to Japan. The word kikokushijo (帰国子女) means "child who returns to Japan after living abroad". They have a lot of interesting stories to tell!
We split the interview into two parts because it's quite long, and while the second one is already uploaded we haven't had time to translate it yet so we'll make it public as soon as we do!! We're traveling right now so it's hard to find time to work on things! And yes this video was filmed quite a while ago. :)
Can you please make a blog about Kansai dialect and accents in Japan or anything close to it....
I'm glad I read this comment before posting. I am anticipating the 2nd part...... that's what I was going to ask. I really do enjoy your channel/channels. ( Cooking, food.. YESSSS) I have been watching for a few years now. This channel is by far one of my top 3. One more thing, I really hope to see a video with you two AND Simon and Martina. As always, thanks for sharing.:-)
It's all good take y'alls time don't sweat about it .!😊 btw I really love u guys y'all are super cute together && I love ur videos .! Keep making them for as long as u can .! Love y'all .!!💜💜
Marjaana Kettu Shijo means kids it's commonly used in Chinese too son daughter... doesn't make much sense in english though
Wow, super relatable video! Thank you so much for interviewing Melodee and Chika, I love both of them and their channel. I was born and raised in Canada and I've only visited Japan a handful of times in my lifetime so I totally understood their struggles and it got me laughing many times. But I'd like to add one more struggle to this video: Japanese people just thinking it is NORMAL for you to be fluent in the Japanese language because you are technically full Japanese. Seriously, I've had many Japanese friends that couldn't speak Japanese at all which is normal to us because we just simply don't speak it everyday (maybe only to our parents). It's normal that we would be more comfortable and fluent in English and not Japanese, but if we are very fluent in Japanese, it is because we studied hard, watched many Japanese shows, read many books so we can feel more Japanese and closer to our own background culture. However, sadly, Japanese people just assume we were born with both English and Japanese and how lucky we should feel because of where we were born and raised, it just naturally became our assets. Uh, no, we studied both languages very hard but many Japanese people will never understand.
I love Melodee and her channel and now I found someone else too! Thanks for uploading :D
The title is confusing to me. When I think of Half Japanese, I think of someone who has one Japanese parent and one that is not.
You missed the word " Culturally" in the title.
Oh, seems I did. Lol. Not sure how. XD
ArtOfCamelot It's alright ! I did too at first and when they started speaking I thought "Wait ... Ooh!"
Welp, looks like they changed the title and I'm not crazy after all. :D
As a Kurd, who's grown up in Sweden, I can totally relate!
I have the same experience, when I go to Kurdistan (to visit).
The lacking vocabulary, the (if not quite as much) lacking "common sense", people thinking you're dumb (due to both of the previously mentioned factors. Most often the lack of vocab)...
Oh, and on the "there's always a reason for the why":
The reason isn't always good or sensible ...but it's good to know it. The miso/rice placement is a sensible thing, but given the reason, you should clearly do it the opposite way, if you're left-handed. You'd need to know the reason, to know where/when/if it is a good idea, and (if it isn't just a crappy or outdated custom) when/where it isn't good.
会議とか冠婚葬祭とか日本人でも難しいですってw
規律に厳しい人と緩い人が居るのも世界共通だと思うのですが、アメリカやカナダからの帰国子女の方や日本に来られた方の感覚では違うんですかね
Really good video, a great insight
I like this video so much! It's so interesting to know about a kikokushijo :)
I am half japanese and half french. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable in Japan because people talk to me firsr in english (obviously, I don't look like japanese but european) even though I speak japanese currently. One day, I went to a restaurant with my grand mother and some of her friends and they were like "おみそ汁も飲めるの？すごいね！Oh you can drink miso soup, this is amazing !" even though I go to Japan every year since I was a child. One time, a neighboor gave umeboshi to my mother and she said "娘さんの口に合わないかもしれませんが。Your daughter may not like this". Another time, my mother told to my grand mother that I don't like otsukemono and my grand mother said "やっぱり日本食の味が分からないね。Obviously, she don't understand Japanese food's taste" 😅 I don't want to live in Japan, but I love that country !
"I was only in Japan till first grade."
"And I forget everything! So what grade were you when you left Japan?"
"...first grade."
That unintentional comedy.
The way Chika and Melodee talk about the miso soup and rice being on the correct sides makes me think of the placement of the bread plate and drinking glass in a table setting (at least for settings in the US). Though I'm not sure anyone would comment on a photo to say that it was incorrect like they had.
This video was really interesting. I've seen many of your videos over the passed few months, and I like how you give different perspectives of life in Japan. This video in particular was really cool for the perspective of kikokushijo. I didn't realize there was a word for that! Haha. I'll have to look for Chika's channel. She sounds like someone I'd enjoy watching. (It definitely doesn't hurt that she's absolutely beautiful lol). Anyway. Thanks a lot guys and keep up the videos.
Thank you for doing this interview! I totally can agree with the whole not knowing what kanji look like when you write them down...I just grew up in Japanese strictly verbally. It's nice to know that other people struggle the same way. lol
also, good tips for the funeral stuff. I didn't know that either. I have lots to look forward to in my 30s.
Thanks guys. That was really interesting. Funny how people on the internet are the same all over the world, correcting your "mistakes" and all the rest.
おーすげー共演だ！Great joint!!
I'm currently a Canadian working and living in Japan, so my situation is a little bit different - but I totally understand what they were saying about making mistakes and Japanese people thinking it has to do with a language misunderstanding.
It happens at my work sometimes... There is a lot of times where I just make a regular mistake 9because I can be a clod sometimes), but my coworkers thinks it's because I misunderstood something or don't understand. Although I appreciate them looking out for me, even with the Japanese knowledge I have sometimes I just make mistakes! Same with English, even though I'm native I make tons of English Mistakes. :P
This is an excellent video. It gets me awake the unconscious cultural gap.
It's kind of interesting how much emphasis is placed on tradition over there. I remember in a previous vlog you mentioned how formal something as simple as speech can be even amongst family members. In the States family members are so informal with most things (I even call my father "You old fool" to his face and he doesn't have a problem with it lol) but where I used to think it was a nation of snotty people your videos made me realize it's just how they show their love and respect for each other. Kinda cool, actually.
In Ontario, Canada, people do sometimes go on drives to see the fall colours in the countryside. But it isn't nearly as popular, probably.
And as more people live in urban centres, this idea seems to be waning.
I live in NH and Fall is my favorite time of year. We definitely talk about fall foliage or the leaves turning! I will have to add Kouyou to my vocabulary now. ^_^
A great video! I'm learning so much from this^^ I didn't know that there's a different way to say "father" based on your age and context (casual,formal,etc). In high school I learned Japanese and the word for our own father is "chichi" . But then I got confused when I watched anime because the characters mostly called his/her own father as "otoo-san". Now I understand why^^
The three of you are so pretty, by the way^^ can't wait for the 2nd part!
This is fascinating, even their facial expressions are American, and yet they're Japanese... which raises the question, does their facial demeanour change when speaking Japanese, and thus a slight shift in personality? an opening for a philosophy paper here. Great vid, thanks.
You're all so beautiful!! This video was so interesting to watch and v informative, thank you~ Love y'all~
Regarding the part at the end, with the whole reason for the madness thing, I totally feel that way about stroke order. I just started learning chinese, and at first the stroke order was really frustrating, however as I went on, i realized the using this order often made writing significantly faster.
Its amazing that I know all of you guys!
Hey Jun and Rachel, can you guys make a video with mixed Japanese people. For example, I'm half Japanese and half black. My mom (japanese) always talks about all the prejudice hafus suffer in Japan. Can you guys talk a little about that, or ask Japanese people so we can hear their thoughts ? I'm planning on moving to Japan in a few years, so that would help a lot. Thank you very much (*^o^*)
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Try doing some research on your own first. There's some interviews with half Japanese people on UA-cam as well. Good luck!
I'm 'hafu' as well :) Honestly I would say as an adult the positives of being hafu really outweigh the negatives. You hear about childhood bullying, but that's more of a systemic problem, not just targeted only at hafus. Also there are more and more hafus nowadays (at least in the Tokyo area), so it's becoming more common.
+Hector P I actually had the topic "Hafus" in Japan for an assignment I had to do. I read that half Japanese people still struggle a lot with the ignorance of the main population. Even if they don't get bullied they don't get fully accepted of being Japanese (A popular example of that happened when that half black and half Japanese woman won the title of being Miss Japan and a lot of people were furious about it because they think she shouldn't represent Japan). Even if the ignorance is understandable (I mean Japan is VERY homogeneous; they don't know it better) for those Hafus who live there know the struggle of trying to educate people that they're just as Japanese as everyone else it's just that their looks that is different. Living in your home country but still not really feeling at home isn't nice. I know that feeling since I'm mixed myself.
+samwtkns I'm half Japanese half Caucasian, and since I grew up most of my life in Japan, I can speak and act like a fully Japanese person. From my personal experience the Japanese people treat me as a Japanese citizen; I feel like I am at "home." Would it be different if I were to say be half black and half Japanese, where the 'foreignness' characteristics are more prominent? What if I grew up most of my life in the US and did not follow Japanese social customs, would I be treated differently? Maybe. But the notion that all Hafus, at least those who grew up in Japan, do not integrate as a citizen is an outdated perspective.