The Japanese are highly conservative when it comes to some things, and are extremely respectful and polite towards each other. However there are also some contradictions in their culture. Like there isn’t much censorship on tv and married men often have mistresses. But what I find so strange is the communal bathing system, where you take a shower and rinse yourself off and then soak in a large tub. You’re not supposed to have anything on. Unlike a normal bath, the water is not drained since you’re supposed to be clean when you enter the bath. So you sit around naked in this bath with other people. They have these in homes and public bath houses such as these are also very common.
They have these in my dorm as well as the conventional showers. In the guys dorms however they only have the communal baths, and I’ve heard some very interesting stories from the guys about what goes on in these baths! I dont want to go into detail, but lets just say that any heterosexual man would find it extremely gay and homoerotic. The Japanese guys are very relaxed in these public baths and apparantly are overly friendly while sitting in them.
Now the strange thing is that in our dorm, which is an all-girl dorm and were not allowed any males inside, were not allowed to walk around in towels. So were not allowed to walk around in towels but its okay to expose yourself completely in the baths.
Not that Im complaining, Im used to going to and from the showers fully clothed. Its sometimes difficult to retain your levels of sharam when youre living with so many other people and sharing bathrooms. Ive been doing so for 5-6 years and I still cannot stand seeing other people naked - I dont find it very appealing. But people are so comfortable with nudity, I dont understand it. I dont even like looking at myself and I sure dont want to see others’ bodies!
Like in the gym back home you see fat people with sagging bits and bobs and loads of stretch marks in the change area. Its so disgusting. And when you see a really fat woman naked, it can honestly scar you for life.
Whats it with goras and nudity? And how comfortable are you with nudity with people of the same sex?
Catty: when u say that u dun find it appealing to see others naked, that is an evidence of your inner soul still looking to embrace your culture and religion, but being confused at the situation is due to the effects of many factors like living in a society based on totally unislamic environment making a conflict between teachings of religion and your way of getting along with people :-)
Okay my feline friend...
I agree with what you are saying but you see the Japanese have adapted their lifestyle over the centuries and owe it all to one simple fact. Lack of space. Japan have always been an overpopulated land and they are always trying to conserve as much space as possible. Thats why there is not too much emphasis on what we would call modesty. Someone once said that all the barriers they have are in their mind and they refer to it as their nine layered wall or something. Thats why you rarely show a Japanese showing expressions. This is the way they were brought up.
We being muslims just cant get comfortable with the concept of nudity as we have been trained in another way for 1400 years. You being a student of IR probably know more about it than a lot of people.
As for the Americans, I have no idea what makes them do the things that they do.
AQ - As long as your ID is intact you needn't worry.
Klaudius, thanks for putting things into perspective. You know traditionally, they do not even have doors in their houses, but have these 'curtains' seperating the rooms. I guess it is all about conserving space. I didn't know about that 9-layered wall though!
You're right, I don't think I could ever get used to it.
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*Originally posted by cat-woman: *
AQ - As long as your ID is intact you needn't worry.
Klaudius, thanks for putting things into perspective. You know traditionally, they do not even have doors in their houses, but have these 'curtains' seperating the rooms. I guess it is all about conserving space. I didn't know about that 9-layered wall though!
You're right, I don't think I could ever get used to it.
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Yeah if you wanna know about the origins of the Japanese Culture, read Shogun by James Clavell. Its a bit too but gives you some nice info.
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*Originally posted by cat-woman: *
And how comfortable are you with nudity with people of the same sex?
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I am not at all comfortable with it. Its probably a psyche and you get to accustomed to it when exposed regularly. Thank God I am not into such a society. :)
catty: u start with an example of the Japees and in the end ask ‘what is it with GORAS and nudity’???
where do the white suddenly come into the picture?
anyway, i think it’s a cultural aspect. Each culture has it’s own values on how to handle nudity. Like in Finland nudity is ‘normal’ in joint-saunas etc.
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*Originally posted by NeSCio: *
Like in Finland nudity is 'normal' in joint-saunas etc.
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I read it in paper today that as per new ratings Finland is the most clean country in the world administratively i.e. ranks lowest in the corrupt countries of the world. Has this anything to do with nudity? ;)
umm well am not that comfy with nudity even around my friends.. n usually use the longest towel if i am using sauna (girls only).
waisay i always wondered that locker rooms must be heaven for lesbians. really creepy.
same problem when u go swimming, theres communal showers and the women just strip off in front of everyone, and Catty i really agree with becoming scarred for life when seeing an obese woman naked , took me a while to get over it
I'm not that comfortable exposing myself either. However if I had to, it would definitely be in front of other women only and in a towel at that. My nudity is for me, God, and the man I will marry. Simple as that.
As far as nudity in other cultures, I still don't see the connection between nudity and freedom of expression. How does going around buck naked translate into being free/independent? (ex. note Scandanavian/western European cultures).
I get embarrassed and it's not just the japanese...there are tons of people at the gym who waltz around naked as the day they were born...it's so wierd...and so difficult to figure out where to look.
As for freedome of expression=nudity...I agree with sweetpie...the japanese are famous for their reserved nature and politeness that stalls expressing their feelings and they have no problem with nudity...I don't think it correlates.
The other day there was one girl at the whirl pool who had a light peach suit on ...when it got wet it was see thru and this was in a co-ed pool! eek!
The japanese traditionally used to bath in natural warm spas in the mountains and they associate healing powers with these spas. Some spas in the remote areas are still shared by both sexes !! I always wanted to visit such a spa but never got round to going ;)
As far as the contrast in culture goes, you are right- it amazes me too. In some instances they are very conservative and traditional. But then they are also into porn and sex in a big way !! Have you ever seen their comic books ? Very interesting read!! And when ever you go in a train, there all loads of people reading these comics- very filthy and perverted storylines. But their TV is actually very clean- hardly ever get nudity- (believe me I have seen Jap TV for long periods waiting for a "totka"!). But then in every hotel I stayed, porn is avaialble and advertised !! It is very strange. I won't discuss Japanese porn here but I have been told by colleagues that it is also wierd and twisted!!
You are absolutely right though.