Translations (JP to English)

[Colino]

It's at the foot of mount Fuji, it's not CALLED Mt.Fuji.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara

Japanese are simply more open to discussing topics relating to death whereas most Western cultures are deeply afraid of the subject.

They are most definitely not. I have no idea where you pulled that out of. They even stopped publishing the number of suicides that happen in said forest just to downlplay the tragedy.

I'm surprised that you think that. Isn't a huge part of Mandarin learning the intonation of all the words? It's not exactly Cantonese bad but still if you're not used to it I figured it would be a difficult task to master.

Yeah intonation is the main difficulty. But in all honesty it's not THAT bad. Most Mandarin speakers will still understand what you're saying as long as the context is there. It's not that many sounds to learn.

I have finally come to understand why they yell so much though, they have to make certain you understand the tones they're using.

[Betelgeuzah]

Yeah intonation is the main difficulty. But in all honesty it's not THAT bad. Most Mandarin speakers will still understand what you're saying as long as the context is there. It's not that many sounds to learn.

I have finally come to understand why they yell so much though, they have to make certain you understand the tones they're using.

Yeah I think there's like four different sounds? That's not too bad, but probably as difficult to learn as JP grammar. Not impossible but it takes some time to start "thinking" like them.

It's disgusting how the language is taught though. The particles are reduced to sound similar to "be"-verb even though that isn't even remotely accurate. As long as you can speak certain sentences thats 'good enough', but you never actually understand what you're saying. but that's besides the point.

[Murugan]

It's at the foot of mount Fuji, it's not CALLED Mt.Fuji.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara



They are most definitely not. I have no idea where you pulled that out of. They even stopped publishing the number of suicides that happen in said forest just to downlplay the tragedy.

The significance of the site to those contemplating suicide there is its relation to Mount Fuji, it is a traditional site with ties to death/spirituality going back thousands of years. My point was that it is not just "some forest" where a bunch of loons go to kill themselves because the country is crazy, but a deeply spiritual place with traditions going back hundreds if not thousands of years.

Second of all it is not true that they no longer report suicides there to "downplay the tragedy" Japan has among the best census and information gathering regarding the trends of its citizens of any country in the world, and as of 2011 they are still reporting on not only the number of suicides (and known suicide attempts) in Japan but also specifically in the forest.

How can the subject (even specifically in relation to Mt Fuji) be "covered up" when it is celebrated in renowned Japanese literature and poetry, and the contemporary connection well known. Sure many Japanese probably do not appreciate being painted by misguided/ignorant people as "suicide fetishists" and I'm sure the park's department doesn't appreciate having to deal with it, but that is hardly evidence of a culture-wide "cover up" of the realities of death and society. Truth is they are more open in this regard, and generally as a result the Japanese have a much more mature understanding of death/dying than is common today in some modern Western societies.

As to where I pull this stuff from mostly peer reviewed journals as it is a subject I teach. Some articles maybe you should read before judging an entire culture:

Char, D. F., Tom, K. S., Young, G. C., Murakami, T., & Ames, R. (1996). A view of death and dying among the Chinese and Japanese. Hawaii Medical Journal, 55, 12, 286-90.

OTANI, Izumi. (2010). "Good Manner of Dying" as a Normative Concept: "Autocide,""Granny Dumping" and Discussions on Euthanasia/Death with Dignity in Japan. International Journal of Japanese Sociology, 19, 1.)



For an outline of the vast differences between such death accepting societies as Japan (which is not related to suicide rate) and Western European/American examples of death denying societies (who also still can have high suicide rates). Here is a link to a textbook devoted to the subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Dance-Enc...7306788&sr=1-1