Posts Tagged: Half

Miscellaneous — 12 Comments
6
Dec 07

Ramsay Ramblings 12/6/2007

There are a few things I’d like to ramble about this morning (2:30am!).

The word “Half” – to allow it or not

Mami and I were talking about what to tell Rikuto about the word, “half”. If you missed my post, Half-Japanese or Half-Blood?, this English word is used by Japanese people to describe someone who is only part Japanese. Foreigners despise this word because the English implications are not complete, impure, or even polluted.

The problem is that Japanese people have absolutely no idea we see it as a derogatory term, and say things like “Ah, isn’t he cute? Is he a half?” or “You’re so lucky to have a half!”. How should we respond to these kind of comments? And at what age should we teach Rikuto that it’s wrong for people to refer to him as “half”?

Mami is worried that if I jump on everyone that describes him that way, he’ll learn from me that it’s derogatory, and lose all self-confidence when he hears everyone using that term to describe him! I can understand what Mami is getting at. She wants to protect him until he’s old enough to understand an explanation. Fortunately, we’ve still got a long time to think this one through. 

Google’s war on paid links 

Mike lost his PageRank and Jason was finally spanked by Google this week, and I’ve been scrambling to make my websites compliant with Google’s new policies on paid linking so the same thing doesn’t happen to me. Most of you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about, but basically Google is punishing people who sell text link advertising. Mike, Jason and I all wrote sponsored posts and got paid to do so, but now Google has outlawed that practice, at least if you still want people to find your blog in Google’s search results. The reason for this “shock and awe” phase of Google’s ”war on paid links” is that it’s possible to manipulate their search results by buying text advertising and using words you expect people to search for to find your site.

LongCountdown.com penalized by Google anyway

I still have my “PageRank” for the time being, but Google has penalized me for something else which I’ve yet to identify. If you search for my name right now, you’re unlikely to find me on the first page of Google’s search results. In fact, you might have to go as far as page three to find LongCountdown.com. This fall from number three to page three isn’t what bothers me, though. The real kicker is that my Writing Wizard website sits in a subdomain of this blog, and that means my most profitable website has also been pushed off the front page of Google’s search results.

If it’s broke, fix it

The bright side to all this is that while I try to figure out what change I need to make to this blog to “reactivate” it in Google, I’m learning a few things about “bad neighbourhoods” and other factors that can topple a site from it’s perch. I’m quite confident I’ll have things back to normal within a month. Fortunately, my other sites are holding up well and still putting money in my pocket while I ride this out. Update: Within 48 hours, I was back ranking where I should be. I did this by ensuring I was in compliance with Google Webmaster Guidelines, finding questionable links with the bad neighborhood tool and then removing them, and finally submitting a reconsideration request through Google Webmaster Tools.

Two weeks Christmas holidays coming up

I only realized the other day that I have nothing to do during this year’s festive holidays! Whoo-hoo! It’s the longest holiday of the year for me, but I usually find myself busy with something. Last year we moved house; the year before that we went to England on our belated honeymoon, and previous Christmases have had me developing school curriculum! This year, besides doing all I can to appease Google, I have nothing to do but play with Rikuto! I’ll probably set up a playroom for him in a spare room, somewhere he can safely run around and bump into things – once he discovers he has legs, of course. 

Spending Christmas Day with my family in England

This year will be the first time we can really put our web camera to good use. Rikuto’s grandparents in England finally got broadband last month and that means we’ll be sitting around having drinks together, and opening presents with them through the internet!

Japan — 15 Comments
24
Sep 07

Half Japanese or Half-Blood?

When I lived in England, I was never particularly concerned with whether people around me were completely English, half English, or just a bit English. I mean, what did it matter? I myself am actually half Scottish, a quarter English and a quarter Italian, but nobody made a big deal of it.

Before I rant about Japan’s obssession with geneology, here’s the concept of blood purity in the world of Harry Potter:

Wizards who have four magical grandparents are known as pure-blood; those who have one or more Muggle (non-magical) grandparents are known as half-blood. Those with two Muggle parents are known as Muggle-born, or, pejoratively, as “Mudblood”. Among pure-blooded families, a division exists between those who accept and appreciate those of mixed or Muggle parentage, such as the Weasley family, and those who consider such people inferior. (Source: Wikipedia)

In Japan, the common term for someone with a foreign parent is “half”, meaning half Japanese. While this isn’t meant to be derogatory, I’m reminded of the terms half-blood and mudblood and can’t help but feel describing someone as “half” implies they are impure.

I bring this up because my son, Rikuto, is “half”, and it’s really bizarre when I show people pictures of him and they suddenly realize they are looking at a “half”. Usually this is followed by cries of kawaii! (he’s so cute!), because despite the implication of impurity, most Japanese are envious of and love that foreign-look.

Becky - Half-bloodOne Japanese celebrity who has found success purely on her impurity is Becky, daughter of a Japanese mother and British father. Becky had dual citizenship until she turned 20 and had to choose a single nationality by Japanese law. She decided to be Japanese and has found a career on variety shows, game shows and any other program that needs the “cute appeal” of a “half”.

Becky is more than just a mudblood, though. She’s actually a graduate of Tokyo’s Asia University and holds a degree in Business Administration.

While it would be great if Rikuto grows up to be the most handsome half-blood Japan has ever seen, I hope he follows Becky’s lead and gets himself an education to fall back on should the Japanese ever stop oggling at “halves” like him.