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Hated for liking AKB48

Discussion in 'General AKB48 Discussion' started by Tommy Idoc, May 20, 2017.

  1. Tommy Idoc

    Tommy Idoc Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2015
    Oshimen:
    tanoyuuka
    I'm going to school currently, and one thing is bugging me. I always see people stare at me as I'm working. When I'm just listening to AKB48, I can feel their stares, calling me a "weeb." Basically, I wanted to know if any of you guys felt like this before. Have you ever felt hated for liking AKB48?
     
  2. Kiri

    Kiri Member Stage48 Donor

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    岡田奈々 / 손채영
    How do they know you are listening to akb48? If you are listening music without headphones/earphones in public you kinda deserve some hate :^^;:.

    To answer your question: Nop, not even once. I don't really care, that much, what people think of me. But in my case the only people that knows that i'm into akb is my family since i listen to music out loud in my room, but they have already figured out that i have a "wide" music taste and in public i always keep my music to myself. Sometimes in college when i have free time i watch some akb music videos on my phone, but if people think something bad of me i haven't noticed it.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2017
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  3. Nieru

    Nieru Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2015
    hmm calling you a weeb not a wota? Usually akb fans get called the latter much more often.

    I definitely got stuck with a wota character among a group of friends but meh I can't deny any of it.
     
  4. Spoony Rice

    Spoony Rice Member

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    I was bullied for liking AKB48 and buying merchandise since apparently females can't own CD's or books with other girls on it unless they like girls, but I've never been hated for it. Since the majority of my friends also listen to asian pop there isn't any gap. I do think it's weird for hating someone for their taste in music though.
     
  5. ranchu

    ranchu Kenkyuusei

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    May 30, 2011
    Oshimen:
    Murayama Yuiri
    People who know me they know I only listen Idols music but time ago like in 2008 or 2009 I had that feeling because it was definitely uncommon to hear this music, but later kpop music began to become popular and my music taste became less rare, besides never really cared what people think about my wonderful music taste.
     
  6. teleportation

    teleportation Kenkyuusei

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    Apr 2, 2014
    Oshimen:
    shimadaharuka
    I've kinda had the opposite experience. I'm pretty discreet about liking idols but when I've had friends over and had AKB music on in the background, I tend to get more compliments than I expect (tbh though I find this is true of J-pop in general). My roommates have been in the same room while I had lives/stages/jankens/documentaries etc on and their reactions have mostly been fascination or disbelief.

    I've gotten the rare bad reaction too but that never stemmed from the "damn weebs..." sentiment. It was always people who only knew AKB from gross "idols are child sexual slavery" articles and thought that by loving the girls and listening to the music I was somehow in support of grown men jacking it to 12-year-olds.
     
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  7. marioworldakb

    marioworldakb Under Girls Stage48 Donor

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    You ain't getting hated, but being bullied. It's k I think 90% of the peeps who has any Japanese related hobbies here got that same treatment as well.

    Including me. But it's aight, they dunno what they are missing out in life :hehe:
     
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  8. Tommy Idoc

    Tommy Idoc Kenkyuusei

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    Jul 22, 2015
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    tanoyuuka
    Literally, I watch "Yobisute Fantasy" while working. I know I get stares watching girls play with a purple-monster. And to @Nieru, the word "wota" isn't used that much. "Ween" however is used for anyone with any interest in Asian-stuff.
     
  9. technosworld

    technosworld Kenkyuusei

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    USA
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    furuhatanao
    tell them "yes, I'm a weeb...so what?"
     
  10. Silenka

    Silenka Future Girls Retired Staff

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2012
    Location:
    USA
    If you openly like anime and jpop to the point where that is most of what your hobbies consist of then you are a weeb.
    I'm a weeb. Over half this forum is weebs.

    Look, I hated that label before too. I went to college and got a Japanese degree, put my focus on learning history and literature ("real" things instead of pop culture things) and insisted over and over again that I had freed myself from being a weeb while I looked on in pity at the plebs who still thought that knowing 5 japanese words from anime and what onigiri was made them a japanese culture expert.

    And then I realized, some years later, that I was still an obnoxious weeb the whole time and I was simply in denial, trying to suppress my true nature. Knowing more, unfortunately, doesn't make you not a weeb :|

    So just stop worrying about it. Like what you like, try not to be obnoxious about it around other people (especially if they don't care about anime/japanese pop culture) and don't mind when people call you a weeb, cause you probably are. You can absolutely strike a balance being knowledgeable and also a slavering fanboy/girl of japanese culture, but if you are at all the latter you will probably be known as a weeb rather than a japanese historian or whatever else you want to think of yourself as.
     
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  11. nobodywil

    nobodywil Upcoming Girls

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2009
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    From the Islands to The Bay
    I listen to akb at work... nobody has stared at me or called me "weeb" (and nobodywil :awesome:). I never pay attention to them. Why, because I'm busy working!


    Also nobody said anything to me directly about the choice of music I listen to. I do wear a headphones during work and it not loud enough for others to hear. So Im not disturbing anyone. All I can say is, if nobody confronts you... you should enjoy listening to what you like. Don't let what you think everyone "might" be thinking about your type of music.


    Be confident! We all have our favorite genres, we enjoy listening to. Don't expect too much from other that don't. Like what you like and thats all that matters. :flower:
     
  12. David61

    David61 Under Girls Stage48 Donor

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    The only people who really know about my interest are either Asian or are British ex-pats who live in Asia. The reaction is always the same - they ask me "why do you prefer J-pop? K-pop is much better!"Last year I did a basic Japanese language course at my local college. The tutor was a middle-aged Japanese lady and one day after the class I told her privately about my interest in AKB48 and that I'd attended HS and 2-shot events in Japan. Her reaction though was totally one of disinterest.

    Like others here, if I listen to any AKB48 songs at work I always wear earphones. My colleagues know vaguely about my interest in Japan and Japanese culture but I think for them it's no different than anyone else's personal interests and hobbies.
     
  13. Silenka

    Silenka Future Girls Retired Staff

    Joined:
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    USA
    One time I told a famous female Noh performer that I like AKB. She said "but you're a girl...?" lmao
    While my professor seemed to disapprove of any talk of pop culture with them (or other professors) as it is apparently shameful and indecent to academics :glare: part of the reason that pushed me out of interest in academia - they are all so uptight about literally everything, you can't even have a normal conversation and you must pretend to be someone prim and proper at all times. Japanese culture is like that, and academia is like that too so getting into Japanese academia is like a double whammy of expected propriety. It was positively suffocating 100% of the time.

    I'm just hijacking to vent at this point :^^;: But it's something that always bothered me.
    But yeah, general Japanese public's reaction to AKB of course won't be one of interest unless they are already interested in idols. That's fairly expected. But you'd at least expect a Japanese teacher to be excited that you visited Japan before...
     
  14. Bull Moose

    Bull Moose Kenkyuusei

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    Kanagawa, Japan
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    sashihararino
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    I'm a college student. I kept the whole idol thing a secret, but first day last semester, I went ahead and told my entire Japanese class up front that "毎日AKB48を聴きます” (I listen to AKB48 everyday) lol. This semester has been the same thing. We had to do an ice breaker in a culture course where we teach our partner something about Japanese culture and my partner quoted me in front of the class, "I learned that AKB48 is the most popular music group in Japan":hehe:

    It's gotten to the point where nearly everybody taking Japan-related courses at my university probably knows about how much I like AKB48. My professors actually started putting AKB48 pictures on powerpoints and one of my classmates brought up idols in his presentation to bait me to talk about it :^^;: I even gave a presentation on Idols in Japan 2 weeks ago and I'm working on my final research paper about idols right now. I think most of them actually think I'm sort of creepy and over the top, but eh.

    That being said, I still haven't met another wota at my uni even though I'm completely open about it. When I tried telling these Japanese exchange students, their facial expression kind of looked disgusted:glare:
     
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  15. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

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    Iwasa Misaki
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    Hated? Sounds a bit extreme. Obviously anyone who would hate you for your music choices wasn't a friend to begin with.

    On the other hand, I think oftentimes people become so excited and consumed with their new-found hobby and interest that they want to expose it to everyone they know. I was guilty of this too when I first started getting into J-pop. However, I found as a Westerner that this isn't the smartest tactic, as there are built in assumptions that many people have that ultimately make their way into the conversation. I mean the entire concept of idols (in the Japanese context) is quite foreign to people in the West. So I learned to keep my J-pop/idol fandom mostly to myself and people who share the same interest. I never try to get my friends into it. I am also mindful of where I post about it. I have a blog, and most everyone on my twitter feed are either from Japan, or are interested in Japan. Of course there is this forum too. Facebook, on the other hand, is where my family and childhood friends are, so I limit any talk about idols there, and write more about the cultural aspects of Japan.
     
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  16. Tuhis

    Tuhis Member

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    Jan 5, 2008
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    Furuhata Nao
    Dunno about hate but being a fan of mostly underage girls in short skirts is not really an socially acceptable hobby here for someone approaching his forties. Some of my close friends and family members are aware though.
     
  17. kyoto48☀︎☂

    kyoto48☀︎☂ Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2015
    No, never happened to me before. My close friends and my gf know I like akbg stuff. Both japanese and foreign ones think its weird, because lets face it liking akb is something that even most japanese people hide from each other lol. They joke around with me about it, but its in the way that friends make fun of each other.

    People that are just ok friends or acquaintances don't know I like akb. They just know that I speak japanese well and I used to live there, but then again I don't watch or listen to akb around them. And I definitely don't say I really like akb to any new japanese people I meet lol


    But I would say that watching/listening to idol music in the west and expecting no reaction at all is really naive on your part.

    I mean really.... think about what you wrote here:


    :huh:



    Or how about this. Pretend that you are someone who's never heard of an idol before, and never seen an idol group before. And then you see your coworker watching this:


    vlcsnap-2012-12-08-16h22m03s115.png

    What do you think is going through their head?

    Yea...



    btw, its not just akb. Japanese male/female idols in general are super cringey.
    God knows what they'd think of you if they saw this on your screen:

    arashi6.jpg
     
  18. parukii

    parukii Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2017
    lmfaoo what a cute story!

    SCREAMSSSSSS!!

    As for me, back when I liked AKB alot, I would tell anyone who asked that I like idols. Most of my friends thought it was cute how I liked them. Nothing negative. Some of them didn't like their music but I don't get bullied for it or anything.

    Also, if they bully you then they're not your friends!!!
     
  19. EinhanderX

    EinhanderX Next Girls

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2015
    My story was a bit different.

    I never got hated by common people who just happen to stare at my music/video collection, at all. It's my privacy and they respect that. Given I didn't watch them at study/work hour, my life stayed the same.

    It actually changed some months later when I did a harmless venture outside AKB, into the sister group(SKE and NMB at that time, HKT sometime later during their creation). From that moment, I can feel the sense of being outcasted by my "Supposed" close friends, who actually introduced me first to the AKB realm. Once, I heard them murmuring "Traitor". I pretend I didn't heard that. We are still distant until today.

    Other than that, my life stayed the same.
     
  20. Trinu

    Trinu Under Girls

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    Jul 30, 2010
    Location:
    Earth-616
    Your lives are so extra.

    My friends just ask me not to play "the Chinese" when we're drinking, but that's about it.

    Being "hated" for your music taste is both ridiculous and immature.
    I'd just stay away from those people.

    Unless you're one of those people who refuse to listen to anything that isn't from Japan and look down upon people who can't be bothered while trying to force feed them your higher taste with youtube videos constantly.
    Then I'd stay away from you. :^^;:
     

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