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Hey! Don't worry about the late reply or anything, I'm super busy too at the moment but this is an interesting discussion so as long as you want to talk about this stuff just reply whenever you have time :)

Thanks for telling me about your own ancestry and how you feel about them, and how connected you are with your local culture as well. Its interesting that you said that traditional Hawaiian culture has been virtually erased, which I think is a negative aspect to multiculturalism. Thanks for explaining what you mean by multiculturalism. I agree, but also think it is a little more complicated. For example, in the UK we consider Indians, Arabs etc as different cultures but they are, strictly speaking, the same race (falling under the name 'Caucasian'). But it is clear that their cultural values, history and religions are quite different to white Europeans. So for me multiculturalism is about a mix of these cultures rather than just a mix of races. Hope that makes sense.

As to your question, to my mind the Germanic, Latin and Slavic labels apply to languages and groups of tribes. 'Latin' people are descended from tribes that settled in one particular area of Europe and share common Latin-influenced languages. I'm sure it's much more complex than this however ethnically speaking - the labels are simply there to group tribes together by the language they speak. It's true that many tribes in the same regions look similar, but I think the labels apply more to the fact that language binds them more than ethnicity. If you've studied this you will likely know more than me, but I'll ask my Mum about this for you because she loves this part of history and probably can define this properly.

As you mentioned, multiculturalism is rising in Europe, this is a big issue at the moment. Firstly I will say that I believe some multiculturalism is good and helps foster tolerance and understanding. In the UK we have many well-integrated cultures and ethnic minorities from all over the world, and are tolerant of religions. It's nice to be able to live in harmony with people of different races and cultures, it helps us be understanding and promotes peace. Also, the native European population has a falling birth rate (like Japan) so we have to accept multiculturalism to an extent because of the need for immigration. But there is no doubt that it is important that we retain our ethnic identity as Caucasian Europeans, this too is very important for social cohesion, we need a 'dominant' but tolerant majority. I feel this has been achieved but is starting to go too far now in Europe. Social liberalism was necessary post-WWI and II to bring cultural tolerance and therefore peace to Europe, but this ideology is now outdated as we are forgetting the importance of nationalism too. Europe needs more balance, but I think things are reaching a head now as many native white Europeans are getting angry that their own needs as a people are being overlooked and the needs of ethnic minorities and minority cultures are being privileged. Hopefully this 'swing to the political right' will be a good thing for Europe and we can start to balance the need for multiculturalism and nationalism. What do you think, as a non-European, of nationalism vs multiculturalism? You say this is a similar issue in the US right now, how 'bad' is the situation here in your opinion?

I love history about WWII/WWI too :) Yeah, really interesting about the difference between Germany and Japan. TBH, I think both countries have their good and bad points in how they dealt with it. Germans know all about their horrible acts in the war, Japan seems to try to minimize it like you said, which is not really a good thing for future generations who will not learn about their mistakes. But Germany has suffered with a severe case of 'white guilt' which has lead to the over-promotion of multiculturalism in Europe, and Japan has retained its national pride and identity, which I think is a good thing. You give the example of the Japanese plane being restored and proudly being shown to the world - that's nice. In Berlin there is a huge memorial to the Jews right next to German parliament building - really huge. Whilst acknowledging their war crimes is very honorable and necessary, the Germans are tying themselves to the guilt of their ancestors, I think long-term this is not so good if they want to achieve balance in their ideologies. You are right, Germans flying a plane would cause outrage! But I have heard that military planes have been restored, they are simply in museums for people to visit, and are not promoted. To answer your question, I'm not sure if German veterans are respected or not, but I certainly do not think they are proud of fighting for their nation in WWII and do not advertise the fact they are war veterans. I will ask my Mum again then tell you (she is the half-German person in my family)

To answer your last question, I'd say I'm mixed European in the sense that looking at my family history I have Scottish, Irish, English, German and Hungarian ancestors. But this is only recently - I think all of these ancestors were mixed too from the various tribes that invaded each other. But my immediate family fall into the blonde hair blue/green eyes category if you are talking about the categorization according to looks, and my ancestors are more Germanic and Celtic than Latin - and there is no Slavic blood at all as far as I am aware. It is possible I have some very distant Jewish blood though through my Hungarian ancestors... it's complicated as you can probably guess :D

Hmmm that's really interesting what you say about Asians and Hawaiians and multiculturalism. Because your family is from Japan, do you feel closer to Japanese values and culture or to Hawaiian culture and values? Are you influenced by it (Japanese culture/values)? You said your father doesn't really know or care, maybe it's different for you? I'm really surprised to hear that a lot of mainland US people don't realise that Hawaii is part of the States lol. That is kind of frightening actually O.o

What you said about multiculturalism in Hawaii because of people being mixed, that kind of makes me think of Europe too. My mother and I had this discussion recently actually. Europe is a continent with many different larger and smaller countries, which originated with many different tribes (Celts, Saxons, Goths, Franks, Gauls etc) and then empires (Roman) and later aristocracy (French, Spanish and German to name some which had a big influence). Although ethnically different, they were always fighting, invading etc until boundaries were formed. So although there now are different countries with boundaries, there are many mixed people in Europe after centuries of invading and moving around. My mother studies family history and she traced Viking, French, Hungarian and Celtic blood in our family. I don't believe anyone in Europe is 'pure', or has been for a very long time, so I think perhaps this is where the muticultural attitude comes from (maybe like Hawaii).

You're right when you point out that Europeans are nice - maybe TOO nice - we are too 'soft' and naive when it comes to those inherently liberal attitudes. It absolutely needs to be balanced.You make an interesting point about Germany too. I stayed last summer with distant relatives in Germany (older couple in their 60s), and they are VERY liberal. I feel that that generation - incidently the generation that is currenty running the country - is still trying to apologise for what happened in WW2, they are honestly so ashamed of what Hitler and ordinary Germans did in that period of history. They have therefore tried to 'correct' the mistakes of their past by being very open to immigration (my opinion). But I don't think the younger generations have this deep shame, so things will like change in successive governments.

Interesting what you said about people being influenced by the media, that is a stereotype that many Europeans have about mainland Americans. I honestly avoid the newspapers and TV news cause it is sooo biased, you can't trust anything you read or see. The media also likes to whip up hate and resentment too. For example, during the Syrian migrant crisis where many people were trying to get to the UK, that is all the media would talk about - OMG thousands of evil terrorist parasite migrants trying to illegally invade the UK!!! Many British people reading newspapers understandably got scared and angry about it. Turns out it was TOTALLY exaggerated, there were only a couple of hundred people, and none of them got into the UK (I think). So I generally ignore that crap :P Also I think the 'no go' areas in UK and France aren't because of Sharia law or Muslims, it's simply because they are ghettos with drugs and gang warfare, like in any large city in any country, regardless of ethnicity or religion.

Interesting about Hawaiians disliking white Americans because of their history. I don't know much about that admittedly, feel free to go into detail if you like :) What do you think about those issues, and that long-standing hate? We have that here between English/Scottish/Welsh and Irish btw (everyone hates the English for things that happened hundreds of years ago) Also, you said that it would be shame for Europe to lose its native majority (I mostly agree with you btw), how do you think that can 'native' can be defined? Both of us seem to have mixed blood and immigration in our family histories to different extents, so to what point do you think we can be considered native to our countries and who is considered an immigrant? Hope those questions make sense...!

Yeah, South Park is epic, so glad it is still going after so many years! I know what you mean about Western shows being better for dark humour. I guess that's why the likes of NHK, Watamote etc are kind of a nice surprise. The characters in NHK were also really unique and kinda more realistic than in other anime, which is why I liked them too.

About multicuturalism in Europe, to be honest I think a lot of us in Western Europe - especially France and the UK - are VERY liberal and open-minded about other cultures, religions etc. That's why in those countries you will find people from all over the world integrating into society. Some of my best UK friends have Turkish or Chinese origin, and my boss and colleagues have Indian/Pakistani origin. So for me personally, I am liberal in my views, I think that having a mix of different cultures in your country helps the society as a whole be more open-minded. Of course it is good to have a national identity and culture, but it is about balance - being accepting but also retaining your culture's values. My best friend has all Turkish family, and he is very 'British' in his views, but also retains some of his Turkish/Muslim culture. Some of my family are German, and they are British but retain some German culture. I think that is a nice balance. Generally, in the UK we are very open to accepting foreigners, helping them integrate, being friends with them etc. When I lived in France I noticed they have a similar attitude too. I think that's why a lot of people here get upset when there is Islamic terrorism or extremism, because we cannot understand why some 'homegrown' terrorists hate us so much after we have welcomed them to our countries. So at the moment you will find a lot of angry British and French people that seem very conservative, but I think that's a just a reaction and not their true liberal nature.

For other parts in Europe I think they can be more conservative. My brother in Poland, for example, has told me that the culture is much more closed to others. From my experience, I think that's true, no offence to the people of Eastern Europe but sometimes I have heard quite racist things come out of their mouths lol. What about in Hawaii, and your own views? Do you think a lot of Americans are very conservative? (I don't know many Americans tbh)

Hey, no worries for the late reply, sorry mine is a bit late too! Thanks for all that info, all of it is really, really interesting. Hawaii sounds like a place that you can really enjoy your life, because of the nice weather, snorkeling + surfing + hiking, beautiful scenery, festivals, beaches, tasty food, friendly people etc. I guess it must be annoying to have the cost of living so high, and that there are not many different jobs to choose from. Still, seen as you love living there it's good that you can stay, unlike some of your friends who had to move away. That statistic about more cars than people though, haha, that's really hard to imagine! Also I didn't realise people in Hawaii smoked so much, I googled it and someone suggested that weed should be the State Plant because everyone is smoking it xD Here people smoke too, but it is less accepted, but getting completely drunk is totally normal, I know some foreigners are shocked by it sometimes when they visit the UK. Anyways, if you ever need any recommendations for visiting UK or for traveling cheap in Europe, feel free to ask :)

Also, I just noticed that we have some favourite anime in common, you must have great taste, haha. I just watched NHK ni Youkoso last month and thought it was amazing, really funny (2nd half not so good though IMHO). Have you seen WataMote? It's a similar theme to NHK - a social misfit trying to improve their life - but is mostly comedy with not a lot of plot. It is very funny though, if you like dark humour...

Wow, I'm seriously impressed, you've visited more countries in Europe than me and I have no excuse really ;) Which place made the biggest impression on you when you visited Europe? I lived in Cardiff (Wales, UK) for uni, then lived for 5 years in France in Toulouse and then Marseille. Marseille is one of my favourite cities because it has a lot of character, a real mix of people, and of course it is next to the Mediterranean sea which is great for swimming/diving/kite surfing etc. I've visited a few countries in Europe, but Germany and Poland are two that I like a lot because I have family links to them, my grandmother is German and my brother lives in Poland with his Polish wife. Outside of Europe I've just visited New York City and Russia (Moscow and Kazan). There are many places I'd love to go but having the money to do it is the problem. If you like partying I highly recommend Poland and Russia, the vodka flows very freely there :D

I'm guessing you really enjoy travelling because you've been to so many places! I looked up your island Oahu and apart from looking amazing I noticed it's quite small. Do you ever feel claustrophobic living on an island? Or are there plenty of things to do so you never get bored? Hope you don't mind me asking all these questions, I'm just curious and it's really interesting to learn something new from people with a different background/living in a totally different part of the world :)

Oh that's cool that you're interested in the UK! I've always wanted to visit Hawaii, just something about it that appeals to me. When I watched the series Lost it just made me want to visit even more, I was just blown away by the scenery because it wasn't like anything I'd seen before. I'd also love to learn to surf because I love the sea and watersports, but I live kind of far away from it so for the moment it's not an option. I saw some videos of some absolutely massive waves in Hawaii, can you surf those? :D

I grew up in an area called the Peak District National Park in England, its a pretty central location and is very popular with visitors for the scenery, hill walking, climbing etc. I've lived in quite a few different places but am currently back here until I get bored and want to move again ;) Yeah, the UK does have quite a few nice beaches. The region of Cornwall is popular with tourists and surfers, particuarly a town called Newquay. It's in the South West corner of England. It's warm enough to actually grow real palm trees there, unlike most of the rest of the UK where you might just find an occasional plastic palm tree ;) Weather is pretty depressing here at the moment, not too cold but only about 8 hours of daylight per day so it just feels really, really dark all the time!

What did you think of the UK when you visited and where did you go? Have you visited other places in Europe? Are you from Honolulu originally or just living there now?

Thanks again for the feedback, it's nice to hear and very encouraging because I'm a bit of a perfectionist and tend to hate everything I write :D I want to do some more reviews soon about anime I've seen recently before I forget what happened, so you can look out for those if you like.

You've seen a lot of anime, you planning on doing any reviews yourself? Got any favourites? Oh and can I just say how intensely jealous I am that you are in Honolulu, and that you can actually list surfing as an interest. Where I'm from it's cold and grey and the sea is ice cold even in the summer... Seriously, what I wouldn't give to be on a beach in Hawaii!! ;)

Ah, cheers, that means a lot! It's the first time I've ever tried reviewing anything so nice to have some positive feedback :) Have you seen School Days/do you plan to watch it?

Welcome to the club, RioOba-san. ^_^

I can't stand vodka haha! It sends me dizzy and I'm more just a casual drinker than someone who goes to parties all the time :)

Yeah just beer for me!

Hey man, no I don't smoke at all :) never have and never will

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKCR3sZ9EQ

moshi moshi motherfucker