Ran across some strange happenings in webdom the other day, something that really has us scratching our heads over here at the International JAPUNDIT Media Complex.

Over on Otaku International, there is a post dated August 11, 2008 titled Apparantly some Foreigners are more Japanese than Japanese People, which contains the passage:

The first foreign featured is Ivan Orkin, an American chef who owns and operates Ivan Ramen, a noodle restaurant in Tokyo. In addition to making great ramen. Ivan takes time every day to travel around his neighborhood greeting local shopkeepers, a polite gesture that makes him “more Japanese” to others.

The second foreigner is Jenya, a Russian girl that is a minor celebrity in Akihabara, where she apparently does some tour guide stuff. The reporter is very impressed with her Japanese, noting that she even writes mobile phone mails in Japanese instead of English. She says that she has passed level 2 of the Japanese language proficiency test. The report then contains some information about the JLPT.

The next part of the report focuses on a Brazilian man who is very knowledgeable about kanji and traditional Japanese sayings. Having lived in Japan for just 9 years, he is able to answer questions that many Japanese cannot answer after having lived their entire lives here. And at the end of the segment, Ivan and the Brazilian guy comment on things they like about Japan. The Brazilian guy is fond of the kindness and consideration Japanese people show towards others. Ivan particularly likes the phrase otsukaresama, which is used to recognize the hard work of others.

Contrast this with the following passage, which is from a post over on Japan Probe, which is dated August 12, 2008 and titled Foreigners who are more Japanese than Japanese people:

The first foreign featured is Ivan Orkin, an American chef who owns and operates Ivan Ramen, a noodle restaurant in Tokyo. In addition to making great ramen, Ivan takes time every day to travel around his neighborhood greeting local shopkeepers - a polite gesture that makes him “more Japanese” than the average young person in Japan these days. For more info on Ivan, check out this Wall Street Journal article.

The second foreigner is Jenya, a Russian girl that is a minor celebrity in Akihabara, where she apparently does some tour guide stuff. The reporter is very impressed with her Japanese, noting that she even writes mobile phone mails in Japanese instead of English. She says that she has passed level 2 of the Japanese language proficiency test. The report then contains some information about the JLPT, demonstrating some of the difficult questions that are found on the test.

The next part of the report focuses on a Brazilian man who is very knowledgeable about kanji and traditional Japanese sayings. Having lived in Japan for just 9 years, he is able to answer questions that many Japanese cannot answer after having lived their entire lives here.

At the end of the segment, Ivan and the Brazilian guy comment on things they like about Japan. The Brazilian guy is fond of the kindness and consideration Japanese people show towards others. Ivan particularly likes the phrase otsukaresama, which is used to recognize the hard work of others.

Now I wrote directly to Japan Probe and to Otaku International yesterday asking about the obvious similarities between the two posts (even the typos are duplicated), but neither has responded. The Otaku International post is dated earlier, but that really does not mean anything since dates can be specified as desired.

So I guess we are all left with the unanswered question: Who exactly is ripping off whom?