Old Folks' Views on Piracy?

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
3
I need some help from those of you who have lived in Japan for more than 5 years of your life, preferably those of you (if any? o_O) who are over the age of 50. But the youth will do just fine, too. :)

There's a nice Japanese grandma I met a few weeks back at this one mom-n-pop store. We are now on a talking basis (in Japanese) and the last time I saw her she even gifted me a Japanese mystery novel and a Japanese manga. I have learned from our conversations that she loves Japanese history and that she loves to watch period dramas. We even spent half an hour talking about Oda Nobunaga one time! So I want to repay her kindness with a gift of my own ...

I want to burn some Japanese dramas to DVD+R for her to watch. I was thinking of burning the first episodes of 華麗なる一族 (???, 2007), 義経 (NHK, 2005), and 篤姫 (NHK, 2008) to a single DVD+R for her and to then show up next week and ask her which, if any, of them she'd like to see more of.

Thing is, before I do this, I want to know what the typical attitude towards burning television rips to DVD is amongst the Japanese elderly. Is it a "hey, so long as you're not selling them or burning kajillions of them, it's fine by me" sort of attitude? (like in America?) Or do they take the moral high ground and frown upon this sort of thing, even when it's meant to be a gift? :|
 

aquamarine

I Know Better Than You
Mar 19, 2007
4,556
127
It's 8:47 and I'm actually awake. I hate being awake this early, namely because it usually means I've been out all night and caught the first train back to Tama Plaza. I guess I should have fully read your mail to me, sorry man. It's so long and I have a short attention span from time to time ;)

I think it'd be fine and dandy to hand it over. Most Japanese folks here really don't give a sniff about piracy and recorded shows. Hell, for all your Obachan there knows, these were just shows you taped from your VCR. Go ahead and give it as a gift. Send me another message with the titles of the other shows you want me to look for and I'll talk a gander in Tsutaya and HMV Shibuya when I wake up later this afternoon.
 

Rhinosaur

Outside Context Problem
Sep 23, 2007
2,008
614
My wife's parents regularly send us DVDs of TV rips. In fact, we've just finished watching 華麗なる一族!!
I'm sure she'll appreciate the gift.
 

Rhinosaur

Outside Context Problem
Sep 23, 2007
2,008
614
I wonder if either of those replies helped!
 

desioner

Sustaining L.I.F.E.
Staff member
Super Moderator
Nov 22, 2006
4,880
50,751
I agree with them. Both of my parents in law encourage me to pirate things for them. Rather than going to the video store and buying them you can simply rent them and copy them. I was a little thrown of by this at first as well but have gotten accustomed to it. She should enjoy the heartfelt gift.
おめでとう~
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
3
The store she works at, I didn't have a chance to visit over the weekend and is closed all day on Mondays. It's open from 4pm to 7pm on Tuesdays, so that's why I haven't posted an update yet, Rhinosaur: I have yet to deliver the gift!
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
3
I gave her the discs yesterday. She was very appreciative. I swung by the store again today on unrelated business, and while she wasn't there, her daughter was, and I explained to her daughter what I'd told her last night: that all but one of the discs is PC-compatible-only. The daughter suggested that Grandma hadn't quite understood that when I told her, but that she hadn't had a chance to watch them just yet anyway because (thinking all seven were DVD player compatible) they were working on hooking up a DVD player to Grandma's TV set. So ... yeah. I'm guessing a Japanese grandma is probably not accustomed to watching television while sitting on a chair 2 feet from a computer monitor, but hopefully their family can figure out a way to let Grandma enjoy the shows. I mentioned "codecs" and "VLC" to the daughter, and the moment I said "VLC," she gave me an affirmative nod and said that the family uses that on their computer to play video files. So, that at least is covered. Won't have to worry about Grandma not even being able to watch 'em from the PC.

I'll let you know what she thought of them if/when I find out.
 

aquamarine

I Know Better Than You
Mar 19, 2007
4,556
127
Good to hear, sounds like a good cross culture exchange is going on. So tell us more about the daughter...
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
3
Hottest milf ever. She's in her mid-30s, happily married, and has at least two kids of PlayStation 2-gaming age.
 

aquamarine

I Know Better Than You
Mar 19, 2007
4,556
127
That shouldn't stop you! :)
 

Rhinosaur

Outside Context Problem
Sep 23, 2007
2,008
614
Good to hear, sounds like a good cross culture exchange is going on. So tell us more about the daughter...
LOL! Took the words out of my keyboard!