Do Japanese say "I Love You"?

... to tell that I'm also not Japanese! ;p

idk what it means sor i found this site lookin 4 an exact definition, reading most of ur storys makes me know my young relationship is just starting and that i may need to show more lov, i realy now want to learn japanese for my girlfriend. she is actually mexican but realy into japanese culture and know alot more now that u can never be to affectionate, thanks for all the inspiration,
joey
age 17, united states

Americans in general are comfortable expressing their feelings and want to have others expess them as well ...we all need to feel loved and culturally americans want to hear it as well...It shouldn't be hard for japanese to see and be able to recognize this ...If we were to die tommarrow wouldn't it be a nice thing that the last words out of our mouths to onre another were " I love you" ??
Saying it too much is never be a bad thing ...Everyone needs to be reminded at all times that they are cared for and appreciated ...
This forum lasting for 3 years proves that japanese men and women should take a longer look at the way they are expressing or not expressing their emotions,esspecially towards americans...To stand firmly and stubornly refuse to openly let your mate know your feelings isn't trying to understand and give them the kind of love they need...My opinion is that if someone is saying it constantly to you ,,,than they are telling you how they want to be loved ..If they are touching .. they want to be touched .. if they are kissing they want to be kissed...I think people give love the way they would like to get it in return. I think many Japanese secretly long for love in this way///a very western way//hugging /kissing etc.. then when they marry someone from another country and get hugs and kisses and constant bombardment of I love you's ...They revert back to their old ways and act like they don't want it because they don't get from it what they expected....AH ..love is strange!

What you say is too cruel. This cant be true

Actually when i come to think about it...it was me who said "I love you" first. Because I already knew from the beginning that Japanese men are not so used at saying it...my observation from songs, books and movies.

At first, my japanese boyfriend honestly told me that he was not expecting it because he was used to japanese girls waiting for the ir boyfriend say it. I said I said because thats how I felt and I was not expecting anything, I just wanted him to hear it from me.It was the truth.

After I explained myself, my boyfriend (I guess) realized that it was important for me to hear it from him once in a while. Nowadays, he tells me he loves me, when we have not have time to catch up when he is busy, when i feeling bad and when he comes to visit me. I believe it is a big effort from him considering that he is not to such demonstration
of affection.

i guess sometimes we have to talk and explain to them to make them realize the importance of saying what we really feel.

I have been dating a Japanese guy for little over a month now and he just said ''anatano kotowo zutto aishimasu'' to me the other day haha.
So I guess it's easy for some. I don't recall who said I love you first, but he says it to me about 5-10 times a day. I guess I am lucky, because I am the type who likes hearing it fairly often.

Also I've had a different Japanese guy tell me Daisuki after talking for one week.

Both of these guys say they are shy, but I think their version of shy is a little different then others!

Have everyone of you noticed that forgot ALL about droberts? The one that started this thread?

HOW SELFISH!!!!!!

He was feeling so sorry, also he has cancer. Someone is asking how he feels? Me yes....

Hello droberts, how are you? What happened with your wife? How is going on your theraphy? Maybe you don't even read this post, but I really will like to hear about you and your situation.

droberts, are you still alive?

And here I thought I understood Japanese culture. Something about me wishes that western culture was more like Japanese. Not only are western men expected to understand non-verbal communications from a woman, but we have no basis for it!

Other than that I was both disturbed and moved by the posts in this thread. Japense reminds me much about Greek where there are many distinctions about what you are expressing based on the word you choose, where in English there is often one (very over-used word). There was the abused western woman who left her caring Japanese B/F to be with an abusive western man who only spoke sweet words more often, but did not act them. I can not understand how a person can not accept both the words and the actions - each alone are merely performances and a person in their most basic emotional states are the most pure - obviously someone who is shy has much more to give than someone who is angry emotionally, but that is something for women to learn. I digress, as I suspect many who are already hurt are not ready to be more hurt, and this is not my intention. I simply wanted to express how amazing this discussion on Love is, and how it has changed my views on it and how others may see it. Other than my family I only used Love with one other and I now know that she did not mean what I meant when I said "Love". I actually have a yearning that we westerners had more respect for the feeling or the title of love, and had other words that we would use for strong affection, but were not insulting for someone who you may have more than a friendship with, but may never marry...

May you be blessed with many pain free years. Assuming you still read here. I fear you turned for the worst but perhaps it was for the better.

Either way I see it has been two years and even if your relation to this thread has ended, thank you for starting it.

Shame to those who use your name only to complain that we don't want to ask how you are. What a silly question - if you wanted us to know I'm sure you would have told us.

Yeah I'm usually really silent until I find something to say...

I thought I should followup with a claim that anyone can pretend - of course - in any situation, if they have some kind of bizarre or perverted goal some people would do/say almost anything even if it is not true to them. My first impression about the first poster with Cancer is that he has a hard time finding Women by hunting normally so he found a foreign woman who wanted an American connection somehow. Perhaps I am just Jaded ( yes yes and I was only with one woman, but I often suspect I have become so ) however I have seen too many situations where one person wanted to get something out of the other, and when that was done it would mean the end of the effort, or the action, as it may be. That's not to stop a relationship from going on for several years after the goal is complete - finding a new mate is hard, working things out with a new person is hard. Sometimes reliving old problems is easier than trying to find someone new. Sometimes someone who is taken is more wanted, some people use this to their advantage....But then *again* I am trying hard not to focus on the horrid possibilities, but I am rather reveling in this idea that there can be an entirly different manner of courtship. Rather not that there can be, but rather there is, and for some bizarre reason people are clinging to old ways on both sides like they will drown.

I noticed a lot of people claiming that they are Japanese or have a Japense other, who says "I Love You" but I suspect that they did not really read anything because this is not about the English form of the word (which we can all agree is easy to say can can be used to describe anything from candy to the opposite sex) to Japanese forms which can be anything from a "Like" to a "Romantic Love" to a more formal love... We westerners of course have words for all that but ancient religious crap taught us to hate all the other words. Gee wiz...lust? No that's a bad devil word we dun use it here, nah then we'd go to hell....

Anyway yeah that's my 22.3336 cents...

aishimasu.

I'm in relationship with Japanese guy.He anytime says to me "I love you" ^-^ I'm so happy with him.

Yes the japanese say I love you!They don't say it as often,but yes they say I love you.Japanese people aren't really strict theyre carefree people unless your in Karate or in the army or your just mean.Most of them are very lovey duvey,but some aren't. sum up my answer:yes they say I love you.

you can say daisuki or suki anata ga or suki anata desu thats what i know ^^

well there's many ways to say, "i love you" in japanese, so i'll list some down.

just note that AI means LOVE.

- AiShiteru [i use this one mainly]
- Aisuru [sometimes i use this]

i hope that helped. ^^;
i'm not really great with explaining things..

Ah, it is both touching and heartbreaking to her some of the stories and responses here.

Honestly, I am quite confused. I am an American male, dating a Japanese female. We have known each other for going on 7 months and it's really great to have her by my side.

The thing that struck me as odd, was that she and I both say, "I love you," and "Aishiteru". She does not seem to have any problem with it at all, in fact, we say it every day.

Also, pertaining to DRoberts, I am sorry to hear how unfortunate your situation is. It's been forever since anyone has really posted here and I'm sure you are over it by now but I know how hard your situation must've been.

My girlfriend is actually a Leukemia survivor. She never thought that love could really exist because of these and other situations.

Honestly, I feel lucky to have her. Not only because of our different cultures, but also, our different lifestyles. They are totally opposite, but somehow, we have an incredible chemistry that can only be defined as a miracle.

So, I guess it really just depends on the people, their desire to be happy and their devotion to each other while still being able to be realistic about life.

I hope that if you do read this, you are at a better time in your life and that maybe you will realize that even though you have an unfortunate disease, happiness is still possible.

this is an interesting thread. so many stories, so much love.
i'm no Japanese, nor dating one. i'm a girl from HK dating an american guy. it's same with me or our culture we don't really say I love you in the native language. however we do tell each other i love you each day. because we both do feel it. but i wanna ask the guys this out of the blue question....when do(did) you think you and your significant other should get married? i just wanna know...things are going great and we've been dating for almost 1.5 years..i can't wait to know that he wants to spend his life with me too. i'd really appreciate your response.

I Love You, Je ta'aim, Te Amo...

In Spanish we have two ways of telling someone we care for them. The basic "Yo te quiero" which almost translates to "I care for you". Or "Te amo" which runs deeper than anything else.

When someone says I love you it means they have thought of you throughly and figured out that you are essential to them and very precious. Without you, they find life cold and empty.

We Spanish express emotions explicitly. Often we are described of hot-blood. If I personally can't say I love you to someone I imagined my heart would burst.

So, I guess to each his own. Hahaha! kind of funny though, If I were to visit Japan it would probably be scandalous.

It really does just depend on the person.

My boyfriend, who's Japanese and has lived in Japan his entire life, started saying "I love you" about a month into the relationship, except he'd always add on that he was joking. I wasn't very serious about the relationship at the time so that didn't bother me but after a few weeks it was kind of disheartening that he'd say that and I never knew whether he was joking or not. I never said it as a joke, because I personally can't say it (in a romantic way) unless I really mean it.

About 2 months or so into the relationship we both finally said "I love you" seriously. At first I had trouble figuring out whether he meant it or was still kidding, but it's obvious now that he means it. The way he says it (expression, tone, etc) has changed a lot.

As for Japanese words.. both of us use both suki and daisuki a lot. We use suki when we're being more silly and daisuki usually when we're cuddling. Once he was singing along to a song and focused the "aishiteru" on me. He didn't realize I knew what it meant. I don't think it really counts.. so other than that, he hasn't used aishiteru. I never said it.. but I think I'll say it soon.

Oh yeah, now we're almost 5 months into the relationship and we say "I love you" many times everyday. So, I think it really depends on the person but Japanese people will definitely say it