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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
JAPAN'S IMPACT ON THE ASIAN IMAGE
t has long been seen as the fountainhead of consumer electronics technology. Its cars are consistently among the world's most admired. Its corporations own two major Hollywood studios. Its kiddie culture has all but killed off Mickey Mouse and Barbie. Its $4 trillion GDP is number two behind the U.S. and its workers earn 25% more per head than Americans.
Bravo Castrati!
That's how many Asian Americans see Japan. A nation that should command the stature of a powerhouse -- and elevate the image of all Asians in the process -- possesses the geopolitical profile of, say, Switzerland, a nation a thirtieth its size. Japan's leaders are seen as mere hand puppets in a sad half-century charade of democracy. Its homes are cramped. Its men function as soulless drones whose women fly into the arms of western males. Even its vaunted economy has been on the ropes for ten years and looks ready to go down for the count. What little testosterone it possessed seems to have left with Ichiro.
A nation that should champion the Asian image has only reinforced every insulting stereotype. To many Asian Americans, Japan has done less than its smaller, poorer neightbors. Little Hong Kong exports asskicking action stars. South Corea exports people who take hooey from no one. Taiwan exports tech entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley. Impoverished China, Vietnam and even nutcase North Corea showed balls in standing up to the west. But mighty Japan? Spiritually it seems never to have recovered from its defeat in World War II.
Is Japan carrying its weight or slacking in the Asian image department?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:00:45 PM)
I would tend to think EQ is more measurable between people of the same culture. If you have people of different cultures who don't necessarily understand each other's mannerisms and cultural background, it becomes somewhat a comparison between apples and oranges. Its probable that people who generalize a culture as having a low EQ don't understand that culture anyway. It doesn't matter, people try and quantitatively compare things that cannot be objectively measured anyway.
There are varying degrees to how past history affects a culture. I think most people are more fixated on recent history and tend not to be very affected by history a couple hundred years ago. Many people try to rationalize a cause and effect for both past and modern history. There are always too many factors. People try to do that for economics and still we have too many models to deal with.
Still, I have to admit it is interesting to try and rationalize cause and effect for history. Yet, it does not stop me from looking at countries now and guessing at their potential. I won't use the "past history" argument to say that China cannot reach the level of Japan in terms of per capita income. If we look at China now, we see that there is a huge pool of cheap labor. China is not going to modernize its country uniformly in the coming decades. There will be rich high-tech areas and there will be poor slum areas. The poor areas will do manufacturing work and enrich the rich areas. The rich areas will export technology to the poor areas and allow them to modernize. I'm wondering what happens when China runs out of cheap labor in several decades.
However, looking at Japan, it is already a developed nation. How it will evolve as China modernizes...I don't know...but I don't think it'll become "backwater".
So in short, I don't think past history matters as much as present circumstances in predicting the future:P
KM,24
Thursday, November 01, 2001 at 08:53:10 (PST)
Go jump in the lake JAGuy!
Don't give me that "I'm Japanese but not asian" thing. Like I'm chinese but not asian, we have a distinct culture that sets us apart. What about that Vietnamese guy? he's not asian because he's culture is different too. At the end of the day, you're a slanty-eyed asian that most whites won't bother to distinguish. And cut that japanese elitist talk man.
Nippa
Thursday, November 01, 2001 at 04:31:33 (PST)
To Korean Guy:
You approach problem at hand with utmost simplicity, do you?
In previous post, I did not bother to disagree with you on question of EQ, (how can anyone gauge the level of EQ even when IQ is heatly debated) but for the sake of argument, I let that slide and posted a opposing argument. I am sure you are not expert on Japan, China or even your native country, Korea. And yet, you seem so sure about who has higher EQ. Your typical example on Koreans and Japanese behaviors on car accidents is so simple-minded, it brought a smile to my mouth. If we could judge one's emotional quotient by merely observing one's behavior on traffic accident, life could be so much simpler. But alas, it is not. There are so many factors one must consider before we could be absolutely certain. It is also funny how you actually brought up the name of author and begun to express your opinion on the book. As if to give reader impression, "I am very levelheaded too!" That was very naive of you. Ok enough and to Japan's economy.
Negative population growth will definetly harm economic prospect, no doubt about that. But to give that as primary reason for Japan's ill, once again, is very simple-minded. The most important factor is, given money(capital), goods and people, how do you optimize the productivity? Japan has clearly two and enough of young people(yes, still) to achieve substantial economic growth. And yet, they didn't for last decade. Why? Once again, So many factors to list and I won't go throught that. I have already written too much already.
Jason
PS. You didn't have to write A cause B, B then cause C, and so. Simply saying "Multiplier Effect" would have been enough. Was it necessary to write so much when anyone who took simple Eco 101 understands it!?
To Korean guy
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 at 22:29:18 (PST)
Fragrent Chu,
I think I've pointed out quite clearly that I do believe that China's GDP per-capita will surely be dwarfed by Japan's probably as long as we'll be alive. Certainly China's major handicap in that department is it's population. However, you should never say never. Perhaps in a couple centuries, major economic trends will emerge that will alter the current state of wealth distribution as we know it. This is not far-fetched but common sense if one is versed in history.
common sense
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 at 21:53:49 (PST)
Fragrent Ch,
Your theory comes short when Japan is compared with the USA. It is far bigger than Japan. American lifestyle is envied by most Japanese people. In average, Americans have more buying power per capita than most Japanese. Not to mention that USA is the biggest economy in the world.
FOP
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 at 11:47:27 (PST)
Common sense,
Again this trend is not merely a reflection of the present situation. It mainly takes into account population dynamics. A country of 1.2 billion will probably never enjoy the per capita income of a far smaller country that has a 30 year head start in the game. Granted the future could completely change, but short of a natural disaster or an enormous global war population dynaimcs will always dictate per capitas. A giant nation will be hard pressed to enjoy higher per capita standards under any situation or circumstance when compared with a smaller country. You have to accept this as generally true. While China may very well become a far more important economic force then Japan, this will only be as a whole and not on the individual level.
Fragrent Ch
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 at 09:08:54 (PST)
Japan does not have any responsibility to contribute to the Asian image. My cousins identify themselves as Japanese, not Asian. Japan has a very distinct culture and language and is only loosely associated with Asian countries.
Personally, I consider myself an American or a Japanese-American, not an Asian American.
JAGuy
Tuesday, October 30, 2001 at 19:44:07 (PST)
Japan can be summarized as follows:
Economy giant, Political midget & Military enunch.
FOP
Monday, October 29, 2001 at 13:25:00 (PST)
Korean guy,
But you never addressed any of my points. Well, you basically couldn't so i won't blame you..
Common Sense
Monday, October 29, 2001 at 11:38:44 (PST)
Japanese society is becoming more twisted and debased to the point where the men consider it normal to read pornographic comics in crowded subways of school girls being subjected to violent sexual fetishes. It is a sad society where people overwork and commit suicide in frequent numbers or join strange cults and fringe cliques. They surely don't reflect anything about me.
AM
Go out and smell the roses
Monday, October 29, 2001 at 07:00:51 (PST)
To Jason
>>”You are definitly wrong on Korean and Japanese”
Am I? I will agree with you that the Japanese people do tend to hold things in and I'll also agree with you that Koreans are more direct\confrontational. But which behavior is more emotionally intelligent? If another car hits your car on the side, is it better to be confrontational and start screaming and cursing at the idiocy of the other driver (very common in korea), or to approach this unexpected event by patiently waiting for an apology and being cool headed when exchanging auto information(more common in Japan). If you don’t know what EQ is, than don’t make a statement about it. Go read Dan goleman’s “emotional intelligence”. I won’t fully endorse this book, because I don’t fully agree with it. But I do think it has a lot of excellent information.
>>” The main problem is that because of their mind-set, no one is willing to stick their neck out and pinpoint the problem. Everybody knows what the problem is but nobody is willing to do anything!”
So tell me, what is the problem? To many bad loans? In-efficient keiretsu system? Yakuza interference? No natural resources? No strong IT industry? I won’t disagree that these are not problems, but I don’t think they can explain why Japan is not growing. As I stated before, the problem is very simple. The population is not growing. Japan as a nation has maxed out. Since their workforce is shrinking, that means there are less people making things (consumer goods, services, etc…), thus their gross domestic product is shrinking. Now this causes major problems. Have you heard of the “bubble economy”? or the “tech bubble”? Where there is growth, there is speculation. If the population keeps growing, more homes need to be built, construction companies have to hire more people/buy more goods. Since more people will be commuting to work, more gas needs to be purchased. Then gas companies need to hire more people/buy more goods. Getting my drift? That is how much of the economies of the industrial world is growing. Japan on the other hand has stopped adding people. In fact, its shrinking(working population). Now do the above in reverse. Less people commuting(there is less working people), causes gas companies to lay off/buy less crude oil. Less crude oil, means less revenue for the shipping industry. Less revenue implies more lay offs. Lay off imply less consumer spending/demand. Less consumer spending/demand create more lay off. Get my drift? Surely, Japan could grow by having each of its citizen contribute more, but I think they’ve maxed out. On the other hand, korea is growing, not so much because its population is, but because everyone is contributing more.
>> “Koreans learn their lesson(which means confronting problem directly)”
How could we not have confronted the problem with the bad loans? It finally blew up! We weren’t confronting anything, the crises in 1998 was forced upon us. We had no choice.
To common sense,
Like I said earlier, I agree with you. China’s per capita income was higher than “backwater” Japan. Yeepy.
korean guy
Sunday, October 28, 2001 at 18:31:13 (PST)
Fragrent Chu,
People like you who say contemporary trends will last FOREVER, obviously do not understand history. First of all, never SAY FOREVER. Nothing lasts forever.
Though I would agree that China's large population will hinder it's per-capita growth, you can never predict what would happen a century, or two from now. I definitely think that for many decades from now, within our lifetimes, Japan will be far ahead of China in per-capita income. But two centuries is only a drop in the bucket in China's long history. Anything can change in that time, even the entire game.
Korean guy,
There is more than enough proof that China was far wealthier than Japan in per-capita income. Unlike the West, China has MANY literary records from the medieval ages which describe in full detail the facts of everyday life. Not only that, but there are still much archeological proof. There is absolutely no doubt that Japan was far behind. Japan was nothing but a backwater island that China hardly ever thought about. It was also far behind Korea as well, and recieved all the Chinese inventions, technology and culture through Korea. In fact, Koreans used to love to make the Japanese feel like ignorant simpletons by sending letter written in the most sophisticated and philosophical Chinese language, and thus the Japanese would not be able to understand and feel inferior. It has only been in the past century and a half that Japan has become wealthier than China or even Korea. I happen to think historical circumstances have much more to do with a nation's wealth than EQ. Yes, there are things that cannot be proven rationally. But the issue of Japan rising to an economic power is not one of them. There are many many factors and historical trends that lead to a very rational, detailed explanation to how Japan got there. And EQ is not the answer.
Common Sense
Friday, October 26, 2001 at 18:13:29 (PDT)
Korean Guy, You are definitly wrong on Korean and Japanese. As Korean-American who has lived in Japan for three years, I can tell you that Japanese don't have superior EQ. In fact, because of Japanese excessive adherence to strict societal mannerism, (which somehow gives you impression that they are well adjusted) they have tendencies to withhold their true feelings. Consequently, at times, they have that brooding anger underneath. Contrast that to Koreans. Koreans are world-famous for being direct and emotional. This certainly will cause societal strife, but because Korean generally speak their mind, they don't have that much insecurity as opposed to Japanese.
Now for economy, it is well known that Japan has been suffering recession well over decade now. The main problem is that because of their mind-set, no one is willing to stick their neck out and pinpoint the problem. Everybody knows what the problem is but nobody is willing to do anything! Once again, when you compare that to Koreans, it is whole different story. After near economy collapse of 1998, Koreans learn their lesson(which means confronting problem directly) and now, Koreans have one of the top IT industry in the world. Over half use the Internet and nearly 90% of those connected use broadband connections.
In sum, unless Japanese change their mind-set, no matter how low their interest rates are, they will always be stuck in a rut (problem is getting worse with their aging population and their strict immigration policy) and will be soon surpass by Korea and China.
Jason
To Korean guy
Friday, October 26, 2001 at 09:47:33 (PDT)
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