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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, 06:00:44 PM)
Amon-Ra
Quick side note. The Sumarians were not an off shot of Egypt. The Sumerians were the founders of the Mesopotamian civilization. Mesopotamia was independent from Egypt, hence the "4" river valley civilizations and not "3 with an off shot 4th". Further historic evidence against your claim is Sumerian language which is entirely unrelated to Egyptian. And finally Mesopotamian/Sumerian civilazation predates Egyptian by a couple of hundred years. The Sumerians are one of histories great mystery people. They were linguistically unrelated. They possessed adanced govt. mathematics and science before anyone else. They also mysteriously faded aways with the arrival of the Akkadians who came from Arabia. Read up....
ABC etc.
Saturday, November 17, 2001 at 22:44:47 (PST)
Japan is a whorehouse for the west. They absorb western culture like a tampax absorbs blood clots... They stink and give Asians a foul image of what a true warrior nation should be. There ancestors would be ashamed of their new developed culture that is wimpy and americanized. They are to be labelled a shame of ASia.
Mongol man
Saturday, November 17, 2001 at 18:04:07 (PST)
If Japan is so superior, then why do they have to eat with chopsticks and use Chinese Characters in their language? Without copying her neighbor,
they would probably remain barbarians
eating with hands. Absolutely no better than monkeys in the middle of an African forest.
Japan sucks
Friday, November 16, 2001 at 23:07:39 (PST)
FOP i can't agree with u more!
dan
Friday, November 16, 2001 at 18:58:07 (PST)
Amon-Ra,
You are an Idiot! You must have resentment for not being Japanese or just being Asian and not white or American. If you take your head out of your ass, you might see that you are the "gun pi chong" to your hatred and ignorance.
AZN Unity
Friday, November 16, 2001 at 13:23:25 (PST)
Amon-Ra, FOP
All your ignorance and hatred cause you to look for small spots of negative media flash to identify Japan as less than what it really is.
Say all negatives things about Japan as you wish. However, Japanese see Asian and Middle-Eastern immigrants come in by waves everyday. They see many Chinese people risking their LIVES to get to Japan. One of the reason people all over the world have trouble believing the greatness of SOME Asian nations is because so many people risk their lives to go elsewhere. So, say all you want, what’s happening in the world don’t support what you want people to believe.
You tried to explain how Japan became industrialized first and China did not. Excuses don’t matter, especially when you show ignorance by it, and you cannot show appreciation of great accomplishments by others.
World Travler
Friday, November 16, 2001 at 11:54:48 (PST)
Japan is the #1 whore of Asia. FOP, your depiction is right on the nose. Japan was able to industrialize just because the west was too busy carving up China (in the manner of Africa) to waste time on such an insignificant island. Japanese imitate whatever they believe to be the best and take it to absurd extremes. Some Japanese believe rap and soul is king so they become black. Others defer so much to the notion of whiteness, that they bend over backwards dying their hair blond. Japanese love to bully whoever is weaker or does not follow along in whatever assinine way that Japanese society deems is best. Therefore, every 5 minutes some nonconformist is killing himself and Japanese cannot bring themselves to make real "friends" with foreigners. In a similar manner, Japanese cannot bring themselves to go against the US. I consider them a "gun pi chong", or a bug that follows the US's ass.
By the way ABC, the Sumerians were just an offshoot of Egypt.
Amon-Ra
Thursday, November 15, 2001 at 21:41:12 (PST)
This racial heirarchy vs. sociological cultural self image is so bogus. It is merely a reflection based in limited historic perspectives with the qualifiers being technology and military success. For the last 250 years white men have been trying to tackle the notion of what makes them so superior. The answer is because "this day is your". Yesterday was not your and possibly tomorrow will not be yours. But today you are on top. There was a time between 800-1400 when the Arabs asked themselves the same question. What makes us so superior to other races? They thought the only civilized people in the world were the people of the middle latitudes. Arabs, Persians, Chinese, Indians, Turks, Phonecians, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. They called both the white people of NW Europe and black people of Sub-Saharan Africa as the "Northern Barbarians" and the "Southern Barbarians". The notion they came up with was too much or too little exposure to the sun made the brain weak. (to much in the case of black people was that they did not cover themselves enough from its damaging effects). Thousands of years before them the Sumarians thought that they were a seperate race from other men altogether. Who could blame them they practically invented civilization in thier area. Ultimately whenever a nation does well they give birth to dozens of philosophers and sooth sayers that try to justify the success of thier own people as the natural evolution of superior beings. The fact is that history teaches us otherwise.
ABC etc.
Monday, November 12, 2001 at 09:39:42 (PST)
Japan is still #1 Asia,
Your citing Nietzche as an authority on Asian society. A guy who got syphillis from a whore, because he did have the guts to ask out girls, beseeched his friend to approach the girl, who later ran off with her behind his back?
Look Nietzche made huge contributions to Western philosphy with his Uberman (SuperMan) concept, "Will to Power" and Socratic vs Bacavalian (Spelling?) mind.
But his theories on Time, Women, Jews, Asians were way off. In Beyond Good and Evil, he interpreted the Chinese characters "Little Heart" (which means Careful in Chinese) as a whole society.
Most experts will agree that Nietzche made huge strides on individualism with his Will to Power concept. But on a whole his theories were to alienate society to allow the Uber-man (superman) to extert his "Will" to his fullest extent to reach transcending truth.
Anyway Confuciansm came out of the warring period in China, Confucius did not like the chaos in China so develop a philosophy of
1) Strict Order
2) Strict Hierarchy
3) Strict Obedience
Ruler of the Kingdoms in China like it and adopted it for thousands of years.
Neitzche philosophy is more of personal venting of the hardships in his life. Father left at early age, raise by mother, sister, and aunt. Got STD from a Jewish whore. Woman he love ran off with is friend. Love hate relationship with Wagner. So his philosophy is
1) Hates women
2) Hates Jews
3) Creative mind over Logical mind
4) Expression of Self in conflict (Will)
Because of the Hate Jew part the Nazi part adopted and twisted his philosophy. By that time Neitzche was already in a Coma from STD, and his sister was selling tickets for tourist to look at him laying in his living room.
Japan has made huge impacts in Asian society for the later part of the 20th century into the early part of 21st century. But like West Germany after WWII it's meteoric rise from the ashes has more to do with USA economic and political support for the "losers" (to ensure the Axis powers did rise again), than high flying philosophical debates on Confusian and Neitzchian.
AC dropout
Wednesday, November 07, 2001 at 10:12:34 (PST)
Japan is #1 Asian whore to western nations. If she dares to yell and raise her voices at white men, she will be beat down in no time. That's what happened to Japan when she provoked the US by bombing the Pearl Harbor. Be quiet and subservient to western nations, she might then continue to enjoy this delusional #1 in Asia status.
FOP
Wednesday, November 07, 2001 at 00:09:21 (PST)
Fragrent Chu,
Then ever thought about why Japan was able to start modernization so early then? It is because other Western nations were busy invading China, which shielded Japan from western colonization. Japan was lucky to get her break to catch up with western nations. Japan has no resources, so western countries were not interested in invading her. If Japan were resourceful like China, the western colonial powers would prey on her like vultures.
FOP
Tuesday, November 06, 2001 at 23:58:33 (PST)
What constitutes a real Confucian society? A paternalistic and sexist one with no room for lower status people to advance. In China, the liberty and free spirits of Daoism has always countered these excesses of "true Confucianism."
The difference between Chinese, Jews and Japanese. The former are innovative people who have created much to advance the world in terms of science, medicine, etc. The latter only adopts the cultural and technological platform of a superior power without any innovations of its own. Even now, the Chinese and Koreans surpass the Japanese in usage of Internet info and tech.
not a copy cat
Tuesday, November 06, 2001 at 16:52:59 (PST)
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