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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, 06:00:41 PM)
> I hate to see Asia become another unproductive Europe.
Not for at least few more generations. There are still masses of people hungry for success/wealth and know what can be gotton with hard work.
Unfortunately I see only slow decline for Japan as it uses up its wealth. It is not in a wealth building mode. It's time has passed. It should merge with Korea.
NYhomeboy
Tuesday, June 04, 2002 at 07:39:24 (PDT)
As a four-year resident of Japan, I just feel I have to respond. If you had any idea of the beaurocracy that goes on in this country, you'd probably see that many Japanese people do not feel apathetic, they feel more helpless.
Individual Japanese people know of the atrocities commited in WWII. They feel terrible for what happened, and . . . responsible. Ordinary citizens feel their government owes an apology to other Asian nations, but you just try to get an old man up there in the Diet to budge on that one and see how far you get. Most Japanese people know the educational system sucks and nearly everyone agrees it needs to be changed. They know the history books are teaching lies, but that is all they know. I have to say that Japanese people are the most open of anyone to the truth. That's what they want. They admit their ignorance and they try as best they can to change.
As for the 'soulless drones'. Hardly. These men work 12 hours a day because they HAVE to. They have families to support and if they speak up, there goes their livelihood from that company and every company they try to apply to thereafter. These men WANT to be with their families and they want to spend time with children they can hardly see.
I don't think Japan is trying to be more "Western" at all. I mean, just you try to tell a Japanese person they look foreign and see how far you get. It's okay to point out Japanese going under the knife, but it's clearly taboo to mention that people in Korea are rushing to the plastic surgeons like mad to get the folds in their eyes corrected or to make their eyes widened? It seems like a singling out here.
Also I found the statistic that Japanese earn 25% more than American workers misleading. Although salaries are higher, everything is at least 30% more expensive over here than in the US. They HAVE to make more money and many families are still trying to make ends meet.
I think many of us are forgetting our history. It was Japan who showed the west centuries ago that they couldn't just come in and beat up on Asia because they weren't western. Japan showed the world that Asia could be a super-power. It just looks like everyone was waiting for Japan to fall. I prefer to think Japan has just tripped and it's going to take a little while for it to collect itself before it can get back up agaon. Japan is not ignoring the rest of Asia. They are making efforts to make their relations with other Asian nations better. (Relationships that haven't been all that great for centuries, anyway, I might add). Just with everything else in Japan, it's going to take time.
Black gyrl in Japan
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 22:45:48 (PDT)
The Asian Dream:
The west, and particularly America, is very interested in Japan, cuz a sustained Japanese recovery (which would probably have to be based on the same strategy as the Korean recovery: securitizing bad loans at a ridiculous discount and forcing many of the zaibatu into receivership) would send global interest rates up. The Federal Reserve in particular will be watching that closely since America is a giant debtor nation.
As for your comment about Asia being in dire straits for R&D without Japan: Japanese companies are moving their R&D wings to China where the managers compare Chinese workers of today to the self-sacrificing Japanese workers of 1960, and Japanese scientists who actually invent stuff with valuable commercial applications are headed for the U.S. where their companies don't try to rip them out of decent royalties from their inventions (c.f. Nakamura Syuji). Japan at present shows no signs of successfully transitioning to a knowledge-based economy which can retain and offer good incentives to its most intelligent and dynamic workers. Which is why the best Asian researchers head for faraway America rather than nearby Japan.
T.H. Lien
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 16:06:05 (PDT)
"It wont be long when countries like Korea, Singapore and Taiwan will become the powerhouse of Asia and Japan typically will be looking back at their "glorious days of WWII""
Singapore already is.
Economist
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 15:27:13 (PDT)
I do think Japan will become impressive again in the arena of economics and manufacturing. It's impact on the Asian image is strong but its survival depends on the support of other Asian countries. It needs a "middleman" to promote or to elevate its image.
This will only happen if Japan develops a closer relationship with its Asian neighbors. I have to admit, without Japan, Asia is in dire straits when it comes to genuine technology and innovation; and without Asia, Japan is a loner and will not survive and prosper.
The West is no longer interested in Japan because China has become the next global threat (stupid as this seems) nor is Japan of much importance to the Europeans and Americans because of the economic recession. Other reasons have to do with the fear and envy of Japan's success of producing better things than the West.
I honestly believe the Japanese are more skilled as "craftsmen" and not businessmen. The Chinese, Koreans, and the Taiwanese are the real business folks. They can promote and distribute Japanese products on a large scale throughout the world. A marriage between craftsmanship and dealership is the way for Asia to prosper.
Asia needs to set aside the differences and allow the scars of the past to heal. The Japanese govt should admit of its guilty past, and the Asians should respect each other and the Japanese for their westernization and achievements. There must be mutual understanding and cooperation between East Asia and South East Asia as well, otherwise the whole continent will become stagnant like a river which stops running infested with mosquitoes (terrorists).
I hate to see Asia become another unproductive Europe.
Remember, Westerners fear Asians because we have a bi-cultural/multicultural concept capable of overshadowing them. Go to an Asian food market whether it's a Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Filipino market and you will find both Asian and Western products. Go to a plain ol' American Supermarket and we all know what we will find....
The Asian Dream
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 11:32:51 (PDT)
"Is Japan doing its part for the Asian image?"
No. Seems like Korea has taken the lead. The following attachment is from businessweek issue just released. Another country giving us a positive image of Asia is Singapore.
"Cool Korea
How it roared back from disaster and became a model for Asia" Businessweek, June 10, 2002
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_23/b3786002.htm
Researcher
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 08:03:57 (PDT)
Kim wrote:
>>They treat fellow asian like subhumans , did unspeakable atrosities in WWII and your asking whether they've done any good to the image of Asian. It wont be long when countries like Korea, Singapore and Taiwan will become the powerhouse of Asia and Japan typically will be looking back at their "glorious days of WWII"<<
Good points. Furthermore, Japan today is just a pawn of the U.S. And most Japanese would rather be "western" than be Asian. They want to look caucasian via plastic surgery; their mass culture mimics that of the West; Even most of their Anime cartoon characters are poster children for white supremacy, with features drawn nowhere near that of Asians. If the Aryan Nation need a supporting voice in the world, it needs to look no further than the culture "exported" by Japan. Sure, a lot of other countries are also adopting western culture nowadays. But few do so with such completeness and such fervor. Anyway, I thought that in order to truly lead, one needs to be original, trail-blazing, making the world follow you instead of the other way around. Japan is not, and has never been, that kind of country.
positron
Sunday, June 02, 2002 at 20:22:21 (PDT)
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