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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Japan's Impact on the Asian Image
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:00:29 PM)
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.]
Naga_dude,
you're entitled to your own opinions, but i think you're basically generalizing a whole group of people. the adjectives you used to describe japanese can be used to describe anyone. but again this is your opinion, not mine. i think japanese people know that obviously, they're asian, and have no problems identifying themselves that way...but from my point of view, people who live in asia seem to identify themselves by their nationalities first and foremost. i mean, they live in asia, they know they're asians, but they're more apt to say they're japanese or korean or chinese or vietnamese, etc. this is because that's their whole identity. it's not like asian americans who have to deal with being american and being an ethnic minority. it's not as if asians in asia deal with non asians thinking that they're all the same asian group on a daily basis. and no, we don't think about our "culture" and what we "inherit" because we're busy living our daily lives, worrying about mundane stuff no different from anyone else...but that's essentially what culture is. it's not just fancy craftwork and what ritual custom to practice at funerals. why don't japanese show more pride in themselves? well, considering the economy, we're not exactly feeling celebratory right now, also, maybe it's because we were once fanatically nationalistic and lost the war, and learned afterwards that we weren't supposed to act that way...maybe that's why we're wary of showing a lot of patriotism. doesn't mean that we're not proud to be japanese. naga_dude, you seem to be asian american...and i get the impression from your post that you're comparing your asian american experience with that of asians in asia...keep in mind, we live very different lives, very different preferences...we may take for granted many aspects of our culture (simply because it's there) that you might not. japanese guys may find white women attractive, but it's been my experience that most are attracted to their own kind maybe because of familiarity and the majority of girls in japan being japanese. and believe me, a lot of them do let us know that we're attractive. besides, i find japanese or asian guys in general extremely attractive because of their reserve, there are a lot of girls who like that sort of discipline and mystery. personally, i think many japanese, korean and chinese guys are classy. there's no one standard of an attractive man. and just because they act reserved in public don't mean they don't express themselves in wildly creative ways privately with friends and loved ones. but i do understand that there are a lot of japanese (esp. politicians) who are arrogant and selfish and boring and unproductive. just don't believe that that's all there is to japanese people.
lastly, some people will look at japan having a great impact and others will not be satisfied...my thoughts are, why is this such a big deal? why is it japan's fault if her culture isn't known throughout the world...what culture actually is known in its entirety? maybe it's america's fault for not getting it...maybe it's on some level american arrogance that they aren't too familiar with not just japanese culture but other countries' cultures. besides, how many of us actually know all there is to know about say, french culture or chinsese culture? i mean when i think of french, i think food, paris, fashion. china? again food, lots of people, communism, and maybe confucianism, also, kung fu. that's not all there is to china or france, but that's the reality of what people process, unless you're really interested in some aspect, mainstream americans like other people around the world can only list off superficial images and stereotypes of other cultures...no different from what people do to the japanese image. naga_dude, i don't know whether you're really comfortable in your own skin, cuz your experience kinda sounds like you're overcompensating for something (but this is just my impression and i don't know you at all), but if you're happy with who you are, why not try to be a little more open-minded toward others?
seven
Wednesday, November 27, 2002 at 19:56:30 (PST)
[203.216.77.93]
In my opinion, Japanese are among the most selfish,arrogant peoples of Asia. Japan is suffering from a serious identity crisis. In culture, geography, race and anything Japan is Asian but the fact is Japan is reluctant to identify itself with Asians and Asia. Japan is such a closed society that even though it is an economic superpower many peoples from around the globe know very little of their society and culture..only about their "Made in Japan" techno gizmos. Personally I can see that Japanese men are on the plus side very very disciplined and hard working but on the negative side Japanese men are a very monotonous peoples indeed. They are not at all flamboyant, spontaneous, fun loving peoples. So why should women of any race find them attractive? (Let alone White Females!!!!)This may amount to extreme boasting but please for the sake of an extermely paragmatic analysis bear with me. I have been extremely successful in dating women especially White females. I have never had any problems in getting dates. White females have always responded to my flirtings and I have had extremely good times with white females. Even when I was home I had never any problems in daring girls. My height is 5 ft 3 inch and I have an extremely big ego. I never suffer from low self esteem particularly due to my Mongolloid face or height. Many girls have in fact told me that I have a very cute face. During my schooling days I was the Psycho clown of my class. I was always the prankster and on at least four occasions I was nearly kicked out of my school . Arguably I was the "Flirting Super star" from Asia during my schooling days. I am not at all well built. I am a very short, lean, puny fellow physically despite some few years of Kung Fu. By the way practising some sort of Martial Arts is very good for flirting because firstly practising Kung Fu enables you to have an extremely good feeling of physical and mental well being. It is also something that enables you to have pride in your Asian identity. Secondly,it helps me dance better in Rave clubs and Techno beats. In my high school prom I used Kung Fu techniques for the Techno music and became immensely popular for that. I was the most widely photographed "Handsome Dude" that night!!!!!! I was so successful in my flirting with white females that on at least one occasion I was able to induce extreme jealousy on a very pretty white female. I was actually wanting to let that white girl fall in love with me but she always seemed to ignore me. So following the proverb"If the mountain doesn't come to you, you must go to the mountain" I decided to take my chances. So one day inside the class room I called her best friend(another very good looking girl) "Baby jenny" (Her name was jenny) and due to favorable responses from that girl's best friend I started flirting. I could see from her face that her best friend really liked me fliring with her. This very act made that girl so jealous. I tried all the flirting tricks in my bag. After various such incidents that girl was after me. I really had the pleasure of making her soooo jealous and still today relive the memory with immene pleasure!!!I have a strong suspision that she is still nowadays madly in love with me though we are now studying in different colleges. I have noticed time and time again that Asian guys especially Japanese, Koreans,Chinese are so reserved. You guys don't like mingling with white students. You guys don't talk much and seem so quiet and monotonous.I can only keep noticing that given such behaviour no white girls are going to come after you. I suspect this has to do with your culture. Please don't get mad at me. This is only a very objective(so I think) obsevation on my part. Far Eastern culture is generally more rigid, more disciplined and more closed than south east asian culture so I think the behavior of Far eastern guys reflect their culture. South east asian societies are more spontaneous,more vibrant and less disciplined and more open (eg:Thais and Filipinos) and in general thai and filipino guys have better chance of dating White girls. I have been extremely blessed to have been born in a tribal society. I am very proud to say that my tribe is of the "Purest Democracy" and the mentality of my peoples are extremely similar to that of the Europeans as one British anthropologist noted. Moreover my tribe practicsed head hunting and no body was ever able to conquer my tribe. On retrospect comming from such a primitive civilisation has benefitted me a lot.I used to be so angry due to the primitiveness of my civilisation but now I have made peace with myself. I have found that the primitiveness of my culture had in fact turned out to be a blessing. I found out that in some ways my cultural primitiveness was in fact more advanced than many cultures in many ways.I always believe that my Big Ego, spontaneousness and individuality and ability to mingle easily with Whites and date white girls easily without any culture or mental block has all been a "Gift from my culture". To my delight I have found that I was at a much better chance of dating white females than many of my Far Eastern brothers. Concluding this Mini micro analysis, I strongly believe that Japanese peoples are incapable of enhancing Asian image especially in uplifting Asian male image because culture is something you inherit and culture ultimately tatoos its respective members. So sorry Japanese people!!!!! You Japanese are too closed, arrogant, selfish to lead Asian peoples in the image department. Maybe its the Age of Asian Tribals to spearhead the image of Asian males
Naga_dude
Wednesday, November 27, 2002 at 00:40:14 (PST)
[210.210.39.78]
Wow.....as a Japanese I feel the need to defend the nation I am from. Quite frankly, I am surprised to see such violently ill feelings against Japan, assuming people who share opinions here are younger. I know, I know, saying this might cause even more ill feelings. I am very aware of what Japan and Japanese did to Korea and many more nations in Asia. And I am very aware that today's Japanese politicians are rather pathetic. And I admit some Japanese are not working positively for the "image" of Asian. -- I am sure that any intelligent young Japanese know all these things. I myself wish that more positive things will come in to America from Japan other than Ichiro!! Moreover, I hope that other Asian American will be little more supportive, instead of attacking the Japan's shameful past.
kay
Saturday, November 23, 2002 at 21:56:06 (PST)
[65.238.69.126]
[That's enough of dredging up ancient history. The topic here is: What impact does Japan have on the image of Asian Americans. Off topic posts will hit the ether. --Ed]
Japan's image will never be good in the eye's of the Koreans. Here are some facts just from the Imjin invasion and the damage done to Koreans by Japanese.
During this invasion 2/3 of korean population got wasted due to Hideyoshi's craze that he can conquer China. Yeah Japan might have the nice cars, and make great electronic appliances, and maybe the 2nd biggest economy.... but their ancestors are nothing but murderers, and thiefs.
It sucks to be on the peninsula, Koreans got screwed with too much b/c of the geography.
---------------------------------------
Choson suffered stunning social and cultural depredations during the Japanese invasions. Many of those not killed in the fighting, or who failed to escape the evacuating Japanese troops, became prisoners of war. Among the many craftsmen and artisans taken back to Japan never again to return were skilled potters who later made substantial contributions to a ceramic industry that Japan came to think of as all its own. The loss of artisans brought a decline in the quality of Choson handiwork and such manufactured goods as pottery and book printing. The Japanese troops also took printing equipment, movable type fonts, and the printers to use them back to Japan. Some of Choson's prisoners later became the instruments of great cultural advances in Japanese scholarship and philosophy. One of these men, Kang Hang, reputedly established a foothold for Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy in Japan at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Choson lost a substantial amount of cultural treasure and innumerable works of fine art. The devastating fires set by Japanese troops destroyed many of Korea's great palaces and government buildings, among them the beautiful wooden structures at Pulguk-sa in Kyongju and the king's principal residence in Seoul, the Kyongbok Palace. The invading soldiers also put three of Choson's four historical archives to the torch, reducing volumes of governmental records and rare books to ashes, including the official records of the reigns of the Yi dynasty kings. Only the repository at Chonju survived. From this cultural loss, some 2,950 books later found their way into the Sumpu Library of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The destruction was so widespread that there is hardly a building standing in Korea today, except those made of stone, which antedates the Japanese invasions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
tohateornot
Tuesday, November 19, 2002 at 07:52:45 (PST)
[220.96.166.245]
js,
very well done. couldnt have said it better myself.
william corr needs to understand that if ethnic koreans in japan are being treated unfairly, then the root of the injustice must be fixed. going back to korea is NOT an option. many 2nd and 3rd generation koreans in japan will not be able to function well in a society which is basically foreign to them (korea). if they were born in japan, they should have as much right as japanese, but the japanese dont understand that. its like telling the african-americans in the US that if they dont like being discriminated against, they can go back to africa.
william corr, now do you see how ridiculous your comment is??
LAKA
Monday, November 18, 2002 at 16:54:45 (PST)
[63.206.24.50]
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