Best and Worst of Japan | Asian American Poll

BEST & WORST OF JAPAN
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:13:45 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

What's the best thing about Japan?
Clean courteous people | 34%
Dynamic urban life | 34%
Appealing traditional culture | 6%
Safety and social stability | 26%

What's the worst thing about Japan?
Crowding and pollution | 24%
Rigid social conformity | 39%
Stagnant economic system | 31%
Exhorbitant prices | 6%

This poll is closed to new input.
Comments posted during the past year remain available for browsing.

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WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]

Navy LCDR Airdale,

Okay, this is off the current topic, but I was reading your past posts and you mentioned you were Japanese American married to a Japanese woman.

Can I ask you about the differences you found between yourself as third-generation Japanese American and your Japanese wife? How has living in Japan affected your Japanese American self-image?
Joy Tuesday, July 09, 2002 at 21:30:36 (PDT)

MLK

I am in CA. I'm guessing that curious girl is on the East Coast (wild hair guess). My member, while quite respectable, would not reach 3000 miles.

Thank you for concern though.
Navy LCDR airdale Tuesday, July 09, 2002 at 21:13:52 (PDT)

Navy LCDR airdale,

It's quite the accomplishment to know German when you haven't a drop of German blood in you.

Given her irrational posts, I don't think she's capable of learning it.

You will find quite a few like her who hide behind a veil of victimization when there is really an inherent sense of superiority lying beneath that.

You, I, and every rational person out there can see through this.
Observer 1 Tuesday, July 09, 2002 at 13:34:58 (PDT)

I do not feel inadequate because I do not speak German. And you have no right to speak that way to me. I was not pissed off that you know a language that I do not, but that you were rubbing it in my face.

MLK,
You may be right about the sexual tension.. ("panties wadded in a knot"???) ;)
curious girl Tuesday, July 09, 2002 at 13:19:38 (PDT)

A Japanese alternative musician in Japan stated in an interview that religion is a private thing in Japan.There are also many statistics which show that Japanese in Japan are very tolerant regarding religion.This seems to be contradictory with what the musician whom I mentioned above said : he stated the Japanese look down upon Christian and find them ridiculous.

Does anybody know what is now true about the Japanese attitude towards religion/religious people in Japan??
alternative?? Saturday, July 06, 2002 at 14:47:26 (PDT)

I'd like to discuss further about Japanese 'whitening' their skin and biraciality. Historically, there is no one single pure race anymore. The Japanese are mixed with Koreans and other races we don't even know about. A supposedly pure blood Japanese person would have been short in stature. Vietnamese are mixed with Chinese. The Chinese are mixed with Manchurians and Mongolians. I can go on and on. The point I am trying to make is don't think your race is better than others. You might have the same blood coursing through your veins.
Nathan Nguyen natedogng1@aol.com Monday, July 01, 2002 at 00:42:43 (PDT)

oh please, you all stupid americans who believe the image western countries want to give about japan; examples: suicide rates are high in japan but not as high as the ones in scandinavian countries, just a question?? if a teenager kills himself becuase of a grade he looks stupid no? then imagine a bunch of people killing themselves just because a weird guy told them an ufo was coming to rescue them!!!!!! now what´s stupid!!!!. just one thing more the majority of inventions done by your country were made by foreign scientists(look at the manhattan project)and the last thing, how come you fight all around the world against slavery(oh you dear angels) when ethnic minorities in THE USA are treated almost like slaves and african americans now after decades of supposedly freedom have not achieved the same rights white americans enjoy
takeru dai Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 20:44:24 (PDT)

I agree. Playing the race card is crazy and a easy way out. Japanese people love americans because of their music, style and over all freedom that they enjoy. What is so wrong with that.
At least when they come the states they respect our many cultures and at least attempt to speak english. That is more than I can say for other races.
Japanese also owe a huge debt to us for making them what they are. Financially that is. After the war. It is a respect issue that will continue forever.
And hey if you really know any Japanese people they are the coolest and most easy to get along with people created.
Word
american with love for japan Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 23:37:20 (PDT)

If my history serves correct, actually there were inhabitants on the island of Japan before the Chinese came where no one can really identify the true origins (it's still speculative as of now). Those are the Ainu who were forced north after people from China conquered and mixed with the local population. I know that people came from China and Korea afterwards and mixed with the local populations, so of course Japanese would look different from others. These are facts. What also isn't being mentioned here is that Japan wasn't even a unified country until just recently (about 500 years ago?). Until then there were Tohoku, Kansai, Kanto, etc. people who spoke in different dialects and really didn't get along all that well with each other. Japanese people have discriminatory issues against each other. Kanto and Kansai people are rivals, my Okinawan friend was kicked out of a bar for speaking Okinawan, third generation Koreans find it incredibly difficult (not impossible)getting citizenship.

The cultures have similarities because there was a period of cultural sharing going on. In other words, the "Japanese", "Chinese" and "Koreans"--as we know them today, were friends at one point. The "Japanese" were very much open to these cultures and learning from them. It turned nasty when "Japan" suddenly realized there was too much influence, so they kicked them out and shut themselves off from the rest of the world. Whatever similarities there are between these cultures, there is something that is uniquely "Japanese" about Japan (just as there is something unique about China and Korea) that I know I can't explain.

The skin tone issue exists not because of the West, but because of their own beauty preferences hundreds of years ago. Women were whitening their skin before Europeans ever set foot onto Japanese soil. I mean, how can you explain Japanese reactions to the princess Masako about her being too dark when she married the crown prince? If it was racial, they would have objected to the marriage completely. Or the sayings, "In women and in rice, the whiter, the better" or "Akita beauty"--these statements were not comparing Japanese women with white women. They were sayings that existed before the Europeans came. Take a look at the art that existed when Europeans came to Japan. Japanese artists would make the Japanese people look "whiter" than the Europeans. These preferences were actually turned racial after western influence--I mean, associating Whiteness with being genetically superior. There are old Japanese saying associating darker complexions with masuclinity.

Actually, the USA wouldn't be where it is today if it didn't have slaves, either. You can't have a country be so powerful so quickly if you have to pay people equal salaries to produce goods and build cities. That's why they could beat out other nations for the prices of cotton and tabacco. Economically, the US is one of the most powerful nations on earth BECAUSE of the free and virtually free labor of Africans, Chinese,Filipinos and poor whites. America would be a completely different place without them.
Black gyrl in Japan Monday, June 17, 2002 at 20:16:43 (PDT)

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