Armbands are back in fashion everywhere, these days...

August 21, 2005 11:33 PM

Nihonjinron in images - despite being the second-largest entity in a global economy, Japan's cultural xenophobia has been said to contribute much to nihonjinron, what some describe as a near-fascist-like obsession of a small group of its citizens in restoring Japan to a monocultural, miltaristic, pre-war empire, despite one Japanese academic's contrary view of history.
posted by Rothko (40 comments total)

So how is this that different from the cival war re-enactors who always pretend to be on the south's side?
posted by woil at 11:40 PM on August 21, 2005

Nihonjinron literally means "Japan theory" and refers to a genre of writing which theorizes about Japan's uniqueness, special appreciation of nature, magical economic powers, etc, etc. It was especially prominent in the eighties.

The men in your photographs are uyoku (right-wingers). They wish to restore Japan to a monocultural, militaristic, pre-war monarchy. They might read works of nihonjinron (if they can read) but they prefer less delicate styles of discourse such as driving through the street in black trucks blaring military songs.
posted by dydecker at 12:00 AM on August 22, 2005

Can't talk about this without reference to Mishima who committed suicide in order to make the point that postwar Japanese society had grown far too soft and western.

My own pet theory is that, like some of the hyper-nationalism in England, the place is an island, and developed in conscious patterns of exceptionalism. I had great experiences during my time there, but also remember how the papers had tons of stories about Chinese, Koreans, and Vietnamese who had been refused medical care at hospitals in and around Kobe (this being right after the Great Hanshin Earthquake that levelled that city).

Interesting FPP.
posted by bardic at 12:35 AM on August 22, 2005

I lived in Smokyo for an enjoyable couple of years (99-01 - in Aoyama). The english language newspapers were always incredibly entertaining for their articles chosen principally to endorse outrageous stereotypes outside of Japan and also for publishing articles that presented latent racism within:



Despite the black trucks (mentioned above), which sounded like an impending revolution every time they rumbled through Harajuku, I never felt the vulnerability that I imagine non-Australians feel when presented with similar nationalist views here. At the same time a lot of Japanese I met had no problem making generalist remarks quite often bordering on racism – particularly about Koreans.

They also had this peculiar fascination with blood type.
posted by strawberryviagra at 1:14 AM on August 22, 2005

I'm curious how one can claim Japan suffers from "cultural xenophobia" in the second link, when Japan's youth seem to be obsessed with many things that are distinctly non-Japanese. For example, they love baseball, soccer, and idolise many foreigners to an almost sycophantic degree. Look at the way they're worshiping people like David Beckham... he almost typifies the old cliche "yeah but I'm big in Japan"

I only scanned the article, I shall admit, but I suspect that any cultural xenophobia that does exist exists within the older generation of Japanese, and will die out slowly, over time, as virtually all the antiquated relics of any given society eventually does.
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:58 AM on August 22, 2005

Effigy2000, Japanese are xenophobic not in the sense that they despise foriegners but that they believe foriegners can never be like/become/understand/think the same as Japanese.
posted by dydecker at 3:11 AM on August 22, 2005

For example I once asked a particular right-wing girl whether she saw me first as a foriegner or first as a human being. She answered the former!
posted by dydecker at 3:13 AM on August 22, 2005

I don't think sports stars are a good judge of the amount of racism present.

Years after Jackie Robinson was a national star in America there was still plenty of racism in baseball.

This was not just a southern thing, Philadelphia, a northern historically tolerant city was downright brutal to Richie Ashburn.

History has redeemed him as a hero to the city, but the obstacles he faced can't be ignored.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 3:22 AM on August 22, 2005

dydecker: Interesting point. But isn't that the same response you'd get from right-wingers almost anywhere? I imagine if I were to ask Ann Coulter what she thinks of many foreigners in America I would likely elicit a similar response for much the same reason you posit.

My point in making the Coulter analogy is not an attempt at a derail, but to say that the Right, or at least certain elements of the Right, are much the same everywhere. I would argue that the point of view Coulter would likely express, or this right-wing Japanese girl you use in your example, are probably not a larger reflection on more obvious elements of the cultural zeitgeist of any given country, in this case, Japan.
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:22 AM on August 22, 2005

I don't think sports stars are a good judge of the amount of racism present.

Years after Jackie Robinson was a national star in America there was still plenty of racism in baseball.

This was not just a southern thing, Philadelphia, a northern historically tolerant city was downright brutal to Richie Ashburn.

History has redeemed him as a hero to the city, but the obstacles he faced can't be ignored.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 3:22 AM on August 22, 2005

Effigy2000, I don't like making generalizations across large swathes of society but there are certain ideas which most of Japan takes as givens which are not really given and all, and one of them is xenophobia, not in the sense of "hatred" but of "fear" of foriegners. Most Japanese would agree that foriegners and dealing with foriegners is a bit scary. Would Ann Coulter think this way?
posted by dydecker at 3:44 AM on August 22, 2005

There is a newer piece on the http://buyo.blogspot.com site that Rothko points to at the top of this thread. It also deals with the Yasukuni pictures and tries to put them in the context of the vast majority of Japanese people's opinions, which are a lot more complex than the bunch of militarist nuts who get photographed every August at the Yasukuni shrine. Doesn't every country have its extremists (eg. white supremacists in the US)? Why do we feel the need to generalise from these extremists in Japan's case?
posted by chaschas at 5:22 AM on August 22, 2005

On the subject of Japanese racism and exclusivity. Yes, it is pervasive (just as it is in the United States and most Western countries) This is a good article on the complexities.
posted by chaschas at 5:38 AM on August 22, 2005

As to why it seems more acceptable to stereotype Japanese people than some other countries perhaps this kind of history to Western views of the country does not help. For a slide show, go here. The article points out the difference between the portrayal of Japanese people and Germans in the war. talks about the tendency in Western media portrayals to caricature and accords very closely with my experience and observations as an Englishman living in Japan.
posted by chaschas at 5:45 AM on August 22, 2005

And as to whether the Japanese younger generation are into spending their whole time obsessing about the war, as those Yasukuni pictures seem to imply, this article might be a good antidote.
posted by chaschas at 5:49 AM on August 22, 2005

On the other hand, officially speaking, Japan as a country has not apologized much for its WW II actions, in comparison with, say, Germany, which has bent over backwards in forgiveness. It is interesting to observe the differences in these modern cultures and how their cultures have responded to the resolution of the same conflict. Granted, the former East Germany has its share of neo-Nazi skinheads, but their existence is predicated more on economics than of sanctioned subculture.
posted by Rothko at 5:56 AM on August 22, 2005

A long time ago, in the year 2000, I once wanted to marry a Japanese girl and she wanted to marry me. Her mother told her she didn't care who she married, even if he were a homeless, uneducated man... as long as he was Japanese. And were she to marry a foreigner, she would be dead to the family. The pressure proved too much and she called it off.

Even though those times are past and my life is quite wonderful today, my view on Japanese xenophobia remains very biased, and I don't plan to be objective about it for quite some time.
posted by linux at 8:37 AM on August 22, 2005

The young, hip generation of Japanese seem to treat me a lot less like a zoo animal than the older generation. I'm pretty much ignored and left alone and treated like a normal human being if ever speaking to one. The oldies though is a different story. They seem to look at me, and other (western) foreigners, as funny looking big pets that are entertaining to try and talk with and make cliches about. Sometimes it's fun when they're interacting with me, the zoo animal, as I can use their ignorance as a way to entertain myself.

What really pisses me off is when they start sentences with "we Japanese...", or say stuff like "foreigners can't speak Japanese" (in which case I feel like responding, "and your English is shit too!"). There is a real us/them mentality regarding foreigners.

But I think it is changing to accept foreigners as real humans. Maybe one day they'll even accept a non-Japanese looking person who has Japanese citizinship as a real Japanese person? That's probably a long way off though, but like I said before, the younger generation seem to be a lot more accepting (if only in they way that they ignore foreigners or are indifferent to them).
posted by Jase_B at 9:23 AM on August 22, 2005

This was not just a southern thing, Philadelphia, a northern historically tolerant city was downright brutal to Richie Ashburn.

Uh, Richie Ashburn was (and presumably still is) white.
posted by jonmc at 10:17 AM on August 22, 2005

I spent a semester studying Japanese in Japan in 1999. I would go out to eat with a Japanese friend, and a waiter would ask my friend what I wanted to eat. I would respond in what I think was decent Japanese, and the waiter would look at me, write down what I ordered, and then turn to my friend and ask if I wanted salad with that. My Japanese friends, who were mostly students at a foreign language university, recognized that this was an odd scene. Many of them are now living outside of Japan with no intent of returning. So in my limited experience, there is a pervasive difference between homogeneity in Japan and elsewhere, but there's also a shift among the current generation.

Japan as a country has not apologized much for its WW II actions, in comparison with, say, Germany

I suspect Germany wouldn't be nearly as apologetic after two atomic bombs. I'm not saying Japan couldn't do better; I just don't think a comparison to Germany is a valid of pointing this out.
posted by scottreynen at 11:01 AM on August 22, 2005

I suspect Germany wouldn't be nearly as apologetic after two atomic bombs. I'm not saying Japan couldn't do better; I just don't think a comparison to Germany is a valid of pointing this out.

Actually, Japan got off more lightly than Germany. The total Japanese civilian casualty count for WW2 was 350,000 out of a population of 72 million (.5%). The Germans lost 2,000,000 out of a population of 78 million (2.5%). Japan may have witnessed a more spectacular form of destruction in the form of the A-bomb, but it actually experienced a lot fewer casualties than Germany.
posted by unreason at 11:15 AM on August 22, 2005

Japanese are racist (yes, I am generalizing) But for the most part it is benign. Nobody has drug me behind a truck, or chained me to a fence to die.

The most you are gonna get is "we dont hire foriengers" or "japanese only." and you will probably only hear the latter at entertainment establishments.

Uyoku are annoying, but not completely bad. They try to act hard, but some are nice guys. Definately have nothing on the Klan... And remember, they dont hate foriegners as much as they try to show they love their country... When I was growing up I used to hear them rolling around Hollering "Kaere" (go home) around the base I grew up on, with cops following behind, But nowadays you dont hear that so much.

They also do some good stuff, like parking in front of businesses and stores and hollering about bad business practices.

Side Note - Japanese racism is not racism, XENOPHOBIA is a good word.

Also, contrary to popular belief, japanese do NOT embrace western culture. They might embrace a style they find cute, and change it up to japanese standards, but underneath it all nothing has changed. Just style.
posted by KantoKing at 3:35 PM on August 22, 2005

Actually, Japan got off more lightly than Germany. The total Japanese civilian casualty count for WW2 was 350,000 out of a population of 72 million (.5%). The Germans lost 2,000,000 out of a population of 78 million (2.5%). Japan may have witnessed a more spectacular form of destruction in the form of the A-bomb, but it actually experienced a lot fewer casualties than Germany.

That is a very interesting figure because well in excess of 200,000 were killed in the atomic bombings (wikipedia claims more than 200,000 for Hiroshima alone if you take into account radiation sickness) and more than 100,000 people were killed in one night of firebombing in Tokyo alone. According to wikipedia 130,000 civilians were killed in the Battle for Okinawa. Which gets, using ounly four incidents, to much more than you are claiming. To that you have to add the large scale deaths of Japanese citizens in Asia duringand at the end of the war the war, the massive firebombing of almost all Japanese main cities on an almost daily basis for a long period, and I feel we are talking about a hugely bigger number than you are quoting. Britannica quotes 672,000 on the Japaneseside. Does the German figure include the genocide of the German Jews?
posted by chaschas at 3:56 PM on August 22, 2005

Japanese Media is a PRIME culprit in this equation of shaping custom and culture. Upon arrival i watched the evening news hoping to get a glimpse of what was going down in the world abroad. I was aghast by the end of the show as 90% was about 'local raddish farmers in Tochigi' and 10% was internationally orientated. I use the word 'orientated' as the only international news was 'news' that somehow qualifies is...

1. A foreign country doing something to affect Japan directly - usually negatively via trade, or militarily.

2. about Japan helping some other poor helpless 3rd world country,

3. about Japanese sports men and women winning something,

4. about some international sports person of note coming to Japan.

Japan, Japan, Japan - people here simply dont get another angle with which to compare their own culture, leading to an atrophy of this critical skill of self analysis in both historical and contemporary issues relating to 'foreign' issues.

From my experience with fantastic Japanese people, both the younger and older generation are interested in countries other than Japan. However the media promotes the myth of Japan as an exclusive/special culture to such an extent here that even those Japanese who are interested find it difficult to form objective and informed opinions about the outside world.

This also leads to a surprised and defensive reaction when other countries get upset and want to verbally attack the Japan they love because of 'some war' that happened 60 years ago and nobody talks about, and are taught in school that it was to 'liberate' these ungrateful countries in the first place.

The lens of self perception is deliberately distorted here - many other Asian countries recognize this phenomenon (probably from their own media self sensored cultures) and get angry when they see history being twisted further back to the way it was pre WW11 as they rightly don't want to see it happen again.

Also as KANTOKING said regarding the Japanese westernization of style as surface only. Right on the money.
posted by rawfishy at 1:07 AM on August 23, 2005

Rawfishy's description of Japanese news is right on, and, if you switch the word "Japan" with "America", pretty much describes what American news is/was when I lived there.
posted by Bugbread at 1:30 AM on August 23, 2005

Those of us raised in a Western culture often don't understand how truly odd we are. The centuries of influence of Christianity + Renaissance + Englightenment inculcates a core belief that others are just as human as we. But that struggle to develop a sense of empathy and fraternité is overwhelmingly difficult even for those raised in the tradition. How much more so for those outside it?
posted by mono blanco at 2:18 AM on August 23, 2005

Does the German figure include the genocide of the German Jews?

Prolly not. The Russians were right bastards rolling through East Prussia and Silesia. We're talking tanks running down refugee columns for sport. The Japanese in Manchuria got a taste of this too, but not to the scale that the Germans did.

But the diff I think is that Germans launched an unprovoked (if perhaps distantly preventative) genocidal war against the slavs, so had no great moral basis for outrage (and in fact gave better than they got), while the Japanese had the full fury of 3 years of war production rain down from the skies on their homeland, sorta outta nowhere if one ignores (which the Japanese are wont to do) the IJA's actions in China.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 3:18 AM on August 23, 2005

But the diff I think is that Germans launched an unprovoked (if perhaps distantly preventative) genocidal war against the slavs, so had no great moral basis for outrage (and in fact gave better than they got), while the Japanese had the full fury of 3 years of war production rain down from the skies on their homeland, sorta outta nowhere if one ignores (which the Japanese are wont to do) the IJA's actions in China.

I have no idea what you mean by this. The situations are about as parallel as you can get: both countries invaded and brutally conquered nearby countries while telling everyone they were forced to for their own protection, both countries eventually got bombed to smithereens. The difference is that the Germans have come to terms with their guilt, the Japanese by and large have not.
posted by languagehat at 5:55 AM on August 23, 2005

By the way, strawberryviagra, that article is about Arudou Debito (neé David Aldwinckle) and his lengthy court battle against that bathhouse. (He plans to take the case to the UN.)
posted by armage at 6:40 AM on August 23, 2005

When Germany says it is following a pacifist line these days and refusing to send troops to a war it believes is unjust and simply economically motivated, i tend to believe that their recent history supports their declared action.

However when a self declared 'pacifist' county such as Japan declares that it will send fully armed troops to the aforementioned war albiet in a 'reconstruction' role, there is a double talk going on that needs a degree of careful scrutiny.

The previous policy of paying off the international community to the term of 1 Billion dollars wasnt appreciated in the first gulf war - showing the longterm failure of checkbook diplomacy to generate any kind of lasting respect on an international scale (many of my discussions here with locals have brought this figure up as a kneejerk talking point on the topic - so whether the figure is accurate or not is moot, the locals believe it due to the Japanese news media here, and look at it as a sign of international disrespect.)

This checkbook diplomacy was also seen to be used to sway influence Japanese throughout Asia and Africa - especially in relation to UN votes etc. With the recent economic downturn Japan realises that it is losing this influence and desperately needs some method to save face and protect its international interests.

So to many people and the govt. in Japan see the sending of a token amount of troops to Iraq is a much cheaper option than
a mass 'wash your hands of the matter' pay off to the international community option. It also is seen as giving Japan more proactive self respect in a time of waining international world influence in relation to China and India.

The ball of increased militarism as an extension of patriotism is steadily gaining ground here, the constitution is under assault due to the deliberately unclear situation that the troops have been placed in Iraq. It is a ploy by Prime minister Koizumi to get support of the right wing elements - he gets to be seen as taking action for Japan, and if a soldier dies unable to defend himself due to the Japanese constitution being unclear on the matter of self defense under fire - the ensuing debate will ostracise any pacifist political elements in the country similar to what happened to any doves post 9-11 in the USA.

When Japan isnt on top - it gets aggressive, economically, politically and lastly militarily as it depends on foreign energy to fuel its economy. These tendencies havent been addressed post WW2 and will get Japan in serious trouble again in the future - i regretfully guarantee it.
posted by rawfishy at 7:24 AM on August 23, 2005

Fresh off the press.

'Ishihara to produce movie on kamikaze'
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050823a2.htm

The governor of Tokyo Ishihara, renowned in circles here for his racist, sexist and ageist views, gets up to more mischief. Interesting that he uses Buddhist terminology in the article, in relation to a story created around shinto belief - Kamikaze means 'God wind' in Japanese.

The main players on the nationalist front are in government due to the dynastic tendency of politics here..i think current PM Koizumi's a fourth generation politician, which means his relatives were in the game around the time of WW2 and PM Tojo and the rest of the gang.

US General McArthur simply had to leave alot of the old politicians where they were just to get things moving in the Japanese economy again during the occupation.

As a result alot of the old guard politicians in power today have links back to even the old samurai system, and are hell bent on honoring their ancestors actions...even at the price of relations with other countries involved in the situation like China.

Hence you see Koizumi trundling off to Yasukuni every 12 months or so...but i think the heat got a bit too much this year....we will see.
posted by rawfishy at 7:42 AM on August 23, 2005

"US General McArthur simply had to leave alot of the old politicians where they were just to get things moving in the Japanese economy again during the occupation." This obscures the responsibility the US must accept for the undoubted influence of highly conservative elements on Japanese high politics since the war. It is not true that McArthur "had" to do anything.. There was an early "denazification" by the Americans after the war and then a rapid reversal of this policy when the left became to strong. To cut a long story short, the US authorities let all the old Nazis out of prison and allowed them back into positions of power and arrested all the radicals. There was an earlier choice by the US authorities not to remove the emperor. This was a US choice not a Japanese choice and was made because they didn't want to destabilise the country and let the commies in. There are plenty of Japanese people who would have loved to have gotten rid of the old cliques in high politics but the US chose not to.
posted by chaschas at 5:03 AM on August 24, 2005

By the way, don't you think it is right for the leader of a state to pay respect to the millions of soldiers who died having been conscripted by that state and told to fight in its name? Yasukuni is the national war memorial of Japan. The real debat e should not be over whether Japan should honour its war dead but over whether either Yasukuni should be reformed (it is undoubtedly very nationalist and its management dominated by the cliques mentioned above) or whether a new memorial should be set up (the optioned favoured by the main opposition party and the two biggest broadsheet newspapers in Japan)
posted by chaschas at 5:09 AM on August 24, 2005

Yes i agree, a leader should be able to pay their respects to the fallen, without the event being hijacked by historical revisionist forces due to the nature of the place being visited. Yaskuni is right next to the Emperors palace in the middle of Tokyo, and was used as a focal point for a call to arms for a holy war throughout Asia in his name.

The new memorial at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Chiyoda Ward being discussed is definitely the best option to clear up any 'miscommunication' of the present governments position on historical events. The visits as they currently stand are like a slap in the face to other Asian countries involved in the war. Koizumi's government increased the size of the war museum at Yaskuni x4 after he was first elected to power as a payoff for the war bereaved federations support during the election.

Remembering the fallen is fine - playing politics with that memory is something else altogether.
posted by rawfishy at 8:25 AM on August 24, 2005

I want to preface this by saying it is not meant to limit the responsibility Japan has for its war crimes. However, I want to put this issue into some perspective. There is a lot of Japan bashing around and I agree with Alexander Bukh that it is actually an endemic and long running aspect of western problematistion of the country.

However, back to my point. I wonder how many war criminals are commemorated in the US Vietnam memorials and the various other US memorials? How many conductors of massacres commemorated in the British war memorials? How many war criminals seen as heroes in Israel and China and just about everywhere. The most important difference between Japan and, say, England or the US is that the LOST. For God‘s sake, George Washington was a slave owner, and an aggressive and possessive one at that, and the Atlantic slave trade was one of the most appalling atrocities and genocides the world has ever seen. If Africa hadn't been so destroyed by Western colonialism, which could be every bit as evil as the Japanese version, how would the US be coping with a powerful West Africa's demands for apologies and proper commemoration. Change the name of the capital city, for a start.
posted by chaschas at 5:05 AM on August 25, 2005

If we are talking about dynastic, cliquish politics suppose the kennedys, the bushs and the koizumis would have plenty to talk about among themselves. Why the need to exotify Japan?
posted by chaschas at 6:12 PM on August 25, 2005

I see alot of PC and warm and fuzzy, feel good post concerning the attitudes towards foriegners in Japan. I have lived in Japan for about 10 years, Im white and American. I have worked on bases and the private sector. First of all, to be able to understand Japan completely, one must live among the natives. This excludes people living on the bases and English teachers. Why? Because your not working for them directly. Your not subject to the same rules that the natives are. Say you go to hello work, and get a job in a factory, your the only foriengner in the place. Youll learn real fast that Japan is not an equal opportunity employer. Youll learn about Gamen, when there is no pay for overtime, youll learn to accept being ignored, and if there is no pay for that month, well youll learn to accept that as well because everybody else is. My take on Japan is no matter how hard you try to fit in, youll never be accepted as an equal, so I dont bother anymore. I was crossing the street one time in front of a yuuryoku truck and called plenty of names from their loud speaker. As far as the poster who said the right wing isnt as bad as the Klan in the US, how would you know? I knew a guy in it, and I wont put on here what he said he did to foriegners. I was told by a Japanese co-worker that if I didnt change my kokuseki (nationality) to Japanese, I would always be inferior to him because I am a gaijin. I was also told by a group leader at a place I worked that Japan should of won the war, he couldnt understand how a loose nation like America had won. Ive seen plenty of discrimination towards non Japanese asian people. I feel that these people tend to have a inferiorty complex towards the Japanese as they were conquered by them in WW2. My country wasnt conquered by Japanese so from time to time I remind them of this fact when they get beligerant. If Japan had won the war, I know in my heart that they would look down on the people they conquered, so I dont have a problem reminding them of it. They can come to the US and buy up land and companies and do as they please but make life difficult for outsiders in their own country. I know the feel good do gooder reader about this time is furious and is ready to call me names, but I dont care. You get out there and do some time in the real world instead of fantasy world (i.e. living on the base, protected under the SOFA or some NOVA English teacher) then post your crap.
posted by raider1 at 4:28 AM on September 21, 2005

Gamen? Yuurokyu? With all due respect, maybe you would find it easier to get on in Japan if you had better Japanese.
posted by dydecker at 4:56 AM on September 21, 2005

raider1 : "I know the feel good do gooder reader about this time is furious and is ready to call me names, but I dont care. You get out there and do some time in the real world instead of fantasy world (i.e. living on the base, protected under the SOFA or some NOVA English teacher) then post your crap."

I dunno if I'm the "feel good do gooder" reader you refer to, but I'm going to guess that I am not, since I'm not furious, nor ready to call you names. That said, yeah, I'm one of the guys working in "the real world" (i.e. a traditional Japanese company, with almost no non-Japanese, not military or English related), and I've got to agree with Dydecker. If you've lived in Japan 10 years and you mangle Japanese as much as you do in this post (I mean, come on, 2 mistakes out of only four words total?), I suspect you'd get along a whole lot better if you actually tried to speak at a normal level.

Also, while I don't believe in karma, I have noticed that jerks seem to attract (er, ok, I guess I called you a name after all, but it's certainly not with any anger). Based on this sentence, "My country wasnt conquered by Japanese so from time to time I remind them of this fact when they get beligerant.", I can't say I'm all that surprised that you're surrounded by jerks.
posted by Bugbread at 6:19 AM on September 21, 2005

Of course your going to pick out the most insignificant details of my post, my Japanese spelling. Who gives a sh*t about that? I can speak and hear Japanese almost perfect, but unlike other foriengers, I dont make a big deal about it because I realize that no matter how much Japanese you know, your still the equilivant of a black man in Mississipi in 1950. The point your failing to realize is that Japanese have a superiority complex and wish to dominate the world, before it was militarly now its economical. Before, I was just like you, a naive goof who thought all Japanese were so kind and considerate. This is just a mask. I can now understand how they were able to commit attrocities and torture POWs like they did. You would have to expereince being on the receiving end of their superior attitude. As far as you having a problem with me reminding a beligerant Japanese when something stupid falls out of his mouth about Hiroshima or Nagasaki, I know you havent become hardened by living in Japan. You were sheltered. I dont hate Japanese, Im just putting the truth down. I have had plenty of Japanese tell me they like America because we didnt treat their POWs like the Russians did. Im not one of those gaijins who bend over backwards to please anybody, especially Japanese. Its called having pride. Japanese have it. So do I. If your one of those people from a country that has been defeated over and over again. perhaps your lacking it.
posted by raider1 at 6:50 PM on September 21, 2005