Ad Astra said:
What shlt.
That's like a bad ethnic joke, and it's being TAUGHT?
I started to say, "the stature of liberty doesn't have a gun," then I saw the American tourist did.
No stupid emoticon is going to show my level of anger and distaste at this racist, world-hating crap.
Why are they so down on the subject of winning? There must be a reason.
"People are funny", all right. Wonder what one written about the Japanese would say?
Mike
the japanese supposedly have a saying "the nail that raises its head, gets hammered down". not unlike "the other crabs in the bucket will pull you back". amercians are rogues, they are the solo soldier of one, take names, kick ass. individuality is rewarded. in japan, it's about the team. if you pull ahead, you'd better have an escape plan, cuz if you fail, it's the "window office". such is my understanding.
the article says amercians are all about the spectacle of violence, guns, and so on. it's true. little children can see a man blown on in a near PG movie, but flash a boob, and no way.
let's look at my understanding of the japanese quirks ... sorry if this is offensive, but, it's my understanding gleaned of a culture from far away, from its works and exports, the news and sometimes a little reading. who can tell.
(too bad we don't have redirects/cuts in ubb)
o violence is taboo. yet, there's a big underground for that. especially co-related to sex. especially in the anime/hentai areas. VERY VIOLENT. oh my god. makes football look like tame stuff. kung fu movies! wow.
o sex - take a look at the anime, manga, hentai, and hell, vending machines. sex is big, sex is real. sex isn't just used for advertising subliminals. it's ... a way of life. sex is a-ok. however, a lot of it appears twisted to our minds, and some massively erotic and sensual and kinky and sometimes "wrong", but that's a value judgement. kitty girls anyone?
o "urot suki doji" - [giant] tentacle porn - often ends with the woman dying violently from massive trauma due to trauma and exploding from the force of the orgasm. nuff said.
o lots of anime is about escapist fantasties, easy, pure women, with americanized faces/bodies, SUPER long legs, big boobs, and they're all emotional and easy. except the heroines, who eventually melt like little girls.
o gentials - depictions, even drawn/animated of women (men?) naked do not show pubic hair. they optically obscure it, white it out, black it out, doesn't get seen - however "shaved" is okay and boy oh boy are they not shy about it. boobs are OK, giant boobs that undulated and bounce even better. graphic sex is OK. god, some of the cartoons out there rival the best porn movies with real people. yow. they have pretty sophisticated animated sim people now that perform act and beg for sex. eee yow.
o alcoholism - a lot of the salarymen and their afterwork group sake. my understanding is they drink, a LOT. massively. they avoid the homelife, wife (if they have one), get plastered. hell, they might not even make it home (tube hotels). single guys got it worse, they might even pretty much live at work.
o pets - very very small spaces, hard to have pets when your apartment is super tiny. they have "rental pents" that you sign up for - like a time share. good business. walk around with a puppy for a day, return it. always have a puppy!
o wilderness - not so much; don't need guns for hunting. a lot of it is set aside, but growing pressures cause much distress. apparently the skylines everywhere have manmade artifacts. mant to film a movie about sweeping plains and lush forests? goto mongolia maybe, not japan. all those electrical lines godzilla always blunders into? lots and lots of those.
o swords - a lot of people can't OWN swords still? mmm. weapons in general seem taboo.
o suicide - very high suicide rate, especially among the younger people - school pressures, failure, threat of failure, hints of failure. it was pretty bad when we covered this in school as a topic, i don't know about today. winning may not be everything in sports there, but SUCCESS is. you must get A+s, and A or A- is abject failure! my god.
o pollution - friends and people i know that goto some parts of japan for pleasure/work, say it's awful. air quality sometimes in some places is worse than even fabled LA smog... whoa.
so, that's a fair list of what i recall that might be ... off putting to americans in the same way that article is. there are a LOT of good things as well. many many good things. perhaps we can touch on that for japan AND america.
bladite
Andy is that morse code?
Offensive dots indeed. LOL
