More Bulls**t

DannyinJapan

DannyinJapan

Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Messages
5,594
I dont think Saddam Hussein ever badmouthed America as much as your average Japanese person.
Every time someone gets killed or robbed or raped, they seem to go down a checklist looking for a place to put blame.
America is the first three or four names on the list. I guess things are improving this time, at least they just blamed it on the internet.


Article

If you read the article, pay special attention to this, it is the heart of Japans' woe since the Meiji period:
"the more basic problem is that of an inability to communicate skilfully with another human being," said Tatsuo Inamasu, a professor at Tokyo's Hosei University.
 
That story made headlines here, too. It was even a headline on my browser.
How sad and unnecessary for both families.
 
Obviously, Japanese authorities need to pass out more condoms to prevent this kind of rage.



munk
 
Inamasu, who specialises in media studies, also said many parents and teachers put the blame on computers as they do not understand well how to use them.

"I don't think we can blame computers for causing a murder."


Agreed. The sad thing is, "many parents and teachers" could learn how to use computers, if only for the reason that their kids will use them. If that's not motive enough, then is this borderline neglect or chosen ignorance?

I've heard of 'fear of the unknown' (perhaps the root of all fear, what with so many unknowns), but fear of the known? Ignorance.

Keith
 
Man, you would not believe an elementary school here.
They all share this myth that Japan is safe.
Therefore, the kids get kama handed out to them to go cut weeds after lunch break.
9 yr old boys and girls with kama!

Also, they all get to have razor sharp box cutters in their desks.
I used scissors in my school.

Even in Texas we didnt allow grad schoolers to carry box cutters.

Japan is a place where people dont correct each other or complain or address problems directly. that is their morality.
This place gets scarier every day.
 
Kama? Weed cutter?

Danny, it wasn't too long ago our children had rifles stacked in the corner of the schoolroom for hunting on the way back home.
We didn't have today's murder rates, either.



munk
 
Don't know much about this MA stuff, but a kama is a sickle-like agricultural tool that has been incorporated into formalized MA training. I think there's been a couple pix here before.

Anway, here's a pic and description:

kama_l.gif

http://www.atlantaokinawankarate.com/kama.htm

Ones not intended for fighting wouldn't have the wrapping or whatever near the blade to protect the wooden handle.

Might raise a few eyebrows in my neighborhood it I was using one in the front yard, by so would a good-old fashioned sickle that we used on the really tall grass when I was a kid.

Myself, I think an 11 year old can learn to use such things under supervision, and that it is a good idea--but I would question the level of supervison in a school today.

What if some kid filched a chisel from woodshop? Oh yeah, they don't have woodshop anymore. The tools have here been blamed instead of the internet. Too bad, my parents still use a hardwood cutting board that I made in jr high about 30 years ago.

I carried a sharp pocketknife in school at about that age, as I recall.
 
Danny,

The more I read about and of Japanese, the less I understand and frankly like them. I'm sorry to report that to this group.


Article

Good sirs,

I missed you all while I was in Gatlinburg. If I paid and got a membership, an therefore I could get a sig line again I'd put the above article into it.
 
The Japanese appear to have a deeper and more narrowly defined denial than our own society. Societies are about denial, though. That's what makes us live with ourselves and each other. Sort of the sweet lies we tell- or the bald ass ignorant ones.


munk
 
I came here hoping to learn martial arts and live next door to mr miyagi.
It didnt happen. They tell us foreigners that its all just culture shock and linguistic misunderstandings.
The truth is that this is a country full of people who have a middle school level of emotional and intellectual understanding.
(They are children)
I have had grown ups try reverse psychology on me...
This is where diversity makes us stronger. We are forced to learn and adapt and grow. Maturity comes from being forced to analyze yourself, from asking hard questions.
Japanese people dont do that.
They teach their kids not to question authority. To them, obeying the boss and the government is the definition of morality.
It is accepted by most Japanese that their bosses define their basic civil rights.
My school tried to tell me I couldnt drive my car.
I said "the japanese constitution says I can drive a car. I have a japanese license, insurance and a car. Im going to drive it."
they tried to tell me that usually the company or school decides these things.
I said "I dont care."

Never ever give up your rights for the sake of convenience.
Never ever let tradition take precedence over the constitution.

What happens is the worst thing I can imagine.
People are born and live their lives with a dead soul.
People who live their whole lives in japan and never have that earth-shattering experience of really experiencing life in a free country have dead souls.
Foreigners who come here and try to live and become part of the system, if they are not careful, lose their passions and their spirits grow dim.

I have heard this from both japanese people and foreginers living in japan.
"japan kills your spirit"
Thats about the worst thing anybody ever said about any country.

I dont hate japan, I want to make it better. they tell us we shouldnt try to change things or make them like our own countries.
Thats exactly one of the reasons it sucks, cause they never change or try to improve.
They imply that any attempt at change would be a form of racial supremacism.
(cause thats what they do inside)

So, I do not think I have many fans among the japanese, but they have no choice anymore. Everyewhere I go I will teach them how things work outside of japan.
the borders of this island cannot keep out the world any longer.
 
Danny, I'm listening to what you're saying, and I have much agreement. But for the Japanese- it is not soul death. People live their lives within different confines.

I know a gal whose husband is Japanese and lives there. She gets low end of the totem pole. It's a shame. I've read that a Westerner can never really assimulate into Japanese society.


munk
 
Assimilation is impossible for people who know basic science or have belief in God. Science and God are absolutes that are not open to dispute by the group. Science and God take authority out of the hands of your boss.

The society is a colony organism type society, like a stone age culture in venezuela.

Here it is in a nutshell:

Ever ask your kids "if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?"

In America, you are expected to say no.
Right and wrong exist outside of the group.
In Japan, you are expected to say yes.
Right and wrong are defined by the group.

If this were a little tribe somewhere, that would be fine.
However, it is anti-democratic, and this country has a democratic constitution. This country, officially, has laws.
Not only that, most of the nations of the world work in a law and constitution fashion.
If they want to interact with the rest of the world, they must change.
It is as simple as that.
 
Been there myself, while it's a great place to visit, I think it would be a rotten place to live (sorry, these are only in comparison to my own standards) for any individual.

I think the same of France and Greece and Turkey and...well, okay, Turkey is a rotten place to visit too.

It's like a Borg Collective...even the rowdies...all the same within the class.
 
Danny, all they have to do is continue to sell ultra refined products.


I wouldn't mind if they'd patrol their own waters. It's really time for the WWll legacy to end. I particularly want to see France protect Europe.


munk
 
A few years ago in Japanese I my teacher talked about her time in Japan (lived and taught in a village, not a city, probably different culture). One story went some thing like this.
She is teaching a 3rd grade (equivalent?) class when a 7th grader comes in and tries cussing her out in English. A few vocabulary, and grammar corrections, followed by a remark involving his apparent intelligence and lack of common sense, found him sinking out the door while being laughed at by all the 3rd graders. She later found out that that was the local mafia heads son. She is the only white person in town. Turns out the Japanese mafia don?t care about the little things as much as ours might, so nothing more came of it.

Point is that most people think of Japanese kids as little angels who always obey the rules. Many don't.

Completely separate from that, from another teacher, I found out that when Japanese foreign exchange students come to the states, they have a hard time with math. Sure they are doing trig by 9th grade. But they have never seen a story problem in their life. They aren't being taught to think over there. That alone could account for some of what you are seeing over there Danny.
 
Not teaching children to think.

Think about that.

My job is to teach, but the culture, in general, does not believe in teaching children to think.

It breaks my heart.

But suddenly, men like Nagato Sensei and Hatsumi Sensei who travel the world and live in Japan make more sense to me.
I understand why they have few Japanese students.
They have become foreigners in their own country.

This also break my heart.
 
Danny, it's OK. Japan can be seen as uninspiring. There's room for everyone. We don't need 2 trillion original thinkers on this planet.


munk
 
I can see this in my city, folks who are terminally asleep and part of the machine, automatons in skin-suits. Reactive at best, never proactive, pulled along, never leading.

You've seen one of the enlightenments that Osho mentions--True sight. Doesn't seem to affect inanimate objects, but people seem different. You can seee the light or dimness in their eyes, kinda spooky, eh?

Keith
 
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