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Jumpingmanjim posted:What is a good book to read about the Japanese boom and bust of the 80s? http://textfiles.com/politics/japanyes
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Jun 21, 2015 23:10
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It's cool to see a blast from the past and a window into the mind of the American public's lizard brain circa 1985 but how about an actual book?
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Jun 21, 2015 23:18
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Dogs and Demons I guess? Its fun to look back at that and laugh about how none of its predictions came true.
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Jun 22, 2015 00:09
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I want to believe that whoever wrote this is now working on one on China.
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Jun 22, 2015 02:14
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJW0I63Gzuc
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Jun 23, 2015 10:20
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Well, there goes 5 hours of my day. Any other good 70s/80s travel documentaries about Japan?
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Jun 23, 2015 21:22
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Is this the thread to bitch about old men do stupid things? Maybe they want to restart the TV cartels from the 80's…MediumWellDone posted:The most 'weird Japan' place may be the government.
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Jul 14, 2015 11:27
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MediumWellDone posted:Is this the thread to bitch about old men do stupid things? Maybe they want to restart the TV cartels from the 80's…  Also apparently this includes education majors; for example, this mentions that an Aomori school is ending a department that trains art and PE teachers, while adding staff for engineering and agricultural science. It looks like part of the reasoning is that "hey in 15 years our under-18 population is going to be half of what it was 15 years ago, so we need to make sure they're going to be useful to society"...which I can almost understand given the silliness of the current system*, but this is pretty absurd and surely not going to do anything but make things worse. *From speaking with Japanese college students/grads/professors, a whole bunch of Japanese college education is effectively wasted, with students not actually gaining anything meaningful due to a variety of reasons (class structure, teaching methods, lax grading, etc.).
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Jul 14, 2015 12:09
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z0glin Warchief posted:
The whole system reeks. Put kids in get workers out. Torturous entrance exams to enter university, where you pretty much can't fail. But it doesn't really matter what you study anyway, because you'll go to the work fair and a company will take you under their wing and mould you into what they want anyway.
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Jul 14, 2015 12:52
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look if you wanted to go to school and learn things that weren't directly related to your destined profession you should've been born rich
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Jul 14, 2015 18:29
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MediumWellDone posted:Is this the thread to bitch about old men do stupid things? Maybe they want to restart the TV cartels from the 80's… So when they say "close down", does this mean they're basically turning every public university into a technical school?
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Jul 14, 2015 18:31
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Is Japan's education system as bad as SK and China's?
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Jul 14, 2015 19:51
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Replace gaokao with senta- shiken and pretty much yeah.
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Jul 14, 2015 20:26
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In my experience it's not as bad, but it is similar. Teaching methods, with the focus on rote memorization, are pretty similar, and the workload is higher than you'd see in the US for example. For the average kid you'll probably spend several extra hours a week during your third (last) years in middle/high school in a cram school studying for entrance exams, which sucks, but isn't nearly the level commonly associated with China/SK on the internet (I don't know how accurate those portrayals are of the actual education systems there for the average student though). It is a spectrum though, and the ones who are shooting for the more elite schools will be studying far more, while the kids going to a tech school and finding a job out of high school will be studying a lot less. For the most part, where you fall is decided pretty early on in life: a good elementary school leads to a good middle school leads to a good high school leads to a good college leads to a good job. If you screw up an entrance exam and have to go somewhere on a lower tier than you were aiming, it's very difficult to climb back up. Way less rampant cheating than you hear about in China, for sure. Basically I'd say the system isn't great, is too stressful, and is still too focused on producing good workers more so than well-rounded citizens (which in today's economy means you aren't even actually producing good workers either), but is in a more salvageable state than it's neighbors'.
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Jul 15, 2015 02:00
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MediumWellDone posted:Is this the thread to bitch about old men do stupid things? Maybe they want to restart the TV cartels from the 80's…
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Jul 15, 2015 21:01
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mystes posted:I bet this is just a way to get the remaining liberals out of the universities, all though I sort of like the idea that the government is secretly taking the future population decrease super seriously and already has a huge list of nonessential jobs and jobs that will be filled with a massive flood of guest workers and it includes everything nontechnical. I just wish there was more of a chance for people to developed critical thinking skills earlier. To be honest I've only been exposed to a small selection of the student population, but the majority of university students I've worked with over the last two and half years seem like big junior high school kids.
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Jul 15, 2015 23:22
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/world/asia/japans-lower-house-passes-bills-giving-military-freer-hand-to-fight.htmlquote:TOKYO — The lower house of Japan’s Parliament passed legislation Thursday giving the country’s military limited powers to fight in foreign conflicts, something it has not done since World War II. I guess Abe's getting around having to do a constitutional amendment by just ignoring the constitution outright?
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Jul 16, 2015 08:24
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icantfindaname posted:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/world/asia/japans-lower-house-passes-bills-giving-military-freer-hand-to-fight.html Yes, but it's because the constitution is written too restrictively and it's drat near impossible to change. The constitution has been being violated since 1954 when the JSDF was first established.
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Jul 16, 2015 08:30
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Internet says an amendment just requires a supermajority in both houses plus a simple majority referendum. That doesn't seem that much worse than the standard parliamentary constitution amendment of just a supermajority in both houses. Significantly easier than the American one anyways
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Jul 16, 2015 08:33
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MediumWellDone posted:I just wish there was more of a chance for people to developed critical thinking skills earlier. To be honest I've only been exposed to a small selection of the student population, but the majority of university students I've worked with over the last two and half years seem like big junior high school kids. The current system doesn't produce well-rounded students because it's not meant to. It's purpose is to institutionalize classism. The big companies all hire people from the top universities who just happen to be rich kids, and the executives there shrug their shoulders and talk about what hard workers the graduates from the top universities are. The admissions directors for the top universities all grant admission to the kids from the top high schools, who just happen to be rich kids whose parents paid for tutoring. The admissions directors shrug their shoulders and talk about what hard workers the kids from the top high schools are. The high school entrance exam regime discourages applying to a school you're not sure you'll have the test scores for. The top high schools take the kids with the top exam grades who knew they would get good grades because they're rich and their parents have paid for juku since they were 6. The school principals shrug their shoulders and talk about how much hard work the junior high schoolers put in studying for their entrance exams. That's the system, and every aspect of it is designed to make it difficult to cross class boundaries. Do poorly on your entrance exam when you're 14? Oh, well that means when you're 19 you have no chance at any of the better 4 year universities. Guess you should have studied harder when you'd just barely hit puberty. The problem with the Japanese education system has nothing to do with what they're teaching. Nobody cares what the schools are teaching because it's all about making sure poor kids get told to gently caress off through an arcane series of "fair and standardized" testing. As long as that's happening, the system is considered to be working in the eyes of the people who wield power in Japan. There's also a special note I would like to add about the public high schools. High school is not compulsory, and the poorest families are shut out of high school entirely due to the fees for uniforms, books(students are required to purchase all textbooks), ensoku, etc. I wish the problem with the Japanese education system was simply about what they're teaching. Unfortunately the entire system is rotten top to bottom so while you might be able to get Toudai to teach critical thinking, the higher education most students actually go to probably never will due to the nature of the system. icantfindaname posted:Internet says an amendment just requires a supermajority in both houses plus a simple majority referendum. That doesn't seem that much worse than the standard parliamentary constitution amendment of just a supermajority in both houses. Significantly easier than the American one anyways I don't think Abe will bother trying to change the constitution. I think he'd rather the situation remain ambiguous. If he tries to amend the constitution now then it will make it seem like he knows his interpretation of the constitution is wrong. It's much safer for him to violate the constitution however he likes, and then let the Japanese Supreme Court sort it out. Their rulings don't seem to have any real impact so it's a good strategy. He wins either way. The only way he loses is if he's dumb enough to continue his campaign to amend the constitution and the voters tell him to gently caress off. I don't know what polls he's looking at, but there is no demographic in Japan that supports the idea of Japan going to war. Old people, the demographic that has political power, actually might oppose it more than younger people do. Over time he's looking more and more like Japan's George W. Bush. A war-mongering dolt with a penchant for quixotic diversions to enact deeply unpopular policies. ErIog fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Jul 16, 2015 |
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Jul 16, 2015 09:52
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LimburgLimbo posted:Yes, but it's because the constitution is written too restrictively and it's drat near impossible to change. The constitution has been being violated since 1954 when the JSDF was first established. Yeah, there are tons of easy examples of how the government violates the constitution every day. For example, all those elections/voting disparities which were declared unconstitutional but let stand or never rectified. The constitution hasn't really mattered in quite a while, honestly. Sheep fucked around with this message at 13:41 on Jul 16, 2015 |
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Jul 16, 2015 13:38
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Colin Jones does a great teardown of the terrible manga issued by the LDP to support their constitution-ignoring plans.quote:The LDP’s comic appeal for constitutional change falls flat Here's the comic for those interested or masochistic enough to want to read through this drivel. 
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Jul 16, 2015 16:54
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Skimming that dreck, I'm not sure whether the incredibly transparent and condescending propaganda or the incredibly transparent and condescending sexism is worse. I guess maybe the sexism, since the propaganda is less hypocritical?
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Jul 16, 2015 17:13
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It's hardly surprising when you consider that a few generations ago it was unacceptable for women to step on their husband's shadow or walk beside him instead of three steps behind. Frankly women have come a long way over the last century in Japan, which also goes to show what an utterly abysmal place they're coming out of. The sexism being demonstrated, if viewed through our cultural lens, is pretty appalling, but frankly what's being shown here is actually pretty good in light of the situation when you consider that it was undoubtedly drawn up by a bunch of geriatric old men. I rather think that this manga isn't super representative of society's views on women, though there is certainly a reflection of it there - at the same time, it can be difficult to separate sexism from culture when the two are so intertwined as they are in Japan. 
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Jul 16, 2015 22:03
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Sheep posted:Yeah, there are tons of easy examples of how the government violates the constitution every day. For example, all those elections/voting disparities which were declared unconstitutional but let stand or never rectified. It's almost like having a constitution written for you by someone else you less likely to follow it when it's inconvenient. But considering a rewrite from scratch isn't on the cards, they'll just carry on as they are. Ignoring it when there's no political cost to doing so, changing it when there is. CottonWolf fucked around with this message at 10:53 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 10:47
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Ah yes, the old "we didn't write it so gently caress it" school of governance.
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Jul 20, 2015 11:58
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Why is Abe so obsessed with creating a military force? What possible fight is he certain Japan could breeze through if it weren't for that drat pacifism clause? Annexing Korea? Or does he plan on going to war with China over the Senkaku?
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Jul 20, 2015 12:02
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Other than the boner right wing nationalists have for military stuff, I would guess Japan is (rightfully) scared of China and thinks they need to beef up their armed forces to maintain the current situation, where Japan's forces are superior enough that the Chinese probably won't do anything more than bluster.
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Jul 20, 2015 12:05
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One of the major concerns cropping up now is that Japan can't defend its allies, which can sort of go either way. It'd be good if Japan could pull its own weight in the Asia-Pacific region if it came to it (it won't), but on the other hand that'd require calling a duck a duck and admitting that Japan does have a military, which is something a lot of people just won't agree to do at present.
Sheep fucked around with this message at 12:21 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 12:15
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Also as nationalist dreams go, Japan placing its military on the same legal status as every other country isn't that unreasonable. I'd rather we bust every other country down to something more like Japan, but alas.
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Jul 20, 2015 12:17
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Unless Japan has credible plans to construct a militia of Gundams I don't think any amount of firepower will put them on equal footing with a country like China... as to the problem with behind the lines stuff I can see the problem, but personally I'd just say 'well, let's not be involved in active warzones at all.' I don't know, it just feels like Japan looked at all the attention North Korea gets for sabre-rattling and went 'drat, the gaijins really respect those guys, we should copy their style.'
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Jul 20, 2015 12:21
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Tesseraction posted:Unless Japan has credible plans to construct a militia of Gundams I don't think any amount of firepower will put them on equal footing with a country like China... as to the problem with behind the lines stuff I can see the problem, but personally I'd just say 'well, let's not be involved in active warzones at all.' They don't have to be on equal footing with China. China's navy is/was primarily brown water, and Japan is still #7 worldwide in military expenditures. Japan has high-tech poo poo out the wazoo, their air force has highly trained pilots who get loads of flight time in modern airframes, and enough of a naval force that they'd probably be fine on their own even if China did for some reason decide to start a conventional war. Provided things don't go nuclear, devolve into lobbing ballistic missiles around, and China doesn't annex Korea and then decide to build a bridge of trash/bodies to Kyushu, there's literally no danger from China for Japan aside from air pollution coming across the ocean. Edit: Japan has the 4th largest navy in the world by tonnage, too. They're really not that far off China at all when you look at the numbers for everything but manpower. Sheep fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 12:25
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Tesseraction posted:Unless Japan has credible plans to construct a militia of Gundams I don't think any amount of firepower will put them on equal footing with a country like China... as to the problem with behind the lines stuff I can see the problem, but personally I'd just say 'well, let's not be involved in active warzones at all.' Do you think China's just going to walk 200 million people across the ocean? Japan's military is vastly better equipped and trained, China's air force and navy would be on the bottom before they got anywhere near Japan. Keeping the status quo would be just fine for Japan, but to do that they have to build up since China is trying to make their military not a joke while also becoming increasingly belligerent and threatening more or less all of their neighbors.
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Jul 20, 2015 12:31
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But if that's the case why would they need to remove the pacifism clause? It sounds like they're perfectly prepared to defend themselves should China attack, so the only reason for this clause removal would be to clear the conditions for first strike. China has no need to conquer Japan and the only contention the two countries have regarding territory are the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, right? I just don't get the timing of this focus. Between Abe reigniting ethnic tensions over WW2 and abandoning pacifism it feels like he's got his Japanese equivalent of Bush's 'Iraq 2003' dossier tucked away for the moment this bill gets all the way through. Grand Fromage posted:Do you think China's just going to walk 200 million people across the ocean? Japan's military is vastly better equipped and trained, China's air force and navy would be on the bottom before they got anywhere near Japan. Yeah but that's my point... China has nothing to gain from attacking Japan. Why worry about a nation that won't attack you nor has the capability to subjugate you? e: Wait, China's military is a joke? That's news to me. Tesseraction fucked around with this message at 12:38 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 12:36
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If I were even a mild Japanese nationalist I'd consider Article 9 a standing insult to Japan's rights as a sovereign nation to be removed at first practical opportunity unless there was some pressing reason not to. e: China's navy is much inferior to Japan's right now. This may change, and all manner of internal or international politics may lead to a stupid war.
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Jul 20, 2015 12:39
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Tesseraction posted:Yeah but that's my point... China has nothing to gain from attacking Japan. Why worry about a nation that won't attack you nor has the capability to subjugate you? They can't be sure China won't attack them. The level of vitriol and hatred China spews at Japan is extreme, and China's shown a willingness to play highly aggressive brinkmanship games with its neighbors. China's military leadership also isn't exactly under the control of the central government and may not behave rationally. China probably won't attack Japan but are you going to stake national security on probably, especially when building up the military is a job creator in a stagnant economy as well as popular, and doubly so with the nationalists that support your party's leadership? There's not much downside for Abe domestically. The only real problem is it makes Korea and China screech, but they've spent the last 70 years screeching about literally anything Japan does so at this point who gives a gently caress what they think? Plus annoying them also wins points with nationalists. China's military is generally considered a joke, yes. The PLA of the 50s was pretty tough but it's atrophied. Vietnam beat China in the 70s in like three weeks and that's the last time they've had any significant fight. Most analysts I've read think the Chinese military is barely functional at best, but China is investing in it more now. World War 1 is a good case study in how to get a war between countries that are all acting rationally and none of whom really want to fight.
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Jul 20, 2015 12:46
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Peel posted:If I were even a mild Japanese nationalist I'd consider Article 9 a standing insult to Japan's rights as a sovereign nation to be removed at first practical opportunity unless there was some pressing reason not to. Fair enough, I guess I kinda forget how nationalist Japan is. Which, given the xenophobia, shouldn't be as easy to forget as I make it seem. Grand Fromage posted:They can't be sure China won't attack them. The level of vitriol and hatred China spews at Japan is extreme, and China's shown a willingness to play highly aggressive brinkmanship games with its neighbors. China's military leadership also isn't exactly under the control of the central government and may not behave rationally. China probably won't attack Japan but are you going to stake national security on probably, especially when building up the military is a job creator in a stagnant economy as well as popular, and doubly so with the nationalists that support your party's leadership? There's not much downside for Abe domestically. The only real problem is it makes Korea and China screech, but they've spent the last 70 years screeching about literally anything Japan does so at this point who gives a gently caress what they think? Plus annoying them also wins points with nationalists. Ah fair enough, I suppose I always think of them from the heyday without thinking about how they might have stagnated by now. Grand Fromage posted:World War 1 is a good case study in how to get a war between countries that are all acting rationally and none of whom really want to fight. Uh, obviously this isn't the thread for this but WW1 happened precisely because Austria-Hungary wanted to go to war - look at the July Crisis and (Serbian) response to the July Ultimatum. We over here (Britain) were gagging to go to war. People were so sure we'd finish it by Christmas 1914 they were rushing to sign up and fight before it was too late. It was only by WW2 that Britain was more pragmatic and reticent to fight.
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Jul 20, 2015 13:25
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Tesseraction posted:Uh, obviously this isn't the thread for this but WW1 happened precisely because Austria-Hungary wanted to go to war - look at the July Crisis and (Serbian) response to the July Ultimatum. We over here (Britain) were gagging to go to war. People were so sure we'd finish it by Christmas 1914 they were rushing to sign up and fight before it was too late. It was only by WW2 that Britain was more pragmatic and reticent to fight. Guess I need to read more. My impression was WW1's start was a brinksmanship situation, but that time nobody flinched so it exploded.
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Jul 20, 2015 13:44
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There were elements of that - and there were also miscommunications that meant Germany went West instead of East, going for France and expecting Austria to deal with Russia, but Austria expected Germany to go after Russia in a united front with them while they broke off half the army for Serbia. It was all a bit (tragi)comical, really.
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Jul 20, 2015 13:57
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There's a lot of political chat when in reality all Abe cares about is drumming up and securing the votes and it's not like a right-wing platform would really turn away any of the 50+ year olds who make up 90% of the voting electorate.
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Jul 20, 2015 14:42
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