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Oh good, I had hoped I'd see a thread like this eventually. Can anyone tell if the number of war atrocity deniers in the government is going up or down? Are they being replaced with younger ones as the older ones are leaving/dying, or not? It's still terrifying to me that those views are apparently tolerated.
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Jul 2, 2012 18:51
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Boy I'm glad I didn't know about that Debito guy when I lived over there, he would have drove me and my coworkers insane. Anyway, this microagression this is bullshit, it's just screwing up pragmatics and it can happen inside your own culture and own language too, it's just much more likely cross-culture and cross-language. edit: I have experienced MACROaggression at least once, a guy threatening to beat me up because I reacted when he said "kuso gaijin" as I walked by. I walked away and he didn't follow me but up until then, I didn't know anyone would actually say "yan no ka KORAA!!" in real life. Yeah, people asking me if I know how to use chopsticks is not any kind of malicious thing on any level, that's just dumb. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 09:26 on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Jul 19, 2012 09:12
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Kurtofan posted:What does that mean? edit: this thread really isn't about politics (or old men loving each other) anymore is it... Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 10:04 on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Jul 19, 2012 09:58
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drkhrs2020 posted:If only he'd gone for a gothic maid look he would have locked down the otaku vote.
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Jul 21, 2012 01:36
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Big Blood Bovine posted:I remember reading it somewhere that in Japanese politics farmers, and the countryside in general, are overrepresented because of some quirks of the voting system and good ol' lobbying & corruption. Is this true? Would seem kind of odd with Japan being one of the most urbanised countries in the world and all.
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Jul 21, 2012 19:44
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Say, has anyone in here ever seen Japanese political cartoons from newspapers or whatever? Do they exist?
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Aug 8, 2012 04:58
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Looks like a lot more fun has started over those disputed islands. The Korean president went over, Japan said something about bringing it before the international court, and now a player on the Korean Olympic soccer team held up a sign saying it was theirs after their victory. It's so hard not to look at it as a couple of five year olds in a sandbox, but I guess that's always how land disputes look from the outside. Or maybe it's just because I'm an American and we haven't had any (that I know of) in so long?
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Aug 11, 2012 18:20
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Ah, I didn't know Lee was unpopular, shoulda known. No one starts disputes like this for actually international reasons anyway, always domestic. edit: vvv old people voted for him I presume? Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Aug 11, 2012 |
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Aug 11, 2012 18:53
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These riots serve China's political purposes, at least for the moment. I don't think they were planning on people smashing Korean shops too though. I bet they'll reel it in eventually, like they did back in 2005 or whatever when this happened before. Man, nationalist politicians in Japan, China and Korea should all get together and have a big thank-you party for each other, they all get everything they could possibly want out of this arrangement. edit: similarly Hezbollah should send the guys that made that rear end in a top hat movie a big bouquet of flowers and some chocolate. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Sep 18, 2012 |
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Sep 18, 2012 07:51
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Hahaha, look how the new iOS map program solved the China/Japan island dispute: I just checked it myself and sure enough, two identical island groups.
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Sep 20, 2012 02:53
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Kenishi posted:This isn't really that much different from Japan really. There is still a lot of "Buy Japan" going around in Japan, maybe more so since the earthquake. They also tend to have the same idea about used stuff.
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Sep 24, 2012 04:37
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Kenishi posted:I'm not a history buff so I can't really answer the questions. But if I had to speculate, I would say what you said is true (about Ryuku kingdom and what not). China never really developed a huge navy in prior centuries. They relied heavily upon their size and majest to draw countries to them and gain their "security" and market. At one point I believe China had gotten most of East Asia to come and kowtow.
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Sep 24, 2012 06:10
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Arglebargle III posted:Aaand this is why the Chinese and Japanese just go around in circles about this. The Chinese don't accept the legitimacy of the terra nullius claim, and the Japanese don't accept a historical Chinese claim. Because Japan was kicking China's rear end at the time the modern Chinese understandably feel that Japan's claim is illegitimate because the Chinese couldn't contest the terra nullius claim at the time. Because Taiwan was only recently incorporated into China the Japanese don't accept that the islands were ugghaaaaaa edit: and clearly ancient historical grievances are really REALLY profitable to the right kinds of politicians.
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Sep 25, 2012 03:21
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LP97S posted:And Japan's new future energy policy (replacing the Nuclear with fossil fuels) is a bigger influence now.
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Sep 25, 2012 23:04
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Either way I read an article yesterday that argued that the Chinese protesters are dangerously close to going off-script and the government should start reining them in any day now.
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Sep 26, 2012 01:47
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hadji murad posted:Ishihara has stepped down as Governor of Tokyo... to run for a Diet seat! edit: Ishihara's a lot older than I thought, surely he's going to retire soon. The lieutenant governor Naoki Inose will take over for him right, is he as big a scumbag as Ishihara? Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Oct 25, 2012 |
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Oct 25, 2012 08:43
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I knew who it was before I even clicked the link. "Scrap and scrap! Destroy everything!" Apparently he's a street musician now, I poo poo you not.
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Oct 26, 2012 03:19
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Kenishi posted:Lol, can anyone confirm or deny this happened?
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Oct 28, 2012 05:33
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Well, China has a new leader now, and I believe Noda set the general election for middle of next month, where I assume his party will lose power. Will the LDP (I presume headed by Shinzo Abe) and new CCP chairman Xi Jinping go skipping through the tulips together on a fine summer's day, or what?
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Nov 15, 2012 06:00
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I may have been sarcastic about the skipping through the tulips thing.
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Nov 15, 2012 07:45
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Is there rampant tax evasion or anything in Japan? I just realized I have no idea.
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Nov 24, 2012 06:28
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I guess the Tokyo governor's race still has mandatory TV time for all candidates, and still has candidates like this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnxqMZkuAQs Mac Akasaka of the Smile Party requests your vote! edit: actually I can't tell if he wants your vote or not, he just wants you to smile and take your attitude from NEGATIVE to POSITIVE! Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 7, 2012 19:30
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Back to the LDP and Abe again eh... It's like I never left.
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Dec 16, 2012 18:51
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By the way, does anyone know why Komeito is called NEW Komeito in English, but just in English? Looking at the Wikipedia page, it was indeed reformed once, but they didn't change the Japanese name really, just their own English name for the party. Hell, the Japanese version of the page says "公明党 New Komeito" right on it. edit: wait I'm confused, according to this, Naoto Kan lost his seat but then...didn't? Frankly I don't understand why, that proportional representation part of their election system is something I haven't fully grasped. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Dec 16, 2012 |
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Dec 16, 2012 22:45
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Oh yeah, I heard before that they were one of the only countries that hadn't. I hope it fixes their international marriage problems.
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Jan 20, 2013 19:08
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There was an article in The Economist (which for some reason online is a video) about Japanese prisons. I've heard a lot of pride from Japanese people about their criminal justice system (especially execution, which still has an 85% support rate it seems), like it is the reason for Japanese society being so peaceful. I...strongly question that, but I have never been able to have a good discussion with a Japanese person about it, only me being told to gtfo until my country's crime rate is lower than theirs. Has anyone here had any better success?
Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Feb 24, 2013 |
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Feb 24, 2013 20:00
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Shibawanko posted:I went to the Abashiri prison museum last winter and they basically tell you that it was a gulag. It was a pretty horrifying place, especially when you realize that they mostly sent political prisoners there. Of course this was over a century ago. On the other hand though, one of the guys who got executed last week was the guy who did the Akihabara massacre of 2008, that I only missed getting involved in by a few hours. edit: has the lay judge system done anything yet to improve the transparency of the police actions before trial, or not?
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Feb 24, 2013 20:52
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Reverend Cheddar posted:I've gotten people to at least admit that there are specific things about Japan that are incredibly screwed up and which ought to be clear violations of the UN human rights charter which Japan is a party to, whether they like it or not, but most of it is always turned around with the aggravating fallacy "you're not even trying to see it our way" (as many of my debates with Japanese go -- part of the reason I've become quite sour on even attempting it), which is pretty dumb when they as Japanese admit something is hosed up but refuse to acknowledge it as their problem. See: the typical neto-uyo defense. edit: I'm against the death penalty but I'm at least willing to listen to arguments in favor of it, but not the terrible arguments I have heard from Japanese people. The two main ones are "it's a substitute for the family getting vengeance" and "if your loved one was killed there's no way you could still be anti death penalty", but what I have never been able to get across (maybe my Japanese isn't good enough?) is that those are arguments against institutional law and order itself, the very idea of a neutral third party deciding punishments instead of the bereaved. Anyway I gave up on that a long time ago. I haven't run into any topic that gets Japanese people more riled up than that, even Korean related issues. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Feb 25, 2013 |
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Feb 25, 2013 00:07
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Reverend Cheddar posted:Oh I have. Euthanasia, ironically enough. You'd have thought I'd set off the Tsar Bomba or something.
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Feb 25, 2013 00:40
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ozza posted:Interesting discussion. For those of you in the United States, how would you compare the arguments of pro-death penalty Americans you've encountered versus pro-death penalty Japanese? Also I see in it a belief in the infallibility of the police and courts, which I never see here (though maybe I'm just not asking the right people). edit: looking back at the article I read, it seems to be based on an internet poll so I guess the data is suspect. Support for the death penalty definitely is overwhelming there though, anti death penalty advocates can barely be heard. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Feb 25, 2013 |
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Feb 25, 2013 01:56
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I guess there are just so few people who have spent any time in prison in Japan that almost everyone is likely to have never met one. Is it even possible for an American not to know someone who has been in an institution for at least a little bit?
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Feb 25, 2013 18:13
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Reverend Cheddar posted:Japan's tax code is actually structured heavily against a double income for the household (I haven't worked anywhere more than a Starbucks so I don't know what it's like for workers with an actual salary. Anyone more versed in tax code wanna help explain it?). The most I've ever heard of a housewife working is when the kids are in middle school and beyond, and even then she'll work part-time doing easy work at Mos Burger or as a bank teller or something. Some elementary schools have after-school programs to a certain extent for families in that situation, but I think they only last until 5 or 6 PM. There are few daycares available for children (though I don't think the problem is as bad outside big cities), particularly in Tokyo, and as a result they are exorbitantly expensive. You have to be licensed as a child care worker, which actually isn't the hard part; the hard part is that the hours and pay are absolutely terrible so only the most dedicated stay for long. Lots of girls go to vocational school, get the certification, but end up trying to get into a big company for those reasons even though daycares practically hand out jobs.
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Feb 27, 2013 03:32
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Reverend Cheddar posted:Well of course they do, who else is going to pour their tea for them? edit: for my whole life I am NEVER going to forget a member of the Japanese cabinet referring to women as baby machines in open session. America has people who say things like that too but to my knowledge they have never been as close to the top of the government as the old health minister Yanagisawa was. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Feb 27, 2013 |
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Feb 27, 2013 05:31
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Kenishi posted:The bolded bit is about all you need to know to understand why it got said.
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Feb 27, 2013 05:54
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Kenishi posted:A country still using the fax machine like it was invented yesterday isn't going to be making any giant leaps to robots. Especially when you consider that they haven't turned out anything remotely innovative in the robotic industry in the past decade or two. And to head off anyone stating "ASIMO." That's a pet project that's been going on for decades now and hasn't shown us anything producable except that they can make a robot that can shuffle-dance. DARPA in 20 years has produced more advanced robots that have actually shown utility. BIGDOG(Youtube) is probably the most notable example. I believe I've seen some freestanding bipedal robots as well, but they are still tied to power lines. edit: or at least, that was the situation with nursing when I was there (I had lots of ESL students who were nurses, they told me about the job situation regarding foreigners). Has it changed? Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Feb 27, 2013 |
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Feb 27, 2013 06:09
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Kenishi posted:When people start dieing because of staff shortages and just not enough people to watch everyone. The mentality will change. I would like to think that by 2040-2050 that Japan would have become more progressive and less xenophobic. Recruiting Japan-born women to work jobs that need bodies in them is far more likely than someone going "Lets go hire us some Chinese." edit: but in the end, I think many Japanese old people want their twilight years to be overseen by cute young Japanese women, no one else will do. They're gonna be really unhappy when they learn that that just isn't possible demographically. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Feb 27, 2013 |
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Feb 27, 2013 06:31
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Also childhood education in Japan costs $texas (once you include cram school, etc), so having few or no children may be a simple economic decision for many people.
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Feb 27, 2013 07:09
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Mercury_Storm posted:So why is putting kids in daycare not frowned upon, but hiring a baby-sitter is? Is this a regional thing? Also I know a lot of Japanese kids who don't go to cram school every day and some who go directly home after school without going to club activities, but this is also somewhat in the countryside so maybe some people don't care about it as much? I've noticed that Tokyo residents tend to be a bit more uptight about certain issues than residents of "the countryside" (everywhere else). And yeah, I've heard stories of kids who didn't go to cram school yet still got into good colleges and got high paying jobs, but...well, I doubt cram schools would continue to exist if they didn't produce those results with much higher success rate than kids just going home early.
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Feb 27, 2013 10:06
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ArchangeI posted:What i do not understand about the way Japan treats women in the workforce is that, as far as I can tell, girls are encouraged every bit as much as boys to do well in school and go to college, where they get an excellent education, only to leave the workforce a few years later or work menial jobs. That can't be good from an economic point of view, when half the education budget shows no increase in skilled workers because the people trained sit at home and wait for the kids to finish school.
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Feb 27, 2013 18:06
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pentyne posted:I thought hostess was more or less prostitution. Is there some glamour to flirting and making salarymen buy you drinks and presents before having to retire at 30? edit: wait it IS that kind of hostess?? Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Feb 28, 2013 |
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Feb 28, 2013 18:13
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