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You should definitely feature ongoing updates of every crazy thing Ishihara says, because he is seriously loving entertaining just as a troll. hadji murad, another forum expat living over there, sends me news links from time to time and they're awesome - seems like he's always calling foreigners lazy and saying that Japan deserves some consequence for some moral failing. It's like if Bill O'Reilly and Pat Robertson's lovechild were Mayor of New York or something.Al-Saqr posted:I think you made a really big omission by failing to mention the fact that Koizumi beat Kim Jong-Il, the Chinese communist party followed by a Frankenstein Mao Zedong, George Bush (both of them), the pope, Putin, and rescued the world from a space Nazi invasion lead by a demigod Hitler and his evil twin children through the power of Mahjong. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Jun 27, 2012 |
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Jun 27, 2012 06:02
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hadji murad posted:Keep that poo poo quiet. I don't think it affects the average been there done that politician. Still, since Thailand's culture is probably closer in some ways to Japan than anywhere else in Asia (by which mean inscrutable, byzantine on the inside and supernaturally polite on the outside) it made me think about what would happen if you ever, God forbid, had a female PM in Japan. Of course, the answer is, "Female PM in Japan? Hahahahhaahohohohohoh." I know.
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Jul 2, 2012 11:04
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Hey! Since we're porting social issues in, let's talk racism in politics there. I brought this up once before somewhere, but I found it interesting since even though Japan's very insular, it's leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of North Asia in accepting Westerners into political life (very tiny leaps and bounds, but at least they exist). Last I checked, there was at least one (white, in this case) Western local official - started off as a mayor or city councilman or something? I think he was in the Diet too. I'm googling, but I can't find him yet. Are there even a small number of non-Asian foreign-born citizens who bother to contest for elections, local or otherwise? Are there any other cases of them holding office? I'd guess most new citizens (much like Asians in the US) keep their heads down and just avoid politics, but as there's been a several-decade history of Western immigration to Japan now I imagine the issue comes up a bit more often than it used to. Also, please keep posting Ishihara quotes. hadji murad got me hooked on him and he's awesome.
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Sep 1, 2012 17:02
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Silver2195 posted:Is this the guy you're thinking of? Anyway, not that anyone in their right mind would want to be involved in Thai politics (too many grenades involved), but we're about fifty years from that kind of thing happening here, heh.
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Sep 1, 2012 21:30
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Spazzle posted:Do white people in asian countries take on utterly banal asian names like asian immigrant guys do in the US?
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Sep 1, 2012 22:01
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Guys like that keep the world entertaining. I mean, yeah, he shouldn't be allowed to hold office with his insane views, but Goddamn is he unintentionally hilarious. I love reading his translated quotes. If they gave him a talk show in America it would be a ratings smash.
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Sep 6, 2012 03:12
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Weatherman posted:"Foreigners come to Japan to make money and spoil the women. Then they go EDIT: The girlfriend is currently in Japan doing some kind of factory related training paid for mostly by the Japanese government, so I thought to scan the thread for any current events to share. No matter how bad things seem in Japan, Thailand is probably acting the same way - much less competently or consistently. It's kind of the Japanese to pay for Thai citizens to come learn more efficient and competent ways to implement highly regimented, stultifying bureaucracy. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Mar 8, 2013 |
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Mar 8, 2013 05:58
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I'm curious, when you guys get mad about this stuff are you angry more from a personally offended standpoint or from a public morality & ethics standpoint? Like, does it hurt your feelings personally or are you angry at Japanese society in the broader sense for perpetuating its famous ethnic nationalism? Obviously it could be both or something more, but I'm just trying to figure out what, in particular, actually causes an emotional reaction of hurt feelings or disgust.
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Mar 8, 2013 14:25
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The response about expecting more of such a developed culture rings pretty true. I also think that if I were a non-full blooded child born as a citizen and treated unequally, or an economic migrant looked down upon, I'd be pretty pissy. Mostly I've tried not to respond because this is a debate that I've had going back about ten years with the O.G. Western expat in Japan, Hangly Man, and I don't have a ton to contribute. One thing I've often wondered about, since I live in what is never thought of, but actually is Japan's sleepy, tropical little ethnic monoculture of a Buddhist cousin, is that the amount of cultural exclusivity and pull a country exerts seems to vary directly with the amount of effort that expats put into assimilation and the amount of disenchantment that is felt over the inevitable lack of acceptance. I'm not sure if all of that's accurate, but I am sure that expats in countries like China and Japan seem to care a lot more about learning, and integrating into the local culture and language than expats in countries like Thailand or Malaysia and I've also noticed a lot more anger at the more subtle signs of non-acceptance like goofball racial ads. I suspect a substantial part of this is that most expats here actually can't understand the old lady next to them when she says, "Oh white people don't know anything" or "white people stink" (both of which I hear with enough frequency to make me chuckle), but I also think it probably has to do with some other quality that's related to the seriousness with which the cultures take themselves and expats take the cultures - like, "Man, I've really worked my rear end off here and you people still won't accept me?" when, in one's home culture in a country like Canada, one would never think of looking at an Asian person in public and saying out loud in English, "Haha, I bet the yellow man there has a tiny penis!" or [insert rude cultural stereotype] with the assumption that they aren't a citizen and don't speak the language. Here, most people just get wound up about dual pricing and more obvious things like that (another thing that doesn't bother me, really). Sure, there's a cosmic moral balance of racism to be concerned about, but that's not how people's brains work when it comes to having hurt feelings. In any case, the broader topic interests me and you guys have such wildly different expat experiences that it's fascinating to read the Japan, China and Korea threads (also because in our threads there are only ever 2-3 people living here). ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Mar 9, 2013 |
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Mar 9, 2013 20:51
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Pompous Rhombus posted:I was talking with my co-workers Saturday night and they were wondering why I didn't want to live in Japan beyond my next contract year (through August of next year). Obviously that could have been a huge can of worms, so I just asked them how many hours they worked, compared it to what I'd be working in a Western country (for an equivalent if not better standard of living), and was like "yeah I like Japan, but not that much".
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Mar 14, 2013 04:00
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The most interesting aspect of Bass's presentation to me, and he graciously excuses himself from much extrapolation, is the social fabric aspect of the debate. Yeah, of course Japan's going to fail. He says Japan's us in 20 years in broader economic terms and maybe that's true, but in terms of manufacturing we're Japan in 20 years with a twist. They've hollowed out their big players too, but, even worse, there's no value left and they're a xenophobic monoculture with a low birthrate. You can't stop making everything AND stop having kids all at once while also carrying on a massive modern welfare state the likes of which modern, developed countries do and expect some magical outcome. He's completely right to laugh in the face of typically Asian inferences about cultural magic. What worries me is what happens next. North Korea's going bonkers, China's cooling a bit, Japan's close to collapse, Hong Kong's in the middle of a massive bubble, South Korea is a bit of a question mark in security terms and China's pissing off much of Southeast Asia, which is, otherwise, the actual growth driver in Asia for the near future (Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Indonesia, etc). If you look into the different relationships between North/East Asian powers and Southeast Asian countries and evaluate it in terms of nationalism among the idiotically nationalist triumvirate of China, Korea and Japan it is worrisome to imagine what could happen if the cold Asian countries devolve into their historical pattern of blaming, and then fighting one another over every moronic slight (i.e. like Europe pre-WW II).
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Mar 14, 2013 06:48
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Ardennes posted:I think there are growing problems across eastern Asia at the moment (not the only region to have them to be sure) but I think some elements are less chaotic than they seem. North Korea seems "bonkers" but in reality they are playing the same game they had for decades. Remember how but speculation there was about the Choenan incident? In regards to Japan they have serious problems, but I think 24 months to collapse is hyperbole since they still have the cultural support behind their declining system. Will Japan fail eventually? In a demographic sense they already are, but that is a movement that takes decades to finally work itself out.
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Mar 14, 2013 07:07
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Kenishi posted:which I think is indicative of the illness in their political system that they can't be bothered to move quickly when its needed most.
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Mar 14, 2013 07:41
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No discussion of worldwide rice policy/price/supply is complete without mentioning the world's number one rice exporter for decades having just this year enacted a stupid loving price fixing policy internally that has pitched prices upward internationally and created massive deficits on the country's books. That's Thailand, of course, who only this year has been surpassed in exports for the first time.
ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Mar 15, 2013 |
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Mar 15, 2013 09:19
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hitension posted:Guess you missed the part where protectionism costs over $1 million USD per farmer job retained. They could just pay farmers to NOT farm and it would be more economically efficient.
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Mar 18, 2013 15:22
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It's good for Western powers when Asian nations squabble endlessly over territorial disputes, gives them leverage to play one Asian country against the other - something Asian countries are happy to comply with out of their short-sightedness in international affairs. If Asia ever stopped infighting long enough to form a bloc as cohesive as the Transatlantic alliance is in international affairs, the West would be seriously kneecapped in international affairs, but that will never happen because [insert historical grievance/darker skin color insult here]. It's 2013, Admiral Perry is not at the harbor with his fleet. If you want to form an alliance and kick the West out, it'll be rocky, but you can do it. Remove the West entirely from the present-day equation and the infighting would only continue. This is hardly confined to the conflicts that make headlines - just look at the minor level poo poo most people don't even know about. It's depressing, and kind of an interesting lesson in why multiculturalism is so relevant in the development of societies.
ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Mar 27, 2013 |
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Mar 27, 2013 17:54
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It's depressing not because there should obviously be some kind of pan-Asian unity on every topic, but because even when it makes sense there isn't. You make it out like there are a couple of blocs - it's everywhere. With ASEAN, between the China and Taiwan, Korea and Japan, Japan and China, Korea and China, China and the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia, Burma and China, Burma and Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore and so on. It's depressing because these countries have a lot to gain by working together, but instead they agree to be patron states in part to spite one another. Imagine if I said, "Well, Canada has very little in common with Germany" or something - would you ever expect Canada and Germany to ally with opposing countries to spite one another, and quarter foreign armed forces just because fifty years ago they fought against one another in World War II? No, it's ridiculous. For that level of pettiness among otherwise successful countries you have to come to Asia. This is just strategic affairs, too. When you get down to trade agreements and things it gets even more absurd.
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Mar 27, 2013 19:04
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I can't agree with that at all.
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Mar 27, 2013 19:20
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And he's referred to as El Chino locally, heh.
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Mar 28, 2013 06:07
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On that note, do the Japanese have that same oddball niche world of special interest stuff revering Jews for their mystical abilities with money that you can find in some quarters among the Chinese? My impression is that the vast majority of Asians I've met either don't really understand what constitutes being Jewish (frankly a lot of Americans I know don't understand the ethnic/religious distinction particularly), but that some have a really oddball fascination with Jewish folks - either via negative stereotypes (e.g. in Malaysia) or via positive stereotypes (e.g. in China).
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Apr 24, 2013 04:27
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Cliff Racer posted:Well to be fair I don't think that plan is a good idea anyway, Sony's movies and music divisions shouldn't have a hard time turning a profit, even if times are a little rough for them currently. Any time a hedge fund manager suggests downsizing my mind always immediately goes to the thought that he wants a quick payday over long-term stability.
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Jun 10, 2013 23:36
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I love how every time I see Japanese news, it's like ESPN as imagined through the eyes of a Shigeru Miyamoto wannabe.
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Jul 21, 2013 17:53
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Taking a page from the Thai political handbook, I see. There is no problem. If there was a problem, do not worry because we have looked into the problem. Anyway, we are in charge.
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Jun 13, 2019 05:21
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