The truth of it is, we really don't know that much about Japan. We know virtually nothing concerning the social and political issues of the japanese.
Has anyone here ever heard of the Yukuza? The japanese mafia. Turns out that people are so afraid of stuff happening to them, like if they're kid is violent or connected with the yukuza, that they'll do nothing.
We all take a look at Japan and admire it for it's consistancy against war. But there is a great deal of turmoil in Japan, such to the point that people are gaining ideas on reviving japan's military and imperialism. There are violent acts within japan, sometimes some high school kid will go on a rampage with a sword and kill many, but not to mimic an impressionable thing, but because of the state of Japan's society.
There are outsiders in Japan, complete and total outsiders, to the point that they don't do anything but stay locked in their room. And there are some truly sick minds that populate Japan's underworld. Sure, things may seem fine on the surface, but if we look beyond superficial views, we can see that Japan is not the ideal, it is a place with many internal conflicts that are often kept within the borders, away from foreigner's eyes.
Where did you hear that?
What, you didn't know all this? Japan's not the utopia people make it out to be. It's got some pretty backwards social attitudes.
There are quite a few places out there, some from wikipedia, and some from other sources. Did you know that Japan is getting more sensitive to violence, and especially, Kidnappng? There have been recent events that have caused the japanese to be more sensitive about censorship of media. And there is an anime called Ghost in the shell that reveals a lot (and I checked on wikipedia) incidents in the past. Japan is in a climate of political turmoil, even though it is not that apparent on the surface.
These things are referrenced in that anime because of what's actually going on there. We don't hear 95% of the stuff that happens in Japan, and believe me, sometimes we are too naive about it.
yep...definitely not on the surface...because when i was there...it seemed pretty peachy.
little kids, round the age of five-seven, walking alone at night. families having a picnic with their dogs at the community park.
ghetto Japanese learning English in class and flunkies trying to do better outside the class.
watching the world cup and playing fifa...mhm...turmoil fo sho.
but i will admit there are troubles if you didn't catch my sarcasm. i turned my tv on over there and the first thing i saw was some kid attempting to commit suicide..and then later hearing Kyoto is the suicide capital of the world.
yeah...there is a lot of pressure put on kids over there isn't there? like the whole honor your family thing...
Well sure, Japan is a pretty crappy country, but it's not all bad. I think you're only hearing the bad side of things.
Besides, if you had any common sense at all, you would know that Japan is not a Utopia at all. Nothing can be perfect.
pretty crappy?!!?!?! THE PLACE IS GODLY!!!
HOT DOG SUSHI! COME ON! the place is heaven on a rice pack
LOL ;D
But I mean, c'mon, I think DPM just focused on the bad aspects....you gotta find the good ones too.
You can make any country sound crappy if you focus on only the negatives.
I could go on and on abou America....
I was focusing on the reality. If we in the west knew HALF the news reports that they broadcast in Japan, we'd be really shocked because we don't really know anything at all. The same could be said of them to us. It's not just the kids, there's a lot of tension in that political climate. And there are quite a few corrupted individuals there.
If we want to visit Japan solely for the asake of our interests in gaming and anime, then we are seriously dilluding ourselves to what is actually going on there. There's been some truly freaky stuff, really messed up.
Oh, and there hasnt been any freaky and screwed up stuff in America?
What about the pedophile priest? Or that Nazi guy that killed hundreds on the 70s? Or the 9/11 attacks? Or the countless child rape cases in America?
What I'm trying to say is every country has its down sides, and Japan is no different from the rest.
History, Geography, and Religion don't really help either.
The main religions in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism. They are about all this honor and family stuff, and even the slightest bad thing you do could make you an outcast in your family.
Geography is also bad there. Being an island group, it is difficult to find any resources at all. Plus, it is mountainous, so it would be hard producing food. Japan gets most of its resources from China. This also porves that Japan, probably the top industrial nation in the world and the source of many world wide industries, relies on China, who is growing more powerful everyday.
I also want to mention this, recently China launched a nume into space to destroy an old satellite. Previously, only Russia and America could do this. With Russia in turmoil (Russia's traditional Eastern Orthodox population is decreasing, and the Muslim population increasing. By 2050, at this rate, half the population will be Muslim.), China is now clearly the second most powerful nation in the world, if not THE most powerful. In my opinion, China would probably beat America.
History is terrible there. Until the mid/late 1800s, it has been a feudal country. If you don't know what that means, it means a nation where several areas are ruled by lords who rule their territories as if it were their own nation, and the head has little actual power outside the capital. It was popular in Medieval Europe. The lords (called daimyos) constantly went to war with each other, and in the early 1600s, it anounced only the Dutch were allowed to trade with them. Only once a year, though, and only in one city, Nagasaki. This event isolated themselves from the world.
Soon, when Americans asked for rights in Japanese ports, the Japanese, realizing they could never win, agreed. More nations did the same, and soon civil war broke out. In the end, the Emperor won, and the nation was united.
It was an imperial and militariest (?spelling) government, though, and soon it began costly wars to gain territory. By WWI, it had a complete shield of islands aroundit and Korea. It wanted more, though, particularly China and the rest of Asia and the Pacific. (Middle East excluded) More and more was consumed by it, and it then decided that, to successfully rule the Pacific and Asia, Britain and the Soviet Union, (which Germany was dealing with) and America would have to be driven out. You know the rest of what happens. In the end Japan loses.
The military has been removed except a small, sit-down army for defense only. Industry majorly increased.
The average Japanese, no matter what you think, is actually extremely poor. Take the average American house. If three families lived in that house, it would be considered luxury.
I'm sure Phantompig would be better at the rest, this is what I know.
And yes, I'm a history buff. :-*
Actually, I just recently heard that Japan was going to be given rights to control a normal military.
This has to be passed through the UN an whatnot, and there is actually some debate in Japan about it, but the most likely outcome is that Japan will wind up with its own military.
Well, if they do, they've learned the ups and downs of imperialism, so they'd probably only have a defensive/UN helping one. That is, it will help UN missions commonly.
I heard that the vast majority in Japan don't want a regular miltary. Many fear that imperialism will rise again.
Every, yes, EVERY country on earth has it's underworld. There's a mafia of some sort that has quite a bit of power in 75% of major countries. And there are sick people everywhere. Japan has it's fair share for sure. Ever hear of the Otaku killer, Tsutomu Miyazaki? To quote Wikipedia...
Between 1988 and 1989, Miyazaki mutilated and killed four girls, ages four to seven; he then sexually molested their corpses and ate portions of his third and fourth victims. The crimes — which, prior to Miyazaki's apprehension and trial were classified "The Little Girl Murders" — shocked Saitama Prefecture, which had a long-standing record of low occurrences of crimes against children.
During the day, Miyazaki was a mild-mannered, quiet, obedient employee. He selected children to kill randomly. He terrorized the families of his victims, sending them letters recalling in graphic, yet mechanical, detail what he had done to their children. To the family of victim Erika Namba, Miyazaki sent a morbid postcard assembled using words cut out of magazines, spelling out: "Erika. Cold. Cough. Throat. Rest. Death."
He allowed the corpse of his first victim, Mari Konno, to decompose in the hills near his home, then chopped off the hands and feet, which he kept in his closet, and which were recovered upon his arrest. He charred the remaining bones in his furnace, ground them into powder, and sent them to her family in a box, along with several of her teeth, photos of her clothes, and a postcard reading: "Mari. Cremated. Bones. Investigate. Prove."
Yeah, there are lots of messed up people in this world.
Buy my bro said that one of his books saod that Japan was the most honest (or sumut like that) in the world.
Well, that only means that they're honest. That doesn't mean it's a good nation (not that I'm saying it isn't), they could be honest about anything.
Yeah, yeah, Japan is not the Utopia some people (want to) believe. I've heard enough about its not-so-pretty parts. Ranging from videogames that seriously are sick as hell to actual events I just can't imagine really happen(ed).
Then again, I would only be kidding myself if I'd think "that stuff" only happens in Japan (or better, Asia). I mean, just looking at 2006 here in the Netherlands, a lot of sick things happened. And so did in the rest of the world. Japan is not perfect, and the same goes for the rest of the world and to be honest, the future isn't looking too bright in my opinion.
Well, yeah, if we don't get off our a**es and do something about the world, nothing will ever change. But to say it'll pnly get worse is pessimistic.
This is our world. WE have the power to chan ge it for the better, or totally mess it up. Wed just gotta have faith things will get better as time goes on.
Well, I mean, that it said something like, "Someone stole from a store, but felt so guilty he retuned the stolen item" I don't remember excactly. :-\
Gosh and i thought america was crappy....
it is. every country has stuff like that.
not to mention the high rape and crime rates. japan's society is very sexual too. common knowlage ::)
Knowledge that can be found on the Internet, i might add... :-*
http://www.break.com/index/power_rangers_mob_swarms_japanese_man.html
'
Prove Japanese people are crazy. :)
lmao! That was hilarious! :D