I'm not sure to what extent America is burning. It seems to me that while we can mock the news for calling fiery riots "mostly peaceful" America is in fact mostly peaceful and not burning.
As for Japan, Japan has the capability for disruptive change I think. The process just takes a while and Japan tends to conserve some of what went before while adopting the best of what is new. Consider the Meiji restoration and post-WW2 as examples, but you could draw similar parallels with earlier historical events I think too.
For example, I'm fairly sure that Japan is going to adopt AI-controlled drones and robots just fine, and will probably come up with clever ways to use them that will then spread back to the rest of the world. You can complain about the ministry of concrete pork (err MLIT) but Japan, unlike Europe and some parts of the US, is able to build things more or less on time and on budget.
Wow good stuff man! You’re a Helluva writer! About japan you nailed it I think. about America though, well, I wholeheartedly agree and disagree with what you’ve said. I do realize that from one perspective, looking at one America, what you’ve written is on point and inscrutable. But there’s this whole other America, you see…the one I grew up in, where the outrage the America you described has been a CONSTANT since even before GW was commander in Chief. MLK (and many other black leaders and thinkers and preachers and teachers and speakers going back even before Douglass and DuBois) actually tried to offset what’s happening now with warnings and such but now it’s on and it’s hard to not say “We told y’all so,” but that would seem petty. We tried to reiterate it as loud and outrageously as possible as. Recently as during the BLM heyday but America as it’s apt to do promptly responded with a STFU. The warning I’m speaking of could be summarized / paraphrased as being “we’re all in the same boat. You can’t treat or allow your citizens to be treated like this without repercussions. Not only To your own souls but to the soul of this nation. What you do unto us is causing irreparable damage to you, too.” People who’ve lived in that other America never lived under the illusion that America had as you put it “glory days”. That never happened. That’s a modified version of Trump’s (and many other presidents) MAGA delusions. Anyway, I guess I need to write that article. Many Americans, while well-intentioned, simply can’t see how inevitable (and sadly necessary) this (meaning the current crisis) was. I mean I listen to talking heads talking about fascism like this is something new and it makes me sick. Even Nazi Germany studied America to learn how to be good racist fascists. (And even the nazis thought America went overboard) anyway, I don’t know if America will survive this (as it stands — let’s hope not) but if it doesn’t let’s hope something worthy of being labeled glorious and great comes out the other end.
I get what you're saying. I didn't feel it my place to write about the minority or immigrant experience, which adds many layers to this admittedly superficial analysis. But I totally agree that the way we treat any citizen -- even non-citizen -- reflects the way we treat everyone. You start making exceptions and the whole experiment falls apart. I still hope we can live up to the ideals we set forth.
Watching America burn from afar (stopped watching the news altogether) and according to family still is, living in Japan, my home for nearly twenty years most in Tokyo, but now in rural Yamanashi feels more like an oasis than ever.
Is my head in the sand, perhaps, but I like it there.
yep. It's nice being in a place where the day's big news story is a car accident that killed, say, two people.
Mind you I still watch the world burning but it's nice to not have to worry too much about that effecting me - though "little rocket man" and "Winnie the Flu" could change that any day
Hayashibara’s sources are dodgy but I think many share her sentiment. (I mean, complaints about obnoxious tourism peppered with fear of Korea and China). As shrinkflation worsens, city life becomes less sustainable and people want a scapegoat. (Anyone in your social circle joke that Japan has become a 3rd world country?)
The average person isn’t seeing any benefit to the wave of tourism flooding the trains and streets. (Try walking through Shibuya!) With so many suitcases rolling around, the ones who don’t adhere to Japanese “common sense” stand out, and people are sick of it.
So we’re going to see politicians make hay by speaking out against the “menace” (like the proposal to do away with duty-free shopping) in lieu of actually helping households. Too bad the only answers are from YouTube cranks!
Oh there's definitely resentment building. But I don't think we'll ever see mainstream pols using it as leverage because they believe Japan's economic future, as an aging/shrinking population, rests on making it a "tourism-centered nation." Their literal words. A lot of bureaucratic effort has been going into this for the past two decades, but a lot people think it's wishful thinking.
As always, a fantastic analysis (although as a non-American, I can’t confidently comment on the American context).
I think there are two additional factors that work in Japan’s favour. The absence of comment functions on major news sites may have helped limit performative conflict and polarization within journalistic platforms.
Then there’s the fact that most brands and media in Japan do not engage in direct dialogue on social media, which reduces the feedback loops that drive outrage and virality elsewhere. This unidirectional communication possibly also lessens the incentive for personal branding or clout-chasing.
Still arguing with myself which culture has the stronger offline social infrastructure…
I hadn't really considered the comment functions! That's an interesting point. Most mainstream media is also behind hard paywalls here.
That's also an interesting question about offline social infrastructure. It would depend on how one defined it. There's enough isolation that there's a Minister of Loneliness here but the fandom communities seem quite strong (which may be why "oshi-katsu" fan supporters are such a big thing now, a kind of stand-in for the family/community circles of bygone eras.)
Yes! The paywalls - of course, that’s another great point!
I think we can get a glimpse of how things could have gone by looking not at 2channel, but at yahoo知恵袋. My friend (European, female, married to a Japanese, PR-holder) loves reading those answers especially for political topics - I find it honestly depressing and a bit scary.
As for offline social infrastructure… Lately I talked to quite a few people who, when I said “just bring a friend,” replied, “I don’t have any friends.”
But being in a big oshikatsu friend-circle myself, I do think those communities - as well as third place communities in bars and restaurants - probably function as contemporary family or community circles.
I'm not sure to what extent America is burning. It seems to me that while we can mock the news for calling fiery riots "mostly peaceful" America is in fact mostly peaceful and not burning.
As for Japan, Japan has the capability for disruptive change I think. The process just takes a while and Japan tends to conserve some of what went before while adopting the best of what is new. Consider the Meiji restoration and post-WW2 as examples, but you could draw similar parallels with earlier historical events I think too.
For example, I'm fairly sure that Japan is going to adopt AI-controlled drones and robots just fine, and will probably come up with clever ways to use them that will then spread back to the rest of the world. You can complain about the ministry of concrete pork (err MLIT) but Japan, unlike Europe and some parts of the US, is able to build things more or less on time and on budget.
Wow good stuff man! You’re a Helluva writer! About japan you nailed it I think. about America though, well, I wholeheartedly agree and disagree with what you’ve said. I do realize that from one perspective, looking at one America, what you’ve written is on point and inscrutable. But there’s this whole other America, you see…the one I grew up in, where the outrage the America you described has been a CONSTANT since even before GW was commander in Chief. MLK (and many other black leaders and thinkers and preachers and teachers and speakers going back even before Douglass and DuBois) actually tried to offset what’s happening now with warnings and such but now it’s on and it’s hard to not say “We told y’all so,” but that would seem petty. We tried to reiterate it as loud and outrageously as possible as. Recently as during the BLM heyday but America as it’s apt to do promptly responded with a STFU. The warning I’m speaking of could be summarized / paraphrased as being “we’re all in the same boat. You can’t treat or allow your citizens to be treated like this without repercussions. Not only To your own souls but to the soul of this nation. What you do unto us is causing irreparable damage to you, too.” People who’ve lived in that other America never lived under the illusion that America had as you put it “glory days”. That never happened. That’s a modified version of Trump’s (and many other presidents) MAGA delusions. Anyway, I guess I need to write that article. Many Americans, while well-intentioned, simply can’t see how inevitable (and sadly necessary) this (meaning the current crisis) was. I mean I listen to talking heads talking about fascism like this is something new and it makes me sick. Even Nazi Germany studied America to learn how to be good racist fascists. (And even the nazis thought America went overboard) anyway, I don’t know if America will survive this (as it stands — let’s hope not) but if it doesn’t let’s hope something worthy of being labeled glorious and great comes out the other end.
I get what you're saying. I didn't feel it my place to write about the minority or immigrant experience, which adds many layers to this admittedly superficial analysis. But I totally agree that the way we treat any citizen -- even non-citizen -- reflects the way we treat everyone. You start making exceptions and the whole experiment falls apart. I still hope we can live up to the ideals we set forth.
>>Anyway, I guess I need to write that article.
Please do!
Watching America burn from afar (stopped watching the news altogether) and according to family still is, living in Japan, my home for nearly twenty years most in Tokyo, but now in rural Yamanashi feels more like an oasis than ever.
Is my head in the sand, perhaps, but I like it there.
yep. It's nice being in a place where the day's big news story is a car accident that killed, say, two people.
Mind you I still watch the world burning but it's nice to not have to worry too much about that effecting me - though "little rocket man" and "Winnie the Flu" could change that any day
True.
Illuminating essay!
Hayashibara’s sources are dodgy but I think many share her sentiment. (I mean, complaints about obnoxious tourism peppered with fear of Korea and China). As shrinkflation worsens, city life becomes less sustainable and people want a scapegoat. (Anyone in your social circle joke that Japan has become a 3rd world country?)
The average person isn’t seeing any benefit to the wave of tourism flooding the trains and streets. (Try walking through Shibuya!) With so many suitcases rolling around, the ones who don’t adhere to Japanese “common sense” stand out, and people are sick of it.
So we’re going to see politicians make hay by speaking out against the “menace” (like the proposal to do away with duty-free shopping) in lieu of actually helping households. Too bad the only answers are from YouTube cranks!
Oh there's definitely resentment building. But I don't think we'll ever see mainstream pols using it as leverage because they believe Japan's economic future, as an aging/shrinking population, rests on making it a "tourism-centered nation." Their literal words. A lot of bureaucratic effort has been going into this for the past two decades, but a lot people think it's wishful thinking.
As always, a fantastic analysis (although as a non-American, I can’t confidently comment on the American context).
I think there are two additional factors that work in Japan’s favour. The absence of comment functions on major news sites may have helped limit performative conflict and polarization within journalistic platforms.
Then there’s the fact that most brands and media in Japan do not engage in direct dialogue on social media, which reduces the feedback loops that drive outrage and virality elsewhere. This unidirectional communication possibly also lessens the incentive for personal branding or clout-chasing.
Still arguing with myself which culture has the stronger offline social infrastructure…
I hadn't really considered the comment functions! That's an interesting point. Most mainstream media is also behind hard paywalls here.
That's also an interesting question about offline social infrastructure. It would depend on how one defined it. There's enough isolation that there's a Minister of Loneliness here but the fandom communities seem quite strong (which may be why "oshi-katsu" fan supporters are such a big thing now, a kind of stand-in for the family/community circles of bygone eras.)
Yes! The paywalls - of course, that’s another great point!
I think we can get a glimpse of how things could have gone by looking not at 2channel, but at yahoo知恵袋. My friend (European, female, married to a Japanese, PR-holder) loves reading those answers especially for political topics - I find it honestly depressing and a bit scary.
As for offline social infrastructure… Lately I talked to quite a few people who, when I said “just bring a friend,” replied, “I don’t have any friends.”
But being in a big oshikatsu friend-circle myself, I do think those communities - as well as third place communities in bars and restaurants - probably function as contemporary family or community circles.