Comments on: A wrong turn in Tokyo http://www.thefighting44s.com/archives/2007/03/21/a-wrong-turn-in-tokyo/ Uniting the Asian Conscience Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:44:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Kuroyama http://www.thefighting44s.com/archives/2007/03/21/a-wrong-turn-in-tokyo/#comment-465 Kuroyama Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:50:38 +0000 http://www.thefighting44s.com/archives/2007/03/21/a-wrong-turn-in-tokyo/#comment-465 Like any other country, Japan has a lot to be proud of. It also has a lot to be ashamed of...like any other country. The difference that I see (not being Japanese myself) is that the only Japanese people who seem to have any true grasp of history are those that travel abroad. I dont mean those who have been intoxicated by romanticized feelings for the west, I just mean that in my experience here in Japan and back home in the states... most people here that have never left, and have no ambition to do so, are the first to make light of relations between JP and CN and or KR. Indeed the first to spout racist nonsense about the people themselves. But again... this is just like other countries IMO. There are people who are PROUD of their country and culture, yet are able to possess respect and even love for people and cultures not their own. Yet those people are sadly in the minority. If they ARE in the majority, their voices are not usually heard over the din and clamor of the militant right. Like any other country, Japan has a lot to be proud of. It also has a lot to be ashamed of…like any other country. The difference that I see (not being Japanese myself) is that the only Japanese people who seem to have any true grasp of history are those that travel abroad. I dont mean those who have been intoxicated by romanticized feelings for the west, I just mean that in my experience here in Japan and back home in the states… most people here that have never left, and have no ambition to do so, are the first to make light of relations between JP and CN and or KR. Indeed the first to spout racist nonsense about the people themselves.

But again… this is just like other countries IMO. There are people who are PROUD of their country and culture, yet are able to possess respect and even love for people and cultures not their own.

Yet those people are sadly in the minority. If they ARE in the majority, their voices are not usually heard over the din and clamor of the militant right.

]]>