(no subject)

[cuddlefish]

Ugly Images of Asian Rivals Become Best Sellers in Japan

(If NYT won't let you read it, tell me so I can copy+paste or something.)

No words. Oh, sweetie, you were doing so WELL, too.

I tried to show this to Yang and he signed off. I'm worried.

Comments

[runan.livejournal.com]

I have an account on NYT...I forget the pw though. Copy and paste?

[themp.livejournal.com]

Now how come I can read it without trouble? Because I'm in Australia? I'll post it on my journal for you.

[moumusu.livejournal.com]

I also didn't have to sign in to read it, have you actually clicked the link yet? :D

[runan.livejournal.com]

I clicked on the link. It told me to sign in ._.

I read the article in MP's journal, though.

...Oi.

[xephyris.livejournal.com]

You gotta respect him for being so frank about his thoughts (w

I actually did a whole semester of research regarding Fukuzawa Yukichi (mentioned in article as being the intellectual who provided the intellectual underpinning of Japan's subsequent invasion and colonization of Asian nations) - and I ended up thinking how great a man he was, even though some of his thinking was a little extreme.

Datsu-a-ron (On Leaving Asia), which Fukuzawa wrote and which is mentioned in that article, is often cited as an example of his "imperialist" ideas, but the research I did indicates that it was more a reponse to the Korean government's (with the aid of Yuan Shikai's and the Chinese military - which is someone I don't likew) merciless suppression of the nationalist / independence party at that time, which Fukuzawa actually supported, thinking that they'd lead Korea towards modernisation. Read in context with the other stuff he published that the time, as well as the rest of the articles published in the same paper the Datsu-a-ron was published, and you find that the "imperialist" interpretation starts losing weight.

Wow, that was long. I think I'd better not start rambling about my research here or I'll be bv4nn3d! soon w

[moumusu.livejournal.com]

Well, it's fine to ramble. To be honest, if you said anything to really piss me off I might not even catch it. I'm too uneducated to actually form an argument of my own so I might not say anything at all. I just post articles HAHA.

What really draws my attention isn't Fukuzawa's opinions 100+ years ago, it's this comic book discussed in the article. "The book describes China as the "world's prostitution superpower" and says, without offering evidence, that prostitution accounts for 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product." And dismissing the Rape of Nanjing? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. I don't think you should dooooo thaaaat.

[xephyris.livejournal.com]

Ahahah - that's why he's extreme Right Wing, though - by definition, they do things like that, ohoho. Pulling claims out of their nether regions and whitewashing large amounts of history is all in a day of work!

Good thing sane people like us know better than to implicitly believe in what they have to say :)

I don't know if you're uneducated or not and I certainly am not qualified to judge - but you're clear, coherent, and readable, and that's A++ in my books. (≧∇≦)b

[moumusu.livejournal.com]

Well thanks. XD

nazis vs cannibalists ;0 ?

[boogietiere.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is shocking despite already knowing Japan's reputation of their attitude toward the East, but at the same time i tend to rationalize that articles on extremism like this one demonize country in question nearly as much as those comic books Japan's neighbours. I also think that any controversial book gaining as much publicity as these would no doubt become a best seller in other countries too, in other words the fact that it sells so well could also be attributed to how it is normally uncommon to publicize extremist thoughts. Of course i'm not denying that Japan does have it's issues, but this article fails to directly point out the scale of those problems, only giving random tidbits of information while neglecting to address exactly how severely national sentiments sweep the country if they do.

+++ IM NEVER GOING TO GIVE UP MY DREAM OF JOINING CLAMP AND LIVE IN JAPAN AND BE YAOI LOOLOLOL

Re: nazis vs cannibalists ;0 ?

[moumusu.livejournal.com]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!

The article mentions the number of books that have been sold, which does strike me as a good way of judging how many people, you know, want to read them, but I did wonder if maybe people were buying those books for curiosity because they're just SO out there. There are a FEW people of Korean/Chinese descent in Japan and what if they were buying some of these books to burn them or argue against them or something? I also have a theory that many of these books are being purchased, read, or promoted by young angry men who want to beat their chests because all their young women are in love with Korean drama actors. The same phenomenon as poor white trash guys being very upset with their women going for much sexier, worthier black guys. It doesn't really change the fact that the books are selling, but if they're selling only to one crowd, which has a worldwide reputation for being a little cranky (no offense)? At least some of the rest of the country hasn't gone off its rocker.

See, I think they're waiting for actual riots/politicians thumping podiums and throwing tantrums in Japan before they start saying there's a Real Problem with racism there, and, I mean, Japan? Riots? ROFLCOPTERS!!!!!! Because, you know, putting that crap in their textbooks, keeping foreigners from getting real jobs so said foreigners have to open restaurants, and having politicians who don't really TALK about being racist isn't ACTUALLY a racism problem.

It is too bad that all this article does is sort of dance around the subject, but then again, it's just a newspaper article about books, not Japan as a whole. At this point I think it would be best to move on to other books and articles that are actually about the racism.