(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?

[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

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