I found this at Virtual Mirage:
The Japanese have their problems – most prominent among them, a lack of interest in producing more Japanese – but they appear to have solved one of the problems that bedevils the United States. Note in this connection that the Japanese don’t consider discrimination a dirty word. In that regard, they’ve done right by themselves while we pursue a course toward national suicide.
I contrast this piece with the "Terminus Of Lies" post directly before.
ReplyDeleteJapan may have its problems (I find Japanese culture to be just plain weird), but false celebration of "diversity" isn't one of them.
Japanese are rather racist, but then again, Japan has managed to stick around for a loooong time, hasn't it?
Tribe...Got one?
It's no "occident" they are this way! (Sorry, couldn't resist!) Enjoyed all my time spent in Japan, in years past. And would gladly go over there again, given the chance. This would be yet one more reason to do so. As has been noted, they aren't perfect (who is?) but the Japanese got this right on the money!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is seriously considering going back to Japan as a teacher of "English as a second language," after having been back for 3 years since her first stint there.
ReplyDeleteObama's "part-time economy" is certainly a primary factor. My daughter has a degree in International Relations and is holding several part-time jobs that are the equivalent of, "Do you want fries with that?"
All the politics aside - although they never really are - and even though the Japanese will never accept her as being "assimilated," she finds a realistic and life-affirming undercurrent in Japanese culture.
"Nobody's perfect" - so no culture is. But, despite Fran's post about the problems of Japanese culture, I find that I'm happier contemplating my daughter working in Japan next year rather than in Europe.
I'm getting more and more xenophobic, what with contemplating statism, government debt and Islam. But it's odd that I'm more comfortable with an oriental culture that attacked the United States 75 years ago than I am with any state in Europe, with whom we've had centuries of cultural ties.
It's a cliche that girls get groped on trains in Japan - and that Japan is patriarchal. That pales in comparison to what I read about the Muslim incursion into Europe, sponsored and abetted by Merkel and millions.
Discrimination is not a bad thing in and of itself. We have to do it. Multi-culturalism is a PC bullsh** excuse for trying to say that everything is equal.
Fran and others far more erudite than I am have explained why leftist theory needs everyone and every idea to be equal.
I may be the son of a WW II & Cold War veteran (Korea) who hated the Japanese, Germans, Italians, Chinese, NORKS and Russians with equal vigor, but I have to say the modern day Japs have it right!
ReplyDeleteHere is a list of the mosques in Japan:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mosques_in_Japan
I'm very skeptical that propagation of Islam is banned in Japan. Japan gets much of its petroleum from the Mideast and its foreign policy is designed to avoid offending Muslims. Formally, their constitution recognizes freedom of religion. (I'll set aside the legitimate discussion of whether Islam should be viewed only as a religion or as a political system with a religion attached.) Most members of the Japanese government may well view Muslims as fundamentalist, but that would be an unofficial policy.
There is no university formally called "The University of Japan"; there is a "Nihon University", and it's true that they do not offer Arabic classes. I found a report of a survey of universities (in Japanese, which I can read); as of November, 2005, about 30 universities and colleges offered Arabic.
I am skeptical that it is actually banned to import a Koran in Arabic. I just looked at the Japan Customs website (Japanese version) list of banned items, did a search for the Koran, and turned up no references to it.
I am also skeptical that Muslims "cannot rent a house", though it's plausible that they have a hard time finding a landlord willing to rent to them.