Duke of URL <macbenahATkdsiDOTnet> wrote:

> In news:7164002b.0401211535.2443b747@posting.google.com,
> Jack Linthicum <jacklinthicum@earthlink.net> radiated into the
> WorldWideWait:
> > Gernot Hassenpflug <gh@nospam.com> wrote in message
> > news:<vc9ekttb6yb.fsf@nospam.com>...
> >> "Dott. Piergiorgio" <pgde8@libero.it> writes:
> >>> Dan Timmins wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Moreover, modern Japan is a peaceful, liberal, democratic
> >>>> nation, with a heavy reliance on foreign trade, and which hence
> >>>> has a lot more to gain from peace than from war.
> >>>
> >>> Without hostility, a little advice: please remove a moment your
> >>> pink glasses.
> >>
> >> Ooh, lovely! Indeed, rose-colored spectacles there. The statements
> >> Dan lists are all true, but not the interpretation he gives them.
> >> Dan, the most beautiful enka love songs contain lines like 'let's
> >> die together' (suicide), which are supposed to awaken true
> >> feelings of love in the partner. Tell me that says `life is worht
> >> more than death' :-)
> >>
> >> I have several philosophis regarding Japan, some good, some bad.
> >> There are many things I admire about the Japanese way of life.
> >> They are pragmatic, ruthless when necessary (especially the women,
> >> though that does not make them special!), and the politicians have
> >> learnt well the lessons from their teacher China of the millenia -
> >> how to keep control of the country. They have not chosen to deal
> >> well with the outside world, in my opinion (gawd, how much further
> >> off-topic can this get...!), and the status-quo and hierarchy rule
> >> supreme (with isolated cases to prove the rule). There is a
> >> well-established custom of `internal consumption' regarding
> >> foreigners, I believe that Japanese still do not grasp the essence
> >> of Western technology (use, yes, but not extrapolation and
> >> understanding of the Western ideas associated with it), and the
> >> teachers don't teach!!! (Arrgh!)
> >>
> >> On the other hand, I believe that the Japanese manner of choosing
> >> words that are meant to transmit a certain feeling, where that
> >> feeling is the message, is something as much a part of our
> >> humanity as the realm of reason established in the West. Just as
> >> Japanese are prefectly capable of rational thought when properly
> >> taught, so Westerners can learn something that Japanese people are
> >> brought up to believe is a natural part of their interaction with
> >> others.
> >>
> >> I beat my head against a wall for years trying to do research here,
> >> always finding the `the Japanese culture interferes and hinders
> >> Western research', until I figures how to get the results I want by
> >> doing things in a mixture of Japanese and Western manner. Hard
> >> work, but good fun in the end. There are many talented people
> >> here, just as elsewhere.
> >>
> >> So don't get me wrong, I am not anti-Japanese, but I have to agree
> >> with Piergiorgio (though perhaps not so pessimistically!), Japan is
> >> NOT what you think it is.
> >
> > Do they still have very violent animes, is there a 'war goods' store
> > in Kanda, is there a large contingent of deputies who find their way
> > into Yasakuni on various 'days', is there/are there think tanks that
> > study violent war but don't ever seem to publish for open
> > ditribution, do the student groups march, uniformed, to events and
> > points of interest, is there someone at one of the metalurgical
> > institutes (there's one in Hiroshima, by the way) studying the
> > means of machining very heavy metals, is the new concept of Ozawa's
> > group enough to get them elected next time around, etc, etc.???
> 
> Let's find out.
> flij added.

No, no... for a full, detailed discussion of this, you need to
cross-post to sci.culture.japan (not the moderated subgroup, BTW), not
to fli-j. Note that I have re-set the followup.

________________________________________________________________________
                   Louise Bremner (log at gol dot com)
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