Forum - View topicJapanese exceptionalism/chauvinism in anime, manga, etc.
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unhealthyman
 Posts: 306 |
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Well, as with all generalisations, comments like 'All Japanese are xenophobic' etc. are going to be clearly a bit wide of the mark.
Perhaps Japan is slightly more insular than some other countries, because of their history and geographical location. I'm not a sociologist/anthropologist or anything though, so I wont go into that. There is also a tendency to view America as being insular and xenophobic as well. What with issues like immigration and racism (especially since 9/11) Also with statistics as to how few Americans actually own a passport. (Why would you want to leave when you already live in 'paradise'?) The bible belt, fundamentalism, an idiot president and a cultural empire (no two countries who have a McDonalds have openly gone to war... and all that... Blah,) All of this helps to add to my preconception that America (in general) is xenophobic. I went traveling for 6 months about 3 years ago. I obviously met a lot of other backpackers. In that six months and several different countries, I met 3 Americans IN TOTAL. Plenty of Canadians, Dutch, Germans, Israelis etc. etc. So why don't Americans like to go out and see the world? I mean, I feel I could fix the quote from the first post: It's like many Americans think themselves as the most exceptional people on the planet because they are simply too ignorant of what is outside their borders. But, like I said at the start, generalisations are always problematic. I would say that a group of anime fans is far from a representational sample of people though. My point is that Japan doesn't have a monopoly on xenophobia. And as to examples such as in ROD the US president wets himself... While that is true, there are also plenty of other stereotypes and racist elements in all cultures. The British and the French have opposing stereotypes of each other. Mostly meant in jest. And while Team America was all a big parody, Too often I read Americans referring to those 'damn towelheads' or whatever. Anyway, no offense to any Americans or anything. I guess my main point is that the whole world is racist - even if they don't realise it. |
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SlyphGlitch
Posts: 35 Location: Fighting my way out |
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Previous posted said something about Americans not leaving the country. I think it would help some people if they left the US to see the world,.
One reason some people don't leave the US is the US is so damn big. You really don't have too if you don't want too. I'm just stating a point. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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The US really does have a little bit of everything both geographicall and culturally, it's cheaper to remain in the country for trips and there's still a huge variety of things to see and do here. Not to mention with the state of the world as it is these days that deters people even more from travelling abroad, especially when you factor in the economy and the rising cost of travel. People should leave the country more, that's true, but it's easy to see why the numbers are the way they are.
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Yeah, that show was pre-2000, so it was a bit out of line. My personal opinion of Japanese culture is that they are more "friendly racists" than "mean racists". More of a "white man's burden" sort of mentality than a "southern person" mentality. They won't usually be openly rude to foreigners, and might treat them very well, but at the same time they know from the bottom of the hearts that those foreigners are lesser beings. Of course, not all Japanese people fit that stereotype, like most stereotypes it's only true 60-80% of the time, but it's there. [quote[All of this helps to add to my preconception that America (in general) is xenophobic. [/quote] Were not really xenophobic, just comfortable and self assured. We don't travel as much as some other cultures because we like where we are just fine. I actually like to travel, and would travel much more if I had more money and I watch a lot of travel shows on tv. There are two reasons why American don't, say, backpack in Europe much. One, we'd have to get to Europe first. We have no Chunnel there. It's generally an expensive trip, and unlike most intra-European travel, we can't jot home by land in under 12 hours. Now as for the other reason, we're mostly monoligual. There's nothing wrong with that, we don't need to know any other languages, but it does present a barrier sometimes when traveling, whereas most Europeans speak at least two languages (and many Canadians are familiar with at least French). So I think it's most often a practicality issue, rather than an attitude issue. |
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akitainu
 Posts: 119 Location: SATX |
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Honestly, I've never seen anything that offended me in an anime.
There have been many loud and brutish "Americans" drawn. But in all fairness, they might be my next door neighbor. I've also seen a myriad of non-white/poor white stereotypes played for laughs on USA TV. Sure, in R.O.D., the president pissed himself...I also recall a similar scene in Magical Project "S”. Hell, I thought it was funny...the "most powerful" man in the world, suffered by panic, into incontinence...good stuff! I also have no romantic blinders to the xenophobia that has popped up in anime. Americans aren't all blond, fat and (for women) big breasted. Japan is not exactly a rainbow of hugs and smiles for all peoples. But "Japan" is not necessary the voice of all Japanese. For example... I lived in Texas for a great part of my life...(a small country in itself) And from Houston to Brenham to Austin, I have seen very different worlds. Bigots and hippies and those who couldn't care less. I'll agree with unhealthyman about Americans and their travel habits. I'd try to explain why that is...but I don't even like to go the grocery store. I'd live on three square miles and never leave if there were sufficient provisions. So, I guess, I'm not the best spokesman for American "shut-ins". Anyway, as I've spiraled down into rambling, I'll say what has already been said...fear and bigotry thrives in all cultures. Anime simply highlights the flaws of one. |
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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and if it was recent it's not? Like him or hate him, Dubya hasn't peed his pants in public. (Although his father did throw up on the Japanese Prime Minister, but hey, the guy had a flu, what can you do?) That being said, I agree--Americans should travel more. I think everyone should do two things: (1) work in some sort of service industry--retail, resturant, tech support, something like that, and (2) take a trip out of the country. I think people would be a lot more reasonable and polite if they did that. |
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akitainu
Posts: 119 Location: SATX |
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MorwenLaicoriel:
I worked retail for nearly eight years (record/cd store), and to this day, work tech support (corporate IT helpdesk). And I will SWEAR that you are correct about the general behavior of those who have done those "service" jobs. |
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MorwenLaicoriel
Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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*nod* Until recently I worked at a large retail store and I was a bit surprised sometimes at how rude customers could be (although I never got absolutely horrible ones). Ever since working there I've always been really nice to people who work at stores and resturants and things.
 It's hard work.
I guess that's what this all boils down to. A failure to not understand what a different circumstance is like until you "walk a mile in someone's shoes". Whether that's a culture, society, country, race, profession...pretty much anything. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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True, though to be perfectly fair, he's never had the White House annihilated in front of him by some guy shooting lightning bolts out his back before either. |
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Porcupine
 Posts: 1033 |
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And while I am not saying that your explanation as to the cause of the 'racism' is wrong, I don't think that is really the main factor here. In my case, I'm Japanese but grew up in America, hardly knowing any Japanese people, yet I ended up the same as most of them do. You can't say that I became this way due to lack of exposure. Rather, it was overexposure to people that were different from me and often made me mad, that made me the way I am. Later in life as I grew older I met limited amounts of Japanese people, Korean people, etc...noticed patterns in their behavior on average, and therefore started to form opinions about them as well. I noticed that my personality profile is fairly incompatible with a number of nationalities but is quite compatible with that of Japanese people, which to me hints that genetic reasons are a large factor in this issue. |
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Porcupine
Posts: 1033 |
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The very term xenophobia implies that one is semi-fearful of people other races, I think this is closer to the way Japanese people feel. This is different from a feeling of superiority, however either way these things can sometimes lead to more serious incidents and prejudical practices, which I don't deny happens from time to time. |
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frouella
 Posts: 199 Location: 大阪 |
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You've come up with an interesting argument regarding genetic proclivities. Too bad it's crap. I say this because I'm also a Japanese person who grew up the United States, yet I don't think that it's correct to be xenophobic, chauvinistic, or "mildly" racist. Maybe I'm just not a carrier of that particular J-gene... 
In any event, please don't be so quick to attribute your misanthropic tendencies to your Japanese ethnicity; it's an insult to other people of Japanese descent. |
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The Seventh Son
Posts: 380 Location: Where your missing socks end up. |
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going to japan might happen, but i know for a fact that im going to Italy. i have family there, and once in my life i gotta Visit the Ferrari factory area. i dont care what the hell you people think, im a CAR OTAKU!
 im not kidding, if i see anything looking like a sportscar on the road and im not driving my head with just hone in right on the thing, especially if i hear the sound of something with a high amount of horsepower i know i could never own one, but i gotta go see it. id also see other stuff there too as to not waste the plane ticket. plus having a really big batch of relatives from my moms side of the family in northern Italy saves a lot of money.
and i know a lot of world history too. so see, im not just an anime fan. oh, and you saying that cars are stupid and theyre just cars is like someone saying anime and manga are just cartoons, so think about that. |
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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What I also believe is that people have forgotten how to laugh at each other's differences. Many people see the recognition of differences to be a negative thing and there are some people who actually do force those differences negatively. But they are what they are. I found it hilarious in Ping Pong Club that everytime the Caucasian guy played Ping Pong he won by default because no one could stand the smell. In no way does it describe everyone in the category but there are reasons why the joke was made and probably not because only one person had B.O. I thought it was interesting that the president wet himself in ROD. I don't think he stood as a president of the US, but a person in power. Almost the same happened in V for Vendetta, the person in power when brought forth to V became a crying baby. There might be some creative, political meaning behind it all, but shouldn't people be able to speak their mind? Some songs are created for protest on real issues. Political comics openly mudsling happenings. I don't see a problem with having it in an anime. Insulting? Maybe. It's how you might look at it. Were they really insulting you or were they saying it for a different reason? |
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Porcupine
Posts: 1033 |
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frouella, not once did I say that genetics is the sole reason behind any possible Japanese tendencies towards xenophobism, etc. I said that it is, in my opinion, quite possibly a significant contributing factor though. My own background and current beliefs suggest this, at least to me. Your own background and beliefs only show that not everyone turns out like me, which is obvious.
If anything, growing up in the United States and being exposed to western ideas of thinking, people SHOULD turn out the way you did. That's the expected result. The fact that even some people like me reject these western social norms, is the unexpected thing, and is the stronger evidence suggesting a more serious underlying cause (genetic, in a sense) for these behaviorial patterns we see. Also, another separate possible cause for any mildly racist behavior attributed towards Japanese, could be the fact that they may be more honest about things than people of other nationalities. At least that is my personal impression of the Japanese. To be honest, it IS foolish to think all races of people are EXACTLY equal. As I said in my previous post, it's obvious that is not true. Everyone who is not a complete fool should acknowledge at least some minor differences between people of different nationalities (on the average). The only difference between being totally racist and prejudiced vs being 'normal' is how far you think these differences extend, and how far you will go towards actually engaging in discriminatory practices based upon your own perceived notion of these differences. America has established within itself some sort of social taboo regarding issues of racism/genderism/etc, often times being TOO sensitive towards racist comments, etc, to the point where they are just being hypocritical. That is my view on things. Perhaps that is how the Japanese view things too, that's just another theory. |
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