That conservative Westerners don't get Japanese culture might explain why they and their counterparts in Japan want to ban lolicon and that anime where a 12-yr old boy cross-dresses to please his older sempai.
Yeah, yeah, I know calling the pedophile older man "sempai" is totally unacceptable. The closest I can get to what the old guy might be is by referring to him as Oji-sama (honored uncle), but that's disrespectful of Japanese culture. Even if he added the honorific, -chan, to the boy's name, it's more likely he would also add -kun to his name when doing the ritual master-disciple routine.
Am I suggesting that Japanese society is run like that? No, only the arch conservative parts of Japanese society are run exactly like that. Though a yakuza member would view his boss as "oyabun" and the boss would consider his underlings "kobun", which is a highly ritualized and symbolic master-disciple relationship which younger members of a group (disciples) defer to the leader of their group (the master). Considering their sense of justice, they would deal with pedophiles harshly.
However the oyabun/kobun relationship between a master and his disciples is based on sociopolitical structures common throughout most of East Asia.
Due to the ignorance about Asian culture, the West does not get the master-disciple shtick at all. So when Obama accidentally bowed too low to the Emperor of Japan, the American right wing conservatives went ballistic, crying that "American does not submit to any nation, not even the conquered nation of Japan."
Talk about misreading the situation.
Even though America honestly admits to its economic imperialism before, during and after World War 2, it's never going to submit to Japan, even though some of us in the West love their anime and culture.
As far as nation-states are concerned, all of them are created equal, though some countries are more equal than others. ;)
Even so, otaku of the West who love anime and manga are not traitors of the West. All we are are people who live, breathe and eat Japanese culture.
I should talk though. I sure love me cod and chips.
Originally posted on Jun 19, 2014 at 5:22 PM PDT
Reference:
Otaku: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otaku
Lolicon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolicon
K=Yakuza: organization and activities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza#Organization_and_activities
Sociopolitical organization among East Asians: http://www.everyculture.com/North-America/East-Asians-of-Canada-Sociopolitical-Organization.html
Presidential Bows, Revisited: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/presidential-bows-revisited/comment-page-3/?apage=4&_r=0
American imperialism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism
Showing posts with label Western culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Western culture. Show all posts
20131018
Safe Drinking for Women (satire)
In Japan though, there is is a safe venue where women can be encouraged to binge drink but never be raped.
It's called #hostclubs
We actually need a safe venue where women can drink until they drop but never risk rape because the men know it's bad for business.
That Western culture has no such place suggests to me that bars and clubs are unfit for women, regardless of what the promoters suggest.
Even so, the truth is, when intoxicated, a woman who consents to sex still is at risk to rape because inebriation means she is not competent to give consent.
In short it is rape even when she consents to sex while inebriated. That is what the law says.
What really needs to be taught is education geared towards men that being drunk gives them no right to have drunk sex with a willing partner, and that it is rape.
It needs to be stressed that being a rapist will ruin a man's life forever
This is why I feel that Western society has need for host clubs as a safe venue for women to get drunk by men hosts who know that safe drinking is good for business.
Western culture's lack of such venues shows how sexist bars and clubs actually are.
It's called #hostclubs
We actually need a safe venue where women can drink until they drop but never risk rape because the men know it's bad for business.
That Western culture has no such place suggests to me that bars and clubs are unfit for women, regardless of what the promoters suggest.
Even so, the truth is, when intoxicated, a woman who consents to sex still is at risk to rape because inebriation means she is not competent to give consent.
In short it is rape even when she consents to sex while inebriated. That is what the law says.
What really needs to be taught is education geared towards men that being drunk gives them no right to have drunk sex with a willing partner, and that it is rape.
It needs to be stressed that being a rapist will ruin a man's life forever
This is why I feel that Western society has need for host clubs as a safe venue for women to get drunk by men hosts who know that safe drinking is good for business.
Western culture's lack of such venues shows how sexist bars and clubs actually are.
20130119
Ancestor Worship Forgotten by Japanese Diasphora
In Japan, ancestor worship shows respect not only to your ancestors and the recently departed, but to the family kami if one's family has one.
A family kami is the first male ancestor in your lineage, or he may be the village kami if you have a home village. If the latter tradition is present, then your first male ancestor is Chinese.
In Canada, this heritage is forgotten. If you mention it amongst your relatives, they either mock you or change the subject.
Ah, we Japanese-canadians are too assimilated! We're so assimilated we blend in.
Yet there's an awkward moment when an Asian person talks to me, and I have to reply in English, "Sorry I don't speak Chinese/Korean/Taiwanese."
Though I can still speak Japanese but badly.
A family kami is the first male ancestor in your lineage, or he may be the village kami if you have a home village. If the latter tradition is present, then your first male ancestor is Chinese.
In Canada, this heritage is forgotten. If you mention it amongst your relatives, they either mock you or change the subject.
Ah, we Japanese-canadians are too assimilated! We're so assimilated we blend in.
Yet there's an awkward moment when an Asian person talks to me, and I have to reply in English, "Sorry I don't speak Chinese/Korean/Taiwanese."
Though I can still speak Japanese but badly.
20101231
One crazy dream
I woke up with this nagging feeling that the dream I had was a cultural one.
Certainly my computer may have a setting to display in kanji, hiragana and katakana; but I had this confusion where my mind had a "setting" to "think" in Japanese whilst dreaming, and that I had awoken before setting it back to Western.
There was also a memory from the dream where I had dreamed other dream sequences, and was reminded of them.
If this had happened whilst awake, then they'd be a psychotic break.
Now that I am totally awake, I know them to be a dream.
However, one thing I am certain of is that sleep confusion is similar to a psychotic break in that I don't know if what is real and what is not real.
But as I awaken, I know what is real and attribute the confusion to coming to consciousness.
Furthermore, dreaming whilst awake could appear to be a psychotic break.
For me, though, the use of psychiatric terms is to delineate between waking and sleeping states.
Also this is the first time I had a cultural dream like this where it had a strong Japanese flavour to it, which "switched off" when I awoke.
Yet I don't remember if there were any conversations in it.
Certainly my computer may have a setting to display in kanji, hiragana and katakana; but I had this confusion where my mind had a "setting" to "think" in Japanese whilst dreaming, and that I had awoken before setting it back to Western.
There was also a memory from the dream where I had dreamed other dream sequences, and was reminded of them.
If this had happened whilst awake, then they'd be a psychotic break.
Now that I am totally awake, I know them to be a dream.
However, one thing I am certain of is that sleep confusion is similar to a psychotic break in that I don't know if what is real and what is not real.
But as I awaken, I know what is real and attribute the confusion to coming to consciousness.
Furthermore, dreaming whilst awake could appear to be a psychotic break.
For me, though, the use of psychiatric terms is to delineate between waking and sleeping states.
Also this is the first time I had a cultural dream like this where it had a strong Japanese flavour to it, which "switched off" when I awoke.
Yet I don't remember if there were any conversations in it.
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