Wonder if its because of the fascism, pedophilia, or both

  • save_vs_death [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    all of you anglophiles sure do like speaking english, is it the noncery or the inbreeding that attracts you the most to the anglish tung

    jk, it's cause Japan is one of those countries that punches above its weight when it comes to pop culture relevance seeing as most people in the world have seen one of the animations while growing up

  • Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]
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    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Japan was blessed with both a lack of natural resources and a position that's basically as far away from Europe and the US as physically possible. This gave them the very rare opportunity to be introduced to Western culture relatively peacefully. They also industrialized relatively smoothly due to learning from the West, and land reforms/redistribution under the Meiji emperor. Meanwhile, expensive raw materials encouraged a focus on quality, which gave the country a good reputation from a consumer perspective.

    Apart from WWII, there haven't been a lot of times where it's been convenient to breed disdain, hatred, or contempt for Japan in the West. You don't have extended, decades-long propaganda campaigns against them. You don't have people needing to explain how they're inferior in order to feel better about crushing them underfoot.

    Then ofc it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. There's a market for stuff like anime in the West, so the anime industry grows and becomes more in touch with Western interests.

  • comi [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Western infatuation with japan started prolly in 19th century though

  • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    It's the pop culture. There's so many neckbeards here who view Japan thru the lens of anime and video games but are totally clueless on the actual society.

    • LoudMuffin [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      a lot of anime and manga is SCATHINGLY critical of how fucking soul crushing Japanese society is

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I love that Jujutsu Kaisen just straight up says "Japan is the most stress-inducing country in the world, and is filled with curses," Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid and Helpful Fox Senko-san are just like "anything short of divine intervention is not enough to improve the quality of life of the average Japanese worker," the entire reason most harem or other romance exists is because modern Japan's dating culture is so incredibly bad, and there's always some undercurrent of how much modern society separates people in most comedies or romances.

        • LoudMuffin [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Kaiji is literally just squid game before squid game existed.

          There's a scene where he's freaking out and he's like "why does everything have to be about money!?" and I was like damn he really spittin straight facts tho

          the worst part is Kaiji tier stuff really does happen to lumpenproles IRL in Mexico as far as I know, cartels sometimes make people fight each other for laughs/money

          • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            now I've never watched Kaiji, but i have a friend who just started watching it and said it is just like the squid game. Wonder why there's like a million stories about the government/businesses/the man forcing poor people to fight to the death for trinkets. :thonk:

  • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I mean the trains are cool, the urban planning is cool, and anime can be cool, but I've said my piece about Japan before.

    • wantonviolins [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Japan is just as fucked as the west, for many of the same reasons, but also has cool shit the west doesn’t, so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not,

  • Parzivus [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    whites

    Being a weeb transcends race/gender (see: my entire friend group in high school)

  • Alaskaball [comrade/them]M
    ·
    3 years ago

    not white but I like their raw fish is food culture. i can also fuck with ramen. Tempura fried shit's also good too. I guess I like their food.

    • Dinkdink [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I remember the day I found out: "There are whole tempura restaurants??" Blew my mind.

      That was a good day.

    • fuckwit [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      i mean they pretty much are lol How many times have you see naturally blonde Japanese people?

      • RowPin [they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Aside from that uncommon hair colors are used in anime to immediately distinguish a character, Japanese people don't see anime characters as white, they see them as Japanese; similar to how Americans see The Simpsons as white despite Marge having blue hair and yellow skin.

        I'm reminded a bit of an article talking about people stereotyping Korean beauty standards as them wanting to "emulate whiteness", when in actuality their beauty standards are far better explained by their own pre-colonialist history, and that several cosmetic procedures are decidedly not similar to the features of Caucasians.

        • fuckwit [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I mean, I genuinely fail to see how western colonialism hasn't entrenched itself in Japanese and Korean standards of beauty when 20% of young Korean women undergo cosmetic surgery often times to modify epicanthic folds and make their noses look more caucasian, and when, well, a significant proportion of Anime characters have blue eyes, blonde hair, and caucasian noses along with other caucasian features. But I'd be interested to read this article, because atm I just fail to grasp the idea the pre-colonialist history has much to do with it.

          • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Mixed race people raised in Japan are what exactly, in your measurement?

              • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
                ·
                3 years ago

                you're dodging the question. You just said there were 0 blonde Japanese people in response to my point it's slightly more realistic than all the fake hair colors we see, such as blood red, green, blue, purple, pink, etc.

                • fuckwit [none/use name]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  You know what, even if it's besides the point since a vast amount Anime characters have caucasian features unlike the majority of the population and you're the one trying to muddy the argument by pointing to outliers, can you show me an example of a single Japanese person (mixed race or otherwise) in Japan with natural blonde hair?

                  • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    The streamer Pikamee is mixed-race and says she has naturally blonde hair. Anyway, your other point about more caucasian features is interesting. I can think of a lot of cases where it would make sense, like Full Metal Alchemist which is set in basically Germany or Re:Zero where it is set in a place based somewhat on european fantasy. But it does show up in other weird places.

  • Teekeeus
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    edit-2
    10 days ago

    deleted by creator

      • Teekeeus
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        edit-2
        10 days ago

        deleted by creator

          • LeninWeave [none/use name]
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            edit-2
            3 years ago

            When the Japanese arrived

            ...and raped, enslaved, and murdered everyone. Seriously, you're going to defend Japan during WW2 as heroes of the people of Asia?

          • Teekeeus
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            edit-2
            10 days ago

            deleted by creator

            • LeninWeave [none/use name]
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              Other best-of takes I remember from this same user include:

              • China is only prevented from Balkanizing by the iron hand of the CPC.
              • In China, government just happens to you. None of the citizens consider it democratic.
          • Barabas [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            It is strange how countries in places like Africa managed to rise up and fight for independence without first being conquered by non-white fascists to inspire them.

      • SuperNovaCouchGuy [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        "Japan kicked out white imperialists in Asia. Therefore japan good force in asia"

        Unit 731

        Pick one.