I SAID IT! FUCK JAPAN! It's the uninterrupted continuation of Imperial Japan, and it unilaterally deserves it's just condemnation for the horror it's wrecked across Asia.

  • sebastian [he/him]
    cake
    ·
    4 years ago

    this is much smaller potatoes compared to what japan has done across asia, but it's an issue that hits close to home. to legally transition, you have to A. be sterilized, B. have no kids (under age 20), and C. be single.

    it's Not a good look and i've been very much wanting to complain about it.

        • Alaskaball [comrade/them]
          hexagon
          M
          ·
          4 years ago

          in Japan for instance it’s pretty ok to be gender nonconformist and has been for a long time

          Hm, I'd have to say that I'd have to do an examination of modern Japanese culture but from my studies into the history of Japan from the cold war back Japan's gone through a cultural transformation stemming from the Meij era that changed Japan's attitude towards gender from being that of a more open and non-conformist to a more western orientated cultural perspective on gender norms due to it's drive towards "modernization" in order to not be swallowed up by western imperialists.

          • Express [any,none/use name]
            ·
            edit-2
            4 years ago

            I’m not the best expert on Japanese history and I don’t even pretend to understand all the ins and outs of it. Any culture is to complex and filled with to many moving parts for me to feel confident ascribing a single cause to something. I’m just some weeb, but I think approaching cultures like they are their own things all with their great parts and horrid parts is the right away to go. I’m not saying your wrong by the way, but it also isn’t something that was tainted by those evil westerners either and it was good before. The problems were just different because of the way dialectics were unfolding and it had some pretty disastrous consequences.

            • Alaskaball [comrade/them]
              hexagon
              M
              ·
              4 years ago

              it also isn’t something that was tainted by those evil westerners either and it was good before.

              Nah I approach the whole thing from a historical amoral stance since this is all stuff that has happened and can not be changed but can be observed as how it impacts the modern era.

              The fault of Japan's change with the Meiji restoration, aka Japan's great opening up to the outside world, is that the new imperial government that arose from the Boshin War reacted in recoil to how vast the world was and how they were a minnow in an ocean of sharks. Their choice to pursue modernization, imperialization and westernization is understandable in context that those who do not oppress are in turn oppressed themselves.

    • Dumpster_fire_pants [comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      The 'County' that I live in is Kyosanto which is the Japanese communist party. It's growing. Sure, it's a minority nationally but at least Japan has more than 2 identical parties..

      • GraydonCarter [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Yeah, the Japanese Communist Party has a lot of representation if you consider...it is Japan. The US, SK, the overwhelming majority of any other western aligned countries have nowhere near the sort.

    • Koa_lala [he/him]
      cake
      ·
      4 years ago

      Isn't south korea hyper capitalist and extremely reactionary?

      • glk [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I don't think Korea's history allows them to be true believers. Capitalism is likely to be embeded in 'tribal' terms ROK = good, ROK = capitalist, ergo capitalist=good contrast to Communism = DPRK = bad. So they'll view capitalism from their experience which is an outlier globally.

      • GraydonCarter [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        yes. but they also have great infrastructure (this is possibly an understatement) and healthcare and benefits for parents. When I went the doctor there without insurance I paid less than I paid in the US with insurance.

  • dinklesplein [any, he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    i cant help but be a bit annoyed when people praise japanese culture bc so much of it is linked to the imperial era that i have i hard time accepting it as a part of me, even innocuous irrelevant shit like food. it makes me feel like an antideutsch sometimes. like bushido, which is more of a post feudal construct than an actual existing moral code. idk i just feel that the only non-white cultures westerners will accept and be interested in are like japanese and korean (just kpop really). like all i ever hear about in the western internet when it comes to foreign media is just anime this anime that and its kinda tiring. like why not give fucking idk bollywood a try or something. i just dont think we're inherently anymore interesting than any other country to justify the attention we get. :stalin-stressed:

      • skeletorsass [she/her]
        ·
        4 years ago

        This is a very common form of Orientalism.

        红茶菌 is called by the Japanese name "kombucha" in English but is not Japanese, it is from China and Russia. In Japanese "kombucha" does not even refer to this drink! 红茶菌 is simply translated fungus red tea, and it is called similar in Russian.

          • skeletorsass [she/her]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Makes sense, thank you. 昆布 in Chinese is also a kind of kelp but not the correct word 海带, so I knew it was called by 昆布 in Japanese without knowing that the loan is common as well.

          • dinklesplein [any, he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            correct but the fact that its an english loanword in that context doesnt change the original point (not that i think you though that, just clarifying)

    • truth [they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I will say, part of the anime and kpop obsession is because that's what the ruling class imports. We were shown anime as kids, that's what they ran, not bollywood films. Although the same sort of mechanism introduced a lot of black people ( and others ofc ) in the US to Chinese cinema, so you can see how this kind of works.

  • DragonNest_Aidit [they/them,use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Japan is legitimately an existential threat to the global revolution and progress, not a joke. Their media empire promoting reactionary regressive messages (read: anime) is immensely popular worldwide, pushing an entire generation of teens into the edge of fascism where they can be easily reeled in further.

    I'm not memeing, this is really disconcerting.

    • wubblewobble [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I don't think that it's quite as bad as you are making it out to be. Anime as a whole is more polarized than western media, and yes, a lot of it is fucking reactionary, but so is most western media. But there is also a lot of stuff with solid left themes (e.g. Psycho Pass). I agree however that there are a lot of really disgusting shows that have become mainstream in recent times. But is it really reflective of the whole medium that there are very shitty popular shows?

      I don't even think that anime overall is more reactionary than Hollywood.

      • BOK6669 [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Yeah right, there's a lot of based Anime and it doesn't take a genius to look at all the anime that is capitalist mass produced trash dog shit.

    • SteveHasBunker [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Their media empire promoting reactionary regressive messages (read: anime) is immensely popular worldwide, pushing an entire generation of teens into the edge of fascism where they can be easily reeled in further.

      Uh... considering how popular anime is on like, every leftist community online I don’t know how accurate this is

  • Gamer_time [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    We love Japan and their shrine to honour war criminals, don't we folks.

    • Alaskaball [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      M
      ·
      4 years ago

      Very interesting, I'll have to put it on my reading list. Another book for people interested in this topic is the book "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang. Be warned, this book is genuinely horrifying. I'm talking Dirlewanger battalion evil here. For even those who concider themselves of iron hearts and stomachs even this most likely will make you feel sick to your core being.

  • Poop [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    I mean i'm not gonna say "Fuck Japan" since it has the same energy as people who say "Fuck China, Winnie the Pooh, etc," but Abe & his party sucks and its really dispicable that they have made an attempt to whitewash and deny the atrocities that Japan's fascists committed.