Well, in his defense he did point out what he loved about Japan before he went on his rant. Which I consider fair " THINGS I LOVE ABOUT JAPAN out of the way, first. 1. Experimental music: These guys know what they're doing! 2. Classic video games from the 1990s: Goemon 2 is the shit, dude. Panzer Dragoon Zwei is totally the shit, too. 3. Trains: Do I ever love riding Japanese trains — while playing Dragon Quest on DS, and drinking delicious Coca-Cola Zero. [Note: I only love trains on weekdays around noon, when they're not crowded.] 4. Popular music from the 1970s, 1980s, early 1990s "
I had to chuckle at people getting so worked up about a clearly subjective opinion which holds a lot of merit if you try to consider his viewpoints. The man has clearly seen that (video game industry) side of life there and how it can affect a person's psyche and mental health. Also he frequently mentions how it can affect the basics of society, especially the in-culture effect of generation gaps. Reading some of the comments at the bottom read like a gut reaction by those who didn't like their favourite things being looked at unfavourably. They pretty much cling to a few points that rankle them and ignore the rest of his quite insightful commentary. I'm sure the people who are replying in this thread similarly don't have the patience to read and fallaciously attempt to deny every point on the basis of ignorance or to deny valid points because or or two things were debatable. This is why the internet is so full of toxic self-serving SJWs who blow chunks the moment they perceive something or someone being slighted, even if it has..... wait for it! ...nothing to do with them. Oh well, this is my subjective opinion. Cheers! Spoiler: Funny comment after the article Wow. I can only describe this article in 1 word: tl;dr. Call me lazy if you want, but I didn't want to read this article. I DID, however, read it a while ago. So, let me state my problems with it. First off: anime DOESN'T suck. There is some good anime out there. I'm not really a fan of anime, but from what I've seen, you have both your good and bad. I'm probably guessing that you hate Japanese media because you don't understand the culture yet. It takes a lot of time. Also, the quality of anime (and Japanese media in general while were at it) differs based on the creator. You shouldn't say that ALL of it sucks. Just like with all media, the quality differs. Second of all, I like Japanese comedy. Even though I have only seen one Japanese comedian, I thought it was fucking hilarious. Third of all, what is so bad about all the food having meat in it? In my opinion, it's a GOOD thing. Why? Because meat is awesome. Fuck vegans, they don't know what they're missing out on. Also, salmon nigiri is the best fucking thing I have ever tasted. I don't feel like stating the rest of my problems with this article. If I did, this comment would end up as long as your stupid article. So, enjoy your country.
i'm torn between "wow, that was mildly interesting" and "wow, i just lost one hour of my morning reading that never-ending hell of text."
idk man. In my head, japan is a nice place to visits. Also I've read the article and it seems like the author fail to integrate with the culture and I can understand that from his point. Japan's culture might be immensely different than his hometown's culture and that's that.
Sadly, very true. People seem to think :" How dare you disagree with me or have an opinion that conflicts with mine". It does make me disillusioned sometimes on the future of humanity.
This is the basis for likely 99% of the comments here and in the other thread. It's so easy to disregard the underpinnings that are ugly or hidden from tourists when you don't live in a place. Just like towns that have popped up solely for cruise ship travelers to experience how the natives do it. Do you honestly believe that someone who's lived there for years has less insight than people who are looking from the outside in? If you're basing your knowledge entirely on exported culture then it's you who's being gamed. I will apologize if that sounded hostile or dismissive because it isn't meant to be, it's just I keep seeing the same arguments used over and over.
You realize that the author of the piece is likely a SJW right? The vegan, feminist, anti-corporate, anti-sin, etc. parts of it didn't give that away? It sounds like he finally figured out that Japan is a mix of cesspools and awesomeness, like every country, because that's what humans create. Personally as I said above, he basically fell out of love with Japan so stuff he could ignore before when he had that 'glow' he can't anymore, like smokers. Nothing wrong with that, but people who sit in their misery instead of moving on is confusing to me.
I expected bad Japan comedy review, and instead got a long-ass complaint blog/article of how the culture there is different from blogger's lifestyle. Yeah, I skimmed through that shit, but I do [somewhat] agree [against] with the smoking and mandatory parties. Nightmare fuel both in reality and fiction.
whoa, whoa. peak entitlement - visiting countries and "tolerating" them...as if they were waiting for his visit The guy sounds like leftie, but I find it ironic that he would complain about that when leftists like to scream how game fans doesn't like the changes leftists need.
Hmm, I'm not really surprised to see the reality of situation is different than expectation. The country I live in have so many cultures in it and I can confirm it. Even different city have different tradition and the further the distance, the more it will differ.
Let's break it down, being a vegan doesn't make you an SJW, yet another fallacy of thought; it means you respect animals enough for their life not to have to eat them. There are enough people going about doing that already. It's also that argument, yet again, what's so bad about being vegan? Are all the alternative lifestyle people you ever met going on about their choices obnoxiously or demanding you become them? He complains about meat or meat byproducts suddenly being added to just about everything, and it has to do with money, earning more money. Most of his points are about how money influences business practices (food included) and an indoctrination through culture and for lack of a better word, 'rote' society or a meme-like society. At one point he mentions lard, which has also been removed from baked good (mostly) in the west, for health reasons. Feminist? Is he though, it seems like people are being treated like less than people, and on a societal scale. Have a look at any considerable amount of anime, manga, or light novels and you're sure to come across women that are simply being objectified. I mean go look at any light novel cover and show me a girl who has clothes that have more length than a miniskirt, or a bust shot that isn't gratuitous with cleavage or otherwise. It's your last few lines that are also repeated ad infinitum in the comments of the article. When you move somewhere to work it's an incredibly large commitment, unless you're working on contract and living out of a box known as a hotel room. Telling people if you don't like it then move is clearly not putting a lot of thought into such a statement. Life has too many factors that might cause a person to accept a job, and people are too easily lacking in empathy. Yes I'll be the first to admit he's become disillusioned after being burnt out, maybe because he was over-exposed to that particular mind set. A lot of his article mentions industry inside practices, like the shouting, the parties, the drinking and smoking. The constant apologizing or being made to feel like you're too slow or too stupid. There are plenty of other articles in media about any number of the things he talks about, and he has done a lot of research for his article. (edited for spelling)
No, being vegan doesn't make you an SJW but it and the long non-smoking rant was a sign of how he wanted the world to adapt to him when clearly Japan was going the opposite path. However throughout his post is multiple complaints on social progression, civil rights of workers, and dislike that it wasn't more multicultural in food, acceptance of his choices, complaints on the objectification of women, etc. That's what SJW literally means. Watch one of the SJW YouTube channels videos and they cover many of the same topics. No. Just no. No job or other situation is worth being so miserable you pull back into a shell. Anything he bought like a house can be sold, any other possessions can be sold or given away. I'm 49, and I have put a lot of thought into the statement. Do you know how many people I've met who have chosen to be miserable, stay in abusive relationships, and at jobs they hate that didn't pay much anyway? Would escaping make them happy? Maybe not, but all them lived years, or decades in the case of my parents, of misery by not trying. The clear result of not trying is misery. Or do you think Japan will have changed in the last few years and made him happy? Is it likely to change in the next 5 years and fix all the things he dislikes? Since the post was from years ago, in theory he might have to live in Japan 10, 20, maybe 50 years for it to change in a way that makes him happy. Maybe. Or maybe it will get worse. People move across the country and even to other countries with a $2000 or less. Hell, there's people like the Kombi Life channel that do miracles with no money. What most people do is find reasons/excuses not to fix their lives. I'm not bashing his dislike of Japan, or his research. I had an older friend, he passed away a few years ago, but for a good 10-15 years before his death he retreated from everything new like the guy in the post did when he talks about modern anime, modern games, how Japanese music from the 70's/80's/90's was good, etc. My friend got stuck in a 'happy' point in time, he rewatched 60's and 70's TV shows like Doctor Who, played Civilization 1 obsessively, watched 70's movies only. The original poster reminds me of him, but stuck in a time of Japan that has passed, and it isn't healthy. Moving away and finding happiness is. Edit: TL;DR - I R Old as fuck, and it is easier to change your location than 120+ million peoples culture.
Except that his points were to do with basic things, basic respect for people, for working conditions, for not having thigns shoved at you audibly or physically, the passive aggressiveness and having instead everyone conform to one mold. For a stable functioning society maybe most of these things are needed, in moderation. It never read as trying to get everyone to change for him, maybe an objective reading without reading too much into his ranting is what's needed. I understand the sense of community and 'togetherness' is greater in asian than western nations, but when that becomes a toxic imposition on how society functions... one has to wonder? Again importantly, he relates everything not just to his own experience, I still fail to understand why people just disregard that fact. Most of his article is about how both he and co-workers or randoms are treated because of big business and lack of creativity to try something new or to challenge the status quo. This is a don't rock the boat situation. Just because another culture exists in another way doesn't mean we have a right to bash it, but taking it under a critical lens objectively isn't bashing but attempting to add to our understanding of what works and what doesn't as people. If you read it that way then you took what was meant as a cathartic rant (his not mine) instead as gospel and I don't know what to tell you. (edited because it ate half my message, sigh)
I get what you are trying to say, but I guess I don't believe that "cathartic rants" are just that, or work in any way unless some action is also taken. To me the only thing that is going to happen is he breaks, or leaves. In my experience there is no release, and next week the person feels the same, the month after, the year after, etc. I had one younger coworker complain to me about women for a couple hours a week, every week for a bit over 10 years. Now he's middle aged(39), single, and nothing has changed. Maybe someone out there has a cathartic rant, get it off their chest, and can move on, but I've never seen it. Usually a little while later I hear the same exact rant about their bf, money, boss, etc. unless I avoid the person. Edit: you seem more interested in how right he is and how well researched, I'm more hopeful that he and similar people escape before they become old and miserable. Him being right and not liking the culture is even more reason to escape.
Rather than that, it seems that the author is more of someone that has lived in Japan for a rather lengthy period of time and has seen the customs and practices of the people in Japan. But the main point is that it seems the author doesn't understand the why; Why people do these things. Yeah, some are nonsensical, but many are rooted in historical causes and Japanese society. If I were to imagine myself an observer to many of these annoyances described by the author without my knowledge of Japan, then yeah it would be very strange land to me.
TL;DR: Tim Rogers of Kotaku (Blog poster of that article) is getting old, cannot accept the fact that times are changing and still clinging to the past... EDIT: Article is almost a decade old... I guess Tim has retired now.
Funny thing is that the Japanese government and famous Japanese like Hayao Miyazaki have had the same complaints. Get your heads out of your asses https://soranews24.com/2014/01/30/g...strys-problem-is-that-its-full-of-anime-fans/