What connotation does the term "gaijin" have for you ?

[Maciamo]

Steve Ototo,

You are talking about prehistoric men, early homo sapiens, about 90000 years before the rise of agriculture and the first civilisations. What differentiate humans nowadays is their level of civilisation, their local culture, language, code of conduct, morals, laws, social conventions, etc. This has only really started to evolved since men live into organised states, with cities, specific jobs, social classes, laws, etc. My point is that the Japanese still behave like ancient Europeans because they have only settled in such organised agricultural societies for about 2000 years, as opposed to 7000 to 9000 years for Europeans (and all Westerners descendent from Europeans).

[Crazy Russian]

Originally Posted by Maciamo:

‘communist scum’

Wow! I like it! But I prefer ‘Kommunistisch russisch Schwein’. (The Nazis called us so.) Now I know what you think of us and the Chinese.

I really don’t care how you will call me. If I it annoys me whilst being in the EU, I shall go back to the best country in the world – to Russia.

Originally Posted by Maciamo:

‘Naturally if you come from a country where people used not to be able to choose their own form of government or criticise anything, I understand where you are coming from. But Japan isn't Russia; it was supposedly a free and democratic country since 1946.’

Ha! What do you know about the Russians? I respect people who search, want something and try to achieve something. And it doesn’t matter whether they achieve what they want or not. Europe is a big refuse pit without an aim and wishes. It is doomed to perishing. And it will one day.

Napoleon almost created unified Europe. He wanted Europe to be the ruler of the world. I really regret his having failed. Now Europe is a big nothing. It is living the rest of its days. In Europe, I respect only France, Germany and Italy. They are pleasant exceptions to the rule. I hope that Russia will never become a member of the EU.

As to being unable to criticise anything, you, probably, know history very bad. You, probably, don’t know that those who criticised were immediately executed or died in Gulags afterwards. Stalin, for example, killed 40 million Russians.

And what is a democracy? Nowadays, democracies are slaves to the USA. Those who are afraid to contradict the USA are called democracies. Those who contradict the USA and want to be free and independent are not called democracies. (Though there are several exceptions.) Your country has been a slave to the USA for a looooong time.

By the way, Japan is not a slave to the USA. It is forced to be the US’ ally.

By the way, thank you for being honest. I appreciate it!

P.S. Have you read A. Solzhenitsyn?

[Steve Ototo]

My point is that the Japanese still behave like ancient Europeans because they have only settled in such organised agricultural societies for about 2000 years, as opposed to 7000 to 9000 years for Europeans (and all Westerners descendent from Europeans).

Thank you for the kind reply. I find that many people, even the Americans, tend towards tribalism. I think that it is an ingrained social habit in many communities, more of a common human habit, than one from current social structures.
Americans can be just as "tribal" as anyone else. There are interstate rivalries between Texas and Oklahoma that are sometimes taken very seriously - and these states were only settled 200 years ago!
Your thoughts are always appreciated.

[gaijinalways]

I agree with Maciamo, that Japan acts like a very small village (we're talking most of the country. It borders on paranoia sometimes, when you hear about the dangerous outside of Japan. This and my parents don't lock their doors, even when they go out!

Of course Steve O., you get some of this behaviour everywhere. In a rural part of Central Maine in the US, a resident who had lived in a town for over 20 years was still called "a New Yorker", even though he had been in that town longer than some of the resident kids who had gone to school out of state!