Quote Originally Posted by corocoro
indoctrinated by who? and what for?
Let me answer here all the "what for" in your post. The people who wish to indoctrinate the Japanese population usually have a strong ego and believe themselves that the Japanese are superior to other peoples. These are the Japanese politicians (maybe not all, but probably quite a lot of them from what I have seen, heard and read about them). It's only natural for some humans to want power and pride, and politicians are a sort of special gathering of the people who feel the most like this - especially in big countries like Japan, the US, UK, France, etc. because that make them feel even more powerful and proud to control a rich and populous country.

Try to feel how the leaders of Japan during WWII felt, and understand what was their motivation to invade Asia. Power, pride, and a sense of superiority. Unfortunately, this is part of human nature, and such people are to be found in every country. The problem I feel about Japan (not at first, but the more I read about Japanese politics, the more I feel so), is that the way of thinking of high-ranking politicians has changed little since WWII regarding their greed for power, pride and has even increased regarding money. They now have to be politically correct vis-a-vis the United States, because they lost the war and still feel it. But their pride is still strong, and one way of showing it was by rebuilding the country and try to surpass the US economically.

When that suceeded in the 1980's (the Bubble years), not only the politicians but many Japanese felt superior to the rest of the world. You can't deny it because many books were written at that time by many Japanese people to explain how everything Japanese was better and more efficient than in other countries. Their ego literally followed the rise of the stock exchange. It's only with the bubble burst from 1990 and 15 years of sluggish economic growth that most of the Japanese really started to wonder what was wrong with them, their political system, their management style or their education system. You can't deny that. Everybody knows it.

So now you tell me that the Japanese do not feel superior. Well, maybe they can't admit it because it's not politically correct, AND the economy cannot prove it anymore (that's where we see how money is important to rate things in Japan - more than one's knowledge of the world). So frustrated Japanese people turn their hidden (subconscious) sentiment of superiority to something else. That's when we see the media accusing foreigners of the rise in crimes (few people question that it could be due to 15 years of economic slowdown). Instead of fairly reporting all crime cases, the news agencies concentrate on "foreign crime" and insinuate that all the problems of Japan are caused by the increased foreign population. And people like Shintaro Ishihara get elected and re-elected in Tokyo (the most cosmopolitan and "liberal" city in Japan - so I wonder how that is in the conservative countryside !). Do you mean that there is not even one other trustworthy politician in all Tokyo to elect instead of a self-proclaimed racist ? With the things he said and wrote in his book (the "Nanjing massacre never happened", etc.), he would have been banned from being governor in most European countries. (for instance, Jorg Hayder party in Austria, the Vlaams Blok in Belgium, etc. were forbidden to form any ruling party).

I have witnessed myself how the police stops any foreigner in the street for no reason just because "a gaijin is always suspect". I am not the only one to feel so. Just check Arudo Debito's website. I have also seen sign "foreigners and dogs not allowed", and experience being refused accommodation by landowners who had never seen me just because I had a foreign name. These kind of things happen everyday in Japan. So no matter how many times you tell me that Japanese do not feel superior (eg. morally, being better behaved, less "risky", etc.) or are not even a bit racist, I won't believe you from my personal experiences.

I think that most Japanese do not realise that they are being indoctrinated since their birth by the government via the media and schools, but they are, otherwise they wouldn't hold such homogenous prejudices against foreigners, foreign countries or even foreign languages (see my new addition "Chinese is similar to English" in the original article).

Yes, Many Japanese believe that Western teachers at those schools are native English speakers because those schools are for learning "English". And There are probably many Japanse who can't tell the difference and believe that the teaters are native, but There are also many Japanese who can tell the difference and rather feel disappointed on the lessons.
But native speakers are not always the best teachers. Many lack qualifications to teach or have a personality that is not made for teaching. But a non-native speakers who has become as fluent as a native knows how to learn that language, and can usually teach it better than natives. The problem is that not all of them speak decent English, even (or especially?) in school like NOVA.

I really don't know why you want to distinguish people like Japanese, American or European that much. I've learned by visiting other countries that after all, no matter what color you are, people are basically all the same.
I have a very international experience, having lived in 7 countries and visited over 30 more. However I disagree with you. All humans may be the same in average, notwithstanding interpersonal differences even inside the same family (different character, interests, intelligence...). But it is very possible to compare whole countries, based on their culture (mentality) and education system. This last one is what distinguises so much Japan, Europe and the US. Eventhough there are many very different cultures inside Europe, the education system in each country is more similar than with any non-European country, which is what unites Europeans.

My complaints are not about Japanese people as human beings, but about the education system (school + home). It makes the Japanese ignorant of the rest of the world, and ignorance creates racism (police, discrimination about accommodation, etc.) or other problems (insulting comments about using chopsticks, etc.). I hope you understand.