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View Poll Results: Is Japan a Western country (please read the thread before)

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  • Yes

    35 9.80%
  • Maybe, depends how you see it

    123 34.45%
  • No

    186 52.10%
  • Don't know

    13 3.64%
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Thread: Is Japan a Western country ?

  1. #201
    Banned osias's Avatar
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    This is a strange question considering the fact Maciamo always refers to himself as a westerner in contrast to the Japanese.

  2. #202
    Regular Member Wang's Avatar
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    Japan is not a western country. Only on the surface does it look kind of western, but not if you dig deeper.

    I find it funny and sad that this old topic is still going on although one of the reasons for that is that many new people on this forum repeat the same questions over and over about Japan probably.
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  3. #203
    Heimin
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    What does ''western'' mean?

    I know that Japan is more advanced in several fields than other countries. In some things Japan is like the US, but also more 'unique' and traditional in other fields.

    Problem is that people refer to white people as westerners, while black people are as American as their white fellows.

    Japan is certainly no 'white-people's'-country.

    I was thinking how Japan might have contributed more to modern society than some other countries outside of Asia or what people call ''western'' countries. Like how they shaped youth's free-time with their game-consoles, games.
    And in one period little kids with Pokemon. But a friend of mine who is working in the fashion-field spoke about how Japanese designers made big innovations, contributions to modern clothing, with their special cut's and such.

  4. #204
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Minty
    Hmmm from what I Know there are certain amounts of people who donft see Italian as westerners because they are not gwhiteh enough, due to Ottoman Empire invasion.
    Ottomans invading Itay ? Not white enough ? Maybe Sicilians, but many northern Italian are undistinguishable from French people. Some even have blond hair and blue eyes (esp. in the North-East).

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  5. #205
    Banned ricecake's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by samuraitora
    Japan is NOT a western nation, or at least that is my opinion. I have to agree with what Thomas said about them being "industrialized" not western. They don't have the same beleifs that we do. That is the main factor that seperates them.
    Well said .... Japan indeed is AN ORIENTAL COUNTRY.

    I would loosely say,Japanese suppress their " eastern-ness " in order to win approval from THE WEST.

  6. #206
    Regular Member godppgo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ricecake
    Well said .... Japan indeed is AN ORIENTAL COUNTRY.
    I would loosely say,Japanese suppress their " eastern-ness " in order to win approval from THE WEST.
    I beg to differ, Japanese suppress their eastern-ness in order to avoid forced-westernization by the west.

  7. #207
    Seeing is believing Minty's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
    Ottomans invading Itay ? Not white enough ? Maybe Sicilians, but many northern Italian are undistinguishable from French people. Some even have blond hair and blue eyes (esp. in the North-East).
    Yeah I know, such nuisance isn't it, maybe it's because of advertising or stereotypes, the typical European descendant people that are shown in Asian media have green or grey eyes with light brown or blonde hairs.

    These kinds of comments would only come from people who never travelled or lived in the Western world.

    But in the olden days in Australia I think is because of white Australian policy.

    It is a fact Italians were called wogs, along with Persians, Lebanese and Syrians back then.

  8. #208
    Seeing is believing Minty's Avatar
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    I forgot to mention Greeks were also called wogs back then.

  9. #209
    Regular Member ex-gaijin's Avatar
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    I always say ther is Japan and the rest of the world. Japan is not a western country.
    1) Having signs and announcemnets in English doesn`t make it a western country.
    2) Shopping at Prada, Guggi, Armani doesn`t make a western country.
    3)Trying to emulate the western model in everything, from fashion to food, from houses to cars doesn`t make it a western country.

    Also, the Japanese mind-set is somewhat unintelligible, something completely different form any other people on earth.

    Money, industries, cars an skyscrapers do not necessarely mean western.

    The desease of modern Japan is its rapid westernization!

  10. #210
    Regular Member Sukotto's Avatar
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    Rather than East/West, another division, though less heard in the industrialized countries is North/South. (Well, less heard of in the US for sure.)

    North is the industrialized north, i.e. former colonial rulers,
    and South is the 'developing' ex-colonies.

    The Group of 7 industrialized countries known as G-7 (now the G-8) are of the North.
    The G-77 (now 132 members) to work together to promote their interests.

    The Wold Social Forum (which I know little of) might also address views of the G-77/South nations.


    Japan is definately of the North


    I cannot speak of how it is from other Northern countries,
    but from the US there has seemed to be a kind of unspoken assumption that
    countries of 'the south' or those without technology were some how un- or less civilized. Messed up, I know.
    Last edited by Sukotto; Jul 16, 2006 at 05:59. Reason: incorrectly stated G77 formed in response to G7
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  11. #211
    Regular Member Sukotto's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ex-gaijin
    Also, the Japanese mind-set is somewhat unintelligible,
    Um, I think you might want to rephrase this.

  12. #212
    Regular Member ex-gaijin's Avatar
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    yeah...English is not my first language, it`s my fourth!

    their mind-set is unitelligible..not easy to understand...

  13. #213
    Westernised Chinaman lu_bu1977's Avatar
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    Guess I will add my opinion as well... No, Japan is certainly not a Western country by any stretch of the imagination but a rather Westernised one.

    Some Western folks have made the mistake of thinking it as a Western country and have paid the price by realising their folly first hand when they enter its judicial system. What they would have gotten a slap on the wrist for back in their own countries, e.g. possession and usage of certain narcotics, they end up sitting (literally) in jail for many, many years in Japan. Yes, in spirit, Japan is as east-asian as it gets. The rights of the individual seem to take 2nd place to the good of the majority.

    An interesting read:
    http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignpris...son-japan.html


    ex-gaijin, maybe the word inscrutable would be a more appropriate term.

  14. #214
    Regular Member ex-gaijin's Avatar
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    thanks for clarifying...

  15. #215
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    japan is not western country at all .
    we never had a judge system like a witch hunt....
    anyway I still dont understand what difinition of western is...
    politics
    culture
    army
    ideology
    religion......
    ???

  16. #216
    Banned osias's Avatar
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    It's a westernized country, rather than a western country.

  17. #217
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    In a lot of ways, the term 'Western' or even 'Westernized' is a bit misleading, because they both make the focus kind of 'geographical'. Whereas really, when people think of 'a Western(ized) country', what they are seeing is a country with certain characteristics associated with countries that are in the West. E.g., industrialization, technology, Gucci... the list can go on. But really, the only thing that makes these things 'Western' is the fact that (geographically) Western countries got them first. Sukotto makes a good point, although referring to north-south issues, in that it's often the degree of 'development' that people think of when thinking of 'Western'-ness.

  18. #218
    Regular Member Sukotto's Avatar
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    Would 'westernization' mean the mass consumerism and commercialization that seems to plague the US and Japan?

    As far as I'm concerned, in the US at least,
    once something, say....music, becomes commercial it looses much of
    its culture, if it ever had any in the first place.

    Look at the US. So many different cultures.
    But you look at television and it looks nothing like any of them.
    Perhaps something has to be stripped of culture in order to become commercial? This is speaking from the US only.
    I'm not an anthropologist nor have I lived in Japan for any period of time.
    I could not answer the question.

  19. #219
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    when people think of 'a Western(ized) country'
    ,
    japan was not westernnized.
    Indeed Japan learnt new things from wenternnized country in meiji era.
    it means it is not westernized
    however basics or fundamentals was better than them even edo era like cvilization , industry, ideology art.....so on
    Today's sense of values in the world is subjected by the basis of value of the Western.
    Japan must fight in the same ring.
    that is why We are following it bacause of the experience of War.
    Last edited by caster51; Jul 18, 2006 at 16:07.

  20. #220
    Westernised Chinaman lu_bu1977's Avatar
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    Perhaps the most accepted meaning of the term "Westernized", is the degree of uptake of Western-produced technologies and Western (Anglo-saxon) cultural norms.

  21. #221
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    I think Japan is not westernized.

    However I can say japan is just modernized country.
    japan is still isolated
    that is why many of them want to westernnize japan even in this forum.
    and also china and korea want to easternize Japan ...
    japanese values and thire values are so different, too

  22. #222
    Banned ricecake's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by caster51

    I think Japan is not westernized.However I can say japan is just modernized country.

    japan is still isolated

    and also china and korea want to easternize Japan

    japanese values and thire values are so different, too
    Japan is " technically " westernized modern Oriental island nation.

    Japan is still isolated ?

    How can a traditionally Eastern Asian island nation like Japan be "
    easternized " by other East Asians ?

    Koreans and Japanese " appear culturally Chinese ",but has own respective culture.Japanese is based on shame culture/shame-driven,oppose to both Chinese and Koreans like the Europeans are based on " guilt-driven/consciousness " therefore we are closer to Westerners in this regard.
    Last edited by ricecake; Jul 19, 2006 at 07:07.

  23. #223
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    easternized means it is chinalized
    I think china is individualism country more than westerner even though they are ruled by ccp.

  24. #224
    Banned osias's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by caster51
    ,
    japan was not westernnized.
    Indeed Japan learnt new things from wenternnized country in meiji era.
    it means it is not westernized
    however basics or fundamentals was better than them even edo era like cvilization , industry, ideology art.....so on
    maybe you should define first what you mean by" westernization" and "modernization", and the difference between the two (if there is any).
    Today's sense of values in the world is subjected by the basis of value of the Western.
    Japan must fight in the same ring.
    that is why We are following it bacause of the experience of War.
    Quite right. It's like a japanese samurai fighting with a western swordsman. Only the western rules apply on the battlefield, which places the former somewhat at disadvantage, but he gradually learns to follow the western ways.
    Last edited by osias; Jul 19, 2006 at 04:29.

  25. #225
    Banned osias's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by caster51
    easternized means it is chinalized
    Never heard the word chinalize.
    Sinicization would be a more appropriate word.

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