PG-rated : 40 reasons to think that the Japanese are superficial

[Maciamo]

Even if I wanted to agree on some of your points, I can't. Why? Because every topic you make is some negative generelization about Japan and more specifically Japanese people. I don't understand why you'd want to be in a place that you complain so much about. It doesn't make sense.

See my reply to Leroy above (funny that my reply to you both should be the same, as Leroy means "the king" in French and "King of Tokyo" lives in Canada, no far from the French speaking part ). I think you should read this thread : Can you separate reason and emotions in your mind ?

Why would I be criticising the economical and political system if it was not to change it and improve ? (because continuing like this, Japan is doomed in the long run). Otherwise, when talking about most of the Japanese culture (history, Shinto, Buddhism, traditions, festivals, kimono, food, fireworks, sightseeing, etc.) I not only have positive views, but did more than 99.9% of any other foreigners interseted in Japan to promote this culture via the practical, culture and glossary sections of this website.

Note that my rant about Japanese people only concerns 2 things : education and discrimination. In my views, the discriminatory practices come from ignorance or misinformation fed to the population via the education system and media. If I may put it this way, the two "evils" that spoil the spiriut of the Japanese people are the education sytem and the media, both of which are closely monitored by the government. So the source of all evils, be them economical, social or educational is always ultimately the Japanese government.

As they (the government) don't seem to realise it, and the people don't not do much to change things (because they are just too passive and compliant due to the education system), someone needs to take care of letting the world know the truth about Japan, and hopefully, when enough people around the world will have become aware of the situation, there might be some pressure from outside to change things, as in Japan history has shown that things just do not change (even for centuries on end) if there isn't some kind of external pressure (be in Perry for the Meiji Restoration, or MacArthur after WWII).

Why do I spend some much time and energy to improve the situation in a country that is not mine and which I could leave anytime I want ? Reading your answer (or Leroy's), somebody like you will probably never understand. It's called passion and (cynical) idealism. Living in Japan with my Japanese partner, these two characteritics of my personality force me to react to everyday situations, reflect about the causes of the problems I come across, analyse how the society in which I live works, and find solutions to improve ir. I have lived in several European countries, and did the same as for Japan.

As a matter of fact, before coming to Japan I wrote hundreds of pages about things that had to be changed about European politics, economy or educational system. I submitted the relevant dosuments to a few leading politicians or university professors. But there was IMHO much less to complain about in Europe than in Japan, as most of the issues were already common knowlege, and the solutions were already being tackled by the various governments and the EU. Looking at how much progress has been achieved in the EU in the last 10 or 20 years, I can only applaud. But looking at the same period of time in Japan, all I see is that the situation has mostly deteriorated, except for a few minor, but notable positive changes, such as the increasingly better position of women in society or a few measures to revive the economy.

Anyway, the keyword to understand my posts is the Latin/French/Italian saying "Who loves well chastises well".