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

[Maciamo]

I agree that japanese in general are very interested in good food. However, I do not think that this makes them superficial.

The French and Belgian are also very interested in good food, but it isn't the main topic of conversation, even at the restaurant !

Most people in the west eats crap food even though they could afford to eat much better food.

What is the West for you ? North America and Scandinavia ? Have you been to a country called France and another called Italy ? Hint : that's in Europe, a bit more south than Danmark.
Btw, food in Japan is much cheaper than in Europe. You can have bento, a tendon or Chinese food for 3 or 4 euro, and a set of 12 sushi for take-away cost only about 5 euro.

This lack of sense of taste and quality can hardly be taken as a proof that people in the west should be any less superficial than the japanese.

No it only proves your ignorance about Western cuisine.

The socially accepted outlets for so-called intellectualism, solitary reading of books and newspaper publication sales are near the highest in the world.

If only what they were reading was intellectual. I repeat myself but you won't find any intellectual magazines in a Japanese convenience store, just manga, porn, manga with porn, tabloids with porn and fashion magazines.

If what they read was so "intellectual", how comes they would remain so ignorant of things of the world, so ignorant even of their own history ? This shows how casual an activity reading is in Japan. It's not because Japanese students spend more time studying during and after school than almost anybody else in the world that they learn more. In fact if they didn't go to school at all, and didn't read any books as adults, it wouldn't change much. I often feel they have no memory, or no sensitivity to understand what they are reading. I have been a teacher and I was in a good position to know about their memory.

[Ma Cherie]

Goodness Maciamo, sometimes I think you over analyize things too much.

I guess it comes down to what each of us defines as "intellectual."

[ArmandV]

Goodness Maciamo, sometimes I think you over analyize things too much.
I guess it comes down to what each of us defines as "intellectual."

"Ask him the time and he'll give you the history of watchmaking."

[Elizabeth]

The French and Belgian are also very interested in good food, but it isn't the main topic of conversation, even at the restaurant !

And what about chefs and other world renouned cuisine experts ? Are they the most superficial of all for not spouting their views on politics and literature in every public statement ? This is such a load of illogical baloney it isn't even worth the two minutes it took me to respond this time.

[Han Chan]

The French and Belgian are also very interested in good food, but it isn't the main topic of conversation, even at the restaurant !
What is the West for you ? North America and Scandinavia ? Have you been to a country called France and another called Italy ? Hint : that's in Europe, a bit more south than Danmark.
Btw, food in Japan is much cheaper than in Europe. You can have bento, a tendon or Chinese food for 3 or 4 euro, and a set of 12 sushi for take-away cost only about 5 euro.
No it only proves your ignorance about Western cuisine.

I do appreciate that many countries in the west have very nice cuisines. I have been dining in most european and north american countries and because I try to avoid junk food I have had many nice experiences. My point is that even though the consumers there easily could choose nice food they often eat very low quality food.

I do not have low regard for western cuisine rather I find that the consumers in general could learn something from the more choosy japanese.

Though you like to call me (and anyone else who have slightly different points of view from you) ignorant, I do not have any problems praising belgian cuisine - actually one of my favorite restaurants is Chez Leon in Bruxelles (they serve nice oysters and mussels!). May I say: Oishi - without beeing blamed for beeing superficial?

[Maciamo]

I do appreciate that many countries in the west have very nice cuisines. I have been dining in most european and north american countries and because I try to avoid junk food I have had many nice experiences. My point is that even though the consumers there easily could choose nice food they often eat very low quality food.

But wouldn't everyday Japanese food qualify as "fast-food" ? When you look at what working people are eating for lunch, it is things like bento, donburi (katsudon, gyuudon, tendon...), ramen or things like that. I don't think that the omnipresent convenience store food or fast-food chains like Hokka Hokka Tei, Origin Bento, Matsuya, Yoshinoya or Tenya or even are so much healthier than common fastfood eaten in Europe like Italian or Chinese food. Did you know that there were more McDonalds per capita in Japan than in any European country (4.5x more than in Belgium). Let us not forget all the American-style Japanese fastfood chains like Mos Burger, Freshburger, etc., and all the other real American fastfood like KFC, Jonathan's, Denny's. I have never seen these American "family restaurants" (Jonathan's, Denny's) in Europe.
Frankly, do you think that all this is healthier than French or Italian food, or the new European fastfood like Pret-a-Manger from the UK, or Exki from Belgium ?

Though you like to call me (and anyone else who have slightly different points of view from you) ignorant, I do not have any problems praising belgian cuisine - actually one of my favorite restaurants is Chez Leon in Bruxelles (they serve nive oysters and mussels!).

Chez Leon is the closest type of Belgian restaurant which I would call "fastfood" (at least tourist food). Next time try Comme Chez Soi, Bruneau, Villa Lorraine or the like. This is real food.

May I say: Oishi - without beeing blamed for beeing superficial?

As long as you don't pronounce that word more than 20x in a single day...