garote: (castlevania 3 sunset)
[personal profile] garote
There is a fringe movement in modern culture, born mostly of the internet, that decries the use of aesthetics of non-European cultures as "appropriation", characterizing it as a sort of theft, or even racism. The idea is that usage of these in art is a lazy way to imply that something is alien, and therefore reinforces the idea that the people who generated the original art are alien, which in turn encourages racist thought. For example, if we use a Japanese warlord's palace as an exotic locale in our adventure movie, and have our characters react to it that way, then the audience will see the people living in and around the palace as exotic as well, and mentally separate them from "normal" people, and then project that sense of abnormal onto modern Japan.

This movement has a strange hole in the center of it, revealed by asking: Why is the depiction of a Japanese warlord's palace considered a potential theft and reinforcement of racism, while an ancient French castle is not?

They are medieval France's most lasting legacy in popular culture. They've been rampant in English books, films, and now computer games, for centuries. They're a shorthand for pageantry, countryside, dangerous physical situations, and hearty food. Also of ghosts, magic, warlords, and ruin.

The medieval castle is not seen as normal. It is, without a doubt, exotic. I personally didn't set foot in an actual castle until I was 47 years old and traveled across an ocean, and even then it was just for an afternoon among a crowd of other fascinated tourists. There are no medieval castles in my home country, and there never were any. Yet I don't remember a time when I didn't know what one was, or find the idea exotic, all the way down through my childhood.

If the palace and the castle are both exotic, why the double standard?

Because "appropriation" and "theft" are defined from a Euro-centric point of view. That is, if it came from Europe, it isn't stolen, but if it came from somewhere else, it can be and probably is. This obviously hinges on the identity of the artist, who is assumed to be of European descent, which is kind of a retrograde assumption in an internationally connected world: To "protect" non-European culture, do we need to ignore the existence of non-European artists operating in the English-speaking world, in order to police what can and can't be ethically used as inspiration for art? Or do we need to establish some kind of vetting system to determine if a given artist is ethnically related to their material? That's a bit suspicious.

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese filmmaker, but his work is quite popular in the United States and Europe. When he depicts a French castle on rolling green hills in the paintings around a child's nursery in Spirited Away, it's clearly intended as exotic and fanciful, and perhaps to the initial Japanese audience it is even more exotic than it is to Americans or Europeans. Is this "appropriation" because he's a Japanese artist depicting French castles in Japanese art? Well, maybe. Does the same depiction undergo a change of status, when the same film is shown in France? Does it reinforce, or rely on, the idea that Japanese people find French people exotic and weird? Because of this, is Miyazaki a progressive force, or is he trading in alienating stereotypes?

When answers are hard to find, it could be that the question itself or the assumptions beneath it don't make sense. We can't anchor art to a Euro-centric viewpoint. It doesn't make sense to take a navigational compass, stick one end at that point, and use it to draw a circle around what isn't "theft" and then condemn anyone who reaches outside the circle as a cultural appropriator, if they use myths and history and architecture from a land outside of Western Europe.

The only sane way to approach this is by looking at the intentions behind the idea, which is to avoid harm and alienation. We should look at the details of a given "appropriation" and decide whether it's a positive depiction or a negative one. Is the depiction of a medieval castle implying that the people inside, or their descendants, are bad people? If so, then there is an obvious complaint to raise against its continued use. This recasts cultural appropriation as a subset of negative depiction in general, applying a sort of "know it when you see it" yardstick. That's not very objective, but I suspect it's the best one can do.

And perhaps there are people in France who are sick of tourists wandering through looking at castles and smiling; as if that's all France has to offer, as if the France of 500 years ago is more interesting than the France of today. Or, contrariwise, maybe they enjoy the economic boost of the tourism and embrace the chance to talk about their history to an otherwise unavailable audience. I reckon it's a bit of both.

I leave you with an interesting observation to consider, while you're thinking about representation and appropriation: In 40+ years of Japanese animation, including many extremely popular internationally-recognized works, have you noticed that the more of a villain or troublemaker a character is, the more ethnically European they tend to look?

I'm neither worried or bothered by this, I just find it interesting. Perhaps Japanese society has been so oppressive that antisocial behavior is just more believable when it's coming from a character that does not look Japanese.
airiefairie: (Default)
[personal profile] airiefairie
FIFA World Cup topic again. Sorry. But this isn't so much about the game itself, as it is about the Japanese culture.

Not only was the Japanese team impressive against Germany, but their fans really made my day after the game. See for yourselves:

Now, supporters of the Samurai Blue are earning praise in Qatar for an off-pitch tradition that appears to be uniquely Japanese: Cleaning up stadiums after other football fans have left.



Hats down to the Japanese for being so awesome!
abomvubuso: (Groovy Kol)
[personal profile] abomvubuso
Japan is a cute, colourful, anime and manga-inspired wonderland. Obviously. If we're to take BBC's Olympics trailer seriously (which of course we probably shouldn't):



Tokyo Olympics branding adds to stereotypical view of Japan — but that doesn’t make it appropriation"The portrayal of Japan in this trailer raises questions about how Japan is viewed by outsiders and insiders, and what cultural or economic purposes such images serve."

I don't know if the British representation of Japan is a distorted, cliched, stereotypical view of Japan broken through the twisted prism of Western-centric worldview of "orientalism" - I'm aware that two weeks spent in Japan don't make me a Japan expert. The portrayal of Japan in this trailer sure raises questions about how Japan is viewed by outsiders and insiders, and what cultural or economic purposes such images serve. But there's another, bigger problem underlying these Olympics (save for the empty stands on the stadiums which create a somewhat eery feeling about the whole event).
Read more... )
airiefairie: (Default)
[personal profile] airiefairie
"A politician could make mistakes if he is not in optimum health. Since I can no longer meet the expectations of my fellow Japanese, I have decided that I can no longer remain on this position", Shinzo Abe announced while issuing his resignation.

Now the ruling party in Japan, the Liberal Democrats will hold internal elections for a new chairman who will then become prime-minister. Following that, the parliament will have to confirm him or her.

The most important thing in politics is the results, Abe argues. Typical Japanese mindset indeed. For almost 8 years he has been giving his best, but now he is being forced to step down due to bad health, an old ailment he has had for years, ulcerative colitis.

Read more... )
fridi: (Default)
[personal profile] fridi
Japanese map from 1932, showing what were the national stereotypes at the time.
Source: http://ow.ly/Vgec30nJcQB
Hi-Res: http://ow.ly/rVku30nJcQV



airiefairie: (Default)
[personal profile] airiefairie
IWC withdrawal: Japan to resume commercial whaling in 2019

"Japan has announced its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) next year, and will resume commercial hunting in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone from July. It will also cease whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean, according to an official statement released Wednesday, and hunt species with so-called "healthy" population numbers. "In its long history, Japan has used whales not only as a source of protein but also for a variety of other purposes," the statement said. "Engagement in whaling has been supporting local communities, and thereby developed the life and culture of using whales." The move to resume commercial whaling has sparked outrage among conservation groups".

There are two other countries that refuse to follow the IWC guidance, Norway and my country Iceland. Which is shameful and disgraceful. No protests that I have been to, seem to have had any effect in this respect. Icelanders just love their whale meat and that's it!

As for Japan... )
abomvubuso: (Groovy Kol)
[personal profile] abomvubuso
Stability has prevailed in Japan, most analysts say after the latest election. The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democrats and the Komeito bloc have won 312 out of 465 seats in the lower chamber of the Japanese parliament, and though they've lost a few seats, they've retained their 2/3 majority, which gives them an opportunity to change the Constitution. The official reason that Shinzo Abe called the snap election was his desire to get a public mandate that he could benefit from in order to use the revenue from the raised sales taxes - not for paying off some of the public debt, but to raise social payments and investment in education.

Informally, however, the reason that Abe sought re-election was because of the catastrophic levels of public support for his cabinet. Earlier this year he was accused of cronyism because of a purported pressure on the ministry of health on behalf of the interests of his close friend Kotaro Kake who wanted to launch a veterinarian school. There were also a number of scandals and gaffes in his party, which led it to a historic loss of seats in the key local parliament of Tokyo.

Read more... )
[identity profile] mahnmut.livejournal.com
Last month the lower chamber of the Diet, the Japanese parliament, became a scene of big drama. Opposition politicians were holding protest signs and chanting, "No to war!" At the square outside, tens of thousands were screaming for Abe's resignation, and "Stop the fascists!" Seeing these sort of reactions, an outside observer could've thought that Shinzo Abe had decided to walk the steps of Gen. Tojo, the war-time leader of Japan, and was embarking on an imperialist invasion across East Asia. In fact the protest was against something not so dramatic: Abe and his ruling Liberal Democrats (which are actually the conservative party in Japan) were trying to pass a series of bills that'd remove part of the restrictions to the Japanese defense forces, and allow them to be deployed abroad in help of allied countries.

While that's considered a routine obligation almost anywhere else in the world, in Japan things look a bit differently. With the adoption of the current Constitution imposed by the US after the defeat of the Japanese Empire in WW2, Japan completely renounced the use of force as a way of achieving its international goals. But what's really worrying the Japanese public and the opposition is not just the fact that the country is about to say goodbye to pacifism, but mostly Abe's readiness to achieve his goals at any cost, even if he has to bypass the Constitution in the process.

The new security policy is being met with hostility not just within Japan. The Chinese Xinhua news agency has called the bill "a nightmare scenario" , and then published an article warning that the "historically bloodied samurai sword could again be wielded in every corner of the world". South Korea, which is still quarreling with Japan over a small archipelago, definitely still remembers the cruelty of the colonial Japanese rule from the early to mid 20th century, and it's got a lot of objections as well. Japan's initiative is coming at a time when tensions in the region are rising - China is building the Great Wall of Sand in territories contested by the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea, and the US still hasn't abandoned its Pivot to Asia agenda. In the complex knot of Asian politics, the Japanese decision could potentially be a game-changer.

70 years of peace are enough, eh? )
[identity profile] nairiporter.livejournal.com
During her recent visit in Tokyo, German chancellor Angela Merkel urged Japan to seek reconciliation with its neighbours, and said that as soon as Germany showed a readiness to admit its WW2 guilt, France extended a hand of peace. After her meeting with Japanese prime minister Abe, Merkel said that coming to terms with the past is a necessary prerequisite for peace in the future, although she cautioned that her words shouldn't be interpreted as an attempt to pontificate. Notably, upon hearing this, her host's facial expression remained stone-cold:


Just a few hours after Merkel left Tokyo, the Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida said that it had been inappropriate to make comparisons between Germany's war past and Japan. The fate of the two countries in WW2 was rather different, he argued. He probably had in mind the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the devastating American bombings of a number of Japanese cities (many cities in Germany were also almost leveled to the ground, by the way). He also said the two countries have very different neighbours, but came short of mentioning names like China and North Korea.

Read more... )
[identity profile] abomvubuso.livejournal.com
120 years ago, Japan split away from the rest of Asia and sided with the Western "great powers", adopting the ideology of imperialism in the process. August 1, 1894 was the day when Japan declared war on China and pushed the Chinese army out of Korea. A few years later, Japan defeated Russia as well, and became the first Asian state to ever defeat a Western power (Russia was considered "western" back then, at least from an Asian POV). Later on, despite its utter defeat in WW2, Japan still remained in the Western camp, thanks to its security pact with the US. Under the nuclear and military protection of the world's greatest power, the resource-deprived country quickly rose to the status of 2nd largest economy in the world (a position that it has now relinquished). Now China's military and economic ascent is forcing Japan to choose between Asia and the West once more.

The prime minister Shinzo Abe (remember the "Abe-nomics"?) is well aware that Japan will have to face China eventually, and get closer to the US. America is the only player in the world capable of challenging the Chinese in their own backyard, which is why Abe's government has departed from the strictly pacifist Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, and that, on the very 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Japanese military forces. So far the Japanese army only had the right to act in case of direct attack on their territory. From now on, they'll be able to conduct military actions alongside other nations, whenever the Japanese interests are threatened. Last month the minister of defense Itsunori Onodera explained in DC what was behind these changes in the Japanese policies, stating that it's natural that a great power like Japan would want to expand its commitments in the defense sphere, and assert a more significant role in the defense of East Asia. The choice of words is quite notable here. So far Japan used to be considered mainly an economic power, but not a "great" power. Of course, Abe's government tried some damage control afterwards, downplaying the significance of the word "great". But the words had already slipped away, and were definitely heard loud and clear across the East China Sea.


Re-thinking the geopolitical architecture of East Asia )
[identity profile] luvdovz.livejournal.com
If you thought you knew everything about Japanese weirdness, prepare to be surprised yet again! Behold: Babymetal, a J-pop-metal-idol-WTF group of badass doll-like screaming J-teens!

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Here's a sense of the repercussion in the social networks:

"Dying from the pure sick genius weirdness" -- a tweet from rock band Garbage
"Ok seriously...this video will change your life.... Or your pants...or just be all you think about for the next 20min." -- a tween from Lzzy Hale from hard rock band Halestorm
"They are one of the many great exports from Japan!", a FB entry from Marty Friedman, ex guitarist of metal band Megadeth.
[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/forests-around-chernobyl-arent-decaying-properly-180950075/?no-ist

In Chernobyl, the forests are full of dead trees that aren't really decaying at anything like a normal rate. While Chernobyl is one of the few parts of Europe where wildlife has made something of a resurgence as opposed to being driven into the shadows, this process points to a side effect of a mass nuclear saturation of soil that is actually quite troubling, especially given the potential impact of the Fukushima disaster. Specifically, radiation that kills the kind of lifeforms that aren't cute enough to get mass campaigns to save their existence, specifically microbes, insects, and other things that decompose and eat dead things to ensure that dead things rot and don't just stand there as monuments to fallen life.

This may seem self-evident, but an ecosystem is an interlocking set of lifeforms where every single lifeform has a place. Something that disrupts even the relatively invisible, taken for granted side of this ecosystem is not going to necessarily lead to expected results. That radiation has the ability to damage this level of the ecosystem indicates some long-term effects of Fukushima to watch out for down the line. On the other hand, it also leads to some pretty fascinating, if disturbing, pictures.
[identity profile] luzribeiro.livejournal.com
...At least as far as Europe is concerned.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578484711384991702.html

Seems like Japan has enjoyed a 1% growth for the first quarter of 2013. The nice-sounding result is mostly thanks to a combination of aggressive fiscal policies plus massive government expenses, something called "Abenomics" (after Shindzo Abe). And this of course is causing some awe and applause in the Eurozone. Because even the most stable European economy, Germany, only has a 0.1% growth for the same period. While everyone else is stagnated.

So why not apply the Japanese experience to Europe, and do someting like an "Euronomics" policy? Well, the main reason is the different way these two economic spaces are organized. First of all, the Eurozone consists of 17 member states, and every time one of them faces some problems, this threatens the entire structure. While the Yen, being a currency of a single country, is not necessarily subject to such hazards. In other words, Japan could afford to pump up its public debt for short-term goals, and to have enough money at its disposal for playing with its financial infrastructure at short- to mid-term scales. Thus, the government's main debt is mostly owed to its own citizens. This removes some external factors that might be out of the government's grasp. And brings some other risks.

Read more )

O.o:

13/5/13 21:29
[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22519384

So this nationalist Japanese politician argued that comfort women were a necessity. O.o

In his latest controversial comments, quoted by Japanese media, he said: "In the circumstances in which bullets are flying like rain and wind, the soldiers are running around at the risk of losing their lives,"

"If you want them to have a rest in such a situation, a comfort women system is necessary. Anyone can understand that."

I know that misogyny is a thing, but this? NO. I find it frankly appalling that anyone in a modern society would even voice sentiments like this. Then again this dimwit said Japan needed a dictatorship, too. >.< I'm surprised about two things: one, he admitted that Japan was an aggressor state, and two, that he admitted this was not consensual on the part of the women involved. Usually these are the assclowns who act like the loud, ultra-patriotic denialist. I'm also surprised that this kind of sentiment would be openly expressed at all. Then again Japan is even worse about its atrocities of the past than most states, which at least say 'Shame on you' to people who deny them when they don't actively do anything.

[identity profile] a-new-machine.livejournal.com
So, yesterday Japan returned the Liberal Democrat Party to power. The newly-elected prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was not terribly effusive about his party's victory.

"Our victory this time does not mean trust in the Liberal Democratic Party has been completely restored," he told a news conference on Monday.

"Rather, it was a decision by the public that they should put an end to the political stagnation and confusion over the past three years, caused by the Democratic Party's misguided political leadership."
[Source]

Remarkable -- a politician who doesn't immediately claim an overwhelming mandate, who recognizes his party's weaknesses. Maybe it's a cultural thing.

The thing is, he is right. )
[identity profile] abomvubuso.livejournal.com
The game of water pistols is simple: the bigger your weapon the better, and the more people are playing, the merrier. And no one remains dry in the end.

Well, the Game of Sea Rocks in East Asia is played roughly along the same principles, save for the fun part. See for yourselves:

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Last month a few dozen Japanese and Taiwanese sea vessels arranged a nice battle with water cannons between themselves. The Taiwanese wanted to pin their flag on a piece of rock amidst the ocean, and the Japanese did their best to stop them. The memorable event (which ended with a crushing defeat for the Taiwanese fleet) was one among many episodes of the recently inflamed row involving Taiwan, China and Japan over a few small islets (or rather, big rocks) which the three sides prefer to call islands. The hysteria has been growing ever since.

Things are about to assume serious proportions )
[identity profile] dv8nation.livejournal.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19609945

Angry protesters have staged sometimes violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in cities across China, amid escalating tensions over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

In Beijing, protesters threw stones and bottles and tried to breach a barricade manned by riot police.

There were reports of protests in at least 11 other cities.


I think the BBC is downplaying just how bad the situation is. Japanese sources (unsurprisingly) have been more willing to show Chinese mobs going on looting sprees. Such as here: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/news/20120915-OYT1T00813.htm  Though to be fair looting department stores seems more like the Chinese taking cues from the British of a few years ago by taking political protests as a chance to smash and steal things.

On the other hand, setting Japanese factories on fire and attacking Japanese people on the street seems to be just good old fashioned nationalistic hate. Of course it's worth nothing that the Chinese government is being remarkably slow to roll out the tanks. And some cynical souls have even suggested they're not doing that to give the public someone to vent their anger on besides the government in the face of upcoming elections. Elections where I'm sure China's dispute with Japan won't be mentioned at all.

So there you go, folks. The Chinese government is happy to stand by and let people riot and loot in the streets just to make an election easier. And you thought attack ads were bad.

[identity profile] allhatnocattle.livejournal.com
"In part by forbidding almost all forms of firearm ownership, Japan has as few as two gun-related homicides a year."

My opinion is that Japan has gone too far by eliminating firearm ownership. But you can't ignore the resulting impact it's had. It appears there is no correlation of gun ownership to population. To compare, take for example Switzerland, which requires firearm ownership which makes it (one of) the highest gun ownership rate in the world. Police statistics for the year 2006 records 34 killings or attempted killings involving firearms in a population of almost 8,000,000.

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