Living and Dying in Tokyo

Now that would be Utopia.

That would be Nirvana.

In some ways, Japan is like the United States before the 1960s. The 1960s and 1970s, combined with the suburbanization after WW2, damaged the social glue that held the country together and that made people care about what their neighbors thought about them (though there are still many parts of "flyover country" where the social glue lives on). The Japanese still have that social glue, though I wonder how long it can last.

A hybrid of many of the excellent things of Tokyo (and Japan) which one misses when gone from there after a long residence, along with the many excellent things of the United States.

Now that would be Utopia.

That would be Nirvana.

Indeed, it would. Wholly agreed.

Why is there so much child porn in japan...

Don't know if that sort of thing is really analyzable, but where I lived there was an elementary school and a Mom-and-Pop store about two blocks away. It had two vending machines out front - porn and beer. I swear I am not making that up. The beer machine also had little bottles of whiskey.

Now, the thing is that very few children used these things - it simply wasn't done. But there, any adult can yell at any kid without the parents going ballistic, unlike here. Those machines would last about one night in the States.

I will say, though, with respect to "schoolgirl" porn, it's a common "forbidden fruit" fantasy that isn't restricted to the Japanese, and one additional thing that lends toward it there is that while publication of pictures of genitalia isn't illegal, publication of pictures containing pubic hair is. Weird law, very old.

Some of the adult comic books - the manga - are downright vile, enough to shock even this jaded old ex-sailor. Perhaps it's a form of sublimation. That sort of stuff doesn't seem to actually happen in real life any more often there than here.

You are an idiot. You argue that Americans should be embrace Japanese culture, and then you criticize the diversity of cultures in America. Wouldn't an acceptance of Japanese culture in America be a form of multiculturalism. You want to restore a Western-based culture. Will all of us becoming Japanese accomplish that. There never has been an American culture. In colonial times there were Spanish, English, Indians, Germans, Dutch, Irish, Scotish, French, Italians, Portugese, and so forth. You are ignorant. Your article is a piece of crap. Go back to Japan for another week and come up with some more generalizations. By the way Western Civilization is taught in every major university in the country. It may change names from place to place, but it is taught. Americans don't take the initiative to advance themselves? I guess that is why we are the wealthiest country on earth.

America would be great if we all walked around in komotos, and ate sushi every day. We could all die our hair black. We could also slaughter 50 million people in a colonialist expansion, which includes experimentation on human beings (who by the way aren't human because they aren't Japanese). we could also have a policy of enforced prostitution on the women of other countries like the Japanese did to Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, Phillipine, and even American women during WWII. Was the Rape of Nanking enlightenmnet.? Was the Battan Death March enlightenment? Is a racist, isolated culture enlightened? Move to japan since you hate America so much. You aren't a conservative. You should go vote for John Kerry. He also thinks America is inferior to the rest of the world.

Read all my posts, and read the author's responses to my posts. I was demonstrating to author what happens when one makes an absurd blanket comment like "Japanese culture is superior." My point is not to imply that we should hold grudges against Japan because of past atrocities. My point was that this serine closed society he described has a very dark past that is anything but peaceful. The author seems to be implying that Americans should become an authoritarian, closed society, that is static and unchanging. I love the fact that America is a vibrant changing society that is always evolving. He speaks of restoring an American culture. There has never been an American culture. We are a collection of many cultures. If America ever froze in time we would cease to be America. We can learn from the past, but we can't live in the past. I think he would find North Korea or Cuba even more inspiring considering he seems to admire a lack of choice and lack of diversity. If you read the author's post you will notice that he changes positions more often than John Kerry. He complains about American multiculturalism, but suggests that Japanese society is a role model that America should base itself on. Am I the only one who finds this position as incoherent as Kerry Iraq policy. The fact remains that Japan is a closed society regardless of the international commerce that takes place within its borders, and they could probably learn alot from America, which they have. And, they have molded their modern society on both their history, and on America.

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