“What do you think of Japan?
As a Japanese national, I can respond to this question as a Japanese person who’s lived in China. I’ve discovered that, in China, most people’s impression of Japan is still stuck in the WWII-era. They know next to nothing about modern day Japan. For example, a lot of Chinese people think that Japanese people still worship the Emperor, but in reality, very few modern Japanese people do that anymore.
At the same time, I feel like Chinese people are very patriotic, and that’s not the case in Japan at all. In war movies about Japan made in China, they portray the average soldier as being blindly loyal to the Emperor, passionately patriotic, but in modern day Japanese society, if someone publicly talked about how patriotic they were, they’d be seen as some sort of dangerous right-wing extremist and be isolated by people.
But in contract, I notice that a lot of Chinese people are even more passionate about Japanese culture than Japanese people. Your weebs and anti-CCP people love Japan more than the Japanese do. Maybe this has to do with the anti-Japanese propaganda America did after occupying Japan. American HQ completely denied all Japanese traditional culture, including the mythology system built around the Emperor, the Japanese language and Japanese literature, traditional Japanese martial arts, 1700 years of ancient Japanese history.
What we need to remember is that sure, Japan has done some truly terrible stuff in the Sino-Japanese war and other theatres around Asia. The cruelty inflicted by the Japanese military has formed a permanent scar on history. But Japan’s defeat in WWII has also damaged its own people, making them feel the los of their country, the loss of their confidence in themselves. Right now, Japan’s active right-wing party is precisely the result of this, a reaction to those feelings. Honestly, most normal Japanese people don’t hate Chinese people at all. They just don’t have much interest in China, and that’s caused by Japan’s lack of confidence in itself too.
I think Japan really needs to do something to restore its confidence and pride as a country. I think building friendly relations with China would be a great first step to those ends. The sins Japan committed in WWII makes it very difficult for Japanese people to face themselves. Some kind of reconciliation between Japan and China can help Japanese people rebuild their confidence in their country. I, Tanaka, aims to restore Chinese/Japanese relations to its historical, friendly state, like back in the Tang Dynasty, to make Chinese people forgive Japan, to reduce the negative emotions Chinese people face because of hatred, and to make both countries prosper as a result.”
Comments say, “Tanaka-san, how do Japanese people feel about Shintoism?” OP replies here, “People don’t go to temples except on New Years.”
“Bank Name: Gansu Bank, Mt. Jishi County branch. Account number: 61013000900002415. I hope you can use actions to prove your sincerity and not just your words.” [This is apparently where you can send money if you want to donate towards relief efforts in Gansu.]
“You’ve got everything wrong. Your POV is entirely from a place of what you want. Every point you’ve brought up has been from Japan’s point of view. You’re being too subjective. I understand that you love your country. But now I see what a normal, average Japanese person who knows a little bit about China is like from your comments, and I think that China’s foreign policy is exactly correct. We can work together with Japan extensively, but we’ll always be on our guard against them. And we’ll always educate our people to never forget history, and never forget that that danger is still out there.”
“A lot of girls are best friends with their own moms now. Having a girl is a blessing for a lifetime! I just watched a video where three older ladies were interviewed about where they travelled to this year and how much money they spent. The reporter asked them if they have enough retirement savings and what their family situation is like, and the three of them looked at each other and were like, “We all had daughters” hahahahaha!”
There’s a compilation of comments in response to this:
“I’ve gotta show off too. My daughter’s in 11th grade, and she still has endless things to talk to me about every day, to the point where I even think it’s annoying sometimes. When she gets home from school and goes to take a shower, she’ll demand I sit in the bathroom with her so she can keep chatting with me. If I don’t go in, she’ll keep yelling, “Mom! Mom!” after me. She’ll cook for me, she’ll stand up for me when we’re out and about, fight people on my behalf, and I feel like we really understand each other when we talk.”
“I’ve been taking my daughter out to restaurants since she was four. My husband never likes any of the food I like, but my daughter does. She loves getting caramel puddings, and I’ll get a matcha-flavoured one, and we’ll share with each other.”
“I’m best friends with my mom. Every time I have a day off, I’ll go shopping with my mom. If I see some fun place I want to go to, I’ll either go with my friends or my mom.”
“Same. Whenever we go travelling, my mom will contribute the money, and I’ll contribute time in making an itinerary. We always have a ton of fun. I’m almost 30, and we still go shopping together and talk to each other all the time.”
“Hahahaha, my mom get along with me so much. She spends even more money than me when we’re travelling. Like, well, we’re here. We might as well eat all the tasty food and look at all the beautiful scenery, because the whole point of travelling is to make yourself happy anyhow. What’s the point in coming out otherwise?”
“My best friend is my mom! She takes the best photos of me! I get insecure about my looks, and she always encourages me!”
“Same, my mom is 39, and I’m 18, but my mom looks super young and we hang out all the time like we’re peers. We’ve got the same height and shoe size, so we can wear each other’s clothes. Most people have no idea how old my mom is, and never guess that she has a daughter who’s an adult already.”
“When it comes to Dynastic women having second marriages, that’s never been banned officially, legally speaking. Even for elite women, not marrying again wasn’t a thing until the Ming Dynasty, and middle to under-class women marrying again and the rise of the national exam has led to all kinds of interesting discussions. Government officials get mourning time off. So if their mom married off again, and pass away, do they still get the same mourning period? Or do they follow what Confucius said, that a mother who marries away isn’t your mother anymore? Can a mother who married again get a noble title if their son does really well? Is their step-dad their elder or their enemy? Do they have to take care of their step-dads in old age? Although Zhu Yuanzhang [founding Emperor of Ming] simply categorised step-dads as the villain who is ravaging your mom, a lot of people didn’t agree with that point of view.
There’s a ton of interesting stuff going on in ancient marital law, I don’t get why all people care about is main branch versus side branch.”
Comments say, “There was an attempt in both Sui Dynasty and Liao Dynasty to ban upper-class women from marrying again, but they couldn’t really put a real stop to it, so they had to give up in the end.”
“Because Korea really cares about main branch versus side branch, and we’re copying them.”
“Because main branch versus side branch is really simple to understand.”
“From my understanding, back in the day, “mom” was nothing more than “dad’s wife”. It has nothing to do with whether or not she’s the woman who gave birth to you. That is, if your mom marries again, she stops being your dead dad’s wife, so she’s also not your mom anymore.”
“Why do Shanxi people take siestas so religiously? This is all because of the wholegrain scam.
Cool fact: as a southern person, if you come to Shanxi, you’ll find that veggies aren’t very popular here. Shanxi food all revolves around one theme: carbs on top of carbs with a side of carbs. From the first course to the last, it’s nothing but carbs. Even appetisers are all carbs. Just about the only main veggie you’ll see is green beans wrapped in bread.
What drove Louis Koo [actor] crazy was sliced potatoes stir-fried with noodles. Still nothing but carbs.
And the most annoying thing is, if you’re eating nothing but potatoes and noodles, your blood sugar will sky rocket. The only green thing in that dish is green onions. And in the end, Shanxi people get such high blood sugar that they are sleepy all the time and have to take regular naps.”
Comments say, “As a native Shanxi person, I approve of this post. We really do have nothing but carbs.”
“In Jincheng, people eat meatballs, noodles, and poached eggs for breakfast. But for Shanxi, people start with a bowl of carbs in the morning and eat nothing but carbs all three meals of the day. You really do spend the whole day feeling dizzy.”
“Honestly, as someone from Guangdong, I can’t imagine not having anything green all day. You’ve got to have at least a little bit of veggie soup, tribute veggies, and Mei cai.”
“I just wrote a post about eating sushi at Japan and getting a lot of remarks about how much we ate, and a lot of people down in the comments are like, “Not all of Japan is like that!” or “Never happened to me while I was in Japan.”
I talked about how Russia food is tasty, and a lot of people say I made it up, that it’s not good at all.
But this is all my personal experience travelling. I’m not some kind of sociology researcher, where I can grasp what a country is like in totality. All I can say is that when I went to Japan, the sushi chef we had remarked on how much we ate.
I just talk about what left a personal impression on me. I’m not trying to do objective societal research.
Plus, I think Russia food is great, and all my friends who went with me feel the same. Why would someone immediately say other people’s feelings are fake with such certainty?
I tried to respond politely at first, but then I was like, you know, this guy is such an asshole I’m just gonna block him.
I don’t get why people are flipping out so much just because I talked a bit about my own personal experiences.”
Comments say, “Japan has small serving sizes anyhow.”
“But Russia food really is amazing. When I was going to Heilongjiang University, the Russian drumstick meal in Building 2 of Section B was amazing!”
“Me: My grandma is super nice. Internet commenters: Bullshit! There are evil grandmas in the world!.”
A blogger writes, “Oh my god, what an amazing setting! Holy shit, this hits me right in my fetishes! Someone, please come right this!!!”
They attach a screenshot of a post from Writing Prompts: “As the strongest villain in the world, you weren’t too surprised when your fight with Chosen One hero caused a rip in space time. You accepted that you’ve ended up 20 years back in time very quickly, and immediately hurried to a certain spot you’d memorised with what minions had travelled here with you.
Based on your research, the deepest area of the underground fighting rings here is the Beastling Area. Very few people came here, just a dozen half-grown youth screaming and fighting for scraps of favour. In the corner, there was an emaciated child with a mouthful of blood, his teeth clamped around his companion’s neck.
“Boss! Is this you as a child?”
As the timed bomb blew up, you casually strolled out of there with the child in hand. After roughly bathing him, babyish and yet unmistakably familiar features were once again visible on the child’s face.
“Nah, I’m still stuck in some labs getting shot up with all kinds of shit right now. This is that asshole.” You sneered. “You’re done now that you’re in my hands.”
Then, you order your underlings, “Go, buy a dress, the pinkest and frilliest you can find.”
At the same time, in some underground laboratory, machinery smashed into little pieces are strewn over the floor. Sirens are blaring overhead. The Chosen One strolls through the ruins to carry a child out of the observation rooms.”
Comments say, “I’ve just seen this exact premise on Haitang [porn site], but it was a bit too pornographic and I couldn’t get through it.”
“Oh my god yes please if I don’t see this fic in the next minute I’m going to tear the world apart.”
“So they’re gonna be each other’s dad?”
Under the hashtag #How much do westerners trust Asians, a blogger writes, “On the one hand, Asians are pretty harmless in westerner’s eyes. We almost never shoplift or do drugs. We’re pretty trustworthy.
But on the other hand, the mild get bullied. For example, in 2022, there were 3800 crimes in America targeting Asians, where 68% of the victims were female.
In 2021, 1 in 6 Asians in America experienced hate crime, an increase from 1 in 8 in 2020.
Even Japanese musicians vacationing in America get attacked.”
A compilation of the most ridiculous thing people’s bosses have said to them:
“My resume be like, “Skilled at all office software”. In actuality, “I don’t know how to delete an empty page in Word.” My boss be like, “Just print it all out and throw the empty page away.””
“Do you only work for the sake of money?”
“My boss: You’re a computer major, right? Me: Yup. My boss: Then carry these computers upstairs.”
“You need to give me notice beforehand if you want a day off sick.”
”My boss: Why do I have to pay for travel expenses on a business trip? I’m already paying you a salary, aren’t I? Aren’t salaries meant to be money you can invest into your work with?”
“My boss said once that only having one official stamp was a pain in the ass. He wanted duplicates made so everyone could have one.”
“I saw a guy whose boss wanted him to poach Li Jiaqi to work for them [China’s biggest influencer, a solid billionaire], and the pay he offered was 8000 RMB a month.”
“My boss said, “I didn’t even go home for my own mom’s funeral, and you want work because of crap like this?” I remember thinking at the time, wow, what an asshole.”
“I remember my retarded ex-boss, who could come up with 18 different ideas about how we’re supposed to do something in 10 minutes, and then have to wait until night time to ask his wife what he should do.”
“Real story, working at a finance company in Shenzhen, and he wanted to send me to our competitor’s as a spy, so I can run them under in three months. If I had that kind of capabilities, why would I need to work for him?”
“My coworker’s grandma died, and my boss is like, “It’s not like his parents are dead? Do I have to give leave even for distant family like that?”
“My dad was in terminal stages of cancer, and I wanted a month off of work to take care of him. And my boss held a company wide meeting to say, “She thinks that she doesn’t have to work so long as her dad isn’t dead yet.” Everyone was speechless.”
The "official stamp" you mention: what is that? Is it like a signature?
WWI -> WWII