Japan is CRAZY.

[JimR]

Ok...I've lived in Japan for several years now, and I do love this place. It's a lovely nation, full of good, decent people just like any other. But sometimes it just goes freaking insane.

There are 135 people in Japan with the new flu virus, apparently brought over by high school students returning from Canada. The Japanese response? CLOSE 2,500 SCHOOLS INDEFINITELY. ALL public middle and high schools in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures are closed. All of them.

1.34 million students. THAT'S MILLION!!!! students are out of school.

The principal of the school where the flu was frst found has announced he will resign and apologized in public. The parents of the infected children are being harassed and people are demanding that they apologize to the public.

What. The. Hell.

[joesixpack]

...What. The. Hell.

All of the Japanese people I have ever known (I used to work for a japanese company, so not just Japanese Americans) have been really great people as individuals. But, as a nation, boy are they some kinda screwed up. From manga and child porn to Nan King and the Bataan Death March, boy howdy, that is some messed up culture. What the hell, indeed.

[kenneyty]

From manga and child porn to Nan King and the Bataan Death March, boy howdy, that is some messed up culture. What the hell, indeed.

In their defense, Hiroshima, internment camps, Trail of Tears, slavery...we've all got our demons. They think some of our norms are pretty aweful as well. Guns for instance. Jeez, Joe. You're gonna think I'm out for you today.

The one thing I do like about Japanese culture is that it has retained a lot (not all) of the formality and politeness that we lost in the 60s. That's kind of connected to Jim's principal- and that's the unfortunate extreme of that part of their culture. Beautiful country, though! And pretty bitchin razors!

[Elliette]

I like haiku. I like green tea. I find the Japanese language annoying as I keep thinking I'm reading Chinese until I realise it makes no freaken' sense and then it dawns on me....

That said - there is an extremeness to the Japanese culture which I find baffling. Manga is actually a good example of that extremeness - and, yes, I have been to US comics conventions, and hung about with "Klingons", so I know it's not just Manga - but I have never seen the kind of rabid attention paid to costuming (and as a former costumer I am baffled by the "fit" involved in cosplay costumes. It all seems to bag a bit, but whatever) and role playing.

The closest analogy I can think of is Victorian England - the level of formality leads to an equal and opposite level of deviation when it happens. I wish they'd find a happier middle ground.

[JimmyHAD]

In their defense, Hiroshima, internment camps, Trail of Tears, slavery...we've all got our demons. They think some of our norms are pretty aweful as well. Guns for instance. Jeez, Joe. You're gonna think I'm out for you today.

In our defense, our government's policy toward native Americans with broken treaties and the trail of tears and the internment of Japanese Americans during WW2 are nothing to be proud of. Slavery was reprehensible. I wouldn't include the bombing of Hiroshima. As terrible as it was it was better than losing 100,000 of our people in a ground invasion of the Japanese mainland. We didn't ask for them to attack us to begin with and although it is PC nowadays to put the USA down for the A-bombs we dropped President Truman made the right decision under the circumstances.

[kenneyty]

I agree with you there, Jimmy. Crappy call to have to make, but the right one. But it's also PC (or at least "patriotic") nowadays to brush under the rug many of a our transgressions. Just didn't want to have an all out Japan bashing start without pointing out that we're far from perfect. But I'll thread jack no further.

Back on topic- everyone is WAY overreacting to this whole flu thing IMO. Now I'm not an epidemiologist, but just because something is pandemic doesn't make it world-threatening, just world-wide. The CDC certainly should be on high alert, but the general public does not need to be scared like they have been. We had signs on our doors at work that if we had any flu-like symptoms at all, we had to get a doctor's note before returning to work. What a waste of a doctor's time. It's still flu season for crap's sake.

[JimmyHAD]

I have no clue if the media is as bad in Japan but here in the USA they will seize upon something like this and blow it way out of proportion. With the 24 hour news cycle they have to keep their ratings up and sensationalize everything. So they create a panic and when the omelet really hits the fan it will be like the boy who cried wolf and no one will listen.

[Blade Wielder]

That prinicipal has brought dishonor to his family and his country!

Sepuku is the only choice for him.

[joesixpack]

In their defense, Hiroshima, internment camps, Trail of Tears, slavery...we've all got our demons. They think some of our norms are pretty aweful as well. Guns for instance. Jeez, Joe. You're gonna think I'm out for you today.

See, the thing is that I know a lot of Americans, and while most of them are allright sorts of people, I've met my fair share of total jerks too. So it doesn't surprise me when America does something really "jerk-y", like exterminating natives and such. I have never met a Japanese person who was a jerk, though, so it surprises me when they do something really jerk-y as a nation.

And no, I don't think you're out to get me, jerk



(Kidding, just kidding!)

[Seraphim]

Luckily I just escaped from Japan on Saturday!


When I arrived in Japan the previous Sunday, the plane was boarded by health officials wearing masks, gloves, gowns, the full deal...they went and took everyone's temperature, all 308 passengers, before allowing people to de-plane. God help us if even one person was running a fever!There were TV camera crews down on the tarmac filming the latest arrival of infectants from the US.

When I arrived at work the next day, the engineers I worked with "suggested" that I may want to wear a mask to work (which I did).



Strange indeed, as the Japanese love to eat fugu, which can kill you, yet is considered the creme de la creme of foodstuffs.


The Japanese people really are quite wonderful, I must say. Super-hospitable, helpful, friendly. Just great people.