There are an inordinate amount of amazing things about Japan and the Japanese; and it's why I've spent over a decade studying the culture and language.
But it's not really fair to use only rose-colored glasses. There are serious issues with extreme conformity and group-think in Japan. Yes, there's exceptions to everything, but overall it's far more extreme there than it is elsewhere.
Expectations for how you are supposed to behave and interact are much more strict; and that sort of thing really does rob people of their individualism, to some extent. And you can see this by way of Japan having the seventh highest suicide rate in the world; with only two countries significantly higher than theirs.
Surely, every country has its problems; but that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about any of them.
> You just don't say that you are happy with yourself because it can limit your development, it makes you look vain, etc, etc.
Tell that to the producers of the TV show Cool Japan :P
(For those who haven't seen it, it's a show that brings in tourists from around the world to gawk about Japanese exceptionalism in all things; while the Japanese hosts inquire why other countries are so backward by comparison. You probably think I'm exaggerating; but I can assure you, it's actually even worse.)
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There are an inordinate amount of amazing things about Japan and the Japanese; and it's why I've spent over a decade studying the culture and language.
But it's not really fair to use only rose-colored glasses. There are serious issues with extreme conformity and group-think in Japan. Yes, there's exceptions to everything, but overall it's far more extreme there than it is elsewhere.
Expectations for how you are supposed to behave and interact are much more strict; and that sort of thing really does rob people of their individualism, to some extent. And you can see this by way of Japan having the seventh highest suicide rate in the world; with only two countries significantly higher than theirs.
Surely, every country has its problems; but that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about any of them.
> You just don't say that you are happy with yourself because it can limit your development, it makes you look vain, etc, etc.
Tell that to the producers of the TV show Cool Japan :P
(For those who haven't seen it, it's a show that brings in tourists from around the world to gawk about Japanese exceptionalism in all things; while the Japanese hosts inquire why other countries are so backward by comparison. You probably think I'm exaggerating; but I can assure you, it's actually even worse.)