At times of heightened tension between Japan and its Asian neighbors, would you visit the Yasukuni Shrine?

What would you say to a female emperor – an empress?

Do you believe Japan and its people are unique?

Do you believe any foreign influence (in any form) is bad?

Have you ever tried to trace your ancestry back to a prominent figure in Japanese history?

Not caring what foreigners think anyway, do you have an English website?

I love these old guys – the decrepit, backward old guard of this country. I also include Mr Shintaro Ishihara. The only guys who ever fantasise about warfare and its vaingloriousness are those who have never fought in a war. I hope that these ridiculous, backward old men (who have benefited from a social structure where revolution has never necessitated their removal) will soon pass on and let the country move forward. Those old guys may claim to love JAPAN, but they don’t give a damn for the Japanese people. Good riddance to them. And as far as intelligence goes, they do a disservice to this country’s young generation. Ishihara, I believe, won a literary award. Well, no one I have ever met has ever read one of his books.

I actually burst out laughing at it at one point when one rant was sort of drowned out in feedback. I know I shouldn’t, have but….

– Laugh away. That’s the best reaction to them.

Regardless of one’s position on Middle Eastern affairs, the BBC is reporting that, for all intents and purposes, a Jewish gene seems to have been isolated. Story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10276393.stm No doubt it will receive a lot of attention, both good and bad, for the usual plethora of reasons, and all way beyond the scope of debito.org

Back to Japan: could a similar type of “study” be forthcoming? Would the study, probably published in Nature, reveal that most Japanese populations were “genetically closer” to each other than to their non-Japanese neighbours? Or reveal genetic ties between globally dispersed Japanese and non-Japanese populations in Asia or elsewhere? What about degrees of genetic, religious and cultural crossover when the Japanese communities in other areas became established, good, bad or otherwise? (I’m playing Devil’s advocate here.)

And what, I ask, “novel analytical techniques” would allow the scientists to examine the genetic samples they’d take “in unprecedented detail.”

I’m always skeptical when I read of a people’s “uniqueness” because it often implies “better” or “superior” in some way, a la Hiranuma and Ishihara. Denn es gibt zu Ubermenchen werden muss auch Untermenschen werden…for ‘superior’ people to exist, there must also be ‘inferior’ people too. And we all know where that gets us. As with the piece of what I consider to be ‘hasbara’ above, maybe we could soon be victims of what I’d coin as “jasbara” if Hiranuma’s and Ishihara’s ‘intellectuals’ have their way. Sure hope not.

Unlike politics, sports does not have as much meaning. Compared to politics, it’s the rabble’s entertainment for lack of better description. There are lots of foreign and haafu athletes and coaches; Darvish Yuu, Bobby Valentine, Coach Osim, African marathon runners, Tulio etc. etc. Its probably the only area of Japanese culture where they have little to no social qualms of “becoming international”. The rules are well defined and sports culture is unique, simple and enclosed. To attack Japan’s sports heroes is to alienate the rabble and there’s no political point in doing that.

Hiranuma is trying to play off the status quo’s suspicion of anything foreign for his own benefit. He says something and then backs off but the damage is already done. Renho can’t change her multiethnicity but the shallow electorate’s suspicion and doubt are already fed. In other words, dirty statements from a dirty old man.

I think Minna No Tou’s leader Yoshimi Watanabe said it best. When asked for his opinion on the newly formed Tachiagare Nippon party, he replied “Eh? Tachimidare Nippon?”

Now that the Ozawa wing has gone down a bit in power, Kan needs Renho and the other “workers” within Minshuto to enact some credible changes in Japanese government. For this reason, Renho went up. This is about more than just multicultural background, although I think that itself does help a bit to emphasize “change”.

The old cronies within LDP wanted to make a stink about the “what’s wrong with #2 comment” to undermine Renho as she was putting the spotlight on certain well-connected persons’ good deals. Basically, they want people off the subject by throwing out whatever new thing they can get people to talk about.

An old lawyering trick that drives me batty because it’s so obvious, and the people who do it have no shame.

Congratulations and good luck to Renho!

Me from May: https://hoofin.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/there-are-actually-two-people-working-in-japans-dpj-the-other-one-is-renho/

Mashu (Matthew?)
If you’re interested in delving further into the history of discourses of Japanese identity, by all means, avail yourself of copies of:

- Oguma Eiji’s “A Genealogy of ‘Japanese’ Self-Images”

- Peter N. Dale’s “The Myth of Japanese Uniqueness” (ironically, written with a major grant from Toyota)

- Anything by Harumi Befu

Very enlightening (and Debito, on the off-chance that you haven’t read these, either, by all means DO!)

(Apologies to all the Instituto Cervantes students and alumni for my liberal and ad lib translation from the audio.)

The “ageing dinosaur” description is apt, I think. Have they changed the party name to “Tachiagare Kuso-Ojiji” yet?

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-ecofriendly-cigarettes-kill-destructive-human,17529/

Sorry, a bit off track there. These grumpy old fools also need to be laughed at. Not that they would appreciate being the butt of gaijin humor, I am sure. It’s enough to make your eyes water.

I didn’t get the bit at the end with the guy who handed Nakahata a pair of cigarette packs and told him to give them to Hiranuma and Yosano. If anyone gets the joke, let me in on it…

“Sunrise Party of Japan” still makes me laugh.

Of course, this says less about Renho, who was as Japanese as she could possibly be under the circumstances, than it says about the insanely slow progress of change in Japan under Hiranuma’s beloved LDP.

– Yes, multiethnic. Now why didn’t I come up with that word this morning? Silly me.

As opposed to the far right above, I must be on the far left because I cannot understand how she is even considered multicultural. She was born in Japan as a Japanese citizen. To me, that is the end of the matter. The fact that she once had dual citizenship with Taiwan or has a Taiwanese father does not make her any more multicultural.

Anyway, congratulations to her.
She graduated from the same university that I did.

– Point taken. Thanks.

Matter of opinion, but again, I see your point.