Tall, blond Japanese?

(Boo-hoo my comic's ugly even when Timmy helps me...)

Another long quotation from an article (sorries, sorries...):

"Yoshoku [European-ish food in Japan] was born during Japan’s Meiji Restoration, the period that followed this isolationist country’s forced opening by America’s so-called Black Ships in 1854 [Commander Perry, Commander Perry!] . Japanese were dispatched to Europe and America to learn about Western laws, weapons and industry. They also brought back the cuisine. Shocked to discover how much shorter they were than Westerners [Bwahahahaha!!!], Japanese determined that they would catch up not only economically and militarily but also physically, by eating their food.

"That desire survived at least until the 1970’s, when a businessman named Den Fujita established McDonald’s in Japan and claimed that its menu would make Japanese as tall and attractive as Americans.

“'Japanese are poorly built because they eat rice,' he said at the time. 'We’ll change that with hamburgers. After eating hamburgers for a thousand years, Japanese will even have blond hair.'"

Has it worked? Are the Japanese tall and blonde yet? Sort of. The Japanese are becoming taller on average, especially children, and are nearly as tall as Americans (in comparison to pre-WWII, where the average Japanese soldier was 5'3"...). But the Japanese are still shorter than Americans, and I think it's a while yet before they turn blond, but ya never know... :P I hope not, or we may be seeing more of this and this, and it ain't perty. (If you were made with black hair, don't make it yeller!!) With the Japanese trying to become Americans, and the Americans trying to become Japanese, you only wonder what is going to result...

Japan's daddy?

(Justin and Keiji are discussing America's role in Japan. A difference of opinion, I suppose...)

Really long expert from this article (sorry it's long...):

"Anno [interviewed dude] understands the Japanese national attraction to characters like Rei [his lame-o character] as the product of a stunted imaginative landscape born of Japan’s defeat in the Second World War. 'Japan lost the war to the Americans,' he explains, seeming interested in his own words for the first time during our interview. 'Since that time, the education we received is not one that creates adults. Even for us, people in their 40s, and for the generation older than me, in their 50s and 60s, there’s no reasonable model of what an adult should be like.' The theory that Japan’s defeat stripped the country of its independence and led to the creation of a nation of permanent children, weaklings forced to live under the protection of the American Big Daddy, is widely shared by artists and intellectuals in Japan. It is also a staple of popular cartoons, many of which feature a well-meaning government that turns out to be a facade concealing sinister and more powerful forces."

Sorry that was long, but yeah, that's pretty much the situation. Japan even LOOKS like a part of the U.S., what with all their western weddings and McDonalds (even if it doesn't always work) and skyscrapers (with NOT ENGLISH on them) and bikes and stuff... Japan really is like a little part of America. :P

Americans just think Japan is just another smooshed nation beneath America's big butt. The end.

Cold War in five minutes :P

During the Cold War, Russia made herself appear billions of times better and stronger than she really was. America, being the gullible nation it is, thought that Russia was equal to, or greater than, America. The US saw Russia as a serious threat to national security, and started panicking.

America developed newer and more effective and deadlier weapons for herself. The bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were only Uranium bombs; America developed an even better one using hydrogen. In WWII, the best airplanes were slow and visible to the naked eye. But with spy planes, like the Lockheed U-2, America could spy on Russia without her notice.

America even began "hording" other nations. She tried her hardest to stop Communism from spreading out of Russia. Right after WWII, America began sending a large amount of aid to hurt European nations, before they turned to communism. The Korean War attempted to prevent further growth of Asian communism. General MacArthur, during the occupation of Japan, tried to keep Japan from falling to communism by sending many American missionaries; communism may have not reached far into Japan, but the missionaries sure didn't leave a lasting impact on Japan....

But alas, it was not to last. Russia, having never been very great a country, had been internally collapsing for many years before she finally fell in 1991. And now, America no longer fears the empty threat of Russia.

If you read all that, then you have a better attention span than I. Congratulations! :)

Spreading the Gospel?

The Japanese are used to mixing religions. In fact, their native religion, Shinto, has no real theology, and therefore it requires other religions and beliefs to complete itself. Shintoism survives through other religions.

But Christianity has no room for such mixing and blending of faiths. Christ calls His followers to follow Him and Him alone, leaving no room for anyone else. How can He demand such a thing? Jesus Christ is God of the entire universe; all things are of Him. Buddha did not create the universe; Christ did. The various kami (Japanese gods) do not protect us; Christ is our only safe tower. Confucius did not invent the laws of the the world; Christ had already done so. What are all these religions then? Nothing. Christ may therefore claim all honor and glory, for He alone has done all things.

Unfortunately, this concept has been very hard for the Japanese to accept. Believing that there are many ways to heaven, they are not loyal to any one road. 'If all faiths lead to the same thing, why follow only one in exclusion of all the others?', they think. This is the reason why many strange cults are rising in Japan. They are twisting and combining many different religious beliefs, without caring for what they are doing. Truly, a very lost nation!

Chunky teachers in Japan?

After WWII, the United States sent American teachers to Japan. In Totoro, the story happens sometime in the '50's, just a few years after the War ended. Recently, looking at the movie again, I happened to notice the teacher in the school seems particularly...big and chunky. I have no idea how to check my hypothesis, but, is the teacher an American? Hmmm...

I forgot to upload Timmy's magical pictures he so magically got for me. ;_; Thank-you Bully!!!

Turdah!!! :P

(The big-nosed guy is Justin. He's an American that has come to Japan to be a missionary, but unfortunately for him, he is not well acquainted with Japanese culture. Right now, he's meeting his new roommate, Keiji.)

In Japan, hugging is a no-no for many people. Since it's a new custom, many Japanese will feel embarrassed by it, and it's probably not the best idea to go around hugging everyone. Probably. Even when Japanese talk to each other, they stand rather far apart. And when they bow in greeting, no part of either's body will touch the other person. Not a very hugable people. :)

note: Gaijin means foreigner, or more literally "outside person." Kind of an "us and them" feeling.