SORRY IM NOT DONE YET FDSKJDHS

Over the course of this quarter, I wrote six blog posts. These blog posts were about young women moving from rural areas to metropolitan cities, Japan’s failed effort to bring in more immigrant workers with a new type of working visa, school bullying cases, traditional Japanese cuisine’s loss of chefs, Netflix’s investment in Japanese anime, and black school rules. I joined the class late, so I didn’t write a blog post for the second class, but I also read an article about Japanese idol group AKB48 their “date” concert tickets.

Almost all the stories that I read, with the exception of the Netflix story, shed a negative light on Japan. Three of the stories were related to demographics problems, about a lack of young workers available to carry on the work of past generations, but these stories were not that impactful to me personally. The story about the school bullying cases was the most impactful, since this kind of negligence by teachers resulting in student suicides could be something found in any part of the world, not just Japan. I think that this story is the most tragic, because it results in deaths.

Before coming to Japan, thanks to anime and manga, I had a positive view of the country. I knew about the stressful work environments and black companies, and I knew about Japan’s shady war history in China and Korea. But I still thought that I might want to work in the country. Now, I still think that Japan

「さようなら」って言おうか？

「さようなら」って言おうか？

Of the many stories covered through the course of the class, among those I had a hand in, the most impacting was the one related to the possible imminent legalization of gay marriage in Japan. Beyond its context in Japan, I am amazed by this article in a more global scale. Writing this article, my initial inclination is to consider Japan as being behind in matters related to the civil rights of diverse peoples due to its considerations of itself as homogenous. However, my second reaction was one of surprise as I remember that America was only a few years faster. It's hard to believe, and, in fact, it's unbelieveable. I am in a stable relationship with a man, and it is highly possible and even likely that I will marry this person one day. I accept this as casually as I do heterosexual marriage. And in essence it is. But had I been born just a few years earlier, I might not have even known that this would ever be possible let alone casual. The law met me with good timing, before I was concerned with the situation it amended. I cannot imagine how it must have been to those who were born earlier (I am not being figurative to express empathy; I literally cannot imagine). With Japan entering the fold, it feels that much of the world is moving forward together.

This class, along with the others I have taken in my time here, has greatly changed my views of Japan. In many ways this change has been toward to the negative, but I think this is only this is only natural. Before going to a new place we often have a preconceived image of what it will be and this is perhaps never more true than in the case of Japan which is nothing short of magical to many American eyes. The truth of a place is rarely as good as the ideal image, but this is natural as we learn more of the reality of the place. Reality is good and bad. Here are some of the things I realized about Japan:

Japan is dying, but it won't die. As the population diminishes, Japan is innovating to sustain itself, its tradition, and its culture. However, this will undoubtedly come with changes to the definition of "Japanese".

Japan truly believes that it is homogenous, that it is a country of people of the same ethnicity, values, language, ways of thinking, and ways of behaving.

I have not given much thought to the US in my attempts at immersion in Japan, but upon return, I am certain that I will be flooded with thoughts about the contrasts.

Last Blog :(

Of the stories which I personally covered for the class, I found “Japan’s hot springs rethink tattoo bans for Rugby World Cup” to be especially interesting. This was the first story that I covered, and the most directly tied to how Japan is being forced to slowly change and open up its society.

In coming to Japan as a half-Japanese American with strong cultural ties to Japan, I arrived with big questions about what and who is “Japanese”. The Japanese concept of “Japaneseness” stands in particular contrast to the American concept of “Americanness”, where immigrants are mostly immediately accepted as Americans and the only barriers seem to be self-identification and a working knowledge of the de facto national language. Given the Japanese emphasis on ethnocultural purity and its history of not fully accepting half-Japanese people, did I really count as Japanese?

With these questions in mind, I arrived in Japan consciously looking to “Americanize” my concept of Japaneseness, inject flexibility into my sense of Japanese society, and uproot some of the internalized definitions of Japanese purity that I had grown up with through my mother. Seeing the massive influx of tourists for the Rugby World Cup and engaging in the first couple weeks of course material for Topics in Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity, I was glad to have an article that discussed one of the many small ways in which Japan is needing to navigate cultural dilution and social progress.

Barring tattooed customers from onsens is a nationwide custom, but this tradition is upheld on an individual basis by each onsen owner. One of the great challenges that Japan faces is collectively changing its own culture without losing its essence, and I felt that this story reflected this challenge as each onsen owner grappled with whether they should adapt to the influx of foreigners by loosening their policies (and if so, by how much).

I think a lot of the exposure I had to Japan growing up was limited to language, culture, media, history, and identity. While these are all important, I was missing a critical piece: an understanding of modern Japanese society and the pressures it faces. That made this news course particularly valuable, as it presented an opportunity to learn about many different facets of modern Japanese society and hear many different perspectives on those stories each week. In returning to the United States, I think it is critical that we all understand and appreciate Japan as a multifaceted modern society facing both common and unique challenges, and I’m glad we have this course as a way to do so!

Coda

Over the last nine weeks, what I enjoyed the most about this news class is the variety of topics we covered. One week we’d be talking about political strife between Japan and South Korea, and the next week, we’d be talking about J-pop star fan culture.

Out of the articles I covered, I’d have to pick the story about Japan’s controversial “Rising Sun” flag upsetting South Korea as the most interesting. Since I travelled to South Korea and met their locals, I was lucky enough to hear both sides of the story firsthand.

Talking to my Japanese host family and a few Doshisha college students, the sentiment was that the flag was “just a flag”, and the South Koreans should let go of something that happened a lifetime ago. Meanwhile, the 19-year-old South Korean fan I met described the Rising Sun as a “war symbol”. She was very persuasive, describing the Olympics as a place for all countries to drop conflicts, making the use of the Rising Sun seem almost preposterous.

These interactions made the news story feel more authentic, like I was living and interacting with it all. It was not as far-removed as hearing about the failed nuclear plant I’d never visited, or the immigration test I’d never taken.

Reading up-to-date news stories about Japan definitely made Japan feel more “real”. Over these nine weeks, I was exposed to the darker, less-glamorous sides of the country. Whereas before, I might have viewed Japan as a utopia where everyone is polite and all the restaurants serve amazing food, now I know how much strife is bubbling under the surface. Those smiling J-pop-star girls are actually part of a much larger, questionably-ethical industry that often upsets their fans. Picturesque rural towns are actually suffering from an extreme aging problem, and anti-immigration sentiment makes moving to these towns not easy for even city-borne Japanese.

That doesn’t mean I have any less appreciation for Japanese society or culture… in fact, it seems even more impressive how much has been maintained despite all the problems. But, my view of the country is more complicated than it was before. Like every real issue, there is no simple solution.

As an American, I’ve suffered the problem of “America-centrism”. This describes the belief that what happens in the United States is the only relevant news in the world, and that American way of doing things is the only reasonable way.

Reading Japanese news stories definitely changed this. For every news story that was distinctly Japanese, the United States seemed less and less like the whole world.

For example, the American school system, where students often talk with equal standing with the teacher, is all I’d ever known. But now I know that’s not the way it is in most of the world. Also, I’ve been so used to thinking that immigrants were a limitless supply: just open your gates to let in the number your want, and they’ll come. But that’s a uniquely American situation! Japan’s work visa applications got 1% of the desired amount, and I bet many other countries are in the same boat.

Overall, this news class has been one of my favorite experiences in Japan. Open-ended, diverse, relevant, fascinating: all the things I like about a class! Thank you, Mike-san :)

i was going to write an evangelion reference as the title then i decided that it would be too edgy and didn’t

Of the stories that I covered in class, the most interesting (and not necessarily the most impactful) one was the article concerning Netflix’s attempts to stabilize itself within the online anime distribution market. This was most interesting to me because of my past experiences with Netflix anime, and the fact that I am invested in the anime industry as a consumer (less dedicated than in the past, but nonetheless present). In my opinion, the most popular site to watch currently airing anime legally in the United States is on Crunchyroll, but as others have brought up in class, Netflix’s distribution model inherently conflicts with the episodic programming that anime fans in the United States have come to expect (if not through legal means, then from illegal streaming sites). Distribution of shows from Japan to the United States is tricky because of the time and manpower needed to translate and dub the shows. However, the on-demand attitude of American capitalism has forced Netflix and other companies to change their distribution schedules concerning anime releases. 

Japan’s domestic issues are rarely the focus of news abroad. Originally, Japan seemed like a country with few issues, but the news articles discussed in class have changed that perspective, especially considering issues stemming from Japan’s aging population. Some of these problems may appear somewhat trivial on the surface, such as the case of Japan’s elderly population causing more and more traffic accidents, but they are hardly something to be ignored as Japan’s population ages. Another issue of image to consider is Japan’s cultural focus on discipline and homogeneity, which I now think is much more strict than I had previously thought. For example, the articles on school bullying and the black school rules really illustrate how quickly certain portions of the Japanese population move to alienate or even punish those who stand out. However, these articles made it seem like Japan is moving to reverse this trend and becoming more accepting (as the new emperor would want, probably).

I certainly have not been keeping up with current United States news while in Japan, but I am certainly even more thankful that my family lives in an area that is rarely impacted by natural disasters after the wake of Typhoon Hagibis. I also view the American queer movement in a somewhat different light as an effect of both the LGBTQ+ articles discussed in this class and also the Queer Culture class. Rights and activism taken for granted in the United States means that one can easily forget that other countries do not allow queer folks the same privileges.

In Conclusion

I found the article “LGBT+ progress outpaces politics” from the Nikkei Asian Review most personally

impactful. I have learned a lot about a variety of LGBT+ topics in Japan, both from the Queer Life

and Culture in Japan class taught by Kanno-sensei, but also from my own personal interest in the

topic as a gay man living in currently living in and with a deep interest in Japan. Many of the things in

the article I had heard before: the majority of people’s opinions are quite different on same-sex

marriage and other LGBT+ rights issues than the stance of the government, the actions of those in

society (especially company administrations) who choose to discriminate against LGBT+ individuals

are left unchecked given the government’s lack of action, etc. But the article also provided me with

quite a bit of context and information I was not aware of, and also led me to make some of my own

realizations, which as a member of the LGBT+ community potentially looking to work and live in

Japan in the future, held quite a bit of weight.

One thing that this article also really got me thinking about was how Japan balances its

characteristics as an industrialized society with its traditional culture and cultural values. I had

thought about this while reading and writing my response, but the class discussion about this article

was where I was most challenged on my previous thinking about this. My previous thinking had been

that if Japan is a member of the community of industrialized societies, it cannot expect to be

exempted from “industrialized values,” which through our discussions, I realized I was conflating far

too much with Western values. Although I still think that Japanese society and all other societies

should work to progress LGBT+ rights, I have since come to understand that Japan is in its own

place on this issue, and thus requires different ways of progressing these rights.

I am not sure how much I think this class changed my views on life and events in the US, but I think

it has really made me realize how important discussing news with others is, as it fosters discussion

and sharing of opinions that can really help provide a variety of new perspectives on an issue. I think

this has the potential to be particularly impactful in the US, especially if those discussing a news

event have looked at stories from different news sources of various political leanings.

News Reflections - Varun

Over the last 9 weeks we’ve covered a variety of topics pressing Japan. Some tense, others, not so much.

Out of the stories I covered the most impactful was regarding Child Poverty in Japan.  This article completely frustrated my expectations regarding Japan and its exceptionalist culture. Prior to this article we mainly talked about the nuclear crisis, and the aging population. Especially regarding the latter, one would expect children to be Japan’s most coveted resource. Even still, there are children—a dangerously high number- living in unlivable poverty. The article’s content, along with the fact that it was very well written, was the only one to truly shock me.

Due to the presence of Japanese pop culture and the salience of “Japanese culture” in America, many people carry prior notions regarding the country.  In actuality, people are aware of “events”, not the culture.  For example, the Rugby World Cup, the Tokyo Olympics, earthquakes, a hard work life. But the underlying effect of these events on the ethos remains neglected. I also displayed such ignorance. I had no idea of the underlying implications of these events. How do long work hours influence parenting and the mindset of Japanese children? How does the lack of nuclear power sources influence daily economic logistics? How does hosting worldwide sporting events force the Japanese people to redefine their values? It is very easy to read news and remember facts. The true goal is to use information as a foundation to view the cultural landscape. The biggest view that changed for me was regarding Japan’s security in its culture. I believed Japan to be unchanging its values due to its longstanding cultural history. However, every week we discussed the inclination, even necessity to do so.

Because of this class I am more primed to look for the underlying motive behind social phenomena and political agendas. I am extremely interested and attune to people’s psychology and how these moves impact a country’s consciousness. 

Class Reflection

Among the stories I personally covered in the class, the article talking about My Mizu was the most impactful to me. Water is a staple for survival and I drink so much water on a daily basis that I don’t think twice to bring my reusable water bottle with me. The subject of this article was very relatable because I had noticed that it was difficult to find somewhere to refill my big water bottle. I would often resort to buying a PET water bottle or just waiting the entire day to fill up my bottle if I was not at the Stanford Center. This article also revealed to me that is not common for Japanese citizens to participate in sustainable protests and rallies. A lot of these articles and this class did in fact change a few of my views about Japan and Japanese society. During my first visit to Japan last summer, I thought Japan was a very sustainable country because they did not have any trash cans in public. I assumed that they barely produce any trash but this is a false assumption. I also did not realize how homogenous of a country Japan is! Although, I thought that Japan was mainly traditional in things such as the arts, but they are also very traditional socially which I did not realize before. I am really grateful that in the U.S. people are supported to voice their opinions and fight for what they believe in. Of course this is good and bad and can lead to conflict sometimes, however I think it’s important and we are very lucky. I am also grateful for the diversity within the United States. There is not much diversity in Japan because it is a very homogenous country, but I think diversity leads to innovation and an understanding of other cultures.