Job Discussion Forums

[canuck]

Here's some more information. Read and discuss.
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/399166

[japanman]

I can't read Japanese enough to read the magazine in question but my girlfriend did and it's just gutter press. The editor is acting like this is some kind of academic piece to open up frank and honest arguments. the magazine contains no balance at all.
When he says "you called us monkeys" the us and them issues are coming up again.

[ghostrider]

It's true that American guys grope their Japanese girlfriends daily on the streets of Tokyo.

Grope? Only Americans?

[furiousmilksheikali]

[japanman]

Not exactly what I said, I just thought that once the damage has been done, maybe some good could come of it. I didn't think that this would be the intention of the publisher.
I also think that anyone who sent him death threays is extremely sad. This is a blatant hate publication but does it ever incite violence?

[furiousmilksheikali]

[japanman]

He could have made it up. Sending death threats would be risky stuff I guess.

[furiousmilksheikali]

[TokyoLiz]

You can also read his defense of his position in The Last Word section of the latest issue of Metropolis. www.metropolis.co.jp

What stunned me was this:First, before foreigners rush to accuse me and my staff of racism, or to label our publication a typical example of Japanese xenophobia, I would ask that they consider how quick their own culture is to view the Japanese as subhuman. In World War II you labeled us “monkeys,” and in the Bubble years you considered us “economic predators.”

Exactly who are the you who labeled who monkeys? It's patently unfair to identify the average foreigner in Japan with propaganda produced by jingoistic Americans describing an ideologicallly driven military machine. Not to mention that the people he's referring to, the you who call us monkeys, are all my grandfathers' age. And both my grandpas are dead. Let it go, already.

What we need to understand is that by having a conversation about violent and illegal behavior, we’re really talking about ourselves—not as “Japanese” or “foreigners,” but as human beings.

So contradictory. He's not a very good writer, or logical thinker, if he's alienated his foreign reader with his "you called us monkeys" statement and then claims that his purpose is to reveal our common humanity.

Nobody's going to sponsor trashy writing that is out of step with modern life.

Shigeki's racism is not representative of Japan, I think. My Scottish Grade 6 teacher always used to say, Empty vessels make more noise than full ones.

You can read the article, also in Metropolis, about Yokohama Mayor Hiroshi Nakada's plan to bring Indian subcontinent IT brains to Yokohama, and he is consulting the whole community - locals, foreign residents, young people. See the article "Yokohama's Mayor has a keen eye for the future" -

http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/672/globalvillage.asp

[Brooks]

so I heard it was pulled from Family Mart. Is it still at 7/11 and AMPM?

[slodziak]

Could this be an elaborate wind up?

The reply in Metropolis was faultlessly written if inanely argued. While I am sure Shigeki Saka (the editor) had his work translated and then proof read his style doesn't lend itself to someone who isn't aware of the huge contradiction in accusing other people of "distorting facts" while himself believing "American guys grope their Japanese girlfriends daily on the streets of Tokyo". It is so ridiculous that my feelings are to ignore it as a joke.


If he is for real then his means of inciting reaction isn't too far removed from the likes of Anjem Choudary (British Muslim extremist) who eloquently distorts facts to amplify his message of hate.

But he isn't doing that, is he?

[osakajojo]

IDIOT

[furiousmilksheikali]

[nawlinsgurl]

Has anyone seen it at one of the conbinis? I'd like to get a look at a real copy if possible.

[ripslyme]