The United States of Japan • Hacker News Board

Re: The United States of Japan

#81

Post by blackbagboys » Sat, May 05, 2018, 10:18 PM UTC

rland wrote: post #77

dragontamer wrote: post #5

The USA and Japan have a very strange relationship. As far as Asian countries are concerned, Japan has fewer immigrants to the USA than Philippines, China, Vietnam, Korea, and India. But Japan sticks out despite the relatively low migration rate. * The USA in general does have a sense of "the importance of the foreigner" or outsider. Foreigners invite new thought, new culture, and new experiences. * Japan seems to ma…

Just a minor thing: 7-11 is a Japanese company. There are about 20,000 7-11s in Japan (vs 9,000 in the USA). It surprised me when I went there—they are EVERYWHERE.

It was acquired by a Japanese company, but it was originally an American company / brand.

Re: The United States of Japan

#82

Post by krapp » Sat, May 05, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

jbrambleDC wrote: post #37

Maybe I am wrong, but I have always perceived that the influence of Japanese culture on America is no longer as strong as it was in the 90s and early 00s. That could be my childhood bias though.

Japanese pop culture (specifically, anime and video games) seems to have become more mainstream in the US across various demographics, likely due to the web and streaming services like Crunchyroll and obviously video games, but also because the generation that held it as a cultural niche has grown up and become the standard bearers for current American culture.

Mainstream pop and rap artists are making anime references in their music now, and plenty of modern animation and movies making nods to it, even adopting the anime aesthetic (like Avatar, Teen Titans and RWBY.)

Re: The United States of Japan

#83

Post by jpatokal » Sat, May 05, 2018, 10:42 PM UTC

khawkins wrote: post #61

The economic and demographic points seem to lack perspective in some places and in others are downright conflicting. Take the evidence cited about how NEETs make up 10% of young people. However, the report itself offers one explanation for the numbers. "More than two-thirds of NEETs, in particular young women, are not actively looking for work. The NEET gender gap is larger in Japan than in most other OECD countries…

> People leaving the workforce to pursue homemaking and childrearing shouldn't be a societal problem if it's done voluntarily.

That's a pretty big if, especially given that Japanese regularly comes at the bottom of the table for equality in the workplace. While slowly crumbling in the face of decades of economic decline, the societal expectation is still that pregnant women quit their jobs and stay home with the kids.

Re: The United States of Japan

#84

Post by IkmoIkmo » Sat, May 05, 2018, 10:52 PM UTC

dragontamer wrote: post #70

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I can say is, welcome to globalisation. As another comment pointed out, the author hasn't really made the case what's so terribly unique about Japan's influence on the US and vice versa. Europe has tons of integration with the US, too. J-Pop has their equivalence in a whole range of British or French artists, Mazda has their equivalent in BMW, Sega in Rovio etc. And Europe has similar links with the Japan as the…

> Europe has tons of integration with the US, too. But that's easy to see why. Europe and USA's history goes back to the beginning of the USA's existence. Various European countries (France, Britain, Spain) were colonizing huge parts of what eventually became USA territory in the 1800s. And the original 13-states themselves were a set of British colonies. That, the language-similarities, the religious similarities (h…

You're partly missing the point. It's not just about US vis a vis Japan and US vis a vis the EU... it's that the US/Japan relationship isn't radically different from the EU/Japan relationship, or in fact any two highly developed globalised countries.

Re: The United States of Japan

#85

Post by jupiter90000 » Sat, May 05, 2018, 11:02 PM UTC

knuththetruth wrote: post #10

jonathanyc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What empire in decline is Japan (or the US) a far flung outpost of, exactly? Japan has about the same population as Britain and France combined, and America has twice that. I’m also not sure how Britain is relevant here. I think you have might have an interesting point but I can’t see it right now.

Japan is a far flung outpost of the American empire and has been so for its entire post-War history. The occupation forces arrived at a tacit agreement with the former imperial rulers that they could remain in power, so long as they served American interests in the region. This is why Japan received favored status politically and economically over Korea (who were indeed even forced to purchase goods and services from…

Thanks for posting about Kishi. I never knew about this aspect of the history in Japan. Went down a rabbit hole reading about things like Unit 731 and Shiro Ishii. Crazy that most of the Unit 731 folks were never charged with war crimes. Hard to believe stuff like Unit 731, concentration camps, and usage of atomic weapons on civilians happened still less than 100 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

Re: The United States of Japan

#86

Post by mistermann » Sat, May 05, 2018, 11:16 PM UTC

jpatokal wrote: post #83

khawkins wrote: post #61

The economic and demographic points seem to lack perspective in some places and in others are downright conflicting. Take the evidence cited about how NEETs make up 10% of young people. However, the report itself offers one explanation for the numbers. "More than two-thirds of NEETs, in particular young women, are not actively looking for work. The NEET gender gap is larger in Japan than in most other OECD countries…

> People leaving the workforce to pursue homemaking and childrearing shouldn't be a societal problem if it's done voluntarily. That's a pretty big if, especially given that Japanese regularly comes at the bottom of the table for equality in the workplace. While slowly crumbling in the face of decades of economic decline, the societal expectation is still that pregnant women quit their jobs and stay home with the kids…

Anything I've read suggest japanese women generally prefer leaving the workforce to stay home and raise kids.

Re: The United States of Japan

#87

Post by tossaway1 » Sat, May 05, 2018, 11:19 PM UTC

true_religion wrote: post #62

khawkins wrote: post #61

The economic and demographic points seem to lack perspective in some places and in others are downright conflicting. Take the evidence cited about how NEETs make up 10% of young people. However, the report itself offers one explanation for the numbers. "More than two-thirds of NEETs, in particular young women, are not actively looking for work. The NEET gender gap is larger in Japan than in most other OECD countries…

NEET is not synonymous with unemployed. It includes people who aren't in education or training as well. So comparing with the unemployed group in America, isn't a proper parallel. You would need to compare to people who are both unemployed and also not in school. Hence the unemployment number of 16-19 year old versus NEETS, would be very skewed as most of those people on those age in the US are legally required to be…

Unemployment numbers in the US don't include students.

Re: The United States of Japan

#88

Post by mistermann » Sat, May 05, 2018, 11:23 PM UTC

torstenvl wrote: post #44

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author doesn't make a compelling case at all, and instead correlates the general trend of post-industrial transition to elements of Japanese culture and sensibilities gaining appeal with younger generations in the US. That may be so, but it's doubtful the US can even undergo the same kind of transition as Japan. Inequality in Japan -- although on the rise -- is famously low, and the income disparity between peopl…

Yeah, there are a number of ways that superficially similar phenomena are radically different between the two. For one, American life delays are heavily attributable to economic uncertainty about basic needs like healthcare, whereas Japan has a healthy social safety net (related to your point about income equality and tax structure). Effective fertility rate in particular is also radically different. As the author of…

A lot of Canadians are using birth control far longer than they'd prefer because they're hoping to some day reach a point where they feel economically secure enough to reproduce.

Re: The United States of Japan

#89

Post by mistermann » Sat, May 05, 2018, 11:25 PM UTC

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #84

dragontamer wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Europe has tons of integration with the US, too. But that's easy to see why. Europe and USA's history goes back to the beginning of the USA's existence. Various European countries (France, Britain, Spain) were colonizing huge parts of what eventually became USA territory in the 1800s. And the original 13-states themselves were a set of British colonies. That, the language-similarities, the religious similarities (h…

You're partly missing the point. It's not just about US vis a vis Japan and US vis a vis the EU... it's that the US/Japan relationship isn't radically different from the EU/Japan relationship, or in fact any two highly developed globalised countries.

The US serves as Japan's military, which is not an unimportant difference.

Re: The United States of Japan

#90

Post by jmadsen » Sat, May 05, 2018, 11:36 PM UTC

Off Topic - I do wish magazines that exist for long form articles would build the page so you could use the space bar to advance without covering the top lines with their navbar.

I don't sit and relax with long form story on a Sunday morning on my phone