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No coincidence - the Japanese government doesn't really have a left wing. The Liberal Democratic Party (which the political scientists are fond of pointing out is neither Liberal, Democratic, nor a party), which is more along the lines of middle-right, has been in control since the end of WWII, with the exception of a very short period of time where the Socialists gained control.

As for the link provided... Well, every country will have its extreme nationalists - this certainly does not imply that everyone, or even a majority of people feel that way. I was always under the impression that most Japanese didn't pay much attention to politics, and are generally fairly ignorant about their past involvement in Asia-related wars. Japan has been quite revisionist about many parts of WWII - look up some information on the Nanking massacre and Japan's current stance on the subject and you'll see one of the reasons why China is still so furious with Japan.

Koiyuki, while I think an analysis of Japan's government would be interesting to undertake, I'm not sure that you can pose your questions based on a single Wikipedia article/argument. Foreign policy is a very tiny part of politics as a whole - there's also environmental policy, domestic policy, budgeting, war policy, heck, even the party system to consider. While we can consider Japan and the US on various political topics, I think it's a bit rash to jump to comparing the two countries' political systems as a whole, straight off the bat.

As for Japan's nationalism, we might be better off hearing about it from Aiko-san. Straight from the source, right?

待ちましょう・待ちましょう、あたしが待たなきゃいけないなぜ？(in song form) ^_^

えーと　

well, it depends who you are. people have general pride in country (i believe not as american are). you know i have not thoguht of this much. when it comes to foreigners, it depend. for some reason white people sometime are treated very foreignrish. people from india(north part) and korea fit in easy becuase 1) both languages can relate to japanese 2) korean already look something like us and north indians are, that not bronw but brown. but some people do not like foreigner at all. some people say if there are to many, japan will be white infested, and that is one thing we do not want.

our policiy, i havent thought of this either. i dont mind them to much. japan and women relation somtime is displeasing, but, asians (i can say this true for china and india but i do not know of korea) learn to live with, but i believ out of asia we are most good with women.

back to foreigner, as majority, even thoguh i korean on our tv and music and have korean friend. US and canada......some japanese detest america and canada, some simply do not care, and some dont mind and some like. more detestting for americans, especially around places yopu have bombed.

culture.....it is always on tv, we are close to it. there will be buddha statue and torii shrine, we have complete disregard of few christians here(like in canada i notice there was commercial with word god in iand they change next day to not have god in it).

asain neighbours....well, we attack india once in world wor2, but now there is many relation. koreans are all on our tv and music. oddly, these 2 cultures speak best japanese (like inotation and such) i ahve 1 indian and 2 korean friend who live here (narita has big airport so we have some immigrant) and they speak really good japanese, like natural naitve. but i remember there was someone on news who once said (in response to hearing some man from india speaking very good japanese) "foreigner are better speaking broken japanese" what was worse was that he said gaijin, you will here it in anime, but on news and such it is really mean.

OF COURSE MAJORTIY OF JAPANESE PEOPLE DO NOT MID FOREIGNER AND ARE NICE,BUT EVEN THE ONE WHO TREAT NICELY mIGHT TREAT YOU LIKE OUTSIDER.

and on euqal level with america in terms of politics: i must laugh at this with true amusement.

politics: they are hard to explain. i never cared for them until i got a bit older (around when at 16). i would say like all people we are never truely satisfied with politics b4ecause technically democraqcy isnt that much of the people doing what they want (all we do is vote, who cares, it is not like the government asks us what to do)we are though, happy with how it works because we are not as secritive and lying scandalystic as the american government. i would say they run us properly, and i like koizumi-san.


thats really best i can explain. 4laugh

Indeed. When I first saw it, I kept on seeing the Anti foreigner sentiments, and thought to myself, "That sounds oddly familiar..." And seeing as Wikipedia was pretty much my only source on this matter, I wanted to learn as much as possible about the two sides, which is what brings me to now.

when yougo to japan and stay are you supposed to change your name?

Wow, Aiko, that was a very interesting read. Thank you for your input.


Oh, Wikipedia. D: I'm sure most countries are against the idea of being overwhelmed by an influx of foreigners. I think people feel threatened by what they do not understand, whether it be differing customs or languages or what have you.

Well, anyway, 'now' is where we are. Where do you want to go with this topic?

The American school system has always been pretty bad in comparison to many other countries. I remember my mother trying to give me some extra math help out of her Japanese textbooks when I was little, and I felt utterly crushed because that sort of math (I think this was some time during middle school) is taught to Japanese elementary students.

However, Aiko, I am not sure that America's public educational system is the overwhelming factor in determining who gets to study abroad in Japan. I'm more inclined to point out the individual's hand in the matter. Of course, some public schools are better than others - in the end, it all comes down to the funding that the school receives, but success in entering a good college is also dependent upon the individual. I went through the American public school system and still ended up attending one of the country's top universities - and now I'm working in Japan.

I'd say that most people who study abroad do so through college, and those colleges are generally private schools (not state schools), so they aren't run by the government. Even though America's public school system may be weak when compared to that of other countries, the US is still considered to have some of the best universities in the world... and those for the most part are not government-sponsored. Those who study abroad also tend to be in their third year, so they presumeably have taken the necessary coursework prior to going. At this point, the government doesn't have too much hold over whether you can get accepted into a Japanese college or not - it's more dependent on your own drive, and the study abroad programs that your school offers.

Bah, I suck at writing conclusive arguments. crying

Oh, and that woman's name is Oprah Winfrey. Her book list choices suck, but beyond that and her constant weight gain/loss saga, I don't know that much about her or her show. rofl