Comments | mopedronin: Students Forced To Sing National Anthem -- Is This The Future Of Japan?

mopedronin

Students Forced To Sing National Anthem -- Is This The Future Of Japan?

Mar 15, 2006 09:12

It's no secret that when the economy of a country starts to reach worryingly low levels as they are in Japan, that the ugly tides of nationalism grow strong and wash up and over the shores of common sense and reason. Still engaged in Ryu Murakami's book Leaving the Peninsula (「半島を出よう」 -- the story of North Korean special forces invading Fukushima ( Read more... )

japanese law, culture, politics, japanese economy, japanese politics, japan, japanese constitution, national anthem

Comments 12

jerem_morrow March 15 2006, 02:18:27 UTC

So Japan has it's own Bush...

mopedronin March 15 2006, 02:56:23 UTC

Yeah, and this guy's vocal about it. He actually gave orders to the Self-Defense Forces to be on the alert for foreigners running amok during natural disasters.

jerem_morrow March 15 2006, 02:57:23 UTC

I suppose there's the possibility of you being targeted in such a situation?

mopedronin March 15 2006, 04:08:03 UTC

honestly, probably very low as my family is a well-respected in the community. before long, i imagine many people will know me and there would be no such problem. more to the point though really, i don't live anywhere close to the tokyo area. and if i was in the tokyo area during a natural disaster, i'd be one of the first to be helping people; i have faith in my fellow man, and that others around me would see i am no threat and to hamper me in such a situation would be outright stupid. in fact, i don't think the SDF would follow such orders to the letter that Ishihara would want them too.

Thread 7

theempathogen March 15 2006, 05:56:36 UTC

Why is no one standing up to this man?

One word: 和.

mopedronin March 15 2006, 06:24:35 UTC

If anyone is disturbing the Wa of this nation, it is certainly this man. Where's the smackdown when it should be?

theempathogen March 15 2006, 06:27:19 UTC

Heh heh.

Off topic: I've been posting a lot of art lately.

eightbitbacon March 15 2006, 15:59:52 UTC

I'm with you on letting people sing the national anthem if they want to. Hell, I did it all my life and never thought twice about it.

But I've met some people living in Tokyo who think this guy is a total asshole - but how the hell did he become the governor?

mopedronin March 15 2006, 23:38:10 UTC

Exactly, free speech is what it's all about. I sing the US national anthem, because I love my country, but I don't sit around thinking about the implications of the lyrics (war with the British). I just think about the desperate struggle and freedom we have obtained. I'm sure the Japanese national anthem has different meanings for everyone. For some, it could be a militaristic revival song, and that's okay.

Yeah, I have seen some Japanese pages that really ridicule him. I really think it was because he said "I understand you. I will help you. I'm a straight shooter." I have the feeling he wow'd audiences with promises of results and/or no-holds barred platforms that were easy to understand. After all, no one really says anything in their campaigns in Japan... just "Elect me!"