kthulhu wrote:Yeah, but that's still just money - printed paper with an implied and enforced value. That doesn't compare to some of the bad things that can be found in Japanese society, such as the continued discrimination against foreigners (and the burakumin, ethnic Japanese societal outcasts who still try to keep their family background under wraps), the problem of child sexualization, and the vein of misogyny and humiliation that seems inherent in the population.
Of course, I'm probably overgeneralizing, and there are certainly elements of that in most societies, but it seems to reign in focus more in Japan.
You are overly generalizing, but at the same time the statements all have some truth to them. In particular, the discrimination to foreigners (and women) and the pedophelia is quite alarming. I guess it's hard for a culture to get away from such things (hell we're still dealing with racial discrimination some what....~140 years after the Emancipation Proclamation).
At the same time, although I believe in a right and wrong, they obviously have a different set of moral guidelines to which they hold to (which are obviously different to that of our own). Now to you or I, it is wrong, but to them it's no big deal. Now as for who is "right" or "wrong" is another question altogether that I really don't think we should go into.
It's quite unfortunate that these things still exist and it's the year 2003, but well...I guess it could be worse like some random third world country that kills everyone different. I guess old habits, die hard (or whatever that cliche' phrase is...I'm fairly sure I said it wrong since it doesn't sound all witty).
