Comments by "Yo2" (@yo2trader539) on "What’s it like being Half Black in Japan?" video.
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@@homie3461 There are US bases in Yokosuka, Atsugi, Yokota, Misawa, Iwakuni, Sasebo...on mainland Japan, so I don't agree with your statement. Yes, indeed they are annoying and no local wants them.
At the same, we all understand that Japan has signed three military alliances--with the UK, Germany, and currently the US--in the 20th century alone to counter-balance the Russian/Soviet threat. The benefit outweighs the cost, at least currently.
Thus, I believe it's in Japan's interest to maintain the security alliance, especially with the increasing Chinese threat. Of all the prefectures, Okinawa is the most likely invasion target by the Chinese, so it does make sense to keep US forces in Okinawa (as the proverbial "Tripwire"). Also I don't think people in Tokyo have any desire to "suppress" Okinawa language/culture. The uniqueness of Okinawa is why it's the top vacation destination.
Also, if Japonic is a language from Manchuria, in theory there should be more common cognates with Koreanic and Manchu (which also originate from Manchuria). But even the basic words do not overlap, so I'm not so convinced in the West Liao River hypothesis.
The rice-farming and sea-faring Yayoi people (Y-DNA Haplogroup Group O1b2) who migrated to the Japanese Isle and Korean peninsula around 3,000-3,500 years ago do seem to have genetic lineage from around the Yangtze Basin. Their most common characteristic is low/weak alcohol tolerance, which is presumed to be a natural selection.
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@@homie3461 Good points, and thanks for the clarification. I think the common joke is that "Language is a dialect with an Army and Navy." In other words, it's often times political categories than linguistic ones. Examples are like Thai and Laotian, Norwegian/Swedish/Danish, German and Dutch, Romanian and Moldovan, or even Spanish and Portuguese.
If I recall in the field of linguistics, there is no concrete definition of language vs dialect. But some say high mutual intelligibility or common lexicon/cognates is the deciding factor between language vs dialect.
As for proto-Japonic or "日琉祖語," we still don't know whether it's based on a Yayoi-language or a Jomon-language or a hybrid/pancake language. Phonetic similarity with some Austronesian/Polynesian languages, grammatical similarity with Turkic, Mongolic, Manchu, Koreanic, and a lot of unique Japanese cognates indicate that Japanese language is a hybrid language of the various people who moved to Japan from 38,000-40,000 years ago.
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@ductritran8637 Let's be real. TAIHO, MUROFUSHI Koji, MIYAZAWA Rie, TAMAKI Denny, HASEGAWA Jun, TAKIGAWA Christel, SAWAJIRI Erika, TAKAHASHI Ran, or SHIROTA Yu...endless amount of famous and successful half/mixed people in Japanese society. In other words, the discrimination is coming from the darker skin-tone.
In summer times, many Japanese women use umbrellas and wear long sleeves to avoid getting tanned. As traditional make-up indicates, there is a strong aversion of darker skin-tone. It's implied that people who work in the fields are more tanned, which means the aversion has socio-economic and cultural roots. I've heard similar stories from South Koreans and Chinese when it comes to beauty standards.
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@Eli_Pinheiro Racism or Colourism is complicated, even in Japan too because it's not simply about shades of darkness. It's actually about everything.
For instance, a Brazilian-national who has Italian/Russian/German ancestry may be treated differently or receive more privilege in Japan because they're more educated, wealthy, and well-mannered. But a Brazilian who is tattooed all over his body, no university education, and dresses like a thug could be stopped by Japanese police for Identification multiple times.
They're not being treated differently because of their skin-tone but the skin-tone is often directly linked to socioeconomic class, education-level, mindset, behavior, and culture.
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@Rudysattva No, not all Gaijin are treated the same way. If he is fluent in Japanese language, culture, and mannerism...he'll do fine. If he isn't, he'll be another extended tourist living in a expat bubble with limited contact with Japanese society.
But I do think we differentiate and judge depending on ethnicity/nationality...based on collective experiences. Right now, we have a major problem with a ethnic Kurdish asylum-seekers. They're violent, dangerous, and frankly disgusting. Vietnamese and Chinese make up 60% of crimes committed by foreign nationals, so people have a poor view towards them. Others are usually Koreans, Brazilians, and Filipinos.
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You're obviously not Japanese, nor have you ever received formal education in Japan. I've never met a Nihonjin who believes they descend from Amaterasu...because that's the same as saying they're offshoots of the Imperial Family. You're a typical Gaijin.
FYI, Yayoi people started arriving in Japanese Isle and Korean peninsula around 3,500-3,000 years ago. Their unique rice-farming culture, pottery, architecture, tombs, mythology, clothing, and genetic traits indicate some similarities with rice-farming people in Southern China and Southeast Asia.
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