Comments by "Winston Smith" (@kryts27) on "The Japan Reporter"
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This is a bit tainted by a concept called Judeo-Christianity, even though Nobita-san is Japanese, where the main religions are Shinto and Buddhism, which are usually more liberal about sexuality. Prostitution is largely an economic factor, where if you look in the majority of countries, women are treated more as second-class citizens and earn less money. Obviously this is the case in Japan. Yet, the daily economic burden is harder on women than men as often they have to raise their children, which requires both extra time and money. Faced with this economic impasse, women may make a decision to engage in prostitution (where the hourly rate is much higher than any blue collar job), or become destitute and their children also. The trade-off is risk of STI and unwanted pregnancy. However, using prophylactics (such as condoms) can reduce this risk.
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History is not a good subject taught anywhere. However, school is far from a perfect learning environment, the best way to learn some history is to teach yourself. The internet, YouTube etc. Is a very good starting point, just don't allow yourself to be guided by crank conspiratory theories- most of them are false. Also the best way to get answers is to start following lines of questioning in your mind; when did Japan's military get the ascendency over the civilian government? How did that happen? When did Japan's army invade the first non-Japanese territory? When did that occur and what crimes were committed there? And so on. The famous British Historian Neil Ferguson said "World War 2 was a racially motivated war between evil and lesser evil", kind of sums it up. The Allies were not necessarily good people, just a bit more bound by the rules of engagement, which had largely flown out the window in a total war situation. Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the world's first nuclear weapons were definitely not good, but the Allies (particularly the Americans), at the time, reflecting on their high casualties invading Iwo Jima and Okinawa, considered the human and material cost of invading the home islands of Japan in 1945 or 1946 to be too high to be borne, especially with a new potentially war,-winning weapon at hand that they were lawfully not bound to use (unlike chemical weapons). Why invade Japan you may ask? You have to study 14 years of near total war engaged by Japan mainly in China before 1945, as well as the Pacific War starting in 1941. Study what happened to the Japanese people affected by the nuclear bombing. The effects are horrific, but should not be ignored or forgotten because we still live now day by day with arsenals of these horrible and nihilistic weapons today.
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I've been to Japan, and yes, it's a strange place in my eyes. However, mostly it's always been like that or always will be, except to the people who live there most of their lives. Because I'm attuned myself (as an individual) to a certain degree of social isolation in my own society, partly by choice and personality, then if I spoke Japanese fluently then I would not feel specially isolated there and carry on doing my own thing mostly ignoring the ignorant and the stupid who appear (incidentally) everywhere in the world, regardless of race, culture and language. I like manners and being polite, so that goes down well in Japan, but I see through much of culture and custom everywhere, so I need only obey the law of the land inwardly. Also as a foreigner in Japan, I know I can get away with this to a certain extent (by being a foreigner), which is useful if you are intelligent. But again, politeness is important in not losing face (which is an interesting and nuanced Oriental trait), although Westerners also have this to a lesser degree.
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Nobita-san is also a bit bound up by bourgeois morality, or the concept of romance, so in this way, men and women have to often interact non-sexually and respect one another (like friends would). Actually, in marriages this is seldom the case, certainly never all the time. Because of the quasi-feudal and materialistic nature of marriage (it has an air of small business about it), men and women struggle to like each other, (as my friend put it) "due to collapsing social space". Often that social space becomes tense and unfriendly (or worse), so men leave it when they can and seek a social space where they can express their sexuality (with the opposite sex often), with no strings attached except an exchange of money, hence prostitution flourishes. At the same time they can have their "mother" figure at home that raises their children and cleans and cooks (this is a traditional view of family that I personally don't subscribe to. Women have the right, in my opinion, for a career and can opt out of motherhood if they want to). Enough women will have children within the nation-state (again a nineteenth century concept I think is becoming anachronistic), that will allow for natural growth or can be augmented by immigration.
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Work is a competitive place everywhere and conformity is okay if its positive to the individual, i.e. feel safe, productive, positive vibes, friendly and polite co-workers and bosses, reasonable work hours etc. Where it goes wrong is when key bosses are sociopaths or psychopaths and believe that keeping people on the hop, or taking too much of their free time away for work, or to shut down all privileges, all the time is the best way to make the workplace productive. A "cost cutting, it's useless" attitude. Even worse, how to manipulate people ruthlessly like robotic objects. If a culture of bullying is seen as aiding company productivity (instead of being detrimental to it in reality), then the workplace becomes a daily grind for many people and the stress rate & absenteeism goes right up. The best leaders manage to get the best of the workers under them by positive motivation and reward. Small things matter and understanding and motivating people is a key factor.
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