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Re: Is ''Lost in Translation'' Racist? (Score: 1)
by Jbecca on Saturday, January 10 @ 16:51:31 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I really need to get this out in the air: I have lived as an American in Japan for over three years with my Japanese boyfriend and would like to comment on Lost in Translation. Everything you said about Japanese people being depicted as "other," well welcome to life in Japan as a foreigner. No matter how long we've been here, we are always depicted as being "outsiders." I would say, like it or not, that celebrities, or people who come to Japan for non-involved reasons, never really get close to any Japanese people and thus develop strong, often negative, feelings toward the Japanese. Like it or not, this is absolutely reality. As an English teacher living on the north island, Hokkaido, I would say Tokyo, in and of itself, is in no way a representation of Japan anyway. It's a city of extremes. A lot of foreigners become overwhelmed by the city, and Japanese people really do become strangely "other" to them in the same way that they are perceived as being "baka gaijin," or silly outsiders," to Japanese people. It works both ways, neither culture learning from eachother. The more money foreigners who come to Japan have, the less they'll ever get to know any 3-dimensional people. Therefore, as sad as it may be, Lost in Translation is frustratingly accurate. Life is not always PC. You should have been here for the World Cup. Talk about xenophobia! |
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Re: Is ''Lost in Translation'' Racist? (Score: 1)
by gaijin on Wednesday, January 28 @ 14:07:27 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) | I am half-Japanese. I was born in Japn and have lived here off and on for more than 20 years. The portrayal of Japan and the Japanese in the film is accurate. People who live here know this. The Japanese do mix up their R's and L's. But there are a lot of stranger things about Japan that could have been in the film.
Those calling the film racist are looked upon as ignorant by those who live here. If you want to know about racism, you should try living in Japan. Having lived here the last 12 years as an adult, I have come to see that there is a very twisted, sadistic, dark side to the Japanese. You may not see it because they would never reveal it in their "tatemae", but it exists in their "honne". Explanations of these concepts can be found on the web, for example here:
http://www.thejapanfaq.com/FAQ-Primer.html
In fact, there is a lot of info about Japan on the web. Are you up on the extremely sadistic murders in Japan? How about the cruel prison system here that is being protested by Amnesty International? Do you believe there is freedom of the press here? Do you know what they did to the Koreans living in Japan in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake? Did you know the public prosecutor in Japan wins 99.8% of all cases? Do you know why the mayor of Nagasaki was shot and killed? Are you aware of the many racist and sexist remarks made by popular Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara? Did you know that 84% of Japanese/non-Japanese marriages end up in divorce? Do you know what a parliamentary member said after a recent vicious gang rape of a woman? How about what is written (and not written) in Japanese textbooks about WWII? The viciousness of school bullying? Discrimination against foreigners? When you speak about or defend Japan, do you really know what you are talking about? And are you doing the right thing? |
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