Our Japanese brethren

CBIT

I can sort you guest list on the current Charlatans tour if you'd like, drop me a pm if interested.

Loose_Lips

Admin, jailbird, polymath, gig sorter.

You can't pin us down on OMJ.

Odd_Job

Loose_Lips you forgot music critic?!

king_of_the_slums

Might have to have a bit of that..

oneallanclarke

Really appreciate and I haven’t been to a gig since pre-pandemic. But the mo am in the UK for first time in 3+ years, otherwise would really have liked to.
A mate last week also messaged me to say he had a spare, as chance would have it.

CharlieG

What do you think?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63830490

king_of_the_slums

CharlieG

Rupert is bang on the money!

The whole Japan was “the future” narrative was a lie, yes you land here and it’s different, and cool, and for some that’s enough to keep you here, but all the points he makes, one party state, things not changing, falling birthrate, foreigners seen as “outsiders,” is bang on the money. It’s not the land of Bladerunner vistas, it’s more like being stuck in 1950s England, but it's an England that won’t move on to the 1960’s and throw it all out the window and revolt..

That being said, the world now copies Japanese kids, not visa versa. Only problem is those kids then get minced at some point and become part of the hegemony or at least support it.

oneallanclarke

My brother sent me the link earlier. Here's my quick and partial take on it.
Different opinion from me to KOTS on quite a few things.
Some good points inc de facto one-party state but others, for me off the mark. To me elements of Japan still feel like the future we were promised, in the look and daily experience: public architecture, facilities, transport. And those facilities, infrastructure work here. Not only that, but they work for all, not just for those who have enough money. it'd be literally inconceivable to most that there be political decisions to run things like medical services, transportation into the ground so they can be scavenged by vulture capitalists, and that sold-off services would be focussed only on extracting value for shareholders, meaning stripping away of worker benefits and levels of service to customers. And the part about the make-work, no-meaning jobs: full employment is seen a social good, the dignity of labour is important,. I've thought at times that it's a kind of local version of what universal basic income is supposed to do.
He's right about the position of women: appalling inequality in employment chances, and there's unspoken societal pressure that girls/women in practice don't think in term of expanded life chances anyway.
The middle-class is shrinking: more and more workers, esp women are agency-employed meaning the lifetime employment guarantees for those prepared to buy into the system are not available to them.
The part about the bicultural kids is of the most interest to me. I think there's a big and damning difference depending on what the mix of ethnicities is. If, like my son the mix is Japanese-Caucasian then discrimination, in Tokyo at least, is likely to be far, far less than for the children of Japanese/Black and even, if known, Japanese/other East Asian couples. My lad's coming up twelve now, comments towards him about being 'hafu' (rare as far as I know)he shrugs off due to his personality but his mum and I know there are tough situations awaiting him in life
Lots more I could write but I got the impression from the article that Wingfield-Hayes is consciously writing for a 2023 Millennial/Gen Z UK audience, pandering to their assumptions, expectations and prejudices.

king_of_the_slums

oneallanclarke makes some fair points. I only skimmed the piece, will have another read now. Probably reads like someone who's been here 10 years and is now leaving. Seems like the G-Folk have received it well on twatter. Interesting point made; we have a hardline conservative government here, but also a society that is built on cohesion and doing the right thing. The value the group and worry what others think of them. The government wouldn't stand a chance throwing one group of people under a bus to make a buck or balance the books. It's not done. This in turn possibly points towards why there's no ghettos There's no "bad areas," as we might know them in the UK and due to stringent immigration there's none like in France or other EU countries. Meaning there's a lack of "us & them," powder keg situations. Of course the rulers still get rich, backs still get scratched, but not at the direct expense of swathes of the electorate. But we do have a dead ex-PM on record, who was shot because the ruling party had been very pally with The Moonies. We don't have any track n trace style carpetbagging going on and bin-men earn circa GBP 55K p/a because it's seen as a worthwhile job and no one baulks at that. This stuff Japan gets right, but I'm still torn on it being "the future."

oneallanclarke

king_of_the_slums

This stuff Japan gets right, but I’m still torn on it being “the future.

I think you're dead right. Thinking on it, I was addressing what I read as the underlying assumption that Western economic and social orthodoxies would help Japan resolve its future rather than the fact that Japan's future looks to be in quite a few ways fucked. Rupert's diagnosis is fairly spot on but his prescription is open to question.