Haruki Murakami, Shintaro Ishihara & Japanese Nationalism

There are nationalists in each country.
I think Mr. Ishihara is right wing person, but I don’t think he is stupid. What he said is make sence.
Recently, Japanese become little bit left side. Therefore, it is OK that someone like Mr. Ishihara exist. Average will become nutral.

I would be keen to read the comments in Japanese before I could pass judgement on the quotes (he has been misquoted in the past). “this type of crime that is indicative of the ethnic DNA [of the Chinese]” is something I would like to see in Japanese, to find out if he really said ‘DNA’. Not that I care about Ishihara much one way or another – if I did, I would know the answer to my own question.

Yeah, that was on TBS. TBS claimed they ‘accidentally’ mangled the tape where he was saying “I dont want to justify Japans colonization of Korea 100%…” to ‘I want to justify Japans colonization of Korea 100%…”. They even had a whole segment on TBS denouncing his ?? (‘rash remarks’, but in the colorful Japanese language the characters mean ‘Delusional Speech’, lol).

Hi, James.

Do you want to know who I am? I’m a mutt. I’m a quarter Korean. My grand father who’s an American soldier, a white, married a Korean woman. She’s my grandmother. I was born in Korea and was reared up there more than 20 years by my Chinese mother.

I wonder what do you mean by the vague word of “international standards of politeness’? Definitely, there are some Japanese who are highly rude too. What do you really mean by such a tricky word?

I had attended Korean schools in my 10s. There I had not been taught to hate Japanese at all. What do you mean by another vague word of “ultra-nationalist hate propaganda” that some Japense enjoy using to backbite Koreans?

Have you been in Korea?
Have you really experienced Korean history classes?
Have you seen anti-Japanese web sites in Korea?
Have you ever seen nationalist buses or parades in Korea?

There are lots of dedicated nationalists in Japan, though they look rather funny: noisy black buses, nationalists parades.
Definitely no such thing in Korea.

There are lots of anti-Korea web sites including “2ch” that may be one of the biggests. There are lots of viciously edited pictures and motion pictures for slandering Koreans. Too many, as you said “a large collection of links”. I know those sneaky sites. They are mostly made in Japan, not in other countries. What does this fact mean?
I’ve seldom seen such thing made by Koreans.

Well, Japan has a number of vicious right-winged agents slandering Korea and China. I don’t like such a meaningless yet harmful existences. If you say, I am an vicious anti-Japanese, in a sense, yes, I am because I know the sly aspects of some Japanese.

However my wife’s a Japanese. I know there also live lots of innocent and sincere Japanese. I respect them.

James, you’d better form your opinions by various sources. I’m sure, your opinions relating to the regional issues are highly pro-Japan, maybe heavily affected by the sources made or invented by sly Japanese.

I can speak Japanese quite more than English. I can speak Korean, and a bit of Chinese. If you want to criticize other country or culture. you need to learn about it before. I bet, you know some Japanese language and culture, but no Korean or Chinese. To you, something japanese must be familiar, while something korean or chiense are unfamiliar, maybe preocupied with some bad ideas. I’m sure.

You can talk about Japanese culture that you’re in.
You can’t talk about Korean or Chinese culture that you’ve never been. Learn it first, as you did to learn Japan. And do learn it with sources that are made by Koreans or Chinese, not by Japanese.

If you are a man of intelligence, not of propaganda, avoid bringing superficial judgements. If you’re not a vicious Japanese agents that are common in some web sites blaspheming Koreans as I thought, I’m suspicious of your intelligence, to tell the truth.

James:

I disagree with Ishihara on Mickey Mouse. The stylistic themes of Japanese manga were lifted directly from American templates. Osamu Tezuka said severally that he was influenced directly by M.M. Thats where the big eyes typical of manga and anime come from. Directly from American art.
Now, as to Ishihara: He is an incredibly smart fellow – and were he not such a racist idiot who thinks that his agitation helps keep Japan on its toes, perhaps he would even be likeable.
John Nathan (of UCSB) who translated some of Oe into English and biographed Mishima has written of his several encounters with Ishihara over the ages – as an exchange student in the 60s aboard Ishihara\’s yacht and on through the years. Apparently, the man views himself as some sort of guardian helping to keep Japan on its toes.
I am rather suprised that Murakami is responding so vigorously to Ishihara (or should I say not). It is the same treatment that Ishihara has received from several other notable Japanese authors.
Indeed, Murakami himself represents a significant reason why Ishihara types will always abound in Japan: His novels are characterized by what some see as a flight into the Occident thus giving fodder to what many claim to be anomalies in contemporary constructions of Japanese culture and identity.
While Murakami indeed has a lofty anti-nationalist goal – can one really blame Ishihara for standing on his toes against communism? (He claims that one of the reasons he ditched existentialism was because Sartre was a communist).
What is sad is that people who have the power to construct a normal Japanese modernity spend most of their time obssessing over the past, pandering to dubious forms of leftism and leaving the fray right open for wingnuts like Ishihara to address genuine concerns about security and identity.

James:

I disagree with Ishihara on Mickey Mouse. The stylistic themes of Japanese manga were lifted directly from American templates. Osamu Tezuka said severally that he was influenced directly by M.M. Thats where the big eyes typical of manga and anime come from. Directly from American art.

Now, as to Ishihara: He is an incredibly smart fellow – and were he not such a racist idiot who thinks that his agitation helps keep Japan on its toes, perhaps he would even be likeable.

John Nathan (of UCSB) who translated some of Oe into English and biographed Mishima has written of his several encounters with Ishihara over the ages – as an exchange student in the 60s aboard Ishihara's yacht and on through the years. Apparently, the man views himself as some sort of guardian helping to keep Japan on its toes.

I am rather suprised that Murakami is responding so vigorously to Ishihara (or should I say not). It is the same treatment that Ishihara has received from several other notable Japanese authors.

Indeed, Murakami himself represents a significant reason why Ishihara types will always abound in Japan: His novels are characterized by what some see as a flight into the Occident thus giving fodder to what many claim to be anomalies in contemporary constructions of Japanese culture and identity.

While Murakami indeed has a lofty anti-nationalist goal – can one really blame Ishihara for standing on his toes against communism? (He claims that one of the reasons he ditched existentialism was because Sartre was a communist).

What is sad is that people who have the power to construct a normal Japanese modernity spend most of their time obssessing over the past, pandering to dubious forms of leftism and leaving the fray right open for wingnuts like Ishihara to address genuine concerns about security and identity.

the one thing that worries me a little is that Ishihara became governor even though people konw he’s a right winger…unless of course he said those things AFTER he was voted in…then it would make more sense. anyways, good post

The Chinese astronaut and the DNA issues were laughable.

Japan is in a burgeoning economic slum but Ishihara doesn’t know that – typical ivory tower syndrome of many politicians.

Visiting Tokyo recently I can tell you that the place appeared to have become one big whorehouse with more and more school girls and young wives/mothers whoring themselves out, according to news reports. Yet Ishihara believes Japan can build a viable space program in 1 year.

It may be somewhat possible only if Japan starts selling the US dollars from its foreign treasury – after all, Japan is the biggest creditor to the US and the US is in it very, very deeply. Think trillion. As idiotic as the Bush administration is, there is no way Japan’s going to be allowed to do so because the US will end up truly bankrupt.

Now, on to the DNA ramblings – apparently, he conveniently forgot that the Yayoi of which a majority of the Japs are, came from Korea and China. Hence, they, (unfortunately for all parties involved), look very Chinese or Korean. This looks like a classic symptom of subconscious self-hating and grasping to the sad delusions of a “mythic” and “unique race” to cope with it.

To all,

I’m amazed at the amount of generalities, which can be construed as racism, that flys around in this blog; Japanese are this, Koreans are that, and Chinese are whatever. Reminds me of the racial dialog in the states during the 70s and 80s. Some of these ‘nationalists,’ irrespective of country, need to experience life in America and see how Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and other Asians in America respect each other, befriend each other and in many occasions marry one another. As an Asian American having immigrated 3 years prior to the US pullout of Vietnam in ’75, I had my share of racial slanders, and bruises, both from whites and blacks. Luckily, I came out of the experience, not with hate for whites or blacks, but just hate for racism in any form, thus the reason for my sensitivity towards racist comments. If you replaced ‘Korean’ and ‘Japanese’ in your comments with ‘black’ and ‘white,’ you would all be labeled as a racist here in the states.

This leads to my need to point out the great idea we have in a America, memorialized in our Constitution, that “All men are created equal.” Yes, it’s only an idea, and in practice, we have our flaws but I don’t know of any other country or group who has adopted such a profound clause in its consititution and who has shed so much tear and blood in struggling to capture the essence of this great idea. It’s the reason why I wholeheartly adopted the US as my country and the main reason I was willing to give my life for it.

Having lived in Korea for 3 years, Japan for 3 years, Europe for 2 years, and having visited almost every asian country, I have to say that we live in an absolutely amazing world and the majority of the people I’ve met are the reasons why. Yes, there are ass holes out there but we can’t let them represent the majority and we need to keep them in check.

With that said, how can any reasonal person make sense of any of Ishihara’s quotes. Some agree with his Mickey Mouse quote. How can anyone agree that one race/nation is inherently good or bad at a certain skill? Another disgrees because themes were lifted from America and I sense a little resentment (may not be the right word) based on the popular notion that Japanese are good at copying the West and China and Korea copies Japan. Who cares. That’s called progress. For centuries civilization has been copying, improving, and re-inventing ideas from one another, and us Americans are no exception.

Chris: I sense a little angst with your situation in Yongsan. As a former US Marine officer, I had to deal with young Marines and Sailors with similar sentiments, both at camps in Korea and in Japan. As an American and having experienced the high level strategy discussions first hand, I have to tell you not be so naive and think that we’re there because we love the Koreans or the Japanese. Pre-WWII and colonialism periods clearly evidences that we didn’t care shit about them. It’s about containment, it’s about fighting the fight on other than our soil, and don’t think for one second that this strategy is lost with the Koreans and the Japanese. Not a criticism of my countries policies but just stating the obvious fact. In addition, there are plenty of examples here even in America of ultra-nationalism and hate that many neo-cons and right-wingers lable ‘patriotism.’ So quit the whining and the narrow minded criticism because your not thanked and kissed by every Korean or Japanese on the street for ‘defending’ them. Your there for America’s interest. Also, blame the person staring at you in the mirror for why you’ve failed to appreciate the goodness and greatness of Korea or Japan and other cultures and countries outside of your own and why the Koreans or the Japanese have failed to see the goodness in you.

I hope to see relations between China-Korea-Japan evolve into something not too different from the relations between Great Britain, France, and Germany, whose historical dynamics are not too different – both have had an incredible bloody relationships in the far and near past. Yes, I remember Brits shitting on the Frenchies or the Germans when I lived in the UK but most of it was in jest. Only the assholes took it seriously. I feel like I’m all over the place with my comments but it’s a large topic to cover but I’ll sum it up with the following dream: I’d love to see a Chunnel in my lifetime between Japan and Korea, allowing me to have sip of sake in the morning, a shot of soju with my lunch and Tsing Tao with my dinner, all in one trip.

Each time i read one of these anti-Japanese post by some people especially by the Chinese just makes me ROFL

When i was in the US (i’m in China now) we asians would be kinda proud of our heritage and there was hardly any inter-asian hatred… its a crazy world here and everyone hates someone here (f-ing gets to my nerve just listening to the people sprouting some nationalistic/racist sh-t)

Ishihara is an a-s but he’s only playing for the votes, same as every other hawks in other countries

D-mn what the hecks wroung with all u mofos ranting all these nationalistic/racist stuff…its just SICK SICK SICK (i feel that i have been influenced too myself since being here but heck, lets hope i recover back to my previous state asap)

Puras pendejadas de Shintaro Ishihara.
Pure bullshit of Shintaro Ishihara.