Newsweek: Japan has “world’s worst” economy

And if they did start eating one another, that would be such a tragedy, wouldn’t it?

We have a saying in the Philippines that translates as: “The hardest people to wake up are those pretending to be asleep.” I find it unusually apt here.

As flame-bait, this article certainly succeeded. Watching these supposedly intelligent people falling over each other trying to offer the most impassioned defense of Japan or the most inspired attack on China can be amusing, if you’re bored out of your mind.

The fun started right from the first post. One wonders if these people wait at their keyboards for the next “anti-Japanese” article to be posted.

And of course, when they can’t respond to something, they simply ignore it.

So please detail out this incredibly far fetched plan of East Asia uniting under China, especially considering that their future isn’t as stable and well thought as the Communist Party would want people to believe, especially with their looming demographic time bomb that’s been created by the one child policy.

Considering all the ethnic strife and rampant nationalism that persists in Asia, I really doubt that East Asia is going to unite any time soon.

Spot on….!

Ikunochan,
So let me get this straight, you’re arguing that because Japan has homeless people and some poor areas like Nishinari, it is not a rich and technologically advanced country. Well then the two of us do live in very different Japans.

Judging from your English, I would say that you are American, or from another Western country where English is the native language. Why is it that Westerners living in Japan always think that they are the real Japan hands, and any other foreigner with a slightly different viewpoint or opinion from theirs is a complete dolt when it comes to things Japanese?

FYI, I live in a house with my Japanese family, cheek and jowl with our middle class Japanese neighbors–and I think the phrase you were searching for is “a sheltered gaijin ghetto.”

Instead of knocking my example of Japan having no beggars, think about my point, which is this: a lot of Western journalists, or politicians, or whatnot, come to Japan and miss the fact that Japan has a very successful economy. Which is strange, because wherever you go in the world you see Japanese cars and electronic products.

And that’s only what you can see on the surface. My brother is the president of a company that makes plastic parts for jacuzzis and swimming pools. Doesn’t sound very impressive I know, but it’s a very successful company, they are number one in America in that field. Roughly half of the machines they use to make their products are made in Japan. There really is no surprise in that because Japanes companies have a huge share or the global market for industrial machines.

Of course the Japanese economy is suffering now because of it’s reliance on exports; you might even be tempted to say that they’ve killed the goose that lays the golden eggs, what with the collapse of the American automobile industry and the fact that Japanese makers had captured nearly half of the American car market even before the financial collapse, while all foreign car sales in Japan account for about 5% of the Japanese market. But I think a more accurate characterization would be that the goose made a very good attempt at suicide and is now on life support.

The Japanese themselves don’t feel that their country is rich, but consider this: very few married Japanese women have permanent jobs, so most families in Japan are able to support a middle class lifestyle essentially on one salary. That hasn’t been true in America since the 70s.