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You are too late. That train has left the station and is not coming back. If Americans had any intentions of keeping this ethnocentric they should have never imported slaves from Africa to work on plantations, or allowed Chinese in this country to build the railroads, or allowed Mexicans to stay in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California after the Mexican American War. All of these decisions have in one way or another benefited the country. These people have invested blood sweat and tears into this country and they have just as much right as any other American to be here.
I think my54Ford was expressing sarcasm about the Japanese racially closed society being one of their positive attributes.
I have a list of several things Americans can learn from the Japanese. These are among many of them.
1.) How to respect our elders, parents, and authority figures. 2.) The importance of a strong work ethic. 3.) The value of a good education. 4.) Strong family values and solidarity. 5.) Better eating habits and exercise routines. 6.) How to appreciate ingenuity, intelligence, and creativity. 7.) After these waves of bullying in schools, HOW TO DISCIPLINE OUR KIDS should be top priority. 8.) How to let teachers do their jobs would be another. 9.) How to use birth control and contraceptives. 10.) How effective universal health care is. 11.) How to respect the environment. 12.) Zen living in peace and harmony. 13.) How to not be so greedy and pay people what they're worth. 14.) The importance of honor and integrity.
That's all I can think of for now. I can honestly say they make Americans and other Westerners look like barbarians in many ways. I was astonished to see how respectful they were compared to us. Over there the average CEO makes 40 times the salary of one's employees. Here, they make more than 800. Then whenever we spend our tax dollars to help out the poor and working class, they call it "socialism" yet when we give tax cuts to the rich, it's good for business. Keep in mind how a society treats those less fortunate is a large reflection on its cultural values.
Over in Japan, a man's worthiness is measured by his honor, his work ethic, and how he treats his fellow man. Here it's by his social status, his net worth, and his popularity. I'm not saying the Japanese have the ideal society. Indeed they have their share of problems. All I'm saying is there's a lot we can learn from them. There's obviously a reason why their automotive industry brought itself up to par with ours.
Needless to say, the Japanese are notorious for holding their people accountable. Awhile back, I posted a question about crime in America versus that of Japan. Japan has recently been ranked the 4th safest country in the world. Their recidivism rate is infinitesimal compared to ours. That's because over there, when a man does something bad, he brings shame and dishonor amongst himself and his family. They will often shun or even disown him. Here in America, we've turned into a bunch of crybabies expecting everyone to feel sorry for criminals because the justice system treated them so poorly. Then we have to sue everybody whenever we don't get our way.
Several organized religious groups made some brouhaha when they took the Ten Commandments out of public schools. I'm not against teaching kids values in schools because obviously some parents expect the schools to raise their kids. Meanwhile, I do support separation of church and state; thus, I figure they could come up with something in between. That something would be Bushido which is the code of the samurai. It consists of these seven principles.
1.) Gi - Rectitude 2.) Yu - Courage 3.) Jin - Benevolence 4.) Rei - Respect 5.) Makoto - Honesty 6.) Meiyo - Honor 7.) Chugi - Loyalty
Can anyone else think of something we can learn from the Japanese?
The Japs have a great work ethic and are highly motivated people. We have been to Japan several times (my daughter goes there every year) and we have Japanese relatives.
They overwhelming have "positives" about thier culture. However, a few "negatives" for the Japs are-
1. tremendous racism- they really hate blacks, Chinese, and Koreans
2. Women are second class citizens
3. higher stress and suicide rates
All in all, when you go to Japan, everything is clean and you never see an old car on the streets. My brother wants to go live there with his wife when the US collapses, as they own property there.
Agreed! There's something I'd like to add to your statement. We should giving the word "discipline" a negative connotation in our society. Most people think of it as corporal punishment, control, and intimidation. What it actually pertains to is learning, wisdom, motivation, and attitude.
Here's something else we can learn from the Japanese. We could improve our roads and infrastructure across the board and take that off the back burner. That's one thing I do like about President Obama. Upgrading our infrastructure is part of his stimulus bill. The only other Presidents in the past 100 years who made that a high priority were Roosevelt when he signed the New Deal and Eisenhower when he built the interstate highway system. I'd be thrilled to see high-speed rail with maglev trains in America.
In Japan, the buildings they have strict building codes requiring them all to be earthquake retrofitted. It's not the earthquakes themselves that do the damage; it's the structures around. The reason that earthquake in Haiti was so devastating was that it happened in a third wold country with no building codes. Hence, that's why the one in Chile during their presidential inauguration wasn't as devastating. The damage would've been minimal had it occurred in Japan. Needless to say, that's why the 1995 Kobe earthquake didn't wreak half the havoc as the one in Los Angeles one year prior though it's magnitude was greater.
Here's something else we can learn from the Japanese. We could improve our roads and infrastructure across the board and take that off the back burner. That's one thing I do like about President Obama. Upgrading our infrastructure is part of his stimulus bill. The only other Presidents in the past 100 years who made that a high priority were Roosevelt when he signed the New Deal and Eisenhower when he built the interstate highway system. I'd be thrilled to see high-speed rail with maglev trains in America.
In Japan, the buildings they have strict building codes requiring them all to be earthquake retrofitted. It's not the earthquakes themselves that do the damage; it's the structures around. The reason that earthquake in Haiti was so devastating was that it happened in a third wold country with no building codes. Hence, that's why the one in Chile during their presidential inauguration wasn't as devastating. The damage would've been minimal had it occurred in Japan. Needless to say, that's why the 1995 Kobe earthquake didn't wreak half the havoc as the one in Los Angeles one year prior though it's magnitude was greater.
We'll NEVER see high-speed intercity rail travel if the government agency Amtrak doesn't improve its track record. I've ridden Amtrak before and love it but here are my two criticisms of it that I'm sure pretty much everyone who has ridden Amtrak cross country says:
1. Since it doesn't own its own tracks outside of the Northeast corridor, delays are very common because the freight trains have right-of-way outside the Northeast because the freight rail companies own the tracks.
2. Riding Amtrak crosscountry almost costs as much as a plane ticket and you get to your destination far later than if you flew
We'll NEVER see high-speed intercity rail travel if the government agency Amtrak doesn't improve its track record. I've ridden Amtrak before and love it but here are my two criticisms of it that I'm sure pretty much everyone who has ridden Amtrak cross country says:
1. Since it doesn't own its own tracks outside of the Northeast corridor, delays are very common because the freight trains have right-of-way outside the Northeast because the freight rail companies own the tracks.
2. Riding Amtrak crosscountry almost costs as much as a plane ticket and you get to your destination far later than if you flew
Never say never. Nobody thought we'd ever send a man to the moon during the 20th Century, but Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren proved them wrong. One thing I would love to see in America that they do in Japan is the metric system. I wish they used the metric system worldwide for that would make everything much simpler.
Never say never. Nobody thought we'd ever send a man to the moon during the 20th Century, but Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren proved them wrong. One thing I would love to see in America that they do in Japan is the metric system. I wish they used the metric system worldwide for that would make everything much simpler.
Why do we need the metric system? We're doing just fine without using French measurements.
I'm dubious that we ever landed on the moon. If we could have landed in the moon back in the 1960s, which is the Crustacean age in the world of computer technology, why haven't we been back since then? Why do they say we can't land people on the moon because we haven't found ways to protect them from the Van Allen radiation belts?
Why do we need the metric system? We're doing just fine without using French measurements.
I'm dubious that we ever landed on the moon. If we could have landed in the moon back in the 1960s, which is the Crustacean age in the world of computer technology, why haven't we been back since then? Why do they say we can't land people on the moon because we haven't found ways to protect them from the Van Allen radiation belts?
It's not just the French that use the metric system. They do it all over the world. The British, Canadians, and Aussies all converted to metric during the 70's. Why should we use it? Because math is a universal language, and the whole purpose of communication is to be understood. Thus, it would simplify everything regarding temperature, weight, height, and volume because we'd all understand one another.
If they didn't land on the moon, I find it interesting how people have seen golf balls there with telescopes and the American flag which Armstrong and Aldren mounted there. There will always be people who are skeptical. In fact, there are some who still believe the earth is flat while others think it's shaped like a donut. Nonetheless, I suspect most Americans and foreigners are all convinced that the first human to land on the moon was Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969.
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