Forbes Wonders Why Japanese Aren't Angrier

[Mulboyne]

Forbes: Where Are The Revolting Japanese?
Protesters, convinced that Lehman Brothers' failure heralds the demise of free markets the way the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end for communism two decades earlier, are preparing to mass in London when G-20 leaders meet there this week. In America, executive "fat cats" face mobs angry over their compensation. In Japan, the streets are quiet. Protests in Japan are usually benign affairs. Bored policemen shepherd orderly lines of placard-carrying demonstrators to ministries and offices where they halt and chant slogans. Turnouts are low, and disruption is usually limited to minor traffic jams...Though often pigeonholed as excessively group-oriented, the Japanese seem averse to joining the mob, even if they have something to get mad about. Not even bureaucratic bungling that forced red-faced officials to admit last year they had mislaid state pension records for millions of people was enough to shock Japanese into revolt...more...

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've always said that Japan's biggest problem is the people's inability to make an issue out of something when they get screwed.

[leitmotiv]

Forbes: Where Are The Revolting Japanese?

Here are some.....






I know, I know.....its cheap and childish....but its what I thought for split second when I read the Forbes headline.

[baka tono]

My guess is people arent protesting in the streets, yet anyway, because they know all these bankers & officials are corrupt. Every week theres another story of a shady businessman or politician getting caught doing something criminal.

Im actually waiting to see what might set people off here. I think people`s daily lives would have to be seriously affected before they started to protest.

[baka tono]

Protesters, convinced that Lehman Brothers' failure heralds the demise of free markets the way the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end for communism two decades earlier,

Communism didnt end when the wall came down. Look at Russia and China red as ever.

[MrUltimateGaijin]

what do they expect from a population that can barely think for themselves???

[Doctor Stop]

Borrowing from a link in the dolphin thread:

You interview people on the street in Tokyo who have no idea.

R.O.: They have no idea. And so the Japanese people are innocent. They are victims of a government that suppresses the news. A real democracy has a party in power and has an opposition party. They don't have that. They have one party, a right-wing party that controls the media and they make sure that the Japanese people don't know the truth.

[Coligny]

Communism didnt end when the wall came down. Look at Russia and China red as ever.

Somewhere in Alabama... a town is missing one of her people...

Im actually waiting to see what might set people off here. I think people`s daily lives would have to be seriously affected before they started to protest.

Running out of toilet paper... This seems to drive them up the wall... You should see the stockpile at home... It's like the Fort Knox of TP...

[Ketou]

Running out of toilet paper... This seems to drive them up the wall... You should see the stockpile at home... It's like the Fort Knox of TP...

Yep..just let this economic crisis effect the arses of the housewives are there will be hell to pay.

[pheyton]

Somewhere in Alabama... a town is missing one of her people...



Running out of toilet paper... This seems to drive them up the wall... You should see the stockpile at home... It's like the Fort Knox of TP...

Who needs TP when you have this God send?


There is video of some Japanese riots in the 70s on another thread around here.

[Western All Stars]

[Neo-Rio]

[BO-SENSEI]

No i would agree with that, i would bring up some interesting problem or political discussion and they would say something that has nothing to do with the real problem and that would be there answer for it. I think it stems from the lack of discussion in school. There is no such thing as debating in high school or in English class they don't teach you how to form opinions. So in my Oral Communications class I told them to think of a topic that they wanted to talk about, and god bless them, one of them wanted to talk about Japanese politics.

Long story short,(too late) I asked them a few questions such as what they thought about the Japanese government and if they were prime minister what they would do. They all pretty much stated that they did not like the Japanese government but they also said they did not follow politics, but thats understandable since i really didn't follow politics much when i was in high school. I tried to turn the activity from making statements to forming a debate but that did not work, mostly because i didn't think they were at that level yet, but also because i do think they knew how to debate.

[Number11]

I appreciate not being dragged into serious, political debates here in Japan. Actually, it's like a fucking vacation from the circus of it all. Did you consider that maybe all the drama and debating is just a waste of time and energy? What exactly did you ever accomplish or change with all of your debating? Please list those changes in alphabetical order. We will all be waiting.

[Greji]

Did you consider that maybe all the drama and debating is just a waste of time and energy?

You and I must drink in different Pubs. At my place if you ain't got an outrageous opinion on: A. Politics, B. The Economical situation, C. The immediate availability of a partner for assorted perverted sex acts, and also be prepared to loudly defend that opinion (whether you believe in it, or not), you probably won't get served a second round, nor will you have anyone to chat up, male, female, or otherwise, after the first pint.

[Mike Oxlong]

No i would agree with that, i would bring up some interesting problem or political discussion and they would say something that has nothing to do with the real problem and that would be there answer for it. I think it stems from the lack of discussion in school. There is no such thing as debating in high school or in English class they don't teach you how to form opinions. So in my Oral Communications class I told them to think of a topic that they wanted to talk about, and god bless them, one of them wanted to talk about Japanese politics.

Long story short,(too late) I asked them a few questions such as what they thought about the Japanese government and if they were prime minister what they would do. They all pretty much stated that they did not like the Japanese government but they also said they did not follow politics, but thats understandable since i really didn't follow politics much when i was in high school. I tried to turn the activity from making statements to forming a debate but that did not work, mostly because i didn't think they were at that level yet, but also because i do think they knew how to debate.

WTF?! Are you telling us that kids aren't learning how-to-learn in school?! Just rote memorization?? OMG!! You've just solved something that's been perplexing the hairy barbarians since Hearns' time!!

[nottu]

[Samurai_Jerk]

You and I must drink in different Pubs. At my place if you ain't got an outrageous opinion on: A. Politics, B. The Economical situation, C. The immediate availability of a partner for assorted perverted sex acts, and also be prepared to loudly defend that opinion (whether you believe in it, or not), you probably won't get served a second round, nor will you have anyone to chat up, male, female, or otherwise, after the first pint.

Greji, I think it's because most of us hang with people born after the Taisho Era.

[Greji]

Greji, I think it's because most of us hang with people born after the Taisho Era.

That could be it, but remember, you're in the country with the aging population (plus four seasons). So there is a lot of those pubs. A couple of them have handicap parking signs on some of the stools.