Quote:
Originally Posted by GoNative
I guess one of the big differences I've encountered in Japan compared to Australia is that the Japanese themselves are rarely overly critical of their country. In Australia people are continuously discussing political issues and problems they have with their society. They are very self critical. Even if a foreigner criticises something in Australia you'll generally find a fair portion of the population will agree with the criticism wholeheartedly. Here not so much. People on the whole just seem to accept things in my experience. There is what appears to be a very powerful imperitive to not rock the boat. Even if they are not that happy about certain things they generally appear to have an attitude that nothing can be done to change anything anyway so there's no point getting worked up about it and speaking their mind. You see it in the media as well. In countries like Australia and the US the media is often incredibly scathing of the government. Here not so much. In fact most popular media here appears to keep the people in such a state of ignorance that it's hardly surprising they aren't really into politics. Ignorance is bliss! 
With all this in mind I guess it's not surprising that the Japanese seem very sensitive to any criticism by foreigners. They get so little from their own populace that it's very hard to accept any from foreigners. I sometimes think this is one of the main reasons that Japan is so reticent to allow more foreigners to immigrate to this country. We don't just accept things, we are outspoken and rock the boat. Certainly not traits encouraged in this culture!  |
I get what you're saying.
Canada is like that too, people will regularly bitch about Canada so much, immigrant and ... native (??) .. alike (it's a country of immigrants)...
But yeah, self criticism is huge, and taken from all sides.
A lot of the Japanese people I meet in Japan have some pretty harsh things to say about their own country, especially the politicians haha, my god the things I hears about Aso when he was in... it's like I was back at home listening to an old man complaining about Canada's political system.
Relatively speaking, I mean when we compare the Japanese populace to most western countries, there are way fewer protests and open debates and criticisms taking place.
Part of the whole island mentality is a strong Us/Them thing going on too, which happens in all island cultures.