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It’s far easier for an East Asian person to become integrated into a Western society than the other way around.
You can live in Japan/China/Korea for decades, be married and have children with a local, and speak the language fluently and people will still call you a foreigner to your face.
Agreed, I work with dozens of western Chinese, japanese and koreans every day.
My son is 50/50 Thai / English.
We live in Thailand and he is accepted as 100% Thai.
I admit that I’ll never be accepted as Thai but that comes with benefits as well as drawbacks.
It’s generally easier on the kids in Thailand, I think, because mixed race couples are more widely accepted there than in Japan/China/Korea.
I did a few years teaching ESL in Seoul and out of hundred kids, there were just two siblings that were mixed race - Korean mom and American Dad.
Even though these two kids looked basically Korean (except their hair was dark brown instead of black) and spoke fluent Korean, I was shocked that some of the other kids in the class referred to them as 외국인 (foreigners), the exact same word they used to refer to me as white man.
Pretty much why I was prepared to settle here.
Can confirm. Taught in Japan for 20 years. Married there, had 3 kids there, lived there for 24 years and even on the day we left I was called foreigner by parents whose kids I taught for 8 years. Even my colleagues I knew for 20 years called me it.
20 years in they used to ask stupid questions or on staff nights out thought hey were being PC by asking if we should eat at McDonalds for my benefit.
Lovely place, however its Institutionally racist to the core unfortunately. A westerner can never be accepted over there.
Can confirm. Taught in Japan for 20 years. Married there, had 3 kids there, lived there for 24 years and even on the day we left I was called foreigner by parents whose kids I taught for 8 years. Even my colleagues I knew for 20 years called me it.
20 years in they used to ask stupid questions or on staff nights out thought hey were being PC by asking if we should eat at McDonalds for my benefit.
Lovely place, however its Institutionally racist to the core unfortunately. A westerner can never be accepted over there.
Can confirm. Taught in Japan for 20 years. Married there, had 3 kids there, lived there for 24 years and even on the day we left I was called foreigner by parents whose kids I taught for 8 years. Even my colleagues I knew for 20 years called me it.
20 years in they used to ask stupid questions or on staff nights out thought hey were being PC by asking if we should eat at McDonalds for my benefit.
Lovely place, however its Institutionally racist to the core unfortunately. A westerner can never be accepted over there.
This is the kind of shit Japan said about its Great East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere when it basically subjugated a lot of its neighbors prior to WWII… I hope history won’t repeat itself in such a way.
I came here to mention Japan’s “Asia for Asians” campaign in the early 1900s. Glad to see I’m not the only history nerd commenting on this post!
This is quite rich for China to ask while constantly complaining about being victimized by Japan during WWII while not a peep has come out of them about the shaming they suffered during Opium wars when western nations effectively carved up China to spheres of influence. Not to mention the seizing of neighbor’s islands and territories through force while proclaiming it as theirs because an insane Chinese monarch once sent out a bunch of rickety boats into the seas centuries ago. I suggest Chinese tidy up their over-all diplomatic messaging and strategy first.
Far from not a peep, China mention their “unequal treaties” and the “century if humiliation” a lot, it’s a rallying cry and something they would definitely use to bolster the case they’re making here. What did you mean by this?
Are you saying China benefited from the Opium Wars?
- socsa ( @socsa@lemmy.ml ) 6•1 year ago
Oh good, the obligate Lemmy tankies are here.
Very unconstructive to pose the world as westerners and not westerners.
Talk of joining “westerners” and everyone instead and not this polarization
Russia should be proof enough that humanity doesn’t need rogue states
Yeah, East Asia will ally with Beijing when Beijing actually decides to see the rest of East Asia as equals and not just former tributary nations. (Believe me, I’m Chinese, this is unfortunately all too common a superiority complex that Chinese people have.)
It’s not that they want to be Westerners, it’s that they don’t want to be bullied by the regional superpower, and the other world superpower supports them in resisting Beijing.
Petulant child picking up fights with every neighbor, claiming he owns everyone’s toys and breakfast, behaving like the natural state of the world is to revolve around himself, sports a surprised Pikachu face when said neighbors decide to go to the movie together.
My duality is much more to are you an reasonable person which can be openly self-critical but also are aware of authority bias, or do you join primitive and absurd dualities as this?
Standard kindergarten polarizarion from the Chinese leadership, nothing new I guess.
So China is accepting Japan into their midst and getting all buddy-buddy?
How very Nanking of them…
China will never ever consider Japan as an equal or viable partner. Breaking the bond between West and Japan? Sure, they are all about that but being buddies and accepted into China? Never ever happening.The West is so fucked. No more Petro Dollar, not enough time for a working CDBC (I think?), its civilization has been forcefully separated into small individualized groups that are no longer capable of speaking to each other or feeling compassion for each other, capitalist vultures just waiting to profit off of the collapse, politicians are paid, putting on a show, geriatric millionaires are reliving 80s straight to TV political thrillers on cheap stages. Europe is too dependant on the US, the Ukraine war is a meat grinder proxy war. Protests are erupting in France, Switzerland, Belgium and I suspect that’s not the last we’re going to see of mass protests and police brutality in Europe. Meanwhile Western governments are headed to become more authoritarian to stay in power unless Europe turns away from transatlantic submission to face the reality of a multipolar order. I worry there will be lots of conflict from this because certain people want to stay in power. (Not a dog whistle in any specific direction.)
BRICS is happening. Africa is rising up to flight Western economic colonialism by demanding fair treatment. The current global economic system leads to rising nationalism, people no longer raising kids, social systems failing, slave labor in poor countries, religious radicalism and unnecessary culture clashes (fixable, if anyone in charge actually gave a fuck about proper integration with dignity).
I should add that I’m in no way underestimating authoritarian imperialist ambitions of Russia/China as another source for danger to freedom.
I should add that I’m in no way underestimating authoritarian imperialist ambitions of Russia/China as another source for danger to freedom.
So they’re trying to consolidate power based on combining diverse ethnic or racial groups into a single geographically-bound block? This seems like a poor attempt to secure allies, especially when the countries China is calling out aligned with the Occident/America in many ways to get away from China’s influence…
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 3•1 year ago
On the contrary, the United States of America is an entire nation of immigrants, and we are all Americans. “From the many, one” is our motto for a reason. Diversity is not merely part of our culture; diversity is our culture.
…Or those are the ideals I was taught in school, at least. Pity that so many of my countrymen don’t share them.
East and West are Flat Earth geopolitical terms.