Here follows a collection of quotes that I have come across during the last few of years. Most of them gave me pause for thought......in one way or another.....
"Japan has become an economic superpower thanks to hard work, low salaries, little social welfare, oppressive taxes,
high cost of living, skyrocketing land prices, austerity, sacrifice, self discipline, obedience, patience and resignation". (Domenico Lagana)
So now you know!
"The Japanese are masters of appearing to change when in fact nothing really changes". (Chalmers Johnson ; Head of the Japan Policy Research Inst).
Talking about trade again....
"Education today is totally knowledge oriented, based only on test points and not on human values. So people, young people especially, have no sense of right or wrong".
Yup...that's about right...
"Education in Japan is geared solely for the purpose of absorbing short term knowledge with the aim of passing examinations. Once this short term knowldge has been forgotten, the heads of Japanese graduates is effectively empty".
Absolutely no comment....
"Japanese men can't stand on their own feet. When my husband was late for work I had to put his socks on for him". ( Comment made by a Japanese lady in an article concerning the alarming increase in divorce among elderly couples ).
I can't see my missus doing that........
After being arrested on the US Air Force base at Yokota, Western Tokyo, a family of three claimed they "wanted to defect to America as Japan is full of dangers"
Bonkers......absolutely raving bonkers.......
"The problem with the political system (is that) it's a waterlogged, gridlocked, broken-down shambles. Fettered by interlocking coalitions, corrupt politicians and payoff politics, it is today's modern with-it Japan what the old Monopoly board is to Playstation2: hopelessly dated and as useless for telling the real story of Japan as a geisha cliche". ( A prominent but "anonymous" member of the Japanese parliament).
Actually, I rather liked the old Monopoly board.... Still, who am I to argue?
The day that Playstation2 went on sale saw lines forming outside many Japanese shops. "This is such an event", gushed one teenage girl."I play video games for six hours a day. As soon as I get it I'm going to rush home in case some Playststion thief tries to steal it from me"
Time to buy shares in Sony??
"Scandals involving police officers should not be aggressively publicised as it would only lower the public trust in the police force and also the morale of police officers" appeared in a manual entitled "Outlines of measures to deal with scandals involving police officers", prepared by the Kanagawa Police Inspection Office.
Unfortunately the manual didn't work out too well. The scandal of an attempted cover-up of drug abuse, sexual harassment, attempted extortion, violence, hazing and a hit and run incident involving members of the Kanagawa police force soon came to light.This prompted the comment by Yuko Sekiguchi, Kanagawa Chief of police,
"The scandals were regrettable".
What, I wonder, would have prompted a 'disgraceful' or 'unforgivable'?
In the court case that followedthe above scandals, four senior police officers were handed down suspended prison
sentences. Presiding judge Masaoki Iwatare said," The defendants forgot the spirit of their official responsibilities
and betrayed the trust the public had in the police. Their offence is grave and they deserve to die one thousand deaths."
That's a lot of deaths.......
"The Japanese are obsessed with learning English and that has to be eliminated". ( Professor Yukio Tsuda. Nagoya University).
Well that would put me out of a job pretty quickly....
In a traditional household, the eldest son of a family inherits the family home and also take on the responsibility
of caring for his parents until their deaths. It is often said that the mother then exerts an iron rule over the son's wife. One young husband remarked,"To love my wife is to spoil my mother's servant".
Hmmm....mothers in law.....
Though we often bemoan the loss of traditional values, the demise of the following trait - as observed by a foreign
visitor at the turn of the century - will be seen as a step forward. At least, if you are a woman:
"Apparent fidelity on the part of the husband is not regarded either as a virtue or even a
conventional requirement."
It's a step forward.............. isn't it?
Exasperated with irrelevant enquiries about his personal habits, newly installed prime minister Yoshiro Mori is reported to have said,"It's OK if I lie to them, isn't it?"
Why not? Everyone else does.......
After police had been called to an apparant domestic disturbance, Consul General to Canada Shuuji Shimokuji explained that beating his wife was " a cultural thing and no big deal".
Culture shock?
As it has never been my intention to offend Japanese people with these quotes, I've been wondering for some time if I should include the next three. They were made by the Showa Emporer Hirohito in his address to the Japanese people announcing Japan's surrender at the end of World War 2.
"We declared war on America and Britain.......it being far from Our thoughts either to infringe on the sovereignty of other nations or to embark on territorial aggrandisement."
What a whopper.
"Despite the best that has been done by everyone, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage."
With every major city destroyed, two nuclear attacks and 3.5 million dead, we'd have to call
that an understatement.
"We have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure."
Which means,"We surrender".
If you have read or heard something that would sit well on this page, I would be very happy to hear from you. Please mail me!
