The Best and Worst of Stage Blue (Japan)

[jimwell]

 

 

I have a love-hate relationship with Japan. Japan embodies the best and worst of Stage Blue. The country's extreme collectivism provides a few of the most beautiful things in this world; peace and harmony (people on the streets are very respectful to you), safety (you can leave dop your wallet on the train or leave your bicycle anywhere), beautiful and feminine women, cleanliness and organization (the streets are clean and all activities are strictly scheduled and followed), unity (everybody shares the same values), etc. 

But it's the same extreme collectivism which results to completely dumb and ugly things. A Japanese (just like any Stage Blue person) values "following the group" than "doing than right thing". How perverted is that? That was the exact worldview which resulted to Germany's Nazism. It's the same worldview which produced the Divine Wind (kamikaze), the crazy, senseless act which horrified the American soldiers during WW2. How could anybody fly a plane only to intentionally crash it into an enemy ship or plane; shattering everything, including the pilot's skeleton? It must have taken tremendous devotion and blind loyalty to the "divine" emperor (Naruhito), and, priority and importance of the country and countrymen (above the self) to pull it off.

I have experienced both the best and worst of Japan's extreme collectivism.  I have experienced the good things I already mentioned. I was also given tremendous respect and importance because of my job (considered as authority). But because of my innate tendency to stand up for my principles, I also experienced the worst. I chose to quit rather than being forced to change my teaching style from being dynamic and creative to being dumb and robotic. I chose to resist propagating abuse to my juniors. I stopped my mother-in-law from bullying me and everybody in her immediate family. I was considered as crazy and problematic for destroying the harmony and established traditions. So, I lost everything (my Japanese wife, home, school, money, and Japan and its beautiful nature and 4 seasons).

It was very mentally-emotionally painful. And I questioned myself many times whether being integrous and uncompromising was worth the tragedy and lost. But at the same time, I knew I still had the most important thing in my life; myself and me honoring my principles. Now I'm crying; not only because of the suffering as a result of the persecution and the big losses; but also because of the intense love and admiration I feel for myself because of the bravery and integrity I displayed and maintained until the end. I'm not out of the woods yet. But regardless of where I go from here, I won't regret my past actions. It was worth it.

I'm not bullshitting.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by jimwell
removed an excess picture

[Leo Gura]

Yup, that's Japan.

[lmfao]

Japan being so messed up must by why their art (anime) is so good.

Many anime depict the opposite of mindless conformity.

 

"H̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶,̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶" 

No, it should instead go: "Hard times create good art, good art create good times, good times create bad art, and bad art create hard times" 

Edited July 20, 2021 by lmfao

[fopylo]

@lmfao

2 hours ago, lmfao said:

Many anime depict the opposite of mindless conformity

Yeah that's what I also didn't really understand. Like anime is depicting such an opposite mentality and behavior than Japanese people, even sometimes more than regular American people. I really wonder what Japanese anime viewers take from the shows. Do they see it as fantasy land or do they actually have something light inside of them, like inspiration or something?

[Leo Gura]

Japan is a weird mix of modern and ancient.

[DocWatts]

For as much as I appreciate Japanese art and culture that's made its way over to the West, actually living in a country with such a dysfunctional work/life balance seems at least as bad as some worst aspects of living and working in the US.

[Michael569]

I was fortunate to visit the country for 3 weeks in 2016. The transition you experience when you head from Tokyo to Kyoto and then back is mindblowing. I loved the contract thou, somehow Japanese managed to create a system out of this and everything in the country is nitpicked to tiny details (e.g. warm toilet that toilet splashes your ass after you poo or sandwich papers that come with a printed mouth so that people are less self-conscious about eating in public or the guy that cuts the lawn in the park with scisors). 

The Japanese mindset is very much driven by stage blue values, at least out in the public but underneath I felt a lot of bitterness and frustration that occasionally slipped when the "social mask" dropped maybe stemming from the outlived collectivism and need for more individual aspiration 

[Danioover9000]

@lmfao

3 hours ago, lmfao said:

Japan being so messed up must by why their art (anime) is so good.

Many anime depict the opposite of mindless conformity.

 

"H̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶,̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶" 

No, it should instead go: "Hard times create good art, good art create good times, good times create bad art, and bad art create hard times" 

   Don't forget manga. Manga in Japan is on point.

[Cubbage]

@lmfao anime & manga definitely have some examples of high art (Ghibli, Evangelion, Berserk, Ghost in the Shell, Angel's Egg etc.), but unfortunately I've found that the overwhelming majority are immensely shallow and poorly written. 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Cubbage

[lmfao]

@fopylo I'm sure some of them see it as fantasy land whereas others take inspiration. 

@Danioover9000 Yep! 

@Cubbage Eva is goated, haven't seen those others. Probs will Beserk at some point when i get time, after finishing Monster 

[Danioover9000]

   Although after some thinking, while 20% mamga is way excellence, being a mangaka is hard. You barely can call that financial independence, sometimes barely afford rent or food for more than one person. It's literally voluntary slavery to get the finest, minimalist style of art out there for not just Japan, but the world to see. Although I get how it feels to draw.

   Also, interesting insight that their art is largely a collective projection of their own shadow. Didn't know that.

@lmfao  I suggest reading the berserk manga first, then the 1990' anime version. The later anime adaptations start incorporating CGI, and the latest was so bad it's a meme. Eva a dope anime that I owned a figurine of the first angel, don't know where it's at.

P.s. The guy that made Monster, has made a tv programme called Manben, that shows how other mangaka work in their studios, and he interviews them. Interesting series.

[Cubbage]

@Danioover9000 sick guy, I'll definitely be checking out Manben, Monster is another fine example of high art within the medium.

[vindicated erudite]

1. Japanese people don't like uncertainty. 

So PUA game is useless in Japan. 

[asifarahim]

@jimwell how did u get divorced.isint divorce a sin in japan

[jimwell]

@asifarahim

Did you get that information from Anime? No, divorce is not a sin there. It is only a sin in Christian, especially Catholic countries. Japanese would directly or indirectly murder themselves for the emperor (authority). That's why Japan has systemic problems such as karoshi (they literally work themselves to death for authority (their bosses)), suicide (they get very depressed after a lifetime of self-betrayal, for the sake of authority and society), and others. It's easy to understand why my ex-wife divorced me. It was because of her loyalty and devotion to authority (her mother). I didn't title this thread "Worst of Stage Blue" for nothing.   

 

On 7/21/2021 at 1:13 AM, Husseinisdoingfine said:

@jimwell Wait are you Japanese?

No. But many Japanese have told me I look like them. And many of my countrymen have told me I look like a foreigner. I don't have mixed ethnicity. But I am very different from my countrymen, internally and externally.  

[jimwell]

 

Here is an additional video which expounds the concepts and points of the original post. Yes, I agree with this youtuber in thinking that Japan's systemic problems sprout from extreme collectivism and that the country will be forced to transcend Stage Blue (adapt Stage Orange values) if it wants to survive and thrive.

[Stovo]

Thanks for sharing, interesting perspective. I did think of Japan as extremely blue, but I assumed it had quite a lot of orange too? I mean it's so modern and capitalist at the same time. 

[Jakuchu]

Depressing as hell

 

[Jakuchu]

@jimwell that sounds tragic, hope you are doing well

[jimwell]

On 9/3/2021 at 1:18 AM, Jakuchu said:

@jimwell that sounds tragic, hope you are doing well

Thanks. That surely was a tragedy. I am not out of the woods yet. But I always do the things which are need to be done. In that sense, I am ok.

 

On 9/3/2021 at 0:16 AM, Stovo said:

Thanks for sharing, interesting perspective. I did think of Japan as extremely blue, but I assumed it had quite a lot of orange too? I mean it's so modern and capitalist at the same time. 

Japan got its Orange characteristics from the US after they got nuked and surrendered. Japan's economy boomed in the next decades, and their largest companies such as Toyota, Sony, etc. sprout from or got very big during those years. That was the time when Japan became known as very modern and technologically advanced.

But the country's economy has been stagnant for the past 20 to 30 years, and so are their technologies. Believe it or not, many thigs in Japan are very slow.  Traditional methods or technologies such as fax, cash, pen and paper, business cards, etc. are more commonly used than emails, credit cards, online shopping ,etc. Their IT technology is as bad as 3rd world's.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed Japan's lack of IT and digital development. Japan was very slow to cope up and failed badly, the term "Digital Defeat" was coined. That is one of the many things they pay for being too traditional and closed-minded.

Nikkei Asia and NHK World