“Japan is criticized for being insular and anti-immigrant. Nonetheless, those who’ve been there and know it well, like yourself, don’t seem to mind this too much. The absence of terrorism is certainly one known advantage.”
Mike, it’s a strange place where the people semi-robotically follow their government’s dictates. I asked a good friend there why all of the cars were white ( save the taxis) and his answer was that “the government suggested it because it would make cars cheaper of they didn’t have to paint them a lot of colors.” But you have to understand that Japan is less than 100 years from a feudal society, so the transformation has been nothing short of miraculous. Men there still get away with abusing women. Our daughter beat the shit out of some guy who grabbed her ass intentionally on a train and she yelled at him and pointed for all to see. While we were there one time, a child, who was late for her school became caught in the automatic gate closing and was killed. The response was “bad child, shouldn’t have been late for school!” And lastly, they teach their kids that WWII wasn’t Japan’s fault. America was a beast for using the Atom bomb. I’ve actually had groups of school children come up to me in public and ask me not to ever bomb them like that again.
In 2011 a mass grave was excavated in Tokyo. The remains of POWs who were used in medical experiments were buried there. They were tortured and dissected at some medical school in Tokyo. Just to put Japan and the Japanese in perspective.
That is very informative. I guess, this is what makes Japan so intriguing. It is on my bucket-list. I’ve only transited thru Tokyo.