Os Cangaceiros

Thanks man, its nice to know that I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Yeah, not sure what happened, but I know some folks who got arrested.

Interesting...

Sometimes you see racist people like anywhere I suppose. When they say "Asia" or "Asian" though, it is true, they are referring to Asian countries other than Japan. There is a high profile DPJ politician who is naturalized Taiwanese. She caught some flak from other politicians ("you aren't Japanese, etc.") but she is still a high profile capitalist politician.

I'm not so big on the culture myself. The image of society as hardworking and conservative is changing though. There used to be "lifetime employment." People would enter a company right after university (or H.S. for blue collar trades), and spend 30 years there. Good salary and benefits, so they were basically slaves to the company, but were well provided for and could provide for family. Today, everything is privatized, everyone's on temp contracts, people are getting laid off, new grads can't find jobs, etc. The retirement age is approaching 70. Neo-liberalism is destroying that way of life. The freeters union is interesting, they explicitly deny that way of life.

So I watched The Thing, the new one. It was great. did you see it?

It's somehat xenophobic, as 98% of the population is Japanese. Everyone else is "gaijin"(foreigner), but it is more ignorant than racist. People make generalizations and have misconceptions from the media but aren't "anti-foreigner," just curious. Language plays a big part. People who learn the language blend in almost completely.

This is a highly developed, capitalist society. The caste system doesn't exist like in India. Sure, burakumin is a dirty word and many people in the tanning/cattle industry might have some roots there, but it doesn't mean anything in daily life. Third generation Koreans hide their ancestry, but only because they were born and raised in Japan, speak no other language and know nothing else, so don't want to look different.

My son is biracial. Since he is born and raised in Japan and speaks Japanese as first language the other kids see him as equal. Also, the population is declining so they need more immigration, which will change the demographics.

Sounds like an interesting film. Not the one I was thinking of (still can't think of the name itself), but sounds interesting. I liked Oliver Reed in Gladiator. Too bad he died during the filming of it though. I guess he went out like a boss though, the night before.

Your avatar looks familiar. What's it from?