Critical Thinking Blog

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Interview: Revised Brainstorm

I’ve narrowed my subject down to modern day relations. I do plan on briefly talking about World War II and the effects afterwards (about Japanese military force, USA military bases and how Japanese immigrants in the USA). From World War II I would like to talk about immigration to and from Japan and how politics started forming the future way relations between the USA and Japan would develope. This will only serve as a foundation for the modern relationship which is my focus.
The heart of the story I want to tell is about how the younger generation of Japanese citizens have a relationship with the USA. For example, mainstream culture, business relations, immigration and marriage. I want talk about how the younger generation of Americans has a relationship with Japan. These will also be the main characters in my story. It is still broad but through more research I may find a group within this that keeps popping up. I am interested in the how Japanese and American culture clash together in art and fashion.
It isn’t hard to find information on the war and the after effects but it might be difficult to understand Japanese law and politics. My main concern is, since the power between America and Japan isn’t really political and industrial (since both America and Japan have strong economies and are of the “First World”) I have to be more abstract about it. I like to look at how Japan and America influence each other, whether it is peaceful or not really important. I would like to know if this makes any sense and is okay to do.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

DRAFT: Annotated Bibliography

Takeyuki "Gaku" Tsuda (2003) Domesticating the Immigrant Other: Japanese Media Images of Nikkeijin Return Migrants
Ethnology Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 289-305

Abstract Given: The return migration of Latin American nikkeijin to Japan is unprecedented in the country's history. Never has Japan been faced with so many returning Japanese who are so culturally different. Their presence profoundly challenges the country's long-held beliefs about Japanese ethnicity, race, and culture. Although the media are reputed to be the principal agents of social change, their coverage of these nikkeijin immigrants does more to reinforce than challenge traditional Japanese ethnic and cultural assumptions.

Peter J. Katzenstein (1998) Cultural norms and national security: police and military in postwar Japan

Talks about the history and development of Japan's military and politic force and how it changed post world war.

Peter J. Katzenstein (2008)Rethinking Japanese security: internal and external dimensions

Talks about the renewed interest in Japan's security policy.

Robert J. Lieber and Ruth E. Weisberg (2002) Globalization, Culture, and Identities in Crisis
International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 273-296

Abstract Given: Culture in its various forms now serves as a primary carrier of globalization and modern values, and constitutes an important arena of contestation for national, religious, and ethnic identity. Although reactions in Europe, Japan, and other societies where modern values prevail, tend to be symbolic, in areas of the developing world, especially in Muslim countries where traditional values and radically different notions of identity and society predominate, reactions tend to be very intense and redirected at external targets through forms of transference and scapegoating. Ultimately, this is not so much a clash between civilizations as a clash within civilizations.

John W. Traphagan and L. Keith Brown (2002) Fast Food and Intergenerational Commensality in Japan: New Styles and Old Patterns
Ethnology Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 119-134

Abstract Given: The introduction of McDonald's and indigenous fast-food restaurants reflects changes in the Japanese diet, eating behaviors, and social patterns. But these changes are not the expression of urban anomie and social fragmentation often attributed to postmodern society and symbolically represented by the ubiquity of these restaurants. Indeed, eating and social patterns within such establishments suggest that they provide opportunities for intergenerational commensality, conviviality, and intimacy that are less evident in some of the traditional Japanese fast-food establishments, where snacks and meals likewise are quickly served and quickly consumed. The proliferation in Japan today of these fast-food establishments reflects changes in Japan as part of global processes, rather than Westernization per se; such eating venues are used in ways that are consistent with patterns long established in Japanese culture.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Research Progress

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Hearts and Minds

While watching the movie Hearts and Minds I was captivated by the many different voices speaking about the war. There was a variety of point of views and also a lot of footage that brought the Vietnam War to life. The most striking voices to me were the voices of the Vietnamese people who lost family, homes and who have suffered the effects of the war. They spoke with such sadness and spoke their honest opinion and feelings on what was happening. It was completely different from that of the military and political point of view of the United States. It was that despite having lost so much due to the “greed” of the United States (who had no business being there in the first place), the Vietnamese people said that they would never give up, that this loss of lives could not compare to the potential horror the United States would cause if they won. The Vietnamese will continue to fight and that the United States, betrayer of independence and freedom in their eyes, would never win.

One of the men from the government had said that the Vietnamese didn’t respect life as much as the Americans. That life didn’t mean much to them. I was offended by this because it was the opposite to me. It was the United States that didn’t have respect for life, whether it was the lives of the Vietnamese or the lives of the soldiers they kept sending in. The way they spoke about the war and the people involved were distant and cold. The president, the politicians and some citizens would speak in such a manner that didn’t convey to humanity at all.

The way the director places the scenes together helps show a more fleshed out story of the same events. As the bombs dropped by the airplane pilots and the scene of its destruction on the grounds are the most obvious. I think he wanted to show a more three-dimensional point of view of what was going on. On the footage of the United States side, there were a lot of holes and uncertainties that couldn’t be explained that sometimes a protest leader or veterans filled in with their opinions. If one side could only see the war from one way, they were forced to acknowledge it from another point of view. One that they may have never cared enough to listen to. As for the scene in the brothel, I think that scene was included because despite being at war on these people land, the U.S. soldiers still ventured to use these women. It showed that even though they were willing to kill women and children in villages, they would still go to prostitutes of the same ethnicity. This scene to me shows dysfunction and reveals a doubled face side to the soldiers staying in Vietnam. That they didn’t completely suffer and perhaps they were not really there in their minds all the time.

In this film, the ideologies that the United States used during the war were the same used to cover it up. These were the idea of freedom and independence, the idea that the Vietnamese were savages and the ideology of patriotism. To be proud of one’s country meant to serve in the military and being willing to die without question for your country. That the communist were threatening American freedom when in reality it was the United States threatening the freedom of the Vietnamese. That it was okay to kill the Vietnamese because they were of a less developed country, making them savage. It helped make it easier to excuse the massacres carried out every day in Vietnam. These ideologies, warped, help take away any sympathy and remorse from the soldiers so that they were more willing to carry out the orders given to them. They did it to protect their loved ones, to protect their country’s freedom and to make their nation proud by winning. It didn’t matter who they were hurting or for what cause, they simply did it to win. Whoever wasn’t an American was always the enemy.

I believe the images broadcasted in the news served a purpose because they showed what was really going on. It doesn’t matter how gruesome it was, it was still the truth of what was happening. I do acknowledge the fact that it disrespects a lot of people’s privacy and the footage is sometimes used in bad was. But it can still serve to help people to pay attention to what was going on and to the suffering of others. I believe that these images shouldn’t be plastered everywhere, but they shouldn’t be censored either. To censor one side of the story is to make it bias. I would choice to see the pain and horrible things going on in the world and try to do something about it rather than be ignorant and support something that I don’t truly grasp. Being only able to hear one side of the story is never good enough. It is best to understand the whole story before choicing what side to support. Those who don't listen and loudly bark out their opinion, I could never take them seriously.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Brainstorming: JAPAN

I am interested in researching Japan and it's relationship with the U.S. because I've always been fascinated with Japan and I have a genuine interest in the country. Since I have always been drawn to Japan, have noticed a lot of things I don't really understand. Like why doesn't Japan have a military force and why doesn't the police force in Japan carry guns. It also brings up the question of Japan's political state and how/if the U.S. had a strong influence in that. And of coarse there is the bombings that happened in Japan during World War II (caused by the U.S.). I want to learn how these things effects the relationship between Japan and the United States now. I don't even know what kind of relationship there is between the two. Maybe it is technological or economical. These are the things I wish to learn from researching Japan.

I believe the people from Japan came in to contact with the U.S. through the war, business and through international trade. Because there isn't much immigration between Japan and the U.S. I also think that the U.S. interest in Asia in general helped introduce them to the Japanese. Because Japan is an isolated island it had little cultural exchange with the U.S. until recently when technology has made it more possible. I want to look in to this some more.

My Wikipedia page had a lot of good information about Japan in every section of the contents. The pages was good at giving a lot of information on the statics and general things about Japan (like population, weather, currency and demographic), a larger amount of information was on it's history, economy and politics (though it's general) and a good amount on it's culture. It's hard to tell what information may be good or not because I can kind of see a relationship between the U.S. (if not, Western influence in general) in everything presented to me on the Wikipedia page. But maybe things like the prefecture and the language may not be necessary to look in to too deeply. Even though the webpage is filled with a good amount of information, I think a lot of it is very generalized and will require more in-depth research. It is a good starting to help me branch off and flesh out each topic. I think the page won't be able to tell me a lot about the current relationship between the U.S. and Japan other then in a mainstream way (like fashion and the such).

This is a good link I found off Wikipedia: http://www.shugiin.go.jp/index.nsf/html/index_e_laws.htm

I truly find Japan interesting and I wish to learn a lot through writing this research paper. So I hope you will approve this country for my research paper.