Sexist Remarks drive Japanese lawmaker to tears.

[Broomstick]

I think the belief that Japan would have revolted en masse if the Americans had forced Hirohito to abdicate is more a case of MacArthur's justifications becoming accepted fact. If we had forced him to abdicate and put his son on the throne, it would have worked just as well.

I wasn't talking about abdication, I was talking about execution. Hanging the Emperor would have had a significantly different impact than merely forcing him to abdicate.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

A friend I was chatting with said the following regarding Japanese women, and I'm not sure if its true. I did some basic searching and all I can find makes it seem more an urban myth:

""You are right. It's not unusual in Japan that a husband in a family is allowed to use a few thousands yen a month by his wife except for the cost of his really cheap lunch while she buys many cloths, bags, shoes and cosmetics of her own.
There are many families of "Kaka-Denka" in Japan, which means the husband is under his wife's thumb.(Kaka means wife and mother, and Denka or Tenka means reign)
On one hand the position of Japanese women is weak, but on the other hand their position is strong (Of course, so is that of Japanese men). I think it's arrogant for Western people to judge other cultures and situations of them only with Western values.""

Most of it sounds like old-timey Mediterranean stereotypes about shrill housewives, and it's all bullshit. It's like saying that both the king and the slave are equally oppressed by their obligations. Sure, women take care of the house, but it doesn't count for much if that's the only thing they're allowed to do.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

A friend I was chatting with said the following regarding Japanese women, and I'm not sure if its true. I did some basic searching and all I can find makes it seem more an urban myth:

""You are right. It's not unusual in Japan that a husband in a family is allowed to use a few thousands yen a month by his wife except for the cost of his really cheap lunch while she buys many cloths, bags, shoes and cosmetics of her own.
There are many families of "Kaka-Denka" in Japan, which means the husband is under his wife's thumb.(Kaka means wife and mother, and Denka or Tenka means reign)
On one hand the position of Japanese women is weak, but on the other hand their position is strong (Of course, so is that of Japanese men). I think it's arrogant for Western people to judge other cultures and situations of them only with Western values.""

Have you ever seen the old comedy skits about the housewife who foolishly spends money on frivolous things, while hen-pecking her poor, well-meaning, husband? The guy who's always portrayed as the victim of an uppity woman? It was a staple of American comedy for decades, during a time when women were encouraged to aspire to nothing greater than being a good, Christian, baby-making machine for her husband ... and if she wanted a job, there was always "women's" work, like being a secretary or a schoolteacher.

Which is to say, just because it happens in a 50s sitcom doesn't mean it's universally true.

On Japanese culture, I did see the remark on how people think Japan is advanced because they produce shiny gadgets, anime, and wear western clothes. If one wants to see just how repressive and sexist Japan really is, one can see it all over the place in their anime. Almost universally, if there's a woman in an anime, she's going to be pursuing a man; or she's going to be doing things and dressing in a way that she titillates the young men most anime is directed at. And when it's not being sexist in some way, anime is very heavy-handed about conveying traditional Japanese values ... i.e. knowing one's place, accepting authority, and learning to conform.

[scythewielder]

On Japanese culture, I did see the remark on how people think Japan is advanced because they produce shiny gadgets, anime, and wear western clothes. If one wants to see just how repressive and sexist Japan really is, one can see it all over the place in their anime. Almost universally, if there's a woman in an anime, she's going to be pursuing a man; or she's going to be doing things and dressing in a way that she titillates the young men most anime is directed at. And when it's not being sexist in some way, anime is very heavy-handed about conveying traditional Japanese values ... i.e. knowing one's place, accepting authority, and learning to conform.

You have a good point, particularly when it comes to the issue of how women are treated in the majority of anime, which outside of several notable exceptions isn't very progressive. But as for your last phrase, I would argue there's a lot of shows that do not necessarily reinforce the specific Japanese values you've mentioned. The idea of knowing one's place, accepting authority or conforming to everything is actually questioned even in something as mega-popular as One Piece, for instance, and is regularly challenged in a significant number of science fiction or mecha anime where the straight-laced authority figures often end up being outright antagonistic or highly misguided at best.

[montypython]

I think you severely underestimate the level of social engineering you will need to do to squeeze casual sexism out of asian culture. It's a hell of a lot further than just making sure the right politicians take power. (and in the 1950's, who exactly would you have in mind? certainly not the japanese communists! (just guessing they might be less picky about keeping traditional gender relations, seeing how the chinese communists tried to stamp out gender inequality, with limited success))

One thing I've always appreciated about the Chinese republican revolutions was how it helped rebalance gender relations among Chinese compared to Japan and the rest of East Asia, laying the groundwork for things like women entrepreneurs that are far more numerous than Japan or South Korea in combination. At the very least the rebalance helps with overall economic productivity.

You have a good point, particularly when it comes to the issue of how women are treated in the majority of anime, which outside of several notable exceptions isn't very progressive. But as for your last phrase, I would argue there's a lot of shows that do not necessarily reinforce the specific Japanese values you've mentioned. The idea of knowing one's place, accepting authority or conforming to everything is actually questioned even in something as mega-popular as One Piece, for instance, and is regularly challenged in a significant number of science fiction or mecha anime where the straight-laced authority figures often end up being outright antagonistic or highly misguided at best.

Thing about anime and manga is that the artists tend to be more left-leaning than the Japanese mainstream, thus aren't necessarily as hidebound about gender roles or historical issues as a matter of course.

[madd0ct0r]

I think you severely underestimate the level of social engineering you will need to do to squeeze casual sexism out of asian culture. It's a hell of a lot further than just making sure the right politicians take power. (and in the 1950's, who exactly would you have in mind? certainly not the japanese communists! (just guessing they might be less picky about keeping traditional gender relations, seeing how the chinese communists tried to stamp out gender inequality, with limited success))

One thing I've always appreciated about the Chinese republican revolutions was how it helped rebalance gender relations among Chinese compared to Japan and the rest of East Asia, laying the groundwork for things like women entrepreneurs that are far more numerous than Japan or South Korea in combination. At the very least the rebalance helps with overall economic productivity.

The same happened in Vietnam, but it seems to be more a product of the communist era - the men's work was regulated, so it was the women running black market trade stalls that meant whether a family prospered or starved.

[Darth Yan]

On McArthur: Sadly letting Hirohito off was probably one of the less shitty things he did. He worked to pardon Unit 731 for their research, which didn't really do much anyway.

Anime......is kind of touchy. Fullmetal alchemist subverts the authority can be trusted since the entire general staff is working with the big bad to sacrifice the country and ascend to godhood, and it shows that warfare is not even remotely glorious (it also comments on the persecution of the ainu people). The gundam franchise though has kind of moved backwards (in 1979 the entire point was partially to condemn japanese nationalism during the war, with the japanese stand in zeon being shown to be run by complete lunatics, to have committed massive atrocities and to be hypocritical asshats seeing as they murder the very people they claim to liberate. Basically saying "yeah we were kind of assholes in the second world war". Nowadays people seem to try to glorify Zeon as freedom fighters while ignoring all the horrible stuff they did.) Attack on Titan.....on one hand Dot Pixis is based on a guy many south koreans consider a war criminal. On the other hand the military is shown to be extremely corrupt and incompetent.

[Sidewinder]

The gundam franchise though has kind of moved backwards (in 1979 the entire point was partially to condemn japanese nationalism during the war, with the japanese stand in zeon being shown to be run by complete lunatics, to have committed massive atrocities and to be hypocritical asshats seeing as they murder the very people they claim to liberate. Basically saying "yeah we were kind of assholes in the second world war". Nowadays people seem to try to glorify Zeon as freedom fighters while ignoring all the horrible stuff they did.)

You seem to have confused the Universal Century's Zeon with the Cosmic Era's ZAFT- understandable, as creators of 'Mobile Suit Gundam SEED' and 'Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny' are talentless hacks who openly plagiarized earlier works, including their own.

[mr friendly guy]

If one wants to see just how repressive and sexist Japan really is, one can see it all over the place in their anime. Almost universally, if there's a woman in an anime, she's going to be pursuing a man; or she's going to be doing things and dressing in a way that she titillates the young men most anime is directed at. And when it's not being sexist in some way, anime is very heavy-handed about conveying traditional Japanese values ... i.e. knowing one's place, accepting authority, and learning to conform.

Speaking of sexism in anime... I give you Rapeman. No that's not a translation error, they use the English term to describe the protagonist.

The main character, Keisuke Uwasaki (岩崎 圭介 Uwasaki Keisuke), is a handsome and very muscular high school teacher by day and dispenses a surreal brand of "justice" at night as the Rapeman under the business "Rapeman Services", which is co-run with his uncle, a former surgeon. The business' motto is: "Righting wrongs through penetration."[2] Clients call on the Rapeman to handle cases such as the revenge of a jilted lover, forming parental bonds through a traumatic crisis, making disruptive co-workers more docile and other things of that nature. When engaged in his night trade, the Rapeman wears a black leather ski mask shaped like the head of a penis, but no trousers or underwear. In the middle of a rape, if the woman becomes unresponsive or expresses enjoyment, he uses special techniques such as "M69 Screwdriver" or "Infinite Loop" to apply more pain to the victim. Despite regretting some of the contracts he fulfills, he always does the job.

Now this was a manga which became an anime and a live action film. The film being made in the mid 90s.

To be fair, its supposed to be a satire, although its not clear from the wiki article what exactly its supposed to satire.