Right, apologies in advance, because this will probably require its own thread. Appealing to Rancor, Gaijinpunch and other JP residents or clued up sociologists to chime in.
The New God
Rancor wrote:You'll probably finish this movie just as confused as this girl was.
Lol, indeed, she was confused, but even though this documentary isn't really that entertaining, it got my brain going. It was a little bit like getting a back stage pass on Japanese mentality. I don't think that was its purpose, but indirectly, while seeing how the the two nationalists relate to themselves and other Japanese people, it ended up being psychologically broader.
Firstly, someone needs to
kill that fucking band.
Secondly, how indicative of Japanese mentality is the film as a whole in relation to post war sentiment? There seemed to be a lot of questions around xenophobia, feelings of uselessness, monotony and lack of expression that collided in this film. In a way, it made me think of the Japanese as an eternally dissatisfied nation who have enjoyed economic success, but don't feel successful as people. Does this have any truth? (I know it's a sweeping statement.) I can only assume that to have the highest suicide rate year on year you need to be relatively dissatisfied about something.
Amamiya's need to find a national unity even had her doting on North Korean communist propaganda. That's a pretty desperate thing. She also refers to life in Japan as empty and monotonous with no sense of national pride.
One of the most interesting things was hearing someone talk so candidly about being under the thumb of 'imperialist America'. 'Post-war' democracy was an issue raised several times, like it's some kind of charade, and the country lacks a true identity because of it.
The more they talked about respecting the war dead and the Yasukuni Shrine, the love for the Emperor and the need for Japanese people to take ownership of their race again, I suddenly started to see them as a people with imperialist aspirations who were essentially repressed in their pursuit of building the great Japanese Empire as a result of two atomic bombs.
In history they have
always tried to conquer their neighbours, always tried to make Japan into a true empire. If they fail, they give it a rest for a bit, and then try again. So I got this funny thought that, perhaps their dissatisfaction as a race is because they're yet to be successful in their pursuit to fulfil some kind of imperialist destiny, where they're recognised as a power of some kind. Instead they've been forced to be content with gadgets and pornography, and that's not enough to satisfy?
They seem like they need to chill the fuck out tbh, but I'm not sure they're capable of it.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Definitely interested to hear if all this is my overactive imagination or if any of it rings true for you long term residents.
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