Edmond Dantes wrote:....but in a lot of ways White Man is inferior to the Japanese. After all, look at how quickly they got with the program when the modern world forced itself on them--so much so that they dominated it for decades...
lol. I really can't believe someone wrote this earnestly. Do you have any idea exactly whose program they got with? Why they got with it? Exactly how they "dominated" for decades, and why they're not dominating now? Their whole economy and culture was built on a house of cards and they're in some deep shit now. Ask literally anyone who has spent any amount of time here for more than a family vacation and they'll tell you the same. Seriously man, read some history and talk to some Chinese, Koreans, or Philippinos about this "Japanese ambition".
Advice to you is stop reading books and try living here for almost a decade. The books you've mentioned have almost zero influence on modern Japanese, and I doubt that most have even heard of more than one or two, let alone read any of them.Edmond Dantes wrote: I think a lot of the Japan-haters only know Anime and Manga. That's not Japan. Try reading books like The Hagakure, the Book of Five Rings, or any actual cultural or historical work.