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by jvm 5212 days ago
Playing the Japan card during discussion of a cultural phenomenon is the equivalent of playing the Hitler card in a political debate.

If there's one thing that's clear, it's that they will do absolutely anything in Japan.

EDIT: In Japan, this is the kind of thing they watch on TV: http://youtu.be/xqoXcLqVemA

1 comments

Yeah. Those wacky Orientals, eh?
I was just trying to point out cultural differneces in a tongue-in-cheek manner. I think Japan is the least Europeanized wealthy country (the other Asian tigers count too but are less renowned for shocking westerners). As a result, it's often a lot less valid to generalize from Japanese culture to American culture than, say, Australian or German.

There's a world of difference between pointing out cultural diversity and racial stereotyping. I guess the fact that I'm actually kind of into Vermillion Pleasure Night blinded me to the fact that some people might have interpreted my comments as derogatory.

They're not necessarily derogatory, just ignorant. For instance, "least Europeanized" is indeed a generalization to Western culture, just a negative one.