tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84157577035406829082024-03-12T20:51:11.301-07:00Ex Oriente lux: East & Southeast Asia StudiesMagic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-71129139679962308952016-10-24T08:15:00.002-07:002016-10-24T08:15:50.922-07:00同性社交性 - homosociality<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HVTxWUDIxco/WA4lH2hRucI/AAAAAAABNPc/RifNnx1-CUI5oQeN5m5sQHugrgKk4lBZACLcB/s1600/homosociality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HVTxWUDIxco/WA4lH2hRucI/AAAAAAABNPc/RifNnx1-CUI5oQeN5m5sQHugrgKk4lBZACLcB/s1600/homosociality.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">M</span>any sociological terms lack decent equivalents in Japanese. It seems the order of the day to get away with some clumsy Katakanese but to me it feels very unsatisfying ( 物足りない). In that sense, Chinese, having no other way but to render foreign words in relevant characters, shows more effort and creativity. Yet, character usage does differ between Chinese and Japanese and Som Chinese neologisms feel a bit of a stretch or not quite there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span>ne example: homosociality. The Japanese Wikipedia article is titled ホモソーシャル, which is not just a mere phonetic rendering, but is not even a noun. What's the noun from this then, ホモソーシャル性?Doh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he Chinese term is 同性友愛. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? But then it excludes a plethora hierarchical homosocial relationships, which are neither about friendship or love, or friendly love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">M</span>y suggestion for a term with the coverage more or less equivalent to the English original is 同性社交性 or 同性関係性. What do you think? </span></div>
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Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-72532534636994358932016-10-11T07:46:00.000-07:002016-10-26T08:49:48.215-07:00The origin of the Japanese word keizai (経済 'economy'')<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pixta.jp/illustration/13193819"><img alt="https://pixta.jp/illustration/13193819" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dj17yNaT3Tk/V_4NAauACLI/AAAAAAABNLI/k67OKdU46vgdAsggiLHLApfP_-_qPiBHQCLcB/s1600/kyuuseisaimin.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">N</span>o you won't see this <i>yojijukugo </i>in common use, but it is a widely accepted etymology of a very common word 経済, <i>economy</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span>hen Japan opened to the rest of the world in mid-19th century, it had to learn to communicate a lot of new things. Despite the thousands years of both inherited Chinese and indigenous Japanese scholarship, Japanese at the time lacked words to convey many concepts. Names for new objects as well as for abstract ideas had to be invented. In those days, the Japanese did not rely as much on <i>katakanese</i>, so they put their minds to make up new kanji-based words. Most of times, those would be very clever renderings of the meanings deciphered from European words and then reassembled in Japanese. For example, the word for society, <i>shakai</i>, would be made of two characters 社会 meaning "gathering in/around a Shinto shrine", which rather neatly and with a hint of metonymy gets across what a contemporary Japanese would envision society like. Swap the characters, and here comes 会社 <i>kaisha</i>, "company" or "firm" (by the way, both <i>société </i>in French). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />E</span>conomy in the sense of a discrete domain, (egregiously) thought to exist independently of everything else, such as society, environment, or psychology, is a relatively new way of thinking about the relations between money, commodities and labour. It was novel to the 19th century Japan (and, granted, just barely established in the West too). Understandably, there was no corresponding Japanese word for it. So </span><span style="font-size: large;">Meiji intellectuals, </span><span style="font-size: large;">well versed in Classical Chinese, digged out a wise maxim 經世濟民<i> keisei-saimin </i>from <i>The Book of The Master Who Embraces Simplicity</i>, a </span><span style="font-size: large;">4th-century </span><span style="font-size: large;">treatise by Ge Hong, a Jin Dynasty official.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he meaning of the phrase can be interpreted as "keeping the world in order will help out the people". This idea shows a strong influence of the Chinese political concept of the Mandate of Heaven with its insistence that "moral government brings peace to the country"). That kind of understanding echoes well with the parallel Western concept of <i>political economy</i>. Nearly two centuries of intellectual debate It is also rather contrary to the latter-day Neo-Classical idea of economy as a self-contained and self-serving Moloch, to the quantified attributes of which (such as growth, controlled inflation and an infinitely expanding slew of other numerical meta-entities) everything else needs to be sacrificed (aka <a href="http://cross-disciplinary-research.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/good%20for%20the%20economy%20shit%20for%20the%20people">#GoodForTheEconomyShitForThePeople</a>). It is interesting to see how economy from a way of social advancement through economic means has come to mean the opposite, the advancement of economic factors at the expense of social "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality">externalities</a>".</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-37010901815989177882016-10-11T05:38:00.000-07:002016-10-27T07:34:31.120-07:00Writing Thai with Chinese characters? Consider it done!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cMLTjwOPCsU/WBIQcbQNcEI/AAAAAAABNS4/tH3Zjjus1rUtua5e7WvQn53t649_QjNBgCLcB/s1600/Saw_sawndip.svg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cMLTjwOPCsU/WBIQcbQNcEI/AAAAAAABNS4/tH3Zjjus1rUtua5e7WvQn53t649_QjNBgCLcB/s320/Saw_sawndip.svg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span>hen I started learning Thai, I really missed characters to make sense of the language. Many ur-Thai words (not those of Sanskrit, Pali or Khmer descend) do have that East Asian quality of being short, expressing a conceptual meaning, and also being handy to use as morphemes to form word compounds with new meanings. So what I did, I assigned Chinese characters to Thai words with corresponding meanings! I was so proud of myself, thinking I invented a new way to write Thai! Besides, it really helped me ease in into a new language.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>wenty years later, almost to the day, I discovered that there has been a very similar way to write a Tai language like that: Sawndip script of the Zhuang language. This fascinates me no end, so I thought I would share this discovery with you. </span></div>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawndip"><span style="font-size: large;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawndip</span></a></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-7846396620854364712015-07-26T06:31:00.000-07:002015-12-14T07:44:54.283-08:00花鳥風月: the beauties of nature<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2U5KP7Dn8Hs/Vm7jkn0PHEI/AAAAAAAAgrQ/7BiZJkttt3c/s1600/chinese-autumn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2U5KP7Dn8Hs/Vm7jkn0PHEI/AAAAAAAAgrQ/7BiZJkttt3c/s400/chinese-autumn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">花鳥風月 literally means "flowers, birds, the wind and the Moon." In the Tang Imperial court of China, whence the Japanese picked up their penchant for such four-letter words (四字熟語), nature appreciation was a big thing. After all, it was the early centuries of the Common Era and, in the absence of TV, internet and <i>pachinko</i> parlours, the only competitors to admiring the beauties of nature would be sex and, for the educated, books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span>e rarely think this way, but for the most of us, everything around us, every single thing is man-made. Even trees in the park are planted there and the water in river is pollution-controlled and partly comes from sewage-processing plants. The nature on the other hand, is <i>just-so</i>. It happens there without anyone's apparent will, yet it organises itself into ridiculously complex ecosystems, as if by chance. Human intrusions upon that marvelous order are like encroachment on a beautiful, elaborate building by increasingly smart, malicious mould that leaves mostly toxic waste and destruction in its wake. Even such beautiful excuses for progress and development as some architecturally fascinating cities and towns, ultimately are festering ulcers on the body of our planet. A particularly poignant example of such human activity is the Tokyo Olympics 2020 site next to which the largest ongoing man-made disaster, the Fukushima Nuclear Plant keeps dumping lethal radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean and East Japan's densely populated areas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">S</span>o, enjoy your </span><span style="font-size: large;">花鳥風月</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">, while they are still around.</span> </span></div>
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Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-14197800299879155222015-06-29T03:05:00.001-07:002015-06-29T03:05:55.162-07:00喜怒哀楽 - Human emotions, which ones are desirable?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h7D1hXOgivY/VZEYV0OyxII/AAAAAAAAgdM/OzFAwW8q_TQ/s1600/kidoairaku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h7D1hXOgivY/VZEYV0OyxII/AAAAAAAAgdM/OzFAwW8q_TQ/s1600/kidoairaku.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">喜怒哀楽 <i>kidoairaku </i>"joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure".</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Recently I attended a talk by an American anthropologist Melissa Caldwell, where, <i>inter alia</i>, she shared her observation that Russians consider experiencing the whole range of emotions from suffering to joy as natural for human beings, while for Americans being always happy is the desired objective.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For me, the latter has a lot to do with the <i>technologies of the self</i> of the <i>Neo-Liberal subject</i>: our life objective is assumed the be the relentless pursuit of happiness (a nod to the Founding Fathers), where we would strive for perfection in every aspect of our lives. It should be rather self-evident that such a unrealistic goal-posting is a recipe for disaster: if a basic acquaintance with how the human nervous system works (it naturally operates in up-ad-down cycles and prolonged periods of either negative or positive stimulation wearing it out) is not enough, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/nov/20/mental-health-antidepressants-global-trends">the 21st century's boom in anti-depressant consumption</a> should confirm that the pressure to be always happy achieves exactly the opposite. </span>Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-11156577331032463442015-05-16T02:35:00.001-07:002015-06-29T02:23:51.462-07:00浅からず深からず : interested but not involved<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EVq7dxRdEAw/VVcLEKgtzbI/AAAAAAAAga0/aFMu7jE3XwI/s1600/KrishnaArjuna.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EVq7dxRdEAw/VVcLEKgtzbI/AAAAAAAAga0/aFMu7jE3XwI/s1600/KrishnaArjuna.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">浅からず深からず - <i>Asakarazu, fukakarazu.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>echnically, this is not a four-letter compound, although it can be written as such, <i>kango</i>-style, 不浅不深 (please correct me, if necessary, I'm not big on <i>kango</i>). I heard it some 20-odd years ago, when a Japanese girl I knew told me that the best way to keep relationships with people is "not too shallow, not too deep". Coming from a culture where it's all about emotional extremes, that came across cold and indifferent to me. Not any more though, as life experience has taught me that to enjoy earthlings the best, you ought to keep them at a healthy distance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>here's another Japanese saying to that effect: 附かず離れず (<i>tsukazu hanarezu</i>), "no attachment, no detachment". It popped up in an interview I made with a 70-year-old Japanese man in Bangkok last winter. After meditating on the two above sayings as a kind of <i>koan </i>for a while, I had a minor epiphany, triggered by accidentally revisiting the famous talk Krishna gave Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Ghita: "Stay interested, but not involved. There's nothing about this world that is real." My own insight was that "interested" is exactly the Middle Path, my dear <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Way"><i>majjhima</i>,</a> between being indifferent and being too involved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span>s usual, the truth is in the middle, just ask those mysterious, exotic and oh so wise Orientals. :-)</span></div>
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Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-18140634350103242082014-12-08T20:53:00.000-08:002015-12-14T07:14:00.102-08:00On power and respect: the change in Thai perception of Russia<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img class="irc_mi" height="393" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sV5O4MXEBnI/maxresdefault.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="629" />T</span>he other day we went to a restaurant in Silom, Bangkok's business district. At the end of the dinner, I got to chat with our waitress, who upon learning where I am from, started waxing on lyrically about what a great, strong and admirable leader Putin is and what a great rich country Russia is. <br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I </span>am not quite used to Thais enthusing about anything Russian at all. When I lived in Bangkok in the late 1990s, Russia was a defeated Communist tyranny fighting a poor self-image, hyper-inflation and a complete rehaul of its entire way of life in the midst of Yeltsin's lawlessness. I remember reading then an article in the</span><span style="font-size: large;"> Times of </span><span style="font-size: large;"> India to the effect that Russia, with its compromised economical and international clout, is now a poor cousin to ignore not an ally to side with. It sounded unpleasantly opportunistic, yet it did, with </span><span style="font-size: large;">unashamed honesty, describe the wide-spread perception of Russia at the time. In Thailand, Russians were the <i>farang jon</i>, 'poor Caucasians', stragely dressed and with little purchase power.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span>ll that has changed with Putin dragging Russia out of </span><span style="font-size: large;">the Hobbesian <i>bellum omnium contra omnes</i> that it was in the 1990s. Russia's estimated 5 billion dollar annual investment into Thailand and the influx of cavalierly spending Russian tourists </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">seem to caus a sea change in Thais' ideas about the country.</span> Besides such visible signs as the ubiquitous Russian-language signs and </span><span style="font-size: large;">menus, the attitude has shifted too: neither any longer a feared Communist empire, nor a poor cousin of the farang world, Russia now seems to be admired mostly on the back of its economic resurrection.</span></div>
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Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-61499118061735555922014-12-08T20:11:00.000-08:002015-12-14T07:14:35.875-08:00Sinic vs. Indic through spiritual traditions<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TzpRIjXTpdo/VZEP7vWCmVI/AAAAAAAAgc4/Ku4DJSBT1k0/s1600/china%2Bindia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TzpRIjXTpdo/VZEP7vWCmVI/AAAAAAAAgc4/Ku4DJSBT1k0/s1600/china%2Bindia.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>his piece's main thrust is by no means to promote
yet another modernist dichotomy but
there is a noteworthy distinction between yoga and Tai Chi/Qi Gong
approaches, even if both work with the same energies in the same
earthling's body, or, if you will, both are two different paths to the same summit. To make it clear from the start, I am not talking about modern Western adaptations of yoga for physical workouts, which are highly syncretic and are a totally different kettle of fish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">F</span>irstly,
quite a bit of time in yoga is spent sitting on the floor, while the
Sinic martial arts keep you on your feet all the time. For me, that has
to do with the type of personal eschatology each tradition adopts. The
Indic way fells more about deeper digging into oneself until you
discover there the Absolute and thus escape the physical world for good.
The Sinic way is to harness the power of the Absolute and make it work
in the physical world (cf. Mao's simile of how the stupid, the clever and the wise deal with wind). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">S</span>econdly,
in yoga a lot of exercises and definitely meditation is done with your
eyes closed, while in Chinese martial arts your eyes are open and
focused or, sometimes, semi-closed, and very rarely completely shut.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>o what extent these two existential imperatives influence the modernisation paths of China and India is a moot point. Just like Weber's grossly misunderstood Protestant spirit is an important, yet one of a multitude of the factors behind the success of Western capitalism, there are a myriad of reasons why Chinese and Indian economies are the way they are now. Chinese and Indian middle classes are probably more similar in their aspiration for modernist success, than different. Yet, there is something manifesting behind what you see as you travel through the two countries,
which helps make sense once you keep in mind the subtle differences
between the approaches of the two cultural pinnacles, which are yoga and
Tai Chi/Qi Gong. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">P. S.</span> This piece was partly inspired by a conversation with a Japanese teacher of Tai Chi, who after living 20 years in Bangkok, told me that ethnic Thais overwhelmingly prefer yoga and Sino-Thais mostly go for Tai Chi. </span></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-13025019140079825042014-10-01T04:08:00.001-07:002014-10-19T14:29:12.456-07:00井底之蛙: why frogs do not fly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kLww4EYFYP4/VCvgDT7vVBI/AAAAAAAAgMI/fDoXhKnx9UU/s1600/frog%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kLww4EYFYP4/VCvgDT7vVBI/AAAAAAAAgMI/fDoXhKnx9UU/s1600/frog%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bwell.jpg" height="400" width="388" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span>nce they asked a frog who lived at the bottom of a well, 'Would you like to fly in the sky?'</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">'W</span>hy the fuck would I want to do that?' quoth the amphibian. 'Your sky is the size of a handkerchief!' </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">井底之蛙 - jǐng dǐ zhī wā, "frog at the bottom of a well".</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"In the sky full of people, only some want to fly, isn't that crazy?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">More articles like this: <a href="http://asia-asia-asia-asia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/%E5%9B%9B%E5%AD%97%E7%86%9F%E8%AA%9E">四字熟語- ancient wisdom in four-letter maxims</a> </span>Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-82884462654826580972014-04-25T07:58:00.000-07:002014-10-01T04:28:32.985-07:00弱肉強食: “survival of the fittest”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-puHG4rkZzIY/U1p33_unqfI/AAAAAAAAgDQ/aLGv3Nci7TQ/s1600/%E5%BC%B1%E8%82%89%E5%BC%B7%E9%A3%9F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-puHG4rkZzIY/U1p33_unqfI/AAAAAAAAgDQ/aLGv3Nci7TQ/s1600/%E5%BC%B1%E8%82%89%E5%BC%B7%E9%A3%9F.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="JA" style="font-family: "MS Mincho";">弱肉強食</span></span></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> (jakuniku kyōshoku)</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span>s Leben really a Kampf? Should we cull out the low-earners annually? Who will eat the strongest once they are too fat?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he proverbial “survival of the fittest”, the Neo-Liberal rallying cry
meant to justify every minor and major dastardly policy, in Japanese sounds
even juicier: “The weak are the meat for the strong”. That said, it’s no match
for my Dad’s laconic French, ‘in life you either fuck or get fucked’.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">More articles like this: <a href="http://asia-asia-asia-asia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/%E5%9B%9B%E5%AD%97%E7%86%9F%E8%AA%9E">四字熟語- ancient wisdom in four-letter maxims</a></span> </span></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-13620364184664313972014-04-07T06:32:00.000-07:002014-10-03T04:39:30.556-07:00晴耕雨読:the joys of country life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nJhKxRVn9aE/U1p6SJNRFwI/AAAAAAAAgDc/J1ckxFH1YHU/s1600/diocletian+cabbages+rural+joys.png.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nJhKxRVn9aE/U1p6SJNRFwI/AAAAAAAAgDc/J1ckxFH1YHU/s1600/diocletian+cabbages+rural+joys.png.jpg" height="397" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-weXGpKypz1k/U0Klbaso9NI/AAAAAAAAgCo/JXTfK0gMalI/s1600/diocletian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">晴耕雨読 (</span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>sei</i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>kō udoku</i>):<span style="font-size: x-large;"> "</span>Till the land when the sky is clear, read a book when it rains." For those aware of ancient history, this would surely remind of the </span><span style="font-size: large;">Roman Emperor Diocletian's </span><span style="font-size: large;">retirement plan. After a career of feeding Christians to lions, introducing prostration as the form of greeting the emperor, and a slew of very savvy administrative reforms, he retired to blessed <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/101112497434601662621/Yugoslavia2014CroatiaMontenegroBosniaAndHerzegovina?authkey=Gv1sRgCMjj77D9yM6e9gE">Dalmatia</a> (now part of Croatia) to grow cabbages. When appealed by his subjects to return to the throne and fix the crumbling empire, he reportedly replied: 'If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn't dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed.' That uncool verbosity could have been avoided though, had </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">he have a smattering of Chinese or Japanese</span>:'</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">晴耕雨読, innit!".</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">More articles like this: <a href="http://asia-asia-asia-asia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/%E5%9B%9B%E5%AD%97%E7%86%9F%E8%AA%9E">四字熟語- ancient wisdom in four-letter maxims</a></span></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-52490890288739418952014-04-07T06:00:00.001-07:002016-01-06T04:14:04.851-08:00Four-letter words are not always foul language: 四字熟語 and 成語<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AS2rWMUJix4/U0KisOOwQ-I/AAAAAAAAgCg/WOMKJpFzRdw/s1600/Confucius+Say.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AS2rWMUJix4/U0KisOOwQ-I/AAAAAAAAgCg/WOMKJpFzRdw/s1600/Confucius+Say.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">C</span>hinese for Japanese is what Greek and Latin are for European languages or Sanskrit is for Thai and Malay: the source of a high, abstract vocabulary as well as, with a due bit of curiosity and intellectual effort, access to the wisdom of the ancients of the "<a href="http://www.just-one-liners.com/category/confucius-say-wordplay">Confucius say</a>" fame.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span>ne part of that ancient Chinese heritage are <i>yoji-jukugo</i> (四字熟語), delightfully laconic idioms that express very complex ideas or metaphors in mere four characters. Using the same model, the Japanese have later come up with their own indigenous <i>yoji-jukugo,</i> just as succinct and sagacious as the 成語 (chéngyǔ) borrowings from China.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Q</span>uite a few of them are included in the national school curriculum and thus effectively are</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> part of the daily vernacular. Every once in a while I post the juiciest and intellectually aesthetically striking ones here: <a href="http://asia-asia-asia-asia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/%E5%9B%9B%E5%AD%97%E7%86%9F%E8%AA%9E">四字熟語</a>/<a href="http://asia-asia-asia-asia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/%E6%88%90%E8%AA%9E">成語</a>, so that you too can drink from that refreshing font of timeless wisdom. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">P.S.</span> The Thai language also has a similar concept, where a four-letter, essentially four-word set expression represents a graphic metaphor, a moralistic proverb or a witty allegory. There's a plethora of such in Thai but one that springs to mind first is บ้านนอกโคกนา (<i>ban nok khok na</i>), literally meaning "the countryside: a chicken coop and a rice field", a both nostalgic and slightly pejorative description for where most people in this rapidly urbanising nation come from.</span> </span></div>
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Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-23499010924541105612013-11-04T10:17:00.001-08:002013-11-04T10:17:21.205-08:00Old-Style Japanese names of months (旧暦の月名)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">B</span>efore Japan was restyled along the Western lines in the 19th century, it had enjoyed about three centuries of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku">relatively isolated existence</a> off the easternmost side of Eurasia. Even before that, a strong urge for departing from perceived cultural dependence on China, a great influence on Japan since its early days, had kept cropping up in various circles of Japanese society. Consequently, practically every aspect of Japanese life had evolved deliciously original or creatively reinvented to develop a rather unique flavour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">F</span>or example, the latter-day boring names of months - the First month for January, the Second month for February, etc. - were predated by colourful native Japanese (<i>Yamato</i>) names.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span> remember listening to a <a href="http://youtu.be/uYoVED-8Tq8?t=48s">song by Nakajima Miyuki</a> many, many years ago and admiring just how much more powerful and graphic was 嵐明けの如月compared to a mere 寒い二月.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">H</span>ere's a list of all old-style Japanese names for months with most widely accepted explanations of their meanings: </span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;">1月/January:睦月(むつき) Mutsuki - the month when families gather to celebrate;<br /> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
2月/February:如月/更衣(きさらぎ) Kisaragi - the month when winter clothes are changed for spring ones;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
3月/March:弥生(やよい)Yayoi - the month when leaves and grass finally become abundant;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
4月/April:卯月(うづき)Udzuki - the month when <i>deutzia</i> flowers (<i>u no hana</i>) blossom;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
5月/May:皐月/早月(さつき) Satsuki - the month to plant rice;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
6月/June:水無月(みなづき) Minadzuki - the month when the <i>tsuyu </i>rains stop;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
7月/July:文月(ふみつき/ふづき) Fudzuki - the month of poem-writing for the Tanabata festival;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
8月/August:葉月(はづき) Hadzuki - the month when leaves start turning yellow;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
9月/September:長月(ながつき)/菊月(きくづき) Nagatsuki/Kikudzuki - the month whe nights start growing longer or the month when chrysanthemums blossom;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
10月/October:神無月(かんなづき) Kannadzuki - the month when the first <i>sake </i>of the year is drunk as offering to gods;<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
11月:霜月(しもつき)Shimotsuki - the month when frost starts appearing;<br /> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">
12月:師走(しわす)/極月(ごくげつ) Shiwasu/Gokugetsu - the month when Buddhist priests are busy running end-of-the-year errands or the final month.</span></li>
</ul>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-85136377712752941932013-10-27T14:27:00.000-07:002013-10-27T14:46:35.497-07:00Best Japanese textbooks<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I </span>have been teaching Japanese for last 15 or so years and two best textbooks I have come across are: </span></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804833923/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0804833923&linkCode=as2&tag=nifnosthedelo-20">A Guide to Writing Japanese Kanji & Kana Book 1: A Self-Study Workbook for Learning Japanese Characters</a></span></li>
</ul>
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<li> <img alt="" border="0" class="goxpdeiwrjybmrjdonmp" height="1" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=nifnosthedelo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0804833923" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4871381374/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=4871381374&linkCode=as2&tag=nifnosthedelo-20">Communicating in Japanese by Hiroyoshi Noto</a> </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span>hat makes the two stand out is that they are perfect both for self-studies as well as learning with a teacher/tutor. Unlike many textbooks in the market that offer few or no exercises, these offer plenty practice for the words, <i>kanji </i>and grammar that you learn. That is the best way to make sure that you don't forget what you learn the next day, as it seems to happen way too often.</span></div>
<img alt="" border="0" class="goxpdeiwrjybmrjdonmp" height="1" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=nifnosthedelo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=4871381374" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-6856154078609506312013-08-22T03:29:00.001-07:002013-08-22T03:29:30.629-07:00Sexual morality in Indian myths<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"> Sita got laid at 6.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Brahma did same with a daughter at 4.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Five members sharing one wife (Draupadi). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Strip a woman before everyone (Duryodhani and Draupadi).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Gamble your wife(Pandavas) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Millions girlfriends and never marry anyone (Lord Krishna </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Eve-Teasing (Lord Krishna with gopis) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Send a nude girl to distract someone (Menaka to Vishwamitra) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Abandon your pregnant wife (Lord Rama andSita)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Abandon your own child (Kunti to Karna) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Elope with a girl on her wedding (Lord Krishna with Rukmini) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Mother advises to share wife among brothers (Kunti to Pandavas about Draupadi).</span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Myths in every culture contain instances of sexual practices questionable from the point of view of current morality: e.g., righteous Lot upon escape from the ungodly Sodom had sex with his two daughters and had children by them. It only shows that our ideas about sexuality change drastically in the course of time. There is no doubt that our latter-day sexual mores will seem outrageous to our grandchildren.</span></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-57849006681751620012013-05-20T04:38:00.000-07:002013-05-20T04:38:49.881-07:00The Hundredth Anniversary of Thai Nationality<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">B</span>ack on the 10th <span style="font-size: large;">of April we celebrated 1<span style="font-size: large;">00 years since the invention of </span></span>Thai nationality<span style="font-size: large;">, which</span> appeared for the first time in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the Nationality Act B.E. 2456, enacted by King Rama VI on<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>10 April 1913. <span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">N</span>ext <span style="font-size: large;">year we w<span style="font-size: large;">ill be celebrating the <span style="font-size: large;">centennia<span style="font-size: large;">l of </span></span>British nationality, int<span style="font-size: large;">ro<span style="font-size: large;">duced by the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1914/17/pdfs/ukpga_19140017_en.pdf">The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act</a> in 1914. Although we tend to think o<span style="font-size: large;">f national<span style="font-size: large;">ity<span style="font-size: large;"> a<span style="font-size: large;">s well as citi<span style="font-size: large;">z<span style="font-size: large;">enship, trad<span style="font-size: large;">iti<span style="font-size: large;">ons and such associated with it as something <span style="font-size: large;">steeped in time<span style="font-size: large;">, in reality, they all were created and normalised about <span style="font-size: large;">a cent<span style="font-size: large;">ur</span>y or so ago. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">G</span>ood sources to <span style="font-size: large;">learn about the complex history of such ma<span style="font-size: large;">instays</span> of<span style="font-size: large;"> the </span>modern mass conscious are: Be<span style="font-size: large;">n Anderson's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagined_communities">Imagined Communities</a><span style="font-size: large;"> and</span> <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Invention_of_Tradition.html?id=sfvnNdVY3KIC&redir_esc=y">The Invention of Tradition</a> edited by Eric <span style="font-size: large;">Hobsbawm and Terence <span style="font-size: large;">Ranger.</span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-8594168559240591452013-04-30T06:06:00.004-07:002013-04-30T06:06:54.946-07:00Nihonjinron and Japanese nationalismMain themes<br />Nihonjinron, (aka Nihon-bunkaron, Nihon-shakairon) translating as 'discussions of Japanese identity' (Dale 1986: 119) "constitutes a broadly based ideological stance for Japan's nationalism" (Befu 1993: 107). Its three central themes are a) the Japanese are group-oriented people, b) Japanese society is 'uniquely' different vis-à-vis the rest of the world, and c) the homogeneity of the Japanese nation (Mouer and Sugimoto 1986: 406). <br /><br />As Self is defined less by what one is and more by what one is not through 'Othering' (Said 1978), so the Japanese identity is constructed by 'Othering' the non-Japanese in a diametric opposition to itself in terms of class, culture, and ethnicity (Lie 2000). Thus, Nihonjinron categorizes the humanity through the binary contrasts (cf. Levi-Strauss 1967) of characteristics allegedly inherent to either the Japanese, Us, or the Other, Them: island - continent, blood purity - miscegenation of race, vegetable/rice diet - animal flesh food base, ‘shame’ culture - ‘guilt’ culture, peaceful - bellicose, spiritual –materialistic, etc. (Dale 1986: 42-51).<br /><br />In the absence of “dialogue and the feedback from the contrasted Other” (Dale 1986: 40), assumptions about it go untempered in terms of geographical (Watsuji 1962), genetic (Hayashida 1976) and linguistic (Suzuki 1975, Watanabe 1974) determinism, racial purity (Masuda 1967), social homogeneity (Nakane 1967, Tsurumi 1986) and cultural primordialism (Masuda 1967, Kimura 1972).<br /><br />Origins and switchover<br /> Although discussions of Japaneseness vs. Chineseness go as far as the Heian period of Early Japan, the term Nihonjinron dates back to the Tokugawa period (1603-1868) (Kawamura 1980: 44; Minami, 1980). In the late Tokugawa, the West took over the role of the Other from China (Pyle 1969), as Nihonjinron was adopted by the moribund shogunate as a counter-hegemonic ideology against Western colonialism. Soon after that, early Meiji intellectuals used it to develop a nationalist ideology (Hendry 2000). It dialectically combines both "oneness" and "otherness" by way of an “internalization of Orientalism” as an attempt to join the Western Other (Nakata-Stephensen 2000:142) in a self-exoticisation complimentary to the West's Orientalism (Iwabuchi 1994). <br /><br />Expulsion and projection<br />However, conforming to the Western normative values, the pre-requisite of joining the European-dominated “international society” of “civilised nations” (Bull and Watson 1977), did not yield that coveted membership and ended up in disillusionment. Building on the success if its early modernisation and military victories, Japan then re-invented itself as the Pan-Asian saviour from Western imperialism: becoming the Other of the West, albeit superior to the rest of Asia. This rhetoric adopted from the “White man’s burden” and mission civilisatrice of Western colonialism was served as the ideological justification of Shōwa imperialism (Nakata Steffensen, 2000:145). It was voiced by top politicians and influential intellectuals such as Kita Ikki, Ishiwara Kanji and Prime Minister Tōjō and served as the ideological justification of Japanese imperialism between 1895 and 1945 (Beasley 1991, Steffensen 2000, Kang 2005, Guelgher 2006, Ohno 2006). <br /><br />Loud defeat and quiet resurrection<br /><br /> After WWII, Nihonjinron discussions resolved in much the same way as before the war in all save two respects: absence of the official emperor’s cult and the lower level of state involvement (Befu 2001: 140). Post-war identity evolved in a powerful US physical and ideological presence at the backdrop of Japan’s participation in the Cold War effort, the widening economical gap with Asia and the ascendant neo-nationalist current (Tamotsu Aoki 1990:29). With the state taking a back seat on the ideological front, support for Nihonjinron ideas now emanates from the grass-roots (Ibid). Its quasi-scientific postulates are perpetuated and popularised by “upper-echelon scholars in the Japanese academy” (Dale 1986:15) thus gaining credibility in public opinion. Both Befu (1993) and Dale (1986) mention the oft-cited Nomura survey on the staggering proliferation and perennial popularity of Nihonjinron literature with approximately 700 book titles (let alone the much more numerous articles in magazines and journals) published between 1946 and 1978, while Yamawaki (2001) reports a further increase of such publications in the following period. <br /><br />Indicative of Nihonjinron's deep hold over the nation’s consciousness is another survey done by the NHK, the national broadcasting company, in 1987. In it, nearly 80% of the respondents said that they felt the Japanese ethnic group or race (Nihon-minzoku) to be a superior one (quoted in Murphy-Shigematsu 1993: 78). Statements by people at many levels of society display beliefs that Japanese and non-Japanese have different human gestation periods, body temperatures, intestinal length, brains, and general body composition (Taylor 1983 quoted in Murphy-Shigematsu 2000: 70). Ben-Ari (2000: 73) notes that the majority of his Overseas Japanese interviewees “use the Nihonjinron kind of explanations to underline the uniqueness of Japan” (Manabe and Befu 2012).<br />
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Current identity crisis<br />
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Towards the end of the 20th century Japan found itself in the throes of self-identity crisis. A perfect storm of drastic social change both domestically and internationally has destabilised the official nationalist discourse of Japan as an ethnically homogenous, harmonious nation (Nakane 1967), a “middle-mass” society (Murakami 1981), uniquely fit for success thanks to its inimitable characteristics (Yoshino 1992).<br />The so-called Second Opening of Japan (migration of foreign labour immigration started in the 1980s) and particularly the “labour repatriation” of Nikkeis have problematised the issues of Japanese ethnicity, nationality and citizenship (Kajita 1998, Sellek 1998, de Carvalho 2002). A body of research on multiethnic (De Vos & Wetherall 1973, Murphy-Shigematsu 1993, Lie 2001) and multicultural (Weiner 1997, Douglass & Roberts 2000) Japan has been developed in a kind of "elective affinity" (Weber 1895) with the gradual recognition of regional and ethnic identities. As the widening gap between the rich and the poor with the end of the economic miracle became apparent (Marshall et al 1997, Sato 2000), so did the previously ignored reality of class and conflict (Steven 1983, Ishida 1988, Eisenstadt & Ben-Ari 1990). The emergence of the Shinjinrui , the Japanese equivalent of the Generations Y and Next, exposed a sea change in values, attitudes and lifestyles between different age groups (Goodman 1993, Herbig and Borstorff 1995, Yoshizaki 1997). The post-Cold War realignment of power and interests, made Japan question its place in the multipolar world (Murphy-Shigematsu 1993).<br /><br />At the same time, Nihonjinron continues to inform public policies and decision-making, for example, provision guidelines in public education are based on hegemonic discourses of ethnic exclusion (Mito 2009). Even such ostensibly inclusion-promoting policies as kokusaika (internationalisation) and tabunka (multiculturality) appear, upon closer examination, to be powerful discourses of displacement (Burgess 2003). The discourse of Japan’s inherent superiority and paternalism vs. the rest of Asia continues in a variety of new guises all harking back to the pre-war pan-Asianism (Nakata-Steffensen 2000:148-150). Late 1980s, with Japan at the peak of it economic ascendance and the perceived decline of the USA, Europe and the socialist world, saw the development of a Japan vs. the ‘non-Asian West discourse (Hiaishi 1994:27-28). <br /><br /><br />Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-12744691933578131432013-02-11T10:06:00.001-08:002013-02-11T10:06:07.243-08:00Lost files:; destroying a sand mandala<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>oday I accidentally deleted a whole updated folder wi<span style="font-size: large;">th all my PhD files. Shock<span style="font-size: large;">. I have a bit old backup, so some files are gone for good. Boohoo<span style="font-size: large;">.The <span style="font-size: large;">transience of all creation. Om<span style="font-size: large;">mmmmmmmmm.</span> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/10084L3Pqsc" width="459"></iframe>Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-45765867587021608132013-02-10T08:12:00.003-08:002013-02-10T08:12:50.841-08:00Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">K</span>eep googling and th<span style="font-size: large;">ou</span> findest: <a href="http://ci.nii.ac.jp/vol_issue/nels/AA11853860_en.html">Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology</a>. Just when I tho<span style="font-size: large;">ug</span>ht the Japanese were not k<span style="font-size: large;">ee</span>n on publishing their academic journals online, there you go!</span></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-50321344554664319492013-02-10T08:04:00.003-08:002013-02-10T08:04:26.777-08:00Japanese in Thailand: bits an pieces その1<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jat.or.th/"><span style="font-size: x-large;">J</span>apanese Association in Thailand</a> (タイ国日本人会、website only in Japanese)<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>was established in 1912 as <span style="font-size: large;">the </span>Japanese Club (日本人倶楽部). That makes it world's oldest organisation of that kind, well ahead of any other country with <span style="font-size: large;">Japanese presence.<span style="font-size: large;"> One of its accomplishments was <span style="font-size: large;">a<span style="font-size: large;">cqu<span style="font-size: large;">iring a p<span style="font-size: large;">lot of land <span style="font-size: large;">on<span style="font-size: large;"> the supposed site of the 17th-<span style="font-size: large;">century Japan<span style="font-size: large;">ese s<span style="font-size: large;">ettlement in Ayutthaya and establishing there first a m<span style="font-size: large;">emorial site and later an open-air museum.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he Th<span style="font-size: large;">ai-Japanese <span style="font-size: large;">A</span>ssociation (<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">泰日</span>協会</span>, )<span style="font-size: large;">, e<span style="font-size: large;">stasbli<span style="font-size: large;">shed in 1935, is another kettle of fish. With its </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">website in English and <span style="font-size: large;">Thai, </span>but no Japanese</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">, it aims, quite successfully, <span style="font-size: large;">at</span> <span style="font-size: large;">promoting various sorts of co<span style="font-size: large;">o</span>peration between the two count<span style="font-size: large;">ries<span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span></span></span></div>
Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-9753937274546608352010-11-04T16:11:00.000-07:002010-11-04T16:12:20.255-07:00zhao yi zhou calligrapher<span style="font-size:130%;">It turns out my Chinese teacher is an accomplished calligrapher.<br /><br />http://zhaoyizhou.co.uk/<br /></span>Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-3505786819271176032010-10-31T06:53:00.000-07:002010-10-31T07:06:39.144-07:00Chinese-English character dictionary<span style="font-size:130%;">http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-dictionary.php<br /><br />This is a pretty cool online tool. Bummer, I can't use it in my Chinese classes, because, by some strange twist of academic management, 30Russell Square is deprived of WiFi access to EduRoam.<br /><br />What I really like is that YellowBridge allows you to draw characters in a Java applet window, much quicker than searching by the radical.<br /><br />In search results you get<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">both the Traditional and Simplfied versions,<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;">Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese pronunciation</span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;">Mandarin audio file</span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;">compound words</span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"> Java animation for the </span><span style="font-size:130%;">stroke order<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;">usage examples (Chinese sentences with English translations)</span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Korean <span style="font-style: italic;">hanja </span>readings are conspicuously missing.<br /><br />Japanese readings, however, are not very reliable. For example, it claims that the Japanese reading for 团 is <span style="font-style: italic;">shuu</span>. In fact, it is <span style="font-style: italic;">dan</span>, related to the modern Mandarin <span style="font-style: italic;">tuan</span>.<br /></span>Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-7409192819172168792010-10-31T06:19:00.000-07:002010-10-31T06:21:09.660-07:00Learn Korean script quickly: online flash cardshttp://www.aeriagloris.com/LearnKorean/Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8415757703540682908.post-3845058866830932802010-10-31T06:18:00.000-07:002010-10-31T06:19:51.356-07:00Asia, Asian, OrientalThe objective of this blog: posting all worthwhile links, thoughts about Asia.Magic Whalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03510024902554569159noreply@blogger.com0