Comments on: High School Wasn’t Meant For Saturdays

By: kidie

kidie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:14:02 +0000

I am Chinese and I remember this hatred or simply discontent towards Japan has always been surrounding me since I was a kid. Its just there. I learned from people around me and watched TV dramas and movies about very evil Japanese soldiers killing innocent Chinese people. Well, I think its a very deep influence on my generation. However I have my own opinion towards it. Since I have spent a few years in a western country in Britain. I started to dislike our government very much. I do feel we lack a lot of human rights in China and the central government is just too powerful so that they can do anything in the name of protecting peoples interest and holding the country as a whole. I think the government like the people to remember the pain from the Japanese invasion coz that also make us remember that its the communist party saved us people and is leading us to the bright future.

By: wheatdogg

wheatdogg — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:28:41 +0000

I haven’t seen it at the college level, but then again I haven’t questioned them about Japan. Most of my students who have volunteered their travel plans want to go USA, Britain, Europe, or Australia.

You might challenge your students about what technologies they use daily that are Japanese. The CD, the DVD, and probably much more are also Japanese inventions. They watch Japanese anime, read manga, so there is a real disconnect here.

For what it’s worth, I lived in Kentucky for 25 years. There are still folks there who detest Yankees (like me) — they say the word with a sneering tone — because of the War of Northern Agression. And that was 140 years ago.

By: Yoshiko

Yoshiko — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:58:54 +0000

Your comment about your students’ “I hate Japan” comments aren’t surprising. I run across it occasionally here in Beijing too, and I faced it a lot when I used to teach here. Interestingly, it seems that the younger the audience, the more intense the anger seems to be (young up to a certain age). I’ve had people tell me that they hate all Japanese people except me, as well — when I ask them why, they say bc they think I’m pretty nice, so I mess up the pattern nasty Japanese people. Most of them also admit that they’d never met a Japanese person before me. strange.