For a long time, the Mainichi Daily News website had a popular feature called WaiWai that translated salacious articles from Japanese tabloids into English. Not all Japanese tabloids are made the same, of course, but the WaiWai editors gleefully placed them all under the overarching word “weeklies” as to equate the deep investigative journalism on politics and entertainment in Shukan Bunshun with the pure fictionalized sensationalist garbage of Jitsuwa Knuckles. WaiWai could then scour the deepest and darkest corners of newsstands for the most ridiculous stories and act like this junk was a legitimate part of the mainstream Japanese media environment and worthy of reportage.
Thanks in part to the screed of this roustabout1, the Japanese “blogosphere” realized for the first time a few months ago that a top newspaper’s website was offering the world stories on Japanese mothers fellating their sons to bolster academic acumen and a Roppongi restaurant letting customers sodomize animals before eating them. Thus rose a great populist wrath, and Mainichi has since been on a pathetic slapstick comedy mission to issue as many apologies as humanly possible. WaiWai is now six feet under, and head editor Ryann Connell is locked up in virtual house arrest.
When the debacle erupted, I generally forgot about my earlier criticism against WaiWai and assumed the blow-up was another 2-Channel witch hunt. Today anonymous masses would scream against Mainichi, tomorrow they would scream against McDonalds giving out too many ketchup packets. But this very non-judgmental Global Voices Online article reminded me of the true WaiWai depths: why in the world would Mainichi Daily News happily publish a clearly-untrue article about Japanese flying to Ecuador to murder children as sport? Hard not to feel sympathetic to Japanese individuals living in Ecuador worried about the impact of such a story floating around the internet removed from its original palpably-dubious context.
For me and a lot of my peers, the WaiWai controversy could be boiled down to a lapse in journalistic ethics: an intentional obscuring of diversity in shukanshi accuracy, a cynical scrounge for sex-driven stories in order to boost web traffic, “creative” translation that distorted the nuance of the original articles. There has been a loud counter-criticism from the foreign community that “WaiWai was just bringing Japanese journalism to light,” and I agree that a lot of WaiWai’s heavy misogyny simply reflects Japanese shukanshi’s chronic objectification of women. But the Mainichi feature was never some kind of detached, sociological “objective look” at Japanese tabloid journalism: WaiWai exploited and amplified the original prurience for commercial gain.
I find the death threats and calls to “drop a nuclear bomb on Australia” reprehensible and overblown, but they do reveal that this is not a simple case of demarche against impoverished “journalistic ethics.” The passionate anti-Mainichi mobs believe that Ryann Connell and his crew are “racist” and the foreign staff of WaiWai intentionally chose and worded translations in order to embarrass and debase the Japanese people. Forget cynical profit motives, this is another volley in the age old war between peoples of different racial descent.
Indeed, most of the anti-WaiWai screeds have possessed a noticeable amount of “nationalist” sentiment. This blogger Tonchamon has been identified as a “key leader” of the anti-WaiWai movement, and judging by the Korea was Created by Japan and China’s Despotism Shakes the World tomes recommended at the left, I am guessing he is extremely invested protecting the image of Japan in relation to other foreign countries (especially Japan’s hostile and “ungrateful” Asian neighbors). There are surely non-nationalist Japanese with bones to pick with WaiWai, but the “damage to motherland” angle has become central to the entire affair. This wiki on the debacle features a parody Mainichi Shimbun ad stating: “We no longer need a newspaper that scorns our country.” (母国を侮蔑する新聞はもういらない。)
In the past we have discussed whether otaku are “right-wing,” and although many strongly suggest that the “net uyoku” are distinct from pure anime-loving nerds, the two sections definitely haunt the same pages and halls of the internet. There does not seem to be a palpable discomfort with the nationalist sentiments that form most of the counter-attack against WaiWai. This suggests to me that: young computer-involved Japanese are more likely to base their identity on being members of a nation state compared to their peers in the United States. I do not mean nationalism here to necessarily imply militarism or jingoism: simply a deep concern with national identity and national image. And this net nationalism is mostly disconnected from the political process: 2-Ch schadenfreude about Koreans rarely links to a pro-LDP position over DPJ, etc. (Apparently, the Japanese Communist Party and proletarian literature are blossoming with the growing NEET and freeter segments of society.) But in this ideology, the individual’s relation to his nation state is key, and there is thus a need to protect the image of that nation-state in order to protect his/her own identity.
As an American of the liberal persuasion, I am naturally inclined to be suspicious of a personal identity that concerns itself with “defending” the national image. The United States deserves all the (non-violent) hate it gets for invading Iraq, and before that, for supporting countless dictatorships and oppressing democracy in the name of “anti-communism.” (And the list does not stop there…) I cannot imagine ever getting bent out of shape that an American media source “scorned the image of our country.”
But this is essentially a matter of taste as much as politics. Chuck Klosterman perfectly captures this collective taste culture in his book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Here was the conceit of my email: I gave everyone two potential options for a hypothetical blind date and asked them to pick who they’d prefer. The only thing they knew about the first candidate was that he or she was attractive and successful. The only things they knew about the second candidate was that he or she was attractive, successful, and “extremely patriotic.” No other details were provided or could be ascertained.
Just about everyone immediately responded by selecting the first individual. They viewed patriotism as a downside. I wasn’t too surprised; in fact, I was mostly just amused by how everyone seemed to think extremely patriotic people weren’t just undateable but totally fucking insane. One of them wrote that the quality of “patriotism” was on par with “regularly listening to Cat Stevens” and “loves Robin Williams movies.” Comparisons were made to Ted Nugent and Patrick Henry. And one especially snide fellow sent back a mass message to the entire e-mail group, essentially claiming that any woman who loved America didn’t deserve to date him, not because he hated his country but because patriotic people weren’t smart.
This pretty much sums up my own conscious and unconscious biases against pronounced patriotism. There are plenty of people in the United States who hold a 2-ch-esque unwavering belief in the sanctity of the nation state, but these sentiments are markers for such ideological and cultural divides that they could never exist as the unquestioned basis of a non-political internet grievance like the WaiWai incident. Moreover, the subconscious political position of non-political blogs on the English-language internet is clearly “left-wing” or at least moderate Democratic with a cynical libertarian streak. Any statement of “how dare someone attack America” would invite immediate calls of “troll.”
In Japan, Korea, and China, generic internet users have shown themselves to be very, very concerned with defending their own nation states against outside interests. This does not mean they do not complain against internal organizations within a dialogue of fellow countrymen, but when the frame of the debate is “Nation vs. Nation” or “Nation vs. The World,” the default position mostly appears to be “nationalist.” Japan, however, probably pales in comparison to China and Korea on this count. How many non-sound truck soldier Japanese can you see killing the Korean national bird over the Liancourt Rocks? Net users may not represent the total nation, but we cannot deny that defending Japan’s global image is a passionate issue for the loudest plurality on the internet, with few signs of a countervailing ideology to temper.
Those not wanting to accept this conclusion have to make a choice: either the anti-WaiWai mob is a limited “nationalist” phenomenon rejected by offscreen “liberal” internationally-minded elements in society, or most highly-involved Japanese internet users are perfectly comfortable with nationalist rhetoric. There are voices that the WaiWai debacle started from an-anti Mainichi cabal attempting real estate espionage or right-wing punishment for Mainichi’s printing of the Soka Gakkai newspaper, but legions of regular users do seem to support the efforts to punish the newspaper giant. Anti-WaiWai sentiment does not, of course, prove that Japan is on the path of invading China or taking “Takeshima” by force, but it does point to a divergent development of “internet culture” between this country and the American-dominated global standard. Surely, there are taste cultures in Japan that reject nationalism, but they have not taken the dominant position online.
1 I admit I was wrong about one thing: Ryann Connell is not Irish.
July 24, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I also had no idea of WaiWai’s more extreme articles. Those ones you mention almost make me want to erupt in nationalist outrage.
Your main point - “most highly-involved Japanese internet users are perfectly comfortable with nationalist rhetoric” is right on the money! I might take your argument even further though - it’s not just the Internet, people here in general, whether liberal or conservative, accept the basic premises of Japanese nationalism and would have a natural sympathy for the rightwing bloggers.
That the net-rightists are active in a controversy that shames Mainichi shouldn’t surprise anyone. But why take their arguments at face value? The rightist activists can be brazenly cynical, as you might have noticed when they suddenly started caring deeply for the plight of the Tibetan people when the Olympic torch came to Japan. This was a golden opportunity to get one over the Mainichi, a perennial “enemy of the state,” and the rightists ran with it the only way they know how — at full speed and with maximum shrillness.
Critically, WaiWai was low-hanging fruit. Shaming the Mainichi is a moral no-brainer that makes participants feel simultaneously superior and an accepted part of the group.
And there is a long history of Japanese people fuming over bad press overseas… I am sure many felt that it was no less than treason for Mainichi to devote an entire feature to unflattering portrayals of the nation. It’s a crime people are familiar with and ready to condemn at a moment’s notice.
I mean, apart from a minority of intellectuals, expats, or the most Westernized Japanese, just what “taste cultures” in Japan do you see as rejecting nationalism? For a lot of people here, liberalism and nationalism are not mutually exclusive. Except on the fringes, everyone seems to accept the basic premises of Japan’s unique awesomeness in one way or another; or if it’s rejected on one issue (the war, the economy) it’s reaffirmed in another (often the food, the inscrutability of the language, what have you). And even a lot of the more liberal Japanese I know harbor something of a distaste for the Koreans.
These are just a few examples, but it is clear that this was a scandal ready-made for nationalistic-tinged outrage.
July 24, 2008 at 2:15 pm
just what “taste cultures” in Japan do you see as rejecting nationalism?
I agree that there aren’t many. A lot of the “Japan is not nationalistic” crowd points to people off screen, but I think that they are a relatively silent group if they even exist in large numbers.
Nationalism does not have to mean jingoism, and if we see nationalism as “loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests” then I think Japan lacks a strong anti-nationalist public sentiment. Even the hard left feels very nationalistic, due to the post-war subservience to the U.S.
I personally am not particularly nationalistic, but instead of saying “nationalism is bad,” I just wanted to non-judgmentally point out a big difference between baseline political ideologies in Japan and the Western nations I am familiar with.
July 24, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Always makes me wonder about English speaking nationals talk about “nationalism” as something foreign.
July 24, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I think my point with the Chuck Klosterman thing is that nationalism is not necessarily “the default ideology” for youth identity in the United States.
July 24, 2008 at 4:00 pm
IS nationalism the default ideology for youth identity in Japan? Many of the Japanese I’ve interacted with, particularly in my youth, expressed shock at my interest in their country and seemed in a hurry to get OUT it. They are now happily leading expat lives in America and Europe. Admittedly most of them were from well-off, urban or suburban families. Could what you’re describing simply be a case of an extremely vocal minority, amplified by the empowerment of internet anonymity?
July 24, 2008 at 4:04 pm
That’s the question: I am sure we all know non-nationalists, but why is there not a place to visibly see a non-nationalist ideology or a strong backlash against 2-ch amongst people of the same age/demographics?
July 24, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I’m not sure that you’ve convinced me that a lack of head to head debating online is indicative of increased nationalism. You and I were raised in a culture that places a huge emphasis on oral argument, and “standing up for yourself.” Do the schools here even have forensics clubs?
Hiroko (my wife, who is Japanese) adds this as well: “I think you’re applying an American standard to a Japanese situation. We aren’t taught to formulate arguments or debate issues in school. Most normal people wouldn’t even consider wading into a debate with anonymous people on 2ch. By hiding their names, those posters essentially disavow any responsibility for what they’re saying. It doesn’t represent nationalism, but it does highlight a big issue in the Japanese educational system: Japanese people simply aren’t taught how to debate.”
July 24, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Okay, but why is right-wing nationalism and not left-wing internationalism the “bully” side? Where is the proof that there are all these good-natured liberal democratic internationalists out there who are too meek to protest? I think that the central conceit of “identity based on a nation-state” is pretty much cross-ideological here.
Chuck Klosterman’s experiment is so illustrating about American culture in that openly hating patriotism is such a default position for hipster young people. Why is that default not manifesting itself in Japan anywhere?
July 24, 2008 at 4:46 pm
So there are a few scenarios here:
1) Majority is nationalist
2) Silent majority is not actively nationalist, but has no problem with the basic tenets of nation-state identity (this is my guess on what is going on)
3) Silent majority is anti-nationalist but cannot stand up to “nationalist bullies”
July 24, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Something to consider - I think that the default American, etc. online position that you mention ->
that we have a global standard (your words) that is not about ethnicity or culture, but about a general embracing pluralist liberalism….
is also NATIONALISTIC. It identifies something about a particular group that defines that group and makes it `better` than others (I don`t think this is bad, BTW. If there was no nationalism in America, there would be no reason for the country to continue as a cohesive unit). Saying that you are not nationalistic or ethnocentric can become a powerful form of nationalism if it becomes a standard for belonging or a reason why your group is better.
Let`s face it - the mainstream (okay, the literate and online) in Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand all belive that they have the `best` formula for multi-cultural pluralism that sets their particular nation state apart as a leader (this has been shaken in the USA, but is right on for other groups). Obama`s rhetoric, striking a real chord online and off, is set strongly in this type of nationalism.
The big difference is that Americans, Canadians, Kiwis, and Aussies do not associate nation with ethnicity. Japanese overwhelmingly do.
In any case, for Japan, I think that we have to differentiate more clearly between combative neo-nationalism and plain old nationalism. Let`s not forget that being `peaceful` is a major feature of old school Japanese nationalism (ie. why we are us and why we are great). There are plenty of taste cultures that still love them some peace. Japanese being nationalistic about peace has helped to keep them out of wars in the post WWII period.
Most people do, however, think that `Japanese` are something special and distinct (once again, nothing wrong with that). I`ve seen recent polls that place Japanese as second highest in the world (Hungary is first) for `proud to be a part of the nation`. Something like 95% of Japanese also answer that they would like to be born Japanese again in the next life. This like, however, does not carry over to support for the state / government or to support for neo-nationalism, however, for the reasons suggested in the original post and some of the other comments.
July 24, 2008 at 5:00 pm
How about
1)Majority is non-nationalist.
2)Silent majority is not actively anti-nationalist,but has no problem with the basic tenets of cosmopolitan universal identity(this is my guess of what is going on)
3)there are minority who think of themselves standing up to “internationalist bullies”.
4)and gaijins are overreacting as always.
July 24, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I don’t think it’s “over-reacting.” I am not saying, “Japan is nationalistic, therefore XYZ.” I never linked this nation-state identity to policy.
If anything this piece is about “why liberal Americans get freaked out with the standard mode of visible Japanese rhetoric” rather than about Japan.
“a general embracing pluralist liberalism….
is also NATIONALISTIC”
Well, no, it’s “ideological.” It kinda blurs the picture to say that being anti-nationalist is also nationalist. Is being anti-racist also racist?
July 24, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Not to totally disallow their opinions, but people who befriend foreigners at a young age and ultimately leave Japan can hardly be considered a strong counterexample to the assertion that the general populace (who don’t befriend foreigners, don’t live in Tokyo and don’t want to live anywhere else) is vaguely nationalistic.
The friends of “us foreigners”, by dint of being the friends of foreigners are a tainted well.
July 24, 2008 at 5:17 pm
`It kinda blurs the picture to say that being anti-nationalist is also nationalist. Is being anti-racist also racist?`
Not the same.
These people are not being anti-nationalist at all, just saying so. Our group is great and exists as a coherent group because we are pluralist, not nationalist. This is nationalistic.
Saying that our multi-culturalism is embracing and great is also putting your culture above those that are not (in binary relationship, othering, all that).
Very interesting debate going on now in Canada about Islamic immigrants. Some people are down on them because they do not embrace multi-culturalism (by being anti-gay and controlling women`s lives and having contempt for other religions, as the argument goes). Here we have nationalistic people saying that their multi-culturalism is the best and using it as an excluse to attempt to exclude another culture. They are anti-multi-cultural, multi-cultural nationalists.
These contradictions exist all over the place at present.
July 24, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I don’t think we even need to go as far as “excluding other races” to peg the internet “voice” as “nationalist.” The idea is just that “defending your own nation’s honor” is high up on the list of issues.
July 24, 2008 at 5:34 pm
m-bone seems to be mean that
nationalist = “holding the opinion that your nation’s current opinions are good” rather than “my country is good”
and therein seems to be wrong.
Call that cultural imperialism if you like, but it ain’t nationalism.
July 24, 2008 at 5:54 pm
old nate:
You are confusing a jingoism and a nationalism.Me think.
July 24, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Marxy wrote: I don’t think we even need to go as far as “excluding other races” to peg the internet “voice” as “nationalist.”
M-Bone: I gave the example of the Canadian anti-multi-cultural, multi-culturalist nationalists not to suggest that the American net tone is like that, but to show that such ideological contradictions are possible in response to your assertion that an anti-nationalist nationalist cannot exist.
I think that the nationalism of American young people (as manifested in ideas that multi-cultural pluralism is great and makes their country great) is a potential force for a lot of good. We sometimes don`t identify it as nationalism because we agree so completely with its world view and vision of human rights.
I think, however, that it is identifiable as nationalism and manifests itself online in a variety of ways - some of them very defensive or offensive.
Let`s look at it this way - I think that we can all agree that one of the major tropes of the English J-blogsphere is a dislike of Japanese ethnocentrism. This also comes up in `JET rants`. Assertions that Japan is `backward` or needs to `catch up` with the `norm` are all over the place. At the extreme, you even see people who clearly don`t like racism suggesting that `Japanese` (an essentialized image of a group) are racist and coming dangerously close to becoming anti-racist racists in the process. There are two liberal, pluralists from America having this conversation in a gaijin bar somewhere in Japan right now. If anyone has any doubts about this being a big thing, just look at BigDaikon or Japan Probe.
What is at work here? We have people who see their nation`s value as lying in multi-culturalism. They see that as being better than exclusive ethnocentrism. Thus they see their country as being better than others and talk about Japan as having to catch up - a clear example of assigning nation value which is a major side of the process of defining nationalism. I`m not going to put myself on the outside here - this is exactly why I think that my country is good.
Of course, all of this can work in good ways (sticking up against racists at home). Which is one VERY common sight on the American net and something to be praised.
Nationalism goes beyond the definition that you gave above -it is not only about defining who are you, but also who you are NOT (this is the regular self-other thing). In harping about the `other` (ethnocentrists) I belive that American net liberals are engaging exactly the type of attempt to define `us` and `them` and why `we are good` that is described by major definitions of nationalism.
Old Nate - I`m using the dominant definition of nationalism current in the Humanities - that of Benedict Anderson and the `imagined community`. Not that different than Marxy`s original suggestion.
July 24, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Addition: Just as my like of multi-culturalism is the foundation of my Canadian nationalism, I manage a bit of doublethink and also have an attachment to Japanese ethnocentrism as it contributes to popular culture works that I consume, to a peace ideology that I admire, and creates social situations that I enjoy.
July 25, 2008 at 12:01 am
Is it possible to be a gaijin and a Japanese nationalist? If so, I think I’m becoming one. The only time I’m not annoyed by the newspapers here is when I come across that rare article written with the “national interest” (admittedly, a problematic term) in mind. Most are written from this phony “global perspective,” which eerily resembles that of the mainstream media in the U.S. (Try sometime lining up today’s Asahi and Sankei Shinbun with yesterday’s NY Times: the international news articles and op-eds are nearly identical.)
For understandable reasons, nationalism has been regarded as evil for the last sixty or so years, but I think it’s starting to make a comeback— and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In political science, there’s been the resurgence of realists like Walt, Mearsheimer, and others. In politics, populists like Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, and Ralph Nader seem to have only increased their following in recent years. On the net, there’s antiwar.com. And in the blog-world, there’s Philip Weiss and others who argue that “national interests”—however imagined the notion of “the nation” might be— cannot be ignored.
If America can have its resurgence of nationalism, why not let Japan have theirs?
July 25, 2008 at 6:16 am
I think you’re spot on with the Chuck Klosterman test. This is a perfect illustration.
However that divide in the perception of nationalism might not just be a Japan vs. the West thing, but rather a World vs. the West divide.
It is a common truth of the western collective unconscious that too much nationalism leads to terrible consequences (WWII) therefore a large numbers of westerners (me included) consider that even a moderate dose of patriotism is already a step in the wrong direction.
But in my opinion, this is only true for the west. In other parts of the world nationalism may be viewed as a perfectly valid tool of self-affirmation. It is a mean of resistance against a perceived (or actual) western cultural or economical dominance.
“Since we feel we are not being treated fairly and as equal on the international scene, we have to stand up for our country”. This is a true fact of politics for a lot of non-western countries, hence many leaders being able to play the us-against-them card.
In essence it is probably easier to reject nationalism when your nation is part of the dominant international culture. If you don’t feel that your culture/identity is a part of that, but rather that you are left out or worse under attack by external elements, then the nation state is still a relevant frame of reference.
July 25, 2008 at 6:55 am
“Chuck Klosterman’s experiment is so illustrating about American culture in that openly hating patriotism is such a default position for hipster young people. Why is that default not manifesting itself in Japan anywhere?”
Kayama Rika’s pop theory on nationalism claims that the superficial expressions of patriotism that one apparently sees in Japan result from the loss of an oedipus complex - ostensibly due to absent fathers. That is, kids no longer see the reason to rebel against authority and therefore are more comfortable with the notion of the state.
Whatever.
I tend to think that displays of national pride have always been present in Japan - even the most left leaning newspaper maintains the most iconic Japanese symbol for both its brand and its name. But this sort of ‘brand nationalism’ happens everywhere, your comments about Americans being turned off by nationalism notwithstanding. In post-modern little New Zealand the nation is used to sell insurance and sausages, among other things.
But in order to have any effect, such ‘brand nationalism’ has to cultivate an instinctive attachment to the nation. I think that is what you are seeing here.
And this is where I disagree with M-Bone. While arguments about Canadian multiculturalism vis-a-vis ‘traditional’ Islamic values do involve a discussion of what constitutes ‘national values’, I don’t think this is what is going on in the Japanese commentary about Wai-Wai. I admit that I have not looked at many posts on the subject in Japanese, but the ones I have seen (and commented on) tend to be argued from the position of “we are a group of people - don’t shit on us - You whities have a history of this sort of thing - just look at Rudyard Kipling” perspective. There are very few positive national values espoused, be they an attachment to ’samurai’ values, ‘peace nationalism’ or whatever. I’m sure some espousal of positive values does exist, but I haven’t really seen much of it.
And I think this is normal. After 9/11 the term ‘anti-American’ was bandied about incessantly, but aside from a vague attachment to freedom which many other ‘peoples’ share, I couldn’t really get many Americans to tell me what the ‘American’ in anti-Americanism meant. Several Americans told me independently of each other that it was the freedom to walk down the road eating a hamburger, but I don’t think many people would argue that this was what 1789 was really all about.
The kneejerk reactions we see with the Wai-Wai case are probably amplified by the fact that the column was translated from Japanese, a language that is generally spoken only in Japan (in other words, the old self/other ‘we can criticise our nation but not you’ dynamic). However, call me a Marxist if you will, but I think the reaction reflects an empty nationalism that has been cultivated by elites to sell stuff. I don’t think it is dangerous.
I am also not sure it is misplaced. While I don’t like seeing major news organs changing their editorial policy because of criticism from the sidelines, I agree with the discontents that Mainichi’s decision to run Waiwai on its site showed a degree of immaturity on the part of a ‘mainstream’ media organ.
July 25, 2008 at 7:09 am
“In political science, there’s been the resurgence of realists like Walt, Mearsheimer, and others.”
Really? Walt and Mearscheimer are considered hideously outdated in the
IR circles in which I dabble (rather deeply). I also think the Ron Paul phenomenon was an adverse reaction to the nationalist elements of the Bush Administration, and I don’t see Pat Buchanan running for president again. Even Nadar has been swamped by Obamania.
July 25, 2008 at 9:54 am
I think another important point I want to re-raise is that saying bad things about Korea in public, while showing your face, is not particularly okay.
So when 2-ch allowed a bunch of people to really voice what “they were thinking,” the net result (pun) could have been anything: pro-Communism, anti-ketchup packets, etc. But it was a massively loud din of anti-neighbor nationalist sentiment.
However that divide in the perception of nationalism might not just be a Japan vs. the West thing, but rather a World vs. the West divide.
I agree. American power has distorted most local political ideologies. The main question for Japan is still, are we a subsidiary state of the United States or not?
In essence it is probably easier to reject nationalism when your nation is part of the dominant international culture.
I think most Americans and Westerners, who have generally held the reigns to “global culture” for a long time, would absolutely consider Japan to be an integral part of contemporary life. This is why a deeply nationalist id seems so troubling and counter-intuitive.
July 25, 2008 at 10:13 am
Statiq is absolutely correct when he says: “In essence it is probably easier to reject nationalism when your nation is part of the dominant international culture. If you don’t feel that your culture/identity is a part of that, but rather that you are left out or worse under attack by external elements, then the nation state is still a relevant frame of reference.” Well put.
And Bryce, you are right about there being many in the IR world who consider Walt and Mearscheimer “hideously outdated.” Their ideas and methods are indeep far from hip. If anything, they’re old-school, paleoconservative-leaning realists. But the hip, left-wing internationalists who dominate IR (and social sciences in general), by focusing excessively on ideology and philosophical platitudes, have tended to overlook state power, which W & M see as the driving force in international relations.
And though the Ron Paul camp is a diverse group, I think his base regards itself as the nationalist opposition to an administration that has discarded “national interest.” Those on the left who see the Bush Administration as excessively “nationalist” are misreading things.
My apologies to Mr. Marx for getting so off-track.
July 25, 2008 at 10:45 am
If you think it’s not cool to be patriotic, you guys need to watch 30 Rock. Perhaps in reaction to the incessant branding of Democrats as unpatriotic, Liz Lemon has at least once ranted that liberals can be just as patriotic as the next guy.
July 25, 2008 at 11:31 am
Yes, my apologies for going off track too, but I want to address this:
“Those on the left who see the Bush Administration as excessively “nationalist” are misreading things.”
Bush has consistently maintained that the Middle East should be built in the image of his nation and used a nationalist discourse of victimhood to promote a war of choice. Doesn’t get much more nationalist than that. In fact, John Dower made a point of comparing the Bush presidency with the nationalist government of 1930s Japan, so I’m in pretty good company when I assert this type of thing.
I also don’t really think that interest in (neo)realist theories of IR indicates a new nationalism. Walt and Mearscheimer (and Waltz)’s theories are about the functioning of the international system as a whole, not about the ‘correct’ way for particular states to conduct foreign policy or view the nation.
“Japan to be an integral part of contemporary life. This is why a deeply nationalist id seems so troubling and counter-intuitive.”
I still don’t really get what is so troubling about a bunch of people concerned about the way their nation is presented to the world. Personally, I don’t care what other people think of my country, but pride in the way others see your nation seems to be a fairly universal phenomenon. And they are venting their frustration at a JAPANESE institution. “Conduct yourself better abroad” seems to be the message here, kind of like when news networks in the States take each other to task for “not supporting the troops” or “giving America’s enemies the wrong message.”
Also, this has happened before in Japan. In the 1990s Japanese TV networks pulled shows like “Endurance” off the air when it was discovered that Americans and others were getting their hands on them and laughing at the ‘crazy Japanese’. The difference now is that the disaffected have the Internet. That’s all.
Finally, an interesting comment someone over at NBR made was that one of Mainichi’s responses to the Wai-Wai controversy was to instate a female editor, hardly a reaction one would normally associate with ‘nationalism’. Perhaps then, by encouraging Mainichi to inject more female perspectives into its editorial content, this ‘nationalism’ has had quite liberal results.
July 25, 2008 at 11:43 am
Just to follow up on my comment about the American news media we don’t know if an the same sort of reaction would occur in the U.S. but mainstream American media companies probably wouldn’t be stupid enough to devote a column to tabloid journalism about their own countires in foreign language broadcasts. I don’t know if the major media American outlets have any ‘news for foreign consumption’ websites, but the BBC has ‘foreign sites’ both in English and Chinese and you don’t see Wai-Wai type material there, which is kind of the point.
July 25, 2008 at 12:13 pm
USA! USA! USA!
July 25, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Which, of course, is a collective joke about the idiocy of super-patriotism.
July 25, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Bryce: While a grad student in the states, I actually attended that John Dower lecture where he compared the Bush administration to the government of Japan in the 1930s. (Not that that means anything.) It was a very moving speech, and Dower had many good points. But I think to blame nationalism for, specifically, the disaster in Iraq, is to ignore the broader picture.
There’s no doubt that the rhetoric of the Bush administration is often couched in nationalistic/patriotic terms, which the media of course echoes. But the rhetoric used to talk about the war and the ideology that drove us into war are two very different things. My point is that the ideology that drove us to war had nothing to do with any nationalist agenda (even if Bush himself thought it did); in fact, most of the ideologues who pushed for war openly scorn the “old notions” such as the nation, sovereignty, etc.
I don’t mean to sound like a defender of nationalism– believe me, I’m not– but I think we must be aware that nationalism’s anthetitical ideology– “globalization” or whatever you might call it– can be just as dogmatic and unpleasant as nationalism.
July 25, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Let`s not forget that one of the major aims of Japan`s militarist nationalists in the 1930s and 1940s was to form a borderless, tariffless zone in East Asia free from `old notions` such as the nation and sovereignty.
July 25, 2008 at 6:45 pm
日本語で失礼します｡
ネット上で右翼的言論が左翼的言論よりも目立つ理由の一つは､左翼はネットに頼らなくとも現実社会に堅固な組織を築いているからではないでしょうか？
2チャンネルの影響力をいくら過大評価しようとも､共産党や社民党､またこれらに依然としてシンパシーを抱いている朝日新聞などの主流メディアの力には遠く及びません｡
｢右翼が1000人集めて集会を行っても新聞記事にはならないが､左翼が50人集めて集会でもすれば新聞の一面に載る｣などといわれたものです｡
｢扶桑社教科書不採用運動｣においても､その運動力は依然として健在です｡
日本人がよく口にする｢ユニーク｣については､欧米白人キリスト教社会の依然として根強い独善的優越思想に対する防御的主張である場合が多々あることも指摘しておきたいと思います｡
July 25, 2008 at 6:55 pm
日本の右翼の危うさをアメリカ社会に見出そうとすれば､それはキリスト教右派･原理主義者でしょうか？
日本では一般にアメリカのもっともリベラルな側面しか紹介されていませんが､これら宗教右派の｢気味の悪さ｣は筆舌に尽くしがたいものがあります｡しかも普段はごく普通でむしろ｢いい人｣も珍しくないだけに戸惑います｡
July 25, 2008 at 8:28 pm
One thing I want to point out to you all here is the fact that there is no Gaijin-san who will debate with Japanese people on the 2ch.
You have a language barrier? If you can’t understand the Japanese language, you will not be able to know what the essentials of the WaiWai affair are. They have noting to do with nationalism, IMO.
There is an English board on the 2ch and you can join and talk about them.
Your multi-language abilities, multi-multicultural view and opinions of Journalism in Japan are needed. I think the 2ch is a far better place than you imagine.
Will you use your racism card and withdraw into a Gaijin shell like this place?
さて、ディベートを始めようか！
July 25, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I think you misunderstand the point of this essay: I am not saying, “Net right-wingers are wrong.” I am saying, “For me as a liberal American, the base ideology of the complaint is not a natural one.”
I, at least, am not looking to “debate Japanese people” at least in this context. I was trying to analyze the nature of the general tone.
July 25, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Anybody saw the 80’s dystopian schi-fi flic “Escape from New York”?
In that movie,the whole Manhattan island becoming a some sort of penal colony and inmates are enjoying libertarianesque self dependence with no interferenece from wardens.
And to me,that is the metapher of 2ch in Japanese media-sphere.
They are blatantly nationalistic because they are so isolated and marginalized from the mainstream that few would care about what they say,unless some of these posters go off line and start stabbing people in the strret of Akihabara.
That’s why no decent person wants to go in there and tell them what’s right things to post or not based on post-war Japanese sense of political correcctnesst.
2ch denizens had unusual leverage over mainstream media on Waiwai case,simply because they could spread negative information on internet which could drive off good numbers of ad clients from Mainichi Degital News site.
But this doesn’t make 2ch more influential media organ compare to heavy weight like Mainichi,nor political rightism is on the rise in Japan.
July 25, 2008 at 9:58 pm
This was interesting:
http://aki-akiaki.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-beastiality-restaurant-was-made.html
It’s always good to go back to the original sources.
But this doesn’t make 2ch more influential media organ compare to heavy weight like Mainichi,nor political rightism is on the rise in Japan
I intentionally avoided making either of these points in my essay. I am just asking, why is nationalism the main ideology when you allow speech free from social condition? And why does 2-ch etc. tend to breed a “hive mind” instead of a “conflict” between dueling ideologies?
July 25, 2008 at 10:08 pm
W. David MARX Says: “That’s the question: I am sure we all know non-nationalists, but why is there not a place to visibly see a non-nationalist ideology or a strong backlash against 2-ch amongst people of the same age/demographics?”
I think there is another 2ch in the 2ch that can’t be seen by “our” eyes. It a very interesting place to settle in.
Anyway, I don’t need the Mainichi Newspapers any more because they won’t report on the WaiWai affair and they try to cover up the fabrication and sexism scandal.
July 25, 2008 at 10:15 pm
“And to me, that is the metapher of 2ch in Japanese media-sphere.
They are blatantly nationalistic because they are so isolated and marginalized from the mainstream that few would care about what they say, unless some of these posters go off line and start stabbing people in the strret of Akihabara.”
君は日本語読めるの？
Do you understand Japanese?
“That’s why no decent person wants to go in there and tell them what’s right things to post or not based on post-war Japanese sense of political correcctnesst.”
I think I’m a decent person. Leave it to me!
BTW, why you won’t do that?
July 25, 2008 at 10:23 pm
“君は日本語読めるの？”
Haha. Aceface’s Japanese is pretty good, MaidoOido.
July 25, 2008 at 10:32 pm
“They are blatantly nationalistic because they are so isolated and marginalized from the mainstream that few would care about what they say”
But I don’t think this is correct. It sounds to me like propaganda against the 2ch. LOL
July 25, 2008 at 10:33 pm
There’s an interesting comment in the Yomiuri editorial about the closure of “Ronza”:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20080725TDY04302.htm
…The e-mail magazine “a–Synodos” is distributed twice a week. “Synodos” is the Greek word for forum. The e-mail magazine calls into question the standard way thoughts are formulated and conveyed among the public. “a–Synodos” editor Chiki Ogiue, 26, said: “When a youngster says he or she dislikes South Korea, for instance, most established opinion magazines tend to brand such a person as a ‘rightist youth.’” “The youths, for their part,” Ogiue said, “can hardly figure out why such a linkage has taken place”…
July 26, 2008 at 3:10 am
I wrote a long long reply that was erased. Here is a redacted version:
1. Globalization: this is linked to the liberal pluralism that has been fomenting in the US. Nationalism is one way for weaker countries to resist US-led global capitalism….thus, how easy it is for Americans to deride such countries as fascist, backwards, parochial. How easy it is to forget how this faith in the free-market is inevitably linked up to American nationalism (aka the Am. way of life) and obscure the powerful resurrection of white ethno-nationalism post 9/11.
2. Japan is only a “weak” country vis-a-vis the US. Actually, Japan is an amazingly powerful and rich coungry…yet this is a fact conveniently forgotten by both western commentators and Japanese nationalists.
3. “2ch users are simply otaku” is the most intellectually lazy and socially irresponsibly way to both excuse and contain the problem of racism in Japan.
4. Racism? Nationalism in Japan is inseparable from other myths- like the one nation, one race, one class, one language line. The blurring of nation as race is one reason why explicit nationalism is often tempered in the US media: there is too much anxiety and too many ways that the discourse of multiculturalism fails and exceeds the happy Cold War Melting Pot face.
5. Why is nationalism bad? At the very least, lets stay aware that there really is NO SUCH THING as a universally applicable thing called national culture, language, ethos, and so on. Or would the dismantling of a neat entity called “Japan” or “Japanese culture” make Japanophiles explode?
July 26, 2008 at 10:52 am
Aceface being accused of not being able to read Japanese belongs in some kind of all time J-Blog discussion hall of fame.
July 26, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Yeah,and coincidentally this happened while I’m in the middle of the debate for the ownership of Takeshima/Dokdo in one of the Korea blog and got my ass kicked for not writing in English by some Korean American dude.
So Marxy,where did my big thesis on the 90’s and 2ch denizens I posted last night?
I’ll be completely offline for about a week,so I need you to find it and put it on the forum.
July 26, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Ryan: ‘in fact, most of the ideologues who pushed for war openly scorn the “old notions” such as the nation, sovereignty, etc.’
Yes, but in favour of American exceptionalism at times. In any case, I think we agree more than we disagree. I don’t see nationalism as the primary ‘purpose’ for the war, more a mood that was a) there anyway, and b) cynically cultivated to justify the attack on Iraq. The importance of political rhetoric though lies not so much in whether those that issue it believe as how those who receive it are convinced or affected. Republican politics circa 2003 were based on the manipulation of nationalist sentiment (ask a Frenchman). In my mind this makes Bush & co nationalists whether they were true believers or not.
Sorry about the sidetrack, everyone. This’ll be my last non-Japan related spiel.
July 26, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I’m not going to wade into this debate (although I find it really interesting), just wanted to thank you Marxy for picking up the two global voices articles. Writing these blog round-ups is a lot of work, and in their “raw” form translations of Japanese blog posts, forum comments etc. are not always very meaningful to a foreign audience. So this kind of article, where you take these translations and incorporate them into a commentary/narrative, are really important in getting people talking about these issues at a deeper level.
July 28, 2008 at 9:14 pm
It seems like posts by myself and Aceface have been eaten by the software.
Until my other post gets re-summoned somehow, I thought that I would bring this up -
These types of defensive moral panics are nothing new in Japan. There was that `Yellow Cab` thing in the early 1990s that has more than superficial similarity with the WaiWai thing (defense of the honor of Japanese women abroad, concern with the national image, etc.).
It is ironic however that the yellow cab thing (the idea was that Japanese women in the States were being called Yellow Cabs because they could easily be picked up for a ride) was not true - it was made up by Shukanshi - the translation of the articles of which is behind the moral panic now….
July 29, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Meanwhile over at Debito
http://www.debito.org/?p=1850
Imagine if a Japanese journalist living in a country like, lets say, Australia, uncovers bad news from all over the place, about how a beggar sucked off a crocodile or
how some weird woman made her kids eat haemaroid cream. Lets face it, bad behaviour and outright perversion are not restriced to the frampold Japanese. Look hard enough and you’ll find it in any nation.
Then, print all stories in weekly Japanese interent journal / news website about Australia.
Australians get annoyed about being depicted as a nation of weirdos, columnist gets harassed by squad of squinting men.
Cue debate about resurgent nationalism in Australia etc
July 29, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Debito’s right! Some of my work for Mutant Frog was translating news articles on chikan and horse racing, so one reason I liked WaiWai so much was because it put me out of business. Some ZAKZAK articles etc. are truly interesting windows into the world and it really would be a shame not to present them.