The controversial painting " Beijing 2008". Japan is portrayed as I expected.
Jan 29th 2012 02:38
japan
situation
The picture shared on Facebook has a very long interpretation of what the painting implies. The interpretation is originally written in Traditional Chinese, but the Japanese version translated by a Japanese person is attached. There is no information about who first gave the interpretation. Also, I'm not sure if the interpretation is exactly what the painter wanted to indicate. As a matter of fact, when I was browsing on Chinese sites to see how popular the painting was on the internet, I found different interpretations on some details, but the outline is same. I think that the painting is interesting to see.
Although I don't intend to elaborate the interpretation, I'll tell you the outline. There are four women playing mah-jong. The lady with her bag with tattoos is Chinese. The bare-naked lady sitting on the left of the Chinese lady is Japanese. The lady lying flat is Russian. The lady with lace top is American, and her bottom half is nude. The girl standing and seeing the play is Taiwanese. Their actions portray how these five countries are behaving and negotiating with the other countries. Their clothes imply countries' situations. I'll leave more interpretations but the Japanese lady to your imagination.
According to the interpretation shared on Facebook, the Japanese lady is seriously playing mah-jong without paying attention to the other people. She is focusing just on what she is supposed to do. When I read the phrase, I sighed deeply because I've been worried about this point. In Japan, due to the prolonged stagnation and politics in disarray, some journalists and experts have insisted that there are significant suggestions from the past, but despite that, we haven't learned a lot from the past. Especially since the Fukushima accident, the need for learning from the past has been increasing. Because of this, I've been paying more attention to suggestions from the past which some experts have highlighted.
Actually, one of the suggestions is that Japanese people pay less attention to and are less sensitive to what is going on in the world, and they are very bad at thinking with broad view from various perspectives. I really realized it especially when I was outside Japan. On top of that, it seems to me that many Japanese people haven't even realized that Japan neither pays enough attention to what is going on outside Japan nor knows what other countries consider Japan to be like. Thus, when I read that interpretation on the Japanese lady, I though that it was just as I had expected and sighed deeply. At the same time, I wondered if I should consider it to be still good since Japan is in the painting.
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america has the opposite problem.
>so, why does it bother you that japan doesn't pay attention to the rest of the world?
We are living in the globalized world in a globalized era. We cannot survive without paying attention to the world. We need to decide what to do after we objectively understand both the global and Japanese situation.
>america has the opposite problem.
I've heard of it.
Have you seen the attached picture?
According to the Taiwanese who posted it on Facebook, this is the oil painting, "Beijing 2008", drawn by liu Yi (劉湓), a Chinese person living in Canada.
This painting has been drawing considerable attention and becoming controversial on the internet.
*I think that it is an interesting painting. (Perhaps this sounds better?)
Although I don't intend to elaborate on the interpretation, I'll tell you the outline.
The lady with her back tattooed is Chinese.
The lady with a lace top is American, and her bottom half is naked.
The girl standing and watching the play is Taiwanese.
Their clothes imply the countries' situations.
I'll will talk about the Japanese lady and leave the rest to your imagination.
According to the interpretation shared on Facebook, the Japanese lady is seriously playing mah-jong without paying attention to the other people.
She is focusing on just what she is supposed to do.
In Japan, due to the prolonged stagnation and disarray in politics, some journalists and experts have insisted that there are significant lessons from the past, but despite that, we haven't learned a lot from the past.
Actually, one of the comments is that Japanese people pay less attention to and are less sensitive to what is going on in the world, and they are very bad at thinking with a broad mind from various perspectives.
I really noticed it especially when I was outside.
I'm glad that you found it interesting.
Although the description of Japan's character may seem largely accurate, the fact that there are Japanese people like yourself who feel concerned about how your country is perceived is a very good sign...
>the fact that there are Japanese people like yourself who feel concerned about how your country is perceived is a very good sign...
There were some people who insisted the same thing even in the past, but their opinions were ignored or people didn't want to listen to them. I think that more people need to realize that point and keep in mind it.
According to a Taiwanese who posted it on Facebook, this is an oil painting titled "Beijing 2008", and it is drawn by liu Yi (劉湓), a Chinese person living in Canada.
It seems that it's very popular in at least China and Taiwan .
I think that the painting is an interesting sight. (Interesting to see -> Interesting sight)
According to the interpretation shared on Facebook, the Japanese lady is seriously playing Mahjong without paying attention to the rest
She is only focusing just on what she is supposed to do.
When I read that phrase, I sighed deeply because I've been worried about this point.
Because of this, I've been paying more attention to the suggestions that experts have highlighted in the past. (I think this sounds more natural )
Actually, one of the suggestions suggest that Japanese people should pay less attention to and be less sensitive to what is going on in the world, as they are very bad at thinking from a liberal point of view/perspective or Actually, one of the suggestions suggested Japanese people to pay less attention and be less sensitive to the events happening around the world as they are not capable of thinking from a liberal point of view/perspective.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150485930513240&set=p.10150485930513240&type=1&theater
We tend to see Japan as the third biggest economy in the world and the most important and closest ally of the US in Asia.
Japanese people seem to see their country as a small and unimportant country in world affairs and therefore expect foreigners to know little or nothing about it. Humility definitely plays a role in explaining this self-image. However, I think it´s not just Japanese humility but a lack of awareness of Japan´s significance and responsibility on the world scene. Which is puzzling because Japan has not become a world power over night or in the 80s but has been a major power ever since the Meiji era.
>We tend to see Japan as the third biggest economy in the world and the most important and closest ally of the US in Asia.
Generally, so do we.
>Japanese people seem to see their country as a small and unimportant country in world affairs and therefore expect foreigners to know little or nothing about it. Humility definitely plays a role in explaining this self-image.
It's interesting. I'm not sure what young Japanese people consider Japan to be like. However, people over 30? 35? 40? consider Japan to be a major economic power. At least until the 3/11 earthquake, they considered that. It seems that they feel that Japan doesn't play roles in diplomacy and international affairs as well as expected. They also wonder if this is because Japan is very bad at appealing to other countries. On the other hand, it's been said that Japan has too much confidence in its industrial technology and itself, which has not enabled Japan to change dramatically.
>I think it´s not just Japanese humility but a lack of awareness of Japan´s significance and responsibility on the world scene.Which is puzzling because Japan has not become a world power over night or in the 80s but has been a major power ever since the Meiji era.
Perhaps, partly because national isolation policy 1639-1854, and partly because in the past ordinary people didn't need to know about the world and didn't have opportunities of getting know about it since Japan is an island country. Until Meiji era, Japan had been a small, unknown country for a long time.
Anyway, it's clear that we have to pay more attention to the world and think about what Japan will be like. When we talk about our future and problems, we often end up concluding that we first have to think about Japan-U.S.relations and our political systems. It's a big deal and takes some time to discuss.
According to the Taiwanese who posted it on Facebook, this is the oil painting, "Beijing 2008", drawn by Liu Yi (劉湓), a Chinese person living in Canada.
This painting has been drawing considerable attention and is becoming controversial on the internet.
To see what was going on (or "To look into the situation"), I googled it both in English and Chinese.
It seems that the picture is very popular, at least in China and Taiwan.
The picture shared on Facebook was accompanied by a very long interpretation of what the painting implies.
The interpretation was originally written in Traditional Chinese, but the Japanese version translated by a Japanese person is attached.
As a matter of fact, when I was browsing on Chinese sites to see how popular the painting was on the internet, I found different interpretations on some details, but the outline is same.
The lady with her bag with tattoos on her back is Chinese.
The bare-naked lady sitting to the left of the Chinese lady is Japanese.
The lady lying on her back is Russian.
The girl standing and watching them play is Taiwanese.
When I read that, I sighed deeply because I've been worried about this point.
Especially since the Fukushima accident, the need to learn from the past has been increasing.
Actually, one of the suggestions is that Japanese people pay less attention to and are less sensitive to what is going on in the world, and they are very bad at thinking with a broad view from various perspectives.
I really noticed this, especially when I was outside Japan.
At the same time, I wondered if I should consider it to be still good that at least Japan is in the painting.
I don't mean to be critical of Japan, because I think most Americans are very unaware of the world and have very warped views of it, though in different ways. I also think that ignorance can definitely be overcome, and it's important to share ideas and spread knowledge, the way you do on lang-8.
(I just looked it up and apparently Japan is 62nd out of 235 in terms of geographic area, and 10th in terms of population, out of all the countries in the world. Also, Japanese is 9th out of all languages in number of native speakers. But maybe you already knew all that.)
>Japanese people often ask me, "why did you want to learn Japanese!?" like it's the craziest thing they've ever heard, but I doubt many Americans would ask a Japanese person why they wanted to learn English or come to America.
I think that people often ask someone who is learning languages except English , Mandarin and Korean "why did you want to learn them?". Also, I guess that there are still many people who feel like they are required to speak English fluently when they talk with Americans partly because English is a common language and partly because the historical reason. So, you are often asked that question, I guess.
>Japanese people always talk about how Japan is so small, probably because they are comparing it with countries like the U.S. and China, but I think Japan is actually larger than most countries in the world.
I don't know why Japanese people always talk about how Japan is so small. I guess this is partly because Japan is located close to China and Russia and have been influenced by them, and partly because since the World War II, Japan has been very close to and influenced by the US. On top of that, it seems that in the Chinese language, the phrase 小日本 is common. I wonder if the phrase describes our culture. However, as you mentioned, compared with other countries, Japan is not small. Some experts have insisted that people often say that Japan is a small country, but compared with developed European countries, Japan is not small.
>I also think that ignorance can definitely be overcome, and it's important to share ideas and spread knowledge, the way you do on lang-8.
I totally agree with you.
> Also, Japanese people seem to be unaware of Japan's role in world politics and see Japan as perpetually isolated from the rest of the world.
As for this, please see my reply to クリス豆腐.
When the public criticized our government for its slow responses to the 3/11 earthquake, someone from the government officially said that the Japanese economy and business had a great impact on other countries, so please think about it as well. I still remember that. I don't know why.
Japanese people act as if they were suprised that we study Japanese, because it shows admiration. This is not restricted to foreigners. As you know in most variety shows and talk shows, the audience/ interviewer/ MC acts as if they were totally baffled by what the person talking has to say (no matter how banal it is). I think it´s part of the culture to do this - subconsciously or on purpose- in order to build up a good relationship.
Another reason why Japan is sometimes perceived as a small country: Foreigners are more likely to meet people from very densly populated areas like Tokyo and Osaka. Apartments in these cities on average are much smaller than in most Western industrialized countries, living in such cramped conditions gives them the feeling to live in a small country.
On top of that a part of Japan´s total area is mountainous and uninhabitable.
So true!!! I never made the connection between that and being asked why I study Japanese, but it sounds possible.
Snoopy, thank you for your detailed reply. I'm still in the process of educating myself about Japanese history and I always appreciate getting to hear your views.
One of my comments above 『I think that people often ask someone who is learning languages except English , Mandarin and Korean "why did you want to learn them?"』isn't clear. In the sentence, people indicate Japanese people and someone indicates a Japanese person. I mean that learning English, Mandarin and Korean is popular among Japanese people, but leaning the other languages is not that common. So, I guess that if a Japanese person is studying the other languages, just out of curiosity, people ask him/her the reasons. Now, I'm wondering how often Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese are asked why they study Japanese in Japan.
> As you know in most variety shows and talk shows, the audience/ interviewer/ MC acts as if they were totally baffled by what the person talking has to say (no matter how banal it is).
It's very interesting.I understand what you mean, but "totally baffled by" sounds strange to me. Many of MCs and guests are comedians, so.......