Gotta make a couple replies. Earlier you mentioned someone you knew who was a teacher in Japan. I have to point something out real quick, and then ask something. The pointing: There are three professions in Japan that no matter where you are from or where you live, they will always earn you a far higher level of respect from the locals than otherwise. Namely teachers, engineers, and programmers. The reasons are pretty obvious, of course. If you are any of those careers in Japan you are helping the Japanese interests at their greatest levels; education in the case of teachers, a field Japan is striving to excel and break into the global market in in the case of programmers, and honing one of the greatest strengths and one of the largest exports Japan has, in the form of professional engineered products, especially cars, robotics, and automation. And if you are in Japan and in one of those careers you're obviously working for a Japanese company or Japanese branch of government. Essentially it becomes a matter of "you help us in ways that we feel matter; ergo, welcome!"
Now the question: Does he happen to live on the island of Okinawa? They tend to be much more open and inviting than the "mainland" of Japan. Fun fact; Okinawans do not consider themselves "true Japanese." ...Something they say with a bit of pride, I might add. Also, what does he teach, just largely out of curiosity.
And yeah, we weren't so much separatist as we were neutralist. We were following the old adage our founding fathers had stated we should follow; commerce with all nations, alliance with none. Quite simply we felt we should leave the world alone and hopefully it would leave us alone. Alas, that is never the way of things. The US would never have actually attacked Japan first (which you kind of sort of implied we were going to;
As of 12-7-1941 we had the 17th largest nation in the world. Romania had a larger, better-equipped military than we did. Without such a dramatic attack by the Japanese, the US would never have gotten into it with Japan. The oil embargo was a dramatic threat but in all honesty if the Japanese had attacked the fleets attempting to enforce it, it would not have had such a dramatic impact. But the wholly unprovoked attack galvanized the population of the US into a seething hatred that propelled us into WWII...though, I may be wrong on this assumption on the US never attacking. It is very worth noting that the majority of Americans were becoming more and more upset by our leaders' inaction towards the conflicts in Europe and, yes, Asia. Lotta people felt the US had a kinship with England, given our histories and the warm relations the two nations had built up over the past half-century, and more still were outraged by the atrocities committed by the Japanese against smaller Asian nations, and the Nazis against...well, everyone. The demand for aggressive action may very well have forced US policy into involvement either way. Maybe later, and not with quite such a furor, but it might still have happened.
Some evidence of this can be found with American colonial attitudes towards those nations they considered colonies; condescension and "civilized-man" arrogance, mixed with a sort of paternal fondness and encharmed idealism. For example, the Philippines? The civilian contractors and government agents who were working in the country on development and infrastructure tended to write of the Filipines as being "ignorant, dumb, but lovable and charming in their own primal ways," to quote one source [Ghost Soldiers, which in turn quoted it from the direct source]. Basically we were smug but in that way of someone who knows they are smarter than the person they are educating but nevertheless feels a fond attachment to their student and desires for them to learn as much as they have. This attitude was very common, and it was generally felt by the American public that it was American involvement that was going to uplift the poorer nations of Asia into becoming business partners and colonial interests. American colonialism was basically founded on the idea that the British did it wrong; no heavy-handed approaches, but rather learning and investing and letting the cultures develop on their own after investment with only minimal involvement and the occasional nudging in the right directions. Then the Japanese came in, started dominating everyone else through sheer brute force and torture and terror tactics, especially in China, where, as you pointed out, we had vested interests in.
It was kind of like investing in a bunch of elemantary school bake sales, and you were just going to trim some of the profits as per an agreement with the schools. And then some guy comes in, starts slapping the kids around and takes their money. You get up in his face to tell him to knock it the fuck off or you're going to retaliate. You are, up to this point, a gentle giant and the jerk is tough but he's not THAT tough. He realizes he wants more, and that he'll have to deal with you now or later and that if he gets into it with you later, he's gonna get floored. So he opts to take a crowbar to your kneecaps so you're no longer a threat. However he doesn't break your kneecaps, though they now hurt like a motherfucker. So now you're pissed, and you get into a fight that he inevitably loses despite his attempt to hobble you.
...Fuck, I really do love my analogies, don't I?
Also, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for everyone in this thread; everyone has remained unbelievably calm, polite, respectful, and mature...and I figured this would be one topic where nobody could be given the subject nature. If I could kudos peoples' involvement in a thread I totally would. Hm. A "thread kudos..." That's an idea. Tib, get on that!
Now the question: Does he happen to live on the island of Okinawa? They tend to be much more open and inviting than the "mainland" of Japan. Fun fact; Okinawans do not consider themselves "true Japanese." ...Something they say with a bit of pride, I might add. Also, what does he teach, just largely out of curiosity.
And yeah, we weren't so much separatist as we were neutralist. We were following the old adage our founding fathers had stated we should follow; commerce with all nations, alliance with none. Quite simply we felt we should leave the world alone and hopefully it would leave us alone. Alas, that is never the way of things. The US would never have actually attacked Japan first (which you kind of sort of implied we were going to;
Quote: Pearl Harbor was really an excuse to do what we were going to do anyway
As of 12-7-1941 we had the 17th largest nation in the world. Romania had a larger, better-equipped military than we did. Without such a dramatic attack by the Japanese, the US would never have gotten into it with Japan. The oil embargo was a dramatic threat but in all honesty if the Japanese had attacked the fleets attempting to enforce it, it would not have had such a dramatic impact. But the wholly unprovoked attack galvanized the population of the US into a seething hatred that propelled us into WWII...though, I may be wrong on this assumption on the US never attacking. It is very worth noting that the majority of Americans were becoming more and more upset by our leaders' inaction towards the conflicts in Europe and, yes, Asia. Lotta people felt the US had a kinship with England, given our histories and the warm relations the two nations had built up over the past half-century, and more still were outraged by the atrocities committed by the Japanese against smaller Asian nations, and the Nazis against...well, everyone. The demand for aggressive action may very well have forced US policy into involvement either way. Maybe later, and not with quite such a furor, but it might still have happened.
Some evidence of this can be found with American colonial attitudes towards those nations they considered colonies; condescension and "civilized-man" arrogance, mixed with a sort of paternal fondness and encharmed idealism. For example, the Philippines? The civilian contractors and government agents who were working in the country on development and infrastructure tended to write of the Filipines as being "ignorant, dumb, but lovable and charming in their own primal ways," to quote one source [Ghost Soldiers, which in turn quoted it from the direct source]. Basically we were smug but in that way of someone who knows they are smarter than the person they are educating but nevertheless feels a fond attachment to their student and desires for them to learn as much as they have. This attitude was very common, and it was generally felt by the American public that it was American involvement that was going to uplift the poorer nations of Asia into becoming business partners and colonial interests. American colonialism was basically founded on the idea that the British did it wrong; no heavy-handed approaches, but rather learning and investing and letting the cultures develop on their own after investment with only minimal involvement and the occasional nudging in the right directions. Then the Japanese came in, started dominating everyone else through sheer brute force and torture and terror tactics, especially in China, where, as you pointed out, we had vested interests in.
It was kind of like investing in a bunch of elemantary school bake sales, and you were just going to trim some of the profits as per an agreement with the schools. And then some guy comes in, starts slapping the kids around and takes their money. You get up in his face to tell him to knock it the fuck off or you're going to retaliate. You are, up to this point, a gentle giant and the jerk is tough but he's not THAT tough. He realizes he wants more, and that he'll have to deal with you now or later and that if he gets into it with you later, he's gonna get floored. So he opts to take a crowbar to your kneecaps so you're no longer a threat. However he doesn't break your kneecaps, though they now hurt like a motherfucker. So now you're pissed, and you get into a fight that he inevitably loses despite his attempt to hobble you.
...Fuck, I really do love my analogies, don't I?
Also, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for everyone in this thread; everyone has remained unbelievably calm, polite, respectful, and mature...and I figured this would be one topic where nobody could be given the subject nature. If I could kudos peoples' involvement in a thread I totally would. Hm. A "thread kudos..." That's an idea. Tib, get on that!
