Has Japan become a shadow of its former glory self?

I remember back in the 1980s and 1990s when I was in school (elementary school), all the teachers were praising the Japanese school system. Everybody (I went to school in California) was touting Japanese students as the real model minority. They were smarter and much more efficient then dumb Americans. Their schools had a strict regiment and their students were always the top of the class academically.

Technology wise, Japan had its cars, electronics, video game consoles, everything. Japanese products were invading America and they were far superior to American junk.

This was back in the 1980s and 1990s.

Now, most Japanese Americans I know of are but a shadow of their former glorious themselves. Once the pride of East Asia, Japan is now known more for its anime porn, hentai, manga, and dominating eating contests. Most Japanese Americans I know of don't care that much about academics anymore (well, they do, but they're not obsessed about goign to Ivy League schools as much as other East Asians).


From my observations, even VIETNAMESE Americans take academics and going to a prestigious university more seriously than Japanese people!!!!!

What happened to Japan? In particular, what happened to Japanese people and Japanese Americans?

Here's my observations:

1.) Japan reached its peak in the 1980s and 1990s. Once they reached their pinnacle, they had nowhere to go but down.

2.) Japanese Americans have been in this country for generations. Most Japanese Americans I know are third or fourth generation. They don't really care too much about going to prestigious universities or making a lot of money because they feel like they are "accepted" in American society and don't have this chip-on-their-shoulder mentality. They don't feel the need to seek validation through Ivy League degrees or fancy mid six figure white collar professional jobs. Most Japanese Americans I know of are just happy having a decent career and raising a good family.

3.) Burnout? I think that Japan has simply burned out. Suicides of young Japanese people were rampant in the 1990s due to high pressure to succeed academically. This caused many of Japan's youth to rebel the Japanese school system as too harsh and brutal (not directly rebel, but more subtly, like by slacking off).

What are your thoughts?

the Japanese university is not so important academically except majoring Law, medicine, and something technolotgy.

many various otakus might make strong japan.

academical studying in uni. was done by intermet in japan.

talking about japanese anime,

now i think it starting to lose its epic and separated into less highend quality. ....
I really miss masterpiece like mononoke hime, GITS, venus wars, etc ......



and wonda51, you said that law, medicine, and technology is not important?? what is actually young Japanese after?
Japanese has been example in my school, everytime my teacher talk about success and hi tech they always refer to japan.
is the life there getting harder or something?

I thought Japanese cars in the 80's sucked compared to American cars. Video games were invented by Americans, although the Japanese did perfect it. 80's Japanese animation was awesome though. Way better than the crap they make over there now. I still believe American technology is superior to Japanese technology. It just seems Japanese technology is better because they use theirs for entertainment and we don't.

and you are a japanophile ?

Asiaphile.

i dont know what the hell the topic starter is talking about

most japanese i know here in america attend prestigious universities, and most major in medicine, engineering, law and arts degrees

in japan the society is very influenced by academics and most will study from the morning until midnight

It's funny that you mention this because my experience has been the total opposite. I'm not saying that Japanese are totally dummies (they're very intelligent and hard working people), but they're definitely not obsessed or gunning towards prestigious universities as much as other East Asians. They have less chips on their shoulders and don't feel the need to seek validation from white society (or their Asian peers) by attending elite schools and working white collar professional jobs.

That's not to say that Japanese aren't academically focused, they are. But they're more about pursuing academics or their own satisfaction--not to mention getting a decent job and raising a family. This could be in part because Japanese Americans have been in the country for a very long time so there's no need to have to prove themselves that they're better than white people by attending prestigious universities.

Funny enough though, Japanese people are still stereotyped as academic geniuses because of people like Masi Oka (180+ IQ) and Sho Yano (he's like 15 years old but he's attending medical school in University of Chicago). Most Japanese people I know are far from genius; they're nice, decent, hard working people, but not academic nerds.

Though I'm also willing to admit that there are still a fair number of Japanese who do attend elite schools and work white collar jobs, just not to the extent of other East Asians (not even Vietnamese).

Conversely, I see a lot of Vietnamese Americans gunning for the elite schools and the white collar professional jobs (law, medicine, ibanking, etc.). This is in part due to their chip on their shoulder: Vietnamese have gained a very bad reputation as gang bangers due to the youth Vietnamese gang problem in California during the 1990s. Vietnamese are working hard academically in school in part, to erase that image of the Vietnamese gangster, and also to prove that they can be just as good, if not better, academically as their East Asian counterparts (who seemingly want the model minority image and spotlight to themselves).

so you are saying the Japanese can not be as creative as the white , man , I got the same feeling . BUt their imitative skill is impressive.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20070811a6.html



as the Japanese virtue,Still waters run deep. to pretend nuts is mportant

Japan needs to reinvent itself.

大日本帝国万歳！
大和民族万歳！
白人チンポ万歳！

What does that mean? Is it asian?

Yes white boy, it's "Asian"

Yes, Asian, the ancient language of the "Asians", the same people who eat sushi, celebrate Chinese New Years and do Karatiiii, all at the same time.

Yes, I am so glad you're well acquainted with us "Asians", how can we better serve you oh white masters?

Would you like your traditional "European" meal of potatoes and cabbage? Or would you just like to fvck my sister?

hmm i don't think he is white, I think he is indian.

Well that would just make him fail even harder.

Wow, dkv, were you born that stupid or did you have to work at it?

japan is weak and patheic now. i used to have respect for them when they fought americans. but now they're just pushovers to anything non-asian. to me, japan is a failure. all they have is porn, anime, and cars. that's all they're known for nowadays.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,5...1090825,00.html