Hey guys. Long time no see.


Here's my take: government will always take the form of the people. Take a look at Japanese citizens in general. All the people, all students in my university who are straight from Japan, will accept an authority's position rather than criticize it. They don't like to argue with me in class. They don't like to correct other people except when it concerns their culture.

It takes years of immersion for those students to be comfortable enough to start questioning ideas and speaking up. Years spent in a culture that actively praises individual thought and opinion. I've seen that by the time a Japanese student graduates, he or she will be more willing to act like an American than they were at the start of their education.

So it's hardly surprising to me that the Japanese Diet would be run like this. I always wondered how democracy as Americans understand it would work there, honestly.

My two cents.


EDIT:

The Diet is the most democratic parliament in the world? No. There are many other countries where parliament is more democratic than Japan. But comparing to China? No. IF you speak out against the government in China, you will be arrested, imprisoned, put to work in one of those rural work camps, and possibly executed. I don't recall seeing this in Japan.

So while there is a lot of room for improvement in all parties, Japan is not an undemocratic nation which executes people for their free speech and beliefs.

1. China does have some democracy, in that as I understand it the Premier is selected by a group of executives with a vote. The voting takes place behind closed doors and the general public does not have a say in anything, which is why everyone thinks it's a ruling dictatorship.

2. Individual rights. Now there's a good subject for debate. I think that if you come from a country that places more emphasis on group, caste or social behavior instead of individual behaviour, you're going to look like you have less "rights" than somewhere where individual behaviour is cherished.

My mom was on a European trip when she was younger, and she was asked about living in the U.S. by a guy from Yugoslavia, which was under pretty repressive rule at the time. She asked him how he could live in a place where he couldn't question his leaders, and he replied that his leaders knew what they were doing. They would never steer him wrong, because they were his leaders. He didn't have to think about what he needed to do, because he could follow an authority.

He asked how my mother could live in the U.S., where there were no constant leaders. How could my mother stand the anarchy? Wasn't she afraid of not having anyone to follow, of not having anyone know what to do all the time?