Thread

I can't speak English, and it's been really tough lately😢 I used to get by with just Japanese, but now I realize how lucky that was.

I think there are many Japanese individuals like yourself who educate themselves about English, the world, and information technology. The regular Japanese is hardworking, smart, resourceful, honest, and creative. The failure is with the LDP and Japan Inc. The elites in Japan seem to think they graduate Todai and live happily ever after. I see a lot of arrogance among the elite classes who are shielded from much of the decay of Japanese society and seem blissfully unaware of the threats. Dealing with the government and corporate Japan and their antiquated, proprietary, and insecure IT systems is a daily frustration. Tourists are a menace and lower the quality of life for all living in Japan. But corporate Japan doesn't make things foreigners want to buy anymore so this is the only way we can earn dollars to buy our food and energy security. The one thing we have is a peaceful, stable society, but if we import millions of young men from the third world can we not expect the same kind of problems experienced by the Europeans?

自分も同じ様に思います。 ただ、最近はこれでいいのでは、とも思っています。 なぜなら必ずしも国のトップが能力的に有能であることは必要ないと思うからです。日本で言えば帝王学そしてそれの元となる貞観政要では執政者の資質について説いていて、私なりの解釈では側近が有能であれば良しとしています。必要なのはカリスマやインフルエンス的な物だとも。 今の日本の政治を見ていると、少し前から変わり始めていて今は変革期になっていると思っています。政治の流れとして民の代表を選ぶ基準が変わり始め今までとは違う代表者が選ばれる要素も上記に合致していくと思っています。 簡単に言えば総理大臣がマリオになるような物です。

コメントありがとうございます。貞観政要のこと初めて知りました。勉強になりました。🙇 日本にはとりあえず強いリーダーが必要な気がします。日本のTrump版が選ばれますかね。。。Trump自身こそが有能では全くないけど、有能の人を集めて、適材適所にするのが得意だと私は思います。

日本はまだ封建主義的な所が残っているので、アメリカの様に強いリーダーを置いてしまうと勢いが強すぎて暴走する可能性があるのかなと思っています（執政者ではなく民が） なので現状で必要なのは愛されるリーダーが必要と思います。 アメリカはその点で何百年も先の政治をしていて凄いなと思います。沢山の人々が議論しながら生活する事は未来にとって一番重要だと思ってます。エリス島行ってみたい！

As for Japan’s elite class, I honestly don’t know much about it. But when it comes to whether the average Japanese person is seriously thinking about the current state of Japan, I’m somewhat pessimistic. Let me share a bit about my past. When I was a teacher, I was completely absorbed in work. Even after coming home and on weekends, I was always doing something related to school. The only kind of information I looked up outside of work was probably the weather forecast. Before that, when I was a student, I loved video games. I spent most of my energy figuring out how to secure more time to play, and I had little interest in anything else. In Japan, where the idea of 「一億総中流」 (“a nation of a hundred million middle-class people”) still lingers, many people live in homes with solid roofs, without worrying about collapse or danger. Because of that, I think it’s difficult for many to develop a sense of crisis about society. Spending most of your time working or on entertainment is seen as normal, and that might be why social issues tend to be ignored. As for the issue of immigration, to be honest… I’m not sure what to say. I live in a rural area, so I haven’t personally encountered many challenges related to foreigners. However, there are people in my family who hate all foreigners and openly express that hatred using extremely harsh and offensive language. Whenever that happens, I feel sad. Even if I try to explain, “Not all foreigners are a problem — it’s just a few individuals,” they don’t accept it, and the atmosphere gets very tense. So I try to avoid the topic whenever possible. Still, even I can tell that things are heading in a bad direction. There are many aspects of the current system that clearly don’t make sense. Your podcast has helped me learn a lot. I especially enjoyed the part about the differences in email culture between India and Japan — that was really interesting.