This is my opinion. For Olympic, Japanese people do like big world events, it is like a party event for Japanese. Also, Japanese culture is more about empathy for others. Japanese culture is emphasize on, know as "共存共栄". Direct translation is "living together prosper together". You might feel like collectivism, or communism, but it is not. For easy explanation, it is about empathy on others and give-and-take. We want to watch and to empathize from the results of athletes' hard training and effort in Olympic games. And, about nationality, Japan is the oldest country by 1 lineage top in entire world. The weight of Japanese history is very heavy. Many young Japanese don't feel much about the history and the culture on the surface, but still, are proud of them in the deeper mind. I believe that history and culture are heavily influence on its nation/people. Importance of World heritage Cirtificate by Japanese is about title. Japanese really like "title" and it's easy way to understand how great the sites are. We are cheap in this part! I am sorry if I confuse you because of my bad writing.
Hi, I'm Yuko. For me, the World Heritage Site is for me important because once it gets that tile, the site will be preserved in SECURITY so the BEAUTY will not be lost. The beauty I mean is history, any aesthetic side of beauty in it, architecture, nature, the nature, etc., etc. I, as a Japanese, FEEL that THINGS WILL BE LOST IF NOT PROTECTED. And the title of "the World Heritage site" guarantees that the things will remain, as they are. In other words, I feel, that Japanese people don't want to lose something PRECIOUS. We just want to keep the beauty remain as they are. Just my opinion, though, not super sure what other people are looking at them as. Thank you!
Thank you both for uploading the new video. I enjoy your content and it's good for me to improve my English listening skills! The topic of this episode was interesting. In my case, I don't really care about the Olympic games and the world heritage. I’ve never done any personal research about them. However, seeing the TV shows randomly, I find lots of shows about world heritage and also the Olympic games during the season. It's really natural to see and very naturally I feel proud of our country when someone from Japan wins something in the world. I agree with you two’s opinions about the rational stuff. How I feel glad is looking at a Japanese small guy beating a white or black or whatever huge guy, and it is so satisfying. I feel like “Hey world, you guys always make fun of us who are Asians but now, another Japanese guy won the game!!!!!” I suppose it comes from Japan’s patriotism. Many Japanese people are patriotic without knowing. Thank you for reading my long comment 😂 I am looking forward to another video.
For some reason, I hold the World Heritage Certification, Level 2. I studied, paid the fee, and obtained it. Now that I'm living in Australia, I notice that when I talk about World Heritage sites, people from other countries don't seem to be very interested. Personally, I like beautiful landscapes and historical buildings, which is why I’m interested in them. But perhaps Japan, as a country, focuses on world records and World Heritage sites because many people take pride in the nation's heritage. It's part of the national character, wanting to have something to be proud of on the global stage.
Hi, Austin! Hi, Arthur! Thank you for the interesting video! I've been teaching Japanese as a second language for over 3 decades and would like to share my view as a Japanese language teacher. Although I am Japanese, I don't know much about young Japanese, but I know young people from various countries. In the 2000s, European students talked about their countries' World Heritage Sites in my Japanese classes. In the 2010s, students from East Asia began talking about their countries' World Heritage Sites. People who are proud of their country's history or those who are interested in tourism resources talk about World Heritage Sites. The US tourism resource is its prosperity, not its history. That's why it doesn't have to worry about World Heritage sites like Europe and East Asia do. That's my opinion.
Thanks for another interesting topic. To be honest, I never thought about these topics before, but as a typical Japanese, I think we really care about being "certified by authority." So the National Heritage is certified by world experts and the Olympics is also one of the biggest sport events in the world, and in that sense we are more patriotic than typical Americans. I agree that we have inferior complex towards Western countries many years ago, but nowadays we value our culture more than before and appreciate the difference with the Western cultures. It's quite rare to find someone who is really into Western cultures these days.
The World Heritage certification is useful to acquire budget and interest. In japan, many municipal government struggle to get money to maintain themselves.
I share a similar opinion with Arthur. The reason why Japanese people consider the Olympics so important is our unconscious inferiority complex towards Western culture. The World Heritage site is the same way. Being recognized as valuable by Western countries, like those in Europe or America, means a lot to the Japanese. I can say the Nobel Prize is the same thing in Japan. I think it's about time for us Japanese to be confident in our own culture...
in my opinion, Japan people have been more interested in "ranking" and the orders of many things. The good example is "Banzuke", coming from Sumo ranking. In Banzuke, sumo wrestlers are ranked from Yokozuna, Ozeki, Sekiwake, to lower position for "East" and "West". At least from Edo era, similar Banzukes ware made parodically for other things, like Onsen, Food, Tsukemono based on their popularity, quality and performance. Japanse people may be more interested in whether what they think is good can be appreciated by something authentic.
We are unchanged since we fought with Russia. We still have big inferiority complex to the US. The former Tokyo Olympic was held in 1964. It was right after WW2. We lost everything and we were recreating entire things in Japan. Japanese athletes gave us hope that we can be as good as you guys. Still today Japanese love Olympics. If we had thrown away the inferiority complex to you, we wouldn't be such enthusiastic for the news about Shohei Ohtani.
About obsession of those “record” stuff, my thought is that they want to have identity of Japan or being Japanese towards to other nationalities. Because of we are not exposed to different nationalities on daily basis as Japan is island country which only have less than 3% of foreigners. A few or almost zero interactions with other nationalities makes people wonder how we are deemed and obsess to know how we are doing, I suppose.
I stopped following Olympics after BS losses by several Japanese judoka's. I think it was the worst and the weirdest Olympics among others I've watched.
今回の会話の英日字幕付きの動画とスクリプト、会員限定のコミュニティ、月１回Austin and ArthurとのZoom晩酌は「AAフレンズ」でご利用いただけます！
詳しくはこちら→ iu-connect.com/aa-shokai
It was a very interesting talk on the national character of Japan and the USA. I hope you will continue to deliver this amazing show.
テレビの前で｢USA!USA!｣って、言ってるのかと思った。
This is my opinion. For Olympic, Japanese people do like big world events, it is like a party event for Japanese. Also, Japanese culture is more about empathy for others. Japanese culture is emphasize on, know as "共存共栄". Direct translation is "living together prosper together". You might feel like collectivism, or communism, but it is not. For easy explanation, it is about empathy on others and give-and-take. We want to watch and to empathize from the results of athletes' hard training and effort in Olympic games. And, about nationality, Japan is the oldest country by 1 lineage top in entire world. The weight of Japanese history is very heavy. Many young Japanese don't feel much about the history and the culture on the surface, but still, are proud of them in the deeper mind. I believe that history and culture are heavily influence on its nation/people. Importance of World heritage Cirtificate by Japanese is about title. Japanese really like "title" and it's easy way to understand how great the sites are. We are cheap in this part! I am sorry if I confuse you because of my bad writing.
Thanks!
Thank you very much!
Hi, I'm Yuko. For me, the World Heritage Site is for me important because once it gets that tile, the site will be preserved in SECURITY so the BEAUTY will not be lost. The beauty I mean is history, any aesthetic side of beauty in it, architecture, nature, the nature, etc., etc. I, as a Japanese, FEEL that THINGS WILL BE LOST IF NOT PROTECTED. And the title of "the World Heritage site" guarantees that the things will remain, as they are. In other words, I feel, that Japanese people don't want to lose something PRECIOUS. We just want to keep the beauty remain as they are. Just my opinion, though, not super sure what other people are looking at them as. Thank you!
Many of us Japanese tend to be overly concerned with how others perceive us. This may be why we are sensitive to global standards and evaluations.
Thank you both for uploading the new video. I enjoy your content and it's good for me to improve my English listening skills! The topic of this episode was interesting. In my case, I don't really care about the Olympic games and the world heritage. I’ve never done any personal research about them. However, seeing the TV shows randomly, I find lots of shows about world heritage and also the Olympic games during the season. It's really natural to see and very naturally I feel proud of our country when someone from Japan wins something in the world.
I agree with you two’s opinions about the rational stuff. How I feel glad is looking at a Japanese small guy beating a white or black or whatever huge guy, and it is so satisfying. I feel like “Hey world, you guys always make fun of us who are Asians but now, another Japanese guy won the game!!!!!”
I suppose it comes from Japan’s patriotism. Many Japanese people are patriotic without knowing.
Thank you for reading my long comment 😂 I am looking forward to another video.
For some reason, I hold the World Heritage Certification, Level 2. I studied, paid the fee, and obtained it. Now that I'm living in Australia, I notice that when I talk about World Heritage sites, people from other countries don't seem to be very interested. Personally, I like beautiful landscapes and historical buildings, which is why I’m interested in them. But perhaps Japan, as a country, focuses on world records and World Heritage sites because many people take pride in the nation's heritage. It's part of the national character, wanting to have something to be proud of on the global stage.
Hi, Austin! Hi, Arthur! Thank you for the interesting video!
I've been teaching Japanese as a second language for over 3 decades and would like to share my view as a Japanese language teacher. Although I am Japanese, I don't know much about young Japanese, but I know young people from various countries.
In the 2000s, European students talked about their countries' World Heritage Sites in my Japanese classes. In the 2010s, students from East Asia began talking about their countries' World Heritage Sites. People who are proud of their country's history or those who are interested in tourism resources talk about World Heritage Sites.
The US tourism resource is its prosperity, not its history. That's why it doesn't have to worry about World Heritage sites like Europe and East Asia do. That's my opinion.
日本で世界遺産や世界記録が高い価値を持つのは、外国から認められたっていう確証があるからだと思う。
特に欧米の国から褒められたい意識が強い。
文化財の中には国の重要文化財がたくさんあるけど、それよりも世界遺産の方が高い価値を持っている感じがする。
学術的な分野にも国内の賞はたくさんあるけど、ほとんど知名度は無く、影響力も無いのノーベル賞だけやたら盛り上がるものも世界から認められたってことが大きい気がします。
Thanks for another interesting topic. To be honest, I never thought about these topics before, but as a typical Japanese, I think we really care about being "certified by authority." So the National Heritage is certified by world experts and the Olympics is also one of the biggest sport events in the world, and in that sense we are more patriotic than typical Americans. I agree that we have inferior complex towards Western countries many years ago, but nowadays we value our culture more than before and appreciate the difference with the Western cultures. It's quite rare to find someone who is really into Western cultures these days.
Thank you for another fun and interesting discussion.
世界遺産のタイトルが欲しいのは、町おこし的な意図で、観光客を呼び込むひとつの起爆剤にしたいためなのかなぁという印象がありました。
The World Heritage certification is useful to acquire budget and interest. In japan, many municipal government struggle to get money to maintain themselves.
I share a similar opinion with Arthur. The reason why Japanese people consider the Olympics so important is our unconscious inferiority complex towards Western culture. The World Heritage site is the same way. Being recognized as valuable by Western countries, like those in Europe or America, means a lot to the Japanese. I can say the Nobel Prize is the same thing in Japan. I think it's about time for us Japanese to be confident in our own culture...
in my opinion, Japan people have been more interested in "ranking" and the orders of many things. The good example is "Banzuke", coming from Sumo ranking. In Banzuke, sumo wrestlers are ranked from Yokozuna, Ozeki, Sekiwake, to lower position for "East" and "West". At least from Edo era, similar Banzukes ware made parodically for other things, like Onsen, Food, Tsukemono based on their popularity, quality and performance. Japanse people may be more interested in whether what they think is good can be appreciated by something authentic.
We are unchanged since we fought with Russia. We still have big inferiority complex to the US. The former Tokyo Olympic was held in 1964. It was right after WW2. We lost everything and we were recreating entire things in Japan. Japanese athletes gave us hope that we can be as good as you guys. Still today Japanese love Olympics. If we had thrown away the inferiority complex to you, we wouldn't be such enthusiastic for the news about Shohei Ohtani.
日本人は古いものや地域性、自然、歴史を大事にしているからではないでしょうか？あとは流されやすくて登録されているものは凄いものであると思い込む傾向があると思います。そして、凄いものを見て満足してしまいます。
地域の人は、地域のものが世界遺産に登録されれば観光客も増えて収入も増えるのでそういうメリットもあると思います。
About obsession of those “record” stuff, my thought is that they want to have identity of Japan or being Japanese towards to other nationalities.
Because of we are not exposed to different nationalities on daily basis as Japan is island country which only have less than 3% of foreigners.
A few or almost zero interactions with other nationalities makes people wonder how we are deemed and obsess to know how we are doing, I suppose.
やっぱ日本人って「肩書き」に弱いんですかね？
そのあたりもいつか話題にしてくれたら嬉しいです
In Japanese culture, where you go is more important than who you go with or how you spend time there. i.e. Miyage banashi
Japanese seem to be too much influenced by the things media leading, that's, money.
一つは、明治以降かもしれませんが、賞というものが、国民的に好きなのだと思います。学校の運動会、音楽会、でも、順位を付けて賞の数を競います。人の評価を意識しがちな国民性が影響してると思います。
また、オリンピックと世界遺産については、マスコミの影響も大きいです。アメリカと比べれば、まだ新聞購読者は多いですし、在京テレビ局の視聴率も高いです。つまり、マスコミの細分化が進み、同じ情報を見ないアメリカと比べてマスコミがAgendaセッティングをして、繰返し同じニュースを取り上げるので、その二つについての関心も高くなりがちだと思います。
I stopped following Olympics after BS losses by several Japanese judoka's.
I think it was the worst and the weirdest Olympics among others I've watched.
apathetic??? why is that?