The 18 minute mark is fascinating. In anime Bleach, Ichigo Kurosaki spoke about "crafting his image" and panicked about his reputation or facing shame, because a mod soul took over his body and hurt his reputation. The issue was blown over when Rukia wiped out everyone's memories.
With the West being just a golden skeleton at this point, anime and Vocaloid fancies me far more than the mainstream can puke out. Indie and PC games are superior to console crap and AAA vomit, and the best ones among them showcase a symbolically honest reflection of reality (just look at the Little Nightmares franchise). The only good big franchises I can think of is God of War, Devil May Cry, Deus Ex and Sonic the Hedgehog (from Frontiers and onward). I could've listed Ratchet and Clank, but that one's not as much a paragon as it is less toxic than, say, Hyperdimension Neptunia (blargh!). Sometimes I wonder if we should try out a similar society model to that which Japan once used (where being a merchant gave you no privileges beyond ordinary people). I don't mind capitalism, but I'm tired of corporations which are fine with laying all to waste in the name of profits. Small-time millionaires and mom and pop shops are fine though. Freelancing and blogging too are alright. I just want corrupt monopolies to go down the crapper. Bonus if Christianity gets a revival as well. We have much to clean up after the Boomer baggage. A society which emphasizes functionality through individuality over resource acquisition would be worth a try.
Actually, Japan DID have a great technological breakthrough - and the man who did it was fired and impoverished for the rest of his life (edit - his life in Japan. He did OK for himself once he became a US citizen) because he went against company orders to manage it. Edit - He spent 10 years litigating vs the company, getting only enough to pay his massive legal expenses. It was the "true-blue" LED, which made all current LED technology and applications possible. The industry had been stuck at red and green for about 2 decades before his breakthrough.
My little piece of information here: I grew up in the first region to receive Japanese immigrants in Brazil, thus having having contact with their culture in a constant basis. The Japanese community in Brazil became the most successful among all of the around 100 we have/had. What led me to apreciate their mindset to a high degree. Later on in life after I worked for few International Japanese companies I was invited by a friend to a speech of one if the executives of Toyota that were coming to Brazil to celebrate an important mile stone of the company in Brazil. Then I was struck with just a single thing, that man said "the Brazilian factory of Toyota was the most efficient one in the world and no factory could give so much efficience, even in Japan itself". And he continued to talk about how much Japaneses need the iron hyerarchy structure to enforce its goal. But in Brazil it flows into everyones mind as naturally as a breeze in the spring. It literally means Brazilians are the complete oposite in every aspect but we are a perfect match for coupling in order to achieve something big.
First time getting a corporate pep talk, huh? Upper level executives are paid to lie in the most convincing way possible. They will say _anything_ that gets them what they want. To them, honesty is for chumps and losers. They are paid well because they are very clever with their lies. That, I think, has been the real export of the US: Psychopathy in leadership. It's always been there but the US elevated it to a science. Toyota isn't what it used to be. They were, decades ago, the definition of quality and value-for-money. They honestly produced a vastly superior product as compared to US car manufacturers (not a terribly high bar, honestly). Now? Not so much... They're still probably a better value than an American car but not by much. They're riding on their reputation and it's getting stale. They've adopted planned obsolescence just like US car makers did long ago. They have completely lost their sense of duty towards their customers. It's really pretty sad.
Holy shit? Seriously? The Brazilian factory beat the japonese factories? But you touch on a point I've been thinking seeing a lot of videos about gringos and their experiences of Brazil. I think both "closed" and "cold" societies (like Japan, Germany, Russia, etc) and the "open" and "warm" societies like Latin America are kind handicapped in isolation but can greatly complement each other.
29:50 This is why Japan and America business get along so well. Americans are amazing as creating new ideas and innovations from scratch while Japan is amazing at improving those ideas and making them popular, easy to use, and inexpensive.
The greatest example of this is the Jeep. Revolutionary vehicle that the Japanese military govt captured and replicated now Toyota is the leader of worldwide 4x4
In the 1950s, a product with a “made in Japan” label, had a horrible stigma attached to it. If you see a “Made in China” label today, it doesn’t carry the any of the same stigma “Made in Japan” had. The poor quality of Japanese products at the time could be attributed to the Japanese fear of speaking out against the group to notify them of any defects in the factory line. It wasn’t until an American quality control expert named W. Edwards Deming told the corporations that it was okay for workers to speak up and point out defects. After that adjustment, Japan gained its reputation as manufacturers of quality products. This is another fascinating example of Japan’s fear of rejection and rapid adaptation.
@darthutah6649 not really. Firstly not all immigrant-native culture relationships are the same. Because cultures are not the same. Some cultures make better immigrants than others and cultures don't benefit from the same types of cultures immigrating to them. Infact there are plenty of examples of increased immigration correlating with reduced innovation (see EU), and plant of examples of innovation without immigration. For something to be essential it can not happen without it. Oxygen is essential to human survival. Meat, as useful as it is, is not.
@@darthutah6649Not immigration but multiculturalism. A country needs to have the archetypical communities of old money plus dumb youthful energy beats technocrats, bureaucracy and monopolies.
Well, yes and no. Deming and the Japanese culture that accepted and promoted his ideas both deserve a lot of credit, but the Japanese were notable artisans for centuries before Deming arrived. What is key is that the Japanese decided, as a country, to adapt AGAIN to their dire circumstances and grafted onto their culture a tool that could enable them to succeed.
WE had a young japaneas man staying with us (a german family) before Corona. He said, and i quote "I chose Germany, because Germans are the Japaneas of Europe." ... He fit right in, was VERY polite and managed to followed the rules. I will visit him some day. Ohh, one difference is: Germans work to live, in Japan they just work and live.
Im not so sure I like the collaboration of Germany and Japan.....Im not a fan of their previous work, and Im not so sure I need to see what they have in store.
Dealing with Japanese bureaucrats have always been a quick and painless process. Once I went with a friend who needed to fill out paperwork at the ward office, and after we left, we milled about the city for a few hours. Suddenly one of the ward office employees show's up, apparently my friend missed a box to sign in. This lady managed to track us down after all that time. They could have called another day and say "hey you got to come in again and redo your paperwork." But Japan has managed to instil a sense of honor in it's managerial class, and it shows. Every interaction I've had with the bureaucracy has been, quick, painless, and ultimately beneficial.
When I was attending high school, as an American in Japan, (1969), there were so many Japanese children then, you would never imagine that a population decline was on its way. I remember seeing, one time, a line of Japanese kindergarteners, waiting for their teacher to lead them down a mountain road, on a rainy day, all wearing their identical yellow raincoats and hats. They looked like a line of yellow ducklings.
If you saw America in 1969, you’d never believe there was a demographic crash on the way either, but in fact it had already begun. That’s why all those movies set in the Year 2000 have the biggest ecological problem be overpopulation. “The year is 2002. The world population is 580 billion. To combat overpopulation, we’ve built a 500 million dollar spaceship and put three people on it. Humanity depends on them! Will they succeed…or FAIL?!”
i find the themes in general manga a strong indication of what is lacking in japanese standard cultures. a culture revoling around duty, compliance and docility. the most mainstream characters: Goku (dragon ball), Luffy (one piece) and Naruto (Naruto) were very un-japanese as they were playfull, intuitive and didnt follow social norms
Except he is literally right about everything concerning Japan. Look up the Shogunate. He has a whole series about different periods of Japan and covers everything in more deta
@@roycehuepers4325 He's wrong about Japan being socialist, and he talks as if Japanese people are united when Okinawans typically saw themselves as separate.
@@roycehuepers4325he doesn't know a thing about Asian cultures and why their choices are "weird". His only metrics are financial and intellectual. PS: if you want to challenge yourself intellectually look up the name Ankit Shah, the guy is very clearly a charlatan snake oil salesman or an ibiot savant who got at least a dozen major geopolitical predictions right in the last 5 years. I am talking about exceeding Zeihan levels or even Simpsons. But the logic and explanations are so cringe, you know he is just lucky or first at something, thereby evading scrutiny. This channel gives me the same vibes when he talks about Asia, except very little sticks.
@GhostSamaritan 1) social market economy technically, which has elements of socialism in it. Maybe not purely socialist, but they can go that route. 2) as of today, as a general rule they are. You're talking about when Okinawa was called the Ryukyu Kingdom. You might as well call America a British colony at this point if you wanna try that logic
@rutvikrs 😆 except he's literally got everything right. Stephen Turnbull, Antony Cummins to name a couple authors/historians on the subject. You're talking to someone who actually studies this stuff, mainly focused on koryu martial arts.
@@Lucius_Aurelian_ I have no doubt that what you say is true but Japan definitely has Karen's. Because everywhere has Karens it's a human universal.😂😂
Finally, a return to form. I appreciate whatifalthist's newer content. It made me really think about things I've never considered before. But damn I miss these more historical / focus on a civ videos
Rudyard, I’m begging you. Please do a video on Ancient Zoroastrian Civilization (550 BC - 632 AD). It was THE main rival to classical civilization throughout its existence, and yet it got swiftly crushed by the rise of Islam while the Eastern Roman Empire did not and was able to evolve into Orthodox Civilization. Why? Why was Zoroastrian Civilization swept aside so easily? There are almost no Zoroastrians left in Iran.
While Islam crushed zoroastrian culture politically it really assimilated most of it. Islam is far more similar to zoroastrianism than orthodoxy to greco-roman paganism. Most of the islamic architecture you see today in Iran, Central Asia and partially India is basically the Sassanian style with slight alterations, meanwhile orthodoxy subwerted greek culture to a level where, a view centuries from its adoption, there was basically nothing classical about the Byzantine Empire anymore.
Zoroastrianism is reviving in iran secretly as islam is dying out. Official numbers don't show it cause of islamic dictatorship but they will soon fall anyways. And unlike Greek Paganism , Zoroastrianism managed to exist even agter 1400 years of islam without interruption which is pretty impressive given the discrimination
"Why was Zoroastrian Civilization swept aside so easily?" I really don't know all that much about Zoroastrianism. Not as much as I'd like to. I'm sure that, like every religion, it became corrupted by humans seeking power rather than truth. It's what we do. But, as an aside, I'd say you should look up the phrase, "Bad money drives out good," and find out exactly what it means and what the implications for all of humanity are.
Something that seems to have been lost in translation - the relationship you mention between step-mothers and step-daughters is actually the relationship that occurs between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The mother-in-law basically has carte blanche to treat her daughter-in-law like trash. And they usually do, especially when the daughter-in-law comes to live in the mother-in-law's house (which is traditional for the wife of the oldest son). The characters used for mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in Japanese (義母・義理の娘) can mean both "step-" or "-in-law", so it sounds like someone mistranslated it somewhere. Edit: another interesting tidbit is that if you try using matching services or dating apps in Japan, they have a field for your place in the family, e.g. "oldest son", "oldest daughter", "second son", etc. Your spouse's obligations change depending on your place in the family, so it is relevant information that gets thrown right alongside things like age.
Very good reply. I’ve never heard that whole “step-mother” thing, but I sure as hell have heard about the Mother In Law thing. And yes, birth order is a big thing. No one wants the eldest son, whose obligation is to take care of his parents, and the mother lives in the same house frequently. Pure hell for the wife ensues! 😂 No wonder the marriage rate and birth rates are low.
*san. -chan is cutesie and _very_ informal. Sally-chan in English would be “Sally baby.” Rudyard-chan is appropriate if he were in elementary school or if you were fucking him, not otherwise.
Being an American serviceman who has lived in Japan, I can say that your video has helped me understand a large part of the confusion I experienced there when interacting with the Japanese. I have grown to love them, but maintain that I will never live there permanently. I think every intelligible American should visit, but never stay. I simply can't reconcile the social contract over there with my complete lack of fucks to give about what other people think of me.
Very wise observation. The Japanese are taught from the cradle that what other people think of you is very important indeed! Ti have any success in Japan at all you need to fit into the group and fulfill your role within the group. Not doing this is social suicide. It has positive and negative attributes, but the Japanese society has the most durable culture and cooperative citizenry in the world.
I'm Dutch originally and for the Dutch the Americans are already perceived as "fake nice". The Dutch are very direct and based. At least in the countryside, a bit less so in the cities.
As a Chinese person, what is odd to me about the Japanese is their devotion to the social group. Chinese society is based around the family which biologically make sense and so people act out of self-interest around their families fates and then generally disregard strangers outside of it. But Japanese are based around some devotion to a feudal lord or company or even rockabilly dance group at the park on Sunday afternoons. Also, the very Japanese phenomenon of Hikkokomori, shut-ins who isolate from society, has always seemed to me to be a form of self-punishment in a society where social groups are so important.
Just throwing ideas around, it's probably a reflection of how Japanese society had feudalism a lot more recently than Chinese society did, if Chinese society ever even had a system like that
@@elibrahams5566 Weird kink, but ok, what do you want to be yelled at about? Zionism is kind of a broad topic, incorporating varied and at times incompatible views about how (and where) people should live. You might need to be a bit more specific about what land you feel entitled to and what people should do about it.
Any society that has some retail and convenience stores with minimal or no staff and customers take what they want and proceed to line up at the self pay machine up front ,in one of the biggest and most densely populated cities in the world ,is a culture to be proud of
Many societies can have clean subways, but the unique thing about Japan is, they can keep it that way without fines, punishment, underclass workers, etc. The merit of using mainly social pressure to control the population is that it costs way less, in that once you establish it, it only requires occasional educational reinforcements.
24:10 well; after decapitating said peasant, Samurai was obligated to turn himself over to local Police Force (failing to this, branded automatically him an outlaw), where they would investigate if samurai's honor was really damaged and if found out that samurai honor wasn't damaged, said samurai had to commit seppuku, of course if samurai was powerful enough (daimyo level or powerful lords) he didn't need to worry about that.
Tsujigiri aka "Cross-roads killings" is a myth. There's only one recorded instance of a samurai lord actually killing peasants with his katana and here's the details: 1. The killings took place in a brothel, where the samurai killed a couple of prostitutes 2. This happened well into the Edo period, in 1695 to be exact. Not only did it happen after the Middle Ages ended, there's also no similar recorded killings prior to it. 3. Most importantly, the samurai was promptly executed for it, so he didn't get away with killing unarmed peasants As usual, Rudyard fails to do proper research before making his videos, ignoring critical information that can be easily found with a quick Google search in favor of repeating debunked stereotypes he probably got from consuming pop culture.
Yes, the fate of Korea, despite its aging population, is not really set in stone. Actually, it's far from it. I think the peninsula's full potential of its civilization will be laid bare to history once it completes its reunification process. And, I'm aware the outcome of the process will be very dependent on the prudence of Korea's future leaders. It's worth nothing that this land full of very resilient people(both North and South Koreans) are still divided and are not yet utilizing their mineral resources(from North), manpower(from North), cultural power( from South) and expertise( from South) to their fullest extent YET. I do think it's a group of people with lots of potential and has has the capability of surpassing even the Japanese. @@EdiTheDon
Interesting to note the similarity between Indonesia (mostly Java) and Japan, both being polite, collectivist, high trust, high neoteny islands of rice farmers. My wife is Indonesian and it really took me a while to understand the shame based culture or the polite cues she would give me when something concerns her.
youre correct about javanese culture. but other ethnics in indonesia has different culture. batak and mollucans for example are stereotyped as being loud and straighforward.
Java would be a similarly interesting culture if it was not muslim. There is a reason everyone goes to Bali and not Java, they have preserved their traditions where Java is very much soaked by foreogin influence. The same would be true for the whatifalthist wish scenario of japan going christian around 1600. It would have lost what makes it unique.
@@user-uf2df6zf5w true Bali does feel more authentic, especially with the rising arabic influence over Malaysia and Indonesia in the last decades. Bali suffered from overtourism though, the traffic is a nightmare.
@@user-uf2df6zf5w have you visited yogyakarta? as a javanese myself. what errodes javanese culture these days are not islam, but rather western "modernism" culture. islam arrived centuries ago in java but we're not that "arabized". our traditional clothes, dance, ceremonies are far different from arabic.
I know quite a few Japanese, quite a few Chinese. I'm American-German. One thing I've never figured out: It might be just me, but in general I get the jokes my Japanese friends make, they get my jokes. But my Chinese friends, their sense of humor I never get...and they don't get mine. I have no idea why this is.
Both cultures German and Japanese are known to be very cold structured no nonsense cold humor type cultures. Both economic powerhouses with beautiful rich history, languages, culture and technology. But the world knows they are both very cold. Honestly surprising to me Germany has 25% of its population as immigrants as German norms can be troubling for outsiders.
@@TimBitts649 I was stationed in West Germany (Yeah, I'm old.) years ago and could read German. They have, though I hesitate to use the word, "comics," in their newspapers. I used to read them fairly regularly. It was as though someone had told them that other newspapers have simple line drawings in them that are intended to be entertaining to the readers. No one told them that they are supposed to be a break from serious news and that they are supposed to cause laughter. The Germans may have something resembling a sense of humor but it is weird beyond anything an American can comprehend and it just isn't funny at all.
German 'humor' really is sincerely odd, @@TimBitts649. I hadn't known about Robin Williams agreeing with me on that. I was never really a big fan of his, honestly. More into Carlin and Eddie Murphy.
Holy cow the rejection thing you talk about is the most beautiful thing and you changed my understanding of 建前｡tatemae or a facade it’s basically the idea that Japanese people wear a façade to prevent themselves to be nice to each other. It’s very common here when I’m trying to pick up girlfriends or pick up girls to have all of them be extremely nice but then later they’ll completely switch on you but they’ll still be nice to you but they’ll say things that are super confusing this is the result of their façade which comes from the fact that they have a fear of rejection so much they don’t want the other person to fear rejection
I like your channel generally speaking, but as someone who grew up 18 years in Japan and have lived just as long in the states as of this year... it's very very inaccurate. To make the point, Ruth Benedict never visited Japan nor spoke the language (author of the book you discuss "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword")... and supposedly talked to Japanese Americans to study the culture. This book in particular has a lot of other issues which I will save for another time (basically a war time book with the author lacking any knowledge on the topic... as it really didn't matter). I suggest having at least a few Japanese sources (local sources). There are a lot of newer papers from the past 10-15 years especially out of NYU and UC Berklee. Here's a few things I would start with... I say this out of respect and would be happy to send some direct sources and even ideas on topics of things commonly misunderstood. I actually am in contact with Japanese historians as there have been multiple books/publications and movie on my family if there is any need for deep diving. All the following is only to mention a few major topics missed but honestly could dive in a lot more. Next, often time Japan get's pooped on for having "different ideas" but whether it was the method of dealing with the great depression in the 30's later adopted by the west without providing any credit, or how Abe coined the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" now being spearheaded by the US by first the Trump and now the Biden Presidency.... you can tell that Japan is never provided with any acknowledgement of any sort. You can go on and on like inventing the high-speed rail (which earns money), and at the time was ridiculed for when nations were moving to the autobahn after WWII. However, this is actually Japan's strategy as a nail that sticks out get's hammered in. Ex. Japan's bubble is often times seen as a failture of the Japanese government alone, when a major factor is how the US 1) Signed the Plaza accord which appreciated the Japanese yen 3 folds in a period of few years, thus making it close to impossible to export goods. People seemed shocked that the Japanese feds won't take any action on the currency exchange but it's really kinda obvious when you know the basic 101s. 2) The Chips Tax by Reagan that placed a 100% tax on Japanese semiconductor which is CRAZY 3) Pressured Japanese auto firms to move it's manufacturing to the US (thus being the largest employer of US citizens in the world). Please note Japanese people are whatever on this, but get frustrated primarily by not admitting to it which is straight up seen as dishonorable (refer to declassified "war guild information program" that has roots in leading to Godzilla, rewriting Japanese history which now can only be accessed at our national archive but can't even be checked out). People seemed shocked that the Japanese feds won't take any action on the currency exchange but it's really kinda obvious when you know the basic 101s. Now on societal comments. Japan may be "collective" but as many as you probably would know already, it's not a simple black or white distinction. For example, leading up to WWII Japan was filled with many factions (and sub factions) that would make your head hurt (bringing up WWII because it's such a covered topic you would think this would be common knowledge). It's surprising as some of the many factions that played pivotal roles will yield no result on English youtube and primarily academic articles on Google. Topic too large to get into, but Kraut's video on Imperial Japan is the best I've seen grasp the concept fully. But a major one I've rarely heard mentioned in the west is how the Army was tied to the Choshu clan (a large base of the army and practically all leaders are descendant of this small feudal group). In contrast, the Navy was primarily consisting of the Satsuma clan which played a large role in modernizing and placing the emperor in the throne. These feuding clans and their goals is a core driver in the war for Japan (Army/Choshu lost their status as samurais and mostly hated westerners who lead the changes to their way of life). Within these groups of course there are many many factions, and then there is of course the ideals of the people which only lost it's democracy due to the assassination of the PM in 1936 by young rogue army members. Could go on and on, but once again reach out and I'll be happy to compile topics and sources. If I get a response from @whatifalthist I will drop my discord handle so that I can provide you with any details.
Long-term resident of Tokyo here. You’ve verbalized several things that I’ve observed over time. Probably the best observation is how they can take a concept to an absurd extreme because there is no feedback loop. Well-done on so many points. There are too many videos on TH-cam repeating unfounded stereotypes based on books or movies written by people who have seemingly never visited Japan. Looking forward to watching more of your videos.
Can you do a video explaining the concept of "honor"? I know that probably sounds like a strange thing to ask, but I honestly have almost no concept of what "honor" actually means or why it's so incredibly important to the people who love it. You bring it up a lot in your videos and I always wonder what exactly it means to you.
As someone of Japanese and Celtic heritage, the comparison between the two types of honor was fascinating. Identity in the west seems to be more like “this is who I am. Take it or leave it” and being that way seems to mean you have integrity and will stand up for yourself. In Japan it’s more like, you can be who are but privately unless you find a like-minded group. It’s a culture that actually very much respects privacy or expressing internal thoughts, ideas, and feelings through art and creativity as it’s a safer outlet than irl. I’d say too that I think Japanese people DO have a lot of pride, just in a different way? Like it’s not an individual pride, but rather pride for your group or pride over your position or station in a hierarchy which can be why being too emotional, lenient or forgiving is seen as a sign of weakness (maybe this is bushido? Tbh I don’t know) and disrespect is unforgivable. I can’t remember the source unfortunately, but I heard that in an anonymous survey, Japanese people were asked if they thought their peers believed themselves to be individualist vs collective as well as if they saw themselves as individuals and basically while most said they thought of their peers as collectivist, 50% said they believed themselves to be individuals so at least in the modern era, there is a bit of a disconnect or a strong separation between the internal/private and the external/public. It seems like you have to have a static identity in the west and you’re discouraged from losing yourself to others, while in Japan, who you are changes depending on your role and station. I see this reflected in some Japanese media too like Evangelion dealt a lot with identity, fitting in and individualism vs collectivism. Perfect Blue meanwhile gripes with the idea that your identity may not actually belong to you. Some aspects of Japanese culture remind me of like American Cornell Instructional videos from the 50s where there are very clear-set rules related to presentation and etiquette that are crucial to fitting in. The Silent Generation imo can actually be pretty collectivist. The boomers and Gen Xers though moved in a more individualist direction though and now their millennial and Gen Z children crave collectivism which may actually be a small part of why younger generations really like Japanese media/culture. Sorry for rambling, I just had a lot of thoughts and perspectives (who knows if even accurate) I wanted to express I suppose haha.
The TH-camr Hoser said essentially "Japan will be the first to fall and the first to rise again from the demographic crisis". China has roughly 30 million young men who will never get married because of the 1 child policy (can we honestly think another warring states era isn't coming for China). South Korea is dependent on imports and exports and needs the Pacific and east and south China to continue there tech based economy. North Korea is north Korea. Despite the flaws in Japan, it has the ability to go back and fourth between intense social conservatism and hardcore urbanized living.
They wont be able to go "back" for free. it will cost them, it will cost 10s of millions of lives. their current population is to high to sustain by them selves, if china collapses internally.. they wont be able to manufacture and transport food products on scale to foreign trading partners.. in turn, this ill result in horrible regional famine all around asia. but after that, they should be pretty fine.
Exactly my thoughts too! Japan is a society with immense social discipline, and once the societal consensus shifts towards more familial values, people will abide by and follow it. Japan will likely be the first to recover, and the nation most of the world likely bases their regrowth policies off of!
I agree and believe this is the case as well. While the demographic crisis pressures the Japanese government, they will still be able to survive from high-tech manufacturing exports. The other nations who suffer from the demographic inversion will have much smaller global export market destinations.
Completely coincidental that Rudy released this after I watched both Nausicaa and Castle In the Sky earlier this week, which both perfectly exemplify all the concepts brought up in this vid
22:00 in fact the Japanese were 'probably' the first to invent pottery, according to Guns, Germs and Steel, and this was around 10,000 BC. But the Japanese are brilliant at optimization and the world would be much less technologically advanced without them.
I had a source in college that said that the first Sino-Tibetans to enter Japan were about 1500 BC. Presumably if that date is correct, then the Jomon would be Ainu.
I feel so incredibly lucky to not only live in this beautiful country, but in central Tokyo. I get paid less than I did back home, yet I can live comfortably by myself in a beautiful, clean, new apartment near Asakusa and Ueno. The work culture isn't for the faint of hearted, but I can't complain too much about my life or living standards here.
@@mongolianfishingvillages1371 That's true but considering I'm getting by on ¥230,000 after tax a month, the fact that my pay will increase to ¥310,000 after tax this month, and potentially up to ¥450,000+ in the next two years, and my girlfriend might be moving in in August which will halve my rent to ¥50,000, I think I'm set up extremely nicely.
Loving these explained videos because they're so multifaceted anthropologically. Not just some chronological account but linguistic, intuitive, how a culture thinks and how it got there. Would love to see a video on Korean and Vietnamese civilizations!
I enjoyed this a lot as with all of your videos. As an Englishman in his 70s just one social comment for you. I lived in England for the first half of my life and have been in Asia for the second., during which I've visited Japan many times. one thing that struck me immediately was that the courtesies of the Japanese had a lot of similarities with those that were normal for me in the 1960s in England. Most evidently in the desire to keep some personal distance with someone you have just been introduced to, until you know them a lot better. In the UK, you would not use somebody's name to greet them until you knew them very well. Whenever I met Americans, they would begin using my first name within five minutes of meeting me. The Japanese never do this.
FANTASTIC video! I loved all of your videos for about a year and a half and they’ve always been eye opening, thought provoking, and entertaining! Thank you for working so hard, you somehow continue to improve upon what is already of the highest quality.
Early 2000s i was the token barbarian at a Japanese owned company. My role was to say the thing that can not be said politely in a situation where it needs to be said in western situations. An interesting but not fun role
As a guy who studies Japanese history as a hobby, the notion that Japan obfuscates its history is hilariously false. Japanese scholarship is top-notch and it is extremely open about what actually happened. The problem is that all this work is in Japanese and is largely unknown outside Japan. Few Western scholars have the linguistic ability to translate those works or to develop their own with the primary sources. The result is that Japan largely operates as an intellectual island isolated from the rest of the world.
You should probably tell us all the names. Rudyard admitted that he had a hard time finding good books on Japan. From what you said, it could just be that those books don't circulate in places we can easily find them.
You're not wrong. I studied for 4 years and it was difficult to be average. As far as history goes, I could probably dig through my archives. I minored in Asian studies and focused on Japan. Tho my area of expertise was car/motorcycle culture.
@@hebercluff1665 The books and articles are in Japanese, written at the highest difficulty for the language. Those outside of Japan don't know what most of Japanese scholarship on Japanese focused subjects actually is. We know Japan is prolific in their scholarship and publishing, and we know the few works that are translated are really good. The Western scholars who can read at that level just do their work and don't translate Japanese works. The best you'll get is second hand through a Western scholars citing a source you can't hope to read. This is an area where you actually do need to talk to academic experts to gain the best insight and knowledge.
Its a video that would be probably censored. It can’t be said there is just one african civ. Bantu And ethiopians look quite different, both deserve a separate video.
Thank you for an extremely profound, balanced, and insightful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese culture. This was light years ahead of most other commentaries about Japan found on TH-cam.
Heck yeah, I've been waiting for this one! I wanted to see if my notion and understanding of Japan would align with this eventual video and it mostly did. Hope to see a video on Ethiopia in the future, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa in geneneral.
That you said about arable land is the true reason that Japan want to lower its population. There was many Japanese politicians who said that Japan needs to be lower than 100 million people otherwise sooner or later could face starvation of epic proportions.
Yes and no. They won't face starvation, per se, but Japan is highly invested in being self-sufficient in its food production. I think that is the real issue.
its the same argument used back then when "overpopulation" was a treat just like global warming. thats why many countries tried to decrease their population growth. i dont hear such thing anymore.
Writing from Japan, I must congratulate you because much of what you write about Japan is accurate. Few people can do this. You are right that Japan and the US along with England stand as the cultural opposite of Japan, so they both find it difficult to understand each other. I can attest to this because both my stepfather and my stepmother were of British and Irish origins, while my biological parents were ethnically Japanese. There were constant cultural misunderstandings in my childhood, which often led to days of fighting. I should also mention that Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore has written that Westernized Japanese are the most discriminated against in Japan. The majority of Japanese-Brazillians were kicked out of Japan after living on welfare when they tried to come to Japan to work as immigrant workers in the 1990s. People wouldn't give them jobs. Many were replaced by workers from China, who could understand the Confucian and Buddhist culture of Japan better than a Japanese who was raised abroad in a Christian country. Please check out what PM Lee has said. Japanese society is far closer to Chinese society than many realize and is definitely alien from American and Anglo society. Workers from Iran also worked out better in Japan and there are still communities of Iranian workers in Japan. Russian friends call Japan a 'Rice Collective', which is different from the type of collective farms that were established during the days of the Soviet Union because it is not based on Christianity, unlike Soviet socialism. The majority of Japanese do not understand that there are cultural differences. They are taught that people everywhere are all the same. So they often blame all cultural problems on racism.
Very good video overall, but the statement "Japan has produced no great thinkers, no technological innovation" is an exaggeration. There is a huge list of great Japanese poets, writers and spiritual teachers. It's true that the Japanese aren't big philosophers in general - but they compensate by expressing great concepts through amazing art instead. When it comes to technology, Japan has invented the hand folding fan, the first ever mechanical dolls, rice cookers, the digital microscope, airsoft, blue laser, the bullet train, the camera phone. Also, samurai being allowed to simply decapitate peasants for no reason is a myth. Such samurai were punished by forced seppuku or a death sentence by both the shogunate and the local provincial governments. "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" is still a fairly OK book, but old, with much outdated info. Bushido was never a universally agreed upon, standardized and codified value system - it varied greatly depending on time period, the different samurai clans, and individual samurai authors who had different opinions on what Bushido is and should be. A modern and standardized version of Bushido was invented and used by the Japanese military in the early 20th c. but it wasn't actual tradition.
I remember reading about how Christian missionaries felt that Christianity would take off in Japan due to how much their personal values reflect the teachings of Christ. That assessment is probably accurate. But it didn't pan out as they had anticipated. I can't help but wonder if it is due to the blatant discrepancy between what western Christians practice versus what they preach.
Many Japanese at the time had no problem practicing Shintoism and Buddhism at the same and thought there was no reason to treat the Christian religion the same. But of course that wouldn't work for the priests, their god is the one true god after all.
Great video. I find a lot of the theoretical points your making - how family structure can predict societal structure, how feudalism can be good for balancing powers in a nation, etc. to be really facinating. Are you planing any video or series centered around explaining and demonstrating such ideas, and not just individuals countries/cultures?
I'd love a video on Ethiopian civilization. On most of your maps you (in my opinion correctly) make Ethiopia a separate civilization that any around it, so it would be a great unique topic for a vide. I've also just been interested in Ethiopian history for a long time and would love to hear it through your unique way of analyzing civilizations.
@mudra5114 yes it's accurate to say that Ethiopian Christianity is oriental Orthodox (although they conquered so many muslims that these days the population is almost half muslim, which would make it much less of a christian civilization at least in the modern day if half isn't population isn't christian. However, that almost half muslim amount I said is only according to some data. Religious and ethnic numbers are very contentious, and different surveys often find vastly different numbers). But I don't think it's useful to conider oriental orthodox and eastern orthodox churches to be part of one larger group of orthodox churches, they're 2 separate branches of christianity who just happen to both have the word orthodox in their name. They've even tried working more closely together compared to other christian denominations (for example Ethiopia and Russia when the Ethiopian Empire re-established significant contact with Europe, they tried to work closely together because they are both orthodox, and they did cooperate successfully to some extent but they never became close allies or anything), and yet they are still separate, because they're 2 unrelated branches who happen to share a word in their names, not 2 parts of a wider orthodox branch. Also as far as Ethiopia being a part of Oriental Orthodox Christian civilization, that's one of the big reasons it's so unique. It kept its religion even after being cut off from the rest of the christian world for centuries and being surrounded by muslim states who actively wanted to conquer and convert them. Yet here they are. Not even Europeans were able to colonize them (no Italy occupying most of the country during ww2 is not colonization, you wouldn't say that Germany colonized France and Poland because they occupied them during ww2, so neither was Ethiopia colonized by Italy. Sure Italy called it a colony, but they also said that they weren't doing anything wrong in the war, like how they won by basically dropping mustard gas on the entire fucking country. They weren't exactly representing every fact accurately.
based on nothing tangible. turks made zero technological advances, even. grape, pillage, steal, convert, mosque. that's all they did. useless, pointless, pathetic.
15:05 Nordic societies value a kind of quiet happiness. In Nordic societies you are happy if you don't fail in life, you have a roof over your head, some food, clothes, hobbies etc. You don't show it openly. You don't smile, you don't shout, you don't show wealth - you just, are. What Nordic societies think of as happiness would be neutral or depressive to most of the world. This sort of modesty cones from the harsh climate conditions of the area. Mere survival was the objective for most of history I guess a problem with Nordic societies is wanting to everyone to have a decent standard of living - and wanting that comfort - but never going beyond. Never wanting crazy success or fame
@6:42 The Celts didn't just arrive in Britain in 300 BC, cultural movement toward the Celtic culture/what we can consider Celtic genetics was documented over around 1000 years to the British Isles, 1300BC to 800BC.
That's up to him. I mean, DbZ was never that good and I'm sure the sequel he died writing will be a worthy successor. At least he wasn't a boomer parasite, unlike many Americans his age. He died writing something nobody wants to see, versus the average American boomer who dies while receiving social security checks that are larger than your average full time Amazon worker makes.
@@michaelhunsinger8351 yeah thats good description, he was voluntarily there... in china or other places that would be mandatory without social checks. dont know how strong "boss leaves, then staff can leave" still is in japan, but if it is that is bad example to work too much. in west amazon has supervisor let alone found nowhere to be found. although in west we have punchcard stalking computer systems instead of physical boss presence.
Hate Westerners seeing something they don't understand, applying their line of thinking and coming to the conclusion that x must be forced to do y because they'd never do the same.
and the 1980 Toyota was superior to the Ford Escort of the same period - with a better engine, better tires, better suspension, and get this - they put the cost of it at less than the Ford Escort and paid their workers better than Union Labor.
I guess he was talking about big, revolutionary innovations that completely change the world (e.g. the Anglo countries inventing the internet and smartphones most recently), but yeah that statement is a little too definitive and can easily rub people the wrong way.
excellent. really excellent. I ahve been doing a deconstruction of the Japanese hospitality culture called "omotenashi" and covered this same ground. I came across a definition of Japanese culture. It's three main elements. Kao (face) , Wa (Harmony), and Omoiyari (Empathy). Derived from Confucianism, Shinot and Buddhism respectively. You put everything that goes into their cultural journey way better that I managed to. Bravo.
Fun Fact: The Shinto dawn goddess, Uzume, is an import from the dharmic Ushas, from India, who is their version of Eos in Greek, Ausrine in Eastern Europe and Eostre or Easter in the West.
Ame no Uzume is an original Japanese Shinto goddess, she is not an import. She is present in the first scroll of the Kojiki. She happens to share similarities with the other goddesses because that's typical for all ancient spiritual traditions - they all perceived the Higher principles.
Didn't the Japanese invent flash memory, not to mention the blue LED, and probably a bunch of stuff I don't know about? Their scientific papers are top-notch.
21:49 I can attest that the japanese are always the top collector of any item. I've recently been looking for a new clarinet, and particularly looking for used buffet-crampon (generally considered the best brand) clarinets, because of how expensive they are new. There are a few sellers in the US, a couple in France probably because it's a French company, a few in China which I am unsure whether or not they are scams, but then basically every single other seller at all across all of amazon and ebay are in Japan. They have collected so many of them, and you can tell for many of them it's about the collection because the listings, unfortunately for me as someone who wants it to play, focus more on any unique features that a collector would care about as opposed to how well it plays or how it sounds
Speaking of the similarities between Britain and Japan, it's fascinating to me that if you go back only 400 years or so, there must have been more Japanese speakers than English speakers. Japan has been a large country for a long time.
It should also be noted that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the centers of Christianity in Japan prior to the atomic bombing. Christians were actually celebrating a holy day and killed in mass when Nagasaki was bombed. The cathedral was ground zero. I personally, subscribing to a "conspiratorial" view of history, don't believe this was a coincidence. Christianity in Japan never recovered.
4:00 This is the secret: japan had minimal contact with the outside for most of it's history ( bar China/Korea)....this made them weaker in military and trade, but culture-wise, they were certain of their identity.
Start playing War Thunder today: wtplay.link/whatifalthist
You need to work on pauses a bit. Breathe…
The 18 minute mark is fascinating. In anime Bleach, Ichigo Kurosaki spoke about "crafting his image" and panicked about his reputation or facing shame, because a mod soul took over his body and hurt his reputation. The issue was blown over when Rukia wiped out everyone's memories.
With the West being just a golden skeleton at this point, anime and Vocaloid fancies me far more than the mainstream can puke out. Indie and PC games are superior to console crap and AAA vomit, and the best ones among them showcase a symbolically honest reflection of reality (just look at the Little Nightmares franchise). The only good big franchises I can think of is God of War, Devil May Cry, Deus Ex and Sonic the Hedgehog (from Frontiers and onward). I could've listed Ratchet and Clank, but that one's not as much a paragon as it is less toxic than, say, Hyperdimension Neptunia (blargh!). Sometimes I wonder if we should try out a similar society model to that which Japan once used (where being a merchant gave you no privileges beyond ordinary people). I don't mind capitalism, but I'm tired of corporations which are fine with laying all to waste in the name of profits. Small-time millionaires and mom and pop shops are fine though. Freelancing and blogging too are alright. I just want corrupt monopolies to go down the crapper. Bonus if Christianity gets a revival as well. We have much to clean up after the Boomer baggage. A society which emphasizes functionality through individuality over resource acquisition would be worth a try.
"Nagasaki was a Japanese port city founded by the Portuguese in the late 16th century and later unfounded by the USA in the mid 20th century."
Then Refounded in the early 60s.
>Nagasaki LE GOOD
ouch, that was brutal
The US, people tell me it's a "Christian nation", dropped a nuke on a city ...that was the center of Christianity in Japan.
@Sigma_Male_Anti_Female I mean, you could do 1 second of "Googlefu" and you'd see it.
Was it actually faster to respond?
Actually, Japan DID have a great technological breakthrough - and the man who did it was fired and impoverished for the rest of his life (edit - his life in Japan. He did OK for himself once he became a US citizen) because he went against company orders to manage it. Edit - He spent 10 years litigating vs the company, getting only enough to pay his massive legal expenses.
It was the "true-blue" LED, which made all current LED technology and applications possible. The industry had been stuck at red and green for about 2 decades before his breakthrough.
A Innovator getting kicked out of his group. So Japanese.
They didn't even think it was possible until he did it.
Versatium channel did a video about it.
This has to be the most Japanese kind of thing I've heard all day.
Saw the Versatium video about it.
My little piece of information here:
I grew up in the first region to receive Japanese immigrants in Brazil, thus having having contact with their culture in a constant basis. The Japanese community in Brazil became the most successful among all of the around 100 we have/had. What led me to apreciate their mindset to a high degree. Later on in life after I worked for few International Japanese companies I was invited by a friend to a speech of one if the executives of Toyota that were coming to Brazil to celebrate an important mile stone of the company in Brazil. Then I was struck with just a single thing, that man said "the Brazilian factory of Toyota was the most efficient one in the world and no factory could give so much efficience, even in Japan itself". And he continued to talk about how much Japaneses need the iron hyerarchy structure to enforce its goal. But in Brazil it flows into everyones mind as naturally as a breeze in the spring. It literally means Brazilians are the complete oposite in every aspect but we are a perfect match for coupling in order to achieve something big.
First time getting a corporate pep talk, huh?
Upper level executives are paid to lie in the most convincing way possible. They will say _anything_ that gets them what they want. To them, honesty is for chumps and losers. They are paid well because they are very clever with their lies. That, I think, has been the real export of the US: Psychopathy in leadership. It's always been there but the US elevated it to a science.
Toyota isn't what it used to be. They were, decades ago, the definition of quality and value-for-money. They honestly produced a vastly superior product as compared to US car manufacturers (not a terribly high bar, honestly). Now? Not so much... They're still probably a better value than an American car but not by much. They're riding on their reputation and it's getting stale. They've adopted planned obsolescence just like US car makers did long ago. They have completely lost their sense of duty towards their customers. It's really pretty sad.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
@@LeadLeftLeon Underrated comment.
@@LeadLeftLeon probably
Holy shit? Seriously? The Brazilian factory beat the japonese factories?
But you touch on a point I've been thinking seeing a lot of videos about gringos and their experiences of Brazil. I think both "closed" and "cold" societies (like Japan, Germany, Russia, etc) and the "open" and "warm" societies like Latin America are kind handicapped in isolation but can greatly complement each other.
29:50 This is why Japan and America business get along so well. Americans are amazing as creating new ideas and innovations from scratch while Japan is amazing at improving those ideas and making them popular, easy to use, and inexpensive.
America X Japan is really a great team up.
and china makes imitations 10x cheaper
When Japan does it, it's called Improvement; when China does it, suddenly it's called stealing. Westoids are some serious pieces of work.
The greatest example of this is the Jeep. Revolutionary vehicle that the Japanese military govt captured and replicated now Toyota is the leader of worldwide 4x4
Americans are amazing at invading orther countries , stealing inventions and then saying they invent it
In the 1950s, a product with a “made in Japan” label, had a horrible stigma attached to it. If you see a “Made in China” label today, it doesn’t carry the any of the same stigma “Made in Japan” had. The poor quality of Japanese products at the time could be attributed to the Japanese fear of speaking out against the group to notify them of any defects in the factory line. It wasn’t until an American quality control expert named W. Edwards Deming told the corporations that it was okay for workers to speak up and point out defects. After that adjustment, Japan gained its reputation as manufacturers of quality products.
This is another fascinating example of Japan’s fear of rejection and rapid adaptation.
Once again proving that immigrants are an essential part of innovation
@@darthutah6649 not all immigrants are created equally, and they also shouldn't be weaponized against the native population.
@darthutah6649 not really.
Firstly not all immigrant-native culture relationships are the same. Because cultures are not the same. Some cultures make better immigrants than others and cultures don't benefit from the same types of cultures immigrating to them.
Infact there are plenty of examples of increased immigration correlating with reduced innovation (see EU), and plant of examples of innovation without immigration.
For something to be essential it can not happen without it. Oxygen is essential to human survival. Meat, as useful as it is, is not.
@@darthutah6649Not immigration but multiculturalism. A country needs to have the archetypical communities of old money plus dumb youthful energy beats technocrats, bureaucracy and monopolies.
Well, yes and no. Deming and the Japanese culture that accepted and promoted his ideas both deserve a lot of credit, but the Japanese were notable artisans for centuries before Deming arrived. What is key is that the Japanese decided, as a country, to adapt AGAIN to their dire circumstances and grafted onto their culture a tool that could enable them to succeed.
“Anime and its consequences”
Yup.
As someone that is a consumer of such media, this excites and worries me.
Anime is love, anime is life.
@@Wuwei72-o5nUntil you get into Hentai, then it’s a mind rabbit hole
The coomer memes have never been more true
WE had a young japaneas man staying with us (a german family) before Corona. He said, and i quote "I chose Germany, because Germans are the Japaneas of Europe." ... He fit right in, was VERY polite and managed to followed the rules.
I will visit him some day.
Ohh, one difference is: Germans work to live, in Japan they just work and live.
Im not so sure I like the collaboration of Germany and Japan.....Im not a fan of their previous work, and Im not so sure I need to see what they have in store.
Apparently you’ve never heard of the 100-hour work week
@@projektkobra2247but they made one of the best sequels ever made.
@Sigma_Male_Anti_Femaleand both where absolutely right.
At all levels.
We know about Japan and Germanys relationship.
Dealing with Japanese bureaucrats have always been a quick and painless process. Once I went with a friend who needed to fill out paperwork at the ward office, and after we left, we milled about the city for a few hours.
Suddenly one of the ward office employees show's up, apparently my friend missed a box to sign in. This lady managed to track us down after all that time. They could have called another day and say "hey you got to come in again and redo your paperwork." But Japan has managed to instil a sense of honor in it's managerial class, and it shows.
Every interaction I've had with the bureaucracy has been, quick, painless, and ultimately beneficial.
America in that instance is straight to jail no questions asked no comments made, treated like a criminal.
When I was attending high school, as an American in Japan, (1969), there were so many Japanese children then, you would never imagine that a population decline was on its way. I remember seeing, one time, a line of Japanese kindergarteners, waiting for their teacher to lead them down a mountain road, on a rainy day, all wearing their identical yellow raincoats and hats. They looked like a line of yellow ducklings.
If you saw America in 1969, you’d never believe there was a demographic crash on the way either, but in fact it had already begun. That’s why all those movies set in the Year 2000 have the biggest ecological problem be overpopulation.
“The year is 2002. The world population is 580 billion. To combat overpopulation, we’ve built a 500 million dollar spaceship and put three people on it. Humanity depends on them! Will they succeed…or FAIL?!”
i find the themes in general manga a strong indication of what is lacking in japanese standard cultures. a culture revoling around duty, compliance and docility. the most mainstream characters: Goku (dragon ball), Luffy (one piece) and Naruto (Naruto) were very un-japanese as they were playfull, intuitive and didnt follow social norms
A very beautiful thing about duality .
Cross reference the Lord of the Rings versus mainstream Hollywood.
Absolutely. The Japanese spirit is very restrained
The easiest way to force artists into extreme fantasies is to give him tons of pressure so he'd need to create some escape worlds.
@@deadby15 Froopyland
The civilization videos are objectively your best.
“i love making geopolitical videos but it’s hard because i don’t know anything about geopolitics.” love this channel
Except he is literally right about everything concerning Japan.
Look up the Shogunate. He has a whole series about different periods of Japan and covers everything in more deta
@@roycehuepers4325 He's wrong about Japan being socialist, and he talks as if Japanese people are united when Okinawans typically saw themselves as separate.
@@roycehuepers4325he doesn't know a thing about Asian cultures and why their choices are "weird". His only metrics are financial and intellectual.
PS: if you want to challenge yourself intellectually look up the name Ankit Shah, the guy is very clearly a charlatan snake oil salesman or an ibiot savant who got at least a dozen major geopolitical predictions right in the last 5 years. I am talking about exceeding Zeihan levels or even Simpsons. But the logic and explanations are so cringe, you know he is just lucky or first at something, thereby evading scrutiny. This channel gives me the same vibes when he talks about Asia, except very little sticks.
@GhostSamaritan 1) social market economy technically, which has elements of socialism in it. Maybe not purely socialist, but they can go that route.
2) as of today, as a general rule they are.
You're talking about when Okinawa was called the Ryukyu Kingdom. You might as well call America a British colony at this point if you wanna try that logic
@rutvikrs 😆 except he's literally got everything right.
Stephen Turnbull, Antony Cummins to name a couple authors/historians on the subject.
You're talking to someone who actually studies this stuff, mainly focused on koryu martial arts.
Explaining why Whatifalthist finishes each sentence with a slight upward inflection that makes him end every sentence without resolution
He’s a Valley Girl except he’s a boy and the Valley is Silicon.
Troll making same sentence each video made. Lame. Booooooo
He spent too much time living in California.
It’s actually a local Pennsylvanian accent. I have friends there that speak similarly.
Yea got me questioning his sexuality tbh🫤
5:39 Bro became Alvin and the Chipmunks outta nowhere 💀
This came out just as I was rewatching a lot of the old videos on this channel. And I really appreciate the return to form.
Next video: The Anthropology of Japanese Karens
Gemmy video idea
That’s more of a mainland Chinese thing than Japanese
@@Lucius_Aurelian_ I have no doubt that what you say is true but Japan definitely has Karen's. Because everywhere has Karens it's a human universal.😂😂
@@Hakar17do they have Karens in Gilead?
Certainly there are a shitload of Karens in Burma.
Finally, a return to form. I appreciate whatifalthist's newer content. It made me really think about things I've never considered before. But damn I miss these more historical / focus on a civ videos
Rudyard,
I’m begging you.
Please do a video on Ancient Zoroastrian Civilization (550 BC - 632 AD).
It was THE main rival to classical civilization throughout its existence, and yet it got swiftly crushed by the rise of Islam while the Eastern Roman Empire did not and was able to evolve into Orthodox Civilization. Why? Why was Zoroastrian Civilization swept aside so easily?
There are almost no Zoroastrians left in Iran.
why? theyre weak thats why. its that simple.
While Islam crushed zoroastrian culture politically it really assimilated most of it. Islam is far more similar to zoroastrianism than orthodoxy to greco-roman paganism. Most of the islamic architecture you see today in Iran, Central Asia and partially India is basically the Sassanian style with slight alterations, meanwhile orthodoxy subwerted greek culture to a level where, a view centuries from its adoption, there was basically nothing classical about the Byzantine Empire anymore.
Zoroastrianism is reviving in iran secretly as islam is dying out. Official numbers don't show it cause of islamic dictatorship but they will soon fall anyways. And unlike Greek Paganism , Zoroastrianism managed to exist even agter 1400 years of islam without interruption which is pretty impressive given the discrimination
"Why was Zoroastrian Civilization swept aside so easily?"
I really don't know all that much about Zoroastrianism. Not as much as I'd like to. I'm sure that, like every religion, it became corrupted by humans seeking power rather than truth. It's what we do.
But, as an aside, I'd say you should look up the phrase, "Bad money drives out good," and find out exactly what it means and what the implications for all of humanity are.
Islam is a warrior’s religion. An uncompromising minority whenever they aren’t the majority
“Wake tf up Samurai! We have another Rudyard video to watch!” - John Wick
"Leave me alone, Ronin Gaijin!"
-Yakuza, probably
2 videos in 2 days.
Whatifalthist is feeding us well
What an appropriate pfp and channel name for this video 😂
Something that seems to have been lost in translation - the relationship you mention between step-mothers and step-daughters is actually the relationship that occurs between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The mother-in-law basically has carte blanche to treat her daughter-in-law like trash. And they usually do, especially when the daughter-in-law comes to live in the mother-in-law's house (which is traditional for the wife of the oldest son).
The characters used for mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in Japanese (義母・義理の娘) can mean both "step-" or "-in-law", so it sounds like someone mistranslated it somewhere.
Edit: another interesting tidbit is that if you try using matching services or dating apps in Japan, they have a field for your place in the family, e.g. "oldest son", "oldest daughter", "second son", etc.
Your spouse's obligations change depending on your place in the family, so it is relevant information that gets thrown right alongside things like age.
Very good reply. I’ve never heard that whole “step-mother” thing, but I sure as hell have heard about the Mother In Law thing. And yes, birth order is a big thing. No one wants the eldest son, whose obligation is to take care of his parents, and the mother lives in the same house frequently. Pure hell for the wife ensues! 😂 No wonder the marriage rate and birth rates are low.
I am convinced that 1990's Japanese made products are the pinnacle of reliability and quality.
Except the 1990s Japanese stock market.
@@michaelhunsinger8351Because a stock market is not "art."
Rudyard-sama
Chan*
*san. -chan is cutesie and _very_ informal. Sally-chan in English would be “Sally baby.” Rudyard-chan is appropriate if he were in elementary school or if you were fucking him, not otherwise.
-sama is used to show great respect to individuals who are older or higher ranking than you. For instance, anyone from a senpai to the emperor.
@@isaackellogg3493 rudyard-senpai? 👉👈
Rudy nee-chan
Thanks!
How is this man only 22 years old? It’s extremely impressive having talked to so many humans in their early 20’s
If he was 40, I'd still think he was young to be able to do what this guy does. It's really impressive!
Being an American serviceman who has lived in Japan, I can say that your video has helped me understand a large part of the confusion I experienced there when interacting with the Japanese. I have grown to love them, but maintain that I will never live there permanently. I think every intelligible American should visit, but never stay. I simply can't reconcile the social contract over there with my complete lack of fucks to give about what other people think of me.
Very wise observation. The Japanese are taught from the cradle that what other people think of you is very important indeed! Ti have any success in Japan at all you need to fit into the group and fulfill your role within the group. Not doing this is social suicide. It has positive and negative attributes, but the Japanese society has the most durable culture and cooperative citizenry in the world.
I'm Dutch originally and for the Dutch the Americans are already perceived as "fake nice". The Dutch are very direct and based. At least in the countryside, a bit less so in the cities.
@@castirondude I've come to learn that people who live in cities tend to be more disingenuous and shallow than country fellas
Never say never because the opposite might happen.
@@Perceval777 real
Celtic individuality is why the Romans ran through them.
As a Chinese person, what is odd to me about the Japanese is their devotion to the social group. Chinese society is based around the family which biologically make sense and so people act out of self-interest around their families fates and then generally disregard strangers outside of it. But Japanese are based around some devotion to a feudal lord or company or even rockabilly dance group at the park on Sunday afternoons. Also, the very Japanese phenomenon of Hikkokomori, shut-ins who isolate from society, has always seemed to me to be a form of self-punishment in a society where social groups are so important.
You are lesser than japan , they at least dont treat dogs like dirt
Just throwing ideas around, it's probably a reflection of how Japanese society had feudalism a lot more recently than Chinese society did, if Chinese society ever even had a system like that
"rockabilly dance group at the park on Sunday afternoons"
Truer words have never been typed
Don't act like Chinese aren't the same work drones y'all are both workaholics that drop
Also Japan is much more civilized and advanced than china
These videos are your most important videos as they are the fondation of your current geopolitical videos and where your validity comes from
Cant wait to see the comments for the Jewish Civilisation video...
Why wait? Let's have them here!
You sound like a woman
Inexpensive Palestine!
Something about a river flowing downstream and free land!
@@elibrahams5566 Weird kink, but ok, what do you want to be yelled at about? Zionism is kind of a broad topic, incorporating varied and at times incompatible views about how (and where) people should live. You might need to be a bit more specific about what land you feel entitled to and what people should do about it.
Any society that has some retail and convenience stores with minimal or no staff and customers take what they want and proceed to line up at the self pay machine up front ,in one of the biggest and most densely populated cities in the world ,is a culture to be proud of
A country with clean subways
A country with less “you know who”
@@ethank.3201less white european.
A country where people have manners (we can ignore the toxic work culture)
Many societies can have clean subways, but the unique thing about Japan is, they can keep it that way without fines, punishment, underclass workers, etc.
The merit of using mainly social pressure to control the population is that it costs way less, in that once you establish it, it only requires occasional educational reinforcements.
@@ethank.3201 less europeans?
24:10 well; after decapitating said peasant, Samurai was obligated to turn himself over to local Police Force (failing to this, branded automatically him an outlaw), where they would investigate if samurai's honor was really damaged and if found out that samurai honor wasn't damaged, said samurai had to commit seppuku, of course if samurai was powerful enough (daimyo level or powerful lords) he didn't need to worry about that.
The Daimyo or Lord would rarely interact with some peasant anyway
Tsujigiri aka "Cross-roads killings" is a myth.
There's only one recorded instance of a samurai lord actually killing peasants with his katana and here's the details:
1. The killings took place in a brothel, where the samurai killed a couple of prostitutes
2. This happened well into the Edo period, in 1695 to be exact. Not only did it happen after the Middle Ages ended, there's also no similar recorded killings prior to it.
3. Most importantly, the samurai was promptly executed for it, so he didn't get away with killing unarmed peasants
As usual, Rudyard fails to do proper research before making his videos, ignoring critical information that can be easily found with a quick Google search in favor of repeating debunked stereotypes he probably got from consuming pop culture.
Please do an in depth analysis of Korean civilization. Very complex and lots of drama and betrayal in it.
I guess mixing three kingdoms makes for a lot of drama. And I think at least one of the three influenced samurai culture in Japan.
Yes, the fate of Korea, despite its aging population, is not really set in stone. Actually, it's far from it. I think the peninsula's full potential of its civilization will be laid bare to history once it completes its reunification process. And, I'm aware the outcome of the process will be very dependent on the prudence of Korea's future leaders. It's worth nothing that this land full of very resilient people(both North and South Koreans) are still divided and are not yet utilizing their mineral resources(from North), manpower(from North), cultural power( from South) and expertise( from South) to their fullest extent YET. I do think it's a group of people with lots of potential and has has the capability of surpassing even the Japanese. @@EdiTheDon
@@solitarycrow Oh yeah, definately
Interesting to note the similarity between Indonesia (mostly Java) and Japan, both being polite, collectivist, high trust, high neoteny islands of rice farmers. My wife is Indonesian and it really took me a while to understand the shame based culture or the polite cues she would give me when something concerns her.
youre correct about javanese culture. but other ethnics in indonesia has different culture. batak and mollucans for example are stereotyped as being loud and straighforward.
@@rizkyadiyanto7922true, I have a quite loud and bossy Batak friend hehe. I often wondered how those neighbouring cultures turned up so differents.
Java would be a similarly interesting culture if it was not muslim. There is a reason everyone goes to Bali and not Java, they have preserved their traditions where Java is very much soaked by foreogin influence.
The same would be true for the whatifalthist wish scenario of japan going christian around 1600. It would have lost what makes it unique.
@@user-uf2df6zf5w true Bali does feel more authentic, especially with the rising arabic influence over Malaysia and Indonesia in the last decades. Bali suffered from overtourism though, the traffic is a nightmare.
@@user-uf2df6zf5w have you visited yogyakarta? as a javanese myself. what errodes javanese culture these days are not islam, but rather western "modernism" culture. islam arrived centuries ago in java but we're not that "arabized". our traditional clothes, dance, ceremonies are far different from arabic.
I know quite a few Japanese, quite a few Chinese. I'm American-German. One thing I've never figured out: It might be just me, but in general I get the jokes my Japanese friends make, they get my jokes. But my Chinese friends, their sense of humor I never get...and they don't get mine. I have no idea why this is.
Both cultures German and Japanese are known to be very cold structured no nonsense cold humor type cultures.
Both economic powerhouses with beautiful rich history, languages, culture and technology. But the world knows they are both very cold.
Honestly surprising to me Germany has 25% of its population as immigrants as German norms can be troubling for outsiders.
@@Pero-zl4jp you're onto something
@@TimBitts649 I was stationed in West Germany (Yeah, I'm old.) years ago and could read German. They have, though I hesitate to use the word, "comics," in their newspapers. I used to read them fairly regularly. It was as though someone had told them that other newspapers have simple line drawings in them that are intended to be entertaining to the readers. No one told them that they are supposed to be a break from serious news and that they are supposed to cause laughter. The Germans may have something resembling a sense of humor but it is weird beyond anything an American can comprehend and it just isn't funny at all.
@@MyName-tb9oz Comic Robin Williams had similar observations about the German sense of humor, he did a comedy tour of Germany while still around.
German 'humor' really is sincerely odd, @@TimBitts649. I hadn't known about Robin Williams agreeing with me on that. I was never really a big fan of his, honestly.
More into Carlin and Eddie Murphy.
Holy cow the rejection thing you talk about is the most beautiful thing and you changed my understanding of 建前｡tatemae or a facade it’s basically the idea that Japanese people wear a façade to prevent themselves to be nice to each other. It’s very common here when I’m trying to pick up girlfriends or pick up girls to have all of them be extremely nice but then later they’ll completely switch on you but they’ll still be nice to you but they’ll say things that are super confusing this is the result of their façade which comes from the fact that they have a fear of rejection so much they don’t want the other person to fear rejection
Japanese innovation in chemistry is definitely recognized.
I like your channel generally speaking, but as someone who grew up 18 years in Japan and have lived just as long in the states as of this year... it's very very inaccurate. To make the point, Ruth Benedict never visited Japan nor spoke the language (author of the book you discuss "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword")... and supposedly talked to Japanese Americans to study the culture. This book in particular has a lot of other issues which I will save for another time (basically a war time book with the author lacking any knowledge on the topic... as it really didn't matter). I suggest having at least a few Japanese sources (local sources). There are a lot of newer papers from the past 10-15 years especially out of NYU and UC Berklee. Here's a few things I would start with... I say this out of respect and would be happy to send some direct sources and even ideas on topics of things commonly misunderstood. I actually am in contact with Japanese historians as there have been multiple books/publications and movie on my family if there is any need for deep diving. All the following is only to mention a few major topics missed but honestly could dive in a lot more.
Next, often time Japan get's pooped on for having "different ideas" but whether it was the method of dealing with the great depression in the 30's later adopted by the west without providing any credit, or how Abe coined the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" now being spearheaded by the US by first the Trump and now the Biden Presidency.... you can tell that Japan is never provided with any acknowledgement of any sort. You can go on and on like inventing the high-speed rail (which earns money), and at the time was ridiculed for when nations were moving to the autobahn after WWII. However, this is actually Japan's strategy as a nail that sticks out get's hammered in. Ex. Japan's bubble is often times seen as a failture of the Japanese government alone, when a major factor is how the US 1) Signed the Plaza accord which appreciated the Japanese yen 3 folds in a period of few years, thus making it close to impossible to export goods. People seemed shocked that the Japanese feds won't take any action on the currency exchange but it's really kinda obvious when you know the basic 101s. 2) The Chips Tax by Reagan that placed a 100% tax on Japanese semiconductor which is CRAZY 3) Pressured Japanese auto firms to move it's manufacturing to the US (thus being the largest employer of US citizens in the world). Please note Japanese people are whatever on this, but get frustrated primarily by not admitting to it which is straight up seen as dishonorable (refer to declassified "war guild information program" that has roots in leading to Godzilla, rewriting Japanese history which now can only be accessed at our national archive but can't even be checked out). People seemed shocked that the Japanese feds won't take any action on the currency exchange but it's really kinda obvious when you know the basic 101s.
Now on societal comments. Japan may be "collective" but as many as you probably would know already, it's not a simple black or white distinction. For example, leading up to WWII Japan was filled with many factions (and sub factions) that would make your head hurt (bringing up WWII because it's such a covered topic you would think this would be common knowledge). It's surprising as some of the many factions that played pivotal roles will yield no result on English youtube and primarily academic articles on Google. Topic too large to get into, but Kraut's video on Imperial Japan is the best I've seen grasp the concept fully. But a major one I've rarely heard mentioned in the west is how the Army was tied to the Choshu clan (a large base of the army and practically all leaders are descendant of this small feudal group). In contrast, the Navy was primarily consisting of the Satsuma clan which played a large role in modernizing and placing the emperor in the throne. These feuding clans and their goals is a core driver in the war for Japan (Army/Choshu lost their status as samurais and mostly hated westerners who lead the changes to their way of life). Within these groups of course there are many many factions, and then there is of course the ideals of the people which only lost it's democracy due to the assassination of the PM in 1936 by young rogue army members.
Could go on and on, but once again reach out and I'll be happy to compile topics and sources. If I get a response from @whatifalthist I will drop my discord handle so that I can provide you with any details.
Long-term resident of Tokyo here. You’ve verbalized several things that I’ve observed over time. Probably the best observation is how they can take a concept to an absurd extreme because there is no feedback loop.
Well-done on so many points. There are too many videos on TH-cam repeating unfounded stereotypes based on books or movies written by people who have seemingly never visited Japan.
Looking forward to watching more of your videos.
Can you do a video explaining the concept of "honor"? I know that probably sounds like a strange thing to ask, but I honestly have almost no concept of what "honor" actually means or why it's so incredibly important to the people who love it. You bring it up a lot in your videos and I always wonder what exactly it means to you.
If the World ever goes Mad Max Dystopia, we have to keep Rudyard alive to keep World History intact.
And unlike History Man in Furiosa, he won’t need to write all over himself.
We need to kidnap Rudyard HAHAHAHAHA
@@bevbevan6189🤣🤣🤣
As someone of Japanese and Celtic heritage, the comparison between the two types of honor was fascinating.
Identity in the west seems to be more like “this is who I am. Take it or leave it” and being that way seems to mean you have integrity and will stand up for yourself. In Japan it’s more like, you can be who are but privately unless you find a like-minded group. It’s a culture that actually very much respects privacy or expressing internal thoughts, ideas, and feelings through art and creativity as it’s a safer outlet than irl.
I’d say too that I think Japanese people DO have a lot of pride, just in a different way? Like it’s not an individual pride, but rather pride for your group or pride over your position or station in a hierarchy which can be why being too emotional, lenient or forgiving is seen as a sign of weakness (maybe this is bushido? Tbh I don’t know) and disrespect is unforgivable.
I can’t remember the source unfortunately, but I heard that in an anonymous survey, Japanese people were asked if they thought their peers believed themselves to be individualist vs collective as well as if they saw themselves as individuals and basically while most said they thought of their peers as collectivist, 50% said they believed themselves to be individuals so at least in the modern era, there is a bit of a disconnect or a strong separation between the internal/private and the external/public.
It seems like you have to have a static identity in the west and you’re discouraged from losing yourself to others, while in Japan, who you are changes depending on your role and station.
I see this reflected in some Japanese media too like Evangelion dealt a lot with identity, fitting in and individualism vs collectivism. Perfect Blue meanwhile gripes with the idea that your identity may not actually belong to you.
Some aspects of Japanese culture remind me of like American Cornell Instructional videos from the 50s where there are very clear-set rules related to presentation and etiquette that are crucial to fitting in. The Silent Generation imo can actually be pretty collectivist. The boomers and Gen Xers though moved in a more individualist direction though and now their millennial and Gen Z children crave collectivism which may actually be a small part of why younger generations really like Japanese media/culture.
Sorry for rambling, I just had a lot of thoughts and perspectives (who knows if even accurate) I wanted to express I suppose haha.
The TH-camr Hoser said essentially "Japan will be the first to fall and the first to rise again from the demographic crisis". China has roughly 30 million young men who will never get married because of the 1 child policy (can we honestly think another warring states era isn't coming for China). South Korea is dependent on imports and exports and needs the Pacific and east and south China to continue there tech based economy. North Korea is north Korea. Despite the flaws in Japan, it has the ability to go back and fourth between intense social conservatism and hardcore urbanized living.
China is no longer under the one child policy
lol very unlikely
They wont be able to go "back" for free.
it will cost them, it will cost 10s of millions of lives.
their current population is to high to sustain by them selves, if china collapses internally.. they wont be able to manufacture and transport food products on scale to foreign trading partners.. in turn, this ill result in horrible regional famine all around asia. but after that, they should be pretty fine.
Exactly my thoughts too! Japan is a society with immense social discipline, and once the societal consensus shifts towards more familial values, people will abide by and follow it. Japan will likely be the first to recover, and the nation most of the world likely bases their regrowth policies off of!
I agree and believe this is the case as well. While the demographic crisis pressures the Japanese government, they will still be able to survive from high-tech manufacturing exports. The other nations who suffer from the demographic inversion will have much smaller global export market destinations.
I really like your videos on cultures. Also, bless you for putting the books you read in the description.
Completely coincidental that Rudy released this after I watched both Nausicaa and Castle In the Sky earlier this week, which both perfectly exemplify all the concepts brought up in this vid
22:00 in fact the Japanese were 'probably' the first to invent pottery, according to Guns, Germs and Steel, and this was around 10,000 BC. But the Japanese are brilliant at optimization and the world would be much less technologically advanced without them.
I had a source in college that said that the first Sino-Tibetans to enter Japan were about 1500 BC. Presumably if that date is correct, then the Jomon would be Ainu.
yeah. japan today isnt the direct descendant of that civilization.
Japan = Asia's Britain
Korea = Asia's Ireland
China = Asia's Roman Empire/Italy
I feel so incredibly lucky to not only live in this beautiful country, but in central Tokyo. I get paid less than I did back home, yet I can live comfortably by myself in a beautiful, clean, new apartment near Asakusa and Ueno. The work culture isn't for the faint of hearted, but I can't complain too much about my life or living standards here.
Yes but eventually you need to find a higher paying career or allow yourself to make more if you want to support a family .
@@mongolianfishingvillages1371 That's true but considering I'm getting by on ¥230,000 after tax a month, the fact that my pay will increase to ¥310,000 after tax this month, and potentially up to ¥450,000+ in the next two years, and my girlfriend might be moving in in August which will halve my rent to ¥50,000, I think I'm set up extremely nicely.
Keep reading Rudy. Love your content. Keep up the great works. Thank you.
When you talk abut the Ju's will you mention usury? will you mention modern central banking??
I've been watching this channel for years, and i gotta admit, these kinds of videos are better.
Loving these explained videos because they're so multifaceted anthropologically. Not just some chronological account but linguistic, intuitive, how a culture thinks and how it got there. Would love to see a video on Korean and Vietnamese civilizations!
I enjoyed this a lot as with all of your videos. As an Englishman in his 70s just one social comment for you. I lived in England for the first half of my life and have been in Asia for the second., during which I've visited Japan many times. one thing that struck me immediately was that the courtesies of the Japanese had a lot of similarities with those that were normal for me in the 1960s in England. Most evidently in the desire to keep some personal distance with someone you have just been introduced to, until you know them a lot better. In the UK, you would not use somebody's name to greet them until you knew them very well. Whenever I met Americans, they would begin using my first name within five minutes of meeting me. The Japanese never do this.
FANTASTIC video! I loved all of your videos for about a year and a half and they’ve always been eye opening, thought provoking, and entertaining! Thank you for working so hard, you somehow continue to improve upon what is already of the highest quality.
Early 2000s i was the token barbarian at a Japanese owned company.
My role was to say the thing that can not be said politely in a situation where it needs to be said in western situations. An interesting but not fun role
As a guy who studies Japanese history as a hobby, the notion that Japan obfuscates its history is hilariously false. Japanese scholarship is top-notch and it is extremely open about what actually happened. The problem is that all this work is in Japanese and is largely unknown outside Japan. Few Western scholars have the linguistic ability to translate those works or to develop their own with the primary sources. The result is that Japan largely operates as an intellectual island isolated from the rest of the world.
You should probably tell us all the names. Rudyard admitted that he had a hard time finding good books on Japan. From what you said, it could just be that those books don't circulate in places we can easily find them.
You're not wrong. I studied for 4 years and it was difficult to be average. As far as history goes, I could probably dig through my archives. I minored in Asian studies and focused on Japan. Tho my area of expertise was car/motorcycle culture.
@@hebercluff1665 The books and articles are in Japanese, written at the highest difficulty for the language. Those outside of Japan don't know what most of Japanese scholarship on Japanese focused subjects actually is. We know Japan is prolific in their scholarship and publishing, and we know the few works that are translated are really good.
The Western scholars who can read at that level just do their work and don't translate Japanese works. The best you'll get is second hand through a Western scholars citing a source you can't hope to read.
This is an area where you actually do need to talk to academic experts to gain the best insight and knowledge.
They dont teach about 731 or Nanjing. The last 50 years of Japanese history have been dedicated to hiding from their past.
I think he’s referring to Jomon or Yayoi Period where there were no written history to work with.
YES!!
KNEW IT.
I've been waiting for this for a long time
Super glad I found this channel. I feel it gives me a better understanding of the world around me. Thank you!
Whatifalthist trying really hard to avoid talking about African civilization
He probably considers it not to be one, as with the other black shaded parts on his map which include parts of Asia
There's a business opportunity for you, then! 😉
Its a video that would be probably censored.
It can’t be said there is just one african civ.
Bantu And ethiopians look quite different, both deserve a separate video.
Thank you for an extremely profound, balanced, and insightful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese culture. This was light years ahead of most other commentaries about Japan found on TH-cam.
Heck yeah, I've been waiting for this one! I wanted to see if my notion and understanding of Japan would align with this eventual video and it mostly did.
Hope to see a video on Ethiopia in the future, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa in geneneral.
That you said about arable land is the true reason that Japan want to lower its population. There was many Japanese politicians who said that Japan needs to be lower than 100 million people otherwise sooner or later could face starvation of epic proportions.
Yes and no. They won't face starvation, per se, but Japan is highly invested in being self-sufficient in its food production. I think that is the real issue.
These statements were also made prior to modern agriculture advancements.
Japan doesnt really rely on domestic agriculture
That's stupid, the decline is population is not proportional, if you half something many times it declines at a horrific rate.
its the same argument used back then when "overpopulation" was a treat just like global warming. thats why many countries tried to decrease their population growth. i dont hear such thing anymore.
Writing from Japan, I must congratulate you because much of what you write about Japan is accurate. Few people can do this. You are right that Japan and the US along with England stand as the cultural opposite of Japan, so they both find it difficult to understand each other. I can attest to this because both my stepfather and my stepmother were of British and Irish origins, while my biological parents were ethnically Japanese. There were constant cultural misunderstandings in my childhood, which often led to days of fighting. I should also mention that Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore has written that Westernized Japanese are the most discriminated against in Japan. The majority of Japanese-Brazillians were kicked out of Japan after living on welfare when they tried to come to Japan to work as immigrant workers in the 1990s. People wouldn't give them jobs. Many were replaced by workers from China, who could understand the Confucian and Buddhist culture of Japan better than a Japanese who was raised abroad in a Christian country. Please check out what PM Lee has said. Japanese society is far closer to Chinese society than many realize and is definitely alien from American and Anglo society. Workers from Iran also worked out better in Japan and there are still communities of Iranian workers in Japan. Russian friends call Japan a 'Rice Collective', which is different from the type of collective farms that were established during the days of the Soviet Union because it is not based on Christianity, unlike Soviet socialism. The majority of Japanese do not understand that there are cultural differences. They are taught that people everywhere are all the same. So they often blame all cultural problems on racism.
I don’t know about everyone else, but my favourite videos are the civilisation ones and they are what got me into the channel in the first place.
Very good video overall, but the statement "Japan has produced no great thinkers, no technological innovation" is an exaggeration. There is a huge list of great Japanese poets, writers and spiritual teachers. It's true that the Japanese aren't big philosophers in general - but they compensate by expressing great concepts through amazing art instead. When it comes to technology, Japan has invented the hand folding fan, the first ever mechanical dolls, rice cookers, the digital microscope, airsoft, blue laser, the bullet train, the camera phone.
Also, samurai being allowed to simply decapitate peasants for no reason is a myth. Such samurai were punished by forced seppuku or a death sentence by both the shogunate and the local provincial governments. "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" is still a fairly OK book, but old, with much outdated info. Bushido was never a universally agreed upon, standardized and codified value system - it varied greatly depending on time period, the different samurai clans, and individual samurai authors who had different opinions on what Bushido is and should be. A modern and standardized version of Bushido was invented and used by the Japanese military in the early 20th c. but it wasn't actual tradition.
I don’t know how long can thy wait for you to make a video about East Africa specially about kush and early Ethiopian civilization
Bro drop a 3 hour video on Japan. I could learn about Japan all day!!!
I remember reading about how Christian missionaries felt that Christianity would take off in Japan due to how much their personal values reflect the teachings of Christ. That assessment is probably accurate. But it didn't pan out as they had anticipated. I can't help but wonder if it is due to the blatant discrepancy between what western Christians practice versus what they preach.
Many Japanese at the time had no problem practicing Shintoism and Buddhism at the same and thought there was no reason to treat the Christian religion the same. But of course that wouldn't work for the priests, their god is the one true god after all.
After having knocked back six drinks!!!! Love your channel Rudyard!!!
Great video. I find a lot of the theoretical points your making - how family structure can predict societal structure, how feudalism can be good for balancing powers in a nation, etc. to be really facinating. Are you planing any video or series centered around explaining and demonstrating such ideas, and not just individuals countries/cultures?
I'd love a video on Ethiopian civilization. On most of your maps you (in my opinion correctly) make Ethiopia a separate civilization that any around it, so it would be a great unique topic for a vide. I've also just been interested in Ethiopian history for a long time and would love to hear it through your unique way of analyzing civilizations.
Part of global Orthodox civilization but yes, you are right, Ethiopia can be considered unique in its own right.
@mudra5114 yes it's accurate to say that Ethiopian Christianity is oriental Orthodox (although they conquered so many muslims that these days the population is almost half muslim, which would make it much less of a christian civilization at least in the modern day if half isn't population isn't christian. However, that almost half muslim amount I said is only according to some data. Religious and ethnic numbers are very contentious, and different surveys often find vastly different numbers). But I don't think it's useful to conider oriental orthodox and eastern orthodox churches to be part of one larger group of orthodox churches, they're 2 separate branches of christianity who just happen to both have the word orthodox in their name. They've even tried working more closely together compared to other christian denominations (for example Ethiopia and Russia when the Ethiopian Empire re-established significant contact with Europe, they tried to work closely together because they are both orthodox, and they did cooperate successfully to some extent but they never became close allies or anything), and yet they are still separate, because they're 2 unrelated branches who happen to share a word in their names, not 2 parts of a wider orthodox branch. Also as far as Ethiopia being a part of Oriental Orthodox Christian civilization, that's one of the big reasons it's so unique. It kept its religion even after being cut off from the rest of the christian world for centuries and being surrounded by muslim states who actively wanted to conquer and convert them. Yet here they are. Not even Europeans were able to colonize them (no Italy occupying most of the country during ww2 is not colonization, you wouldn't say that Germany colonized France and Poland because they occupied them during ww2, so neither was Ethiopia colonized by Italy. Sure Italy called it a colony, but they also said that they weren't doing anything wrong in the war, like how they won by basically dropping mustard gas on the entire fucking country. They weren't exactly representing every fact accurately.
your upload schedule is on fire this week!
30:55 simping for the turks again I see
based on nothing tangible. turks made zero technological advances, even. grape, pillage, steal, convert, mosque. that's all they did. useless, pointless, pathetic.
15:05 Nordic societies value a kind of quiet happiness.
In Nordic societies you are happy if you don't fail in life, you have a roof over your head, some food, clothes, hobbies etc. You don't show it openly. You don't smile, you don't shout, you don't show wealth - you just, are. What Nordic societies think of as happiness would be neutral or depressive to most of the world.
This sort of modesty cones from the harsh climate conditions of the area. Mere survival was the objective for most of history
I guess a problem with Nordic societies is wanting to everyone to have a decent standard of living - and wanting that comfort - but never going beyond. Never wanting crazy success or fame
Im from Japan. I was ready to braced for cringe, as per usual when foreigners talk about Japan. But this was actually really good. Well done.
@6:42
The Celts didn't just arrive in Britain in 300 BC, cultural movement toward the Celtic culture/what we can consider Celtic genetics was documented over around 1000 years to the British Isles, 1300BC to 800BC.
Can you do Mexico and the impacts corn has on that structure similar to how rice influenced Asia ?
I just got back from a 2 week trip to Japan... 100% the best country in the world to visit right now. Epic contrasts everywhere you look.
Dragon Ball Z creator died at his office over 70yo age. that tells everything from that work culture. they dont want to stay retired.
That's up to him. I mean, DbZ was never that good and I'm sure the sequel he died writing will be a worthy successor. At least he wasn't a boomer parasite, unlike many Americans his age. He died writing something nobody wants to see, versus the average American boomer who dies while receiving social security checks that are larger than your average full time Amazon worker makes.
@@michaelhunsinger8351 yeah thats good description, he was voluntarily there... in china or other places that would be mandatory without social checks. dont know how strong "boss leaves, then staff can leave" still is in japan, but if it is that is bad example to work too much. in west amazon has supervisor let alone found nowhere to be found. although in west we have punchcard stalking computer systems instead of physical boss presence.
He probably loved his work in addition to the duty
Hate Westerners seeing something they don't understand, applying their line of thinking and coming to the conclusion that x must be forced to do y because they'd never do the same.
I would love for a Celtic/ Irish and Scottish anthropology video
22:30 the Japanese car industry has produced alot of tech innovations. Not to mention consumer electronics
and the 1980 Toyota was superior to the Ford Escort of the same period - with a better engine, better tires, better suspension, and get this - they put the cost of it at less than the Ford Escort and paid their workers better than Union Labor.
I guess he was talking about big, revolutionary innovations that completely change the world (e.g. the Anglo countries inventing the internet and smartphones most recently), but yeah that statement is a little too definitive and can easily rub people the wrong way.
excellent. really excellent. I ahve been doing a deconstruction of the Japanese hospitality culture called "omotenashi" and covered this same ground. I came across a definition of Japanese culture. It's three main elements. Kao (face) , Wa (Harmony), and Omoiyari (Empathy). Derived from Confucianism, Shinot and Buddhism respectively. You put everything that goes into their cultural journey way better that I managed to. Bravo.
Fun Fact: The Shinto dawn goddess, Uzume, is an import from the dharmic Ushas, from India, who is their version of Eos in Greek, Ausrine in Eastern Europe and Eostre or Easter in the West.
Ame no Uzume is an original Japanese Shinto goddess, she is not an import. She is present in the first scroll of the Kojiki. She happens to share similarities with the other goddesses because that's typical for all ancient spiritual traditions - they all perceived the Higher principles.
Love the civilisation videos! Would you consider doing one specifically on AngloSaxon civilisation?
Hey, interested in talking about Yukio Mishima? Sun and Steel in particular.
Awesome video.
Didn't the Japanese invent flash memory, not to mention the blue LED, and probably a bunch of stuff I don't know about? Their scientific papers are top-notch.
The first ever bullet train is a Japanese invention too.
These are my favorite videos to watch
Japanese are a Great Civilization... But a very weird society... Isolationist... But rich inside.❤❤❤
Wakanda-san
We Westerners are weird in many ways to them too, you know.
> very weird society
Like what?
21:49 I can attest that the japanese are always the top collector of any item. I've recently been looking for a new clarinet, and particularly looking for used buffet-crampon (generally considered the best brand) clarinets, because of how expensive they are new. There are a few sellers in the US, a couple in France probably because it's a French company, a few in China which I am unsure whether or not they are scams, but then basically every single other seller at all across all of amazon and ebay are in Japan. They have collected so many of them, and you can tell for many of them it's about the collection because the listings, unfortunately for me as someone who wants it to play, focus more on any unique features that a collector would care about as opposed to how well it plays or how it sounds
They also make some pretty good guitars 🎸.
“When it comes to motorcycles, Yamaha makes a mighty fine piano.”
Whatifalthist, how many pages do you read a day or for how many hours? I read as well but no where near as much as you. Much love!
Speaking of the similarities between Britain and Japan, it's fascinating to me that if you go back only 400 years or so, there must have been more Japanese speakers than English speakers. Japan has been a large country for a long time.
It should also be noted that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the centers of Christianity in Japan prior to the atomic bombing. Christians were actually celebrating a holy day and killed in mass when Nagasaki was bombed. The cathedral was ground zero. I personally, subscribing to a "conspiratorial" view of history, don't believe this was a coincidence. Christianity in Japan never recovered.
Be the American the Japanese think you are.
4:00 This is the secret: japan had minimal contact with the outside for most of it's history ( bar China/Korea)....this made them weaker in military and trade, but culture-wise, they were certain of their identity.
Ahh, still in the good ol days where you can intellectualize after 6 drinks. Wait till 40 and you just fall asleep after 2
19:40 I love how the little icon you use for the Tokyo area is the Triforce