Thomas The Tank Engine is 'classist, sexist and racist'

Wibbs

Links234 wrote: »

Honestly? The above is not at all how I'd describe Japanese people. They're normal, or at least as normal as anyone else. They are really, really far from the crazy, alien and unrelatable culture a lot of people think of. Western countries really have an overly exoticized view of Japan that just isn't the reality by a long shot.

Oh sure their "craziness" is certainly exagerated in the western mind and media, but two mates of mine who lived there for extended periods of time(one still does) found it an odd culture. The initial WTF? was replaced by "ah sure no different really", but the longer they lived there the WTF? crept back in from a few different angles. Historically it has been a decidedly different culture, even in the region. Maybe because they're such a wide mixture of borrowed cultural stuff, isolated and bent into shape locally because of their island status? They were extreme cultural xenophobes for a very long time.

Tony EH

That's largely my take on it as well.

The Japanese have a great way of taking recognisable items from other cultures and adding their own twist to it, whether by design or accident.

SEPT 23 1989

Theme park's ad for a Fat Controller banned as discrimination

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-451081/Theme-parks-ad-Fat-Controller-banned-discrimination.html

Links234

Wibbs wrote: »

Oh sure their "craziness" is certainly exagerated in the western mind and media, but two mates of mine who lived there for extended periods of time(one still does) found it an odd culture. The initial WTF? was replaced by "ah sure no different really", but the longer they lived there the WTF? crept back in from a few different angles. Historically it has been a decidedly different culture, even in the region. Maybe because they're such a wide mixture of borrowed cultural stuff, isolated and bent into shape locally because of their island status? They were extreme cultural xenophobes for a very long time.

Yeah, it is a very unique place and the culture is different, no argument there, but there is this tendency to view Japan as this alien, other-worldly place where there are no taboos and that's just definitely not the case. The truth is, it's actually a pretty westernized country, more so than other asian countries. I think that instead of being such an extremely different culture, we actually find them relatable enough to consider them weird, if that makes sense? It's like green tea kit-kats for example, something that's in our comfort zones, but different enough to be considered exotic. Or like, we'd have no problem eating sushi, but a lot of people would probably dry-heave at the thought of eating balut.

Hey, I absolutely love the place, and there's nowhere like it. It's just not this completely alien culture some people think.

jimgoose

I think that blithering idiot of a woman needs to stop watching children's cartoons and start parenting. And less expecting the television to do it wouldn't go amiss either.

Manic Moran

Links234 wrote: »

Oooh, really? What's the movie about?

Saunders gets a rematch. With some new equipment.

cloud493

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/01/27/the-baffling-economics-of-the-island-of-sodor/