feministdialogues

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

It's been a while, but I thought that the theory of bad Christianity was strange, so I'll write this.

・First, western leftists blame Christianity for everything, but pre-Christian Druids were more cruel with sacrificial rituals. At least ending the sacrificial custom is a compliment to Christianity.

・There are many other more cruel religions and customs, such as the Inca sacrificial rituals, the African genital mutilation practice, the Islamic whip punishment, and so on. Christianity has female, black, LGBT priests, no other religion has such people. I can’t understand the meaning of hating so much.

・The Pope has acknowledged sexual abuse in the church, and movies have been made. On the other hand, the Japanese government has been denying the comfort women issue for more than 70 years and has continued to visit Yasukuni. It's like the German Chancellor keeps visiting the tombs of Nazi officers. The level is different, right?

・ There was a white rose resistance movement that fought against the Nazis with Christianity, and the local church was also protesting. Even only it is unbelievable things.

・Japanese Buddhism also cooperated in the war, but there was no temple protesting fascism. Since Buddhist monks are originally authoritarian, protesters are said to have been cracked down in the temple.

・ The Nazis of the National Socialist Workers' Party were left-wingers in the first place, and the eugenic thought comes from the theory of evolution, which was the most advanced science at the time (although it is twisted).

・ The nature is a harsh world where it is natural to be eaten if it is weak. If we deny god and moral, it will be applied to the human world. And people will take it granted for that the weaker is being bullied and the strong man to behave violently and become a savage world. Even so, if we want to live like a human being with good and evil view, we need an artificial structure such as a god to judge and morality.

・It is said that human rights thought was created by sharing the sacredness of the Christian god with individuals. Animism and Buddhism, which see animals and humans equally, could not give birth to human rights ideas. Because following question arises, “When animals are killed and eaten, why only humans have the right not to be done so?”

・ Japan was animism, but during the war, the Emperor Monotheism was instantly created to unite the people.

・ Isn't religion just used for power and war?

・ In a communist nation that has thoroughly suppressed religion, individual political leaders are worshiped and are no different from religion.

・ Communism also affirmed rape for the liberation of sex, and was as bad as or worse than capitalist nations such as hunger exports, Holodomor, sedation, and genocide, whole victims are estimated about sixty hundred people… And the disparity is generally larger than that of capitalist nations.

・ The left wing blames conservatives for revisionism, but claims that the Nazis are right wing, does not take responsibility for communism, then the left wing is also revisionism.

・ Japan is the lowest in the world giving index, despite leftist thought is known but not accepted well. The Japanese elite is very cold to the weak and the donation amount is small, but the philanthropic spirit is rooted in the Western elite and the donation amount is high.

・ What is the difference? Leftist thought don’t have efficiency well. Isn't it only possible to say that it is a difference in religious spirit that has taken root since ancient times?

・ Shinto also has a "穢れ" idea that makes the victim "dirty" when an incident occurs, and Buddhism also has a strong self-responsibility theory and does not engage in philanthropic activities, so it is a more fierce market fundamentalism than Protestantism.

・ If you look at the deduction method, there are many negatives about Christianity, and Buddhism may be easy to evaluate, but if you look at the point addition method, it is a great achievement to spread Christian humanitarianism and philanthropy.

・ Which is better, a group that has done a lot of bad things but also left a lot of good things, or a group that may have had few bad things but has hardly done good things? I think the former is better for living in the future, Anyone who are always criticizing and does nothing will not save anyone.

・Christian philanthropy is certainly inherited in the Western world, and Westerners also benefit from it. I think it is dishonest to blame Christianity for everything. That’s just the escape from responsibility.

・ The reason why Japanese people like the United States despite the atomic bombing is that their governance was much better than their own government. The actual victim may be looking at things calmly and not resenting the perpetrator. They just want help.

・ I think the western leftists have become too dogmatic these days. They even prioritize ideology over the opinions of the actual weak and even blame them for not following it. I felt so painful when I was attacked personally as I said opposite to the ideology in that group. they were very cold to the voice requesting a help… It's natural to lose people’s support.

・ There was an article about a black man who supported Trump. He said he was in favor of Trump's plan to get black people to work.

・ I think most of real weak people want actual support measures rather than criticizing, anti-discrimination and anti-capitalism. If whites willing to help colored people, I want them to respect the opinions of actual weak and imagine their situations and think about what they can do.

[feministdialogues]

Pornography and Sexual Exploitation of Children in the West

-Marius’ Side-

I think pornography has a lot of issues in the west as well, there is a lot of exploitation of women, and many fetishes are very objectifying and degrading. There is also a big focus on youth with genres like “teen” or “barely legal” being popular. And there is also a very worrying, illegal trade in child pornography, just recently there was a big case in Germany, where a former footballer was exposed for sending child pornography to different women. And at the same time the kind of “loli” pornography (cartoons and comics depicting visually underage characters) that Japan makes is also very popular in some subcultures on the internet in the west. I think in a lot of ways the internet has made the pornography industry worse. And while perhaps it is not more exploitative now, it is now much more widespread. With things like OnlyFans and PornHub a lot of “amateurs” have to go into pornography as well. I guess that is the same in Japan though, we can see the vans advertising for women to do sex work (like Vanilla) driving around Shibuya or Harajuku. You probably heard of the “joke” the Japanese comedian made, saying that men should wait to go to sex work, because the pandemic will make “pretty girls” become poorer and have to do sex work for a few months.

Regarding the influence of Christianity on child exploitation, I think that is somewhat ironic to people in the west. Christian organizations, particularly the Catholic church are perhaps the most well known places where children are sexually, physically and mentally abused. In Germany we found out recently that thousands of children were sexually molested by Catholic priests, and the German government is still giving cover to these institutions.

[feministdialogues]

Christianity’s Influence on European Ethics and Sexual Ethics

-Marius’ Side-

I do think that Christianity influenced Western ethics to some degree, but I don’t think that it is an overwhelming determining factor. My reason for this is that Christianity has been used for over a thousand years in Europe to justify all sorts of different wars and atrocities, but also lifestyles, cultures, moral considerations. Christianity can be molded to support a large breadth of what powerful people desire and want to justify. Generally it seems to me that religions are applied very selectively. Christianity itself doesn’t ensure any sort of ethics and lifestyles.

I think it is similar to Buddhism and perhaps Shinto in this way. Buddhism and Shinto existed and were a part of life in the Edo Period, just as they were in the Meiji Period, as they were under the fascist dictatorship and as it is now, but all of these periods had very different values.

In terms of sexual ethics Christianity did have a lot of influence as well, but I would say from a Western feminist perspective almost all of that influence has been very bad and detrimental to women. Christianity has been used as a justification for the subjugation and abuse of women at the hands of fathers and husbands, and most movements are highly critical of these patriarchal structures. That does not mean that Christianity can not be a positive influence sometimes as well. For example it was certainly an important factor for many Civil Rights leaders.

An example of Christianity’s clearly negative impact on sexual ethics are the widespread abuse of children particularly by members of the catholic church. For example in Germany and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

I am not a religious person myself, and in terms of ethics I believe what is good about European morals has not really come from Religion, but from the thinkers of the enlightenment, from liberal and socialist thinkers and activists, who often outright rejected the teachings of the churches.

Of course there are moral aspects within the teaching of the church as well, particularly a lot of Jesus' direct teachings are quite moral and humane.

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

I see, your family is conservative. It is understandable that even family members do not always have the same values. In modern times, the importance of religion is low even in the West. However, I still think that Christianity influences Western ethics.

I think it's a matter of ethics before regulation, with the sexual objectification of children and the flood of violent pornography. I don't know how bad Western pornography is, but if it's better than Japan, I think it's influenced by Christianity, which "prohibits sexual intercourse except for love and reproduction."

Since there is no religion in Japan that preaches sexual ethics and love from the beginning, there is a fear that desires tend to be unregulated. I may be conservative in this regard. Below, about my political orientation.

When asked if I'm right or left, I'm sure I’m left. But if I think it's "absolutely correct" just because it's left, I feel like I'm overlooking something important. So recently, I'm trying to understand the reason why people conservatise.

I'm based on whether I can sympathize as a person, so I want to be a humanitarian if I say it strongly.

Shusaku Endo, who I mentioned earlier, wrote the novel with the awareness that "the reason why Japanese people have low ethics is that they don't have a god." I think he may have been beautifying Christianity, but his thoughts are very interesting as it makes sense to me.

I don't think it's good about the Honne and the Tatemae, but recently I've become sympathetic. During the war, the Japanese were forced to celebrate sending their children to the battlefield. It seems that the true sadness had to be hidden. With only institutional control, the mind may be free.

I think the serious problem is that psychological control is strong in Japan, and the people themselves have internalized it. Therefore, in order to protect the mentality, it may have been necessary to separate the Honne from the Tatemae.

When I see the news about demonstrations in Western countries, I am often surprised, "Do they do demonstrations for that? Unbelievable!"

Many people have a long history of oppression and have internalized authoritarianism, so it's amazing to see a country where grassroots demonstrations are commonplace. It’s so blessed with.

I think it is important to have an environment where we can say Honne.

Regarding the theory of self-responsibility, there is a similar concept of "personal responsibility" in the west. The question that comes to my mind here is "what is individualism?"

Westerners are said to be individualistic, but it seems rather groupist for people to discuss social issues together and to unite and demonstrate. On the other hand, the Japanese, who are considered to be groupist, are taboo even talking about political and social issues, and are self-responsible and lonely.

Rather, Westerners may appear more groupist and Japanese may appear more individualistic. Some Japanese consider Western individualism to be "selfish and cold to others," but do you think what is individualism?

Regarding children, many foreigners leave Japan when they have children ... I guess so. You said that bullying is also common in Europe, but are there any measures taken?

Question

•do you think what is individualism?

•Are there any measures for bullying in Europe?

[feministdialogues]

<Marius side>

Hey, sorry for the late reply, I was kinda busy for a few days. I'm not sure if I have been influenced much by Kant's philosophy, I only learned a bit about it. I don't think that my worldview is that common in Germany though, talking about my family I can say that I have a different view to them, they are much more conservative and capitalist, and in my opinion, more close minded.

I don't think people in Europe generally follow Christian norms. In modern times religion has become a lot less important, many people do not consider themselves Religious at all, and even people that are religious often don't really have much influence of it in their day to day life. Additionally Christian teachings are very broad and can be interpreted in many different ways, for example the Catholic church is very different to the US fundamentalist evangelical Church. And there are both modern and very conservative Christian worldviews.

What you say about Honne and Tatemae is very interesting. Do you view it as a good thing then?

In English we don't really use "self-responsibility", but the topic is the same. The right wing always talks about "personal responsibility", and that everyone has to take care of themselves, and of course the left tries to fight that belief, because they want people to take care of each other. And I do think you are right that this kind of mindset is, in part, to blame for the hatred of the homeless and disabled. And yes, there is a culture of overworking, and that the only value a person has is how much they can work (or how much money they can make).

I totally agree with your view of children. Everyone pretends like it is a great mystery why birth rates are declining, but the truth is that there is very little reason for people to want children, in fact they are often punished by the system for it, and don't get any support or are treated badly. And of course many people don't want to have children in a system that is cruel. I think many foreigners leave the country when they get children, because they don't want the children to go through the Japanese school system. On the other hand I think there are also many problems in European schools, bullying is very common as well.

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

You are very knowledgeable. And I think it's good that you judge the good and bad of things with your own mind. Perhaps Is it the influence of Kant's moral philosophy?

I had never known about the massacres in Namibia and Vietnam. There seemed to be black Lynch cases in the United States for hundreds of years. I heard the criminal was never tried even if they were lynched in front of the court. It's a very terrible story..

What does it mean that Europeans always regulate what they say and how they say? Does that mean they follow Christian norms?

I think that Honne and Tatemae are helping people to protect their mental health from those in power.

Yeah, fascism is also bad for national people.

Recently, the term "self-responsibility theory" has become a hot topic among Japanese leftists. It is a sense of value that "the poor are poor because they have been lazy, and it is their own responsibility." These values ​​seem to influence the homeless murder case. Long working hours and death from overwork are also related to this theory of self-responsibility. Attacking the vulnerable is the same as breaking their safety net, even though anyone can really fall into the vulnerable at any time. I think there is a real weakness of fascism here. Sticking to the "strength" of the illusion, even those who can be cured with a little care are thrown away, causing exhaustion of their troops and self-destructing.

I think that the most basic vulnerable people of humankind are children, but since Japan is beginning to eliminate even children, I think it is natural that the birthrate will decline. I definitely don't want to have children in this country.

[feministdialogues]

<Marius side>

Yeah, sadly there are many "holocausts" that are obscured and not really talked about much, or only among historians and some activists. The Nanjing Massacre is definitely one of them. As is the treatment of Manchuria and Korea by the Japanese Imperial forces generally (Massacres, Comfort Women, Ishii Shiro's Unit 731). In Germany as well there are many things that are forgotten, we talk about the Holocaust a lot and take responsibility for it but the genocide of the Herero and Namaqua people in Namibia, where up to 100.000 people were killed by Germany is not ever talked about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_genocide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation

I think Honne and Tatemae does exist in the West to some degree, it is not as strong or as culturally ingrained as it is in Japan, but the concept of keeping your thoughts private and putting out a different face to people is very common. European people regulate what they say and how they say it all the time. I think Germany is one example of a country that is much more direct than Japan, German people will say offensive or mean things to other people without ill intent, just because they believe it, but even in Germany you don't tell all your thoughts to everyone. Like for example employees may hide their thoughts from their boss, and things like that.

I think fascism is bad because it is a very violent and encompassing political idea. Where there is enemies that need to be eradicated everywhere, where freedom and equality are not important, where people are just seen as tools, and where endless war is necessary and inevitable. Fascism is an incredibly bad political ideology. But so are the colonial atrocities of European countries. And so are the continuing humanitarian crises. I think it is always a question of what is preferable and what is good. The US world order is preferable to the Nazi ideology, but it is not really good, because it makes so many people suffer, we could do better than it.

I would say that the right-wing people in Japan are right when they say "The winning country is regarded as correct" but they wrong when they say "The Empire of Japan wasn't bad either". The reality is that the Empire of Japan was very bad. It was bad for the people outside of Japan that Japan attacked, enslaved and killed, but it was also bad for the people inside of Japan. Talking about big problems that other nations have does not make Japan's cruelty less, in my opinion.

There is this term "white washing" where people try to make their history look as good as possible. Japanese right wingers try to do that for Japan, but the United States does that as well for its own country. We mainly hear of them as the bringers of freedom and the people that defeated Fascism, and that is true, but the United States also kille 20 million Native Americans, it stole and enslaved black people for 400 years, it destabilized and destrozed Latin American countries, it destablizied and destroyed the Middle East, it performed massacres in Korea and in Vietnam, killing hundreds of thousands of people, it killed hundred of thousands of people in Iraq, etc. But that's not what we usually hear about

Yeah, I think you are right about the philosophy that children should respect and obey parents. In Europe and America it is not based on confucianism, but the same philosophy exists, where children are supposed to be quiet and behave, and just do whatever the parents tell them too. Only over the last 40 years have more progressive people in the West been able to change some people's minds, and see that the welfare of the children and the children as their own people is just as important and they have the right to be not just protected but also to develop their own opinions and personality. That philosophy is better, in my opinon, and can work against abuse.

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

Ah..that’s terrible...

that's the forgotten Holocaust on the west...?

I had thought the only forgotten Holocaust was the Nanjing Massacre on the east. It's the same that the greater the evil, the more likely it is to be obscured. It makes us realize that the victims we know are only a few.

I remember the Japanese words "Honne" and "Tatemae". Are these concepts really not in the West? I feel a ridiculous double standard when Christianity, which advocates "love for the Gentiles" and "relief of the weak," is involved in colonialism, war, and slaughter ...

After all, colonialism was also cruel. But then why is fascism so bad? How is it different from the Allied wrongdoings ?

I think this is what many right-wing people in Japan think. "The winning country is only regarded as justice. The Empire of Japan was not bad either."

However, I still feel uncomfortable with the attitude of reopening by saying that we did not do anything wrong with them.

Regarding romance and family relationships.

In Japan, there is a teaching that "children should respect their parents" due to the influence of Confucianism, and I think this is one of the causes of abuse or its concealment in Japan. My parents also unilaterally pushed this teaching against me and tried to rule me. Indeed, oppressive values ​​may be more related to abuse than free relationships.

[feministdialogues]

<Marius side>

You make a lot of very interesting points I have to think about. I will try to give you my point of view.

*European and Japanese Colonialism*

I don’t think European and Japanese Colonialism are that different. European Colonialism was unbelievably cruel, very similar to Japanese. Famous examples of that are of course the system of slave trade and chattel slavery in the American colonies and the Caribbean. Also the eradication of the Native American population by colonial settlers was incredibly cruel and systematically planned. Another famous example is the Belgian Congo, I know this is a very brutal example, but I will link you to some stories about that, Belgium would sometimes cut off the arms of the children of workers who did not produce enough in a day. It is a very dark story.

But even later, Winston Churchill let 3 million Bengali people starve to death, because he did not care for them and saw them as less human since they were just a British colony.

I think in terms of colonialism there are two reasons why Japanese colonialism is remembered as worse and that is a) because it happened later, when most European colonial powers had moved on to using Economic domination to steal from their colonies, like the United States still do to this day and b) because the scientific advancement was further along, and so a lot of really monstrous things became much easier. Even then, I don’t think that the Japanese were worse than all other colonial powers. What stands out is perhaps Nazi Germany and Hitler’s monstrosity, as they murdered people on such a large and “efficient” scale it has no comparison in history, it was a deep hatred for people and the application of technological advancements that made this possible.

*The Role of Christianity in European Colonialism*

I think if you talk to most anti-colonial activists, like for example socialists or many types of feminists, they will tell you that they see organized Christianity not at all as an ally, but rather part of the reason why things got so bad. They would view organized Religion as the enemy. For example it is an organization that more or less collaborated with Hitler, because it is corrupt and interested in power much more than the “nice messages” that they sometimes preach.

*Biological Explanation for Fascist Worldview*

I personally don’t really believe in biological explanations like this. I don’t think Japanese people are biologically any different to other people in their brain structure. I believe almost all of these things can be explained by societal, historical and cultural factors. For example you can see Japanese children who grew up in the United States or Europe, and they are exactly the same as all other children in the United States and Europe, they are not like Japanese children in terms of using honorifics. So I believe it is close to 100% due to society and education. I think what you said about the language, and having an authoritarianism in the language, is true.

*The Economic Advantage of Japan*

I can imagine that this kind of anxiety can contribute to thoughtfulness. And there’s probably many other reasons why Japan is doing pretty well, but in my point of view there are 2 that seem extremely important.

1) The United States after World War 2 chose to support Japan, so that Japan could be a military and financial base for the United States. They allowed the Japanese Yen to be a strong currency (the same way they allowed the German “Deutsche Mark” to be a strong currency), because it was convenient to protect American interests and to keep the US dollar as the number one most powerful currency. In that way the boom of Japan and the boom of Germany are in large parts because the United States choose to have Germany and Japan prosper, also to keep their former enemies in check,

2) Japanese people work incredibly long hours. In terms of GDP per hour worked Japan is doing that well, in general the working population works much longer hours than the working population in Germany and France. So of course they will do pretty well economically, but at the same time it is not good for the Japanese people, who have to work too much, can’t see their family much, or spend time on their hobbies much. That also leads to such phenomena as Karoshi (過労死), Karojisatsu (過労自殺) and many people becoming Hikkikomori (ひきこもり).

*Polygamy, Monogamy, Romantic Relationships*

I think you are right that depending on the situation polygamy can be better or worse for women. There's always advantages and disadvantages, but they are often based on different things. If polygamy is normal, but women have many rights and economic abilities that is probably better for women than if monogamy is normal, but women don't have any rights or economic chances.

I personally think the most important thing is that there is not oppression regarding relationships or inside of relationships. If all people have equal power, and they can decide freely what they want I think all types of relationships can be good. Lately there has been a lot of talk about "polyamory" in the West, which means that people don't just have one partner, but they can have more partners and everyone knows about it, but it is not the same as polygamy, because it can also be a woman having many men as partners, and it is not about "owning" the other person. But of course these things can have problems as well.

I do think that you are right that westerners find romantic relationships important. I personally also think they are important. And even after having children, if a couple choses to have children, I think it is good and important if the couple still cares about each other and tries to keep the romantic relationship going. I don't think that is a negative for children at all. I don't think it leads to more abuse, rather if a relationship between a mother and a father is good that is also good for the children, who learn good behaviour and feel protected and loved. And of course things don't have to be between a man and a woman, gay couples can have just as good and positive relationships. I think what leads to abuse more is if the parents see the children as their possession, and that children have to do what the parents want at all times.

I hope you don’t mind me giving you my view, I am not an expert, but that’s how I think you can explain some of the things we are talking about.

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

So that's it. When I heard your story, I thought that the reason why Western Europe did not become so cruel in colonialism was that the teachings of Christianity were very good at persuading people.

Before the early modern period, Japan was a samurai society, Buddhism was corrupt, and they knew only the suppression by "power." In Japan, it is simply regarded as "Western European colonialism equal evil." However, this may have been a projection of ourselves, who could not build a convincing religious theory by themselves, and only knew the suppression by "power".

Japanese religious theory is misanthropic and dislikes human beings, such as "self-reliance," "disgust of desire," and "only the dead are Buddha," and it does not help people much. I think this religion that hates humans has led to disregard for human life. But if so, why did Germany and Italy run into fascism? Was Christianity weak?

In addition to religious despair, the reason why Japanese people like fascism may be that they have a biologically "anxious brain structure". It can be imagined that this causes negative self and subordination to others and creates a conservative national character. Authoritarianism has also been incorporated into the language itself due to the long-standing samurai society. Honorifics and ordinary words are used properly depending on the position of oneself and others...

On the other hand, anxiety genes contribute to thoughtfulness, intelligence, and planning. This may be the reason why Japan has an economic advantage.

Regarding polygamy, I feel that there are benefits to parenting and women's safety. Since women raise children jointly, the burden is small, and since there are many women in one man, DV and child abuse may be unlikely to occur. Of course, it is not good that women do not have freedom of choice. Regarding monogamy, I hear that Western families attach great importance to romantic relationships even after men and women have children. If you do so, I feel that child abuse such as neglect is likely to occur, but how is it actually?

[feministdialogues]

<Marius side>

Yes, his work on protestantism and capitalism is very famous, I think.

I think christianity and colonism are compatible because Christians in power would say that the teachings of Christ have to be brought to the people who don't know about it, and they need to be taught and treated like children. Of course Christianty was also used for war, the Crusades are a famous example of that.

Oh, I think I know there was a film called Silence, based on the novel, recently. It shows how priest have been persecuted and even killed.

That is an interesting point about monogamy. I think that polygamy as it was practiced in Japan, and as it is practiced in the Middle East and among Mormons, and in other parts, is really bad, cause it treats women as property. I am not sure that rigid monogamy is a good solution. I think a lot of women are also oppressed by marriage and monogamy. Especially in Europe Christian monogamy was used to treat women as property.

In Europe in the past it was common that a daughter was seen as the property of the father, until she was given to her husband, who then became her master. Women weren't able to own property or things. So a lot of feminists in Europe were very much against marriage and monogamy (or some radical feminists were against ever dating men as well). At the same time the more loose ideas of current Western society can be a problem as well, where young girls feel like they have to be sexualized. I guess the solution would be for everyone to be empowered, and to be treated with respect, but patriarchy corrupts it.

Your point about the lack of welfare in Japanese religions creating a type of anomie that results in fascism is very interesting. I had never thought about it that way. It makes a lot of sense. I think in Germany, the Christian churches are more interested in social causes, and they want to help the poor, in America and in England the churches are much more capitalist, and there is more of a tendency to view poor people as failures and as people who steal money.

Do you think that there are other reasons for why it is so common in Japan to hate the weak and poor and favoring eugenics and fascism besides religion?

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

I learned Max Weber a little at college. I heard that Protestants went well with American capitalism.

I also like the teachings of Jesus, which I think are very progressive, but I wonder why Christianity and colonialism are compatible..

And what exactly does it mean that it was used to conquer a married woman in the West?

I remembered Shusaku Endo's "Silence". He is also interesting literary writer. He was born in a Christian family and sought out the differences between Japanese and Western religions. "Silence" is a story about the persecution of missionaries who came to missionary work in Japan during the Edo period. Christian monogamy was beautified against Japanese power’s polygamy. Did it actually have a bad side?

I also thought that Christianity had a leftist potential. Comparing this with Japanese religion makes me feel gloomy...

I have my own view of Japanese religion, but there is little thought to preach the relief of the weak. The Buddha saves everyone, but he does not say that he will save the weak. Shinto (pre-war) preaches to cherish eight million gods (in short, nature and things).

Of course, people have a conscience, but since there is no idea to support the relief of the weak, there is just the economy. So it is easy to become an anomie. That's why I think it's easy to lean towards eugenics and fascism.

[feministdialogues]

<Marius side>

Hey, that is a very good point. When I was younger I only saw the oppressive aspect of Religion, I saw how Christianity in the United States is against gay people, and it is against abortion for women in any case. I also saw that it was used as a tool to subjugate women in marriage in the west, and that it was used to colonize and subjugate people from different countries.

But now as I have learned more I have also started to recognize that there are good aspects to Christianity. Like the sense of community, helping the poor and the disadvantaged, and I think Jesus' teaching are very progressive and good. I just think sadly the people in power in the Church very often use it in bad ways.

Of course this is a very complex topic, and Christianity has been deeply conencted to the history of Europe and America. You said you studied sociology, right? You probably know some about that as well. In Germany one of the most famous sociologists is Max Weber, and he did a lot of work about Christianity, and also tried to highlight the different aspects of society that fit more with Catholic thought or that fit with Protestant thought. It is a very interesting topic.

I think Christianity has the potential to be left wing, and to be progressive, and it is sometimes. There's many good people that are Christian, but I think especially in the United States there's many very right wing people, that are against homosexuals, against trans people, against immigrants, that are very Christian.

I don't know this for sure, but I have had this theory that in Japan it is different, because Christianity is not the main religion. In fact Christians were often very much prosecuted, and Christianity has often been helpful in aiding progressive causes, whether that is feminisims, education for the poor or many other positive causes. What do you think about that idea?

I think in Japan Shinto and Buddhism have been the powerful religions, and so many bad aspects of society have been explained by these religions, whether that is the militarism and racism of the war government, or the emperor worship.

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

Thank you for telling your story.

I see, you lived in Germany when you were young. You didn't think you were a feminist because you didn't realize it at first.

But you thought Christianity was terrible for homosexuals. How terrible was it?

I am also interested in Christianity.

Christian teaching has salvation for the weak, which I think is leftist.

On the other hand, there are conservative aspects such as excluding homosexuals, and in the West, those with deep devotion are considered to be conservatives?

However, from the perspective of me as a Japanese, when I see that Christianity supports the homeless, I still feel that it is progressive and enviable.

[feministdialogues]

<Marius side>

Yes, I am from Germany. I also lived in the United States and the United Kingdom for a while. And for the last 3 years I have been living in Tokyo.

When I was younger I didn't consider myself a feminist, I was still in favor of equality for all people, but I thought that mostly everyone was treated equal and differences were either for other reasons, like biology or character, or that there were some "sexist" and "racist" people that were bad, but most people agreed they were bad and so it wasn't a big problem. I was of course very ignorant, I great up in a middle class family, in Germany and most of my friends were other white, german boys so I did not know much about the world. I thought that Religions, especially Christianity was really awful to gay people and that was important to me, that people would be treated equally.

I did go a lot on the internet and learned many things there and I also started dating my girlfriend and we talked about many political issues, so I slowly started to understand more about the specific problems that women face, and about racism and homophobia in a systemic context, rather than an individual context. So I started considering myself also pro-feminism, and pro-social justice. At the time there was a lot of arguments online among feminists whether men should call themselves "feminists" or "feminist allies", some women thought it was not appropriate for men to call themselves "feminists", others thought that everyone should be a feminist.

At the time in Germany generally it was very uncommon for men to call themselves feminists, and I do think there is a stigma associated with it. For example many men say that other men only call themselves feminist because they want to have attention or sex from women. But I think over the last 10 years that has changed a lot. And especially many younger man, when they are for progressive politics, call themselves feminists openly, and sometimes people find it weird in those groups if someone says they are not feminist, because the definition for feminists is now often "someone who is for the equality between genders" and everyone should be for that.

I have called myself feminist for a few years now, and I think lately I have also become much more in favor of left wing politics, because I think one of the greatest problem that oppressed people face is that they get excluded from money and power.

That's my story.

[feministdialogues]

<Midori side>

Yes, there is a lot of pressure on the role of who should be what. There is no scale on the individual side.

You are also familiar with Germany. Are you from Germany?

I would also like to hear why you became interested in feminism.

In Japan, few men call themselves feminists. I think it's because even men can be seen badly by the male society if they call themselves it.

Can you tell me your story?

[feministdialogues]

<Marius side>

I had heard about Daizai Osamu, but I didn't know anything about his life. Thank you for sharing it. I think you are right that the stigma of masculinity makes it so that male victims of abuse can't easily talk about it, and when they do it is often ignored. It seems to me that in Japan gender roles are more strict than they are in Germany, and so this treatment is more pronounced.

Like in japan it is very common for people to talk about what women are like and what men are like. And the culture also requires men and women to behave very specifically and not like the other gender. And I think this is also very bad for men, like women do not get paid well, can't get good jobs are expected to become mothers and housewifes, and men on the other hand are required to give their whole life to work, doing overtime every day, going to after work parties, spending almost no time with their family and children.

Neither role is good, and while men have much more power, I would also not like to have to be a Japanese man caught in these expectations.