#.... and as a person whos country had been colonized by Japan

[tomokenbeloved]

"Modernizing" Akatsuki, an mv shot showing a resemblance of the rising sun flag, it's not a coincidence. Pretty much they're intentionally making an imperialism propaganda. The Meiji Restoration, which is the modernization of Japan that had happened in Meiji period. Making an Okinawan person to "be more Japanese", the same how Japan erased the Okinawa's culture and indigenous from the colonization.

Happyele, you're bunch of sick fucks.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/751445319499317248/httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost75113540651

She did not "basically write fanfic about Unit 731", and that's exactly the weird sort of game of telephone that led to her being relentlessly harassed by people who had not even read the book (there were claims that it was set in WWII, because the 'Unit 731 fanfic' lie was spread so far that people only heard that and decided to jump on the bandwagon) and decided she deserved to be publicly eviscerated for it.

From what the author has actually said about her inspirations for the book, she started writing it years before she found out that the ghost stories she was told as a child by her grandfather (who lived through the occupation) were about a real, specific atrocity, rather than just broadly about colonization--which makes sense considering the only part that seems directly inspired by Unit 731 is revealed near the end of the book and is the major twist that ultimately carves the scales from the MCs eyes with respect to the enemy prince in question.

Also, she didn't 'whitewash' the Japanese, and that kind of claim is really galling because would it actually have been better if she'd based the Evil Empire on Japan instead? Would that really have gotten people off her back? (And in fact I can very easily understand why someone whose family lived through such a brutal occupation would want to get some distance in a story that is partially processing those feelings and experiences by not modeling the Evil Empire directly after the country that brutalized her own; especially since a significant portion of the story involves the main character having very complicated feelings for the prince of the Evil Empire.)

If you want to talk about the writing not being great or your belief that the author didn't achieve what she set out to, that's fine, although I gather from this ask that you haven't actually read the book, which is at minimum a prerequisite to talk with authority about how any given topic or plot point is or isn't handled. I, personally, think it's incredibly tone-deaf to police how someone else writes about their own cultural heritage and family history with oppression and colonization, and that is very much how so much of this criticism comes across, especially considering how much of it is from people who fully admit to not at the least reading the book to form their own opinions about it. And for some reason, this form of criticism seems to be aimed disproportionately at authors of color, who are given much less grace and freedom to be just kinda mid or handle things poorly than white authors.

(Just as an example, I've never seen anyone call Avatar: the Last Airbender 'basically CCP fanfic' even though the fantasy prison where political dissidents/troublemakers are tossed to be tortured/brainwashed into compliance in Ba Sing Se is literally named Lake Laogai, after the Chinese political prisons/labor camps.)

--

Yeah, that last part is the crux of it, isn't it? People need a little room to work on their craft. More marginalized creators, indie creators, and people working on media with smaller audiences are afforded less. White dudes making TV shows are afforded a whole lot. Seems like it would be fairer the other way around!

[vindicated-truth]

This is tangential to the point, and pure speculation on my part, but I've always found it interesting that the type of cuisine they eat on the show clearly plays a role on establishing whether the person is "good" or "evil".

Everyone in the show who has ever dined with traditional Korean food had all been good-adjacent people, mostly the people of Manyang: Dongsik, Sangbae, Jaeyi, Jihwa, Jihoon, Jeongje, Gilgu, Gwangyoung.

(Which is why it also says a lot that by the end of the show, Jeongje and Gilgu are both not part of the Korean cuisine table anymore.)

Everyone in the show who has ever dined with Japanese / Chinese food had all been the evil-adjacent people, specifically the trio of Han Kihwan, Do Haewon, and Lee Changjin, with the addition of Jung Cheolmoon.

In fact, it's fascinating to me that the "villains" of the story have all always met at a Japanese restaurant, and dined specifically with Japanese cuisine like sashimi.

Again, this is pure speculation on my part, but I'm fascinated by the not-so-subtle portrayal of Japanese cuisine as adjacent to "evil"—considering how South Korea has never gotten over their grudge against their former colonizer, Japan.

And South Korea culturally has always been a grudge-bearing country—rightfully so—against the countries that have colonized them.

This political relationship also comes into play with the way the illegal immigrants and prostitutes in the show, and the ones supplying illegally acquired yuan for gambling, just had to be Chinese—considering as well South Korea's political friction with China as the one who sided with North Korea during the war.

(It does make me doubly appreciative of the Manyang group, and Joowon as well, that this political prejudice didn't stop them from seeking justice for these Chinese immigrants, especially Lee Geumhwa. It says a lot of how despite his imperfections, Joowon is inherently good (and intelligent) for never allowing himself to blinded by any sort of bias.)

As for Joowon himself, it's fascinating that he's neither of the two; in the beginning he's shown to neither dine with Korean nor Japanese cuisine, but his fare is more of the Western cuisine—as was shown when he cooked up that meal for Dongsik at his apartment. Again, unsurprisingly, considering he spent most of his youth and early teenage years at a boarding school in England before moving back to South Korea.

It's fascinating then that what he dined with together with the Manyang group at the end of the show is budae jiggae, which is a fusion of American and Korean food that came up during the Korean war with leftover meat out of U.S. bases in South Korea.

And it should be noted here too, interestingly, that South Korea has always viewed the U.S. as their political ally.

(For Joowon to be symbolized by Western food is fascinating, because if it's likened to South Korea's politics, it's like the Manyang group sees him as not one of theirs—but can still be a potential ally.)

As I've always said, it's impossible to separate Beyond Evil as a show from the cultural context of South Korea, and when you view it from that lens, it's fascinating that even the country's political biases are revealed symbolically in the show too.

For the symbolism of budae jiggae in the show in particular, it was first shown on the flashback during the dinner after Nam Sangbae's death, when he first tried their town's new restaurant catering to fusion cuisines. And it's symbolic of how everyone was wary to try something new at first, something foreign—and how it was Dongsik who had the first taste.

It says a lot for Joowon's character in particular, because if he has always been symbolized by Western cuisine and the Manyang group (including Dongsik) has always been symbolized by traditional Korean cuisine, the way they dined together on budae jiggae in their reunion lunch at Jaeyi's speaks so significantly of Joowon finally being a part of their family.

[maxdibert]

Same anon who brought up snake summoning and racism in magical community. There's something to be said that purebloods are right to fear muggles. You telling me there wasn't a Jewish wizard or witch who saw the Holocaust and didn't think *if they did that to NON MAGICAL Jews, what will they do to me???* this is the thing about framing death eaters as nazis. Are they far right? Yes but magicals are in the minority. There's still witch killings *today*. In Harry Potter, how many muggle borns or witches and wizards who grew up among muggles got sent to mental hospitals? How many got shock therapy? In the States, how many religious zealots killed their child by a priest? Forgetting the person who wrote it for a moment, im upset with fans like marauder fandom that scream F JKR but then don't critically examine what she wrote. Lily Evans could've easily been sent to a mental hospital. Heck, **Tom would have been** but these fans rather make fanfic where everyone is queer as a sign of protest while promoting her spiteful colonizing ideology

Or imagine all those witches and wizards who were literally born into zones of slavery. Before they were called to school, they worked because they were the property of their masters. Or those who had lived through Muggle wars and had seen firsthand the extent of violence. Wizards and witches in Japan after the nuclear bombs?

I also repeat that these seem like plot holes to me, because are you really telling me that racialized witches and wizards would allow white Muggles to exploit their people? Are you telling me that witches and wizards born to Muggle families just forgot that their entire family was being exploited and tortured once they went to a magical school? What sense does that make? A Muggle-born wizard from a Jewish family, for example, wouldn’t do anything during the genocide? South African wizards during apartheid? And in Latin America? Muggle-born wizards see Pinochet, Videla, or any other dictator come to power and start disappearing people, including their families? The logic of how Rowling portrays the interaction between wizards and Muggles only makes sense in a European first-world country, where the history of oppression is centered on colonialism.

Could it work in Spain, Portugal, Italy, or France? Sure, because these countries didn’t have cotton fields within their borders; if they had enslaved people, it was elsewhere, so their wizards could happily ignore those oppressions. But it’s still absurd because wars have happened, racism and discrimination have existed, and structurally it’s implausible. The Japanese Empire committed real atrocities in Korea from the late 19th century until World War II, and you’re telling me, Rowling, that the wizards in the oppressed country did nothing?

And what about cultural aspects? The Statute of Secrecy makes sense in a European or American context, meaning it makes sense in white Western countries. But it doesn’t make sense in other cultures. Asian cultures have millennia-old traditions of acceptance and coexistence with the supernatural; the number of cultural references to the supernatural in their works is incredible, and any fiction they create always has some reference. The same goes for other cultures that weren’t sterilized by Catholic ostracism and retained their myths, legends, and rituals. Do we ignore all that too?

Do we ignore that in Latin American contexts, it’s super normal to talk about the evil eye, rituals for love spells, potions, and amulets? How does that fit with the Statute of Secrecy? I’ll tell you—it doesn’t fit. It doesn’t fit because Rowling only thinks about the coherence of the relationships between wizards and Muggles from her context as a white bourgeois European woman, period. She doesn’t think beyond her own nose. And we could accept it if it were limited to English society or certain European contexts (and I say certain because in Germany, which was divided for decades until the fall of the Berlin Wall, it doesn’t fit either), but she extends it. She extends things that only make sense in her context to the entire wizarding world. Sorry, but they don’t make sense.

[stardustizuku]

So, I’m not gonna tag this. Mostly because I don’t want to blow this more out of proportion than it was.

For starters and some context, I am Latina. I am not considered white by the standards of the country I’m living in. But I am considered white in the country I’m from. So I am acutely aware of how racism diverts itself from culture to culture. What you consider the “other” varies from the culture you are speaking from.

I have stated, I am not Asian. The context of what I know, entails as racism in Japan and how it presents its extremely limited. I have read books, watched documentaries, done research but it’s not empirical and that’s something that drastically changes the quality of information I could give.

We have three ways of framing any given analysis of racism - one, using my cultural context of dissecting the “other” (which would consider religious background, skin color and class). Two, the cultural context of the author’s background, in this case Japan’s (which would consider skin color and nationality). And three and my least favorite, American cultural context, which places an uncomfortable amount of emphasis on skin color.

The reason I don’t like talking about a piece of media through the lenses of American Cultural Context is because that on itself is a form of American Imperialism (from my humble point of view as a Latina who suffered from American Imperialism).

It’s a way for Americans to position their own racism problems in the center of the conversation. Forcing everyone to comply to what their idea of “white” and “black” means.

And unfortunately, for everyone here involved, that’s the lense through which half this site uses as a default.

So you would understand my exasperation, when I see someone: not explain the cultural context through which they’re analyzing racism, explain little to nothing abt said cultural context, and ranting off more about the morality of the text than actually discuss any of these points with any nuance.

In my mind, I have my own cultural background at the forefront. Unfortunately, I have the American cultural background jammed in the back of my mind too. And suddenly you insert the Japanese cultural background handfisted in with the grace of a red eyed bull in a glass shop.

I get fed up, I don’t understand what’s going on, I make an untagged post criticizing the PERSON’s analysis skills (which I’m sorry if I’m mean, but it sorta is bad).

I never said or implied “this work of fiction doesn’t contain problems”, I just said I wished the people who criticized it had the skills to properly explain their point.

Which, by the way, part of that writing skills needed is understanding that your interpretation is not gospel.

Cause like, I had a COMPLETELY different interpretation on Lanzenave. And the country to me, has never come across as a villain.

Like, let’s look for a second MY cultural context, and you’ll understand why I was very confused by the original post.

I genuinely 100% thought Lanzanavians were being portrayed as the GOOD guys.

For starters, the “dark-skinned” comment comes in Part 5 Volume 5 where it comes from being compared to royalty - which may I remind you WE HATE. Like at this point the Royals have been portrayed as incompetent buffoons who have done nothing more than fuck up their country.

To me, this was less of an indicator of racial profiling, and more of “they are different from the awful royals”.

Which, in my mind, made them better.

A way to say, whatever crimes the royal family has committed, it bears nothing of the actual intentions and wants of Lanzenavians.

Thing that is sorta supported by the rest of the narrative.

Lanzenave was once a country with no King. Then a King came from a magical place across the sea. But as he became more and more useless, they decided to send him back.

It looked, to me, like Lanzenave was a colonized country, that used their King’s greed to get rid of him. It’s stated that many people who came from Lanzenave weren’t just ‘natives’, but nobles.

In my country we have a term “malinche” which refers to anyone who thinks “first world countries” are better than your homeland. A cheap attempt to replicate it and discard your country for the sake of false status - is considered a laughing stock.

Which makes obvious why, the way I interpret it, people who wanted to leave Lanzenave for Yurgenschmidt never registered as actual Lanzenavians. To me they were malinches. Actual Lanzenavians were those who stayed in their country, those who embraced technology and rejected mana and feystones.

In my eyes, Lanzenavians were always smart, hardworking people being exploited and colonized. Who managed to expel the poison. The closing of the gate to Yurgenschmidt wasn’t a punishment. It was freedom. A guarantee that their colonizers wouldn’t return.

The people who invaded, were always that. Colonizers. Nobles. Rich people who think they’re better than poor people.

To me this was Latinoamerican culture in a nutshell. A place where, where you consider yourself to be from, carries way more meaning than skin color or appearance. If you say you’re Mexican, you are Mexican. It doesn’t matter what you look like. But if you renounce your heritage and call yourself “American”, you get mockery and contempt. Cause Americans won’t take you in, they don’t think you are part of them. But you’d rather not be a part of them, than be a part of us? Then follow their rules, and whatever punishment follows - it’s rightfully deserved.

So you would imagine my surprise, when I see someone with a different perspective. Noting something true that I hadn’t realized - this is a Japanese story. Applying the lenses of your own cultural context isn’t how the story is meant to be interpreted.

But instead of anything productive to be had in a conversation, I’m met with…well. People picking a fight.

They genuinely don’t consider or want, to be honest, any sort of different perspective. What they want is to complaint.

They’re Angry that some of us enjoy the story. That we have different things to enjoy out of a story. That we aren’t focusing enough on the problematic aspects of the text. Reading untagged posts and forming a convoluted opinion off two or three sentences I make. Going into huge tangents that completely miss the point.

I think it’s important, if you wanna actually talk instead of throwing buzzwords around, to lay groundwork of what want.

Again, I’m not criticizing wanting to discuss the issues of racism and xenophobia that exist - but I am sorta criticizing your ability to convey a message.

I’m not saying AoB is particularly progressive. But the books do criticize royalty, generational power, the patriarchy and systems that oppress women, the Sakoku Period, inequality in education, restriction of information and censorship…which are issues that I very rarely see tackled in this G E N R E (bcs obv if you switch to other genres and books you will find it. But shoujo isekais that talk abt royalty are rarely ballsy enough to directly criticize the power fantasy they’re writing for young women).

This is honestly a very toxic mentality. I made this for the few ppl who might be following this thing - to me Lanzenavians were always very cool.

[arkipelagic]

Japanese attempts at invading early Spanish colonial-era Philippines

The earliest written mention of fears of a Japanese invasion in the broadest sense of the word appears in a Memorial to the Council of 1586, in which there is speculation within Manila that the Japanese wakō [i.e. pirate gangs] might have greater ambitions beyond mere plunder: they "make a descent almost every year, and, it is said, with the intent of colonizing Luçon [Luzon]." That never happened, but in 1591 the first proper invasion scare began when the Philippines entered the consciousness of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98). By means of a series of brilliant military campaigns, Hideyoshi had reunified Japan after the chaos of a century of civil war, and he now set his mind on overseas expeditions.

… Farandaquiemon was a Japanese Christian merchant from Sakai called Harada Kiemon. He had visited Manila on several occasions, most recently in 1591, and, having looked at its defences, he returned to Japan convinced that the city could be taken easily. Together with his colleague Hasegawa Sonin, described as a "court favourite," Kiemon persuaded Hideyoshi to write his arrogant letter to the governor of the Philippines. Hideyoshi's military strength and his unification of Japan had become known in Manila, so the bombastic letter begins with a reference to these military triumphs and his miraculous birth that had augured Hideyoshi's destiny to rule other nations. The threats appeared later in the missive: "If an ambassador is not sent, I shall unfurl my banner and send an army against that country to conquer it with a multitude of men; so that that country will repent at not having sent me an ambassador."

The Spanish sent back a reply dated 1 May 1592 that was delivered to Hideyoshi by the Dominican friar Juan Cobo. Cobo traveled to Japan with a Chinese Christian called Antonio López, who appears to have been sent as a spy. Cobo and López met Hideyoshi at Nagoya Castle, the military base in Kyushu built for the invasion of Korea.

… On 1 June 1593, López was questioned closely under oath about what he had seen and done in Japan, with most of the questions relating to his knowledge of any Japanese plans for an attack on the Philippines. López said first that he had heard that Hideyoshi had entrusted the conquest to "Kunquyn," which probably refers to Harada Kiemon. There was also a possible motive, because "[i]n Japon there is universal talk of the abundance of gold in this land. On this account, the soldiers are anxious to come here; and are coming, as they do not care to go to Core [Korea], which is a poor country." López also stated that the Japanese had interrogated him about the military strength of the Philippines. He seems to have tried misinformation on that point, even though his initial reply had caused some arrogant amusement: "The [Japanese] laughed when they heard Antonio say that these islands contained four or five thousand Spaniards. They said that the defense of these islands was merely a matter for jest, for one hundred of the Japanese were worth two or three hundred of us."

Lopez … also had overheard the Japanese discussing the likelihood of the Philippines being reinforced when under attack. "[F]our months are needed to go from Mexico to Luçon," said López, "and on this account but few soldiers could come from Mexico. Japan is not more than twenty days' journey distant, and therefore it would be well for us to appreciate this fact." In terms of Harada Kiemon’s personal ambitions, everyone López had met believed that when the Philippines were conquered he would become the governor.

Excerpt from Wars and Rumors of Wars: Japanese Plans to Invade the Philippines, 1593–1637 by Stephen Turnbull, published in 2016

[1nu1]

Houseki no Kuni's Ending Is Advocating Imperialism.

I know that my words are very strong and quite disputable, but I've seen a lot of opinions on how they think Houseki no Kuni's ending is beautiful.

Well I not only disagree, but I'm in fact quite offended by the ending.

Before I start, I want to first say that Houseki no Kuni is NOT about buddhism. I don't have any religion so I may be wrong, but as far as I know, buddhism is about reaching nirvana by gaining inner peace through self-salvation. This part is very important in buddhism. Buddhism doesn't have a savior like Jesus. No one can take you to nirvana, one must enlighten oneself. However, the lunarians and the gems forced Phos to liberate them from their "painful" eternity. (*I doubt that they were in pain though, since the author mainly depicted them as enjoying their lives so much. I don't even think that the author was serious about the story because she didn't really care to explain how and why Phos reached the conclusion of praying for everyone, while she put so much effort in showing the lovey-dovey relationship between Cairngorm and Achmea, which is not that important in the storyline.)

Now I'll talk about why I feel the ending is advocating imperialism.

The lunarians and the gems never once apologized to Phos, let alone compensated for making Phos suffer. And yet Phos wished happiness and prayed for them. I do not think this is morally okay, even if this is just a manga.

Let's look at the current Israel-Palestine war. It's clear that the entire conflict started due to Israel's attempt to colonize Palestine. Well, to me the lunarians resemble Israel, Phos is Palestine, and all the other gems are traitors who betrayed for their own sake. Would you say that every Palestinian should just shut up and die or agree to Israel's oppression because that will end the war in a way? Would you say that the countries that had been colonized by UK/France/Spain/Belgium/Japan/etc. should just forgive and forget the past because it happened long ago? Would you be able to wish happiness for the people who have abused you and don't even recognize their fault? Would you be able to accept being treated unfairly because speaking up will cause a turmoil?

At least I cannot do that. I do not condone sacrificing the victims even if that might bring more happiness to the others, especially when the others are the abusers. Peace and prosperity acquired by exploiting the weak are disgusting. Simply put it this way: Will you able to sacrifice yourself to make your abusers happy? Will you gladly acquire inner-peace after that? How will you react if someone who mistreated you considers your pain to be trivial, and says you just have to forget it?

You may think that my opinion is way too aggressive and controversial. But Houseki no Kuni's story heavily reminds me of my country's history and my personal past experience, which makes me feel sick.

[eye-in-hand]

its almost like the people who are marginalized here in the states isnt the same as the people who are marginalized in other countries. Arabs and Muslims are treated like shit here, but they are the colonizers of the MENA region. Han Chinese are treated like shit here, but they are colonizers in East Asia. And there are more examples.

This infantilaztion of non white people is a part of white supremacy, stating that only white people can be oppressors (white power), and erases (and sometimes glorifies) the violence done to ethnic minorities by non white people.

Putting American ideas of race onto conflicts around the world leads to a disingenuous conversation. The Russians' attack on Ukraine is not about whites versus whites to Russians or Ukrainians, it's about Russian supremacy (which isn't white supremacy, it is specifically ethnically Russian supremacy, the idea of whiteness isn't the same in Eastern Europe but especially in Russia). The conflicts in the Middle East are not whites versus non whites. It's typically radical islamists and non-muslim ethnic groups, or arab supremacy. Chinese genocide of uyghur muslims is not a "white versus non-white" conflict. Japanese imperialism was horrible, imperialism happened before whites showed up in NA, etc.

It is white supremacy to take away non-white people's abilities to be evil. That is to say that they can't do good out of their own free will but because they just can't be anything other than that. Just because it sounds "nice" doesn't mean it isn't absolutely insidious to imply.

The western moved goal post definition of racism as something only an oppressor could do (which already had a phrase: systematic racism, and has made it so only whites could be oppressors - which has lead to problems like suddenly Jews are white despite having millions killed in recent history for not being white. Or the western disinterest in helping Ukraine because Ukrainians are too white for them to be genocided apparently. Or ignoring Imperial Japan, suddenly everyone being okay with Tibet "has always been a part of China, and Inner Mongolia was definitely not taken from the Mongolians), has never been a good definition of racism, and has only lead to intellectually dishonest conversations about racism. What definition can be used on all instances around the world? Hating someone for their race/culture/ethnicity. And it's important to keep defining the word that way if we actually want to fight against racism in all its forms.

It's important to talk about racism between non-white people (here in the west and outside of it), the racism between whites and non-whites, the racism between whites and other whites, the racism between colonizers/imperialists and indigenous populations (which does not always fit white European and indigenous brown person), etc. The idea of whiteness and how it isn't real, but still affects people in a very real way.

It's important to talk about racism and how it rears its ugly head in all the ways it does so if we actually want to disengage from it.

Everyone is human. To say only some are capable of evil not only dehumanizes those, but dehumanizes those that are "only capable of good".

I think everyone knows intellectually that marginalized people can be racists, sexists, fascists, or all-around assholes and that non-white, non-Christian societies can be just as brutal, fucked-up, or oppressive as the countries in which we live, but I don't think, until recently, that a lot of people on Tumblr actually really *believed* this.

[maitsuki]

nocturnal grid - a reflection on the precedents

[GIF: 아가씨 The Handmaiden, Dir. Park Chan-wook]

Growing up in a digital age where many people discuss politics and social issues online, I have seen a lot of different political opinions over the years. My family is considerably liberal, with some conservative views popping up here and there.

That being said, I would mostly attribute my political and moral beliefs to personal experiences from my childhood. Such as growing up in poverty, biracial Black and white, and a woman. I believe this opened my eyes to the unfairness and inequity in the world.

Seeing my family members struggling also "radicalized" me so to speak. I had close family members who were victims of CSA. My dad has been legally blind his whole life. The list goes on.

All this to say, I was well aware of our country's shortcomings long before the year 2016 or 2020. Even though I benefit from being an American citizen in certain ways, such as passport or not living in war zones, I vehemently oppose colonialism, imperialism, and war.

I don't feel conflicted about my opposition to them, but I do feel conflict over how I am privileged as a United States citizen. I don't have to live in active war zones, where people are getting blown up by bombs and drone strikes. Their lives destroyed.

I would love it if the United States military was less funded. I hate that my tax dollars go towards killing people, especially innocent people. At the same time, I like not living in fear of drone strikes. I do feel a sense of protection knowing that is highly unlikely.

I want to examine this dichotomy in my project. Which is why I chose precedent projects that feature themes of colonialism, imperialism and war implicitly and explicitly.

For example, Eight Views of Korea and Cotopaxi are the implicit ones.

Eight Views of Korea is woodblock print created by Kawase Hasui. It is a beautiful landscape depicting Gyeonghoeru Pavilion. However, it was created during Japan's colonization of Korea. It is hard to only focus on the beauty knowing the darker implications of the piece.

Cotopaxi is an oil painting by Frederic Edwin Church in 1862. It depicts a stunning sunset on the active volcano, Cotopaxi, in Ecuador. I was enamored by it when I was able to see it in person at the DIA. However, researching it further, I found that Church was a part of the Hudson River School. A group of landscape painters who painted the Americas in the 19th century. Their goals were to portray three themes: discovery, exploration and settlement.

This goes to show that there is a sinister side to a lot of the art we admire.

[nathansjapanblog]

Week 20 Blog

This week I read the book "The Last Samurai the Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori" by Mark Ravina, by reading pages 1-41. The most important quote can be found on page 2: “ Old Japan and new Japan had met in battle. Old Japan had lost.” The book is a biography on the last samurai, Saigo Takamori and his influence in Japan, with the era switching from old to new. Saigo lead a rebellion towards the new Japanese government, and the Meiji Restoration, since it conflicted with his personal and religious beliefs being raised as a samurai, which threatened his belief of traditional Japan culture. One of the major reasons of the backlash against the restoration was that it abolished the samurai class, causing many to lose their status, including Saigo. The book started off telling us about the rebellions failure, and who Saigo was, and the reasons they lost, such as lack of supplies, or lack of manpower. The quote represents the ending of an era, that being the traditional Japanese era, and the introduction of the new one.

When first reading the quote, I was thinking about the transition from “Old Japan” to “Modern Japan”. It was an internal battle between two different sides of Japan, and the defeat of old Japan symbolized the coming of a new age. I find it interesting as well how the new era even beat out the old one, as I thought there would be more backlash than support for them, as it completely changes the political and hierarchical structure of the country. Looking online, I found that the Meiji Restoration was done so that it could strengthen Japan against colonization, after the Unequal Treaties. Although, the Meiji Restoration did have some upsides, as it was better suited to protecting it’s citizens and provided economic opportunities for them. The real question is whether all the lives lost due to the fight were truly worth it? Could compromises between the old and new era have been made to help both of them, or was such a large reform needed for them to thrive as they do today?

(WORD COUNT: 355)

[iwantjobs]

2/11/2024: All this fighting with God's current main men (Jesus, Mohammad, and Buddha) yesterday gave me a black bruise to give me a look of a goatee as female with eggs with my weak middle-aged body acting as a young person slipped my feet and my chin caught into the ceiling of the car where my door is located as I was standing up using the car floor. Trang at 50.84. years old. Oh well, fighting to prevent colonizing to genocide democracy terrorist leader Netanyahu and his colonizing to genocide democracy terrorist IDF to create a masacre in south of Gaza in a a few days or a week using aid-and-abetting-democracy-terrorist-to-genocide bombs and weapons to kill indigenous Palestinians children who didn't vote for the Hamas terrorists as their government. God's punishment for the ancient Jews nailing his son's Jesus was the Nazi's genocide of poor 6 millions Jews who didn't nail Jesus, what will the punishment for the Jews in Israel to steal the land where Jesus was born from the Palestinians whose they and their ancestors have and had been living in the last 400 years even though the ancient Jews lived there 2,500 years ago? What will God's punishment for America, all democracy and Christian countries, even Japan and India, and even ethnic people living in rich democracy and Christian countries who have been aiding and abeiting Israel with their bombs andw eapons, chanting chears, and doing nothing to stop to help the descendants (Israelis) of the ancient Jews who nailed Jesus to steal the land (Palestine). where Jesus was born? If you believe in God, in what goes around comes around, or karma like tui, then you better do your duties to contact your senators , house of representatives, and locals news tomorrow to force no weapons to Israel and end the Israel-Hama war now, and develop two country solutions in that land with both countries with thriving economies (not one country rich with equal rights and the other country with ghetto tight tiny space with no access "to the river" for water called Gaza for Israel can treat Gaza like a zoo of animals for cutting off all water when war started). OK I think this might be my last post unless Tumblr gives me a job for promoting it's dying social websites. Take care humans and peace ✌️ in the Israeli-Hamas war now. Trang's work at 50.84 years old.

[loudbeardream]

Globalization is how countries integrate its economy with other countries for capitalization, trading (import and export of products), and movement of people (travel or diplomatic purposes) to ensure good relation from one country to another. As globalization gets modernize as time goes by, we have to think what could possibly affect or the possible players in evolving the globalization.

One of the things that I’ve learned that could affect is the globalization is culture, why? Because in doing business, sometimes you have to know what is the nature of the specific person or the country. For example, your country exports rice and your country are offering it to non – Asian country and as we all know some of the countries here in Asia are rice eaters compared to Europeans who eat breads more. One of the things that I’ve learned why when I hear or read globalization, the first thing that pops in my mind is culture is because, being Filipino, being colonized by other countries had a huge impact on our culture. We are good at speaking English, some of our words has Spanish in it, the younger generation listens to other countries’ music than Filipino pop (PPOP), even the food choices have wide impact on us.

             Secondly, our education. Not only education hones a person’s knowledge and skill, the skill and education would be an advantage for that person who have been trained mentally (education/theoretical) and physically(skill/practical). The culture also helps the education system of the countries, for example, if you would look India and Japan, both countries are good in engineering and technology because in Japan, they have a lot of earthquakes compared to other countries. In the Philippines, Filipinos are good in hospitality and management, that’s why Filipinos gets easily hired in the middle east and in cruises. 

            Of course, if you would include education, you also have to include the technology. As globalization gets modernized, the things we use in everyday life gets modernized too. And as we cope up with fast modernization, we have to learn how to operate modern technology and innovate how technologies could make human’s life easier. For example, in aircrafts, aeronautical engineers change the designs of an aircraft depending on number 1, the crashes that happened, and number 2, needs of people fly more often. The engineers would think if they needed make larger aircrafts or faster aircrafts. For a businessman or diplomat, they would want to travel faster, so they had to fly rather than riding ships since their time is important. And also, ships are important for the import and export of the goods. 

            As I mentioned, import and export of goods are one of the countries’ way to earn and pay debts to the International Monetary Fund (MIF). The import and export of goods is an example of business. As globalization gets modernized, businessmans also have to think on how they could evolve businesses, thus e – commerce and e – wallets were born. 

[klay0704]

China's history and culture advocate for the rule of kings and oppose hegemony. China believes that peaceful development is the theme of world development. Throughout China's 5000 year history, it has not been a tradition of Chinese civilization to infringe on the interests of other countries, forcibly occupy their territories, and dominate the world. When China becomes a world power, it will never colonize or dominate the world, as Western countries say.

Martin Jacques also found many practical evidence that during the Ming Dynasty, China had established the world's most powerful navy, which could reach the vast majority of the local world. Zheng He's voyages to the West were a powerful proof. If there is a hegemonic ideology in Chinese culture, then the world today may not be dominated by the United States, and countries like Australia should have long become colonies of China. However, none of this happened. In addition, since ancient times, China has been surrounded by numerous countries such as Japan, North Korea, Myanmar, etc. China has never launched a war against them or colonized any country.

Martin Jacques' research ultimately concluded that expanding territory and conquering the world are not the genes of Chinese civilization, and China's long history is enough to reassure other countries in the world. China's strength will only bring prosperity and stability to the world. The current social development goals in China are highly unified and clear. Nowadays, Chinese people all have the great dream of reviving the Chinese nation. All of this dream is because this nation was forcibly opened by the guns and guns of world powers during the Qing Dynasty, a large number of people were killed, a large amount of wealth was plundered, a large amount of land was ceded, and so on. Every Chinese person feels the humiliation of being weak, and this period of history is unforgettable for the Chinese people.

However, some Western countries are beginning to be hostile towards China internationally. Currently, China is still a relatively thorough developing country, with various leveling indicators below the world level. These hostile Western countries are still uneasy. They constantly smear China for their own prejudices, recklessly promote the concept of "a strong country must dominate", mislead people around the world, and falsely claim that China will inevitably embark on the old path of "domestic dictatorship" and "external expansion". Because the dominant power of public opinion in the world is in the hands of these Western countries, many people in the world who are unclear about black and white have been successfully brainwashed by them.

[vindicated-truth]

This is tangential to the point, and pure speculation on my part, but I've always found it interesting that the type of cuisine they eat on the show clearly plays a role on establishing whether the person is "good" or "evil".

Everyone in the show who has ever dined with traditional Korean food had all been good-adjacent people, mostly the people of Manyang: Dongsik, Sangbae, Jaeyi, Jihwa, Jihoon, Jeongje, Gilgu, Gwangyoung.

(Which is why it also says a lot that by the end of the show, Jeongje and Gilgu are both not part of the Korean cuisine table anymore.)

Everyone in the show who has ever dined with Japanese / Chinese food had all been the evil-adjacent people, specifically the trio of Han Kihwan, Do Haewon, and Lee Changjin, with the addition of Jung Cheolmoon.

In fact, it's fascinating to me that the "villains" of the story have all always met at a Japanese restaurant, and dined specifically with Japanese cuisine like sashimi.

Again, this is pure speculation on my part, but I'm fascinated by the not-so-subtle portrayal of Japanese cuisine as adjacent to "evil"—considering how South Korea has never gotten over their grudge against their former colonizer, Japan.

And South Korea culturally has always been a grudge-bearing country—rightfully so—against the countries that have colonized them.

This political relationship also comes into play with the way the illegal immigrants and prostitutes in the show, and the ones supplying illegally acquired yuan for gambling, just had to be Chinese—considering as well South Korea's political friction with China as the one who sided with North Korea during the war.

(It does make me doubly appreciative of the Manyang group, and Joowon as well, that this political prejudice didn't stop them from seeking justice for these Chinese immigrants, especially Lee Geumhwa. It says a lot of how despite his imperfections, Joowon is inherently good (and intelligent) for never allowing himself to blinded by any sort of bias.)

As for Joowon himself, it's fascinating that he's neither of the two; in the beginning he's shown to neither dine with Korean nor Japanese cuisine, but his fare is more of the Western cuisine—as was shown when he cooked up that meal for Dongsik at his apartment. Again, unsurprisingly, considering he spent most of his youth and early teenage years at a boarding school in England before moving back to South Korea.

It's fascinating then that what he dined with together with the Manyang group at the end of the show is budae jiggae, which is a fusion of American and Korean food that came up during the Korean war with leftover meat out of U.S. bases in South Korea.

And it should be noted here too, interestingly, that South Korea has always viewed the U.S. as their political ally.

(For Joowon to be symbolized by Western food is fascinating, because if it's likened to South Korea's politics, it's like the Manyang group sees him as not one of theirs—but can still be a potential ally.)

As I've always said, it's impossible to separate Beyond Evil as a show from the cultural context of South Korea, and when you view it from that lens, it's fascinating that even the country's political biases are revealed symbolically in the show too.

For the symbolism of budae jiggae in the show in particular, it was first shown on the flashback during the dinner after Nam Sangbae's death, when he first tried their town's new restaurant catering to fusion cuisines. And it's symbolic of how everyone was wary to try something new at first, something foreign—and how it was Dongsik who had the first taste.

It says a lot for Joowon's character in particular, because if he has always been symbolized by Western cuisine and the Manyang group (including Dongsik) has always been symbolized by traditional Korean cuisine, the way they dined together on budae jiggae in their reunion lunch at Jaeyi's speaks so significantly of Joowon finally being a part of their family.

Food as a metaphor of belonging: The push and pull of Beyond Evil characters gathered around the table

The symbolism of food as a signifier of relationship and character is so brilliant in Beyond Evil.

Joowon never shared—nor accepted—any meal from anyone in the show, until that moment when Dongsik told him that even if he has to go to hell, he shouldn't be hungry.

That is the first and only time he has finally accepted the food being offered to him.

He had baby steps to get to this point too: the first and only time he sincerely accepted a drink is when it was offered to him by Jihwa, when they were grieving Nam Sangbae's death. It was such a stark juxtaposition with how Jaeyi refused to get him his own cup of tea in the beginning when he ordered her butcher shop to be searched by cops, refusing to let him into her surrogate family, just yet.

There was that time too, when Joowon just came back from Busan and was trying his best to be Dongsik 2.0 (in unwittingly taking Hyeok's advice) when he was wolfing down raw meat, more to mock his own father. Any other time other than this, he has never eaten any of the food Han Kihwan has offered to share with him.

The only time he genuinely enjoyed a full meal with anyone is when all of it was finally done, and all the cases were finally resolved, and they reunite for lunch, honoring Nam Sangbae's first death anniversary.

It's symbolic of Joowon finally accepting the love and belonging being offered to him—first by Dongsik himself, and eventually by their whole Manyang family.

He had never fully accepted his father's. Small sips and small bites were all he could stomach, as if anything more might make him sick. As if the taste had never sat well on his tongue.

But that's also because Han Kihwan has never sincerely offered anything—not even food nor drink.

Pay attention to how, even though he offers it is a polite formality to the people he meets, whether it's Nam Sangbae, Lee Dongsik, or even Kwon Hyeok, he never actually brings them any food or drink.

He has never offered any love or belonging to anyone.

The symbolism of love and belonging being offered through food is apparent even among the other characters.

You can see it with how Dongsik didn’t forget to bring Minjeong water while she was sobering up.

You can see it with how Dongsik accepted the tea Nam Sangbae offered him, even as he recalled the way he suffered being beaten by Nam Sangbae himself, 20 years ago: a show of forgiveness, even if Sangbae himself believes he doesn’t deserve it.

You can see it with how Do Haewon tried so hard to get Jeongje to eat, which he only begrudgingly accepts: a forced love from the mother that the son never wanted.

You can see it with how the food between Han Joowon and Jung Cheolmun was never touched at all. There is nothing between them, only distrust and suspicion.

You can see it with how, whenever any of them gather together, it is only Lee Changjin who is eating whatever food is laid in front of him by either Han Kihwan or Do Haewon. It's symbolic of how he is forced to only eat the scraps of whatever they offer him, trying his best to prove his loyalty and usefulness to either of them, only for both of them to discard him in the end when they're already being pushed to a corner by the police.

You can even see it with how Dongsik refused the meal being offered to him by Joowon himself when he first visits him in his Seoul apartment, unwilling to trust Joowon just yet.

This was mirrored by Joowon too, several times: when he refused to eat the pork broth offered to him by Nam Sangbae, and again when he refused to eat the pufferfish soup offered to him by Dongsik in Busan. And even in the begining, when he refused the warm cup of tea being offered to him by Jihoon after Joowon was drenched in the rain.

And even with Han Kihwan, he was forced to accept the drink being offered to him by Lee Changjin and Do Haewon that fateful night before he ended up killing Lee Yuyeon, because this was a situation he never wanted—he didn't want to be associated with a common street thug or a dirty politician-wannabe—but he has no choice if he wants to save his in-law's company.

As I have always said, it is impossible to study Beyond Evil without analyzing it within the context of the culture it's steeped in. And in South Korea—indeed, in Asia in general—the communal sharing of food and drink is steeped so much into the culture that you can immediately tell if the person belongs in the community—by looking at whether or not a person is welcome at the table.

And whether or not the offer to share the food is accepted.

[flagellant]

okay, id like to apologize for starting my message in a fairly tumblr typical way bc i didn’t expect you to assume it was from someone who i don’t even know is involved, i honestly have no idea who you’re talking about. my message did not come from a place of inherently denying your claims, although I do take issue with some, and wanted to clarify- the vast majority of comments about the soy sauce thing seem to come from a perspective that a single member of a colonial government is capable of changing the national industry of a country by virtue of of being a colonizer, which can come across as diminishing the power of that country to oppose occupation. racism becomes relevant when one considers the typical infantilization of Japan across subjects which removes power from those resisting occupation, and also coming from a population in the same situation does not necessarily exempt someone from falling victim to this narrative. i firmly believe that one individual should not be said to ruin an occupied country as if that country has no means of resisting the operations of that individual. if you were not asserting that appleton had enough power to topple or permanently disrupt the entire soy sauce industry, then the point is moot. still, it was not my intention to stir up tension between someone who has been causing problems for you.

I am in fact asserting that she was given authority by the American military during occupation which placed her as an individual responsible with total control over resources, raw material, and brewing procedures. I have given you my sources for such claims. It is your personal fault for insisting racism is involved when the Japanese people who alerted me of these sourced, translated them, and then I had double-translated to ensure clarification of language in case of errors or bias, are being infantilized or anything similar.

It in fact seems to be the running belief that you are the person who is acting out of a racist belief that you can simply deny the power and authority that the United States used to oppress Japanese society from civilian to governmental to cultural level. If you want to keep pretending that your idea of the truth is more honest, accurate, and respectful than what is shown to have actually historically happened in regards to Blanche Appleton, you can feel free to.

Because I imagine you wouldn't want to continue calling racist what actual Japanese people are informing me is correct and accurate, yes? Or are you willing to be stupid?

[leonardhoee]

A Rant About Ikesen’s Treatment of Motonari

I’ve been away from tumblr for a while but I had to come back for this.

So something I’ve noticed throughout playing Ikesen is the way that the game is very biased agains Motonari and I think it needs to be addressed because he is the only brown character and his portrayal is full of harmful stereotypes against brown men. I love this game but I haven't seen a single person acknowledge how badly Motonari is treated by the creators and the fandom as a result of that.

Also any racist comments will be blocked.

Possible route spoilers under the cut…

So lets start with the obvious, he is the only dark skinned character in Ikesen and when I first started playing I was so happy about that because finally (regardless of his ethnicity which honestly in this portrayal of him can be up for debate, I HC him as south East Asian) we are getting some representation. Throughout the game though I started noticing a lot of harmful stereotypes being thrown onto him that none of the other characters face.

Both him and Nobunaga are relatively misogynistic, I’m not denying that at all. However the way it is portrayed in their routes is very different. Nobunaga should in fact have sexual harassment charges, yet its romanticized repeatedly throughout his route. Motonari on the other hand treated MC as a possession the same way Nobunaga did, however he is shown as aggressive and scary as opposed to Nobunaga being shown as sexy and romantic.

There is also a difference in their respective CG’s 

Motonari’s CG is shown much more threatening and aggressive than Nobunaga’s

That brings me to my next point. Every other antagonist so far is shown to have a gentle and redeemable side. Kenshin threatened to wage war on the whole country while keeping MC locked in a cell yet he is still shown to be gentle and romantic. Kennyo repeatedly kidnaps and threatens MC’s life in other routes yet he is shown as a gentle monk who just wants revenge for his fallen brethren. Why doesn't Motonari get that level of consideration and empathy? Why is he, the only brown man, shown as an aggressive two-dimensional brute in every single route that isn’t his own? And this is a harmful stereotype that shows itself in all kinds of media. Brown men are depicted as predatory and aggressive both in fiction and real life.

This leads me to his ethnicity (I’m only talking about Ikesen’s portrayal of Motonari, I am well aware he was a Japanese warlord irl). In his route there is a part where he is talking about slavery and colonialism. As a South Asian woman I completely understand his perspective and its what got me thinking about this subject in the first place.

This subject is clearly personal to him. These lines, the way he looks as opposed to the other characters, and the fact that he speaks Spanish (around this time period the Philippines were being colonized by Spain), leads me to head cannon him as South East Asian, specifically Filipino. However, historically, Motonari comes from a region of Southern Japan, which is known as Hiroshima today. Cybird meant to market him as Okinawan. A large part of the reason Motonari is being treated this way by Cybird stems from the fact that people from Okinawa face racism from mainland Japan. Considering the fact that this game was made in Japan, and knowing what we know about their history of colonization, racism, and east asian beauty standards revolving around colorism, I am honestly not surprised that Motonari is being portrayed like this.

Until now they just showed his reason for fighting the Oda to be “oh I just want to watch the world burn for no reason”. But no that’s not the reason. These lines. That’s the reason. A lot of the context behind those lines comes from the fact that comes from because people from mainland Japan treated Okinawan people as slaves. He doesn’t want to see another colonizer come into power. Sure he’s a bit of an extremist but historically people who have this ideology have always been portrayed as savage and barbaric and “against the betterment of society” (think Jet from atla or even Malcom x). It’s no different in ikesen. The devs are clearly villainizing this ideology. Let’s not forget the fact that irl Hideyoshi invaded Korea. And the fact that anime and otome games are part of Japan’s way of erasing their war crimes and rebranding themselves to the rest of the world. It’s blatantly obvious here with the way they’re villainizing Motonari for having a perfectly valid reason to fight the Oda. If Japan stays divided they can’t invade and colonize other countries like the Philippines can they? Anti-colonialism = bad. 

Lastly I want to talk about how they downplayed his abilities as a leader and a warlord in his own right. In all the other routes he is depicted as less educated and frankly “dumb”, and it shows itself in his speech patterns too. Compared to Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, Motonari’s speech is stereotypically “less educated” and “lower class”. Yet he is just as much of a leader as any of the other warlords. However instead of acknowledging that, the game chooses to focus on his crimes and behavior as a pirate, instead of his role as the head of the Mouri clan.

At one point Kicho even compares his intelligence to a fifth grader which just rubs me the wrong way because lets take a moment to actually look at Motonari’s abilities. He is multilingual, has knowledge of global politics and economics, is an amazing businessman, and extremely analytical. He is literally known as the God of Decit, yet I did not hear that name once until his route came out. His strategies are good enough to be called a god, yet that is completely buried in the other routes in order to simplify his character into a trigger happy psychopath and a violent brute. He is just as smart as Nobunaga yet he is not given the credit he deserves.

Both Motonari and Nobunaga are extremely similar yet because of the horribly biased portrayals, Motonari is one of the least popular characters whereas Nobunaga is the second most popular. It makes me angry to see people in the fandom choosing to blindly hate Motonari without recognizing the fact that this stems from a frankly racist portrayal of an extremely intelligent and powerful character. Although truthfully, I blame the devs because if they had given his character even half the consideration and depth the others got, this would not be the case. 

You can disagree with me if you want. I am simply bringing attention to something I haven’t seen being addressed.

I hope in future routes, events, and sequels he is treated better by the devs and and the fandom. Please stop projecting racist stereotypes onto brown men.