Fukinshin 不謹慎

Japan is a nation where people are trained to be extremely considerate at all time from young. During my ten years in Japan, from time to time, I felt suffocated when these invisible accusation towards me. It is easy for a foreigner got caught when do something which is inconsiderate by Japanese standard.

Fukinshin means inconsiderate, now I just discovered that there is whole website dedicated for attacking people being “Fukinshin” on the Internet! They clearly take this into another level. 

In the most recent earthquake in Kumamoto, some celebrities made donations of rather large sums of money and they mentioned that on Twitter. They became subject to attacks for “flaunting their wealth.”

Another celebrity wished misfortune to cease by posting a prayer on Twitter. Again, they were attacked for “suggesting that the earthquake was an act of god (and therefore suggesting that the people of Kumamoto somehow deserved what was happening to them. )

Being considerate to others is certainly a good trait, however even any good habit or instinct can cause great pressure when it becomes extreme. 

为什么我不赞成民族主义和霸权政策

This is some Q & A between my classmates and myself (I was called in “猪猪”)

“别看马云这么厉害,他利用日本资本,其实干的是跟汪精卫一样的勾当”

->马云 利用日本的孙正义资本,首先孙正义是日本长大的韩国人,赴美留学然后回日本后创业,后来加入日本籍。他如果没在美国硅谷呆过,也可能没那个眼光来投资阿里巴巴。他投资的眼光是跟他的所受的教育分不开的。

马云的故事我没有仔细读过,我们只能怪当时没有中国人有眼光去投资阿里巴巴,却被日本的孙正义抢到了这个机会。马云利用日本的资本,结果使孙正义富了,但是大大发展了中国的互联网行业,增加了这么多就业机会,结果是双赢的。

78年以前中国就是关起门来想自力更生,死不承认自己落后,坚决不利用任何外资和援助。结果呢?

“文革打断了儒家思想传递,要大谈中国本土宗教,就像日本的神道教,压缩西方宗教的空间,应该残酷镇压一切与西方有联系的骨干分子”

-> 我支持儒家思想传递。因为他有很多好的地方。 各个宗教都有它的精髓,我们应该让他们百花齐放。“不同意我的观点,直接拿出去“斩了,不分青红皂白,直接压迫和打压”,的思想, 令我想起以前的文革,和秦始皇的焚书坑儒,会阻碍社会的发展。

“现在国家不强啊,不然香港台湾西藏不听话的,都可以肉体消灭”
-> 这种只考虑自己的利益,不考虑当地人的意见的 和当年的德国的希特勒和日本的东条英机有什么区别?现代社会是“软”文化的竞争,如果你的意识形态,制度科学文化先进,不用你去侵略,人家自然会向你投靠。不是你多了几颗导弹,人家美国人就会拼命偷渡来中国生活。

“西方就怕中国强,凡是赞美西方的不是脑子进水,就是有受虐的爱好,要么拿了好处”
->这个是国内思想单一化,对西方妖魔化的结果。西方社会中,敌对中国的肯定大有人在,但也有很多Pacifist,我就碰到几个老外,他们更支持世界多元化,说现在的或者以前的自己国家某个总统是蠢货。不是每一个向西方学习的学者都是拿贿赂的钱去当卖国贼。有想当一部分是希望改变中国的落后的现状才勇于当炮灰。

西方为什么现在在科学,经济,文化各方面都比东方强? 为什么中国有这么多高官子弟去美国留学,不见得obama送他儿子来中国读大学。日本为什么明治维新能走上亚洲强国? 日本善于学习,古时候学中国,近代学西方。而不是像那个时候的中国闭关锁国,沉醉于世界先进文明古国的梦里,只要是西方的思想,全据之门外。香港就一个小渔岛,在英国的殖民统治下,那里的中国人只能做二等公民,却能发展到今天的世界的金融中心。在香港决定回归的九十年代,几万有一定社会地位的港人纷纷移民美国,加拿大。都值得我们深思。总觉得自己是对的,其他都是脑子进水的,没有办法提升你自己的辨别能力。你这个”凡是“赞美西方的就脑子进水,就令我想起当年“凡是”毛主席说的都是对的。

如果有人赞美美国制度怎么怎么好。这些人喜欢赞美是他们的自由。你骂这些人脑子进水,没有任何说服力,也不会改变这些人的观点。如果你觉得你的意识形态观点先进,能说服更多的“洋鬼子”来拼命赞美中国的制度有多先进,这样的话更有说服力。你也可以说这些人被西方邪恶势力收买了,中国也可以去收买他们来赞美中国制度有多先进。看看有多少人会听你的。

 

朱朱,要是国家不强,你在国外估计地位比狗还不如啊,建议你看下近代史,在日本,华人是可以顺便杀的”
-> 地位是不是连狗都不如,这个每个人的定义都不一样。你要亲自体验海外华人的生活,你下的结论才有人相信。每一个海外华人都希望中国强大, 但是这里的强大不是说有多少导弹,多少航空母舰。我相信海外的华人更希望是一种中国软文化的强大。就像中国唐盛时期,周边国家都来中国“留学”取经。

关于海外华人遭虐杀的历史,我只了解过美国华人遭虐杀事 (Chinese_massacre_of_1871) 如果在日本有类似历史,能否给出引用?我有兴趣了解一下。

我所知道的是孙中山,鲁迅,邓小平,周恩来这些在推进近代中国历史发展中的重要人物,都去过日本,欧洲留过学,与他们相比,在近代受争议的,有独裁倾向的人物包括 袁世凯,林彪,老毛, 基本上是没有出过国门的。这难道只是一个巧合?

“猪猪,你不能说中国思想单一化”, “中国只要习总强势就没问题,要那么多想法干嘛”
->你都“不准”我说了,思想怎么多样化啊?持有不同意见的人要么被 ”和谐“了,要么逃亡了,所以思想是单一化的。可以报出一大堆人物,估计国内大部分人听都没有听过。虽然可以翻墙,但是知道能翻墙,或者愿意翻墙去了解世界其他人看法的毕竟占绝对少数。思想单一化,是一把双刃剑,好处是可以团结起来把一些大事很快地做成。缺点是一旦走错了路,没有人来帮你刹车。比如1958–1962 大跃进的三年饥荒,人吃人的,我们学的所谓的 “三年自然灾害”。用三年就可以饿死估计一千到五千万人(这三年的人口资料已被销毁,很难查证),是“八年”抗战中国军民伤亡的十倍左右。这就是全民没有任何想法,不种粮食,跟着我们领袖“炼钢”的结果。五千年的中国历史,就这三年自然灾害这么多?可以饿死这么多人,比战火纷飞的八年战争状态死还多很多人?仔细思考一下,思想单一化就很可怕。

“猪猪,这个我要批评你了,强大了,当然会霸权”
->如果每个国家都是这么想的,那离第三次世界大战也不远了。

我们先不说朋友不朋友,我们就用“盟国”这个词,盟国是绝对存在的。几年前我和我的一个日本朋友一起去东南亚各国玩的时候,当地的出租车司机,服务员一听到他是日本人就对他特别友好。对我这个中国人却很漠然。那时候我就纳闷为什么这些人对一个曾经侵略过他们的国家的国民这么友好?令我感触到中国现在这种排外,自傲的思想和政策,造成了中国在国际上的孤立。

令我们应该深思的是,为什么欧洲各国国家可以联合起来为欧盟,欧盟国家里面自由贸易,通行,统一货币。欧盟公民可以去任何一个欧盟国家自由工作和生活。

反之,为什么没有亚盟?大家的文化都很接近,大家都是黄皮肤黑眼睛,吃米饭。为什么亚洲的周边国家都去做跟自己文化相差很大的美国做朋友,而不是中国。只是因为美国的军事力量比较强吗?如果只是实行霸权政策,中国能不能得到整个国际社会的认可?如果中国没有任何盟国,就靠自己能够强大到称霸世界?

有人可能会说,我们亚洲国家之间历史仇恨比较深,永远要争一个你死我活。欧洲各国也曾经是互相残杀, 死的还不比我们少。我们跟日本才打了8年,英法还打了一百年呢。他们为什么今天想通了,结盟起来了。

总之,国家之间是有利益存在,但是我支持 coöperative internationalism,反对 assertive nationalism,因为霸权政策只会给人类带来灾难。极端的民族主义都是被洗脑的结果,当年的希特勒,日本的军国主义都是深刻的历史教训。

最后,问一个问题,下面的图片所示的民族主义带来的仇恨,到底给谁带来了好处?

 


 

  1. 八年抗战,中国军民伤亡共计约36,000,000人。(孟国祥、张庆军:《关于抗日战争中我国军民伤亡数字问题》.《抗日战争研究》, 1995年03期)
  2. Kimberley Ens Manning; Felix Wemheuer. Eating Bitterness: New Perspectives on China’s Great Leap Forward and Famine. UBC Press. 1 January 2011: 1,21–22. ISBN 978-0-7748-5955-4.(英文)
  3. “Chinese Massacre of 1871”. University of Southern California. June 23, 2002. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012.
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关于最近的拐卖儿童死刑论我的一些看法

我觉得解决问题的关键是去找问题发生的源头。等到发生了再去用解恨心理来处重刑,没有太大效果。在欧洲,澳大利亚等,加拿大世界103个国家 不管犯了多重的罪,都没有死刑。不见得他们那边儿童拐骗问题很严重。

人生下来都是善良的,都有自己的父母兄弟。研究一下这些人为什么会走上那个道路。以研究的结果,政府采取一些切实可行的措施来减少这种事情的发生。这个比一味地不加思索,别人喊死刑,自己也就喊,转发微信 有用。

在现在中国什么都可以用钱来买的社会,不乏冤案。如果不分具体情况,不分青红皂白一律死刑,万一执法过程中有出现不公,处了死刑后就再也没有挽回的机会了。人的生命是最可贵的。

最后,死刑不是一个先进文明社会所应该有的刑法。所以我不赞成死刑。


One book a month

 

The best way of refining yourself is learning from your mistakes; the second-best one is from somebody else’s mistakes. So from tomorrow, I will endeavour to read a book each month.

But why not reading blogs? Blogs are like McDonalds, which can be finished quickly without intense and heart-searching thought, whilst books are like 5 star fine dining restaurants, which require author’s deep reflection. Therefore, I am going to read a book every month from tomorrow. Start with

Thinking, Fast and Slow – by Daniel Kahneman

 
 

Cigarettes in Chinese wedding

If you ask westerners, who have been to Chinese weddings, about their experiences, the feedbacks will probably be something like this

The wedding was great, except for the smoking!

Yet, smoking in a Chinese wedding in mainland China is still ubiquitous. Traditionally, although not sure from when, the bride is supposed to light up cigarettes for the elder guests and the groom makes the toast when they greet the guests. This cultural mores may be great for the smokers but can be horror experiences for non-smokers like me.

What’s more is that the children and women who do not smoke are not aware the harm of secondhand smoke in China, or they are inure to this environment,  like the heavily polluted air.

Over the last a few weeks, I have tried very hard to push and convince my parents to put off the cigarettes at my wedding reception in China, and I have encountered numerous obstacles.

“The guests will think you are penny-pinching”, “ungenerous”, one of my friends advised.

“Do in Rome as Rome does (入乡随俗)”, Another one of my relatives suggested.

However, it is my belief that this kind of social mores in China are not necessary to be followed. One day, hopefully, not far from now, people will recognise that tobacco is harmful and should not be part of social occasions and gift-giving.

An image from Shanghai government website

idealism and realism in Art

A wrong answer from my IELTS practice today enticed me, a layman of art to wade through the scientific papers about the idealism and realism in art. Here is my findings:

Idealism artists believe that there is a limitation of what can be seen naturally, therefore, they perfect and embellish what they behold. One good example is the Distant View of Niagara Falls in 1830. The image represents  little of actual landscape near the falls at the time, which was marked by factories and hotels.

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On the other hand, Realism in art usually means copying or imitation of objects and scenes. For instance, Portrait of an Old Woman, by a German artist of the 18th century Balthasar Denner, pays special attentions to the details of the face. He aimed to copy every wrinkle on the face as if it was  photographed.

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Shanghai and Tokyo

Over the last 2 months, many things happened during my return stay at Shanghai…

First, I began to think whether Shanghai is the right city for me. Shanghai is definitely very different from Tokyo. In terms of familiarity, Shanghai is as alien as Tokyo to me. The obvious difference between the two cities is that people in one city speak Japanese and the other speaks Chinese.

Besides, I think that most nice facilities in Shanghai that cannot be found easily in other cities in China is only for the rich people or expatriates here. Like many shopping malls, bars and apartments the price of which is prohibitive for the locals.

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Miscellanea of the Fortnight

It’s really a long time since my last entry. I deserved myself a fortnight vacation to fill the vacuity before my new job. During this period, my brain is like a chaos of accessories in a machine which is running abnormally. There are tons of things waiting for my disposal. I’m involved in applying for my passport and visa, trip to Hangzhou and Ningbo and many trivial things caused by the job transfer. Although I made the plan, the result is few things in the to-do-list are accomplished. I was supposed to travel to Beijing but my mum was in hospital suddenly. I have to cancel the plan and take care of her. Thanks to God and she has left hospital now. The only strongest wish in my heart is she won’t relapse again. God bless me and my family!

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A Special Day

I suddenly find that the pronunciation discrimination between British English and American English is so distinct that I can hardly understand the English spoken by a guy from Europe when having dinner with him today. Maybe I have listened to too much American English or Chinese English. To avoid today’s embarrassed situation, I think I should choose some British English material to listen from now on. Also I find that there is lots of things to learn. Anyway, I am too naive now.

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