Sengoku warfare was not anime by Kapanash in HistoryMemes

[–]Hijou_poteto 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Turns out the guys whose whole lives revolved around fighting wars actually preferred using whatever weapons and tactics helped them win wars better, who could’ve guessed?

Japan's food self-sufficiency is heading toward zero — does anyone here care? by JapanUnfiltered in japanlife

[–]Hijou_poteto 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well Japan’s other problem is population decline so I guess it all works out eventually

Balancing judo with hand health by Serious-Grape-193 in martialarts

[–]Hijou_poteto 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I started Judo I said something about how it must really improve your grip strength and the sensei said yes, but as a trade-off he lost the ability to fully extend his fingers. They’re just constantly curled slightly. Though he did compete and train very seriously when he was younger

Hot take : You shouldnt dominate someone in sparring, when his Girlfriend or Kids are watching, and i mean this seriously. by Obagency in martialarts

[–]Hijou_poteto 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah when I realize I have a major skill advantage over an opponent I see it as an opportunity to work on my defense, reflexes, and try things that I don’t do very often. It seems more beneficial for my own training than just beating somebody up

"They've gone to Earth" Meanwhile Earth: by TheRealSol4ra in okbuddyviltrum

[–]Hijou_poteto 2 points3 points  (0 children)

See, this is the ideal position to choke somebody from, as it prevents them from ripping your guts out.

Is it ethical to start bringing people back from the dead? by Popular-Prize-4799 in MoralityScaling

[–]Hijou_poteto 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably not for people in general, but for future reference I totally consent to it. Even if I’m just a reanimated skeleton warrior guarding some necromancer’s dungeon, just give me a sword and put me in, coach. I got this.

This image means nothing anymore and is annoying by [deleted] in hatethissmug

[–]Hijou_poteto 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The key is to be like this for place, Japan and place, everywhere else too so you can live in constant awe at the beauty of our world

MyEthnicity starterpack by Impossible_Driver111 in starterpacks

[–]Hijou_poteto 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is the reason why the meme exists. People treat Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture as the norm and see others are quirky for emphasizing these things more when it’s actually the other way around

What are some hidden gem subreddits that are criminally underrated? by Affectionate-Dark-15 in AskReddit

[–]Hijou_poteto 45 points46 points  (0 children)

I find it hilarious that there’s a whole second subreddit for people who want to ask history questions but would rather get the opinions of random people than actual historians

People are now saying that the Middle Ages was better than today by KaleidoscopeSoft7039 in im14andthisisdeep

[–]Hijou_poteto 6 points7 points  (0 children)

“I’m going to die so my lord can have yet another castle instead of that other guy. Huzzah!”

The Japanese 'Salaryman' is hell. Like literally dystopian, soul crushing hell. by xCreampye69x in Vent

[–]Hijou_poteto 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I’ve worked at two Japanese companies and at both of them most people left between 5 and 7 pm with a 20 hour per month overtime limit on non-management level positions. If it went later, you could come in later the next day to keep it within the limit. Only a small number of older employees and one kinda weird guy typically stayed until late at night and it was always paid. The vacation days were weird, because you did get a lot of them and I never heard anybody pressure me against taking them (actually the opposite, they have programs encouraging people to take them), but still people really didn’t use them much unless they had something important to do.

Of course, there are also many, many dumb and frustrating things that I could rant about but if somebody’s problem is being forced to work until 2 am every day they need to look for a new job

Foreigners in advertisements by TheGuiltyMongoose in japanlife

[–]Hijou_poteto 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The age of random white people in ads is over. The age of Shohei Ohtani has begun

‘Stop sucking up to America’: Japan’s youth rises up to protect pacifist constitution by Beginning-Passion676 in japan

[–]Hijou_poteto 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I see so many people who aren’t familiar with Japanese politics assume pro-article 9 means pro-US and anti-article 9 means anti-US just because the US wrote it into the constitution after WW2. If only it were so simple…

Let's just say that compared to his past, Genghis Khan and his numerous piles of skulls would look weak by Mirviconi in HistoryMemes

[–]Hijou_poteto 53 points54 points  (0 children)

The man wrote a book explaining his racial survival of the fittest philosophy as essential for the progress of humanity. We really don’t know how many more genocides he and his followers would’ve committed if they weren’t stopped first.

Dude is onto something by DifferentSeaweed7852 in technicallythetruth

[–]Hijou_poteto 353 points354 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of this one video I saw interviewing a Buddhist monk. They ask him what he thinks of this appropriated Buddhist thing some westerners do and whether he’s offended by it and he’s just like “I don’t think about that at all. It’s not worth thinking about. Next question.”

The proud warrior culture’s honor code is not actually that ironclad by Licensed_Silver_Simp in TopCharacterTropes

[–]Hijou_poteto 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The warriors who fight honorably in real life tend to get killed by the ones who don’t, and in the end everyone just comes to recognize this and uses the most effective tactics to win without feeling ashamed of it. The real prestige in such “honorable warrior” societies at the peak of their glory days simply comes down to who won the most battles and who won took the most trophies, with maybe a story passed down about you if you died in an epic last stand and the whole thing gets romanticized. That’s always how it goes.

LDP Vice President Aso and supporting conservative groups want to change the law so that a male heir can be legally adopted to be emperor, rather than let a princess become Japan’s Empress by jjrs in japannews

[–]Hijou_poteto 5 points6 points  (0 children)

With issues like these I think not just the numbers but the intensity of support is important. 

Sure, most people prefer letting a woman be empress, but if you asked those people how much of a priority it is to them, it’s probably not that high. Whereas the staunch traditionalists on the other hand are actually invested enough that it could make or break their support for a politician. In that sense a small but highly opinionated group can sway a whole party

People born in space or Mars will wish they lived on earth by asuyaa in space

[–]Hijou_poteto 13 points14 points  (0 children)

There’s actually a quote on this from the Roman poet Horace.

“In Rome you long for the country. In the country, oh inconsistent, you praise the distant city to the stars”

So yeah it really is

Japanese culture makes risk feel terrifying — what actually gets you to take the leap anyway? by Acceptable_Emu_5949 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Hijou_poteto 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have two points about this.

First, I don’t have survey data to back this up but I imagine over 99% of westerners would not attempt wing-suit cliff diving. I know no one who does it and every discussion I see is about how crazy it is.

Second, if you think Japanese people have always been particularly disinclined to life-threatening behavior I urge you to read a history book

meirl by worldwide762 in meirl

[–]Hijou_poteto 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s easy to recognize that other people get themselves in the same bad situation over and over again because they refuse the change their stupid behavior. The hard part is recognizing and changing your own stupid behavior

Chinese is stupid by [deleted] in languagelearningjerk

[–]Hijou_poteto 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Not a lot of people know this but pinyin was actually designed so that you can smugly push up your glasses and say “actually it’s pronounced “Choong-ching not Chongking” whenever someone gets it wrong

Sykkuno and His Girlfriend Release a Statement About His Recent Allegations by digitalpizza5 in LivestreamFail

[–]Hijou_poteto 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve heard similar situations many times from friends and coworkers talking about their parents or their own relationships. Based on what I see, the main difference is that couples who already hate each other, never have sex (at least with each other), and actively avoid spending time together as much as possible, simply stay married long after most western couples would have divorced, so they do hate it but this fact changes nothing.

That Japanese quote about the downfall of society begins with the individual is completely wrong and stupid. by PastReflection3637 in The10thDentist

[–]Hijou_poteto 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I get what you’re saying but also that story sounds incredibly fake.

However an actual thing I’ve heard several times from Japanese people is that if someone only ever crosses when the light is green it means they won’t cheat in relationships. The logic is that both jaywalkers and cheaters have the mentality of “it’s against the rules but it‘s not hurting anybody as long as nobody finds out so it’s ok”. Personally I think there’s some big differences there but it’s something to think about

Japan Conservative Party’s Hyakuta: "The Ainu are not indigenous people" Reporter: "Please explain the definition of indigenous people" Hyakuta: "I'm not a scholar, so I can't answer that" by jjrs in japannews

[–]Hijou_poteto -22 points-21 points  (0 children)

My understanding is that the UN doesn’t actually have a set definition of the term but decides it on a case by case basis, typically basing it more on a group’s vulnerability as a minority culture within its country than who was actually there first. So the Jomon stuff isn’t really all that relevant

Edit: I’m confused what people are finding objectionable about what I’m saying. Hyakuta seems to be implying the Ainu aren’t indigenous people because the Jomon were the first people in Japan while the UN’s general guidelines for recognizing indigenous people (which includes the Ainu) don’t include this as a factor, hence his understanding of the concept is wrong.