I am not against ethnocentrism. I myself am a cultural imperialist with a history of making brash value judgment calls in an instant.

. I especially like it when a Japanese woman is this way, too, and nd it rather charming when they are quick to distinguish themselves from their Western/south asian counter-parts. But this is a rare feature in Japanese women nowadays. Instead, what you have are the ignorant and stubborn types who seem to be full of cognitive distortions about themselves, the world, and their role in it. Where are the real ethnocentric types? Americans and Europeans assert themselves and are quick to speak out against anything that doesn't jive well with their sensibilities. This is attributed to their upbringing, education, and history. They, and Chinese, are the quintessential ethnocentric types in my opinion. Quick to judge other cultures against their own. Sure, there are historic reasons why Japanese are not this way, but I'll save that for another discussion. It goes without saying that people who are proud of their heritage and genealogy know why they are proud of it, or at least think they know what it is that they are proud of before making value judgment calls on other cultures. Alarmingly, though, what I nd a growing trend among Japanese of varying demographics, is that so many of them disagree on their ethnocentricity. Dirty Americans, some would say. Of course, Japanese remove their shoes before entering their homes, but do they also remove their socks? Is that a personal or cultural choice? Some may argue....as trivial as it may be. Do Japanese eat dolphin meat? Or even whale meat? Do Japanese take part in the national pastimes? Do they even know anything about them or themselves, at least enough to make relatively sound accusations about other people and cultures? You'd be surprised and hard pressed for an answer from them on that one. In my experience, Japanese, even the older ones, are utterly clueless about some the same things young people are. A great divide between being overly "we Japanese," and actually knowing anything about their own country in the rst place is more common than those who actually know their own country here.

A young Japanese lady once snootily told me that Japanese people do not visit Kakunodate, a historic town in northern Japan famous for cherry blossoms. I had recently returned from a vacation up there and had explained how wonderful it was when this young lady quickly retorted, " Japanese don't go there!" " Maybe you're not Japanese," I said to myself. There were thousands of Japanese from all over the country there. And perhaps thousands more make the pilgrimage there every spring. Just because you have never been there doesn't mean other Japanese do not go there,

and just because I went there doesn't mean I was or am trying to be Japanese. If one Japanese does one thing repetitively in one group, then the whole race does it. According to Charon (2007), To him, ethnocentrism is inevitable. It comes about naturally when a group of people share lives together till they develop a likeness among themselves in the way they relate to each other, in their language, in their values and other areas. In a nutshell, social interaction gives rise to ethnocentrism When linking ethnocentrism with social problems such as war, slavery and exploitation, Charon (2007) said that the former may encourage the latter, but it is also true that social problems give rise to ethnocentrism as well, Charon (2007) Negroes of America have a monolithic culture that was born out of oppression and degradation. The American negro slave bore the humiliation of subjugation by white Americans who invented and legalized a culture of murder, segregation and rape under Jim Crowe Law. This bred a culture of white worship and black self hate for centuries. So many Blacks were raped and bore the children of their slave masters and watched over their white master's white children in order to put and keep food on the table. As a consequence of centuries of slavery, blacks invented a new form of expression through music and dance, and through pictures of white Jesus on the walls of their churches in order to survive the misery of one of the worlds greatest crimes against humanity; the negro holocaust. The good Black had to be a passive Black; in other words "non-sequitur " type of black, confused, who understood his role under the heavy hand of white power more than his role as a Black man. Black was dened by whites as a good Christian god-fearing Black. What is or was once esteemed as virtuous is more of a falsehood. Things like being a good Black who demonstrates patience, temperance, honesty, devotion, and so on. These traits are not esteemed, just purely passive black traits. Deant black nationalism is a trait more closely associated with being culturally ethnocentric for most Blacks. Blacks substantiate their claim to Africa, the motherland, a country in America have never been to, through an air of deance and resistance to the largely afuent dominant white race' s culture and to appear to be in solidarity with all Blacks in the diaspora. Anything else is seen as a compromise or whitewash. In reality, they bend and swallow their pride and accept that they must obey the white man, and must adhere to his sense of values and culture, or else. This white dominance has bred the bitter ethnocentric black alpha male that people have come to fear, hate, and even sometimes love! It has made some rich through music by the exploitation of Blacks by Blacks and the romanticization of murder, pimping and hustling, which Black women adore being treated like whores by these types of men. Why? Money and thuggery is glamorized, and it sells and there's never a shortage of willing big booty b&$ for rap videos. A multibillion dollar industry.

And then We have Japan. A uniquely pseudo-homogeneous society. Because theres a very quiet minority of non-Japanese in the background. They have a national language, an identity, and a long and relatively undisturbed historical lineage. As a result, many Japanese both, young and old, are ethnocentric in their own view of the " we Japanese " phenomenon, and the island mentality where they feel that there is one national collective mystical conscious where everybody can read everybody's mind simultaneously, and understand the needs of other Japanese, even those they've never met. And then we have the cultural relativist who struggle with the idea that other countries may either have a better way of thinking, or accept the fact that others are just different on every level, and are confusing. That even Western nations' moral convictions and beliefs in a higher power, or even a soul could challenge age old beliefs in a nation with such high ultra- ethnocentric values as Japan, could make any sense at all. But, again, do Japanese really understand enough of themselves and their culture to be truly ethnocentric? Japanese are white ethnocentric, not Japanese ethnocentric! In other words, proud to be white afliated and white approved. Only! They are the most confused race of people on planet earth, I feel sometimes. At least their brothers in China acknowledge that they love white men and worship at their feet. Even Chinese fathers encourage their daughters to marry white. Yet, Chinese maintain strong ethnocentric views of their China and the world. " Some positive things birthed from ethnocentrism is patriotism. While extreme nationalism can lead to wars, having a sense of pride in one's country is always good for the society. Since Americans think they have the best culture, they tend to strut it around. With strutting around also comes a better lifestyle. Even though Americans do not have the best way of living, the belief of being the best has lead us to living a comfortable lifestyle. Being a little bit ethnocentric develops a strong unity in different people groups. It also helps social integration among groups. Social integration is a positive action according to Emile Durkheim. Durkheim even called social integration the "protection from suicide". So in a sense, ethnocentrism can be considered as a protection from suicide" ( unknown ). Japanese exhibited similar traits during its economic boom 30 years ago. These traits are not evident today, especially with the lost generation of under 30 and under achievers and easy quitters who lack hunger. They revel in their mediocrity because its a less stressful way to live. Plus you have these herbivore men who have no penis,

and would rather sit down when they pee get offended when someone questions their lack of sense and moral aptitude when it comes to duty and sense of civil responsibility. The Left Wing is all to blame! But thats a political rant for another time. Theres a vile cancer eating away at the moral fabric of Japan. People drink at the swine trough of Fuji TV, and vegetate over nonsense about Korean love and romanticism. And they have little pipe dreams about a new world across the ocean, and such other nonsense that theyve been bred to believe. Pie in the sky ideals.

Im a Japan ethnocentric. I see both sides. I see America and Japan and I understand the difference. I wonder how Japan will fair in terms of identity and national character in the coming years. Where are the knowledgeable and proud Japanese? Hiding under rock....silenced....mute....insignicant.....or, possible nonexistent. Maybe theyre hiding from me. Hmmmm.....? Or somewhere outside of my periphery?