4 ms·
I think the term "Western" is often mixed up with "Westernized", which has a rather different connotation. I live in Japan that is not technically Western at al
by euske 8y ago
I think the term "Western" is often mixed up with "Westernized", which has a rather different connotation. I live in Japan that is not technically Western at all, but very well Westernized.
- Izkata 8y agoPretty sure it's this above all else. The US is also not in "The West", but it is in a sense "westernized" (it just never had a period where it wasn't "westernized" because of its origins). The two terms are holdovers from centuries ago, when "The West" really did mean Europe and "The East" meant east Asia (and The Orient was in between, the Middle East + west Asia). There's even an XKCD about how confusing it can be from the US (or, really, the Americas in general): https://xkcd.com/503/ https://xkcd.com/503/
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoOrient is just opposite to Occident. But as an en-gb native I've never heard it used for anything other than, basically, [Silk-Road era] China. I guess people might use it for Japanese, Thai, Mongolian, Malaysian, etc. but definitely not for anywhere from India Westwards.
- fjsolwmv 8y agoWesternized made sense 100 -200 years during the era of the first huge cultural exchange (or imposition). Nowadays Americans drive Hondas and play Nintendos, calling Japan "Westernized" makes less sense.