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Yes, but Japan isn’t safe and harmonious because of racial makeup, it’s save and harmonious because of cultural inclinations. In Japan, the individual defines t

Yes, but Japan isn’t safe and harmonious because of racial makeup, it’s save and harmonious because of cultural inclinations. In Japan, the individual defines themselves with a much greater emphasis on their place in society. Societal good is given far more importance than in other countries. In Western nations, individualism is so strong it borders on narcissism, in my opinion, and a consideration for society always takes back seat to the individual. Countries like the US will never achieve the social cohesion of Japan, not because of racial makeup, but because we are too obsessed with ourselves. At least, that’s my belief as an American who has spent several years living in Japan.

ThrowawayTestr 4y ago
>Japan isn’t safe and harmonious because of racial makeup, it’s save and harmonious because of cultural inclinations. Perchance those things are related?
- NeutralCrane 4y ago
  You think that cultural values are influenced by race? I certainly don’t. Culture a construct, not genetically determined. Let me put it this way, if you waved a wand to make America as racially homogenous as Japan, it would still have all the same discord because it would still all be Americans, and American culture is narcissistic and sociopathic.
  - decafninja 4y ago
    I’d say it’s more influenced by having common ground with your fellow citizens, and race is one potential factor. It’s why even in America you see racial/ethnic blocs and enclaves form. Hence the mentions of an “Asian voting bloc” or “Hispanic voting bloc”, during elections. Would we be hearing about such things if the US was monoracial? Even among many divisions, it would be one less divisive factor. (yes, I’m aware in the past things were carved up even among whites - such as Italians vs. Irish etc)
- jerojero 4y ago
  Unless you believe racially japanese people are significantly different to people from other asian countries. No. What really are the genetic basis to say Japan is a country that's markedly different from other asian populations? The people living in Japan have not lived there for long enough for their genetic to become too different from those of other asian countries. Culture on the other hand changes much more rapidly. Culture is the "genetics" of society, it is passed down from generation to generation and it mutates and these mutations are also hereditary... it's just much faster than biological processes. But ultimately, it seems very unlikely (and as far as I know, there's very little evidence that suggests this is the case) that race and genetics will have a huge effect on culture. Specially given that countries with similar genetic populations will have vastly different cultures.
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    > The people living in Japan have not lived there for long enough for their genetic to become too different from those of other asian countries. The Ainu’s skin tone is more like Caucasians than East Asians and the majority population, (Yamato?) are noticeably shorter than the Koreans to whom they are most closely related. There’s clearly been enough isolation, for long enough, for some differentiation. That’s not to say the distribution of traits doesn’t overlap. We’re not talking Sardinians and Swedes here, never mind Bantu and Basque.
    - decafninja 4y ago
      A lot of the pros and cons of Japanese society could apply to Korean society too. There is a lot of overlap. Seoul, like Tokyo, could also be described as a HNer’s dream city. Ultra safe, ultra clean, amazing transit. And like Tokyo, a city like Seoul could never exist in the US for similar reasons. (Then again, cars and public transit coexist somewhat harmoniously in Seoul, with cars being an aspirational item for many Koreans, so maybe it’s not a dream city for the banallcars HNer crowd)
  - Auracle 4y ago
    I’m not sure why it’s so hard for people to believe that evolution can indeed affect our brains just like everything else. Keep in mind the culture of the various regions could easily cause fast natural (?) selection. I’m no expert on Japan’s history, and even less so on China/Korea/etc. I know enough that Japan had periods of pretty constant war, and that the young and the brash would essentially volunteer to be mercenaries. It seems to me that could pretty quickly weed out the most aggressive genes in a population. It would be different, of course, if soldiers were conscripted instead. That’s just one example and as I said, I’m not a historian. Another example would be America. People always come up with silly reasons why we became the dominant world power. In my opinion the reason is simple: the people that immigrated here were risk takers, hard workers, and dreamers. Their kids would inherit those genes. So, I’d say culture begets genetics which begets culture…

ThrowawayTestr 4y ago

>Japan isn’t safe and harmonious because of racial makeup, it’s save and harmonious because of cultural inclinations. Perchance those things are related?

NeutralCrane 4y ago
You think that cultural values are influenced by race? I certainly don’t. Culture a construct, not genetically determined. Let me put it this way, if you waved a wand to make America as racially homogenous as Japan, it would still have all the same discord because it would still all be Americans, and American culture is narcissistic and sociopathic.
- decafninja 4y ago
  I’d say it’s more influenced by having common ground with your fellow citizens, and race is one potential factor. It’s why even in America you see racial/ethnic blocs and enclaves form. Hence the mentions of an “Asian voting bloc” or “Hispanic voting bloc”, during elections. Would we be hearing about such things if the US was monoracial? Even among many divisions, it would be one less divisive factor. (yes, I’m aware in the past things were carved up even among whites - such as Italians vs. Irish etc)
jerojero 4y ago
Unless you believe racially japanese people are significantly different to people from other asian countries. No. What really are the genetic basis to say Japan is a country that's markedly different from other asian populations? The people living in Japan have not lived there for long enough for their genetic to become too different from those of other asian countries. Culture on the other hand changes much more rapidly. Culture is the "genetics" of society, it is passed down from generation to generation and it mutates and these mutations are also hereditary... it's just much faster than biological processes. But ultimately, it seems very unlikely (and as far as I know, there's very little evidence that suggests this is the case) that race and genetics will have a huge effect on culture. Specially given that countries with similar genetic populations will have vastly different cultures.
- barry-cotter 4y ago
  > The people living in Japan have not lived there for long enough for their genetic to become too different from those of other asian countries. The Ainu’s skin tone is more like Caucasians than East Asians and the majority population, (Yamato?) are noticeably shorter than the Koreans to whom they are most closely related. There’s clearly been enough isolation, for long enough, for some differentiation. That’s not to say the distribution of traits doesn’t overlap. We’re not talking Sardinians and Swedes here, never mind Bantu and Basque.
  - decafninja 4y ago
    A lot of the pros and cons of Japanese society could apply to Korean society too. There is a lot of overlap. Seoul, like Tokyo, could also be described as a HNer’s dream city. Ultra safe, ultra clean, amazing transit. And like Tokyo, a city like Seoul could never exist in the US for similar reasons. (Then again, cars and public transit coexist somewhat harmoniously in Seoul, with cars being an aspirational item for many Koreans, so maybe it’s not a dream city for the banallcars HNer crowd)
- Auracle 4y ago
  I’m not sure why it’s so hard for people to believe that evolution can indeed affect our brains just like everything else. Keep in mind the culture of the various regions could easily cause fast natural (?) selection. I’m no expert on Japan’s history, and even less so on China/Korea/etc. I know enough that Japan had periods of pretty constant war, and that the young and the brash would essentially volunteer to be mercenaries. It seems to me that could pretty quickly weed out the most aggressive genes in a population. It would be different, of course, if soldiers were conscripted instead. That’s just one example and as I said, I’m not a historian. Another example would be America. People always come up with silly reasons why we became the dominant world power. In my opinion the reason is simple: the people that immigrated here were risk takers, hard workers, and dreamers. Their kids would inherit those genes. So, I’d say culture begets genetics which begets culture…