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Title should be "Love letter to Japan". Bit one sided. Honestly, I don't travel much as a tourist but I'm a serial immigrant and romanticising countries has got

by Paul_S 13y ago

Title should be "Love letter to Japan". Bit one sided. Honestly, I don't travel much as a tourist but I'm a serial immigrant and romanticising countries has gotten old pretty fast. The only generalisation about people living in some country you can make is the language they are likely to speak and sometimes the religion they believe but things like being honest, hard working, self-sacrificing is rather far fetched and either naive (romanticising) or dishonest (advertising).

barry-cotter 13y ago
Aye, making cultural generalisations is as absurd as saying Swedes are inclined to be taller than Siclians or that men are generally stronger than women. It's almost as ridiculous as thinking that there's a difference in how much trust you can put in the assurances of a Japanese and Chinese company in their home countries. Just like all people, all cultures are exactly the same.
- Paul_S 13y ago
  I think you missed the point because you list physical appearance and other factors for which there exists statistical data proving it. I'm not saying statistics don't exist, I'm saying the author's generalisations go too far. There are statistics about corruption you can compare between Japan and China. What you can't say is that Chinese are liars and Japanese are honourable. "Just like all people, all cultures are exactly the same." It's hard to read through your stream of sarcasm but I think you're building a strawman there. I'm not saying everyone is the same, I'm saying everyone is different and you get nice people in every country just like you can meet utter arseholes anywhere. And really, that's the bit that matters because their height or skin colour and other things you can get handy stats for are largely irrelevant.
  - barry-cotter 13y ago
    I think you missed the point because you're confusing certainty with probability. I'm not saying there are no short Swedes, I'm saying if you bet money on a random Swede being taller than a random Sicilian in the long run you'll make money. There are masses of anecdotes and stereotypes based on experience that you can use to make generalisations that are true on average. You can't say all Chinese are liars and Japanese are honourable but if you work under those assumptions you will do better in each country, on average than with the opposite assumptions. This is the entire reason guanxi/relationships are such a big deal in China. If you assume honesty and competence in your dealings with randomly selected Chinese companies you'll get cheated, shorted or have a late delivery real fast. Once you negotiate a personal relationship where this is not the case you maintain it. Then, once that person leaves that company you revert to the assumption of dishonesty and incompetence unleee the company has an excellent reputation. "The only generalisation about people living in some country you can make is the language they are likely to speak and sometimes the religion they believe but things like being honest, hard working, self-sacrificing is rather far fetched and either naive (romanticising) or dishonest (advertising)." It's hard to read through your liberal cant but I think you're building a strawman here. I'm not saying every person in a given nation is the same I'm saying there exist statistically valid generalisations about different nations. While personal experience quickly swamps and renders irrelevant stereotypes/statistical generalisations in long term relationships in short term ones treating people as representatives of their group gives useful information. Not all Swiss Germans are more polite, formal and distant than German Germans but if you bet that way you'll usually win. And really, deliberately throwing away information makes you someone shutting themselves off from the truth. And really, that's what matters because soon we will all be dead and the truth is all there really is.

by Paul_S 13y ago

barry-cotter 13y ago

Aye, making cultural generalisations is as absurd as saying Swedes are inclined to be taller than Siclians or that men are generally stronger than women. It's almost as ridiculous as thinking that there's a difference in how much trust you can put in the assurances of a Japanese and Chinese company in their home countries. Just like all people, all cultures are exactly the same.

Paul_S 13y ago
I think you missed the point because you list physical appearance and other factors for which there exists statistical data proving it. I'm not saying statistics don't exist, I'm saying the author's generalisations go too far. There are statistics about corruption you can compare between Japan and China. What you can't say is that Chinese are liars and Japanese are honourable. "Just like all people, all cultures are exactly the same." It's hard to read through your stream of sarcasm but I think you're building a strawman there. I'm not saying everyone is the same, I'm saying everyone is different and you get nice people in every country just like you can meet utter arseholes anywhere. And really, that's the bit that matters because their height or skin colour and other things you can get handy stats for are largely irrelevant.
- barry-cotter 13y ago
  I think you missed the point because you're confusing certainty with probability. I'm not saying there are no short Swedes, I'm saying if you bet money on a random Swede being taller than a random Sicilian in the long run you'll make money. There are masses of anecdotes and stereotypes based on experience that you can use to make generalisations that are true on average. You can't say all Chinese are liars and Japanese are honourable but if you work under those assumptions you will do better in each country, on average than with the opposite assumptions. This is the entire reason guanxi/relationships are such a big deal in China. If you assume honesty and competence in your dealings with randomly selected Chinese companies you'll get cheated, shorted or have a late delivery real fast. Once you negotiate a personal relationship where this is not the case you maintain it. Then, once that person leaves that company you revert to the assumption of dishonesty and incompetence unleee the company has an excellent reputation. "The only generalisation about people living in some country you can make is the language they are likely to speak and sometimes the religion they believe but things like being honest, hard working, self-sacrificing is rather far fetched and either naive (romanticising) or dishonest (advertising)." It's hard to read through your liberal cant but I think you're building a strawman here. I'm not saying every person in a given nation is the same I'm saying there exist statistically valid generalisations about different nations. While personal experience quickly swamps and renders irrelevant stereotypes/statistical generalisations in long term relationships in short term ones treating people as representatives of their group gives useful information. Not all Swiss Germans are more polite, formal and distant than German Germans but if you bet that way you'll usually win. And really, deliberately throwing away information makes you someone shutting themselves off from the truth. And really, that's what matters because soon we will all be dead and the truth is all there really is.