Against Japanism
Confronting the Japanese colonizer in your head
As a Korean radical, I am regularly horrified by the persistence of Japanism—a fandom for Japan shaped by colonialism and soft power—among Western-educated people. By “Western-educated,” I not only include non-white people, but also Asians from countries colonized by Japan. This fascination runs rampant not only in mainstream culture but also in progressive and even radical spaces. What saddens me most is that the people most often influenced by the “Cool Japan” initiative—which whitewashes Japanese crimes against humanity—are not the stereotypical white conservative “weeb,” but people whose own histories were scarred by colonialism. For that reason, I wish everyone I knew would listen to even a few episodes of Against Japanism and confront the Japanese colonizer in their head.
Against Japanism is a podcast hosted by a Japanese radical that, in their own words, “destabilizes Japanese history from the Left.” It explores concepts like Japanism itself, as well as the state-sponsored “Cool Japan” initiative. If Orientalism explains why Westerners imagine villains as people and places “east” of the West, Japanism explains the flipside: why Japan gets the pass, why even the Left exempts Japan from critique, and why this blind spot is one more extension of colonial violence.
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Thanks for the recommendation. Will definitely find some time to explore this
I finally liberated myself from the ironically pro-Japan school of ATA Taekwondo. Koreans are fully capable of developing their own system without borrowing from fascist Japanese martial arts. You can say more on this than I can. My View: ATA is a soulless, corporate school that befits a settler-colony like the USA, which glorifies Japan and evidently the Japanese occupation of Korea. They preach obedience, but it doesn’t make sense; it’s a fake martial art designed to condition followers. Worse still, they program students to believe they don’t truly know Taekwondo until they reach black belt; only then are they told that “the real training begins,” with endless degrees of black belt beyond. It’s a manufactured hierarchy that keeps people paying, not a path to mastery. And, they were just disrespectful assholes. I earned my PhD, but it was always "Mr. James." Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be deferential to them. I reckon the Japanese occupier would approve of something so asinine. Lastly, first heard about you from the Anti-Empire Project. Pardon! It took me while to subscribe. Also, just returned from journalism in South Lebanon, may take me a week or two get physically and mentally recovered from that. Then I'll happily start lessons. Thanks.