Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Reply-To: rw@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Russil Wvong)

ajh@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Alan Hu) writes:
>The danger, IMHO, is that as fiction, it has no accountability, yet
>many people appear to be taking it as fact.  Recently, someone posted
>a huge (~1500 line) diatribe called "JapanYes" about how those evil
>sneaky Japanese are taking over our beloved America.  The afterword
>cited Crichton's "Rising Sun" as a reference.  That's pretty scary in my book.

Yes, I remember this.  Clare posted it here last October; it was originally
cross-posted to alt.politics.elections, alt.politics.perot, alt.politics.bush,
and alt.politics.clinton.  Here's the afterword, which calls for a boycott
of Japanese imports.  (Rikiya, you probably want to skip this. :-)

The trouble is, this kind of boycott doesn't address the underlying
structural problems -- the national deficit, problems with the political
system, lack of resources to support American military commitments, problems
with industry, the cost and weaknesses of the public education and health
systems, etc.  And the accompanying rhetoric which blames the Japanese for
America's problems, describing the current situation as an "economic war",
is likely to increase hostility towards Asian Americans.

-- Russil

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The above file is available from FTP site: monu6.cc.monash.edu.au in
directory: pub/nihongo, as JAPANYES.

"A Japan that Can say No" by Akio Morita (SONY CEO) is there as JAPANYES

The PBS FRONTLINE transcript about the Matsushita TV Company is there as:
MATSUSHITA.PBS


     I'd welcome any comments you have about the article. It looked
relevant to some of our problems today and seemed worthwhile to post.

     You see, Japan's government and companies have organized to fight an
economic war against us which we are losing badly. What the ordinary
Japanese people allow their government and companies to do is not
acceptable. Outright discrimination against foreigners and treating women
as 'non-people' is also not tolerable in the modern world. The Japanese
government and industries have treated the America that helped them so
much after World War II with utter contempt and insolence. We had accepted
their closed market and opened ours to them so they could rebuild their
country and become full members of the peaceful world. Instead, their
government and their industries chose to use this generosity as weapons
against us in order to destroy our companies, our jobs, and our national
strength.

     I used to buy lots of Japanese products, probably for the same
reasons you might now. Not everyone can go to Japan, so others may not
know the full consequences of their decisions like you do now. Telling
them is important. It just takes understanding and thoughtful explanation
for others to understand. If you know an effective way to get this message
out to people, then it would be wise to do so, don't wait for someone else
to do it for you as by then, it may be too late.

     America belongs to you and you have to do something for it once in a
while. This is one of those times. If you have questions, please ask. Use
this network and fax machines to organize yourselves to get this message
out. Hang up copies of this article and others in lounges, or on the
windshields of Japanese cars. Try to start an awareness newsgroup on the
internet. These are all things which can be done.

     If you are a student, you probably realize much more than your
parents do that your standard of living is likely to be a considerably
lower than theirs. You are much more likely to have trouble finding a good
job upon graduation than they ever had. That is how this problem affects
you directly. As a result, you may wish to tell your friends and organize
student groups to get the word out about this problem. If you don't act,
it's you (and your kids someday) who will suffer the most as a result of
all this, so it's up to you.

     In the meantime, one very good way to get people aware of the topic
is to get them a copy of Rising Sun (by Michael Crichton) as a birthday or
Christmas present. This is a very good factually based fiction book on the
subject. All parts about Japanese business in the book are true and are
backed up with a bibliography at the end. This book is a #1 best seller
and is by the same author who wrote "Andromeda Strain", "Great Train
Robbery" and other very famous and very good books/movies. I'm not sure of
the publisher. It is a very good fiction/murder mystery book and is loaded
with lots and lots of facts about this issue which are not exaggerated. It
will convert the most ardent 'America Basher'. A movie version of this
book is being made and should be out next year though it may not be as
complete and factual as the book.

     If what you read in the articles above really disturbs you, you may
wish to tell or fax your friends about this article or others which you
find at the above FTP site or elsewhere. You could avoid Japanese products
and expect the same from your friends and associates. If a salesman drives
up to you in a Japanese car, you may wish to tell him you expect him not
to visit you next time in one. Plenty of other countries who aren't out to
destroy us make fine automobiles.

     Remember that a problem like this can be fought, one American at a
time. Remember to be thoughtful and loyal to your fellow Americans and
treat them as you would like to be treated. Exclusive self-centered
thinking will only make problems in America worse than they are. That is
the true lesson of the 1980's. Self centeredness doesn't work in the long
run. If we were as loyal to each other as the Japanese are to each other,
we wouldn't be in the economic and social mess we are now. Remember that,
and expect it from your family, friends and associates. If you don't get
what you expect, say so.

     Hopefully in the future, the economic war will be called off and our
two countries will live peacefully and with co-operation. I look forward
to that day.

[Apparently posted by a student at the University of Chicago.]
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american