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Jagdflieger

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.....believing them to be a super-competent juggernaut without weakness that will invade Indonesia.
After or before Taiwan, Japan, S-Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore and Australia?
 

FPXAllen

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It's not my government :) - I am a German, but I enjoy my life very much in China and S.E.Asia.
This is not directly related, but your words here piqued my interests.

You see, I have a long-time dream to be able to travel and spend some years living in Japan. Not as a tourist, and certainly not as a starry-eyed 'weeb' thinking that Japan is such a wonderland where everyone dress and talk like anime characters. I want to live and work from there for a while in order to write a book which is something that I've been keeping inside for the last fifteen years or so.

However, I've got the impression that it's generally 'easier' for Westerners to stay and work in East Asian countries (or in other parts of Asia in general) due to - sorry to say this - their skin tone, compared to an average South or Southeast Asian guy especially around my age. In short, Chinese, South Koreans, and Japanese are more receptive to a 'white' European (or American, Canadian, British etc) than to others with darker skin tone (once again, this is the impression I've got after consuming many media about Japan including Youtube videos etc).

I'm not saying that I'll have a second thought if or when I've got the chance and means to realize my dream, I was just wondering whether there's any truth to the impression that I've got there, or whether it's completely false. So if you don't mind, can you please share your thoughts about it here?
 

Jagdflieger

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This is not directly related, but your words here piqued my interests.

You see, I have a long-time dream to be able to travel and spend some years living in Japan. Not as a tourist, and certainly not as a starry-eyed 'weeb' thinking that Japan is such a wonderland where everyone dress and talk like anime characters. I want to live and work from there for a while in order to write a book which is something that I've been keeping inside for the last fifteen years or so.
Japan IMO is also a great and interesting country. They are very picky about their language (especially being pronounced the correct way) But for a Indonesian, Malay or German it is actually very easy to pick up, since their Romanji (Kanji letters replaced with alphabet) are pronounced exactly as one would pronounce it in Bahasa or German. "Oh hajo gosoi mas" - you just pronounce as in Indonesian (not in English) - later the better accentuation will come in automatically.

They are extremely "over-polite" during your first encounters - once you really get to know them they are just as funny or relaxed as you and me. (they also can be quite rough) and they do have some strange social habits :) but keep in mind - it's a very expensive country.
However, I've got the impression that it's generally 'easier' for Westerners to stay and work in East Asian countries (or in other parts of Asia in general) due to - sorry to say this - their skin tone, compared to an average South or Southeast Asian guy especially around my age. In short, Chinese, South Koreans, and Japanese are more receptive to a 'white' European (or American, Canadian, British etc) than to others with darker skin tone (once again, this is the impression I've got after consuming many media about Japan including Youtube videos etc).
I would say that is changing very much in China, especially in the past 5 years due to many finding out that westerners in general aren't superior or smarter. They just had a 100 years more time to develop things gradually. Otherwise it's business - e.g. so called foreign (private schools), Local schools up to grade 8 are for free - there are average and extremely good public schools.

Private primary schools cost at average around $20-25,000 a year!!! (and they are fully booked) -nuts. In my compound lives a Nigerian (teacher) - his mother-tongue is actually English but due to his nationality (not the skin color) - actually a lot of black Americans working as teachers in China, those private schools won't hire him. Also due to the fact of the parents paying loads of money and as such expect/insisting onto a natural English speaker, or at least a European.

There are a lot of funding programs between China and S.E.Asian countries. And due to political issues regarding "Western democracies" China is focusing more and more towards it's immediate neighbors. So IMO anyone who can write and speak Chinese has a great and fair opportunity in China. You would be amazed to see how many African's and Middle-East folk, are working and studying in China - and the % of those fellows speaking Chinese is way higher then that of Europeans.
I'm not saying that I'll have a second thought if or when I've got the chance and means to realize my dream, I was just wondering whether there's any truth to the impression that I've got there, or whether it's completely false. So if you don't mind, can you please share your thoughts about it here?
Every foreigner that I have come across says/said the same thing - Wow, this country is way different then one expects it to be, due to all these media reports painting China very negatively and forwarding a picture as if China would be a third world country.
 

Jagdflieger

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I want to live and work from there for a while in order to write a book which is something that I've been keeping inside for the last fifteen years or so.
So sorry, I had totally forgotten in my last reply to ask you, what your book might be, or is going to be about.
 

FPXAllen

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So sorry, I had totally forgotten in my last reply to ask you, what your book might be, or is going to be about.
Don't be. I decided not to write about it in the first place because I felt that it will be like blurting out my own secret project. In fact, I was going to send you a PM as a reply, but then I thought "oh well, whatever...".

Anyway, this book project is actually a part of a 'soul-searching' journey I've been wanting to do for the last fifteen years or so. I'm planning it to be a photo-documentary/photographic-essay book in a similar spirit to W. Eugene Smith's "Minamata". Of course, the book won't be about environmental/industrial pollution issues but about Japan's socio-cultural aspects, especially regarding native Japanese Muslims.

I'm fully aware that it will be a herculean challenge considering that they're minorities among minorities - not to mention that the Japanese are a very privacy-minded society - so I don't know how well the book is going to be. Also, considering that my Japanese language is still almost non-existent, I will likely need to stay there for at least three years, both to learn Japanese by immersion as well as to do quite a bit of traveling to any cities and towns where they reside.

Some of my friends here suggested me to ask major Islamic organizations here to sponsor my book but I decided not to because I want the book to be as objective as possible. As such, I haven't got anywhere because as you said before, Japan is a very expensive country. Add the current uncertainty and stricter rules due to the pandemic as well as its impact on the Japanese society in general, I don't even know if and when this project can really start.

There's actually another book project, but it's only second in priority because it will be about travel records and personal experiences in Japan.
 

Jagdflieger

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Wow - "native Japanese Muslims" - now that is a very interesting topic - would never have occurred to me honestly.

But that reminds me of a Japanese gentlemen i had met in the early 90'ies in Brunei. He stemmed from an influential Japanese family and was regarded very highly within the Sultan of Brunei's court. During one of our meetings he told me about the Japanese and his families involvement regarding the efforts to create a pan-Asian anti-western alliance during the late 30's and early 40's involving Brunei respectively it's local population incl. Royal family members. Some 1000 or more Bruneian people were invited to Japan and some decided to stay in Japan after the war, and many returning to Brunei holding influential positions.
So might be worth a try to hit onto Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah or his son Prince Abdul Malik's wallet to "sponsor" some research-work. ;)
Anyway I will keep my thumbs pressed and will look forward to such a truly worthy book. (y)

BTW:
 

FPXAllen

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Wow - "native Japanese Muslims" - now that is a very interesting topic - would never have occurred to me honestly.
It started around 2004-2005 when I was still researching materials for a different book project. It was about Dutch-East Indies' history between the mid-1930s to 1942 or just before the Japan invasion - a time period that's still not discussed much here, or so it seemed to me. I've actually started to take a Dutch language course to prepare myself to do the research in the Netherlands, and have already planned to take a Japanese course to do the same in Japan.

Unfortunately, due to health reasons, I had to abandon all those plans and came up with this one during the recovery that took me several years to get back on track. It began with my concern after seeing many people in Indonesia seem to start developing a mindset not too different from the kind that gave rise to ultranationalism and even fascism whether it's based on race, religion, politics, and so on. I believe you are already well aware of how it went if it goes unchecked.

As such, as a part of the "majority" in this country, I feel that I really need to go out there somewhere away from this country to see and experience how others live. How a developed country treats and protects its minorities or in this case, its Muslim citizens. I also want to learn how they integrate into their own society and culture - something that's not working too well in many parts of Europe when it comes to integrating their Muslim immigrants there.

Admittedly, although I still identify myself as a Muslim, I don't see myself as religious according to the common standards so this probably came as shock for some. Therefore while most Muslims here are eager to go to Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage, I really don't have the same inclination to go there.

Ah yes. There's actually a Japanese man living in Tokyo (IIRC) who actually came to Islam in Brunei. He's one of few Japanese Muslims whose names that I already know and whom I want to meet someday when I can finally start this project.

During one of our meetings he told me about the Japanese and his families involvement regarding the efforts to create a pan-Asian anti-western alliance during the late 30's and early 40's involving Brunei respectively it's local population incl. Royal family members.
The 3A's propaganda?

We're pretty familiar with it ourselves:

So might be worth a try to hit onto Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah or his son Prince Abdul Malik's wallet to "sponsor" some research-work. ;)
Ahaha, yeah that could probably work. 😁

But still, if I ever have some individuals or companies as my sponsors, I don't want to just live off of their money while I'm in Japan. My plan includes finding a job there to support myself while working on this project. Hopefully, I can keep my current profession too because while it's not paying that much but I do love my current job.

Anyway I will keep my thumbs pressed and will look forward to such a truly worthy book. (y)
Thank you. But first, it's still has to start someday, though 😁

Again, thank you. I've already known some of the points on that website, especially regarding the population but I will still read it more carefully after this. Also, while I'm not surprised that there are already some books about this topic, I believe that there are still many other things that went unnoticed.
 

Jagdflieger

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...I believe that there are still many other things that went unnoticed.....

You bet - I am sure of it. - so get started :)
And take care for your health - sounds like you really took a hit
 

Jagdflieger

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You can have lots of reservist, but if they're not properly equipped and trained, then they're just meat shield. Imagine sending reservist with glorified WW2 era weapons like bamboo runcing, no body protection and no proper training.
True, true and the same applies towards Ukraine - with their added disadvantage of having far less tanks, APC/AFV, aircraft, GGM & AGM missiles and artillery.
 
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