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My Korean friends used to tell me that Seoul is the new Tokyo; didn’t totally buy it then, but I was wrong. There is something static and backwards looking about Japan, not vital. Also, the aesthetics of Japan are subtle, refined... less right now. The loud and counter-western
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Japan is culturally defined competing obsessions with tradition and progress. This often takes the form of putting old parts of culture in metaphorical boxes on shelves, like tea ceremony incidentally requiring that you know 16th century Japanese home economics
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Japan doesn't have a historic national identity, so they've been making it up as they go along since Tokugawa-era. Most of the things you associate with 'Japan-ness' are post-hoc rationalizations. There's not even consensus on the origin of the name '日本'.
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