Isn't just sour grapes when people say that Japanese people lack creativity?

[Murloc]

japan is creative, just look at all those cartoons and weird porn stuff. I don't think anybody would say it.
People say that thing only when talking about the chinese because they try to copy the stuff that gets made there, often badly, but that can change at some point and everybody knows this.

 

[Anarchist420]

Which people, pray tell, say the Japanese lack creativity? I've certainly never heard anyone say that.

I have a friend who is really creative and intelligent and he said that Japanese people weren't creative... he was also an economic nationalist though, so that may be why he said that. And a guy at PCPer got pretty angry one time when I kept on asserting that Japanese people are creative. Just to name a few

Never ran across anyone that said that.

I have.

 

[Anarchist420]

People say that thing only when talking about the chinese because they try to copy the stuff that gets made there, often badly, but that can change at some point and everybody knows this.

I know that and I agree with it, but the people I'm talking about said all East asians are not creative.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I'm japanese so I have the answer.

We, Japanese, have never really invented anything on our own. We copied another nation's technology but improved upon it, creating either a new product or a revised version that just works better.

That is all.

 

[Slammy1]

They really do borrow heavily what they can in business in my experience. The 1st Japanese Pharmacopoeia I worked with I felt was just a blatant rip off of the USP. All of them are, truthfully (EP, BP, CP), but the JP took photocopying to a new level.

Nothing wrong with being good engineers, but you want something new you have to rely on the scientists.

 

[Dari]

Which people, pray tell, say the Japanese lack creativity? I've certainly never heard anyone say that.

I've heard people say it. Also heard it in Black Rain.

 

[Dari]

But it's the scale of it, that gave them a reputation for being copiers. They successfully copied centuries of technology in just a few decades. They went from the most backwards country in Asia to the most advanced by copying the West.

Which country are you talking about here? Japan? Backwards? You must be an idiot.

 

[Dari]

I'm japanese so I have the answer.

We, Japanese, have never really invented anything on our own. We copied another nation's technology but improved upon it, creating either a new product or a revised version that just works better.

That is all.

You don't speak for all Japanese people, moron.

 

[feralkid]

What kind of "copying" are we talking about here?

Not sure if serious.

Google "History of the 20th Century" and prepare to be surprised.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Not sure if serious.

Google "History of the 20th Century" and prepare to be surprised.

lolworthlessnonargument.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Are we really comparing the creative power of Japan to the "West?"

 

[bononos]

I've always thought that the Japanese were probably the most creative of any nation, but I wanted to know what everyone else thinks about it and why they think what they do.

And yes, the people who have said that didn't just say Asians, they specifically said Japanese people in addition to all other Asians.

Probably more often in the long past. Now it the Chinese who are uncreative copycats.

 

[BladeVenom]

Which country are you talking about here? Japan? Backwards? You must be an idiot.

Since you are ignorant of history, let me educate you. Japan was still using swords when almost every other country was using firearms. For centuries they would only trade with China and the Dutch. Until 1853 they were one of the most closed societies in the world. Commodore Perry with the black fleet forced Japan to open up with the black fleet, "gunboat diplomacy."

 

[Howard]

You don't speak for all Japanese people, moron.

This guy, I knew it was only a matter of time.

 

[dighn]

when it comes to creativity, the east pales in comparison to the west (it pains me to say this as a chinese). japan's got a lot of nice things, electronics, cars etc. but almost all of the original concepts came from the west. they are very, very good at improving things though.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

They even improve on their own history!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_history_textbook_controversies

 

[Soundmanred]

They've cornered the market of fucked up male domination underage fetishes.

 

[tcsenter]

Which people, pray tell, say the Japanese lack creativity? I've certainly never heard anyone say that.

I've heard it a hundred times, but then I'm from a UAW town (Flint, MI). Not just a UAW town, an entire UAW region, spanning from Ohio to Bay City, Michigan along the I-75 corridor.

Denigrating or marginalizing the Japanese has been around since WWII (probably before if you count "orientals" in general), but started to fade not too long after the war ended. It received something of a revival during the 70s and 80s, in response to the increase in Japanese imports that began to compete directly with categories of goods that American companies had once dominated; electronics, computer components, motorcycles, ATVs, etc. Anti-Japanese sentiment was particularly strong (and inflammatory) among the unionized manufacturing sectors (which included the motorcycle companies, commercial equipment, lawn mowers, generators, basically anything with an engine) who saw Japanese imports as a threat to their union hegemony, high-paying jobs with only a high school diploma (or not even that).

I STILL see it (once in a while) in comments from some friends and family I've reconnected with on Facebook.

 

[Schmide]

They created the pixelized hoo hoo?

 

[OverVolt]

Yep, white people are jealous that people of other races and nations managed to build their way up to first-world status through honest competition and hard labor. As a result, the white man has to create this romanticized notion of white discovery and history based on racist Europhilia combined with a dash of American jingoism to boot.

When white people say "Japanese" they really mean any prosperous (or rapidly rising) East-Asian ethnicity, btw.

EDIT: Of course, the very idea that there exists a creative "people" vs a population of creative individuals thriving within a favorable society is a racist and collectivist concept itself, invented by those that need to coattail the accomplishments of others to further their own racial goals.

Hmmm you might need help.