Why do the Japanese have an inferiority complex?

Guest123456   Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:31 pm GMT
Japan has one of the highest standards of living in the world, yet many Japanese I've spoken to seem to have this idea that they live in a poor, backward country compared to Western Europe and North America, and many young Japanese ultimately aspire to move to these regions, perceiving their own country to be back-ward, antiquated, and in some cases even poor. Many Japanese youth even aspire to undertake their education in Western countries, for some reason viewing their own education system as being inferior.

Ultimately many Japanese who do move to the West realise their ideas couldn't be more wrong and move back to Japan.

Why is this? Do Japanese just have an inferiority complex?
.   Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:35 pm GMT
It's the eld-old saga: Life is always greener on the other side.

,Isn't true though.
Baldewin   Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:35 pm GMT
In Japan there's also a conformity which forced many of them (often artists) to leave their place, because their society impedes creativity. Strange though, I always thought Japanese were very nationalistic and that the idea that they're 'different' and 'more developed' is big in their society.
Franco   Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:43 pm GMT
Precissely it's inferiority complex which leads to extreme nationalism. Think about Nazi Germany for example. A more recent example: religious nationalism in Muslim countries is due to the sentiment that the Muslims can't compete against the Western Christian nations.
.   Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:12 pm GMT
<<Precissely it's inferiority complex which leads to extreme nationalism. Think about Nazi Germany for example. A more recent example: religious nationalism in Muslim countries is due to the sentiment that the Muslims can't compete against the Western Christian nations. >>

I think inferiority can lead to extreme nationalism, but many things can pull out extreme nationalism. This is perhaps just one catalyst.
cnalbisham   Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:54 pm GMT
<<Why is this? Do Japanese just have an inferiority complex? >>

Maybe it's just a case of the grass looking greener across the pond.
PARISIEN   Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:24 am GMT
<< many Japanese I've spoken to seem to have this idea that they live in a poor, backward country compared to Western Europe and North America, and many young Japanese ultimately aspire to move to these regions, perceiving their own country to be back-ward, antiquated, and in some cases even poor. >>

-- This is just an image, inspired by Japanese humble politeness. But does this image match reality? I'd like to know.

Let's check opposite examples.
UK and France are said to be overly jingoistic and arrogant. But looking at their MSM, newspapers (tabloids included) and readers' comments, it becomes obvious that nowhere in the world self-criticism is that sharp. Mainstream opinion in France as well as in Britain is that everything is better abroad.

Maybe only Belgium has a similar culture of self-disparaging.
PARISIEN   Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:33 am GMT
Oh, and I forgot: the Japanese may have an inferiority complex after all, because of how they look. They wish they weren't Asians, here's the problem.

Latin America has a similar problem. The blonde obsession of Mexican and Brazilian TV has become a stereotype of deep ingrained cultural cringe.
Xie   Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:51 am GMT
>>Japan has one of the highest standards of living in the world, yet many Japanese I've spoken to seem to have this idea that they live in a poor, backward country compared to Western Europe and North America, and many young Japanese ultimately aspire to move to these regions, perceiving their own country to be back-ward, antiquated, and in some cases even poor. Many Japanese youth even aspire to undertake their education in Western countries, for some reason viewing their own education system as being inferior.

Ultimately many Japanese who do move to the West realise their ideas couldn't be more wrong and move back to Japan.

Why is this? Do Japanese just have an inferiority complex? <<

You can substitute both Hong Kong and China for Japan. Hong Kong is one of the most developed and richest economies in the world but has the worst income disparity, even more so than China riddled with great income disparity and largely unreported/suppressed media exposure about social injustices.

Young Hong Kongers also aspire to move to any western country, although they do know things are getting bad in the US and UK. I also aspire to undertake my education in US/UK, exactly because Hong Kongers AND Hong Kong-background academic authorities and employers view their own education system as being inferior to the "real" English-speaking countries and other western countries.

>>Oh, and I forgot: the Japanese may have an inferiority complex after all, because of how they look. They wish they weren't Asians, here's the problem.

Latin America has a similar problem. The blonde obsession of Mexican and Brazilian TV has become a stereotype of deep ingrained cultural cringe. <<

People also have an inferiority complex about their own look, and complain about Chinese girls, Japanese girls, all kinds of Asian young women, etc, throwing themselves at white guys/black guys/any western guys/any European guys, etc.

People don't have a problem with blondes, but blondes are also most valued as a prototypical beauty of European extraction. Maybe they're lucky, the Chinese I came across fantasize about white girls, Japanese girls, their fellow Chinese girls (especially northern ones). "Typical" latinas are also valued (olive skin, dark hair). I can see the least people interested in black girls/other darker-skinned ones, but nonetheless they do like especially those African models from the US. (Some do suspect their possible European extraction)
Ren   Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:14 pm GMT
<<Latin America has a similar problem. The blonde obsession of Mexican and Brazilian TV has become a stereotype of deep ingrained cultural cringe.

I dont see that here in Brazil, perhaps long ago it was that way but today you see actors of all colors on TV.
Penetra   Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:29 pm GMT
PARISIEN has it half-right: the problem in Latin America is that we look up to the "ideal" of what our economic/social/former-colonial elites look like (or their paler European neighbors) and we're part European anyways. Japan is a different beast, since their elites do not loook European. You wouldn't know it, judging from the look of manga chararacters, though. IMHO, the Japanese are just weird, and not only for that.
Steak 'n' Chips   Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:52 pm GMT
I'd say if anything the Japanese have a superiority complex rather than inferiority. They are very insular. They spent hundreds of years excluding foreigners, they assigned a whole syllabary to segregate foreign words (katanana), they have more recently employed exclusive foreign trade policies (you buy our cars, we're not buying your stuff though). Perhaps it's that almost anti-cosmopolitan attitude that drives some of them to look for what they think might be greener pastures?

I like the Japanese generally, but they might benefit from chilling out.
Little Tadpole   Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:18 pm GMT
Steak 'n' Chips: "I'd say if anything the Japanese have a superiority complex rather than inferiority. "

"Superiority complex" does not exist. It is just another name for "inferiority complex". It's the same thing.

As for Japanese moving out and in, guess what? A friend that I know came to the US, and then back to Japan, and then wants to come back to US again.

As for studying in the US, most Japanese actually study at home, unlike, saying, Korean/Chinese/Indian, who come to study in US en masse. You can get a decent internationally-competitive Ph.D. in Japan, which is not true in Korea/China/India.

Each country has it own strong and weak points. US is clearly much better for freedom of development of ideas. It's also great if you want to have a more individualized life. Americans raise their kids to be equals. Some kids actually call their parents just by their first names. This is problem for Asians (and that includes Indians) who are more used to traditional family structures, retirement and elderly care is just different here. Healthcare is also a problem in the US. So, despite some of the advantages of US, many Asians that study in the US actually do choose to go back, even if they already have work permit here. But with globalization, what happens is East Asia is also trending towards small families, job opportunities away from hometown, individualized retirement. In a sense, acquiring some of the problems of US. Retirement and elderly care is a ticking time bomb in China, and every Chinese knows that.

Franco: "Precissely it's inferiority complex which leads to extreme nationalism."

Well said. That applies to today's China, too. Interestingly Indians seem to be much more cool headed. Of course, individual cases vary, but the overall difference is clear. I don't see Indians in the US hating US and talking about taking down US, which happens to many Chinese, who receive a US salary and live here.
Inferioritycomplex...   Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:24 pm GMT
Extreme nationalism is also very present in the US - does that mean Americans have an inferiority complex too?
Guest+   Sat Mar 06, 2010 3:14 pm GMT
Of course Americans have an inferiority complwx. They have no history.