[Francis Buck]

For what it's worth, this definitely isn't just Puritanical Westerners being gobsmacked at foreign cultures. Japan absolutely has a more open cultural response to sexuality than many other nations (including Eastern ones), and they also have a greater abundance of sexual substitutes (be it porn, dolls, or, you know, anal smell bottles), because people in Japan are literally having less sex. It's part of the issue behind their decreasing birth rates. See: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex

I'm more curious about the historical reasons that led up to their current state though.

[Madness]

Japan got World-slapped. Hard.

Their entire culture recoiled and now they step lightly in all things, except reclaiming a Japanese preeminence that they never really had.

[locke]

so why the perspective that the japanese is the deviant approach?  And why is there an elevated culture that enjoys the accrual of benefits of being labeled normal?

Who makes the binary and why the reduction into convenient mental slots of thesis antithesis synthesis.

[The Great Scald]

Japan got World-slapped. Hard.

If their descent into hentai-porn was the outcome of the Hiroshima bombing, Bakker would love to see the results of the Fukushima radiation a century from now.

[Wilshire]

so why the perspective that the japanese is the deviant approach?  And why is there an elevated culture that enjoys the accrual of benefits of being labeled normal?

Who makes the binary and why the reduction into convenient mental slots of thesis antithesis synthesis.

Most likely because thats just how people think?
Its not some great mystery that people in general put themselves at the center. I doubt there is a large japanese presence here currently, so the majority of people here see that culture as other.

The idea that there is an objective "elevated culture that enjoys the accrual of benefits of being labeled normal" is absurd and you know it, and no one ever claimed that there was. Few people put themselves at the bottom and look in wonder and amazement to new things, thinking "wow my culture is so alien and strange". It doesn't make sense, and neither does that question.

Who makes the binary and why the reduction into convenient mental slots of thesis antithesis synthesis.

Everyone, including yourself, makes it. No one can be more or less right since its all opinion. But then we would all sit here in silence and in perfect harmony if there was some objective morality high ground cultural perfection that everyone agreed on and aspired to be like.
Which makes the choice to talk about and acknowledge our differences, or never say anything and pretend like the world all thinks alike. I choose to speak 

[Madness]

1) so why the perspective that the japanese is the deviant approach?  2) And why is there an elevated culture that enjoys the accrual of benefits of being labeled normal?

3) Who makes the binary and 4) why the reduction into convenient mental slots of thesis antithesis synthesis.

All great questions, lockesnow.

1) Personally, I wouldn't necessarily describe the Japanese as deviant; that seems an unnecessary label for this discussion (though, perhaps, people experience more of a cultural disconnect because of the differences in extremes).
2) Hmm... wouldn't the normal 'yardstick' be defined by whichever culture holds the cultural high ground?
3) Citizens of the Western Empire have a specific predilection for dualism?
4) The convenient mental slots were created specifically to have a shorthand for those types of distinctions; it's like an operational definition (where something is only distinguished as it needs to be in order to be measured).

Japan got World-slapped. Hard.

If their descent into hentai-porn was the outcome of the Hiroshima bombing, Bakker would love to see the results of the Fukushima radiation a century from now.

If I could distill my final thought on this now it would be that, I basically see Japan as a funhouse mirror of the Western Empire. Bomb dropped. They embraced the culture and corporatism of their conquerors and in doing so became some sort of disturbed parody (if they do still retain a rich historical culture).

I doubt there is a large japanese presence here currently, so the majority of people here see that culture as other.

I voice my minority dissent. Japan is still very much a part of my life, both in shaping who I've become through exposure and for the fact that my Mom still lives there and my younger sister returns yearly.

Few people put themselves at the bottom and look in wonder and amazement to new things, thinking "wow my culture is so alien and strange". It doesn't make sense, and neither does that question.

And this perspective seems to require exposure.

Who makes the binary and why the reduction into convenient mental slots of thesis antithesis synthesis.

Everyone, including yourself, makes it. No one can be more or less right since its all opinion. But then we would all sit here in silence and in perfect harmony if there was some objective morality high ground cultural perfection that everyone agreed on and aspired to be like.
Which makes the choice to talk about and acknowledge our differences, or never say anything and pretend like the world all thinks alike. I choose to speak 

+1. So say we all?

[Wilshire]

+1. So say we all?

Of course. If anyone didn't, we wouldn't ever hear about it.

[Madness]

Sweet, sweet dissent.

[The Great Scald]

3) Citizens of the Western Empire have a specific predilection for dualism?

Which human being doesn't have a "me and them" perspective?

Come on, you're smarter than this college-leftist "shallow dumb Westerners and virtuous Others" bullshit.

[Duskweaver]

If I could distill my final thought on this now it would be that, I basically see Japan as a funhouse mirror of the Western Empire. Bomb dropped. They embraced the culture and corporatism of their conquerors and in doing so became some sort of disturbed parody (if they do still retain a rich historical culture).

Inasmuch as Japan was 'World-slapped', I'd say it occurred in 1853 rather than 1945. Their emulation of the West (rapid industrialisation, modernisation of the military, openness to foreign trade, the idea that real nations build empires...) started long before WW2. Arguably, it was their 'disturbed parody' of Western imperialism that got them nuked in the first place.

I'm not sure one can really tie such big changes in national worldview to a single historical event, though. There were incidents all through the 19th century suggesting that hiding from the world wasn't going to work for much longer.

[Madness]

Lol. First off. Yay! Welcome back, even if it's just for a post. I'm glad you've survived this journey through the trackless steppe.

Perry, 100%. Perhaps, the ratio of acceleration (perhaps analogous - if you're familiar and only in a relative sense - of McKenna's exponential novelty assertions) after the Bomb makes it especially apparent in my eyes but I don't actually have a personal perspective of living that history.

I'm not sure one can really tie such big changes in national worldview to a single historical event, though.

I wouldn't even try, friend. Just offering the description of my grip on the elephant .

[Duskweaver]

Lol. First off. Yay! Welcome back, even if it's just for a post. I'm glad you've survived this journey through the trackless steppe.

Thanks! I can't promise to post very often. Or, for that matter, very coherently. But I'm back at least until Christmas.

Perhaps, the ratio of acceleration ... after the Bomb makes it especially apparent in my eyes but I don't actually have a personal perspective of living that history.

Well, me neither. I think that feeling of ever-accelerating change post-WW2 is pretty much global, though, not anything specific to Japan.

I wouldn't even try, friend. Just offering the description of my grip on the elephant .

Well, give me that and hold this bit of it instead. It keeps dribbling on my hand.

[Madness]

3) Citizens of the Western Empire have a specific predilection for dualism?

Which human being doesn't have a "me and them" perspective?

Come on, you're smarter than this college-leftist "shallow dumb Westerners and virtuous Others" bullshit.

Sorry, Auriga.

I got half-way through jamming out and making breakfast for the house and I remembered that I hadn't and had wanted to respond to you.

Lol, I have to disappoint sometime but no, I don't think I'm so simple as to fall under that type of distinction.

lockesnow asked who makes the binary and I offered - in so many words - that it arises, possibly, from the influence of dualism in Western philosophy as opposed to alternatives found in Asiatic philosophies (which are much more tolerant of paradox).

Which human being doesn't have a "me and them" perspective?

There are number of developmental theories, which incorporate egocentricism into the lower rungs of conscious development, relegating any "us and them" perspectives to immature (in the sense of growth) stages of thought?

Does it result in a gestalt shift in perception? I don't know yet, I'm still an immature larva - but I definitely try and cultivate a perspective of acceptance and openness in approaching all novelty (including difference in personal form and appearance). If I have "us and them" type thoughts, I make a point to try and remind myself of that bias so, at least,  I might work towards affecting a change in my habitual perspective and attitudes.

Lol. First off. Yay! Welcome back, even if it's just for a post. I'm glad you've survived this journey through the trackless steppe.

Thanks! I can't promise to post very often. Or, for that matter, very coherently. But I'm back at least until Christmas.

Journey as you will. Strength on it. I will enjoy this correspondance of cause that is your presence while it happens.

Perhaps, the ratio of acceleration ... after the Bomb makes it especially apparent in my eyes but I don't actually have a personal perspective of living that history.

Well, me neither. I think that feeling of ever-accelerating change post-WW2 is pretty much global, though, not anything specific to Japan.

You'd probably be right? It is an interesting circumstance to ponder.

I wouldn't even try, friend. Just offering the description of my grip on the elephant .

Well, give me that and hold this bit of it instead. It keeps dribbling on my hand.

Eewww .

[jamesA01]

What about the american attitude to sex? The constant metaphors mixing up penises with guns. The vicious humiliation of women. The fact they talk out loud during sex. Their fucking porn! Jesus fucking christ. Too much for my introverted european soul. Every major movie or celebrity seems to get a porn version. Violent aggressive stuff. Circumcision being the norm. The power dynamic porn where its all about what people will do for money. In american porn its usually people saying 'you like that?' as if we're all so sinful and its so shameful. I guess this stems from the puritanism.

British porn seems to be a bit more cheery. The men seem a bit more submissive when talking to the women. There's a lot of 'oh what are you going to do?".

I'll stop now.

[Phallus Pendulus]

The vicious humiliation of women.

If this misogynist theme bothers you about American porn, you'd probably have a heart attack from Japanese porn.