>>56589053Japan used to be known as Yamato 大和, meaning "Great Harmony". The kanji 和 refers to peace, unity, and all things Japanese like Japanese-style clothing.
The word freedom in Japanese is jiyuu 自由, which is "tied to/because of the self". The core kanji here is 自, meaning self. I thought it was interesting that freedom relates to the self rather than being a more amorphous concept that could apply to large groups. But this association exists in English too. I've seen people assume that the choice that represents freedom should be the choice that prioritizes the self. But Japan does harmony pretty well overall, because it's in the interest of society as a whole rather than the government. It exists for the people and not the other way around. Of course there are bad people like in any society, but there's such a purity with Japanese people sometimes that you begin to feel like we're just really jaded from life here.
>>56589189Absolutely, Japanese consumerism is insane. The amount of product made just keeps coming, and there are always useless things like acrylic stands that don't seem to hold much purpose. But living there, I also came to understand the thought process a lot more and why things are the way they are, why matters of preservation aren't as important there as they are here, things like that. I would still rather live there than here though. I don't think a day has gone by where I felt life will ever get better here. I just want to trust people and society again.
