Getting Shot on the Frying Pan - Vol. 3 Ch. 16 - Speaking of Japan...

[MangaDex]

 

[talihem]

I usually don't mind the mangaka's slights but come on.

 

[xyzzy]

I usually don't mind the mangaka's slights but come on.

I mean, it’s mentioned in the following page that Japan does also have that same issue. It’s just magnified in America due to a complex list of factors that would take five paragraphs to explain here.

Anyway, good for the author to delve into this uncomfortable but important topic. Now for the “anime fans” to come out of the woodwork to say it’s too “woke” or “political”…

 

[talihem]

I mean, it’s mentioned in the following page that Japan does also have that same issue.

Yes, after saying racism is something inconceivable to the Japanese, he goes on to contradict that completely absurd thing he just said. No, wait, I forgot, he takes a pit-stop in the mid-19th century first.

Anyway, good for the author to delve into this uncomfortable but important topic.

Except he didn't "delve into" it. He maybe dipped a toe into it, writing a half-baked thesis you could get from a stoned freshman and jamming it into an anthology chapter. And then he proceeds to assume the worst about somebody he meets because of somebody he didn't meet, and that person proceeded to give him the best burger ever. While I appreciate that he at least has the integrity to feel bad about his own prejudice, apparently the universe slamming him in the face with a metaphor wasn't enough to make him take a step back and think about what he wanted to say about this very complex topic.

Now for the “anime fans” to come out of the woodwork to say it’s too “woke” or “political”…

I don't care that it's political, I care that it's careless. The guy's a talented writer and has shown some serious insight in previous chapters, but he gave this less thought than he did a camel shitting in the desert.

 

[Claresilver47]

Jun's attempt to explain the difference to Japanese people is funny to me for some reason... as American I'm more than willing to be blunt about it and just say racists are much more upfront about it in America and will just say it while in Japan it's often unsaid and implied through actions. Jun is just not a very confrontational person which is very stereotypical of Japanese people and I feel like this is a sort of cultural difference that he didn't understand because he himself doesn't realize how xenophobic the rest of Japan actually is.
Hell in that previous chapter where he wondered if David noticed that he didn't like eating just snacks and water, it's a 50/50 chance that David did the same thing with another friend or his wife asked him what they ate and and they gave him shit for it. As a fellow American I totally get that oblivious lapse when laser focused on personal interests but to Jun who is Japanese and used to being more considerate he didn't even consider the possibility that David literally didn't notice until someone called him out

 

[ShamelessScumbag]

I usually don't mind the mangaka's slights but come on.

This is actually a skill issue on my part. I'll need to figure out a better way to properly convey the original bubble which conveys three core ideas:
Racism plays a big part in America
It's to a degree that Japan can't fathom
That it's all, "scary and sad" for a lack of better words atm

All while, you know, adhering to the actual words used. It's not supposed to come across dismissive of Japan's own racism. That said, everything after is genuinely kinda half-baked but I don't exactly hold it against him. It's a travel manga limited to 18-25 pages a month where each chapter needs to be self-contained and the original audience base being very behind on racism/classism discourse even by anime fan standards. The series is not exactly a full substitute for No Reservations or Parts Unknown, let alone a proper piece on an examination of a country's inner workings.

 

[talihem]

This is actually a skill issue on my part. I'll need to figure out a better way to properly convey the original bubble which conveys three core ideas:
Racism plays a big part in America
It's to a degree that Japan can't fathom
That it's all, "scary and sad" for a lack of better words atm

All while, you know, adhering to the actual words used. It's not supposed to come across dismissive of Japan's own racism. That said, everything after is genuinely kinda half-baked but I don't exactly hold it against him. It's a travel manga limited to 18-25 pages a month where each chapter needs to be self-contained and the original audience base being very behind on racism/classism discourse even by anime fan standards. The series is not exactly a full substitute for No Reservations or Parts Unknown, let alone a proper piece on an examination of a country's inner workings.

I appreciate the forthrightness and clarification and getting people to check out Medalist.
That said, I disagree with you about not being able to hold it against him. I acknowledge that he can't give an accurate picture of such a huge topic in this story, but what bothers me is that he has repeatedly shown himself able to spin great scenes out of his experiences, but here he just gives a lecture based on what he heard second-hand. The discrimination he has personally experienced, I want to read about that, I want to see his thoughts about those instances. If he can get something a fraction as powerful as the kendo guy out of it, I'd buy the tank.

 

[malagigi_encantatore]

You gotta realize that’s CRAZY direct for a Japanese writer

 

[Babymech2]

I thought he just meant - with the explanation that followed - that Japanese people are racist, but Americans are racist with guns. Which would be fair.

 

[deenzfan12]

What is it with airplane congee? One of the worst meals of my life was also airplane congee, although in my case it was a seaweed one that tasted and looked like it was made in a lab.