Oishinbo - Vol. 30 Ch. 279 - The Salmon Showdown!! (Part 3)

[MangaDex]

 

[Mugiwara325]

Ooh, I got to translate a rare stern Tanimura.
A Sternimura.
Disappointed dad Tanimura.

It's fun.

 

[Babymech2]

This was a weird arc all around. Even if you can put aside the cognitive dissonance of modern audiences who think raw salmon is an incredibly standard form of food, you have this supposed grand counterpoint from Kaibara that 'diners won't like the food, even if they actually enjoyed it, if I rant at them for ten minutes about parasites.' Sure, but diners wouldn't like any dish if somebody did a Ted-talk at them about how gross / dangerous the food could be. He could have done the same thing with the claybaked chicken from the tandoori chapter and gone into gross detail about what happens when the clay is impure, or the clay explodes, or the chicken ends up undercooked - so what? The point is that people trust their kitchen staff, and almost any food can be gross / dangerous if poorly prepared. This whole arc felt flimsy.

 

[d_a_renoir]

This was a weird arc all around. Even if you can put aside the cognitive dissonance of modern audiences who think raw salmon is an incredibly standard form of food, you have this supposed grand counterpoint from Kaibara that 'diners won't like the food, even if they actually enjoyed it, if I rant at them for ten minutes about parasites.' Sure, but diners wouldn't like any dish if somebody did a Ted-talk at them about how gross / dangerous the food could be. He could have done the same thing with the claybaked chicken from the tandoori chapter and gone into gross detail about what happens when the clay is impure, or the clay explodes, or the chicken ends up undercooked - so what? The point is that people trust their kitchen staff, and almost any food can be gross / dangerous if poorly prepared. This whole arc felt flimsy.

It's been like this for a while. At some point the author decided that Yuzan needs to be a Super Tough Enemy that Yamaoka can't beat, so he's been giving Yamaoka completely bullshit losses like this for a while. The only times Yamaoka can outwit Yuzan is in non-contest scenarios where Yamaoka knows where to get amazing ingredients that shocks Yuzan.

There was that one chapter with the specialised tomato farming, and then radishes/turnips for condiments. Yuzan didn't know about those.

Edit: I forgot to mention it in the previous reply, but in this case Yuzan's criticism is justified. What I feel to be stupid and forced is Yamaoka not revealing that he did thoroughly ensure the salmon is clean from the start. Or, as I said in the previous chapter, why not just use thawed ruibe? Since Yuzan acknowledge that ruibe is safe despite being raw because it's been frozen. Yamaoka, with all his knowledge, should have realised this. "I was too proud/too hasty and overlooked this" is a bit of a lame excuse for the loss after a while.

 

[Mugiwara325]

This was a weird arc all around. Even if you can put aside the cognitive dissonance of modern audiences who think raw salmon is an incredibly standard form of food, you have this supposed grand counterpoint from Kaibara that 'diners won't like the food, even if they actually enjoyed it, if I rant at them for ten minutes about parasites.' Sure, but diners wouldn't like any dish if somebody did a Ted-talk at them about how gross / dangerous the food could be. He could have done the same thing with the claybaked chicken from the tandoori chapter and gone into gross detail about what happens when the clay is impure, or the clay explodes, or the chicken ends up undercooked - so what? The point is that people trust their kitchen staff, and almost any food can be gross / dangerous if poorly prepared. This whole arc felt flimsy.

I think a big part of the weirdness is that the lesson on parasites feels completely unrelated to the character arc Yamaoka and Kurita were going through.

The story leads us to believe Yamaoka and Kurita will find some way to resolve their petty jealousy and communicate more openly. The showdown would've been a good device to illustrate what happens when they don't work together, but the nature of this loss does a poor job at convincing the reader that Kurita would've changed anything. Was she supposed to tell Yamaoka not to use raw salmon or something? She didn't realise the parasite problem herself until Kaibara pointed it out...

So instead, it feels like Kariya learned some things about parasites, wanted to teach us about them, and structured an opportunity to do so in the middle of an unrelated character arc. This will be his modus operandi for most stories moving forward, using bits of food trivia to fish for gotcha moments. It's a great way to generate content for an on and off audience, but I can see how it gets tiring for a weekly reader.

By the way, keep Kaibara's parasite lesson in mind as we continue going through the series. It's one of the big lessons that convinced me the author is more into creating gotcha moments than sincerely educating his readers.

 

[PA270]

This was a weird arc all around. Even if you can put aside the cognitive dissonance of modern audiences who think raw salmon is an incredibly standard form of food, you have this supposed grand counterpoint from Kaibara that 'diners won't like the food, even if they actually enjoyed it, if I rant at them for ten minutes about parasites.' Sure, but diners wouldn't like any dish if somebody did a Ted-talk at them about how gross / dangerous the food could be. He could have done the same thing with the claybaked chicken from the tandoori chapter and gone into gross detail about what happens when the clay is impure, or the clay explodes, or the chicken ends up undercooked - so what? The point is that people trust their kitchen staff, and almost any food can be gross / dangerous if poorly prepared. This whole arc felt flimsy.

I agree on the arc feeling flimsy, but in this case, Yuzan was justified. Yamaoka presented a raw salmon dish. Raw salmon was, at the time, a dish that was highly likely to have parasites in it that would not have been dealt with. He only revealed the precautions that the Ultimate Menu took after Yuzan told everyone, and Yuzan rightfully called him on not telling them beforehand to purposely create a sense of relief at the precautions rather than anxiety at the potential risk. Yes, any food can be deadly if prepared improperly. But it’s an entirely different thing to prepare a dish you know is potentially and inherently dangerous and purposefully withhold the lengths you went to mitigate the potential harm until well after they’d already eaten it.

 

[TakesatoKeita]

It's been like this for a while. At some point the author decided that Yuzan needs to be a Super Tough Enemy that Yamaoka can't beat, so he's been giving Yamaoka completely bullshit losses like this for a while. The only times Yamaoka can outwit Yuzan is in non-contest scenarios where Yamaoka knows where to get amazing ingredients that shocks Yuzan.

While I often compare Yuzan with Yujiro Hanma from Baki the Grappler anytime discussions about this manga's chapters that involve Yuzan (and his bullshit victories) pop up, I think I should also mention that while Yujiro is, AFAIK, the same case in Baki (being essentially the creator's Beloved Pet that must never lose, much like with Kariya with his Yuzan), it's still somewhat more forgivable since Baki is just so fucking over-the-top and dramatic for most of the time, so Yujiro being this Super Tough Enemy for most of the time is still palatable and entertaining to the readers.

Meanwhile, Oishinbo, being a much more realistic and down-to-earth series, only has the opposite effect, since it only makes Yuzan look like the poor man's version of Yuzan who lacks sufficient charisma and over-the-topness to back up his invincible reputation and win streak.

By the way, keep Kaibara's parasite lesson in mind as we continue going through the series. It's one of the big lessons that convinced me the author is more into creating gotcha moments than sincerely educating his readers.

About that "more into creating gotcha moments than sincerely educating his readers" part, it reminds me that when searching for Kariya's full name on Google, one of the more popular search results is "雁屋哲 左翼" or "Tetsu Kariya left-wing (politics)", and it kind of reveals to me just how much Kariya is, at least to a considerable amount of people in Japan, known as this leftist figure who preaches anything about criticizing Japan's past imperialism down to the destructive effects of modern food industries.

While I myself hold a lot of left-leaning political views and I sincerely respect his positions on Japan's imperialist past and history of aggression (I actually quite like Oishinbo chapters that discuss this topic), it's not so much when it comes to chapters like this with the more environmental and health topics, when it feels like Kariya is just trying to shoehorn things that he just learned to the point it's preachy instead of sincerely educative.

And after reading your remark, now I think I understand why many readers (both Japanese and foreigners) can and have criticized and bashed Kariya a lot, albeit for different reasons (criticized for being too leftist in Japan because of his active criticism of Imperial Japan; criticized for being too preachy and blockheaded in general by us, the non-Japanese readers).

 

[Mugiwara325]

About that "more into creating gotcha moments than sincerely educating his readers" part, it reminds me that when searching for Kariya's full name on Google, one of the more popular search results is "雁屋哲 左翼" or "Tetsu Kariya left-wing (politics)", and it kind of reveals to me just how much Kariya is, at least to a considerable amount of people in Japan, known as this leftist figure who preaches anything about criticizing Japan's past imperialism down to the destructive effects of modern food industries.

While I myself hold a lot of left-leaning political views and I sincerely respect his positions on Japan's imperialist past and history of aggression (I actually quite like Oishinbo chapters that discuss this topic), it's not so much when it comes to chapters like this with the more environmental and health topics, when it feels like Kariya is just trying to shoehorn things that he just learned to the point it's preachy instead of sincerely educative.

And after reading your remark, now I think I understand why many readers (both Japanese and foreigners) can and have criticized and bashed Kariya a lot, albeit for different reasons (criticized for being too leftist in Japan because of his active criticism of Imperial Japan; criticized for being too preachy and blockheaded in general by us, the non-Japanese readers).

Yup. Kariya is well-known for being among the most progressive of mangaka, at least in terms of what he's put in writing. He's very outspoken against the Japanese government, and often criticizes them in Oishinbo for being spineless, cowardly, and caring only about their image more than the good of the people.

He also exhibits a deep affection and sympathy for children, and constantly worries for their future in Japan since Japan's test-based education system feels too barbaric to him (It would be the main reason he moved to Australia, as proof of this point). The family unit is important to him, and he believes compassion and understanding are much greater virtues than the simple gratification of revenge or the perpetuation of the cycle of hatred. On these aspects, Kariya writes sincerely and honestly.

Then there are aspects where he parrots the progressive view, but his writings betray his naive understanding of them. The biggest example of this, to me, is his championing of women's rights. Really great on paper, and he does put it on paper often, but it doesn't quite come through in the way he writes his characters. In a similar vein is his views on racial harmony. He writes of it in a very idealistic way, but when his stories focus on these foreign cultures, he has a tendency of drumming up the exoticism as his way of showing appreciation. These are the times where I think he wants to do the right thing, he's just a bit misguided.

And then and then, there are times where he thinks he's being progressive, but he ends up writing sensationalist rhetoric built on emotion rather than fact. Pesticides and herbicides. Of course, there is a discussion to be had on the sometimes lacking implementation of government regulation, but this is one of several aspects where Kariya seemingly refuses to acknowledge any sort of advancement due entirely to his stubborn belief in something unfounded. Alas, you have to take the good with the bad.

There is so much to Kariya's person that can be gleamed through Oishinbo, but within the English-speaking community at least, he's always clowned on for being 'cancelled' over his Fukushima coverage. I feel like it's disrespectful for someone to speak so authoritatively on him when they haven't had the opportunity to even read his work, which is a big motivation for why I translate Oishinbo. I will always respect Kariya as a writer for being honest about what he writes, and I want to make sure that when people talk about him and his views, they can refer to something more decisive than just a Google translated JP Wikipedia page.

 

[d_a_renoir]

By the way, keep Kaibara's parasite lesson in mind as we continue going through the series. It's one of the big lessons that convinced me the author is more into creating gotcha moments than sincerely educating his readers.

Oh, bro is very sincere, alright. He is just a very poor storyteller and very ill-informed about the facts a lot of the time. Like, the reason why the story seems weird at times is because the plot is forced and is more just a framework to accommodate his annoying rants. He just doesn't know how to keep his own characters or plots consistent. You yourself have noted that sometimes characters' name and appearance change in later chapters.

So we also have stuff where the situation was already addressed in a previous chapter, but bro either forgot or really just wanted to rant about it again, so he makes it the subject of a new chapter. And to be fair, unlike us today, ongoing readers at the time would be having a hard time to back-check previous chapters.

Literally this man gets super angry about Windows and used a whole chapter in Oishinbo to yap about how bad Windows is and Macs are superior. In OIshinbo, not an op-ed. There's also other chapters were apparently he had a scuffle with some Australians, and had one of the characters in Oishinbo make a big long rant about how racist Australian people are and Japanese people are not safe to be in Australia.

He has "good intentions", sure, but doesn't mean he's doing the right thing since his views about the very real subjects are severely flawed. Like you said he championed women's rights, but is the "women's rights" he is in support of actually what women wanted or is it just his own (possibly incorrect/bad) interpretation of it?

I do be fair and support his writing when he happens to get things right, but I still think he deserved to be clowned. It's a case of "broken clock is still right twice a day" kind of thing. He's obnoxious and pretentious, but not always wrong. The Fukushima situation is exemplary of the kind of stuff he regularly says and writes, and knowing all the other stuff would not necessarily have made people feel better about it. I originally had been on his side on that, and I wished he would be able to continue writing, but reading all these Oishinbo chapters and the other articles written about him only made me turn from supporting him to be on the clowning side.

About that "more into creating gotcha moments than sincerely educating his readers" part, it reminds me that when searching for Kariya's full name on Google, one of the more popular search results is "雁屋哲 左翼" or "Tetsu Kariya left-wing (politics)", and it kind of reveals to me just how much Kariya is, at least to a considerable amount of people in Japan, known as this leftist figure who preaches anything about criticizing Japan's past imperialism down to the destructive effects of modern food industries.

Yeah, and it's one thing if he's just an author who inserts his annoying opinions in writing. An article reported that he was once invited to be a speaker somewhere, and he just ranted on and on and on about how terrible Fukuzawa Yukichi was and that he ruined Japan's future. Nobody there expected or wanted to hear that, but bro still did it anyway. No wonder so many people think he's insufferable even inside Japan. They just probably didn't have any excuse to condemn him outright until the nuclear stuff happened.

 

[d_a_renoir]

I agree on the arc feeling flimsy, but in this case, Yuzan was justified. Yamaoka presented a raw salmon dish. Raw salmon was, at the time, a dish that was highly likely to have parasites in it that would not have been dealt with. He only revealed the precautions that the Ultimate Menu took after Yuzan told everyone, and Yuzan rightfully called him on not telling them beforehand to purposely create a sense of relief at the precautions rather than anxiety at the potential risk. Yes, any food can be deadly if prepared improperly. But it’s an entirely different thing to prepare a dish you know is potentially and inherently dangerous and purposefully withhold the lengths you went to mitigate the potential harm until well after they’d already eaten it.

Yeah, I agree. Like, as a comparison, many non-Japanese people cry "But what about salmonella!!!" whenever they see tamagokake gohan in anime and manga because of the raw egg. Even if you are assured that it's safe a lot of people who are not used to this would not want to try it just out of that instinctive fear.

 

[Mugiwara325]

Literally this man gets super angry about Windows and used a whole chapter in Oishinbo to yap about how bad Windows is and Macs are superior. In OIshinbo, not an op-ed. There's also other chapters were apparently he had a scuffle with some Australians, and had one of the characters in Oishinbo make a big long rant about how racist Australian people are and Japanese people are not safe to be in Australia.

The rest of your comment is sound, and I do agree that Kariya gets very insufferable at times. But I do take issue with this particular paragraph because it illustrates the issue I mentioned of how Kariya is misrepresented because these chapters haven't been translated yet. I will give a short summary of these particular chapters to provide some context:

Spoiler: Yamaoka's Tirade on Macs Vs. Windows

Volume 59, Chapter 1: Multimedia and Food Culture.
In this chapter, Director Tanimura tasks Yamaoka and Kurita with preparing a webpage for the Ultimate Menu, capitalizing on the newly burgeoning World Wide Web. He directs them to the Tozai News Multimedia Department, and their Director, Fujimura. When Yamaoka first meets Fujimura, he notices he's using a Windows PC. This disappoints him, but he otherwise doesn't comment on it.

When Fujimura hears their request, he dismisses them, revealing that he's one of those in Tozai News who thinks the Ultimate Menu is a waste of time and money. He believes food is plain nourishment, and that there's no point comparing what's delicious or not. This agitates Yamaoka, and in typical Yamaoka fashion, he goads Fujimura, now bringing up his use of the Windows and arguing about it for about 2 pages. The rest of the chapter is about Yamaoka and Kurita finding a way to convince Fujimura that there is a point to their Ultimate Menu, and that there is a point to pursuing the best flavors in food.

It's tasteless for Kariya to be bashing Windows like this, I'll agree to that. But for some reason, this 2 page argument was blown up on the Internet to sound like Kariya used his manga to push a Mac agenda or something. To me, this argument reads more in line with Kariya's occasional forays into jazz or art or other hipster cultures. He likes a thing, and makes his main character like the same thing.

Spoiler: Racism in Australia

Volume 65, Chapter 1 (Parts 1 - 3): Australia in Peril.
These chapters took place in 1997, and were instigated largely by a shift in Australia's political climate during that time. The chapters specifically call out Pauline Hanson, and her rise to popularity as the leader of One Nation, a political party that pursued a return to the White Australia of before, the removal of Asian peoples from Australia, and the disenfranchisement of Aboriginal Australians.

Yamaoka and Sydney Branch Manager Tochinami (From the New Year with Lobster chapter) described these political and societal shifts in detail, right there in the chapter itself, yet commenters online act like Kariya is being 'disloyal' and a 'turncoat' when in fact, he's there in Australia experiencing this shift first-hand. Did they expect him to continue championing Australia after these changes? That would be hypocritical of him after all the things he criticized the Japanese government for.

For completion's sake, the chapters end with the characters believing in the citizens of Australia, that they will look past the bigotry of Pauline Hanson's politics and build a better Australia.

All that said, I don't blame you for believing all that before. I've browsed through the Japanese wiki on Oishinbo before, and these are some of the items listed under their 'Controversies' section, with very little context to back them up. This is why I want to translate the entire manga. It's fine to criticize Kariya. Even I will criticize Kariya when he deserves it. But I believe it's only fair to criticize when you have the full picture of what he believes, and not just summarized notes.

 

[TakesatoKeita]

Like you said he championed women's rights, but is the "women's rights" he is in support of actually what women wanted or is it just his own (possibly incorrect/bad) interpretation of it?

About this one, my personal headcanon is that because Kariya never exactly dabbled in or read actual literature in gender studies written by actual female writers and never really interacted with enough figures from Japan's women's rights groups at the time, his understanding of women's rights can be unfortunately shoddy at best or just unintentionally misogynistic at worst.

The latter doesn't even have to involve finding women's rights activists - probably just talking to more women would've helped him more in understanding women's rights and championing them in a better way in Oishinbo. But what do I know.

No wonder so many people think he's insufferable even inside Japan. They just probably didn't have any excuse to condemn him outright until the nuclear stuff happened.

I'm not sure how it was in the Japanese internet scene pre-2011, but after searching on Google again, it surprised me that lots of people to this day (actually in recent weeks/months/years) still talk shit about Kariya being insufferable, like in this link (posted 4 months ago, no less) about his tirades on Fukuzawa Yukichi and pretty much elsewhere (like this one).

I myself am torn about Fukuzawa's legacy (especially concerning his later embrace of nationalism and imperialism), but I think, from looking at "雁屋哲 左翼" as one of Google's most popular search suggestions about Kariya, it genuinely surprises me that lots of Japanese people also actually clown on him, whereas before I thought only the likes of us, readers of Oishinbo in MangaDex, who do so, because of just how often his insufferability comes into play in many chapters of Oishinbo.

 

[d_a_renoir]

I'm not sure how it was in the Japanese internet scene pre-2011, but after searching on Google again, it surprised me that lots of people to this day (actually in recent weeks/months/years) still talk shit about Kariya being insufferable, like in this link (posted 4 months ago, no less) about his tirades on Fukuzawa Yukichi and pretty much elsewhere (like this one).

I myself am torn about Fukuzawa's legacy (especially concerning his later embrace of nationalism and imperialism), but I think, from looking at "雁屋哲 左翼" as one of Google's most popular search suggestions about Kariya, it genuinely surprises me that lots of Japanese people also actually clown on him, whereas before I thought only the likes of us, readers of Oishinbo in MangaDex, who do so, because of just how often his insufferability comes into play in many chapters of Oishinbo.

Oh yeah, the article I mentioned had the writer being super polite because it's an official publication, but the way it criticised him for being unreasonable kinda has this vibe of "Oh my god, this rich old coot is out of touch with society and reality!!" Wish I could link it but I forgot to bookmark it. I'm sure in the personal/private blogs there'd be more honest tirades. Sadly a lot of popular Japanese blogging platforms have shut down.

Like aside from talking about his political opinions, it's been mentioned often in the comments here that what Kariya says about food stuff just makes no sense economically. All the "pure" traditional-made stuff are super expensive and there's limited supply of it, most people can't afford those. And you don't have to like Fukuzawa, but time and place is the issue. As in, IIRC the article writer implied that it wasn't what he was invited to speak about, and he just went off.

 

[d_a_renoir]

The rest of your comment is sound, and I do agree that Kariya gets very insufferable at times. But I do take issue with this particular paragraph because it illustrates the issue I mentioned of how Kariya is misrepresented because these chapters haven't been translated yet. I will give a short summary of these particular chapters to provide some context:

Spoiler: Yamaoka's Tirade on Macs Vs. Windows

Volume 59, Chapter 1: Multimedia and Food Culture.
In this chapter, Director Tanimura tasks Yamaoka and Kurita with preparing a webpage for the Ultimate Menu, capitalizing on the newly burgeoning World Wide Web. He directs them to the Tozai News Multimedia Department, and their Director, Fujimura. When Yamaoka first meets Fujimura, he notices he's using a Windows PC. This disappoints him, but he otherwise doesn't comment on it.

When Fujimura hears their request, he dismisses them, revealing that he's one of those in Tozai News who thinks the Ultimate Menu is a waste of time and money. He believes food is plain nourishment, and that there's no point comparing what's delicious or not. This agitates Yamaoka, and in typical Yamaoka fashion, he goads Fujimura, now bringing up his use of the Windows and arguing about it for about 2 pages. The rest of the chapter is about Yamaoka and Kurita finding a way to convince Fujimura that there is a point to their Ultimate Menu, and that there is a point to pursuing the best flavors in food.

It's tasteless for Kariya to be bashing Windows like this, I'll agree to that. But for some reason, this 2 page argument was blown up on the Internet to sound like Kariya used his manga to push a Mac agenda or something. To me, this argument reads more in line with Kariya's occasional forays into jazz or art or other hipster cultures. He likes a thing, and makes his main character like the same thing.

Spoiler: Racism in Australia

Volume 65, Chapter 1 (Parts 1 - 3): Australia in Peril.
These chapters took place in 1997, and were instigated largely by a shift in Australia's political climate during that time. The chapters specifically call out Pauline Hanson, and her rise to popularity as the leader of One Nation, a political party that pursued a return to the White Australia of before, the removal of Asian peoples from Australia, and the disenfranchisement of Aboriginal Australians.

Yamaoka and Sydney Branch Manager Tochinami (From the New Year with Lobster chapter) described these political and societal shifts in detail, right there in the chapter itself, yet commenters online act like Kariya is being 'disloyal' and a 'turncoat' when in fact, he's there in Australia experiencing this shift first-hand. Did they expect him to continue championing Australia after these changes? That would be hypocritical of him after all the things he criticized the Japanese government for.

For completion's sake, the chapters end with the characters believing in the citizens of Australia, that they will look past the bigotry of Pauline Hanson's politics and build a better Australia.

All that said, I don't blame you for believing all that before. I've browsed through the Japanese wiki on Oishinbo before, and these are some of the items listed under their 'Controversies' section, with very little context to back them up. This is why I want to translate the entire manga. It's fine to criticize Kariya. Even I will criticize Kariya when he deserves it. But I believe it's only fair to criticize when you have the full picture of what he believes, and not just summarized notes.

Excuse you, I would appreciate that you not make assumptions about me here

I admit that I haven't checked the racism part because I forgot the chapter number so I couldn't check, but I did look at the Windows VS Mac.

The dude with the computer in the ends changed his computer to a Mac, saying something to the effect of "yeah so the windows was just and old thing that just happens to be here, my preference is actually Macs too". To which Yamaoka responded with "Wow drinking the fresh river water cured your stupidity". Very clearly he's saying that "putting up with that Windows all this time is stupid". I consider this 100% a Mac agenda.

You may think that the tirade is just a happenstance, but I actually think the Ultimate Menu stuff is the "cover/camouflage" and the thing that he actually wanted to say is the "Windows suck" part. He's just trying to be covert in sneaking it in. There's no need to put that many digs against Windows OS like that in the chapter otherwise. It's valid if you interpret it differently, but please don't assume I'm talking complete nonsense without checking just because I'm much harsher on Kariya than you.

 

[Mugiwara325]

Excuse you, I would appreciate that you not make assumptions about me here

I admit that I haven't checked the racism part because I forgot the chapter number so I couldn't check, but I did look at the Windows VS Mac.

The dude with the computer in the ends changed his computer to a Mac, saying something to the effect of "yeah so the windows was just and old thing that just happens to be here, my preference is actually Macs too". To which Yamaoka responded with "Wow drinking the fresh river water cured your stupidity". Very clearly he's saying that "putting up with that Windows all this time is stupid". I consider this 100% a Mac agenda.

You may think that the tirade is just a happenstance, but I actually think the Ultimate Menu stuff is the "cover/camouflage" and the thing that he actually wanted to say is the "Windows suck" part. He's just trying to be covert in sneaking it in. There's no need to put that many digs against Windows OS like that in the chapter otherwise. It's valid if you interpret it differently, but please don't assume I'm talking complete nonsense without checking just because I'm much harsher on Kariya than you.

Very well then. I appear to have made some assumptions about you, and for that I apologise. I will leave my post up because I do still think it is important for other people reading to have at least more context for these controversies that Kariya has embroiled himself in.

 

[d_a_renoir]

Very well then. I appear to have made some assumptions about you, and for that I apologise. I will leave my post up because I do still think it is important for other people reading to have at least more context for these controversies that Kariya has embroiled himself in.

Sure, it would be better for people to actually see the context for themselves.

I should clarify a bit on he Australia part, since I didn't detail what the problem was before. I was not criticising him for suddenly turning around and hating on Australia. My criticism was that Kariya was being accused of having someone say "Japanese people shouldn't go to Australia" (implying even temporary visits like tourism is bad). But yeah, I haven't seen the actual chapter, maybe that's false accusation or the situation IRL was actually so bad the comment maybe was warranted.

 

[Mugiwara325]

Sure, it would be better for people to actually see the context for themselves.

I should clarify a bit on he Australia part, since I didn't detail what the problem was before. I was not criticising him for suddenly turning around and hating on Australia. My criticism was that Kariya was being accused of having someone say "Japanese people shouldn't go to Australia" (implying even temporary visits like tourism is bad). But yeah, I haven't seen the actual chapter, maybe that's false accusation or the situation IRL was actually so bad the comment maybe was warranted.

Ah, I could clarify that part actually, hopefully with more delicate language.

Spoiler: Japanese People's Shouldn't Go to Australia?

Kariya did make a character say this in the chapter. The Korean character An, fiance to another character in the chapter, mentions that racism against Asians is on the rise in Australia, and that Australia is no longer a safe destination (they were discussing honeymoon destinations for another couple). This is what prompted Yamaoka to bring up Pauline Hanson and her rising popularity.

So yes, that claim is true. I find it makes sense in context and ties into the worries being felt by Japan at the time. But that could also be my optimism speaking. Who's to say.

It might also be worth mentioning that they end the story by resolving to visit Australia anyway. Trusting that it won't be as dangerous as was previously anticipated.

 

[Babymech2]

Then there are aspects where he parrots the progressive view, but his writings betray his naive understanding of them. ... In a similar vein is his views on racial harmony.

Why, whatever do you mean?