From the daily archives:

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Why the idea of an “Asian century” is steeped in exaggeration

February 9, 2010

in Get the Facts

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Someone has taken a chill pill and examined whether the idea of an “Asian century” has any bearings to reality. The way those arguments go, not so much.  It turns out that advantages accumulated over centuries will not disappear over night, or even decades, for that matter. As much as the Asian economies have shocked and awed the rest of the world in their speed of growth, a rapidly aging population, wealth disparity, income inequality, political turmoil, and the lack of any kind of “Asian consensus” will make the emergence of a united Asian block highly unlikely. Whether measured by military prowess, education…

Taking Japan’s kawaii cultural phenomenon a step further

February 9, 2010

in Lost in Translation

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Excerpt: A while ago, I wrote about Japan’s export of soft power through its kawaii culture, spear-headed by Hello Kitty, and now complete with culture ambassadors wearing Lolita uniforms. The same thread was picked up by Wilson Center, whom viewed the phenomenon through more cynical lenses.  Is Japan’s obsession with cuteness merely a reflection of an increasingly infantilized and emasculated culture? A clue as to what’s really going on may lie in the career of artist Takashi Mura­kami, an Andy ­Warhol–­like figure who has played a big role in taking cute global. In 2005 he curated an exhibit in New York titled “Little…

Testing the limit of cultural relativity

February 9, 2010

in Lost in Translation

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Most of us recognize the existence of cultural relativism, right?  Like, one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter, someone’s religious devotion can be construed as adherence to superstition and voodooism, etc etc.  There are cultural gaps and differences that we simply just cannot imagine buying into.  Like, ever. Or, can we? Consider this situation Roger Cohen was recently confronted with.  The practice of dog-eating, in China. As it happened, our meal came shortly before the eruption of a furious online debate in China over a proposed “anti-animal maltreatment” law that would outlaw the eating and selling of dog and cat meat, making it…