Yeah....the police are our friends, protecting us from the violence of the mob on the king's orders, right up until they're expelling us from the country or (more recently) dragging us out into the woods and shooting us in the head on the king's orders. And in America, I know a bunch of people who thought we were safe (if we were white), that we had made it, until pretty recently.
I still remember the stories I read about survivors of the Shoah who went to Israel and wept when they crossed the border because they were on Jewish land, guarded by a Jewish army--the first in two millennia.
It's interesting how common the image of tranquil, passive Japan is, because it's true that that's the case now, but Japan had a radical student movement in the 60s and 70s like so many other places did, with the same protests and riots and building occupations. It hasn't been peaceful and tranquil for long--nationalists driving by in black vans shouting from loudspeakers as the image of radicalism in Japan is a very recent development.
I did see an anti-nuclear demonstration in Kyōto, after the Tōhoku Earthquake.
no subject
I still remember the stories I read about survivors of the Shoah who went to Israel and wept when they crossed the border because they were on Jewish land, guarded by a Jewish army--the first in two millennia.
It's interesting how common the image of tranquil, passive Japan is, because it's true that that's the case now, but Japan had a radical student movement in the 60s and 70s like so many other places did, with the same protests and riots and building occupations. It hasn't been peaceful and tranquil for long--nationalists driving by in black vans shouting from loudspeakers as the image of radicalism in Japan is a very recent development.
I did see an anti-nuclear demonstration in Kyōto, after the Tōhoku Earthquake.