ASAKUSA Underground > Japan as a third world country
When did we get to believe that Japan is in the first world?
When did the Japanese get to behave like someone from the first world?
The first world used to be somewhere else, somewhere in the other side of the ocean. Now the third world has become somewhere far away, where the Japanese government sends financial aids, where streets are dirty and one cannot find a Washlet.
Oh, my god! They use paper to clean their bottom! The third world is not the place for the first world people to live in.
To tell you the truth, the Japanese are tired, very tired of pretending to be the first world citizens.
Some time ago someone from the first world said, "It is surprising. I thought Japan was in the first world, but look at these electric lines and telephone poles in the sky. It is like in the third world!"
Some industrious Japanese officials found it embarrassing and started getting rid of those lines in the sky. It took us some time because of its bureaucracy, but finally we see some results these days. It is nice to see the sky without lines, isn't it?
At the same time, we see the paradoxical box office success of "3-chome no Yuhi, the Sunset in the 3rd district". It is about the nostalgia of the 50's, when we saw tiny patches of the blue sky through electric lines and polluted fumes. Japan was a third world country.
What is the third world? The first world is countries with industries. The second world is countries with natural resources. The third world is countries with neither, at least in definition.
One wonders why the Japanese look back with sweet memories to those days when the country was poor. It is because, though a third world country has neither industries nor natural resources, the people there have humane ties. Having worked so hard that some Japanese died of working too much, what did we get? High technologies and robots? Are they good enough to fill the gap between people?
Let's take off the mask of the first world. In reality, Japan is still a third world country, luckily. We don't have to work like our first world fathers. We can enjoy our lives like a third world man sleeping in a hammock on a tropical beach.
Go to the back streets of Asakusa. You can still see some third world bits like 50 years ago.
It is not too late.
Please let us know what you think. ASAKUSA Underground editorship will sincerely appreciate your effort if you correct our inaccuracy and poor English. Please contact us.
Japan as a third world country
When did we get to believe that Japan is in the first world?When did the Japanese get to behave like someone from the first world?
The first world used to be somewhere else, somewhere in the other side of the ocean. Now the third world has become somewhere far away, where the Japanese government sends financial aids, where streets are dirty and one cannot find a Washlet.
Oh, my god! They use paper to clean their bottom! The third world is not the place for the first world people to live in.
To tell you the truth, the Japanese are tired, very tired of pretending to be the first world citizens.
Some time ago someone from the first world said, "It is surprising. I thought Japan was in the first world, but look at these electric lines and telephone poles in the sky. It is like in the third world!"
Some industrious Japanese officials found it embarrassing and started getting rid of those lines in the sky. It took us some time because of its bureaucracy, but finally we see some results these days. It is nice to see the sky without lines, isn't it?
At the same time, we see the paradoxical box office success of "3-chome no Yuhi, the Sunset in the 3rd district". It is about the nostalgia of the 50's, when we saw tiny patches of the blue sky through electric lines and polluted fumes. Japan was a third world country.
What is the third world? The first world is countries with industries. The second world is countries with natural resources. The third world is countries with neither, at least in definition.
One wonders why the Japanese look back with sweet memories to those days when the country was poor. It is because, though a third world country has neither industries nor natural resources, the people there have humane ties. Having worked so hard that some Japanese died of working too much, what did we get? High technologies and robots? Are they good enough to fill the gap between people?
Let's take off the mask of the first world. In reality, Japan is still a third world country, luckily. We don't have to work like our first world fathers. We can enjoy our lives like a third world man sleeping in a hammock on a tropical beach.
Go to the back streets of Asakusa. You can still see some third world bits like 50 years ago.
It is not too late.
Please let us know what you think. ASAKUSA Underground editorship will sincerely appreciate your effort if you correct our inaccuracy and poor English. Please contact us.