The State of the US and it’s relations with Japan / World

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima recently made the statement “the U.S.-Japan relationship has never been better” after seeing Tom Cruise throw the opening pitch in the Japanese baseball world series. He is not the only person to have made these claims lately. I however, beg to differ. While I don’t claim to be a political or economic expert (And probably never will be) I have serious doubts about this claim. Now I am basing statements on my own experiences in my home state of Oregon and Living back and forth between there and Japan over a period of about the last 10 years. It seems to me that The U.S. enjoyed better relations with Japan during the later 80’s and early half of the 90’s. I feel that the deterioration of those ties has slowly taken place ever since. I wonder sometimes what the people making these claims are basing there decisions on. It can’t be tourism, because while I don’t have any hard evidence it sure seems to me that there were a heck of a lot more tourists in Oregon and the US during the above stated time. Oregon shared excellent relations with Japan. For as small of a city as we are you couldn’t go hardly anywhere without seeing tons of Japanese tourists…they loved Oregon. There was even a drama created by fuji Television when I was younger called “From Oregon with Love” it starred Toshiro Mifune and was about a young Japanese boy that came to live with his Nisei uncle in eastern Oregon and the hardships and joys he experienced. It also gave a health boost to the Japanese tourism sector. Why isn’t anything like this being done now days? It just seems like the US was more on the ball and outward reaching at that time. Our schools were packed with exchange students, the Coach, Tiffany and other high end fashion stores sprung up as a result of this tourism boom. Direct flights connecting Tokyo as well as Fukuoka (I believe Nagoya as well) were established during this era. The tax dollars earned practically built the new Portland International Airport Terminal. There was a whole wing devoted to Japanese Tourism which even boasted a small ramen shop (wasn’t great but hey it was a damn good start). Then everything just went to hell in a hand basket almost over night. Tourism started declining Exchange student ratios started dropping and before long Delta cancelled its direct flights which just killed Oregon. Yeah, there are those that say it was because of the economy or it was because most Japanese tourists in Oregon were just stop overs on the flight to Chicago and when Boeing came out with the new jet that could fly directly to Chicago it killed the Oregon flights. I think this was all a bunch of crap. The people who made those claims don’t know the Japanese. I’ll tell you why the Japanese stopped coming. One of the main reasons was that the damn immigration bureau was deporting high numbers of Japanese back home and denying entry on a large scale. I wasn’t just the Japanese too. One Chinese female banker coming to Oregon on a business trip was strip searched and jailed (she later sued and won a decent size settlement), Groups of Japanese business men were denied entry on several occasions, My own wife was sent back to Japan once for having a spelling error on her Passport regardless of the proof supplied that she was married to an American citizen. Once an 11 (I think it was 11) year old girl from China was jailed for several months because of a visa problem. I can still vividly remember during my first couple stays here in Japan having talked to some random people and hearing that they were sent home from Oregon. One time I was getting a haircut and the barber asked where I was from and I said Oregon, he then replied….”oh…I was sent home once from Oregon” it was pretty bad. Since, Portland has been through a couple of Immigration officials but nothing has changed, in fact with the U.S.‘s new homeland security program has made it much worse in my opinion. I think the problem is even deeper than that. I think it lies within the average Americans attitude and culture of disrespect and self-centeredness. I hate to say just as much as anyone else but man us Americans really need to step back and look at ourselves as a culture and makes some adjustments. American foreign travelers and ex-pats will be the first to tell you how our hard earned image, respect and rights abroad are being tarnished due to the U.S.’s blindness to these issues. I can’t remember ever running into such resistance and distrust ever. Needless to say I have only been at this for 10 years but still. Almost every other industrialized western nation has reciprocal working holiday visas with Japan, but not the U.S. In fact, I’ve heard recently that there are some plans under way to change the 90 day visa waiver program that the U.S. has had for quite some time with Japan by limiting the length to only 30 days. Americans can no longer switch our driver’s licenses over to Japanese ones anymore, but England, Canada, Australia and many other countries can. Is it really happening? Are America’s Neo Con’s taking over and sinking us into an Isolationist type mentality? What is happening to the Country I grew up in and nationality that I proudly carried around with me? The U.S. has most favored trade status with countries can’t we have most favored immigration status too. We need to take better care of our friends. Japanese citizens rarely ever cause trouble and are great tourists and I miss the feeling of friendship that seemed so much more apparent with Japan and other countries in the not so distant past. America is becoming an ugly place. Horrible obesity problems and record diabetes problems, millions without healthcare, a dwindling school system that is a joke, losses of civil rights and dwindling separation between church and state. What does this tell the rest of the world? If we won’t even take care of our own how in the hell can we convince others that we are going to help them and why would they trust us. I see light at the end of the tunnel but, man it sure seems far away and I fear things are going to get much worse before they get better. I am afraid of the thought of going back to the U.S. to live. I don’t want to work at Wal-Mart or Costco I don’t want to eat food that is unhealthy and I sure don’t want my child to go to school in the society as it now exists . I don’t think Kerry winning the election is the save all either. I think it is going to take a total revamping of American values and culture, reaching out to the international community. We need to cooperate with our allied nations better and stop strong arming everyone. Hopefully, things will change for the better, but the next 5-10 years will be extremly significant in the U.S. I just hope I will be able to see the country as I knew it and that I love earn back the respect that past Americans have worked so hard to create.

Comments

[The Man]

Ahmen Brother!

I remember those days...

You forgot to mention the nickname for Portland... "DePortland".... I think it comes down to racist views and jealousy of Japanese wealth held by the immigration people. When I was flying back there and transfered in Seattle...a cop came up to me in the airport before I went through immigration and ask for my passport in a military type way...looked through it...and asked me where I was...."Korea" I said..."What were you doing over there" he asked... "Studying" I said... "How much longer are you going to be over there and when are you going to come back" he asked in a suspicious way...."In a year or two" I hesitantly/guiltily said.... Then he "let me go".... Did I miss something ? Or is it illigal for Americans to travel/live/study/work outside of America? Particularly in a country that America is "protecting"?? Should I feel guilty for doing this? Well, I kind of did after talking to this cop. Talk about 1984!!! This is some scary shit! God Save Our Country!!!

The Man

[Lance (the other one)]

I can see where you're coming from, but .. I think it's not as bad as it seems. Hasn't America always had problems? (BTW, I think as the baby boomers age, they will re-hippify and get active in politics.)

However, I agree that the immigration system needs a thorough overhaul. And immigrants (the ones who know this fact the best) are not going to be the ones to mention it, for fear of it looking bad. If anyone knows of a lobby group (or something) in favor of reworking the immigration system into something more professional, efficient, and courteous (while maintaining security & such) please post info!!

[DoitsuJin]

Hi,
First of all: Congratulations to you and your wife!

I think Americas biggest problem is the attitude: "We don't care about your opinion and do what we want!" toward the rest of the world. America hasn't signed the Kyoto protocol, doesn't support the International Court of Justice in Den Haag, ignored the UN in Iraq and so on. Such behaviour influence the opinions about your country strongly (and not in the positive way!). I suppose Japan is pro-american (at least compared with Europe), but when I talked with my Japanese friends even they had mixed feelings.

And you are right: The strict immigration and security regulations doesn't support positive opinions. Some of my friends and colleagues travelled to America recently. They had a lot of trouble at the airport. If I'm on a business trip I can't do anything against this, but if I'm on a holiday trip I will choose another country next year for sure. Then at the latest your politicians should start thinking about this problem, because your economy loose a lot of profit...

Anyway, I wish you a good time with your daughter!

Greetings from Germany

[Peter]

The Man:
Thanks for bringing that up! I forgot about "DePorteland". It is scarry. And now with the Patriot act, if you pissed them off for some reason, I believe they could detain you without reason.

The other Lance:
I guess it's good to try and stay on the positive side. More gets sloved that way. Lets hope things will get better.

[Peter]

Herr doitsujin:
Thanks for for the comment. I hear what your saying. It hurts too because there are a lot of us Americans who disagree with the way things are now...but the government is using fear to get people to stand behind their policy's. I understand the initial reason the US did not like the Kyoto protocal, but we shouldn't have just walked away from the table. We should have made some requests for changes and cooperated with the rest of the world. Tell your friends that there are a lot of us Americans
who don't agree with the current policies and value our friendship.

[DoitsuJin]

Hi Peter,
it is good to hear that. It gives some hope. I’m anxious to hear about the outcome of your presidential elections...

I was born and raised in Eastern Germany. We had an all-powerful intelligence service there (called Stasi). So one of the first things I learned from your parents was: Never talk about “wrong” political opinions you heard at home in school or other public places. And there are a lot of spies who wrote down everything they could learn about neighbours, colleagues and sometimes even about family members (worst case). You are never sure if you can talk freely to somebody. At this time America was good example for a free and democratic country to us. But somehow some of your new laws and bodies (Department of Homeland Security) remind of our former Stasi (try to control everything)... OK, I have my knowledge about your country from the media and I know media tends to exaggeration. But at least the tendency is wrong. To be fair: The German Minister of the Interior likes the idea to collect more data about the citizens too (and push such laws through the parliament).

I understand that American people fear a new 9/11, but I think (just my personal opinion!) your country goes the wrong way. America has more to loose (freedom) than to win (security) with the current policy. It’s impossible to control such a huge country. There are possible targets everywhere (embankment dams, atomic power plants, chemical industry, ....). The one and only way you can go to get a little bit more security is to advance the connections with the Arabic world. But this needs a lot of time.

[Peter]

Doitsujin:

Have you heard the famous quote by Benjamin Franklin? Here it is?

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security"

[Justin]

So, it took me 3 or 4 months to stumble on your post...but I'm going to comment on it now, even if no one ever reads my blabbering! A lot of what you said really hit home with me. I grew up in England with American parents, moved the States, then moved to Japan and am now living in the States again. From my perspective, it's amazing how so many Americans have nationalist arrogance, masquerading as patriotism. Patriotism is great, but any kind of patriotism that assumes all other countries should be secondary and can be stepped on is ridiculous. That said, it's true that there is a lot of ignorance of things international wherever you go. When I lived in Japan I met an awful lot of people who had little to knowledge of anything outside the borders of nihon. But the attitude was different - some were interested in other countries, some weren't, but I never got the feeling that a Japanese person was going to run around screaming "Let's kill some towelheads!" Anyway, you're right - the next few years are going to be critical for America. I believe the US is in a downward spiral in terms of international perception and if it continues, the next time we need to build a "international coalition" it will be even more laughable than our current one. End of ranting.

[John]

This is the first time I've visited your site, so I don't know your complete background. I found you via Google Blogoscoped (http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2005-01-30-html#n82 ).

I'm torn right down the middle. Half of me wants to be enlightened and say, "Right on, brother." The other half wants to be the "ugly american" with the typical jingoist, kneejerk reaction to squash any criticism from abroad. I'm having trouble reconciling the two sides but I'm trying.

Things need to change here in the US but I fear it's going to get worse, much worse, before it gets better. I guess I'll just have to hole up in my little cabin up here in Montana and get started on my manifesto. ;-)

[Salah]

Man I don't know haw I fond this site, but I am glad I did. I totly agre with what you saied, i have a story to share if you don't minde. I was surving in the Marine corps when I got stationed in Iwakuni Japan, I spent abouot 3 months there then I got orders to go back to the states for teperary work. well I flew on a civilian plain back, when I got to the states,I was treated like a cremonal. although I was travling on goverment orders and a US citizen, I had an escort every where I went in the airport, and thay ended up spending 30 mints just looking throu my stuf, all of that becouse of my name.
and you know what hurt the most,6 months ago I just got back from a 6 month tour in Iraq. the jacktup part about when I went back to Japan I flew in to Tokio, the Japanes treated me like a humen, wich made me feal like shit remmebering haw thay treted me in the states, naw I am back in the US and out of the military, I cried when I left Japan, I didn't want to leave. hopfuly I'll go back some day.
Sory for the spelling erros