Confessions of an Extreme Right Winger on the Internet (And Controlling My Temper!)

A commentator to one of my recent posts called me a "extreme right winger on the internet" because I said that "Japan is a homogenous society." When I asked for an explanation, he wrote:


"as for ネトウヨ it means in internet speak an extreme right winger on the internet... article talks about the right wingers angry at a group called perfume (who are very cute and very good singers too by the way) because they were on a tv show and said they liked kimuchi nabe. This caused the ネトウヨ to become angry and spout their anti-korean messages and calling korean チョン and saying they should die and what not." (sic)


I failed to see (and still do) where I can be called an "extreme right winger on the internet" because I related the world-wide commonly understood notion that "Japan is a homogenous society." Let me defend myself by saying that I didn't invent the term, nor did I apply it first to Japan, nor am I intelligent enough to analyize Japanese society enough to formulate the opinion. I'm just passing on commonly agreed to knowledge and conclusions.


Even though I do that, I am called an "extreme right winger on the internet"?  


Yes. I know, dear reader. It seems very twisted and painful logic but these are the things that bloggers must suffer. If you wish to blog, be forewarned. But that's not the point... I get these kinds of attacks all the time. Perhaps my writing (of course my writing) is not as good or clear as it should be. I usually delete the ad hominem attacks immediately as they are VERY rude and insulting. But today's I have, so I want to use it as a base... This is not meant as an attack on this one individual as, like I said, it could be because my poor writing skills so I'm sorry. Let me explain.... 


Everyday, when I wake up, I write my ten goals for the day. You should too! I was taught to do this by some of my millionaire friends. Trust that when a successful millionaire advises you to do something, you probably should take the advice. One of my important goals is always #8. It says, "I am kind to people." This has to do with people I meet on the street or at work or people who comment on my blog posts. Many people just try my patience. Whether it be from their lack of experience, naievity, or poor education or work skills. 


Being kind to people, especially to rude commentators is great therapy for the soul. I am always happy with myself when I can be kind and not lose my cool. So writing it down everyday helps me to do it. 


I tried not to blast the guy (a few years ago I certainly would have). 


I find it astounding that someone would call me a right winger with its connotations of being racist and anti-immigration. Why? Since I was born, I have been a minority in my home country with an immigrant mother. I am most certainly a minority and an immigrant in Japan with children of mixed heritage (even more so than myself). How in the world could anyone consider me right wing? That would be the height of hypocrisy (which might make me eligible for a ranking post at the US State Department, no?)


In America, I had a Japanese immigrant mother. So I was considered half-Japanese American. No big deal. I was proud of it.


In Japan, my mother was part Korean Japanese (well, when you get right down to it, what Japanese isn't?) Why my mom was naturalized Japanese is because her 1/4 or 1/2 Korean Japanese mother (unsure exactly) and Japanese father died when she was a baby and she was adopted by a very wealthy Japanese family with connections (or so her adopted family "sisters" told me). Hence she was allowed to be naturalized Japanese. On top of that, I am an immigrant with a Japanese wife and mixed race children.


Gee, think I am right winged and racist? That's probably like attacking a gay or  transvestites by claiming they are "Republicans."


So that probably defends my position as not being "extreme right winger on the internet" no? Then the commentators remarks about,


This caused the ネトウヨ to become angry and spout their anti-korean messages and calling korean チョン and saying they should die and what not."  


Relating my saying "Japan is a homogenous country" to this is, well, frankly speaking scatalogical and just plain nuts. 


Anyway, not to completely change the subject...


I also work with Korean artists and promoters bringing Korean music to the Japanese public. In a recent exchange with a true right winged nut I was attacked with these comments:

Mike, you should know how entrenched the yakuza are in business. Most, if not all, Yazuka have their roots in Korea. Korean pop culture does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for Japan-Korea relations. It simply makes those promoting it richer.

Soccer is global phenomenon and, after Japan beat Korea at the recent Asia Cup 2011 (which they took the championship), a Korean soccer player mocked the Japanese by imitating a monkey. That simply goes to show you how much the friggin' Koreans feel about the Japanese.

You might seriously consider passing the pipe you're smoking so the rest of us can hallucinate an ideal world the same as you...

Oh, Lordy, the things that try my patience. I get silly stuff from both the right and the left. I responded 

Yes. I know better than most. The Yakuza are entrenched in all areas of Japanese and Korean pop in Japan. The fact that 16-year-old Japanese girls find Korean pop (a new phenomenon) fun and attractive shows how much better it is at bringing peace to the world's people over something like, say, professional soccer that appeals to nationalism and the neanderthal savage spirit of humans.

You'll never get me to say anything about professional sports fans (especially like those who exhibit behavior as you have reported). This sort of thing happens because professional sports fans can be so immature and barbarous that they get a vicarious thrill and pride at seeing "their" team defeat another team as if that makes them - or their "tribe" - superior in some way.

My argument stands. You'll never see any kids at any of these concerts making racist mockery towards each other. You saw it at your sports game. You have proven me correct by your example.  


Even that I tried to control my temper. Please forgive me. Rome wasn't built in a day. I would like to come back with some funny and snappy remarks, but it is hard when people are so, well, antagonistic.

Korean artist "Kara" at sold out shows in front of Japanese fans. 

Obviously tensions between these pop-stars and their fans are about 

to break out in war on the Korean peninsula (cue idiotic sound 

effects and canned laughter!)

Read more on how Korean artists are spreading peace and 

understanding between home and Japan here. 

Why argue with these people? Excepting as therapy to teach one self patience?


Finally, let me show you some recent pictures from November 2011 with some friends. I am a producer of radio programs:

K-Dance Lovers on 76.1 InterFM Bam! the girls came to promote...

this event.... Which is just one of many Korean music events that I am involved with like...

Kim Jeong Hoon! I helped promote and organized ticket sales for this event - actually in Sept. 2011 (and many past and future K-Pop events! Read more about these promotions here!)

Oh, and there I am with my buddy, Kim! Hey dude! See you in January 2012!

I am so  ミーハー！ Oh, yeah, and to pre-empt any attacks that I am right winged and hate people with so-called "alternative lifestyles" let me introduce some of my other friends...

From Kitson (fashion maker), drag queen Kaede who came on the show at the start of Nov. 2011 to promote awareness and World Aid's Day!

A few weeks after the radio show, my weird "straight" friend, Ken Nishikawa and I met Kaede and had drinks (well, too many drinks, actually!) See my friend Kaede's blog here! 

Of course, I cannot change the world by myself. But I do have the power of the mass media and this blog, for what it's worth. Not nearly enough, but not too bad for a "extreme right winger on the internet" who, alas, is awfully thin-skinned. 

I plan to work on that (being thin-skinned) after I am satisfied with my level of patience. Forgive me now, if I get seriously angry when someone calls me "extreme right winger" when I have been fighting that sort of thing all my life.

One does get riled about that sort of thing when they have memories of, say, going to a restaurant as a small child of six-years-old in Memphis and the owner saying that my dad will be allowed entry but my Japanese mother and my brothers would not.

My dad was furious. He had fought in the Korean War and was a marine (1st Marine division) and when this happened, I clearly remember him going back to get his gun from the trunk of the car. He was going to shoot the restaurant owner (my dad was kind of cool & crazy like that) but my mother stopped him. She begged and pleaded with him for us to leave. We did. Finally.

I figure it's my American side that wants to blast people when they make asinine statements like me being an "extreme right winger on the internet". It's my Japanese side that makes me want to be patient... 

Or is making that claim being racist too?

Now, my therapy is working. I'm being patient... This guy calling me a "extreme right winger on the internet" is just, seriously, laughable.

NOTE: Trust that I don't hate "straights" and Japanese people. I even have some straight friends and a few Japanese friends, too!.... If you don't understand the insinuation and the joke here, you're lame.