| ▲ | applfanboysbgon 6 hours ago |
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| ▲ | dang 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| Please don't take HN threads into nationalistic flamewar hell. It doesn't help. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html |
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| ▲ | applfanboysbgon 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | [flagged] | | |
| ▲ | dang 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | You* are responsible for following the rules regardless of what others are doing. A bad article (if that's what it is—I haven't looked yet) doesn't make it ok to break them, and a bad thread doesn't either. (* I don't mean you personally of course, but all of us) | | |
| ▲ | applfanboysbgon 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | I understand that, but I would like to note from a human perspective that when seeing an article full of misleading and exaggerated claims bashing your country as a whole and comparing it disfavorably to the author's own, it's hard to react in a perfectly emotionless manner. All the more so when the thread is full of comments piling on even more, taking it all as fact and condemning it as a 'fascist dictatorship'. This is not exactly material fit for intellectual-curiosity-stimulating discussion to begin with, and it would really be nice if this kind of awful content wasn't on HN in the first place. | | |
| ▲ | dang an hour ago | parent [-] | | Yes. That is super hard from a human perspective and I agree that it would be nice if the comments were less awful. Also, we're not asking you (or anyone) to react in an emotionless manner—quite the opposite. The trick is to express the emotions in a somewhat different way - more sharing, less discharging, if that makes sense. (And again, I'm not talking about you personally - it applies just as much to me and everyone here.) As for the article - I only skimmed it in the most superficial way but I think "what it's like to be in prison in Japan (from a Westerner's point of view)" was more or less certain to be interesting to this community, which is insatiable for things it hasn't heard about before. Btw - you absolutely don't have to answer this, but are you Japanese? That's what the phrase "bashing your country as a whole" seemed to imply to me, and for some reason I was surprised. I guess it's because I talk a lot with HN's Japanese users (mostly by email) and your mode of expression is somehow different. Normally I don't pry like this, so feel free not to respond! |
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| ▲ | hackyhacky 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > Language barrier: Forced to communicate only in Japanese To be clear, what the author said is that communicating in any language besides Japanese is prohibited with anyone. So if you share a cell with an inmate who speaks your native language, you're not allowed to speak with them in that language. I think that expected to be allowed to speak with inmates is not a sign of arrogance, and I don't know any other country that has a similar restriction. Another issue is whether the author is allowed to communicate about her case in her native language. If she's asked to sign forms, make statements, or expected to understand her legal procedure, one would expect that the police would provide a translator to ensure that she's treated fairly. Certainly, that would be the norm in the West. |
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| ▲ | OneDeuxTriSeiGo 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > The arrogance of American tourists is truly boundless. How dare Japanese people not speak English! Who do they think they are? That's not the issue. At least in the US it is unconstitutional to bar inmates from speaking or communicating in non-English languages. Likewise the US legal system is required to provide you an interpreter who can speak in a language you are proficient in. Whether these rights are properly upheld in the US is another question but they are rights you are entitled to. That's the main issue. These are rights that Americans are accustomed to and it's not always obvious to them when they leave the country that these rights aren't universal among developed countries. |
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| ▲ | infotainment 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > The arrogance of American tourists is truly boundless. How dare Japanese people not speak English! Who do they think they are? This attitude is so unbelievably prevalent among native English speakers. "Obviously everyone should speak *my* language -- why should I ever have to learn another one?" |
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| ▲ | perching_aix 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | One would think "not being able to speak anything but Japanese" would be a problem for anyone not speaking Japanese, not just English speakers specifically, so this framing is more than a bit ironic, don't you think? Seriously, what is so baffling about expecting an interpreter to be provided? Even if you do "speak" the language, this is not some everyday environment, and evidently not a good-faith one either. If I got into a similar situation in the US or similar, you can be sure as shit I'd ask for one too, even though I do believe I have a reasonable command over the English language in general. | | |
| ▲ | applfanboysbgon 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | An interpreter is in fact provided for important communications, but it's a given that there's not going to be interpreters on-hand for every foreign prisoner 24/7. I think most people would simply accept that a language barrier is a normal fact of life of being arrested in a foreign country. The expectation of not needing to speak a foreign language in a foreign country seems to be a uniquely English one, and it manifests in other ways. There are many people who come to Japan to teach English without understanding a word of Japanese, and then complain about the difficulty of life, how restaraunt staff won't speak English or provide an English menu for them, how this and that are not provided for in English. They don't attempt to learn Japanese even after teaching for 5+ years, and yet criticise Japan for not catering to their needs. The sense of entitlement gets nauseating after you've witnessed it enough. | | |
| ▲ | perching_aix 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | So the claim was misleading, and they do in fact provide the interpreters that are entitled to wish for? I guess I see what you mean, but I feel there would have been a way to express this all better. | | |
| ▲ | applfanboysbgon 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | You are legally entitled to an interpreter when being questioned by police or while in court. I believe the claims in the article are exaggerated, I would speculate intentionally so as the author is an engagement-farming content creator who has made several videos about the subject garnering hundreds of thousands of views. Of course, it is possible their experience was worse than what they are legally entitled to -- the real world often doesn't live up to ideals and legal rights can be violated -- but they speak in broad generalizations about the system as a whole that are not representative. |
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| ▲ | thaumasiotes 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
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