| ▲ | bell-cot 40 minutes ago | |
> Speaking of Japan, ... IIR, Japan was a pretty xenophobic, unified, and militarized place when the Europeans showed up. And without either reputed or obvious Tier 1 riches - such as Central & South America's precious metals - to motivate a hard-fought conquest. Especially when 'most everywhere else in South & East Asia was comparatively easy pickings. > Why do people still believe ... Because, if you use sufficiently Eurocentric metrics, it usually was. And picking those metrics feels pretty good, if you identify uncomfortably closely with that sort of capitalism. | ||
| ▲ | triceratops 29 minutes ago | parent [-] | |
> Japan was a pretty xenophobic, unified, and militarized place when the Europeans showed up. Other than unified, that describes most places in the 15th or 16th century. > Because, if you use sufficiently Eurocentric metrics, it usually was. The one country in Asia* to not suffer colonialism (Japan) is way ahead of all the others that did have it, especially on "Eurocentric" metrics such as GDP and productivity and democracy and human rights. That alone should be a rebuke to colonialism's purported development powers. * Arguably Thailand is another but it was forced to cede land to colonial powers. It too is considerably richer than its immediate neighbors. | ||