Friday, August 11, 2006

What two Japanese girls taught me about nationalism

Last night, one of my Japanese friends came back from spending a summer break in his home country. Two of girl friends of his came along, on their vacation. I was surprised to hear that, in addition to shopping, a visit to Bruce Lee's gravesite in Seattle was on their itinerary.


For those that don't know, Bruce Lee became a Chinese hero for his movie, Fist of Fury, in which he plays a Kungfu student avenging his master's poisoning by a Japanese Judo dojo in 1930's Shanghai. The movie portrays Japanese as morally deficient cowards posing as bullies, and Bruce Lee kicks their asses.

Anyway, these Japanese girls didn't care about that--they thought Bruce Lee was still cool. It just made me realize that, no matter how many people are still stuck in the past, there are more young people who reject previous generations' fights and hold no grudges.

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