u/Inner_Manner_6046

I’m sure lots of you must be, like myself, interested in Japanese traditional art and culture, and Rakugo is one of those that I saw from time to time in movie, TV series, manga or anime. Several months ago I met a girl who also was interested in Rakugo, so we hanged out at the Rakugo Theater in Shibuya, which basically made me never want to listen to Rakugo ever again.

The facility was old, hygiene is not ideal, as you would expect with Shibuya, which was expected. Most customers are old Japanese men and women, which is quite different with what you would expect of a young region like Shibuya.

Then as we sat down and the performance started, a very old guy got on the stage and started talking, or mumbling, random life events of his.

After a while the actual performance started. Instead of a more regular Rakugo story like Jyugenmu, Shinigami or anything like that, he taught a story of a young girl doing papakatsu (pseudo-legal prostitution) which was not so funny did not go well for him. Not so much laughters. The atmosphere in the Theater was really awkward.

Then he started talking about foreigners. Oh my god, I guess he noticed me and my girl. He decided to make fun of foreigners, saying we’re “outsiders who came to see Rakugo only because we saw some anime”. Well yeah, I guess he was right about that.

This triggers some traumatic memories of deprived Japanese people trying to fit in their own community/making up for their own failure by pointing their fingers on foreigners (or anyone that seems more vulnerable). From 1900 to today, maybe that’s the one thing that hasn’t changed, huh?

Sorry if I’m over generalizing a bit, but I probably won’t visit a Rakugo Theater again, and my faith of Japanese “customer first” “omotenashi” got some serious questions.

I recently saw an interview on random Japanese pedestrians about Trump’s “Pearl Harbor” quote, in which several Japanese young, educated people being absolutely certain that the Pearl Harbor was “in fact secretly planned by the US”. This was a bit surprising to me since it did not match what I was taught in school.
Could anyone please explain what is the theory behind held by common Japanese people? I understand this might be a sensitive topic, but I feel this is important to understand what Japanese people are actually thinking (that partially led to the recent shift in policies, among other things).
I think that time has come for Japanese people to be more confidence and speak about what they truly think or believe, personally I celebrate this change as a start so any insights are welcome.