Quote:
Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker
I am embarrassed every time I say this, I know it's stupid... but I have zero - ZERO - interest in most things about the Far East. If I won an all-expenses paid trip to Beijing, I'd try to sell it. I've watched a lot of documentaries set there and loved it - from Japanese riverside villages that use the river water for everything, and even keep carp in their kitchens to clean dishes instead of using detergent... to Chinese Communist Party history, etc. So there's a level of interest in terms of learning about it, but it is literally the last place I need to visit, care to see, etc. I'll have been to every European country's second and third city before I venture east of Kathmandu.
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Same here.
Asian culture is fascinating at a distance however I find close up there is a certain level of hellishness to everything involved.
My best friend married into and integrated with the Filipino community, while there is a large part of their culture I admire and respect at a distance I really don't jive well with it close up.
I'm deeply critical of western liberalism but you can really see why it's needed.
Asian culture can be very conservative way to focused on success(not that western culture isn't but it's easier to filter out as a native).
Living conditions with poor sanitation, extreme pollution, overpopulation, corruption are so apparent(despite the people of these countries being very industrialized/educated).
There's also this don't question anything mentality that really really gets old. I know hyper individualism is disruptive in the west, but east asia takes this to an extreme sometimes.
Again none of these traits are exactly that foreign to western eyes and there are a large number of westerners that identify with it, I just don't find it very appealing as an interest.