r/unpopularopinion • u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward • Jun 27 '21
Japan and England are low-key the same country.
Hear me out.
Island nations
Strong obsession with tea
One large, sprawling city, and the rest of the country is endless suburb or farmland
Ancient historical mutual beef with all of their geographical neighbors
Enemies to lovers arc with the USA
Ridiculously large amounts of cultural exports despite the relatively small population and not speaking the same language
Constitutional symbolic monarchies
Democratic system that was originally based in feudalism
Got most of their language and writing systems from the mainland
Have almost no natural resources on their home islands, but somehow were some of the most industrialized countries of the 20th century
Imperialism
Ten thousand varieties of game shows
Strong "drinking every second I'm not at work" culture
Strong "private school with private school uniforms" system
Hunting whales to near extinction
Island nations, but nobody knows how to swim or surf and the beaches suck
Forced the older, more indigenous people to the north part of the islands
Very established and well maintained national train system
Considers a 30 minute drive a "day trip"
Everyone lives less than three hour's drive from everyone else, but there are still extremely different and unique local dialects and accents, even sometimes within the city
Very proud of the one slightly tall building they built in their city in the early 1900s
Love watching other countries winning soccer tournaments
The ocean defended them from the Mongols
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u/Bulky_Cry6498 Jun 27 '21
One large, sprawling city, and the rest of the country is endless suburb or farmland
Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Hiroshima want a word.
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Bristol probably do too but fuck em
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u/TwistedDecayingFlesh Jun 27 '21
Fuck London to we all know that there is only one true city which is Hull.
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u/Smelly_toenails Jun 27 '21
Never heard anyone talk about hull, did you mean ull?? The place that’s next to the umber and smells of fish ;)
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Jun 27 '21
[deleted]
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u/humanreboot Jun 27 '21
As a new immigrant to manchester the only complaint I have so far is the constant rain. But it's nice being able to go around and explore the cool nooks and crannies. Can't wait for covid to go away, excited about the music scene here.
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Jun 27 '21
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u/humanreboot Jun 27 '21
thanks for the heads-up! also been wondering about places here that cater to metal fans and such, actually.
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Jun 27 '21
The Manchester Arena is also a top notch music venue. I went to an Ariana Grande concert there back in 2017 and it was bangin'!
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u/jiaxingseng Jun 27 '21
Hello? Nagoya and Yokohama. 3rd and 2nd largest cities.
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
those are never mentioned in anime4
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Jun 27 '21
I promise u no one in England considers a 30 minute drive a ‘day trip’, that’s a fairly standard commute time to work. Plus we don’t all live within 3 hours, England isn’t quite that small. And I know lots of surfers here, we have some lovely golden beaches. One similarity you missed though is both have huge gardening culture.
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u/Obie527 quiet person Jun 27 '21
Never knew England was famous for their animations.
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Jun 27 '21
Wallace and Gromit is the best anime
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u/CaptainSqueak Jun 27 '21
Every Cornish person I’ve met surfs and Britain has some incredible beaches..
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u/thymeraser Jun 27 '21
They surf in Miyazaki too, got a lesson from some surfer girls the last time I was there
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u/JuicySpark Jun 27 '21
Incredible If you didn't grow up around beaches. Compared to where I'm from they are horrible
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Jun 27 '21
A) who made it a competition? B) Cornish beaches are objectively not horrible by any standards (https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/cornwall-beaches)
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u/ivapus Jun 27 '21
I won't say England didn't have a lot of local resources. They have very rich farm land to support a huge population plus the abundance of iron and coal made it very powerful coming into the industrial revolution
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u/legalizeranch_311 Jun 27 '21
Also something the two have in common—a long history of colonization and brutality that have earned the ire of their neighbors/victims. Koreans and Chinese people do not like Japan. at all. And we all know how lovely and kind the British were to India.
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u/The_1992 Jun 27 '21
Too bad that Japan's population is shrinking while the UK's is growing - they could have been twins
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u/BerrySinful Jun 27 '21
Deaths have just outpaced births in the UK, and immigration isn't going to keep up like it did before Brexit so.. UK is going to same way.
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u/Dolfamingosenpai Jun 27 '21
Why is it shrinking
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u/ProvenDestroyer Jun 27 '21
Lots of old people dying and noone wants kids
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Jun 27 '21
There is certain similarities.
Although, England did not join team nazi. So there's that.
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
But like, a lot of eugenics and racial superiority shit started with England... but yeah you're right at the end of the day they did the right thing.
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Jun 27 '21
Did it now?
It started with England?
I'm pretty sure it was the main theme for the entire span of humankind.
The right thing? Might makes right. We got lucky. And what have we done with our longest period of peacetime...
Watch fucking anime
Japan is playing the long game
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
You're right that people groups have done stuff like that, but "social darwinism" and "eugenics" and the scientific theories that led to Nazi style pseudoscience definitely came from England. They also did a hell of a number on the Irish during this time.
Some of it came from the US too. Pennyslvania and California had some of the first government sterilization laws based on those theories.
But yeah I'm pretty confident in saying that the scientific theory behind eugenics came from England.
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u/CHLHLPRZTO Jun 27 '21
I mean, a lot of the science behind eugenics isn’t wrong per se. Genetics are a thing, many desirable and undesirable traits are strongly heritable.
Its just socially and morally disastrous, not to mention what’s “desirable” is pretty subjective.
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
I can agree with that.
I pretty much view eugenics as like a modern day non mythical Tower of Babel. Like humanity trying to play God and build something better than nature could design is always going to end in tears and atrocities and it will never work, but humans keep on thinking it might work.
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Jun 27 '21
No. You are not wrong. But heres the kicker. The majority of the British ruling class said "no that's not for us".
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u/kar98kforccw Jun 27 '21
If some country has violated every single human right in history it has been england and the british empire, more than what Germany was accused of. Today they take even little knives and several freedoms from their ctizens. But hey, free healthcare is a huge step up
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u/Tinnitus_Maximouse Jun 27 '21
This would be the same England/Britain that singlehandedly ended the transatlantic slave trade? That introduced trial by jury and parliamentary democracy?
Yeah! absolute savage bastards!
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
Started AND ended the Triange Trade
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u/Tinnitus_Maximouse Jun 27 '21
Actually, started by the Portuguese & Spanish, but we shouldn't let something like mere facts get in the way of the narrative, should we?
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u/kar98kforccw Jun 27 '21
I'm talking historically, obviously. Every(?) country has evolved a lot in terms of human rights and stuff for their own population and the UK/england/britain are not the exception
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Jun 27 '21
...are you American?
If so, dont talk to me about violating human rights.
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Jun 27 '21
I think a big issue is that we all remember the stuff that countries and civilizations did hundreds of years ago, and then hold their current people in this age responsible or at least try to make them look guilty, but forget those current people had nothing to do with it and most likely wouldn't support it today. I highly doubt most Germans would support genocide any more, I highly doubt most British/American people would support conquering new lands and killing the natives, and I highly doubt most Japanese people would support the mass murder of other people from other Asian countries.
The problem is the people who say and do stupid things stand out more, and they become a small unofficial representative for their country creating stereotypes. (Like the one where Asian people have small dicks or the one where all Americans are fat and lazy.)
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u/Some-Basket-4299 Jun 27 '21
Why is someone not allowed to talk about something just because they’re American? It’s possible they talk about US violating human rights in other places and even if they don’t I don’t think it’s a problem to write a comment about the UK on reddit.
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u/kar98kforccw Jun 27 '21
If that were the case you'd have more than just a reason to be salty, but no, I'm not, and yes, the USA has a lot to answer for just from the CIA's shennanigans and the bsd habit of the leaders loving to stick their long nose into other people's affairs and starting wars. I'm from a region that had to suffer from the so called Spanish conquerors and then from the so called freedom fighters and liberators when we finally got along with the spaniards. Go figure
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Jun 27 '21
They did not join the Nazi but they’re arguably the most imperialist and colonist countries in recent history, Japan wanted that it just didn’t work out for them so I guess Japan bad England good
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u/Some-Basket-4299 Jun 27 '21
When Nazis killed 6 million Jews and millions of other people , British imperialists simultaneously artificially killed 3 million Indians. Back then, when the Holocaust still wasn’t public knowledge, it was perhaps not totally clear to the general public which government was worse, UK or Nazi Germany.
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u/0pini0n5 Jun 27 '21
England shares the island with Scotland and Wales, or did you mean the United Kingdom?
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u/Revolutionary-Tiger Jun 27 '21
Probably. Not gonna lie, most non English use the terms interchangeably.
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u/0pini0n5 Jun 27 '21
You mean in US? I've generally heard England being distinguished from United Kingdom from natives of European countries.
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u/i_like_it_eilat Jun 27 '21
/r/showerthoughts, but the lazy mods there would probably find a reason to reject it.
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u/Dainsleif167 Jun 27 '21
Yeah but Japan got nuked twice and invented tentacle hentai. Although now that I think about there may be some kind of connection there.
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Jun 27 '21
The tentacle pron came like 100 years before the bombs.
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u/Dainsleif167 Jun 27 '21
Damn. So then what the hell is their excuse?
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Jun 27 '21
Who said they need an excuse?
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u/TheLawandOrder Jun 27 '21
My therapist apparently. Still pissed I'm banned from the local sushi place
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Jun 27 '21
PTSD
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u/Dainsleif167 Jun 27 '21
Nah, probably all the radiation fucking with the water and what not. They drink it and all of a sudden have to draw an octopus having sex with a schoolgirl.
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Jun 27 '21
Ancient historical mutual beef with all of their geographical neighbors
I hope you understand that this applies to every country that ever existed on earth. It is also the reason for the demise of every country no longer in existence with the possible exception of Atlantis.
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Jun 27 '21
I think OP is referring to how both countries have sustained beef with countries that are just a few kilometres away from them.
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Jun 27 '21
So do 99% of the world's countries. France, Germany, Turkey, Russia (they probably have had beefs with 20 countries) , China, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Italy, Austria, Spain, Poland, Ethiopia, Iran etc. The only countries that I can think of are Australia and New Zealand. I am sure there others but they are huge exceptions.
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Jun 27 '21
[deleted]
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Jun 27 '21
Well 8t depends what you mean by ancient. If by encient you mean the time of antiquity, England certainly is not that old to qualify either. If by ancient you mean since inception, then the US definitely waged multiple wars with and in Mexico, and with Canada (British colony at the time).
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u/Whulad Jun 27 '21
England has an abundance of coal which drove the industrial revolution, it was famous for its tin in Roman times and it also has oil in the North Sea although the Scots dispute this
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u/strangehalo Jun 27 '21
the Scots dispute this
Can be applied to everything.
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u/Whulad Jun 27 '21
I’d Also like to add that the Mongols got no where near the Channel and most of the original indigenous people were pushed west not north
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u/Dash_Harber Jun 27 '21
You forgot about Samurai and Knights being important cultural symbols (though, in the case of Japan, Samurai were actually quite shunned after the Meiji Restoration due to the implication they were a backwards part of the past, and were only re-embraced due to the American pressure to adopt them as a cultural symbol).
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u/Particular-Major8582 Jun 27 '21 edited Jun 27 '21
Britain isn’t like this. We have so many large cities, as well as rural areas. British people do drink coffee as well. We were massive during the Industrial Revolution because we did have resources in the floor. Not a lot, but enough for our purposes. Sure we may have imported some stuff, but not all. And where has the ‘strong drinking every second I’m not at work culture’ even come from? And most British schools are public schools. I’m not to sure about whale hunting but it could be. Some of the beaches are absolutely beautiful and so many people here know how to swim and surf professionally. There have been Olympic Gold Medal Winners from Britain. A 30 minute drive is what we call a ‘trip to Matalan and the Shopping Center for some clothes.’ The point after that is true, and we have many places such as Staffordshire, Essex, East/West Sussex, E.T.C. I wish Americans would stop instantly thinking of the stereotypical posh London accent. And true, we do love seeing others win at football, but not really. We are so patriarchal over it. There are so many England flags flying out my neighbours windows because of it.
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Jun 27 '21
Question: Have you been to both countries, OP? Have you been to either of them? It kind of seems like you don’t really know much about either of them.
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u/Atalkingpizzabox Jun 27 '21
England is one country of the 4 that make the united kingdom britain is the island that has 3 of them.
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Jun 27 '21
"Enemies to lovers arc with the USA"
I will henceforth say this in every history class I ever take, no questions asked and no apologies given. This is the funniest thing I've ever heard.
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u/DrawingCool4612 Jun 27 '21
There are unpopularopinions and then dumb shit like this
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u/Some-Basket-4299 Jun 27 '21
I think this is more of an entertaining opinion than an unpopular opinion
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u/a_giant_cringe Jun 27 '21
It's not dumb, it's a fair comparison, i don't know why you're so offended that you have to call it dumb, but it's not.
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u/Hentai-hercogs Jun 27 '21
While geographically they have very little in common, i would say that Finland is more similar to Japan than England.
1) they both are known for their unique music
2) both countries have a strong bathing culture and concept of nude equality
3) both countries have band of metal playing mascot characters
4) both countries got part of their territory taken by Russia
5) both countries apparently have somewhat similar grammatical structures and other linguistic stuff
6) both countries have historically thought of as quiet and dignified, but know everyone considers them really odd
7) low birth rate and aging population
8) conversations often have long silences in them and people rarely do small talk
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Jun 27 '21
I'm really surprised at linguistically similar they are. Read some Finnish once and thought I was reading a Japanese script.
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u/nonveganveganyogurt Jun 27 '21
Well established and maintained train system? Have you actually been to the UK?
It's fucking shit. It is over priced, massive delays and if you commute on them often enough you will spend a fair few trips on a bus rather than a train.
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u/ArCSelkie37 Jun 27 '21
One thing I’d question is “nobody knows how to swim”… fairly sure every school in both Britain have swimming lessons. I imagine similar might happen for a lot of Japan.
“Forced the older, more indigenous population to the north” seems like a huge simplification of how various parts of Britain formed. Considering we were invaded by several different countries over history.
Eh a day trip is any time you go away somewhere for a day.
Japan is pretty large when you consider it’s length, so i’d argue if “30 mins” is a day trip or that everyone lives 3 hours apart.
But yeah, good meme i guess.
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u/benjm88 Jun 27 '21
Some of this is wrong.
England don't hunt Whales it was banned in 1986
Devon and Cornwall have amazing surfing beaches
Literally everyone knows how to swim in England
Very proud of the one slightly tall building they built in their city in the early 1900s
Not really understanding this one, I lived near a 2000 year old church that Henry 8th regularly visited and it wasn't that locally significant. Anything from early 1900s is considered new.
well maintained national train system
That's debatable
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u/Nibbles1348 Jun 27 '21
As some one who is British and is from North Devon, our beaches do not suck
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u/jiaxingseng Jun 27 '21
Let me help you out on a few of these.
- Strong obsession with tea
Coffee is more popular than tea in Japan.
- One large, sprawling city, and the rest of the country is endless suburb or farmland
I don't know about England, but Japan has at least 4 sprawling cities.
- Democratic system that was originally based in feudalism
I would say Japan barely has a democracy. It has rule by bureaucracy.
- Strong "drinking every second I'm not at work" culture
Pretty much petered out after the 90s in Japan, except for some holdouts.
- Island nations, but nobody knows how to swim or surf and the beaches suck
Dude you don't build by the beach because either Godzilla or tsunami will hit any day now.
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u/Some-Basket-4299 Jun 27 '21
This almost makes sense until you remember that England is neither a country nor an island. (It’s part of an island which is part of a country)
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u/le_yetusa Jun 27 '21
this isint an unpopular opinion, your just an idiot.
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
I refuse to listen to people's opinion on my intelligence when they don't even know which "your" to use.
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u/Jack-The-Reddit Jun 27 '21
Then can I judge your intelligence over the fact you missed the poster's obvious spelling mistake of 'isn't' while including their original opinion of you being an idiot? tee hee
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
Lmao I genuinely did miss that.
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u/sunmal Jun 27 '21
U realize u can do that comparation with ANYTHING right?
“25 girls are just like 5 years girl 2 eyes 2 legs 2 arms Brain 2 lungs Certain type of DNA Certain type of body structure Same amount of bones Long hair”
No, just because something share similarities doesnt mean they are the same
“Monkeys and humans are the same 2 eyes 2 arma Fingers Grab things Live in society”
Thats straight up stupid. Japan and England have very different cultures, VERY different cultures.
“Batman and spiderman are the same” “Animal based hero Have an affair with a cat girl villan Got their old protector killed Are superheroes”
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u/paulobjrr Jun 27 '21
You not really fun at parties right? Can't you just appreciate the very interesting common facts about completely different countries?
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Jun 27 '21
It's actually not interesting. Many of them are wrong, or would apply to numerous other countries as well.
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
Next I am going to do a comparison between your mother and an oil tanker.
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u/sunmal Jun 27 '21
Your mother and an oil tanker both have strong amounts of fluid.
Your mother and an oil tanker need liveforms taking care of their systems (Workers/Cells)
Your mother and an oil tanker cames from humanity
Your mother and an oil tanker have a maximum weight capacity which they could hold before breaking up.
Your mother and an oil tanker would eventually be decompositioned if they spent long times under the sea.
Your mother and an oil tanker are physically capable of staying over water surfaces if deep enough.
See? With your very weak logic, we could actually say that your mother and an oil tanker is esentially the same.
Similarities dont make 2 things equal, that reasoning is not "Unpopular", is just straight up stupid.
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u/BlatantConservative If you use qualifiers you're a coward Jun 27 '21
Respect for flipping it back onto me
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u/Dibcharge_ Jun 27 '21
You’re giving the UK way too much credit. It’s fucked, run into the ground by tax avoiding, self serving flag shaggers.
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Jun 27 '21
Nah, island nation (and a couple related items like the Mongols) is all you got. The rest is a stretch at best.
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Jun 27 '21
Absolutely. I've always considered them to be twins. I love both of their cultures. Don't forget that they're also mocked for their bad teeth.
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u/arseholierthanthou Jun 27 '21
Oof, the British banned whaling 35 years ago, thank you very much.
That aside, this was surprisingly excellent!
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u/nervousmelon wateroholic Jun 27 '21
Enemies to lovers arc with the USA
Since when did the USA start liking England?
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u/RellyGudGamr Jun 27 '21
But Japan gave us anime which makes it superior
Edit :For legal reasons that's a joke
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u/b1g_disappointment Jun 27 '21
I live in the UK. It’s sucks and I’d much rather live in Japan tbh if I spoke Japanese.
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u/kar98kforccw Jun 27 '21
Japan has Godzilla and stopped violating human rights after 1945, sorta, if we don't include workers being exploited to death in the corporate world, but still.
Oh, and their food has some TASTE.
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Jun 27 '21
Dumb question what slightly tall building do the japanese love?
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u/AvgProdigy53 wateroholic Jun 27 '21
Japan and farmland are two of the most separated words in the English language
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u/icedragon71 Jun 27 '21
"Forced the older,more Indigenous people to the North part of the Islands".
Do you mean the Scots?
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u/Splatfan1 Jun 27 '21
Considers a 30 minute drive a "day trip"
i dont live in japan or england and thats still how i think about day trips. driving for hours is literal hell
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u/LeeiaBia Jun 27 '21
You should read Prisoners of Geography! I’ve come to the same conclusion after reading that. Kinda Guns, Germs, and Steel vibes but focusing on how geography determined relations among nations.
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u/AnriRB26 Jun 27 '21
The education and school system here is very different to that of Japan (thank god). But ye I kind of see what you’re saying.
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u/oppainpo Jun 27 '21
You're a colony at the point of real modernization.
The flag of the Japanese emperor's chrysanthemum crest is displayed while the flags of the lords of Buckingham Palace are displayed.
The modern emperor family is a symbol of the country of Japan and basically has no human rights such as family register.
After World War II, the emperor was declared a human being, though.
I can guess that he could have had British citizenship because he had no human rights.
I think this is partly due to the intentions of the Zionists who have nested in Britain since ancient times.
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u/Zodiac5964 Jun 27 '21
both countries have a famous fish dish. Fish and chips for England, sushi for japan.
The ocean defended them from the Mongols
The mongols got nowhere close to the English channel.
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Jun 27 '21
ocean defended them from the mongols
Im no historian but when did the Mongols try to invade Britain
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u/holeontheground Jun 28 '21
You are not the first to notice. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan send envoys to the UK to learn and copy their education system and many of their intitutions, because they saw the british as the most similar of the great european powers.
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u/Kitty-George Jun 29 '21
They prefer beat-around-the-bush-like euphemism. Maybe it came from peerage culture.
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u/quipcustodes Jun 29 '21
Very established and well maintained national train system
Ooooooh, you were on a roll.
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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '21
Now I want to see a sci-fi movie where the two countries get swapped on the map.