Ninja Day

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

no, the reason Japan wasn't open for trade was because they thought that western culture would corrupt their society. So they had previously had some contact.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

After Perry Arrived the Japanese became more westenized, by the time of WWII many Japanese wore 3 piece suits instead of Kimonos and ate meat. After WWII the President made MacArthur the military governer of Japan. He supervised the reconstruction. By then however Japan was already pretty westernized.
To say that this was the first contact ever with western society ignores the fact that the Dutch maintained a trading presence there untill the late 19th century. In the 1600's Japan kicked out the Spanish and Portugese (mainly the spanish though) and prevented the importation of religion and trade with the west. (again with the exception of the dutch)

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

no one claimed there was no previous contact...

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

But is he the one who actually introduced Western Culture to the Japanese?

Introduced means no previous contact.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

oooooh oooooh someone sould revie Ninjai
http://www.ninjai.com

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

yes. she was asking if that were the case, apparently to question if it was right to bust on The Last Samurai because it depicts Japanese-Western contact outside of the Perry context. And as you have pointed out, that is not a valid criticism, and the concept IS a valid vehicle for a story without being historically inaccurate.

[Mistress of Darkness]

Nah. I just thought that a movie about Perry's contact with the Japanese, and the subsequent adoption of parts of Western culture would be cooler than the premise of The Last Samauri. And more appropriate too, maybe.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I agree

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Anyone have a copy of Killer they want to review?

I'll do an article on my Usagi Yojimbo comic collection

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

eh. I'm determined to hate it on its own grounds, rather than a comparison to a hypothesized something that doesn't exist.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Im going to watch it for the cool armor and swords, but hate it for the acting and message.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Hey Eric, have you ever actually played Ninja Burger or do you just own the books?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

yes.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

yes you've played it or yes you just own the books?

[JP Dogberry]

I'll be carrying around a cardboard tube and wearing a Ninja hood made from a T-shirt then. As for articles, I could possibly write a review of the Anime Ninja Scroll. I also can find a link to a web based game that's less than 5k called Pixel Ninja.

Hmm, I might write a humour piece on being a Ninja in modern society. Perhaps "A day in the Life of a Modern Ninja" . I could even get a digital camera and take some illustrational photos, if Tage will host them for the day.