Byline: Tokyo
From the people I’ve talked to here, who watched the Democratic Convention, there seems to be a consensus: America is one unified country --- patriotic, militant and determined.
A Japanese friend asked me how Americans feel about international hostility toward America. I suggested that “The Japanese should understand if I call the hostility America bashing.” When Japan was the hot growth country in the world in the 1980s the American and European media were constantly attacking Japan for some form of protectionism. The Japanese remember those thirteen years of attack, well. Japan bashing only went away when Japan entered a long recession.
My comment seems to help my Japanese friends understand that America bashing isn’t going away. We Americans, somehow know, that the leader is always going to be attacked by the underlings. There is no choice; America can’t be a smaller, weaker or poorer country.”
The word hegemon originally meant leader in Greek. I suspect the meaning will return in the coming decade.