Talk:Fire Nation/@comment-70.191.93.233-20120525031617/@comment-174.6.153.137-20120529072519

To the Anon above me:

You have not read my comment carefully enough. I shall repost here what I said in the immediate paragraph after my first sentence in my last comment:

"It is not based on Japan. The only place in Avatar that is distinctly Japanese in culture is Kyoshi Island. The culture of Fire nation is nothing like Japan."

In other words, I was clearly pointing out the cultural influences - not geographical, industrial, or contermporary historical. Please read my comment more carefully next time before planning a rebuttal that does not actually address my original argument. I am not ignoring the points you have made, just that they don't seem to be relevant to what I was saying.

I'd like to point out that although Japan is indeed geogrphically similar to the Fire Nation and also the first to "modernize" in the Sinosphere, it is not the first Asian country to launch such a warfare strategy against the rest of the known Eastern world. Think of the mongols (who won), Or the Qin state during China's Warring States period. It just so happens that the Sino-Japanese war is the most common parallel people can think of.

Anyway, the whole point of my commenting on wiki is that I find so many people are quick to attribute each fragment of the avatar world to real life that they do not actually look deeper into the influences and thus appreciate the amount of research the creaters put in. They just go: "Oh, Fire nation is Japan. Earth kingdom is China. Water tribes are Inuit. Air nomads are Tibetan," and just don't put in more time to actually know and distinguish other details within the show to realize just how multicultural each nation is.

For example, on the page that lists the fashion in the Avatar world, the undergarment for the water tribes, most commonly seen worn by Sokka and Katara, was simply listed as a "kimono-like tunic." Tunics originated from Greece and was popularized by Rome, while a kimono is a Japanese tradional garment modelled after the Tang dynasty Chinese ones. What I don't understand is why the people who labelled it as such not find out what it is actually called? Or at least describe it as the way it looks instead of putting it under an assumed name that will certainly be proliferated by fanfiction writers who use wiki as reference.

And regarding your side note, since I am not an expert on these cultures: I thought the Incas also worshipped the sun? What distinguised them from the Aztecs such that you can identify them as being one instead of the other?

I apologize if my tone is a bit brash. Internet frustration can build up...... =)