#frapan

Main Characters: England, France

Side Characters: Germany, Austria, Hungary, Japan, America, Canada, Spain, Prussia

Pages: 11

Translator: M

Vibes: comedic

Summary: England and France cause trouble in the halls

Anon, it’s orientalism. it’s not that cute and fluffy, a lot of french (western in general) fascination with japan was just straight up orientalism 😭 i also feel like a lot of hetalia fans forget that Perry forced Japan to open up with the threat of violence and Japan afterwards was coerced into signing a bunch of unequal treaties with western powers. sure there was early cultural exchange between japan and france, but one of them is coming to the exchange from a place of much greater power and influence, especially in a world of cultural hegemony, regardless of whether or not Japan would go on to become an empire later on itself. The west may have been (and continues to be) fascinated by Japan, but it never saw Japan as equal power to themselves, which was one of the reasons Japan sought out its own empire to begin with. I don’t think this should be turned into a “glamorously-inspired crush.”

can’t believe i a chinese am defending the japanese now