The United States of Japan
newyorker.com
The United States of Japan
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Re: The United States of Japan
#2A lot more profound than I expected from the title. I recommend reading it if you’ve skipped to the comments :)
I was particularly impressed by the comparison the author drew between aspects of Japanese youth culture that developed during the Lost Decade and aspects of “millennial” culture today in the US. I would be interested to see if anyone has developed that further.
Re: The United States of Japan
#3It is an interesting thing to contemplate, how there really are “leading” and “trailing” cultural activities. I noticed this in Australia how culturally, they were about a decade behind the US (this is not a snipe, just an observation on cultural norms). It is interesting to think that the US is culturally behind Japan.
It leads me to wonder if that really will be our future as well, will we go through two lost decades? I fear we very well may do so.
There at some point needs to be some method for dealing with the crushing amount of debt the US has collectively accumulated, and with internal “growth” so low (low birth rates as pointed out by the author). I see there eventually being no other choice than some sort of devaluing of currency to relieve the debt situation.
The question is, what happens then? Do we go through a period of economic stagnation?
If so, what happens to those “left behind”?
Re: The United States of Japan
#4Not at all related to the article, but visiting Tokyo, it was immediately interesting to me just how similar to NYC it was. The feel was very New York, except stores close much earlier on par with the rest of Asia. And no one has ever seems to have heard of a suit that isn’t black.
A lot of difference of course, but overall it very much felt like New York to me.
As to the article, no doubt that the world is getting smaller. Good and bad.
Re: The United States of Japan
#5The USA and Japan have a very strange relationship.
As far as Asian countries are concerned, Japan has fewer immigrants to the USA than Philippines, China, Vietnam, Korea, and India. But Japan sticks out despite the relatively low migration rate.
* The USA in general does have a sense of "the importance of the foreigner" or outsider. Foreigners invite new thought, new culture, and new experiences.
* Japan seems to make an ideal outsider. They're physically on the other side of the world. Their history is basically isolated from "The West" for hundreds, or even thousands of years.
* Yet, with all of that, modern Japan has integrated very finely into the culture of the West. Japanese brands are well-liked (Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Mazda). And as far as I can tell, Japan also likes a number of USA brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, 7-11, Disney, Levi Jeans, McDonalds, Star Wars).
* The media empire of Japan (not movies necessarily, but Japanese anime and Japanese video games, which are popular in the USA) has a lot of synergistic play / counterplay with USA. For example, the "RPG" genre has been shaped by both cultures heavily. While the USA can claim the big-daddy Dungeons and Dragons, as well as Rogue, Diablo, Bauldur's Gate (Canada, but still "Western"), World of Warcraft, and Skyrim... Japan has the Final Fantasy series, Dragon Quest, Legend of Zelda (including Breath of the Wild). There's a lot of influence and synergy between the "JRPG" and "WRPG" genres.
In short: Japanese culture is both familiar and foreign.
Cowboy Bebop is perhaps the best example of what I'm going for. Its a hardcore scifi space opera filled with Jazz: the American-influence on the anime cannot be ignored. But its still an anime with big eyes and the unique "Japanese" drawing style.
The familiarity allows American audiences a degree of comfort, while the Japanese tropes entice us with their exoticness. Its both familiar and different.
And from my understanding: the opposite occurs in Japan. The Jazz and "Americanisms" in the anime are designed to give a bit of an exotic feel for Japanese audiences and entice them. While the Anime tropes are there to give them familiarity.
And that's why its synergy. Familiar to us is exotic for them, and vice versa.
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EDIT: And then there's "Power Rangers", the weirdest thing to ever happen between the USA and Japan. Its neither fully American nor fully Japanese. Its clearly "Super Sentai" footage, but the "American Parts" with Johnny / Kimberly / Jason are still core to the series.
Its not just "Power Rangers" either. Transformers, and Sonic. Sonic is a Sega-owned video game character... but a lot of the animation was... American/France. How's that for a change? Outside of the "Sonic X" anime--- Sonic SatAM, The Adventures of Sonic, Sonic Underground, and Sonic Boom are all primarily animated in the West. With the comics done by Archie.
Re: The United States of Japan
#6This is what happens when you write an article about Japan without having any particular understanding of history.
The future of America won’t look anything like Japan because America is not a far flung outpost of an empire in decline. It’s the center of that declining empire. The circumstances of globalized Capitalism do create superficial “cultural” similarities, but if you want to understand the fate of America, you’re better off looking at the current state of countries that were the former the rulers of the Ottoman, British, or Soviet empires. Great Britain became more Indian in the wake of losing its empire as well, but it wasn’t anything like this article describes.
Re: The United States of Japan
#7This is what happens when you write an article about Japan without having any particular understanding of history. The future of America won’t look anything like Japan because America is not a far flung outpost of an empire in decline. It’s the center of that declining empire. The circumstances of globalized Capitalism do create superficial “cultural” similarities, but if you want to understand the fate of America, y…
What empire in decline is Japan (or the US) a far flung outpost of, exactly? Japan has about the same population as Britain and France combined, and America has twice that.
I’m also not sure how Britain is relevant here. I think you have might have an interesting point but I can’t see it right now.
Re: The United States of Japan
#8I have trouble getting any value from this article, which seems relatively devoid of pertinent facts.
The author wants to claim "Japanization" of America after the Great Recession because of a reduced fertility rate and an emphasis on the experience economy.
But, although he notes that fertility declines are a mark of industrialized nations, he fails to adequately compare the U.S. phenomenon to other countries, to compare and contrast those relationships with the relationship between the U.S. and Japan. In brief: the author presents no cogent argument as to why this is Japanization rather than, say, Frenchification (the French are notoriously anti-materialistic, preferring travel and cuisine to accumulating junk).
This New Yorker article appears to be nothing more than a blog post detailing some personal interpretive lens with no new information or analysis.
Re: The United States of Japan
#9It is an interesting thing to contemplate, how there really are “leading” and “trailing” cultural activities. I noticed this in Australia how culturally, they were about a decade behind the US (this is not a snipe, just an observation on cultural norms). It is interesting to think that the US is culturally behind Japan. It leads me to wonder if that really will be our future as well, will we go through two lost decad…
Australia is indeed a decade behind the USA, if you define culture as being “that which comes from the USA”. There’s a lot of uniqueness here that doesn’t get surfaced often enough, sadly. Note: I’m not disagreeing with you! More pointing out a slightly different way of looking at the same phenomenon :)
Re: The United States of Japan
#10This is what happens when you write an article about Japan without having any particular understanding of history. The future of America won’t look anything like Japan because America is not a far flung outpost of an empire in decline. It’s the center of that declining empire. The circumstances of globalized Capitalism do create superficial “cultural” similarities, but if you want to understand the fate of America, y…
What empire in decline is Japan (or the US) a far flung outpost of, exactly? Japan has about the same population as Britain and France combined, and America has twice that. I’m also not sure how Britain is relevant here. I think you have might have an interesting point but I can’t see it right now.
Japan is a far flung outpost of the American empire and has been so for its entire post-War history. The occupation forces arrived at a tacit agreement with the former imperial rulers that they could remain in power, so long as they served American interests in the region. This is why Japan received favored status politically and economically over Korea (who were indeed even forced to purchase goods and services from their former colonial oppressors to prop up Japan’s economy).
Something like de-Nazification never happened in Japan. This is who comprised Japan’s Conservative party when the post-War democracy was founded and still comprises it today. Abe Shinzo is the grandson of the former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, who was nicknamed “America’s Favorite War Criminal.”