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The United States of Japan

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Re: The United States of Japan

#21

Post by temp-dude-87844 »

torstenvl wrote: post #8

I 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 co…

The author doesn't make a compelling case at all, and instead correlates the general trend of post-industrial transition to elements of Japanese culture and sensibilities gaining appeal with younger generations in the US. That may be so, but it's doubtful the US can even undergo the same kind of transition as Japan.

Inequality in Japan -- although on the rise -- is famously low, and the income disparity between people with low educational attainment and high educational attainment is not drastic. Taxes on the rich are high, and inheritance taxes also, making it difficult to accumulate and retain large amounts of wealth through multiple generations, which keeps inequality lower. The US has higher levels of inequality, and incomes correlate with a number of confounding factors that amount to structural stratification that's difficult to overcome. Egalitarian stagnation of young generations, kept orderly by generous government safety nets, a process that could easily take place in Japan, or Denmark, or a hypothetical post-boom Qatar, could hardly happen in the US.

Re: The United States of Japan

#22

Post by LMYahooTFY »

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #14

The author's basic premise stands: Japan has undergone a post-industrial transition where the sudden prosperity of post-WWII generations was quickly followed by stagnation of those coming of age later; the shrunken opportunities afforded to the younger cohort leads them towards idle leisure, or anxiety-filled corporate drone work. The nature of consumerism has changed: there's still outward signalling but the goals h…

I'm not sure I understand the dichotomy you propose at the end; that if Nintendo didn't market to children, no other large publisher would?

Re: The United States of Japan

#23

Post by simsla »

panarky wrote: post #19
aerophilic wrote: post #3

It 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…

> will we go through two lost decades? Growth rates in US and Japan are remarkably similar. https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&... > the crushing amount of debt the US has collectively accumulated The US has far less debt than Japan. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-debt-t... https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/government-debt-to-gdp

Doesn't mean it's not crushing.

Re: The United States of Japan

#24

Post by IkmoIkmo »

torstenvl wrote: post #8

I 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 co…

Uhh, that's silly, have you not seen his other article on the Japanese Republic of France? /s

Re: The United States of Japan

#25

Post by almostApatriot1 »

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #14

The author's basic premise stands: Japan has undergone a post-industrial transition where the sudden prosperity of post-WWII generations was quickly followed by stagnation of those coming of age later; the shrunken opportunities afforded to the younger cohort leads them towards idle leisure, or anxiety-filled corporate drone work. The nature of consumerism has changed: there's still outward signalling but the goals h…

Yes, Japanese culture has filled a gap. If there were more components to Western Culture outside of America's influence maybe it wouldn't be so prominent.

But what, culturally, is coming out of Canada, Europe, Australia, South America, or Asia (outside of Japan)? Not much that is universally appealing.

Re: The United States of Japan

#26

Post by IkmoIkmo »

dragontamer wrote: post #5

The 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 ma…

All I can say is, welcome to globalisation. As another comment pointed out, the author hasn't really made the case what's so terribly unique about Japan's influence on the US and vice versa.

Europe has tons of integration with the US, too. J-Pop has their equivalence in a whole range of British or French artists, Mazda has their equivalent in BMW, Sega in Rovio etc. And Europe has similar links with the Japan as the US does with Japan.

Just looks like ordinary globalisation to me.

Re: The United States of Japan

#27

Post by digi_owl »

panarky wrote: post #19
aerophilic wrote: post #3

It 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…

> will we go through two lost decades? Growth rates in US and Japan are remarkably similar. https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&... > the crushing amount of debt the US has collectively accumulated The US has far less debt than Japan. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-debt-t... https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/government-debt-to-gdp

Wrong debt. The problem for Japan is the amount of household debt that was accumulated during the 80s (Most of it, as with USA, Australia, and a bunch of other nations, went into housing). This put a hard clamp on domestic consumption. Only being a strong export nation has alleviated the problem until recent years, where SK and China has undercut Japan.

Re: The United States of Japan

#28

Post by coldtea »

>Stripped down to its most minimalist outlines (an approach that Kondo would surely approve), a life of uncluttered simplicity represents a fantasy.

What part of it "represents a fantasy"?

It's rather the idea of becoming eventually rich while piling on debt consuming all kinds of crap that's, statistically a fantasy. As in statistically most don't ever get to that.

Re: The United States of Japan

#29

Post by digi_owl »

dragontamer wrote: post #5

The 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 ma…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Japan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa,_Okinawa#United_States...

Re: The United States of Japan

#30

Post by coldtea »

LMYahooTFY wrote: post #22
temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #14

The author's basic premise stands: Japan has undergone a post-industrial transition where the sudden prosperity of post-WWII generations was quickly followed by stagnation of those coming of age later; the shrunken opportunities afforded to the younger cohort leads them towards idle leisure, or anxiety-filled corporate drone work. The nature of consumerism has changed: there's still outward signalling but the goals h…

I'm not sure I understand the dichotomy you propose at the end; that if Nintendo didn't market to children, no other large publisher would?

Parent doesn't speak specifically of Nintendo (even if they mention several of their titles).

The point being made is: if those Japanese games were absent from the market, we'd be left with the more bleak and violent US-made games.

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