Japan's Empire of Cool

The Wicked Priest writes "The Washington Post is reporting that culture is among Japan's leading exports." Talks about Anime, Manga, Music, Video Games and so forth. Interesting reading.

Don't we get this exact same article...

...every year? I think it's the result of reporters on vacation at the end of the year, doing a cut-and-paste on the date, and hoping the editor doesn't catch the dupe.

Like this?

The significance of anime [slashdot.org]

Anime And The Tech Lifestyle [slashdot.org]

Movie Review: Princess Mononoke [slashdot.org]

An Extensive History of Anime [slashdot.org]

This story is not exactly a dupe, but much of it is discussed in these earlier topics.

OT, but has anyone had any success in loading /.'s search function? It always times out on me for the past two weeks or so, and I have to keep resorting to using Google search (which is not really a hardship, since Google beats out /.'s search function easily, but still, I'd like to at least access it.)

Not just the same but even more so...

For those people who can't be bothered to read the article, one of the main points was that:

A record 3 million people around the world are now studying the Japanese language, compared with only 127,000 in 1997, according to the Japan Foundation and Tokyo's Marubeni Research Institute.

So, in other words, there is a measurable increase in the cultural cachet of Japan, it's not just a static, ongoing event. And it's not just about manga and anime, but food (sushi restaurants are now ubiquitous in any large city), and jrock/jpop [jpopmusic.com], the prime examples of which are Glay [glay.per.sg], KinKi Kids [geocities.com], Puffy [japantoday.com] (known in the US as Puffy AmiYumi so as to avoid confusion with a certain hiphop impresario), Hamasaki Ayumi [hamasaki-republic.org], the New York born Utada Hikaru [toshiba-emi.co.jp] and Morning Musume [morningmusumeonline.com], a group of currently 15 girls that form the most well known part of a pop empire.

Furthermore, even anime seems to be taking up an ever larger bite of the US Cartoon Network's schedule and the traditional Saturday Morning/after-school children's fare. It's even made a few recent ventures into wide release cinema in the US.

However, one could argue, I think persuasively, that's Japan's cultural upswing is part of a larger trend in the Asia-fication of Western culture. What started with egg foo yung and chop suey has now branched out to shabu-shabu and kimchi. What began with Speed Racer and Godzilla has developed into Princess Mononoke, cosplay [cosplay.com] and Shaolin Soccer [apple.com].

But why do they love Bob Sapp?!

He's a failed American football player, and he's some massive icon there. What's up with that?

The U.S. is a major exporter of culture as well

Actually, this is far from anything new. For the United States, as well as Japan, culture is a huge export. The United States, for example, exports much of Hollywood to other countries. This in turn ends up to equating an export of culture as the concepts of particular movies are absorbed by the individuals who view them. Hollywood is the best example but television and music also fit into the equation as well.

There's one thing that Japan has over the United States when it comes to the export of culture, though; that's Hentai. :)

Re:The U.S. is a major exporter of culture as well

Food used to be most of the economic output. Then we got good at mass producing food.

We had the industrial revolution. Most of the economy went to the manufacture and distribution of manufactured goods. Food became a small percentage of the total economic output.

Now we are very very good at manufacturing stuff. Everything is so cheap now. TVs are cheap. Computers are cheap. Not long ago it was a big deal to buy these mass produced toys. Now they are impulse buy. For a while Japan led the world in this manufacturing revolution.

Are we getting to a point where manufactured goods are not so imporant anymore. Perhaps manufactured goods are becoming a smaller part of the world economy. "Cultural" products are becoming more important and now onece again we are competing with the Japanise.

No way!

Japan totally gets all it's cool from the United States, and our beloved Governor of California!

Here's proof! [mac.com]

Cultural Imperialism

I, for one, welcome our new Japanese overl-

oh, screw it.

Re:Cultural Imperialism

Watashi, mizukara, waga wa nuyy nihonji ooba shu no motenasu!

Re:Cultural Imperialism

slashdot, where only here someone would translate a "I welcome" comment into Japanese.

Culture!

We durn got all our culture right down here in Texas! We got more culture than a Petri dish!

Re:Culture!

"I didn't know Bukkake was a Texan thing."

Shurtis! We got all kinds of barbeque sauce down here! Mesquite, honeybarbeque, spicy jalapeno, so why not bukkake too? Have to go check the store shelves for that one though. Haven't tried it personally...

Cultural Symbols vs. Culture

I think it's important to note that cultural symbols are not akin to culture itself. Japan can export all the anime it likes but that isn't representative of it's entire culture nor will it affect other cultures enough to make them resemble Japanese culture in something other than a superficial way. For example, Japanese corporate structure and the loyalty given to your company (a structural phenomenon) is unlikely to get passed along through its cultural symbols. Just like American structural phenomenon are unlikely to get passed along through our blockbuster movie exports.

In the end, reality is highly individualized and rarely is a culture made up solely of a selective portion of its symbols.

Re:Cultural Symbols vs. Culture

I agree. When we say "culture is our greatest export" that's a figurative statement. We don't literally export our culture. Sometimes people forget that distinction, and that's why some get up in arms over "culture imperialism" like there's literally some organized effort to do that.

Yeah, that's interesting until you consider...

That since Japan opened itself up to the west it's been a maniac for other cultures. With the exception of the years before and during ww2, Japan has long been a rabid consumer for American culture, along with european culture.

Just take a walk throughout Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno or Akihabara. You'll find a massive number of japanese teenagers (and adults) wearing shirts with "engrish" on them. Music is often sprinkled with a hearty dose of engrish as well. Try watching their TV programs sometime, you'll find plenty of american culture. Of course, they like to take it and modify it to their own means and that's exactly what Japan has been doing forever.

This brings up an interesting question: Why are the Japanese so keen to take, modify and integrate other cultures to suit their needs, yet they're still incredibly racist of other cultures? If you doubt their racism, ask why they still have stores and places of business that advertise "Japanese Only"? Of course, for Americans it is a bit hard to understand the concept of being a distinct civilization since we've long been a melting pot, a nation made up of other nations.

But I'm getting off the point. This article is nothing new. The reason why collectables are so expensive overseas is that it's so damned expensive in Japan! Whenever you feel like complaining about the price of dvds, remember that they charge around 40-60$ per dvd, and usually it has half as much as a dvd here in America.

Re:Yeah, that's interesting until you consider...

Do not forget that Japan "opened itself up" to the west under the gaze of American cannons intent on obtaining Japanese culture.

Thus resulting in the overthrow of the stable "military" Shogunate that had maintained Japan as a land of peace, domestically and internationally, for 250 years or so, to be replaced by militarists who armed Japan and went on an empire by conquest rampage.

A rampage rather overtly based on the western model of such, no less.

You are correct about Japanese racism though. This is a nation that can claim to have no racial issues due to their single race when millions of Japanese born people of Korean descent can't obtain citizen ship and the aboriginal populace is treated as if it doesn't exist, except maybe as a tourist exhibit.

However, through most of their history they have overtly acknowledged that real culture came from the mainland, much as once the English may have held themselves superiour and yet looked to France, Italy and even the German provinces for real culture.

It's a peculiar schizophrenia, but not entirely beyond the realm of understanding.

On the other hand while we have hungered for Japanese goods for the past 200 years or so we too use them as Americans, without becoming Japanese in the process, even while we study Karate and go to Zendos to test our Koan understanding.

We have our own peculiar ways of being schizophrenic, it's just harder for us to see because for us it's normal.

So for the Japanese, or any other culture for that matter.

KFG

Re:Yeah, that's interesting until you consider...

This brings up an interesting question: Why are the Japanese so keen to take, modify and integrate other cultures to suit their needs, yet they're still incredibly racist of other cultures?

It's pretty simple, same reason you find racism in certain parts of the States and in ethnic neighborhoods in cities. In monocultures, there's nobody around to point out that you're being a racist when everyone thinks the same.

I'm Japanese, growing up in the burbs of NYC, I was stereotyped and the subject of racist remarks my entire childhood. It wasn't until I moved away to more metro areas that I found more acceptance. So racism still runs strong in the States, make no mistake about it.

"National Pride" is ok, we see a lot of pride parades here in NYC. But just start to say something bad about another race, everyone jumps all over you for being a racist. You can't say anything about another culture without being condemned as a racist. We're forced to be politcally correct or face a civil lawsuit. That's a long ways away from being an integrated "melting pot" society as we'd like to believe.

Japan isn't much different in terms of racism; the only difference is that there aren't people forcing them to watch everything they say, so they don't think about it. Yeah, many will openly discriminate and don't think twice about it, I hear about it from my caucasian friends who live in Japan. It's really that they haven't been forced to accept other cultures, socially or legally.

What Japan really needs is Al Sharpton to stir things up, make them more aware of how racist the society is. Not sure if even he can do it, but it'd be a good start.

War What Is It Good For?

Throughout history war has been one of, if not the most efficient, conduit for the export of culture. Japan imported American culture after WWII. Japanese culture was and remains strong having been developed as an island culture.

Japanese Music ?

I haven't been paying attention to the Billboard top 100 recently, but are there some Japanese rock bands that i don't know about ?

Ah, Japan...

They make some of the coolest stuff in the world. At the same time, they also make some of the weirdest.

Tentacle sex, anyone? ;)

It's a good fusion of science and entertainment

We all know that the Japanese places heavy emphasis on education and scholarly conduct. Therefore, it surprises no one that even their entertainment (anime, pr0n) is infused with advanced studies of marine biology (tentacles)

Ruroni Kenshin...

Obviously. Japanese manga, anime, etc are really good. I make it a point to watch Ruroni Kenshin every Saturday on Cartoon Network (OT, but does anyone have the English version of the song "Freckles" that they play in the opening title? I can't find it anywhere...)

The thing I like about Japanese anime is that it makes you think. It's not blind violence or meaningless love. Everything has a well crafted story behind it. Just yesterday I was in Barnes and Noble, and was going to read "love hina" but got sidetracked by the new Star Wars book, The Unifying Force.

The greatest thing though, it's a two way street. We get stuff like Ruroni Kenshin, Pokemon, etc, and the Japanese get McDonalds, Coke, etc.

I talked to an exchange student from Japan...

recently at this party I was at. Apparently, he says Japanese don't look down on Americans like Europeans do (admittedly with reasonable justification). He said Hollywood movies are huge over there as an earlier post mentioned, and the stars are on posters all over the place. For some reason, Brad Pitt is hot right now.

Although the one interesting bit of Japanese culture that's taking over like crazy is manga. If you look at Border's or Barnes, you'll see five or six shelves of Manga, and American comics have been pushed into one small shelf at the end. It's apparently the "in" thing for youngsters, much like Fear Street books were the "in" thing back when I was in school.

Food for thought...

Re:I talked to an exchange student from Japan...

" If you look at Border's or Barnes, you'll see five or six shelves of Manga,"

Just a shame that 5 out of those 6 shelves are all Dragon Ball...

It's because they're different

I think basically what the West is beginning to realise is that Japan is an entire culture which, while being easily as technologically advanced as America (and in many ways more so), is totally different from America. It's new, it's unusual, it's different, and a lot of it is stuff that Westerners have never even contemplated before, let alone seen.

Kids are insane over Dragonball Z because super-kung-fu-firing-fireballs-from-fingertips-fly ing-about-kicking-people-through-mountains genre just doesn't exist in America. Sure, it's an appalling series on many levels, but it brings something new to the table and for them, that (combined with its testosterone content) makes it worth watching.

Im only here for the anime

Well im big on animation and off the top of my head I can only name a few US made animated shows with anything resembling plot and that dont make copious use of the history eraser button, not to mention the "think of the children beat you over the head with a moral lesson" crap so prevalent in US toons. So I predict I and many many others are going to be watching anime for a long time to come.

Japan is a major importer of culture

No offence to any Japanese people, but Japan is actually a major importer of culture. Their strength lays in taking in good things from other people, and improve on them, making them better. Other than anime, the modern Japanese absorbed a lot from western countries.

In the ancient time, most of its cultural customs came from China around the Tang dynasty. Examples include Kimono, Buddhism (which in turn came from India), original style of Samurai sword (the difference been in the straight edge of the blade instead of curved), the ancient form of Japanese language itself, and so on. The things about Japan is while they took on these things as their own and retained them as time went forth, China continoued to change through out various dynasties.

Re:Japan is a major importer of culture

The Japanese language did not come from China. Japanese and Chinese are unrelated languages. Japanese borrowed many Chinese words and the Chinese writing system, starting prior to the Tang dynasty, but the core of the language was not borrowed from China. It is also worth mentioning that there was not all that much direct contact with China. To a large extent the borrowing of "continental" culture was via Korea.

Re:Japan is a major importer of culture

"To a large extent the borrowing of "continental" culture was via Korea." Where do you think Korean ancient culture was influenced by?

That's why I said via Korea rather than from Korea. It is true that there was some direct contact with Tang China, but the heavy influx of Chinese culture, including the writing system and Buddhism, clearly came via Korea, much of it prior to the Tang. Chinese writing was probably introduced (in the sense of scholars teaching the Japanese to read and write - objects with Chinese writing on them reached Japan earlier) at the beginning of the fifth century, that is, around 400 C.E., two hundred years before the foundation of the Tang Dynasty.

The Japanese named their ancient capital to the same name as that of the Tang dynasty, translated to "Eastern Capital".

This is not true. Tokyo does indeed mean "Eastern Capital", but it is not the ancient capital of Japan. During the Tang Dynasty, the capital of Japan was at Nara, near Kyoto. Later it moved to Kyoto. In those days, Tokyo was known as Yedo (now pronounced Edo in Japanese as a result of the loss of /y/ before /e/) and was considered the boondocks. Edo became the de facto capital when Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan (effectively after the battle of Sekigahara in 1602, formally in 1615) and did not become the official capital until 1868. It is called "Eastern Capital" in contradistinction to Kyoto.

Can't believed they failed to mention that...

And the costumes and atmosphere of the recently concluded "Matrix" series were rooted primarily in Japanese manga.

Highly likely the manga they're talking about Ghost in the Shell (recent coverage [slashdot.org])

Is Japan Really Cool ?

How many hot girls do you know that love manga, anime and videogames ?

And please, no anecdotes about "my wife does!"...I'm talking in the general case. Walk into a bar on the Upper West Side talking about Castle in the Sky to the 6'0 Brazilian supermodel and she'll stare at you blankly while planning her escape.

Japan has a niche with a certain segment (nerdy people) but their culture doesn't have broad appeal to the masses. Sure, videogames pull in a lot of money but they're typically bought by young men.

The readers of this site will love the article because it will affirm something they want to believe in, but it doesn't really make it true.

Heard in a Japanese Boardroom 15 years ago

"Screw manufacturing, lets instead focus on blobs with cute smiles and half-naked cartoon characters."

"Boss, you are a genius!"

Yeah..

Both FFXI and FFX-2 both rock!

Blade Rrunner and Giant Robots

Over the past few years all things Asian have been building up popularity here in L.A. As witnessed by the growth of such new magazines as "Giant Robot" [giantrobot.com]. Perhaps we're moving towards Blade Runner world.

I for one am all for it. The Asian design since from Hong Kong and Japan is quite good, and it's time for them to stop regurgitating western culture and come into there own. There also seems to be a ground swell of radical art coming out of Japan. I read this as retaliation against a conformist culture. It's very exciting, I think we are in for ride the equivalent of America in the 60s.

fire

Japan Rocks

I like Japan. It rocks. The food's good, people are respectful of each other, and you can buy beer in vending machines. However, I feel compelled to tell you all that I hate anime. Lots of Japanese people hate it as well. (Similarly, many Americans hate Hollywood films, network television, etc.)

I feel that American anime fanboys like anime mostly because it is different. To be a fan of anime makes them feel special (because ordinary American people are not very familiar with anime apart from Pokemon et al.)

Lastly, what I hate even more than anime are anime-themed RPGs. Thank you for letting me vent. No offense intended.

Just maybe...

I should learn more Japanese than "Dozo, ichi biru! Hai! Domo arigato" and the names of assorted foodstuffs. Even Largo [megatokyo.com] knows more than that, wakarimasu ka?

Re:Just maybe...

"I should learn more Japanese than "Dozo, ichi biru! Hai! Domo arigato" and the names of assorted foodstuffs."

Phase 1: Learn romanji
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Kanji!

Mou Ichido ...

This isn't completely new. Remember the Impressionists? They were quite into their "japonaise" (I forgot the exact term...). There are quite a few paintings of European women dressed in kimono, and collecting trinkets from Japan was all the rage, not just among the artsy crowd. I think the reasons are still similar.

Now, however, I think a lot of their exports (anime/manga/video esp) have loads of Western influence anyway. Aside from Inu-Yasha and Rurouni Kenshin (the latter of which is set in the Meiji - a major Westernizing period - anyway), I can't think of very many mainstream titles that involve something purely Japanese. But it's blended with their own culture, which is still different enough to be new and interesting for others.

The Superiority of Japanese Culture

Is evidenced by today's Something Awful Link of the Day [mbn.or.jp]. (Not Safe For Work)

J-Pop = American meme

The rise of J-Pop documented in the article is really the success of American pop. Just as black rock & roll took over American pop culture when played by whites, American pop culture (boy bands, fast food, comic books, slutty schoolgirls, top 40 music with unintelligible lyrics) is bigger in Asia with an Asian face.

This is a really encouraging phenomenon. Global culture flows bring us all together, giving us something in common. When we want to dance with each other, watch each other's movies, eat each other's food, we want to live together and talk about it. Only Hollywood sees the culture market as nationalistically competitive, because in Hollywood, culture is property is power, not to be shared, except at a self-perpetuating price. When people spread culture among ourselves, rather than from the centralized minaret of Hollywood, their power disappears. C'mon everybody, get down tonight!

America's leading export; poisonous culture

Notice the streets of bagdad and afganistan are being westernised? Wanna know why they don't like that and why alqueda calls america the great satan? If you've read some of the stuff bin laden has written about the USA you'll agree with (some of) his ideology, not his methodology. He says the USA is spreading lies and deciet, which it does do and has been doing although it's people don't agree with this one bit. I noticed a picture up on BBC of afganistan children being given presents from santa this year, and if you understand the psychology of christmas you'll be frightened from that. Christmas such of a fucked up holiday it isn't even funny, as is easter. We celebrate these holidays not because we're supposed to or because it satisfies some deep religous meaning like Hanukkah , we celebrate them because corperations, the goverment, and christian churches wanted them to be celebrated that way. Notice how crazy it's gotten?

Notice the best buy catologe that comes in the mail every year with the star of david on the tree replaced with the star of best buy and the entire tree decorated with consumer electronics? Notice how all the packaging mysteriously has christmas branding on them? How Saint Nick appears in every window and every store front advertising one thing or another?

In our culture, we eat poisoned food, use poisoned stuff (cosmetics, soaps, playstations, cell phones) and buy crap we don't need fulfill some lifestyle obsession gone wrong that is even more poisonous so that crazy people at the top of the ladder can feel powerful. Japanese culture is even more poisonous imo, they tend to mimic ours and run with it as far and as fast as possible. Infact, our number 1 export to japan after ww2 was our poisonous culture.

Our number 1 export to the rest of the world is poisonous culture, and to whoever resists that without force enough to fight it off, we'll kill the parents and teach the kids our ways like we're doing in afganistan. Afterall, there's a reason we warehouse our old off into care homes near the ends of their life; so the ones that know what's wrong can't teach their kids and grandkids what's realy wrong.

japanese stuff was always popular ...

especially with kids. When I was a kid, it was godzilla and kaiju movies, now it's anime and dragonball z and so forth.

Other than with children, I don't see Japanese stuff being that popular ... well, there are bukakke fans, but I'm not going to touch that (yechh).

And they influencing ...

english [engrish.com] too!!!

Japan has been cool for years

They still impose heavy tarrifs on American goods.

You should see how much a Mustang GT goes for!

Even though you may speak the language you will never be excepted. You are forever a Gaijin.

We have been exposed to Japanese culture/anime since the 60's, Speed Racer is a classic example.

I aggree with some of the posts above. America is a leader in cultural entertainment.
The Japanesse and the Koreans improve on exsisting ideas, American cars for example.

We(USA) can't make cars worth a shit anymore.

How is it that a country with no natural resources is able to make cars cheaper and better than America who have all the natural resources at our doorstep.

Japan's Gross National Cool

ForeignPolicy.com [foreignpolicy.com] has a slightly older article (2001) that discusses this same phenomenon.

Unfortunately

Unfortunately, what the exporting of culture leads to is a product leaving your country and entering another, WITHOUT the attached history/knowledge associated with it. Thus, it is not really the culture that is being exported per se, rather, it is the products that are produced as a result of that culture.

Example:
In anime, there are many themes which are repeated throughout various series. They are MUCH different than most Western themes. This is because of their culture in Japan, and the way their society works. What we see is only the end product. We do not see why a character might feel a certain way about a situation, because we do not understand the cultural differences. Thus, all we see is the final product, which might seem quite alien/exotic to us, however we never really learn the true cultural knowledge behind it.

Anime

I find Anime, as compared with other cartoons made in America, to have a much different focus.

American cartoons:
Futurama
Family Guy
Simpsons

Japanese cartoons:
Inuyasha
Naruto
etc.

Now, for a comparison and contrast:

American cartoons, generally in 30-minute less commercials segments, are mostly humorous, and completely unconnected. No bridged eps - you can sit down and watch one show isolated and know exactly what's going on.

Japanese cartoons are generally seeming to be started as a series -- if you come in half way, you'll be lost, and have to pick up what's going on as you go.

Japanese ones also tend to address more mature themes than American ones do. (Mature meaning, high-school-level as opposed to middle school...nothing "deep" but "deeper")

I watch both kinds, and all sorts of non-anmiated shows too...anything to entertain. And, different stuff is entertaining to different people, so it all works out in the end.

The perfect melding of American and Japanese.....

....culture would be the movie, Vulcano High.

Thankyou Australian public TV

OK, long-time /. reader, first time poster .. be gentle CowboyNeal! :-P

In the early-to-mid 1980's, for some reason, the Australian commercial-free public TV station (the ABC [abc.net.au]) broadcast a number of Japanese shows - anime shows Astroboy [google.com], Kimba the White Lion, [google.com] and live-action show Monkey. [google.com]

Both of those anime are from the god of manga, Osamu Tezuka [google.com]

These shows got me interested in Japan - at age 8, I wanted to be a ninja..

I studied Japanese at high school and ended up doing it at university too. Now I'm pretty fluent - and guess what, I learned quite a bit from reading manga,watching anime and Japanese movies..

Some people here have mentioned Engrish/Japlish T-shirts in Japan - well, I've seen plenty of Australians wearing shirts with Japanese characters that say, for example, "strange foreigner", "winter", "fire" and "water"..

Why do people wear shirts (and get tattoos) with languages they don't understand? Because they think they look cool!

Reading between the lines

Well, just judging from the content of the article, the reporter hopped off the plane at Narita, took the train to Ueno, hopped onto the Yamanote to Shibuya (totally ignoring Akihabara, of course, only nerds would want to go there).

Then he walked across the street, right past, and completely ignoring the infamous 109 shopping mall [angkor.com], the very heart of popular fashion and culture in all of Japan! But he was busy looking for an anime store! No time to find popular culture, he had popular culture to write about!

Then he went down the street to Mandarake, kibbitzed with the owner for a few minutes, turned around, ignored 109 again (although he apparently did notice the big screen on HMV, and probably the one on Tower Records too)...and went right back home again.

Oh, and he thinks Glay is a boy band. That's pretty funny. That's a bit like calling Insane Clown Posse a boy band.

When I read newspaper articles about things I know about, I honestly wonder why I believe anything I read about things I don't know about.

Because of Trigun, Japan can choke.

As an addendum to a post I made earlier about Kenshin, seriously - what the hell is wrong with the people who make shows like that one and for the love of all that is holy, Trigun? WHY do action shows that could be cool have to have stupid unfunny comedy segments dominating 50% of the show? Seriously, someone who enjoys Trigun, please explain how it is possible for you to not be an idiot.

Seriously - I tried watching this series when they put it on Cartoon Network. Once again, they advertised it like it was just the coolest damn thing - an action filled gunslinging Western cartoon. Hell I love Westerns. Unforgiven was one of my favorite movies of all time. I was ready for some GOD DAMN ACTION when I turned this sucker on.

Sadly it was not meant to be. The show is filled with main character "Vash The Stampede" making all manner of silly faces, including having his face turn into a cat for no apparent reason, having his face get really gigantic, crying giant rivers of tears, and all manner of insane, inhuman expressions. OH WAIT - IS THIS SHOW A COMEDY OR WHAT? I guess I was supposed to laugh at some point.

My next thought was that this show must obviously be for kids. No such luck there - when there actually is violence (FINALLY) in this "action" series, it's brutally violent. The juxtaposition from slapstick hilarity to gut wrenching action was not handled at all well by whoever wrote this piece of trash. I don't think they felt the need at the time.

I tried to watch it a few more times. I wanted to like it because it was drawn really well (when the characters weren't coming off completely cheesy) and the music was awfully cool, and the action scenes were pretty neat. Every single episode, however, was ruined by some fucking dork writer somewhere in Japan who thought he was funny and was miserably, hopelessly mistaken.

sad to say

I know I'm going to get beat on by some geeks but...

Japanees popular culture reeks of the same kind of cheap, campy sensations of cheap Vegas tourist attractions. Just go off to a Japanees website that wasn't made with Western web surfers in mind and you'll see what I mean.

That's Not Culture...

... that's marketing.

Of course, the greatest consumer of it is the US, for which marketed concepts and culture are pretty much interchangeable. After all, they got the idea from us.

Takeshis Castle

I love the Jap game shows shuch as Takeshis Castle. They are nuts and the people on them don't hold back. So many injuries.

... except in Japan

Other than the language and the food, being in a major Japanese city feels much like any western city. I went to a couple of the large department stores is Osaka looking for Japanese gifts for my family and had a very difficult time. All the clothes were Burberry, French, or Italian labels and the shoes were Nike, Adidas, or Puma. About the only uniquely Japanese sections of the stores were the Bridal, cooking, and packaging departments. (I found the large print scarves they use for wrapping packages to be some of the most disctinctly Japanese gifts for relatives.)

Restaurants were 50/50 western and Japanese. We interspersed the traditional fare with Italian, Indian, Starbucks, steakhouse, KFC, and even McDonald's. For our first late night system install, we even found a nearby Domino's that would deliver.

While there is some cultural backwash coming this way, the vast majority of the cutlural tide is flowing to Japan.

I don't think so. . .

one word:
"Pocky"

And go

And go [uci.edu] of course.

Yes, it's a Chinese game originally, but people in the West almost entirely use Japanese terminology to discuss the game.

ReYou want the coolest culture? Check out Flanders

So Canada has Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Alanis Morrisette, Basketball, Hockey, Telephone, Maple Syrup and Canadian peacekeepers

Big deal! We've got the best beers in the world, the best chocolate and plenty of hot chicks.

Re:You want the coolest culture? Check out Canada!

>> And don't forget Tom Green.

We are trying to forget him. Please don't remind us.

>> Next time, maybe you can include Neil Young
>> and and Joni Mitchel if you want to show off
>> Canadian talent.

Hey, if you like Neil Young, please take him.

>>-Basketball (yes, we did invent basketball)
>>Was Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace
>>of basketball, once part of Canada?

James Naismith [about.com] was the Canadian physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891. James Naismith was born in Almonte, Ontario and educated at McGill University and Presbyterian Cllege in Montreal. He was a Canadian, regardless of where he invented it. If he invented it on the moon, it would have still been invented by a Canadian.

>> Was Boston, the place where the telephone was
>> invented, once part of Canada?

Alexander Graham Bell is most well known for
inventing the telephone. He came to the U.S as
a teacher of the deaf, and conceived the idea
of "electronic speech" while visiting his
hearing-impaired mother in Canada.

The idea was born in Canada, and he himself is not an American, he is from Scotland.

Re:Soon to be modded down, oh well

You think US animation is of higher quality than Japanese? Where do you buy your crack from dude? I'd love to get me some of that!
Look at a picture from Looney Tunes, yes, with a name like that, it just has to be epic. I could, blindfolded, reproduce a 95% authentic copy of the ultra low detailed animation, even though I have very little personal artistic ability. Now take something from Iria : Zeiram the animation, and try the same thing. There's more detail in Iria's hand than in an entire frame from Looney Tunes.
Yes there are bad Japanese examples, as well. Pokemon being the worst offender, the overall quality with this monster catching crap does seem to be pulling the overall animation quality down, which is a shame. But overall, I would have very much trouble finding a single US animation with half the detail and seriousness put into it as a Japanese counterpart.
I haven't even TOUCHED into storyline. Tell me, what's the most in depth storyline you got from US cartoons? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo?
Animation doesn't have to be solely for infants and toddlers, that's a pathetic stereotyping. US animation is insulting to my intelligence. Now south park I'll watch, but let's not EVEN go into the animation quality there.
Please stop assuming that your hatred of anime is universal and that everyone here thinks like you.

Re:Storylines are alien

What is good and what is evil? This very topic is explored by some of the deeper anime series and movies out there (IE, not pokemon or pokemon-clones). In many good shows, nobody carries a sign announcing their intentions either way. Take Princess Mononoke, for instance: Are the industrialists who are destroying the forests and the native peoples' way of life evil? Are the natives who are fighting back evil? And then there are the shows that don't operate on the same concepts of conflict that American shows do, such as Haibane Renmei or Niea Under 7, both of which illustrate caste systems and racism in interesting ways.

But this thought-provoking nature is what draws me to these shows. Take the time to watch a "good" show (hint: if its on tv, its aimed at the mass market and is typically not so good. Watch a few episodes yourself, and if its got more flashing lights than an ambulance, its mass market kiddy fare). After you've seen it yourself and feel you're comfortable with the subject, watch it with your children and open the floor for discussion.

If your children are later-middle-school or high-school aged, you should pick up His and Her Circumstances, a romantic comedy/drama that shows that peer pressure and worrying about one's appearance is pretty constant anywhere in the world. If you want your children to become tree-hugging vegans, there's also Arjuna (seriously. Don't watch this if you are the least bit squeamish or offended by environmentalists). Rurouni Kenshin might satisfy your a desire for action, while starring a hero who believes above all else that killing is wrong and who goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid doing so to his enemies (not to say that killing and blood and gore does not happen... the enemies, and even his friends don't share the same morality).

Remember above all else, life is rated PG. If parents weren't required, children would simply pop into existance on their own. Take some time with your children to let them know you disapprove of the shows they are watching, take some time to explain why. Decide if you believe your children are mature enough to seperate what they see on tv from reality, and if they don't, offer some alternatives, whether they be different shows, or reading a book, or heck, go out and throw a frisbee or a ball or something.

Re:Soon to be modded down, oh well

If all you want to see is "quality animation", then just watch anything by Disney with the sound turned off.

Some of us care more about a good story than a high frame rate or perfect lip sync.

Re:Soon to be modded down, oh well

the majority of the US despises Anime with a passion... Anime is the lowest level of cartooning, it either uses crappy animation, or uses animation that is so far away from traditional animation that it shouldn't be considered as such

It sounds to me like you're the one reinforcing negative stereotypes. And if as you say there are only about two animes on Adult Swim, then I would suggest that the problem here is that you just haven't got to the good stuff yet. Believe me when I tell you that DBZ - which is probably one of those two - is very near the bottom of the barrel - anime is just like any other medium (movies, American cartoons) as far as highs and lows go.

And if, after that, you still hate anime, then (correct me if I'm wrong) I think there's an option somewhere in your preferences so you can make Anime stories not come up on the main page.

Re:Anime is for KIDS

Ah, now I understand the child pornographic references in japanese mangas. ;-)

Re:YOU ARE A FUCKING LIAR !

uhm, everyone hates... CANADA??? Everyone LOVES Canada, you freak! We have like no enemies at all!

It's you people down south that the world is pissed at right now. I don't mind most Americans though, just Bush, and perhaps you right now.

2/3 right

Only uncool nerds like JPop and Video Games. (Video games coolness is changing VERY rapidly though.) It is, however, very cool to like Anime, it just isn't cool to know what the word Anime means. Especialy among the younger generation (highschool and younger) the Animes that hit Cartoon Network are extremly cool shows.

Re:The best of Japanese culture

TO be fair bukkake isn't a real word; it just sounds japanese.

Bukkake is the name of the soup. The name comes from the fact that the female in a bukkake tape looks as if she accidentally spilled the soup all over her face.

Re:Culture?

No - its an opinion, Mr. Anonymous Coward whose too afraid to put a name behind his opinion

Damn, I love Slashdot. Every time someone disagrees with your opinion, they go on a moderation crusade. Troll Troll Troll... Overrated Overrated Overrated...

Sheesh... grow a fucking dick.

Re:YOU ARE A FUCKING LIAR !

There are other reasons to hate Canada, you know. Please don't oversimplify.